don't you think it's ugly?

[Nifft the Nimble]

I thought the whole dark-theme of ToB was good. You are trying to stem the tide of fate, which would wash the world with blood and birth a new Bhaal. You are either the instrament of this darkening of the world, or you are the sole hope against the darkness.

The battles, the mass death, the general darkness: I always thought that was part of the point of ToB. More problem-solving might be fun, but let's face it: the typical demi-god's response to a problem is to obliterate it.

-- Nifft

[Galadria]

Sadly, Nifft, I agree with you. But i'm still not happy about it. I will agree that the BG-group packed an amazing lot of stuff onto one CD, but why should it just be one CD? Why didn't they just make BG-III after doing a nothing expansion like TOSC? I guess we'll never know.

[toriuxik]

I almost screamed with rage when I saw the 'fire giants'. They are supposed to be DWARFLIKE, and have coalblack skin with bright orange hair. Hmm... Lets draw romanesque figures and pretend they are fire giants 'cause we're too lazy to take them from IWD like we took everything else'. I almost snapped the CD in half... Boy, did that ever PO me alot for some reason. Also, why was sendai purple?

Oh, if you want graphics and music in a game, try IWD... THAT is THE GAME for portraits... So many cool evil guys. lol of course, if 3/4 of the originals weren't halflings it would have been better... ah well. lol

I agree totally with Faceman. He has a very good point. The job could have been done better.

[theifprowess]

i liked the fact that they came out with tob what i didnt like was the lack of puzzles or side quests. i mean seriously you gained most of your exp from the WK not the game. it was fun to play and offered more challenging scenarios but in my opinion was to short.to play the game completely thru with just a half crew you couldnt max your characters out.i would like to see a baldurs gate 3 come out. one that can intale 2 different storylines. one being a line where you are now human and no longer bhaalspawn. then the other is to play as a bhaalspawn. i think it should also get some different npc's to join in as well have some of the old npc's join or not join your party based on your desicions to be or not be a bhaalspawn. and the only graphic thing i didnt like was the intro video. hate to say it but they need cutscenes and movie clips like blizzard or squaresoft puts out. gives a better feel for the game.that and it makes the game more enjoyable when you beat it to or get to a certan point in the game

[WOLFGIR]

Agreed with the artwork 100%. Also the sound is a pretty crappy thing too at least for my game now.. Sometimes the sound of battle disapears and there is a silly tune and well.. nah..

About more fighting, well I liked it a bit! Being able to finally use all thoose nice little abilities but a bit more mix of more of everything would have been welcomed though. That is I don´t mind big fights, but I miss the problem solvings a bit too.

[Tancred]

It is important to note that it wasn;t exactly the same art crew who worked on ToB as did SoA or BG1. New people, different style, especially when you have to bash out stuff in half the time it took to make the actual game, especially with only 2/3 of the art manpower they had for SoA.
I'm not sure the trouble is the quality of the work as such, it's just that the artists had to draw what they were told. A rocky dragon's lair, a drow network of caves and a fire giant temple just don't allow the same creative possibilities as an elven city or a ruined castle or whatever. Several of the outdoor locations - the ruined Temple of Bhaal, the Sacred Grove at the beginning - were just as lovely as anything in SoA. Compared with Saradush, though, ANYTHING looks interesting.
As for the weapon icons, I wonder if they weren't starting to run out of ideas... having produced icons for 169 different weapons and 248 items and armour for SoA alone, I know I'd feel a bit under pressure when told to make a further 106. A splodge of unusual colour there, an odd shape there and bingo! Another icon. Shame about things lik Spectral Brand being straight, but I'm not entirely sure these icons were made for specific items - either that, or someone just didn't tell the artists it was a scimitar. I's not obvious from the name what kind of sword it is.
It is a shame the game's so hack-n-slash orientated, but then it is the cataclysmic end to the Prophecy, the highlander-style there-can-only-be-one Battle of the Bhaalspawn, and the BG Team did try their best to make several of the 'set piece' battles - Yaga-Shura, Sendai - rather unique tactical challenges, especially the Improved versions. Give them a try if you haven't already, folks, I'm definitely appreciating them atm. They're puzzles of a sort.

***

Tancred

Trying To Please Everyone

[Faceman]

Originally posted by theifprowess: i would like to see a baldurs gate 3 come out.

me too!
- a new storyline
- IMHO XP cap is sufficient in ToB
- no fancy 3D, Infinity engine rulez
- more NPCs
- import whole party
- new areas, but the possibility to go back to
Baldurs Gate, Atkathla, ...

just a plain addon with the same tech and specs
but new story and areas

[Tancred]

How about a Baldur's Gate Prequel? Meet the characters from the saga before the saga occurs; become a harper, meet a young Khalid and Jahiera, fight alongside Gorion, Dermin and Galvarey, battle slavers, the cult of Cyric and bhaal-worshippers...

[Encard]

Hmm... the artwork quality was worse, when i think about it, but I didn't really notice it as much as the lack of sidequests... the fact that there was more combat and less puzzle-solving didn't bother me too much, though... puzzles are nice, I suppose, but sometimes they're just too strange, or you end up searching for some item hidden in some place where your screen is too dark to see and you can't remember where you've been and then you start banging your head against the wall in anger... *shrug* Just my opinion... *grin*