Baldur’s Gate. A game most awaited at the time, and one that did
not leave the audience disappointed. Slight woes darkened the
joy, with the most important one being the experience cap that
limited an aspiring mage, fighter or whatever else one played with
to 89,000 points. One usually reached the XP limit about half-way
or three quarters of the way into the game, and thereafter, it was
just plain frustrating. Not to mention Cloud Kill, a level 4 spell that
could only be learned if a mage were to rise a level that lied just
beyond the magic 89,000 number. Bioware claimed game balance,
but some clever minds sorted a patch that fixed the "feature" but
enough of the past. Let us discuss the present.
Tales of the Sword Coast is an addon to the famed Baldur’s Gate,
set in TSR’s AD&D universe. It brings in four new areas, claims
Bioware however, in my view, there are three areas, as the
fourth is but a single room, essentially. To compensate, however,
Durlag’s Tower, which is arguably the most intriguing area in the
addon, is humungous in size. It is not just big it’s literally huge.
So what was added other than areas? As one might imagine,
items, spells, monsters, NPCs, quests and so forth. Notable is the
Ring of Invisibility, which was incorporated into the original game,
but was taken out at the last moment again, for "gameplay
balancing issues." One could always get it, however, by simply
hexing the character’s inventory it had a picture, description, etc.
Now it finally got added to the game. As for other items, some
interesting swords, armours, shields, rings and cloaks made it into
this expansion pack; though, admittedly, nothing beats Drizzt’s
swords and armor. They were just too great. Hard to get, too but
well worth it. As for spells, it looks as though there aren’t any more
muck-ups like with Cloud Kill in the original BG, which you could
cast but not learn all the spells you find are of your or a lower
level.
I was somewhat disappointed, however, with the fact that this
expansion pack adds nothing to the story, except for a few side
quests, which have no effect on the ending of the game. Granted,
it adds more "stuff" to do on the Sword Coast, but there isn’t an
ultimate purpose the ending is precisely identical to the
original’s. The side quests, however, are interesting, and overall
tend to more or less make sense while they could, perhaps, have
had a little bit more depth, they were still quite original and
enjoyable.
Overall, there is not really much to say about Tales of the Sword
Coast. The rating presented depends heavily on whether you liked
the game or hated it; if you liked it, then you shouldn’t be reading
this you should be out in the store buying it, and, as well, add
about 20 percent to the score. If you hated it, there’s nothing in the
expansion pack to change your mind, so you shouldn’t be reading
this, either. So if you are reading it, you’re probably hesitating in
which case, refer to the preceding sentence. From an absolute
point of view, this game doesn’t add much to the game but if this
is another reason to replay Baldur’s Gate take it. To the fans of
the original, though, it is a worthy addition if a somewhat small
one to a great game, one that kept us occupied during the many
a cold night during this winter.