Why do people primarily play SOA

[gertjanvh]

Hey people,

 

before I start, I never finished TOB, I've been waiting for, I don't know exactly, for the perfect timing I guess.

But I did notice some off-hand remarks that alot of people prefer to play SOA by itself, rather then completing the saga, and I was wondering why. Is it because TOB is more battle-centric, simply less enjoyable or because most mods still don't have TOB content?

[jcompton]

Because SOA is at least an order of magnitude better than TOB.

 

...did you really need to ask?

[Domi]

I mainly play... er nothing but my own mod nowadays, but for me SoA is already too much, going downhill sharply after Spellhold. So, in the good old days, having had finally defeated Irenicus (apart from the very first run through ToB when I actually wanted to see how the story ends) I could never summon enough energy to go on a 15-hour long dungeon crawl. As bad and pointless as SoA's story is, ToB manages to do even worse. An assortment of boring villains, a PC having to step into an obvious trap... and all that after being pretty tired from SoA... it just did not work for me. I finished ToB 2 times. The second time ONLY because I had to test Kivan. And to be honest I don't want to see BG2 ever again.

[Sister Vigilante]

Yeah, I think the general consensus is that ToB's plot is cookie-cutter; and I was personally annoyed by how you basically get one uber-item in each weapon category and a few suits of uber-armor, and not much other interesting stuff--I'm a Treasure Geek.

 

Really I think, for all the depth of character and atmosphere in SoA, it had already lost some of the fun "adventuring" feel from BG1 (you can't have everything). Still, I usually play it to the end, just to see how it turns out.

 

But! You probably noticed, there's a new mod that just came out at G3 that promises to spruce up ToB a bit. I haven't played it yet but I'm very excited about it! This is after all just what mods are for.

 

I should add that in my own mod I tried to add a fair amount to ToB, although I couldn't do anything about the main plot.

[Gabrielle]

ToB is boring plus it seems like the devs rushed it. SoA is much more interesting to play thru.

[theacefes]

I played SoA and loved it. I still like playing through every now and then..it's fun! But ToB...grrr...I only played to see how it ended because SoA had a cliffhanger of sorts. Plus, I had people telling me they wouldn't play any mod unless it went through ToB as well...so I had to use it for testing Auren and Sarah.

[Icendoan]

I only use it for challenges such as the Trilogy No Reload on the BioWare forums.

 

I play BG1, TuTu and BG1NPC is superior to BG2 SoA in all regards.

 

Icen

[BigRob]

I tend to play ToB these days for a sense of completing my character's story (I get a little fixated finishing stuff) as well as those of the NPCs in my party. I mostly ignore the actual ToB story itself, such as it is, and focus on the smaller side quests as the interesting bits of the story.

 

I'm rather looking forward to going through it again with Wheels of Prophecy though, a little improvement might really make the game a lot more playable.

[Sorrow]

I played through ToB only once. It was tiring and full of ridiculously overpowered characters.

[Cal Jones]

If I play SoA I will finish ToB, but yes, it's not as good as SoA. I like Saradush and Amkethran but the rest just feels like a mad dash to the finishing line.

 

I do like the feel of BG1 (which is annoying as I've buggered my install and can't play it any more) although I don't like Durlag's Tower in the slightest. But I prefer SoA, overall. I like the character stuff, and whilst the story may not please all, do remember that familiarity has a nasty habit of breeding contempt. Irenicus was, at least, an interesting villain, unlike Smelly Melly, who was as transparent as glass.

 

These days I only play with mods, and there are a few that make ToB more interesting. Wheels of Prophecy does look rather interesting, I must say.

[Ankhesenpaaten]

I played it a few times to finish my character's story like BigRob does. I don't play it much lately though because mods characters (especially the romances) are left hanging in SOA limbo forever and now I won't play one unless the story is finished. I really hate having a romance with no ending and it seems so many will never be finished that I don't see myself playing TOB more than one more time or so.

[Gabrielle]

ToB is over powered and over balanced. Demi god end bosses and uber weapons kind of kills the well balanced game that BG started out as.

[Sorrow]

There was one thing that I hated about ToB - it didn't give me a sense of accomplishment - I didn't feel like my character was godlike.

I would enjoy it more if there was a lot characters on more sane levels - like level 0 soldiers or level 1-2 knights.

[Cal Jones]

I know what you mean. Take the mercenaries in Amkethran - they aren't much of a threat to you and your party, but it still takes a good few whacks to take them down. These aren't your run of the mill mercs - these guys would have annihilated you if you'd met them in Baldur's Gate. Sure, you can off them with lots of death spells but even so...

 

I do agree that playing at such outrageously high levels is just not as fun, and there was too much in the way of nice items. But really, we'd have moaned a lot more had ToB not materialised, and the saga had gone unfinished. (Even so, I'd have loved to have seen Bhaal as the ultimate boss, and not Melly).

[Icendoan]

The Oasis spoiled ToB for me. I go in poor, come out able to buy Athkatla.

 

Icen