Aside from its technical issues the game has the most atrocious and boring storytelling I have ever encoutnered in a RPG.
I absolutely dont have a problem with diversity in games but that stoner dude at the beginning is where I draw the line.
Above all things what makes me angry is that you somehow have to guess in BG EE what compaions will make it to the expansion since the gear they wear is lost with the companion and you only get to retrieve their stuff in their backpacks. Gold you saved is also lost and packaged into a tearjerker story about refugees legitimizing stealing and robbing other persons.
All in all a disgrace to the name and all by itself a terrible game aswell.
Couldn't even launch BG1 with this DLC installed, found out it is incompatible with WeiDu mods and/or SCS. No refund from GOG since it's a mod issue even though it's unplayable. Disappointed, Steam has a better refund policy than this. There we go, 15€ wasted. Should have trusted the reviews around.
Since I bought Baldur's Gate EE last year, I had heard a lot of things about SoD, nearly all of them negative. I got SoD this week (mainly because it's needed for EET) and figured I'd play through it. I expected amateur work with bland writing and out-of-place, cringy dialogue like Neera always provides. SoD far exceeded my expectations. It's a legit Baldur's Gate adventure, albeit quite linear.
Pros:
* They got back the old voice actors, which is a legendary achievement. Kevin Michael Richardson as the narrator? Jim Cummings as Minsc? David Warner (even if he sounds much older now)? Absolutely amazing, this must have cost Beamdog a fortune and I am so glad to have them in.
* Some actually epic battles. There's a segment called Bridgefort that is extremely memorable, though several others (like the Dumathoin decision, the team combat near the end, etc)
* Much of the writing captures the old feel of Baldur's Gate.
Cons:
* Takes awhile to get started. The first dungeon and the departure toward the campaign are definite slow points.
* Some of the battles are hard, much harder than anything in the original trilogy. Some bosses feel like they're mid-BG2 level, but your characters are only going to be levels 6 to 10, so you're much weaker than you should be. Some enemies use overpowered abilities to add artificial difficulty; close to the final battle, one enemy kept charming my tank who had -1 Save vs Spell.
* Likewise, it doesn't really feel like you gain power as you go due to the experience limitations of being an interquel, but it's pretty frustrating to go through 3-4 chapters and only gain a single level.
* The ending is utterly ridiculous. They try to justify it, but it simply does not work. It's forced to try to get you pushed into BG2 and it was not executed properly.
* Some parts are unnecessary, like the Hooded Man following you around.
Recommendation: Buy it at least on sale, play through it once. It IS good enough to carry the Baldur's Gate name.
This game is very mixed. First, the good. It does a fairly good job explaining what happened in between Baldurs Gate 1 & 2. Some of the voice acting is quite good. Also, there's epic army battles in this game. It also boosts your character to be stronger for BG2. Finally, there's some good new portraits for your characters.
Now, the bad.
1. It's linear. Like, "on-the-rails" linear. You get maybe 1 to 2 side areas to explore per part of the quest. However, once you complete the part of the main quest, you are forced to the next area of the main quest and can never go back to those old areas. I understand why they did it this way, but I still find it terrible design.
2. Voice acting is all over the place. As I stated above, some of it is quite good. However, more of it sounds like the characters are talking into a cup. Also, Neera (BG1 EE new char) sounds like a different actress voiced her compared to BG1&2 EE).
3. Extremely poor scenario design decisions. Certain battles have things that happen that should never happen that can totally destroy the rest of your game. Example, the final siege. There is no ability to rest after that battle to go forward to the final part of the game. Also, if the only healer npc dies in the siege, you can't even buy heals or resurrects, which is needed due to the sheer chaos and caster enemies in the final siege (holds and charms galore).
I played through it once and that was enough for me. The downsides faaaar outstrips the positives of this game. I would recommend reading a spoiler on the storyline instead of buying this DLC.
I am still new to classic CRPGs, so chapters 7-10 felt quite fun to play, as it felt much easier than BG. However, as the game went on, the story got worse and it become more and more aparent that the developers didn't want the player to make a choice, as the response for dialog options often remains identical. I had some fun with this game, but it was greatly tarnished by the final 3 chapters. There is also the issue that as the game progresses, it gets more and more linear, which didn't work very well for me at as, as I would be expected to go through a combat gauntlet without the possibility to resurrect my party members for upwards of an hour.
