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TOSC review
As some of you may know by now, I’m quite a big fan of Baldur’s Gate (PCG 65, 89%). So when this expansion pack was announced before I’d even finished the main game, my trainee goatee veritably bristled with excitement. New areas, I thought! New characters to join my party! All manner of new beasties and weapon’s o’ doom with which to smite them! Another two weeks of my social life up in smoke!
Of course, life is full of little disappointments. We were spoiled by Baldur’s Gate; by its enormity and engrossing plot. Adding an expansion pack to a game of this size and scope is a brave undertaking. You might think that a title which already offers over 100 hours of adventuring wouldn’t have much need for expansions, but here it is anyway. TOSC gives you around 25-30 hours extra playing time in the way of new quests and areas to explore, and it snuggles itself into the existing game quite cleverly.
The expansion’s contents are set outside the main plot, with a new small town acting as the centre for the quests. Unfortunately, there are no new NPCs to join your party, and most of the new beasties are variations on existing templates. It’s also aimed at very high level characters, and so presents a decent challenge to those who have finished the game. You can choose to replay the entire game, making use of the new areas, or go from any of your previous save points.
The mechanics of the game are largely unaltered, but there are several small changes for the better - TOSC works as a patch as well. The experience point limit has been extended from 89,000 to 161,000, allowing all characters to gain a couple more levels and become more powerful. Naturally, there are higher level spells to go with that, but I can’t help feeling that Black Isle (Interplay’s RPG division) are holding something back. And, indeed, they are.
Although it’s yet to be officially announced, the rumours are that a full-on sequel is on the cards. With this in mind, developers Bioware are surely hoarding up their best ideas for Baldur’s Gate 2, which will doubtless improve on the successful formula. In the meantime, though, we’ll have to be happy with TOSC, which is essentially more of the same. And that’s fine, because I’ll use any excuse to go frolicking with the ogres again.