[Zondark]

@ fable:

Thanks for the welcome.

I've completed PS:T a number of times now, and in several different ways. However, I've come to find that the most rewarding experience is to play with as high a wisdom (and probably charisma and intelligence) stat as possible. As I'm sure you know, this will offer greater opportunity for fully uncovering The Nameless One's past, your companions' pasts, attaining higher stat scores, opening more interesting dialogue options, etc. - all of which makes for a lot more text to digest. Even so, it's not my opinion that PS:T lacks combat per se, rather that it takes a back seat to the story and dialogue and... well, reading. So much so, that I've heard people refer to PS:T as more of an interactive novel than a video game.

Now, I know I labelled it a "gripe", but the truth is I have no problem with PS:T's copious amounts of text. Yet, that's not to say some of the text couldn't have been "substituted" or better integrated into the gameplay instead, and this is where I feel BG2 triumphs over PS:T. It better integrates the plot points and character interactions into the gameplay - rather than forcing the player to read pages upon pages to progress - while at the same time, allowing the freedom of choice that PS:T offers through its dialogue (... This making sense?).

Some might say that PS:T wouldn't be as deep and impactful were it not so verbosely written, and I'm inclined to agree. Though, as I said earlier, having to read so much tends to bog down the game somewhat, and I do feel that BG2 strikes a better balance, which is much more suited to the video game medium, in my opinion.

P.S. Oh, and sorry for the incredibly late reply. Had quite a bit of interwebz trouble of late...