 Musings on the completion of TOB (many spoilers)
Ahhh....at long last I have completed Throne of Bhaal. Overall a great experience - but I have a few comments to make. I have not been looking at the boards in case I might hit a spoiler by mistake, so my apologies if all of this has been discussed before:
1) Was *anyone* actually fooled by the Melissan duplicity? I suspected her at the first meeting and pretty much wanted her dead after the second encounter - yet I was forced to follow blindly into her trap. A Yoshimo-esque plot - which really was a surprise - would have been much more satisfying.
2) Overall, a much more "linear" plotline than SoA - even with a detour to Watchers. I am not sure how that sits with me. I would have liked more choices along the way, but then again perhaps the lack of choices emphasized the air of "fulfilling the prophecy."
3) The final fight against Melissan at the throne just would not come together for me. I must have had to reload dozens of times - even eventually playing on the easiest level. Then, I made a discovery - one that I am sure everyone else already knows: Items with limited charges can be recharged by selling to merchants. Suddenly, I had use of my Staff of Woodlands and Staff of Fire - items whose summoning abilities had long since been used up. Once those were in hand, the final battle went very very fast. Out of curiosity, is that recharging service actualy documented anywhere? I couldn't find it anywhere in my materials....
4) 8 mil experience point cap? Is this at all meaningful? I imported my party from the final S0A save, with all of them pretty much at the SoA maximum. I missed perhaps one minor quest in ToB, and did all of Watchers, yet still ended up with only about 5 mil exp. How does anyone actually get to 8 mil?
5) Wow - those endings were bittersweet. I had really come to know and love my little group, and it was very hard to read those final accounts - especially when some of them were not very happy. I also hated to see the group scatter like that at the end. With the exception of the romanced endings, there is not really any evidence of any future interactions.
All in all, a wonderful experience. Just like a great novel - I am happy to have finished it, but sad to have it over. Who can ask for more?
-- Jim  | 
Linear Mode
