Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast

General/Summary: How exactly do I start a review about a product which will come 99% of the time with the actual product it's meant to be expanding upon in a gold budget pack? Most people won't actually be able to distinguish between the new features and the old ones. However, with my impeccable ingenuity (or perhaps I'll jusy copy what other people have done and only review the new stuff), I have finally come up with a reviewing formula.
The fact is, Tales Of The Sword Coast adds rather a lot to Baldur's Gate. Some of these are subtle interface changes, like the fact that Clerics and other varied multiclasses now get 2 quick-weapon slots, something which is greatly welcomed (but really should have been in the original). Also worth a note is the fact that you can now quicksave using the 'q' button, another long-overdue feature. Apparently, you can also load your quick-save by pressing 'Ctrl' and 'l' together, but I can't get that to work. Shame.
But most people are here for the new areas. And why shouldn't they? Well, I can safely say that they remain the top-notch quality that Baldur's Gate maintained. Durlag's Tower is of particular note: an epic and huge dungeon which will test your characters' skills to the limit. As with all 3 of the new areas, this is very much a high-level affair; don't even think about going to the Durlag's Tower before you are at least level 5. You won't even make it inside the Tower's gates. Oh, and you'll need that Thief NPC which you unceremoniously chucked out of your party back in the original.
Which brings me rather neatly onto a point of TOTSC which disappoints somewhat. There are no new Non-Player Characters that you can recruit to your party. This seems initially like a very big blow to the expansion pack, but remember: there were loads of NPCs in Baldur's Gate, of them a fraction who were any good. You'll not suffer too much.
Of the other two areas (which are slightly more secret, so I can't give any spoilers), they are both very good, one being a succinct maze which the other's a plot-driven quest to find out what happened to a famous explorer. While they obviously take back-stage to Durlag's Tower, they are welcome addition to your appendium of completed adventures.
But, ultimately, it's simply the levelling up and the great magical weapons that will allure you to this expansion. Some characters can reach the lofty heights of level 10, something you'll need to be when you take on the hideous-looking big boss of Durlag's Tower (and the boss of the sub-quest after that - curse these story-spoiling spoilers!). You also gain access to a superb magical inventory by the end of the game, including some quite weird accessories (the butterknife of 'that famous explorer who you go to find out about' - spoilers again- sticking out in my mind). But again, this just shows that Black Isle have a sense of humour, which is always nice in a game like this.
Gameplay: Practically nothing has changed since Baldur's Gate in this department. In fact, I'll stick my neck out. Nothing's changed in this department since Baldur's Gate. It's just the same mouse and 'pause key' orientated adventure it was before. Though this means that the mark won't improve, it won't de-prove either. Apart from the few interface changes I've described above , I can't spot anything different. However, I could simply be going blind...

Graphics: To save this box from having thousands of quotation marks, I'll make it simple. Simply repeat the first 3 sentences of th 'Gameplay' box and you've got this. This obviously means that I am not going blind as I previously claimed. So, unfortunately, I can still see that the spell animations are still just as pathetic as before. Never mind. There are quite a few good creatures to be had here (the big boss of Durlag's Tower and the big boss of the subquest after that standing out). There are also a few nice-looking magical items, but nothing to compare with Baldur's Gate II's hilts and pommels. Oh, and the game might have become slightly less pixellated; I honestly can't remember. Overall, however, I suppose I over-rated the graphics in Baldur's Gate, so I'm going to have to award this a '3' instead of a '2'. Continuity wins out over logic in the reviewing world, my friends.

Sound: Again, I can't remember whether if you click multiple times on the new creatures, they say anything new. Oh well, I can't say that the music or the sound effects have really changed that much either. The voice acting is good, as always with Baldur's Gate. Normally, I might decide that, as an expansion pack doesn't really expand on the sound, I might give this a lower mark, but for the sake of continuity arument mentioned above, added to the fact that you'll probably not be able to get away with only getting Baldur's Gate on its own any more, I'll give it the same mark as Baldur's Gate got. A '4', for clarification.