In case the horse hasn't been beaten enough yet:
I'm just in the middle of BG1 run (with SCS) - second one, the first was like a decade or so ago, and since I can't remember shit, it's almost like a virgin playthrough.
While I can definitely see the charm of low level DnD adventures, it's clear as fuck that unlike BG2, the first one did not stand the test of time. I'm around level 5-6, have cleared out all of the areas up to the bandit camp, and I already feel burned out, with desire to continue being close to none.
- writing/dialogues are so bare bones that it hurts - most of the conversations boil down to either accepting the quest or not, or just choosing between goodie/asshole answer. Sometimes you don't even get any choice, as npcs just throw at you some short text about their lost ring/cloak/boots/etc, and the quest is auto added to your journal.
- quest design - again, mostly bare bone kill X/return with his dagger etc shit. No multiple choices, no branching, no nothing. Rewards are shit, both gold and XP-wise - you're better off clearing the ankheg area then doing majority of micro-quests in Nashkeel/Beregost/wilderness.
- encounters - 95% are trash mobs in the empty wilderness areas, where it's the clunky pathfinding you are fighting with. Nashkeel mines are a chore comparable to arcanum's BMM, but thankfully they are significantly shorter.
- itemization is piss poor - you can find endgame weapons after first few hours (varscona, composite longbow +1, warhammer +2 with shock dmg, light crossbow of speed etc).
-wilderness areas - there is certain fun in free exploration, but there's just there's too goddamn many of them, mostly without any points of interest.
SoA has huge replayability factor to this day. With BG1 I can't fucking push myself to finish it after sinking more than dozen hours, even though I was stoked to give it a try with SCS, after putting in on a shelf for so long so it could feel fresh.
