Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition

I picked up my paused Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition run again. Actually beating the game took longer than I recall it taking back in the day, though -- I could swear I used to get through it from start to finish over one weekend. Maybe due to not playing it for years I had forgotten the best routes to take for optimal time saving.

Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition

I beat the original campaign of Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition at the end of 2021 already but only earlier this year finally returned to do the expansion, Heart of Winter, as well. I've always done the expansion just before beating the main game but this time I decided to do it differently and import my characters to the expansion after defeating Belhifet. That wasn't as smooth of a process as I wanted, and while I did get it sorted out, something else came up and the playthrough went on a hiatus.

Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition: Siege of Dragonspear

In hindsight, I could have skipped going through Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition and jumped right into its whole new expansion, Siege of Dragonspear. Beamdog's quality of life and content additions haven't changed the game enough to warrant a complete playthrough for someone like me who knows it inside out. Then again, thanks to that I could easily tell what hadn't been there in the original game. Beamdog's work tended to stick out.

Sword Coast Legends

This decade hasn't seen many takers in video games for the Dungeons & Dragons license. And the few new titles that have come out haven't been on the same level as the games of old. The 4th edition didn't inspire developers and the 5th seems to have a similar problem. Or at least that's my impression.

Archmage

It took Wizards of the Coast almost 1.5 years but the paperback version of Archmage, the first volume of the Homecoming trilogy by R.A. Salvatore, did come out eventually. I am not sure if the novel was worth the wait, though -- it is pretty much the same old stuff.

The Herald

The Herald finishes The Sundering -- both the novel series and the actual event. Abeir and Toril finally separate and all is good in the Realms again. First the Shadovar, the offspring of ancient Netheril, need to be stopped, however. The Shades serve Shar and are her last hope to bring her reign onto Toril by draining the Mythals protecting Candlekeep and Myth Drannor to bring down the Weave and power up Shar's own shadowy version of it.

The Sentinel

The fifth book of The Sundering series, The Sentinel, is written by Troy Denning. His name seemed oddly familiar but after checking his bibliography, I do not seem to have ever read any of his work before. Nonetheless, Denning is the author of many older Forgotten Realms novels though he has not written any in the recent years besides this one.

The Reaver

After Salvatore's The Companions, The Reaver has definitely been the most entertaining read from The Sundering series for me. It is written by Richard Lee Byers, who is also the author of Dissolution, the first volume of the War of the Spider Queen.

Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf

And so the Companions Codex comes to its rushed and unexciting conclusion with Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf. It is as if the whole trilogy was a mere prologue for an actual story, happening somewhere in future. Like the plot points were necessary and had to be told, but someone decided they also had to be spread over three books, regardless if they had the potential to be interesting enough for it or not.

Rise of the King

Getting to Mithral Hall takes its time. Only at the end of Rise of the King the companions finally arrive to the dwarf city. The reason for the delay is of course the orc army that has taken over the Silver Marches region pretty much uncontested. Admittedly they got help from the drow and the two dragons, but still, you would think at least the dwarves would put up more of a fight.

Night of the Hunter

Apparently rebooting the companions was not enough, and an old adversary had to be sort of resurrected as well to bring a worthy villain to oppose the good guys. I do not mind, though – the drow are always interesting. I do mind that Salvatore does not want to get rid of some of the boring characters in Night of the Hunter, however.

The Adversary

At 500 pages, the third book of The Sundering series, The Adversary, is thicker than the usual Forgotten Realms novel. Maybe it had the same deal as The Godborn of having a longer plot stuffed into a single book. I could not find any information indicating that, though.

The Godborn

The Sundering is a six-part, multi-author set of standalone novels that concerns the Forgotten Realms moving to the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons. The Companions was the first book and I thought reading also the rest of the series might be an excellent way of acquiring more Realmslore.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate

Mysteries of Westgate is not really an expansion pack, even if the Wikipedia article claims otherwise. It has nothing to do with the original Neverwinter Nights 2 campaign or the two expansions. Nor does it add an expansion's worth of new stuff to the game. Merely few monsters, a sewer tileset, and some new music.

Elminster Enraged

The final volume of The Sage of Shadowdale trilogy, Elminster Enraged, continues with the same theme and style as the previous ones. Again there are dozens of characters and sideplots, and the story jumps all over the place. I found the book alright, but I'm still almost hoping that in his next novel, Ed Greenwood would try something different.

The Companions

I wonder how much beforehand this book was planned. Was the return of Drizzt's companions meant to happen already back when the D&D 4th edition changes and the 100-year jump hit the Forgotten Realms? Perhaps, considering the fact that the novel authors were not warned of it, and R. A. Salvatore had to somehow get the characters to survive beyond their normal lifespans.

The Last Threshold

The final volume of The Neverwinter Saga, The Last Threshold, left me with mixed feelings. On one hand, I really liked the character development and the amount of adventuring there was -- probably the best of Salvatore in awhile. But on the other hand, there were really poor parts in the book, and the story as a whole was quite uneven.

Charon's Claw

For some reason, the prologue of Charon's Claw, the third book of The Neverwinter Saga, seemed clumsy; like if it had been written by someone with very little experience. I can't really explain it. Could've just been because I had not read a book in awhile. And the feeling did disappear after I got further into the book.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir

The second expansion to Neverwinter Nights 2, Storm of Zehir, is a bit different from the original campaign and Mask of the Betrayer, as it allows you to create your whole party by yourself, like in the Icewind Dale games. You can also pick up to two cohorts along the way. If you like someone leeching your experience points, that is.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer

I had heard bad things about Neverwinter Night 2's first expansion, Mask of the Betrayer. Namely of its hunger clock mechanic that supposedly only manages to be a pain in the ass rather than an interesting feature.