What's Good	What's Bad	4.5 out of 5.0
Fixes problems in the original game engine Inventory auto-stacking saves time on grouping items Magic items now show up highlighted in pale blue, telling you they need identification Can play from the beginning with new areas or continue play with a saved party New spells and magic items Highly addictive	Load times still slow Highly addictive

Installation was a snap. The expansion has been created in the spirit of AD&D game modules, adding new areas to explore, new quests It installs right on top of your existing 'Baldur's Gate' install, making the needed modifications as it goes.

New options for how you want to play the expansion have been added. The game can be played from the beginning, just encountering the new areas as you go. It can be played from a save position that has not yet won "Baldur's Gate". It can even be played from a save-game position that has triumphed, in which case you get to go back and beat "Baldur's Gate" again. Or you can decide to just play the new missions using a party supplied by the game. Sword Coast simply expands the "world" of Baldur's Gate.

The list of good new things is long. Interplay listened to player input when designing this game expansion. So now we have the option to Auto-pause when an enemy is sighted. In addition, items in inventory autostack so there is no more tedious arrow-sorting. Arrows fly faster, for a more realistic effect. The way that 'Backstabbing' works for the thief has been corrected as well. Now the chance is affected more by shadows and stealth and the position of your thief vs. the opponent -- it's called "backstabbing" for a good reason. Found magic items now give you a visual cue that they are magic -- a pale blue glow -- and need to be identified. Finally, no more sorting through piles and piles of enemy equipment to see if there might be a magic item in the rough.

Gameplay itself was what I have come to expect from Baldur's Gate. Quality play with a good and engaging storyline that catches the player up and draws them in. The problem with party movement producing stragglers and random wandering that could lead to trapped characters has been addressed, and the nasty problem of having no marching order that would work in a narrow tunnel has been fixed nicely. There are new spells to learn, and new magic items to find and grab. You will also encounter characters found elsewhere in Baldur's Gate adventuring again. The feel of the whole thing meshed really well with the game overall.

Mechanical tweaks have now enabled the Save Game status to remember more of your personal preferences, and now "Quick Load" has been added as well, making "Quick Save" truly useful in the event of dire emergency -- such as losing your entire party to sudden attack. Another interesting feature that has been added for those who want to play over the Net: Roger Wilco voice communication software can now be installed to allow you to talk voice to your team-mates across the Net. Also, the existing experience point cap has been raised, allowing characters to advance at least one more level while playing Tales of the Sword Coast.

My conclusion? If you liked Baldur's Gate, you will want the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion. It feeds an addiction to an amazing game, indeed. My question for Interplay is "Will we be seeing a whole line of role-playing games with modules like this?" And I can say I surely hope so.

Parents: As with Baldur's Gate, this is a game mainly aimed at older teens and adults. The minor gore level can be adjusted in the options panel, but there's a good deal of violence in the form of the party fighting the various creatures in the game.