How fun was that, murder, deciet, thievary, more deciet, genocide and last but not least sex. Ahhh what fun. All I could ask for.

welcome. nice to see another from AB (eddy no less). Anyway... I don't really like the Underdark. It's one of those linear parts of the game that's the same every time you play it. I've beat the game about 15-20 times, so it's a little boring, you'll probably feel the same way after awhile. I like it better when your on the surface and have to make the decision which side-quest you'll do next. My favorite part is assembling a party. My favorite party is...

PC - Fighter/Cleric or fighter/mage (depending on charisma he/she may be the leader)
Solaufien
Valygar
Mazzy
Cernd
Imoen

This party is pretty hard to get since all the NPC's have major quests.

In my opinion, the fighter/mage is the strongest fighter. Sometimes I'll dual-class a mage as soon as he hits level 9 (stoneskin). That way I'll have a uber-strong fighter with the defensive benefits as a mage. I'll only take the armor off for bigass fights. Also, I can cast stoneskin, mirror image and blur, then put the armor back on and start the fight. Very strong character.

Yeah, the plot line in the Underdark was pretty cool - i especially liked the part with two sets of fake dragon eggs and the ritual.

I was a bit disappointed by the area design, however, it reminded me a bit of the arcade games, probably because of all the platforms in Ust Natha, and round(-ish) rooms conected by narrow corridors - Kuo-Tas' place, Illithids' place, Beholders' place. It was quite funny that they called them "cities" :) Five or seven rooms connected by the corridors cannot be called "a city" just yet. The main area (the "hub") was all right, i guess. But Ust-Natha disappointed me design-wise as well - why both Female and Male Fighter Societies' buildings (and maybe Deirex's tower as well, can't remember exactly) are absolutely the same inside? And why there was barely anyone in there? Ok, probably everyone is fighting for the temple near the surface, but hey - it's only 10 hungry elves guarding this place, what's the problem there? Ahhh... Anyway, one cannot get everything in a game. To sum up - the plot was good there :)