well I beat broken sword 1 last week and just beat broken sword 2 for the first time today. what is interesting is I own bs3 for the xbox and have beat it twice before, but never played bs2 before this week.

I have been thinking all day which one do I like more. while I think bs1 is the better overall game, I think for some reason I enjoyed bs2 a lil more. I guess its like, I loved both the new planet of the apes movie, and guardians of the galaxy. and while I think Planet is the better movie, I will watch gog more times on dvd than the new planets. thats how I feel about bs1 and bs2.

without a doubt bs1 has the better plot and villains than bs2, the whole templars story is intriguing and exciting, but I liked the minor characters in bs2 a lil better. The voice actor for george is great in both (since its the same actor), but I enjoyed nico's voice more in bs1.

I thought the jokes landed a lot harder in bs2 especially the level where you come across a movie thats being shot. I literally laughed out loud as the writers of the game skewered hollywood for 30 mins. Once again saying that, I think bs2 lost some of the tension and seriousness that bs1 had. its almost like bs2 became a lot more like a lucas arts adventure game.

I preferred the pacing slightly in number 2. I thought 90 percent of the puzzles in bs2 made sense and were logical. bs1 had good puzzles too, but I like bs2 a lil better. plus I didnt like the hospital scene in bs1, I found it illogical and just padding to make the game longer.

Locations I give to bs1 hands down, from ireland, to syria, and spain. the locations were far more interesting than what we saw in bs2 to me. in fact the only scene that I really love was near the start of the game at the docks of bs2

as far as the endings go, once again bs1 blows bs2 out the water, without getting into too many spoilers, the start of the train thru the church and credits of bs1 was flawless to me and might be one of the best final levels ever put in gaming. I found the lead up to the temple and mirror in bs2 to be anti climatic and a pretty big letdown. thought they could do a lot more.

so my final scores are
bs1: 9.5
bs2: 8.5

and like I said I think I enjoy bs2 a little more than bs1... strange I know

what do yall think

I agree with what you are saying. I think that the plot of BS1 was much more solid and exciting, but the refinements to gameplay, storytelling and pacing really makes BS2 a game that's more fun to play. The missing element of the Templars in BS2 was a spot of contention with fans at the time, which is why that element has returned in every game since. Still, even without the Templars, I find BS2 to be a solid game. I've played BS1 more times, but BS2 is excellent.

On a somewhat related note, you should definitely check out Broken Sword 2.5: Return of the Templars. It's a fan-made game that helps to bridge the gap between the events of BS2 and BS3. The animation is nice, the voice overs are decent, and the gameplay and story are great. For a game that was made for free by passionate fans for passionate fans, it's terrific.

I have played half of broken sword 2.5 and to be honest, im not feeling it much. I playing with the english pack and the actor they got to play george sounds nothing like him, im not really blaming the actor bc those are some huge shoes to fill, after all george is the only character to have the same actor for every game. the girl they got to play nico does a nice job though.

the story started off strong but im guessing im half way thru and it has done nothing for me since then. one problem is way too many cameos and characters that came back from the dead, when obviously they died in bs1. plus some of the puzzles either make no sense or are just padding. two examples one is using the dog whistle on the train, I mean there is a bomb about to blow up and your wasting 5 mins getting a dog back to its owner, thats dumb and dumb. then the puzzle right after that where yo go to a bar and have to arm wrestle a guy to figure out how to open a door also made no sense. the big payoff for that one puzzle was to get a room for the night lol. why did george stop to get a room, I mean nico could be hurt or dead for all he knows yet he needs to get his zzzzs I guess lol.

the animations are nice though as well as the 3d cut scenes. this is a game where I can tell the fans tried their hardest to make a cool little sequel but they failed to me. Im not sure im going to beat it.

if you like fan made games or mods and you like space games, you should try wing commander saga.

In 2.5 can you play without voice? I'd rather play a non-talkie than hear someone butcher George's beautiful, dulcet tones.

Admittedly, the guy voicing George isn't very good, but many of the other characters are good enough. Still, as mentioned above, you can choose to turn the voice volume down to zero and turn the subtitles on from the Options menu.

I also just hated the gameplay, its just not for me

I was a pretty hardcore point and click gamer from about 1990 until 1998 or so. I look back at that time as sort of the Golden Age of the genre. It seemed like almost every game LucasArts released during that time were great. I'd probably play and finish 3 or 4 point and click games a year, so I think I have a pretty reliable opinion of these games. To me, the first Broken Sword is the finest example of point and click games released during this Golden Era.
First off, and probably most important, BS1 didn't really break new ground. Everything the game had had been seen before in video games. What BS1 did was simply combine all the features that made point and click games popular and perfected them. LucasArts SCUMM interface was groundbreaking when it first came out, but BS1 inventory and icon system was so simple. The voice acting was, in general, superb. The dialogue was well-written, humorous at times, and in depth. Visually, the designers went with a cartoon design style and I think that benefitted the game. The scenes were beautiful, detailed, and colorful. The plot was well-thought out, interesting, and paced extremely well. It was almost like a cinematic game….Like you were playing an interactive movie. It's easy to look back at the game now, with all the advances these games have made graphically and not be overly impressed. But compare this game to its counterparts, like most of LucasArts games, and the BS1 was superior than this games in almost every way. And another positive aspect for the game was that, for the most part, it wasn't overly difficult. Sure, a few puzzles were hard…Obviously the goat puzzle…It took me awhile to figure out how to make a plaster cast of the holes in the Lochmarne chapel. Figuring out that I had to hide in the sarcophagus at the museum was kinda vague…But for the most part, you were hardly ever stuck in a single spot for too long. So the game flowed very naturally and kept your attention and focus for the duration.
I can't stress the impact this game had back in 1996 when it was first released. I remember thinking as I was playing it that it was easily the finest video game I had ever played. It is easily the best point and click game released from 1990-1998 or so.
Now, as for the sequels….BS2 sold well, but was tremendously disappointing at the time it was released. It is obviously not as great as the first game, and I think a lot of people were expecting it to be. But Revolution could make games for another 200 years and they will never approach the inherent greatness of that first Broken Sword. That's how good it was when it was first released. BS2 is looked at much more fondly now. It is a good game, a worthy successor to the first one, different style, more light-hearted…All of that is fine. Time has been really kind to the second game. I recommend it if you enjoyed the first one.
I didn't really like the 3rd and 4th games. So I won't dwell on them. If you like the first two games, I recommend playing the 5th one. It is truly done in the BS fashion and is probably the best one since the second game. It is flawed, but I can get into that later. It is worth your time and money to play.
There are issues a lot of people had with the first game….Sometimes the dialogue is too long. It didn't really bother me much, but people used to playing LucasArt games, which are much more streamlined, will definitely get a little antsy. But like I said, the game really had a cinematic feel, so Ithought this fit into what the game was. Also, when George gets back from Ireland, the game pace does slow down until George goes to Spain or stumbles upon the meeting under Montfaucon Square. There are a few plot holes if you really analyze it. But all of that is nitpicking. This truly is a great game.
Finally, I do recommend that people play the original version of BS1. The Director's cut adds a few scenes with Nico and, although they aren't bad and do add a little background to Nico, I don't think they are necessary and detract from your attention to the main story, which is George. Also, the Director's cut removes quite a few cutscenes, hotspots, simplifies a few puzzles, adds puzzles which doesn't really fit the mood of the game, and takes away significant dialogue. In short, the meat of the game was bastardized. I highly recommend playing the original version of the game. The remastered version of BS2, at least to my recollection, keeps everything from the original game, spruces it up graphically, and adds portrait boxes during dialogues which are better than BS1's. That version is worth experiencing.