RPGs where your character miss...A LOT.

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, which is why you play the three games in order. Not at the same time of course... that would indeed be confusing. :)

But BG1 is just such a great game... I'm sure part of it is nostalgia (I really loved the game, and before then other than a few titles (Quest for Glory, Castle of the Winds, just a few others) before then I hadn't been much of an RPG game player...), but I still love the game, particularly the first third or so, because I spent most of my time (repeatedly replaying) the early parts of the game... but Beregost, Nashkell and its mines, the Friendly Arms Inn... BG2 was great, but as far as memories go, nothing from it comes close. And the BG1 intro video and main theme music... some of the best.

Yes, BG1 has a LOT more aimless wandering, and has many zones with very little in them. It plays quite differently, in some ways... there is a much less focused quest than BG2 (only chapter 2 of BG2 comes close, and even there there is a lot more per zone and many fewer zones). The way BG2 tightened everything is mostly good, but the original game has great quests too, even if they are more spread out... and while the start is cliche (you are forced out of your home and start an adventure!), the way that they slowly bring in the elements of the overall plot is great. Sure, the initial plot (an iron shortage) seems simple, but I thought it was interesting, and compared to other RPGs, why not start out simple instead of throwing you out straight into "stop the evil Bhaalspawn"?

And yes, the interface isn't quite as good. No bags, 20 arrows per stack max, etc. And D&D is a lot simpler at low levels, there's a lot less of the awesome spell battles... but you get used to it, and I actually like the series' very slow levelling curve. The low levels are part of the game too. :)

BGII is better, particularly if you include ToB (chapter 3 of the main plot; BG1's expansion adds nothing to the main story, just levels and sidequests), but I think that sometimes BG1 is forgotten in its shadow, and that's too bad.

Here's an example. If you are fighting, say, a thief, sure they should by their very nature be dodging your attacks like crazy, but to make up for it when you do hit, they take really high damage, or they can't dodge wide area of effect magics, that sort of thing. A giant dragon, unless it's some crazy "wind dragon", shouldn't be dodging anything. Basically, odds should be limited to things like "critical hit chance" like being able to critical hit 70% of the time vs 5%, or stacked versions of it, or certain "binary" abilities like "instant death" being a very powerful ability with very low chance to hit.

But in D&D, armor just increases your dodge chance, essentially. Once an attack gets through the armor, it is potentially blocked/reduced by damage/magical resistances (not armor class), and then hits. The system just doesn't work that way... defense reduces the enemy's chance to hit, not damage taken per hit.

I think it works fine as it is, really... once you get used to it it makes plenty of sense. D&D just doesn't use the usual "defense reduces damage" system, just like how it doesn't use the usual "magic points" system and instead has spell memorization. :)

Don't think of it as a "miss", think of it as either a miss or blocked hit... because that's really what it is. You hit the dragon, but your mace bounced off its thick hide.