What was your first opinion of BG and BG 2?

When I first played BG I was amazed at the variety and relative freedom with which you can explore the world, and obsessively played it through 4 times. Then I found my TotSC and played it anyother 2, but when I bought BG 2 I was very un-impressed. The new sprites, layout, and changes to the NPC's rubbed me the wrong way and I couldn't get into it as much. Also, the new classes and weapons made importing my character seem less interesting. Anyway, what was your first impression of the BG series.