The list of IWDEE reviews: 49 reviews already
JuliusBorisov
Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,754
Here we're trying to collect all IWDEE reviews from the Net:
Positive:
www.techtudo.com.br 10/10
gamebanshee.com without rating
mobay.vn 10/10
darkstation.com 4.5/5
invisioncommunity.co.uk 4/5
littlegreenrobot.co.uk 4/5
gameplanet.com.au 9/10
cheatmasters.com 8.5/10
cdaction.pl 8.5/10
thecultden.com 9/10
gameplanet.co.nz 8/10
3djuegos,com 8/10
meristation.com 8.2/10
it.ign.com 8.1/10
ragequit.gr 8.5/10
3rd-strike.com 8.7/10
appzapp.net - 8.5/10
gaming.thedigitalfix.com - 8/10
theshelternetwork.com 8/10
www.3dnews.ru 8/10
www.gamestar.hu 8/10
www.softpedia.com 8/10
mobplayer.net 8/10
games.on.net without rating
modojo.com 4.5/5
multiplayer.it 8/10
toucharcade.com 5/5
ludoqia.com 8/10
hardcoredroid.com 4/5
savegameonline.com 8/10
eurogamer.cz 8/10
mapacker no rating
idownloadblog.com no rating
gamesidestory.com no rating
cs.videoforkid.com no rating
rpgitalia.net no rating
pcgamesn.com no rating
another review from pcgamesn.com no rating
taparena.com no rating
Mixed:
gram.pl 7.9/10
apktr.net 78/100
gamestar.de 77/100
pcgamer.com 74/100
www.retro101.co.uk 7/10
app-time.ru 7/10
analogaddiction.org 6/10
gamezebo.com 3.5/5
nrc.nl 3/5
level.cz 6/10
Negative: Not a single negative review so far
Post you links here and they will be aggregated.
Positive:
www.techtudo.com.br 10/10
gamebanshee.com without rating
mobay.vn 10/10
darkstation.com 4.5/5
invisioncommunity.co.uk 4/5
littlegreenrobot.co.uk 4/5
gameplanet.com.au 9/10
cheatmasters.com 8.5/10
cdaction.pl 8.5/10
thecultden.com 9/10
gameplanet.co.nz 8/10
3djuegos,com 8/10
meristation.com 8.2/10
it.ign.com 8.1/10
ragequit.gr 8.5/10
3rd-strike.com 8.7/10
appzapp.net - 8.5/10
gaming.thedigitalfix.com - 8/10
theshelternetwork.com 8/10
www.3dnews.ru 8/10
www.gamestar.hu 8/10
www.softpedia.com 8/10
mobplayer.net 8/10
games.on.net without rating
modojo.com 4.5/5
multiplayer.it 8/10
toucharcade.com 5/5
ludoqia.com 8/10
hardcoredroid.com 4/5
savegameonline.com 8/10
eurogamer.cz 8/10
mapacker no rating
idownloadblog.com no rating
gamesidestory.com no rating
cs.videoforkid.com no rating
rpgitalia.net no rating
pcgamesn.com no rating
another review from pcgamesn.com no rating
taparena.com no rating
Mixed:
gram.pl 7.9/10
apktr.net 78/100
gamestar.de 77/100
pcgamer.com 74/100
www.retro101.co.uk 7/10
app-time.ru 7/10
analogaddiction.org 6/10
gamezebo.com 3.5/5
nrc.nl 3/5
level.cz 6/10
Negative: Not a single negative review so far
Post you links here and they will be aggregated.
Post edited by JuliusBorisov on
10
Comments
"Graphically, things don’t seem to have changed a great deal, however my memory is quite hazy on the original game given that it was quite some time ago. But you shouldn’t be be buying this kind of game for the graphics, it’s all about the mood and story for me.
The problem with player characters wandering off and taking their own routes to places you specify is still there – occasionally they would get stuck and need your attention to return them to the group.
It is still a difficult game when played on ‘NORMAL’ difficulty; but Beamdog* have obviously listened to players over the years and the Enhanced Edition now features a ‘STORY’ difficulty level which will allow you to play through the game and experience the story without worrying about the intricacies of combat – your characters become invulnerable.
A strong community has built up around this game which includes modders, at sorcerers.net you can find a wealth of sound packs and portraits to customise your IDW experience.
Conclusion: I was into AD&D in the early 80’s. Later, when the original game came out, I loved it for it’s great graphics and deep story line which reminded me of the games I’d played with friends. This version is a great throwback to the first one; although the ‘enhancements’ don’t make the game boldly different for me, it’s still excellent role-playing!"
*invisioncommunity.co.uk makes a mistake and call them Bulldog
From gameplanet.com.au:
"Third time's a charm. Beamdog has delivered the definitive Icewind Dale experience.
UPS It’s enhanced! The entire adventure is here including both expansions, as well as almost uncountable number of bug fixes, rule tweaks and meaningful additional content.
DOWNS Story Mode is best ignored and forgotten. The Engine is showing its mileage even after all the work the team have put in."
Yes
"Let’s compare my last point to Baldur’s Gate 2: Enhanced Edition, for example. When BG2: EE was released, it shipped with three new characters (well, characters from BG: EE but let’s not get complicated) and with them three new character-driven quests, entire new areas to explore, and conversation and banter with all other characters, regardless of the combination of NPCs you choose to bring along. That’s a lot of enhancement. There’s new stuff going on, and old stuff going on in new ways.
In Icewind Dale, without party NPCs, the opportunity for all that new stuff and old stuff in new ways is lost. The website mentions old content that was cut from the original that they’ve fixed up, but honestly… I’ve been playing for a long time now and either I haven’t found it or I haven’t noticed it. It’s simply not a game-changer. There’s nothing that’s made me sit up and take notice.
There are, of course, new spells and new weapons, and some of the classes from the BG games are available to play. This is all “new stuff” technically, but a) it’s simply not that engaging and b) it’s all stuff that was already in the BGs anyway.
One new change that Beamdog have introduced that I can’t applaud enough though is Story Mode. This is essentially easy-easy-easy mode. Not only the Strength scores of all your characters set to 25, so even the most wizened old mage is a monster in melee, but you are also invulnerable and get 100% more experience.
To begin with, I would just turn it on and off. I would switch it on during a particularly hard battle or to get free resurrection (*wink wink*) and then switch it back off.
…then I turned it back on thinking, “I’ll power-level a bit, so these battles aren’t so long and tedious! And then I’ll switch it off.”
And then finally, after going through a few dungeons like that, I simply resigned myself to just never turning it off. At first, it felt too easy, like I was cheating. I’d murder people in one hit! (Except trolls.) But soon it really felt like it had been the right decision. That was also around the time that I would start leaving Tiny Tower open on my tablet so I could do something else while all this tedious battling was taking place.
Of course, all my grievances with IWD: EE stem from thinking of it as a role-playing game and a successor to the BGs. When it comes down to it though, it doesn’t have to be that. If you are the type that enjoys more difficult battles and less of the talking stuff then this is probably one for you. In many ways, it is more akin to a hack’n’slash than a roleplaying game, and maybe that’s where I am mistaken. To say Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition is a bad game is a fallacy — it’s good at what it does, it is simply that it is presented as something else.
If you enjoy orchestrating large battles using real-time with pause, or if you simply want to re-live the glory days of this latest piece of nostalgia, then Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition will be the game for you."
http://games.on.net/2014/10/icewind-dale-enhanced-edition/
You don't "realize" something at the end of the review that turns the entire review upside down and somehow not rewrite the whole thing. Especially on the Internet where the first two or three paragraphs matter more.
"Badass" unlocked (100 points) - You walked forward. Good job! You're special.
http://www.gameplanet.com.au/pc/reviews/g545155e4a817f/Icewind-Dale-Enhanced-Edition-review/
-Trent
My biggest issue with IWD was replayability. Or more precisely, lack of it.
Having played through IWD but not HoW/Trials (Never owned them) I find the game as challenging as it was back when it first came out.
Really, there weren't a huge number of differences to this than what I remember from the original IWD, other than a slew of bug fixes...of course, I hadn't played IWD in years either, so I may be forgetting/remembering incorrectly.
I would rate the EE verision of IWD a half to full point higher than I'd rate the IWD base game, simply because of the number of fixes that've gone into this edition...and the extra kits from BG/BG2 are excellent. IWD has always been a bit more "Hack and Slash" than the BG series (which had an exceptionally deep storyline) or PS:T (which had such a deep story-line the combat actually took away from the game), which makes it a bit of a "love it or hate it" kind of game.
More so than BG or BG2, this is a tactical combat game. While there was a significant amount of combat in BG/BG2, that's the biggest part of IWD...shuttling from one zone to the next zone combat to combat. You can see this in the fact that the true "endgame" to IWD is to replay everything on Heart of Fury mode and be able to beat that...play the game over several times to get just the right gear for just the right party to be able to take down HoF.
Don't get me wrong, there IS a significant amount of Story to it, it's just really predictable. And that said, story mode is actually pretty fun: Allowing you to enjoy the IWD story and experience without worrying about the mass amount of combat. One of the interesting things about this game is that the combat does ALMOST get in the way of the story...a deeper more complex story would lose it's nuances with the combat focus of IWD. Personally, I'd LOVE to see story mode implemented for BG and BGII as I think it would do wonders for players looking to delve into the rich details of those games...after trying IWD on story mode for a while, I found I liked it quite a bit.
That said, it's not "perfect": though admittedly the issues I bring up below are present in the Original IWD as well...and at least one of them is "better" in the EE version of the game. Honestly, though, story is always my focus when playing an RPG, so I do not like IWD as much as I liked BG and BG2...but don't take that as a shot at IWD...it's not worse, it's just different.
Issue 1: HoW (Heart of Winter) Only Playthrough
I've played these style of games (BG, BGII, IWD, PS:T, etc.) for years...and I've played AD&D for much longer...I know how to powermax a character and a party. I'm no stranger to cheese builds and cheesy spell tactics.
When I started Beta Testing this thing I went down the HoW only playthrough...deciding to test how HoW played without playing IWD First. The only word I would use to describe it is "hard"...in two words "VERY hard." Now, maybe I'm not a tactical genius, so for those of you who read this, decide to prove me wrong and post back "you're an idiot", whatever.
I found the difficulty level of starting a generated party in HoW on "Core" (Normal) rules mode on par with a setting somewhere between Insane and HoW. Any generated party in HoW starts with Staves and 15K gold...and nothing else. Too, there is NO heavy armor for purchase in HoW...you're stuck with (I think) Hide as your best (there may be chain). And while the starting town and the next area are filled with non-fighting quests (and one potential somewhat easy fight), the difficulty ramps up through the roof when you hit the Burial Isle (the first major combat zone of the expansion). I cannot count how many times I wiped on even the first combat, and just the outside island has something like 4 "basic" encounters and 2 major "boss" encounters (one of which I never could beat).
Before you can get to the next place to buy and sell items (which I also don't believe includes metal armor but could be wrong here), you're beset by at least 2 "random" encounters of something like 6 - 8 creatures with a mix of spellcasters and melee combatants (hasted none the less)...and it just gets harder from there.
No magical weapons and very little magical armor (some classes / alignments can pick up something usable, but you're not going to find full plate laying around) create a situation where the melee combatants are hitting you pretty much 50% or better every round. While you DO have the HP to take a few blows, the only way through these encounters is to blow all of your spells, go back and rest, and blow all of your spells again...a very lengthy way to get through this section of the game.
Oh, and when you get underground? It gets worse.
This complaint, however, is one that is the same for the base IWD/HoW Release as well. And to be fair Beamdog/Overhaul did "enhance" even this: While the starting Pre-Generated party in HoW started the same as a player generated party (staves and nothing else), the Pre-Generated party in HoW:EE starts with a selection of good magical weapons/armor/gear from IWD, making the game SIGNIFICANTLY easier on a HoW only playthrough (though still probably a difficulty notch above "normal" since the pre-generated party is not stacked with powermaxed characters).
My largest objection to this as a "fix" however is IWD is about building your own party, I feel like I lost something playing the game with the pre-generated party.
Issue #2: Clerical Spell Restrictions / General Alignment Problems
Yea, I know, there's some logic to it. Still, don't tell me an evil God doesn't require their servants to heal even their evil selves.
Restricting Evil and to a lesser extent Neutral Clerics from some of the most basic and important spells in the game (heal, raise dead and resurrection come to mind, along with a HOST of others) seems like a slap in the face to evil party players.
Too, then, there are NO reputation gains in HoW (and I don't think in IWD either). This is a huge problem for playing paladins, monks and especially rangers...but any general alignment restricted class (except evil alignment) has issues. You simply CANNOT perform an evil act...a single evil act (and in HoW some of the BEST weapons are only found on Good aligned NPCs) will drop your alignment restricted characters out of alignment...forcing you to chose between playing fallen classes and skipping some of the best equipment in the game.
Again, this is an issue with the base game as well, so not a ding on IWD:EE so much as IWD as a whole, but there is just no "good" choice at this point. If you play evil characters you get good weapons/armor but can't efficiently heal or raise players. If you play good, you chose to miss out on some of the best stuff in the game, but have access to needed spells. If you play Neutral characters you pretty much miss out on both...
I really do NOT like how the game forces you to chose sides, draws a very distinct line in the sand, and then forces you to stay on that side of the line.
Of course, you can always chose to play non-alignment restricted characters...in which case your alignment never changes, so I guess playing a Good cleric with a 0 reputation for killing everything around gets you the best of both worlds...since there's no "penalty" for losing or gaining reputation in the game...unlike the BG series which required you to stay above or below a certain level.
Just don't plan to play a paladin, monk or ranger and I guess you're good.
Other than the above, I felt the game played as well and better than the original IWD. If you liked it IWD:EE is a great purchase. If not, unless it was the class selection that drove you away, it probably doesn't gain enough to change your original opinion.
There is are a few platemail +1 armors in Lonelywood but you need to buy it from the cleric. You'll basically break the bank just buying them though. Its always been kind of an awkward thing too since she has such great items despite being in the middle of nowhere (I know she is a priest of waukeen but still).
I never had HoW back in the day so that may be part of it, but the HoF mode made replays fairly enjoyable throughout my involvement with the beta test.
http://www.gamebanshee.com/reviews/114679-icewind-dale-enhanced-edition-review.html
@O_Bruce , this may be interesting especially for you:
"So if you heard bad things about the first two enhanced editions and decided to stay away, that might have been the case then, but it's not the case now. The Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition worked great for me.
Conclusion
It's interesting going back and playing an old game. Icewind Dale isn't wildly old, but even so it came from a time when developers didn't cater their games to the masses. Just sitting down and playing a game didn't give you any sort of guarantee that you'd be able to finish it. Many parts of Icewind Dale are extremely difficult -- even without the Heart of Fury mode, where monsters are smarter and more powerful -- and that's just not something you see any more. So going back and playing Icewind Dale was a treat, even if sometimes I wanted to throw my mouse at somebody.
So if you haven't played Icewind Dale yet, then you should definitely give the Enhanced Edition a try. The Infinity Engine games make up one of the cornerstones of CRPG history, and they're all worth playing. But if you already own Icewind Dale, then the answer is a little more difficult because most of the enhancements are available for free from mods. As I was playing the EE, I was sort of wondering why anybody with bother with it when they could just play a modded version of the original game, but then just like with my recent review for Xenonauts, I went back and tried playing the original game again, and I figured out the answer: the interface.
If you look at the screenshots for the EE, then its interface looks like it's exactly the same as the one for the original Icewind Dale, but it's not. There are myriad improvements, some of which I've listed in this review, and combined they make playing the EE much more enjoyable than playing the original game, and without the need of installing mods and trying to get them to work together. This makes it easy for me to recommend the Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition whether you own the original game or not."
Yay! In this case I wholeheartedly agree with gamebanshee. IWDEE is cool.