Icewind Dale looks awful compared to the new BG

Stormvessel

I went back a little while ago and tried playing IWDEE, and boy is it ugly. Even unscaled it looks bad. That new feature in BG that outlines the characters really helps a ton. It would be great if IWDEE got the same treatment but I know it can't be - it would be way too much work. But maybe if they released an expansion to IWDEE they could end up giving it the BG treatment as well.

joluv

I thought the conventional wisdom was that IWDEE will be updated to 2.0 in the relatively near future. It's probably not all that much work once they get the kinks ironed out in the BG games.

SirBatince

Well of course. You're used to 2.0's anti aliasing filter.

play the "ugliness" for a while and you'll find 2.0 weird then.

semiticgoddess

2.0 must be gorgeous if it makes Icewind Dale look homely.

Stormvessel

semiticgod said:

2.0 must be gorgeous if it makes Icewind Dale look homely.

2.0 looks very, very good. I didn't think it would make that much of a difference but it's almost like the sprites were redrawn it looks so good.

CutlassJack

I've been wanting to replay it but I'm holding off til it gets a 2.0 makeover. Even the change that lets you equip a mix of dual and two handed weapon types alone would make it so much better. I got spoiled by weapon sets in IWD2, which makes it hard to play the first one.

BelleSorciere

CutlassJack said:

I've been wanting to replay it but I'm holding off til it gets a 2.0 makeover. Even the change that lets you equip a mix of dual and two handed weapon types alone would make it so much better. I got spoiled by weapon sets in IWD2, which makes it hard to play the first one.

Same. I was into a playthrough but I'm holding off until 2.0 comes out.

gugulug5000

I think they confirmed this was happening in one of their streams. Hopefully it doesn't take too long.

Stormvessel

Oh, wow. Thank you guys. I now have hope. If IWDEE gets the 2.0 treatment, it would be so great. Imagine a Shaman in IWDEE! It's such a good fit.

tortuosit

Very much waiting to play IWD again and for 2.0 to hit IWD.

Pteran

@Stormvessel I've yet to change over to 2.0, so I'm not aware of the graphical changes. Do you have any comparison screenshots?

bob_veng

iwd is beautiful. it has nicer graphics than any of the bg games.

Stormvessel

Pteran said:

@Stormvessel I've yet to change over to 2.0, so I'm not aware of the graphical changes. Do you have any comparison screenshots?

Um, hold on...

Stormvessel

Obviously I can't compare a screenshot of BG 2.0 with BG before, but here is BG 2.0 compared zoomed in with IWDEE zoomed in:





Now imagine how good it looks zoomed out. And it does look incredible zoomed out.

Wraith_Sarevok

I HATE that. It's the same stupid crap they put in Super Smash Bros 3DS where you can turn on thick outlines around your character. Turned it off within the first 5 seconds of playing. Why does ANYONE like that? It's so distracting and it constantly takes my eyes out of the game. IWDEE looks so much better to me. You can appreciate that they're sprites. Pixels are awesome.

JuliusBorisov

I'm happy they've made sprite outlines optional in the 2.0. To me, BG (and IWD) will always look in pixels, I'm loving it, I just can't change my feelings about it.

Maybe the reason of @Stormvessel 's view is that he came to IE games after more modern games, like Skyrim (I remember you saying so). To many of those BG players from the past, new sprite outlines are not welcome. And when you think I also like games like Might and Magic VI, VII and VIII, you get the picture.

So I just turn them off and the problem is solved.

dunbar

Stormvessel said:

Obviously I can't compare a screenshot of BG 2.0 with BG before, but here is BG 2.0 compared zoomed in with IWDEE zoomed in:





Now imagine how good it looks zoomed out. And it does look incredible zoomed out.

Now I know what people are complaining about. Those new sprites remind me of a picture book I had when I was a very, very small child where I could glue pictures of animals onto a pre-drawn background. At least the pixelly ones look like they're part of the game, rather than something that's been stuck on your screen as a joke.

mikkle

I think they made they made the outlines to match the esthetics mobile games have. I guess with time most people will play it on ipads

Zilchk

dunbar said:

Stormvessel said:

Obviously I can't compare a screenshot of BG 2.0 with BG before, but here is BG 2.0 compared zoomed in with IWDEE zoomed in:





Now imagine how good it looks zoomed out. And it does look incredible zoomed out.

Now I know what people are complaining about. Those new sprites remind me of a picture book I had when I was a very, very small child where I could glue pictures of animals onto a pre-drawn background. At least the pixelly ones look like they're part of the game, rather than something that's been stuck on your screen as a joke.

Nostalgia goggles aside in BG environments and characters are much more detailed, they should fix it in IW but IW is obviously secondary for them. I personally would like some new expansion for IW, perhaps after BG2 expansion.

mashedtaters

@dunbar @Wraith_Sarevok

You can turn off the Sprite change in the game and use the old version without any hassle.

It is mostly useful for mobile devices, such as tablets and phones. In an already tiny handset, I would imagine that it makes a world of difference having the sprites shine out like that.

I agree that I prefer the old style by far. Pixels just...enchant me. I'm not a big fan of cartooniness in games, but some people really like them, and it's difficult to argue that it wouldn't be useful for tablets and phones.

mysterymeep

My first RPGs were back for the NES, but I still love the new version best so far. They're so much cleaner! It lets me see more of what they're doing and how they look.

ifupauline

I never zoom, so no issue for me.

BanArd

Whoever came up with the idea of sprite outlines played Borderlands too much.

rapsam2003

Stormvessel said:

Obviously I can't compare a screenshot of BG 2.0 with BG before, but here is BG 2.0 compared zoomed in with IWDEE zoomed in:

The 2.x stuff has NOT been ported to IWDEE yet.

BelleSorciere

BanArd said:

Whoever came up with the idea of sprite outlines played Borderlands too much.

The bolded bit is completely unpossible. There is no "too much."

dok0zhivago

I installed SoD yesterday evening. After 5 minutes of playing, I disabled sprite outlines & health bar. I don't find those graphic options superior to IWD in any way.
Vanilla IWD was a beautiful game and I find the EE version the same

Seldar

I wonder how u can play with that sprite outlines in the 2.0, it's just awful except if u play on a 40" at 5 meters from you screen

It looks like the characters are from another game and the background from another too...

That said, I admit the zoom in IWDEE is horrible with that mess of pixels, but I dont care, I never use the zoom

dok0zhivago

Seldar said:

I wonder how u can play with that sprite outlines in the 2.0, it's just awful except if u play on a 40" at 5 meters from you screen

It looks like the characters are from another game and the background from another too...

That said, I admit the zoom in IWDEE is horrible with that mess of pixels, but I dont care, I never use the zoom

As far as sprite outlines go this has to be the best description I've read so far.

rapsam2003

Seldar said:

I wonder how u can play with that sprite outlines in the 2.0, it's just awful except if u play on a 40" at 5 meters from you screen

It looks like the characters are from another game and the background from another too...

That said, I admit the zoom in IWDEE is horrible with that mess of pixels, but I dont care, I never use the zoom

If you spend more than an hour playing the game with sprite outlines, you realize that it actually looks better.

Aedan

rapsam2003 said:

If you spend more than an hour playing the game with sprite outlines, you realize that it actually looks better.

Didn't work for me, so I turned the option off. Thanks Beamdog for leaving this feature optional

dok0zhivago

rapsam2003 said:

Seldar said:

I wonder how u can play with that sprite outlines in the 2.0, it's just awful except if u play on a 40" at 5 meters from you screen

It looks like the characters are from another game and the background from another too...

That said, I admit the zoom in IWDEE is horrible with that mess of pixels, but I dont care, I never use the zoom

If you spend more than an hour playing the game with sprite outlines, you realize that it actually looks better.

So playing with sprite outlines can be compared to smoking cigarettes?
I mean the first cigarette I smoked I didn't enjoy at all (I coughed and choked on it) but as time went by I found the taste and feeling better and better.
Doesn't make it a good thing though