Didn't IWD used to be harder?

unavailable

Last time I played was from the CD version, around 2005 I think. I might not remember much, but I distinctly recall feelings of frustration that the game just isn't giving me at the moment. Maybe it was harder, or maybe I was just very bad at the game back then?

bob_veng

yes, it was significantly harder because of a lack of bg-specific mechanics, kits and spells which permits for more tactical freedom. there are some new items too.
however nothing has been made more difficult to counterbalance this.

edit: there's a more detailed explanation here ("difficulty comparison") https://lilura1.blogspot.com/2016/12/Icewind-Dale-Enhanced-Edition-Review.html

SomeSort

Yeah, if you avoid all the BG-specific stuff that got added when the engines were merged, the game will become more difficult again. No kits, no weapon styles, none of the new spells, etc. (Actually, this should make it even harder than pre-EE IWD was, because the 3rd-level haste spell was heavily nerfed in the transition. Haste used to double APR for everyone, now it just adds +1 APR for everyone like it did in BG2.)

Also, difficulty has always ebbed and flowed in IWD. If you're in the Vale of Shadows or the Severed Hand, it's no surprise that things aren't feeling very tough. If you're in Dragon's Eye or Dorn's Deep and things still feel easy... well then, the game has gotten substantially easier for you, because those sections were *hard* in the original.

The best part of Icewind Dale, in my opinion, is just how cool and tactical the spawns become when you set the difficulty to Insane. That should help alleviate your boredom, just make sure you turn off the bonus XP option so you don't wind up overleveled for the content (and find the game getting easy again). If going to insane makes things *too* hard, you can turn off the damage bonus on the enemies, too.

(That's actually my favorite way to play IWD: Insane difficulty, no damage bonus for enemies, no bonus XP. You're basically just getting the better spawns, which make the game much more tactical.)

Arctodus

Can't agree more with you @SomeSort. That's exactly how I'm playing IWD right now, aka Insane difficulty, no damage bonus for enemies, no bonus XP. Plus, no kits, no Sorcerers, no weapon style, and no reallocation of stats on character creation (as many roll as I want though). Also, just for bonus, no reload : I missed learning Invisibility with my bard, so my cleric/thief can't backstab effectively, because she's invested her points in traps and locks. Since scrolls are hard to find in IWD, that miss has a real consequence on my playthrough.

Let just say that, played that way, IWD is much harder than if you go in it with min-max Dwarven Defenders, Sorcerers and Archers.

sarevok57

@unavailable if you're interested, I made a mega mod for IWD ( and it effects How and ToTLM ) which completely revamps the whole game and one of the major features of the mod I made was that the difficulty not only dictates tougher enemies on higher difficulties but on higher difficulties enemies will use better spells, items and abilities

the only down side is that I didn't make a weidu version for it, so if you have other mods you will have to install them over top of mine ( since my mod is just a copy paste to the override folder )

unavailable

sarevok57 said:

@unavailable if you're interested, I made a mega mod for IWD ( and it effects How and ToTLM ) which completely revamps the whole game and one of the major features of the mod I made was that the difficulty not only dictates tougher enemies on higher difficulties but on higher difficulties enemies will use better spells, items and abilities

the only down side is that I didn't make a weidu version for it, so if you have other mods you will have to install them over top of mine ( since my mod is just a copy paste to the override folder )

I might want to restart for this... I'm about to go to dragons eye... how much have I completed so far?

SomeSort said:

Yeah, if you avoid all the BG-specific stuff that got added when the engines were merged, the game will become more difficult again. No kits, no weapon styles, none of the new spells, etc. (Actually, this should make it even harder than pre-EE IWD was, because the 3rd-level haste spell was heavily nerfed in the transition. Haste used to double APR for everyone, now it just adds +1 APR for everyone like it did in BG2.)

Also, difficulty has always ebbed and flowed in IWD. If you're in the Vale of Shadows or the Severed Hand, it's no surprise that things aren't feeling very tough. If you're in Dragon's Eye or Dorn's Deep and things still feel easy... well then, the game has gotten substantially easier for you, because those sections were *hard* in the original.

The best part of Icewind Dale, in my opinion, is just how cool and tactical the spawns become when you set the difficulty to Insane. That should help alleviate your boredom, just make sure you turn off the bonus XP option so you don't wind up overleveled for the content (and find the game getting easy again). If going to insane makes things *too* hard, you can turn off the damage bonus on the enemies, too.

(That's actually my favorite way to play IWD: Insane difficulty, no damage bonus for enemies, no bonus XP. You're basically just getting the better spawns, which make the game much more tactical.)

I think I'm playing fairly enough. Most of us are multiclasses, only arcane casters are a bard (pure) f/m and f/m/t. Three of us are dual weilding, one of us has a pip in 2h style for the crit chance bonus our only kit is an undead hunter. There are many ways of varying the difficulty besides the exp and damage scaling, both of which I have turned on. If things get too easy, I will lower some attributes with ee keeper. I haven't really had to try my best since that one corner in the south west of the first bandit cave with the 4 ogres, and what might have been 7 or 8 orcs with mixed ranged and melee. I've not used a lot of magic spells since then.

SomeSort

unavailable said:

I'm about to go to dragons eye... I haven't really had to try my best since that one corner in the south west of the first bandit cave with the 4 ogres, and what might have been 7 or 8 orcs with mixed ranged and melee. I've not used a lot of magic spells since then.

If you'll forgive my selective editing, I think this is perhaps a large part of it. The section from the Ogre cave to Dragon's Eye is one of the easier sections of the game. I'd recommend trying to play through Dragon's Eye first and seeing if things were still easy before restarting or changing things, because Dragon's Eye is much more punishing than the Vale of Shadows. (Well, level 1 is kind of a cakewalk, but level 2-5 is one of the toughest stretches in the game.)

BelgarathMTH

An undead hunter kit and three dual wielders are *enormous* bonuses in power over the original game. There were no undead hunters and dual wielding didn't exist.

JuliusBorisov

I can recommend using https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/65184/version-1-of-the-tweaks-anthology-now-available to change the proficiency system to how it was in original IWD. You can also purposely not use kits and classes from BG, and not dual-wield weapons.

Taking rolls for your characters as they are, without any adjusting (and thus min-maxing) will also make your game fairer. Really, it will make you actually look at the stats and not their total. No 18-18-18 characters does really make a difference.

Also, don't reload on learing spells and level-ups, take the results of these things no matter if they're positive or not. Missing on several spells will add to the challenge.

Actually, don't reload at all. If you have party members killed, it will make you spend money, and thus limit your overall resources to buy items. Resurrecting elves will make it even more difficult (as it costs hugely). If you don't reload and think about those risks, fights will suddenly become more interesting to you.

This is how I've played IWD:EE the last time and greatly enjoyed it.

So my views share the same points @SomeSort and @Arctodus have given, althouth I add Insane damage to the mix. Even the Vale of Shadows and the Severed Hand will be difficult this way.

vayperski

BelgarathMTH said:

dual wielding didn't exist.

There was a little known ability that rangers had that enabled them to get an extra attack if they used 2 1-handers in both their weapon slots (or 2 adjacent weapons slots, if they had 3 - can't remember)

This was specifically put in the game to simulate two weapon fighting.

So yeah...it kinda existed, for one class

ThacoBell

vayperski said:

BelgarathMTH said:

dual wielding didn't exist.

There was a little known ability that rangers had that enabled them to get an extra attack if they used 2 1-handers in both their weapon slots (or 2 adjacent weapons slots, if they had 3 - can't remember)

This was specifically put in the game to simulate two weapon fighting.

So yeah...it kinda existed, for one class

I though it was as long as they used a one handed weapon and had no shield.

Shikao

I think there is also another angle - 2005 was 12 years ago. Think of much you changed in that time, what you learnt, how many games you played and so on. In other words, YOU 'leveled up' as player and thanks to your accumulated experience the game might seem easier =]

DreadKhan

ThacoBell said:

vayperski said:

BelgarathMTH said:

dual wielding didn't exist.

There was a little known ability that rangers had that enabled them to get an extra attack if they used 2 1-handers in both their weapon slots (or 2 adjacent weapons slots, if they had 3 - can't remember)

This was specifically put in the game to simulate two weapon fighting.

So yeah...it kinda existed, for one class

I though it was as long as they used a one handed weapon and had no shield.

Iirc, it was as long as you used a slashing weapon and no shield. Rangers could easily lead at low levels because of this. Pretty sure I used two-handed weapons w/ the bonus too.

vayperski

ThacoBell said:

I though it was as long as they used a one handed weapon and had no shield.

Could be; can't say for certain I remember the details right after all these years.

semiticgoddess

It worked for staffs as well as swords. It made Rangers the best damage dealers by far in the pre-EE games.