Icewind Dale:EE, Worth the buy?

Guyfives

I'm a recreational BG player, I've been considering buying IWD for awhile now, but am unsure of it's quality, I've had similar thoughts about PST, and when I bought it, I felt dissatisfied with its UI and its story, should I purchase Icewind Dale?

ThacoBell

Its about as linear as Throne of Bhaal. And the story has nothing to do with your party, they just kinda show up where stuff is happening. FIghts tend to focus on large mobs of enemies as opposed to the small groups of BG. So it really depends on what you want. The artwork and music is gorgeous and much better than most of what you see in BG, so thats a plus. The game isn't balanced very well with all the classes though. Fighter classes have it much easier, as a lot of late game enemies are just immune to magic, so the game punishes you for not playing with just the right party. On the other hand, the npcs you meet (no joinable ones sadly) tend to be interesting and there is slightly more reactivity based on class than in BG. The dungeon design is typically pretty strong.

TLDR; its a mixed bag. Depending on what you want out of it, it could be anywhere on your range from bad to great. Personally I find it ok. about a 7/10

SethDavis

pro tip: playing through with 4 dwarven defenders and 2 dwarven fighter/clerics is pretty op.

Raduziel

IWD is the best IE game, IMO.

Guyfives

Raduziel said:

IWD is the best IE game, IMO.

The type of phrase, that without IMO, would destroy this community, I get your sentiment though, so I'll buy it.

fluke13

I picked it up along with the soundtrack for £5... is basically a crime not to buy it at this point

JuliusBorisov

"From the very first moment you meet it, Icewind Dale grumbles through its frozen beard that ‘I am going to be a old-fashioned pen and paper RPG’. It starts as your six adventurers, drinking around a table in the tavern of Easthaven, are approached by a mysterious stranger to go on a quest… cue a ramble across Icewind Dale, the frozen north of Faerun, the land of the Forgotten Realms book series ...

... following on that ‘mysterious quest in a pub’ RPG promise, Icewind Dale is as close to Diablo as Baldur’s Gate. Much of the game is spent killing. Killing skeletons, yetis, orcs, goblin, giants, thieves, umber hulks, salamanders, trolls, monks, golems, zombies, lizardmen, yuan-ti, mummies, shadows and liches. Amongst others. Unlike modern games, they really didn’t skimp on the monster types in ye olde days, and there are several tough battles that will require careful planning and character management to survive ...

... Unlike the earlier infinity engine games, you don’t get interactive characters or inter-party dialogue or plot from your party members here, nor can you recruit more as the game goes by. You generate them right at the start, use pre-generated ones, or import ones from other games ...

These characters of yours travel out from the great druidic tree of Kuldahar to explore why its warming aura is fading in the snowbound lands of Icewind Dale. Though in description the story seems rich enough, it mainly consists of killing lots of people in a whistle stop tour of Faerun’s minority factions. Occasionally, you get to talk to them before you kill them. Thankfully, there are the usual endless Black Isle sidequests, varying from rebuilding an Elven arboretum to repeatedly rescuing villagers, which add a little more flavour to the world. Black Isle’s (Obisidian’s) dialogue is as witty as ever, and the depth of NPC responses to different character classes adds to the already-enormous replay value ..."

https://www.pcgamer.com/icewind-dale-enhanced-edition-review/

Guyfives

Sadly not my cup of tea, I'll try playing it with some mods and a BG character.

megamike15

i find iwd is not as good as the other ie games. i needed the npc mod that added actual characters to enjoy the game. but i tend to like rpgs with actual people in my party not ones i make.

ANOF

I consider Icewind Dale to be a good introduction to the IE style of RPG. It does have weaknesses; it doesn't have a lot of depth and is very linear. But it's a fun blast in its own right, although its level of replay value is going to be dependent on whether or not you mind the aforementioned lack of depth.

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Raduziel

What I like more about IWD is precisely the lack of NPCs.

You're free to create the story you want. You're not Gorion's Ward who meets two Zentharim and two Harpists and a drow who escaped Menzoberranzan etc...

You can be whatever you want. During my DoF tests, I made a bloody Time of Troubles party. As if the gods and goddesses where cast out by Ao to wander the frozen lands.

Another run I made a full ilmaterite party (Paladin, Cleric, Monk and two hired henchman: a Ranger and a Mage/Thief).

Another run I made a full barbaric party.

And so it goes.

semiticgoddess

You're free to make whatever NPCs you want even in BG. But I do think IWD is better in this regard, simply because the portraits and soundsets are much more diverse and let you create a broader range of characters.

Of course, if you add in custom soundsets and portraits, that opens up a lot of possibilites for BG as well as IWD.

Raduziel

Even with a custom party in BG(2)EE, the formula doesn't work.

IWDEE is the history of a region, BG(2)EE is the story of a person. You'll always be chained to the whole GorionWard-Bhaalspawn situation.

Dev6

Raduziel said:

IWD is the best IE game.

There, I fixed that for you.