2962

I never actually played the IWD games, even though I adored the BG games. Are the IWD games worth snagging, y’all?

2963

Yes, they certainly are.

There are some differences though:

  • less focus on story, more on combat
  • all characters are created by you = you can’t have those “scripted” conversations between your party members
  • due to less focus on story they are easier to put down and pick up again
2964

I never got into the Baldur’s Gate series but absolutely loved IWD and IWD2. The character building and combat are super fun.

2965

Yeah, which is why I never played it too far. My error was playing it after Torment and wondering where the story and world building is, IIRC.

Now though … :)

2966

To elaborate on what razok said:

  1. It’s more of a pure dungeon crawl. Don’t misunderstand me, you don’t get dropped into a 10 (or whatever) level dungeon and go from there. But the game is more about kicking ass and taking names. There are quests, and a plot, but there is no “explore my companions’ back stories” type stuff. You are rolling a party, and the game is based around the idea you will take that party and then go forth and destroy bad guys.

IMO, the story in BG 2 is overrated (and most of the companions would have improved the game noticeably if they hadn’t shown up for work the day it was made), so I was glad for the lack of talking/reading. One day I sear to Bob I am going to roast that winged elf chick and eat her. But never mind.

It really is a different style of game than BG/BG2, so it obviously depends on what you like.

  1. Rolling your own party in a system like D&D has a certain attraction to it for some people. This isn’t about ditching pre-defined characters/backgrounds/party banter/etc (though I didn’t miss it). Indiividual character development is important but so is how you fit your band of would be dungeon wreckers together. This game play element has sadly been lost to the indies (and not many of them are really taking advantage of it). The only mainstream titles that pop into my head in the last decade are the flawed but awesome ToEE and Wiz 8. In classic CRPG gaming this was one of the major things you had to think about (and indeed, early CRPGS were fascinating in part because you typically didn’t have absolute control over an entire party in table top gaming).

It may not be your thing, but a good party planning session is a great way to put your mind to work. Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale 2 are pretty strong in this area, offering a game system that is complex but not as elaborate as 3e, making for equally interesting/deep character development and party construction.

2967

Oohhh, I didn’t know it let you roll entirely your own party. I like that! Sold! Thanks guys!

2968

Thinking about party construction and dual classing strategies is making me tingly all over.

2969

Anybody know if there’s a version of Icewind Gate 2 that’s basically functional?

2970

Gate? Gale? All infinity games run nicely with modern equipment. Please clarify.

2971

It’s a mod that converted BG2 to the ID2 version of the Infinity Engine. Thereby taking advantage of the “2.5 edition ness” among other things. Though I should say the mod was going to do that, but it never got out of beta. Or early beta. Or something.

2972

Oh. Did not know. I should have googled it. Thanks.

2973

Yeah, it’s a bit of a mess - best to avoid except for the 2.5 diehards who don’t mind exporting/deleting/importing NPC’s on the fly just to stop the game from crashing and who aren’t bothered by occasionally corrupted icons.

2974

DO NOT WANT

I tried to play through IWD a couple of times, but I never could get into it. I know it’s combat intensive, but IDW took that to an entirely new level. I remember the combat being unrelenting and growing stale after a while. I might try again sometime now that it’s out for $10 at GOG, but with FO:NV coming in two weeks I’ll hold off on another RPG for now.

2975

I remember the end especially being a horrible slog through caves jam packed with trolls and other nasties. There would be a clump of them, then a gap, then another big clump, then a gap, etc.

2976

If I recall correctly, this was a very hard game to get started in. The beginning fights were just brutal, and party composition was everything. Or am I remembering it wrong?

2977

The IWDs didn’t do it for me. BGs had plenty of combat, and story to boot!

2978

No, you’re remembering it correctly. I started a party and got stuck on the first dungeon and just couldn’t figure out how to get past certain enemies. Then a friend and my roommate started the game, and 3 of us tackled the game together, with only 3 characters, and suddenly that same fight didn’t seem all that hard anymore.

There were other fights in which the 3 of us had a hell of a time. I remember we seemed to hit a bit of a brick wall at a cave filled with a LOT of frost giants, and my fighter-mage friend drank all the potions in his inventory at once, which gave him unbelievable god-like powers and made him breserk so we followed at a safe distance while his character wandered around out of his control annihilating anything in his path, including over a dozen frost giants. And then suddenly, all his potions ran out at the moment when there was still one frost giant left, but luckily we were still sticking with him (barely) and helped him with that cleanup. So that’s when we learned that from then on, we could be fairly liberal with our potion use, and unlike other games, potion use was actually a pretty key part of the game.

We got so potion happy that suddenly we realized we’d mostly bought most of the potions available in town and maybe we shouldn’t have been THAT liberal with the potions. Luckily the vendor in town did restock on potions after certain points in the story, I believe.

2979

Hell yes. I LOVE those games. In fact, I replayed them a couple of years ago and loved them all over again. I think they have better replayability than any of the other IE games, because they aren’t heavily story based at all. It’s almost like playing a Diablo game. Lots of loot and combat, but still really cool locations and music.

2980

The loot is randomised too. Sometimes you find elven chainmail, sometimes you don’t.

2981

I thought that was IWD2 that used 3rd edition (or at least a modified 3rd edition).