dl's opinion of IWD Options

[dragon_lord]

So I finally got around to playing Icewind Dale the other day and what can I say? It's got nothing on BG. It's like they took the best bits out of BG and made a game out of it. The first complaint I have is that there's no party joinable NPCs. The joinable NPCs and interaction where the best parts of BG, and they've just gone and removed them. No kits - why o why? And the magic animation is terrible its just blobs of poorly animated colour.

So far I've found the game to be quite boring. It's just endless hordes of the same type of monster trolling through an endless dungeon. Then you get to another endless dungeon and it's just a different type of monster. Yawn. The thing that made BG dungeons interesting is that each level was different and there was usually a puzzle or quest of some sort involved to precede to the next level. If there's any puzzle in an IWD dungeon it's spread across multiple levels of the dungeon - it's like jam thinly spread across too much bread. To top off the boredom theres basically no background music in the dungeons.

I would describe IWD as a multiplayer game of tob. Yes that bad. Just like tob it's hack and slash baby with no player freedom in where to go. What the devs failed to realise when making IWD is that the combat in BG isn't the most thrilling thing in the world - you can just turn the AI on and watch the fight. That doesnt make for an entertaining hack and slash game. Diablo, another hack and slash game, is fun to play because it's combat involves continual input from the player. And it's a solo experience so your attention is focused on you character surviving, and using their abilities to the fullest. Probably the best thing about IWD is the interface and area graphics which look better than BG's. I wonder if it's worth even playing IWD2 if it's going to be this boring.

[Andyr]

I enjoyed IWD1 quite a lot--though it is a different style of game to BG2.

I like the fact that you can choose your own party, actually. Though some joinable NPCs would have improved it.

No kits - why o why?

Because they coded it on the BG1 engine which did not support kits.

And the magic animation is terrible its just blobs of poorly animated colour.

Do you mean the graphics for the different spell schools? I prefer those to the BG2 ones, actually...

So far I've found the game to be quite boring. It's just endless hordes of the same type of monster trolling through an endless dungeon.

I will agree that it is much more of a dungeon crawl than BG2, yeah.

To top off the boredom theres basically no background music in the dungeons.

I can't check right now, but I remember thinking the music was really good... in the outdoor areas only. I don't recall the dungeons.

Probably the best thing about IWD is the interface and area graphics which look better than BG's.

Yeah, I really liked the visuals.

I wonder if it's worth even playing IWD2 if it's going to be this boring.

I preferred the story and feel of IWD1 to IWD2. But then, I liked IWD1 so don't know if this will be of any use to you. IWD2 is closer to 3E rules (though there are departures), and that's a ruleset I prefer, but I didn't find the story as interesting.