Tell the reason of your choice, if possible

I did not like IWD2. Played it twice but I think IWD1 is much better. Okay okay the music was as beautiful as in IWD1, and yeah the 3E was applied too, and new graphics and some other things... but altogether it's far not as good as any other IE game.

I think that the battles weren't good. Most of the bigger battles were long, and unpleasant. All characters had lots of Hit Points (HP). They weren't much harder than in other IE games, but they weren't interesting. I admit that I actually liked IWD2 when playing it first time, but it's not a game I would play more than two times.
My good friend -- the web designer of the Black Wyrm's Lair, by the way -- decided not to finish the game just before Severed Hand! He uninstalled the game.

What do you think? What did you like? And what are the things that you did not?

I didn't vote yet, for two reasons: First: I'm missing an option like "IWDII was as good / bad as IWDI", and the second reason...
Icewind Dale Two? Did you say something? Hmmmm... yes, there was a game called by that name.. I don't really remember...
Honestly, I don't recall the storyline, even though it hasn't been long since I played it (only, well, one year). And the story line was very linear, that's the only thing I remember...

I 'm not very fond of the IWD series, it can't compare to BG at all. Story lines too linear, and then the fightings! Spawning creatures over and over and over out of nowhere, that wasn't fun, that was annoying!

EDIT: Gave my vote.

Storyline wasn't too exciting either, yeah.

I've added the option you mentioned to the poll. It does not modify the poll, because there is only one vote at the moment (mine), and that would have been the same if the new choice had been there earlier.

The storyline was pretty dire, imo. Though since I dont remember the IWD1 storyline, that might be a moot point.
There are some really snazzy opcodes and scripting commands in the IWDII engine though.

So... I voted IWD1 == IWD2.

IWD1 i think was by far the better of the two IWD's.

IWD1 i would even put on the same level as BG1 - as a whole. It's a different game so it's not fair to compare them but i think IWD1 had an atmosphere that i have rarely seen duplicated in any of the IE series.

The music, the monsters, the area's all combined to give a feeling to each area (my favourite is the Valley of the Dead or whatever, where the Yeti's are and that Kresselak guy).

BG1 also had some of this atmosphere but after the romances, banters and interjections of BG2 its hard to go back to BG1 (TuTu is reviving this, thankfully)

Point: IWD1 made you feel.

EDIT: I better put something here that is actually on topic. IWD2 generally sucked, i had more fun making the characters than actually playing the game. And like your friend Baronius i gave up at the Severed Hand! IWD2 exists on my hard drive now only to be looted for areas, items, bams and spells!

Rabain is right, I agree with him. IWD1 has its own atmosphere (areas, music, plot) but IWD2 hasn't - it is rather non-consistest series of areas and battles than epic game...

IWDII is exceptional.....


























........ when seen as nothing more then an advanced resource pack...

Hehe, that's why I have IWD2 installed.

-Galactygon

Same here. I found IWDII unenjoyable. Only a small part was my 3e resistance. It's the only game I've ever not finished. I created a party (which was some fun) then played for 20 min. Had no desire to continue at that point. No it sits on my system as a buffet of mod-dom.

The biggest problem is that is refised to maximise its strengths. The music, voicing and areas are all far in advance of BGII in my opinion yet they constituted only a lacklustre part of the entire game.

What could have been a brilliant, engaging and atmospheric game panned out as an avertage, bog-standard isometric hack and slash.

IWD II was definately good and that is because of the 3e rules. More flexibility and through that, more choices and deeper character builds.

IWD1 I find is more playable than IWD2 but not by much, I never get far in either 'till I find something else to play

I liked IWD2, the music was great and created alot of atmosphere. It is in no way on the same level as Baldur's Gate, or even BG2, as said before the game is far to linear, yet still worthy of a spot on any serious crpg addict's shelf of games that get revisited from time to time.

Oh yeah, IWD1 was slightly better.

I recently played it again, and got captivated by the many leveling choices. For months finding the perfect party became an obsession. I wrote a guide detailing my leveling choices for characters, and I plan to upload it somewhere on the net.

Update, my guide's in here:
http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showtopic=38

Yes, it was good.

Slightly better cause the more party creation choices...

but... the story is like xero... evil forces invade, go rescue the nation... boring

Voted the; No, it was much worse - as the 3ed is much worse than 2ed, punishing in the level reqs on the drow etc. , the game had bug on the 'feat of all choices'(Improved Initiative), the battles aren't hard, just long. And one of the mods just make the monsters unkillable.

I found iwd2 to be brilliant only for 3rd edition rules, making for very interesting character development choices. I enjoyed it until that dragon in jungle, after that the game got extremly boring to me. Kill, kill, kill....please. Just plain dull.

It's funny how the vote count linearly increases from the 1st option to the fifth: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5