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Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition announced
- Thread starter Black Soma
- Start date
LiquidSolid
Member
Ah, nice. I just remember all the complaints around launch, so have completely ignored them until now.
I'd be more interested in a Planescape Torment EE, as that has a lot of mechanical and UI problems that could do with a revision, but this is still pretty cool. I couldn't get into them before, but I might give Icewind Dale another shot with this sometime down the line.
They actually did the same thing with promotional shots of the Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition. I'm pretty sure it's just for the fun of it.
It's kinda amusing, because I think only Rorie and Dave Snider would be interested in these kinds of games.
They actually did the same thing with promotional shots of the Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition. I'm pretty sure it's just for the fun of it.
It's kinda amusing, because I think only Rorie and Dave Snider would be interested in these kinds of games.
It would have been nice to get both.
Still though there is nothing wrong with this.
KyanMehwulfe
Member
Despite being a giant fan of the setting, for both geographic and novel reasons, I never did enjoy the gameplay much of the two IWD games. It was more focused than BG, and maybe it was the timing of big open world RPGs available at the time and how MMOs were changing RPGs on PC, but I always got bored with the gameplay. Only reason I ever played it much is because I love snowy moutain forests and love the Icewind Dale setting.
That, and the music. The OST should easily be on any list for most epic gaming soundtracks. Both OSTs were just absolutely fantastic. If I used such words for Diablo or Final Fantasy, I'd be be wary of being too superlative -- but if there is one single gaming OST that deserves such words, if only to have more people search and appreciate it, then it's the Icewind Dale series.
Absolutely fantastic music.
That, and the music. The OST should easily be on any list for most epic gaming soundtracks. Both OSTs were just absolutely fantastic. If I used such words for Diablo or Final Fantasy, I'd be be wary of being too superlative -- but if there is one single gaming OST that deserves such words, if only to have more people search and appreciate it, then it's the Icewind Dale series.
Absolutely fantastic music.
human onion
Banned
The only time I beat the game was as a solo Fighter/Cleric, making undead encounters stupidly easy. Great game, but I wouldn't recommend a full party of 6, the exp gain is way too slow.
By the time you clear the game and expansions you'll be 15+, that's far from slow.
human onion
Banned
Dragon's Eye pretty much killed a run I was doing, so I decided to reroll and go solo. I guess it's my fault, but a first time player could make the same mistakes I did.
CrunchyFrog
Member
Best part about this is the Steamworks multiplayer. Unlike the BG series you can make an entire party from scratch and there is no player-contingent story, so it's perfect for multiplayer role playing. I'm probably gonna start a GAF game night series if I can find 5 other interested people.
Icewind Dale is one of the best aural experiences in video games ever. The music, the atmosphere and the effect sounds were all top notch.
Icewind Dale 2 was a good successor too.
CrunchyFrog
Member
Also is it just coincidence that the trailer and screenshots feature a party named entirely after the giant bomb guys or are we gonna be treated to a quick look in the near future?
Basically. You make a party from scratch and travel from one area to the next, following a completely linear story, battling enemies. The gameplay is focused entirely on these combat scenarios, and they demand a lot of strategy and quick thinking to keep from getting slaughtered. So very few actual sidequests (almost completely opposite from Baldur's Gate 2 in that regard), but what is there is very tightly designed. The game is rather short in comparison to most other WRPGs because of that, but on the upside you rarely have to worry about grinding and your party levels rather quickly so you can focus on developing each member. Early game's pretty unforgiving, but the difficulty curve eases up once your characters can take a few hits and you start finding good equipment. It's still hard, but it's fair.*
What little story is there is actually very well written (same guys that wrote Torment if I recall correctly) and has some amazing VA to accompany most of it. The music's fantastic, and the Wintery setting and varied locales make for some amazing visuals. Best atmosphere of the IE games, in my humble opinion.
*
Unless of course you have a bard with you. Then lategame he learns a song that trivializes most mook encounters so you can comfortably mow through most things that don't have names.
4 member party is how I originally beat it. I think that has the right balance of giving you a lot of combat options, and staying about on par with the encounters as you get through the game.
D_Generate87
Neo Member
YES. Both Icewind Dales are probably my favorite of this genre. As a kid, I actually bought Icewind Dale without having played Baldur's Gate...well, I loved it so much that I wanted more of it and I knew that Baldur's Gate was similar so I went out and got that, super stoked for another Icewind Dale experience. I created my first character...and realized that you don't create an entire party from scratch like in Icewind Dale. This turned me off so much that I basically put the game down and didn't play it again until I just recently purchased both EE editions on Steam. I'm finally giving Baldur's Gate another chance...but I'd definitely get EE editions of both Icewind Dale games in a heartbeat.
Icewind Dale also has music by Jeremy Soule...although my favorite song from them is in Icewind Dale 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f0M-kO0DdA
Icewind Dale also has music by Jeremy Soule...although my favorite song from them is in Icewind Dale 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f0M-kO0DdA
It's a dungeon crawler, the appeal is creating a full party of people and building them from zeroes to heroes.
It's in the tradition as games like Wizardry, Might & Magic, the Gold Box games and tons more.
Also it has a story, it's just not as central to the game as something like BG.
Chairman Yang
if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
Definitely a powerful spell, but IWD mages generally aren't as hugely overpowered as BG2 mages, because they don't have access to the same spell selection. This tends to make the encounters more challenging and interesting than they would be otherwise.But Haste! Nothing is more broken in the infinity engine D&D games than Haste (which is in Icewind Dale), especially when a single instance hits your whole party (I don't remember it working like that in the paper editions)
IWD is one of the best IE games to play in coop (because of the increased focus on combat mechanics and lessened one on dialogue and companion interactions).
I played the complete original game in coop earlier this year and it held up amazingly well. However, with two computer scientists playing it still required 2 hours and two seperate external programs for us to get the networking running (in the end we were tunneling IPX over a TCP/IP VPN), so a re-release which makes this easier for others to experience is a great thing.
I played the complete original game in coop earlier this year and it held up amazingly well. However, with two computer scientists playing it still required 2 hours and two seperate external programs for us to get the networking running (in the end we were tunneling IPX over a TCP/IP VPN), so a re-release which makes this easier for others to experience is a great thing.
Sawyer would nerf Haste into oblivion. It's about ten times more useful than any other spell at that level.
Starsunder
Member
Will buy day 1.
So excited!
So excited!
Basileus777
Member
The potential to have convenient multiplayer is the most exciting part of this.
Hopefully the balance isn't thrown off in this edition with the expanded spell selection.
So bought.... worth any price for the music alone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq5pT1pYrOY
The first time I entered Kuldahar, the art + this song gave me one of the best "feelings" moment of my video game life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y96Y2JE5F8
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
Great game. Not as good as the BG games for me, but I did like it better than Torment. I've never been able to finish IWD2 though, just not used to those 3rd edition rules.
Cosmic Schwung
Member
Does this make it a good game?
It was alright, but I never liked the "Create all six of your party and go!" idea. I preferred Baldur's Gate's create one person (you), and then meet the rest of your team.
It's set long before all that, unfortunately.
That1BlackGuy
Member
Hell yes, will definitely be grabbing this one up.
Icewind Dale is a very good game. IWD II is even better with the third edition rules.
The issue is that it seems to be made by the folks that made the BG1 and BG2EE and these are still buggy, unfortunately. Like BGII will crash to desktop in multiplayer when you reach a chapter screen and has not been patched. Ridiculous. Since it's impossible to beat the game in multi because there's a chapter screen just before the final battle and you can't connect to a friend's during a battle.
It also took a year for them to patch BGI EE to work on a dual GPU laptop.
The issue is that it seems to be made by the folks that made the BG1 and BG2EE and these are still buggy, unfortunately. Like BGII will crash to desktop in multiplayer when you reach a chapter screen and has not been patched. Ridiculous. Since it's impossible to beat the game in multi because there's a chapter screen just before the final battle and you can't connect to a friend's during a battle.
It also took a year for them to patch BGI EE to work on a dual GPU laptop.
Azure Wolf
Banned
It may not be exactly relevant to your point, but for what it's worth you can create your own party in BG2, or at least you could in the original version of the game, simply by starting an online game where it would let you create an entire party from scratch then reverting it to an offline save.
I always played through with just 2 custom characters out of a party of 6 though so I'd still get the pre-created character side quests and dialogue, etc.
I'm sure I didn't even scratch the surface, but after the vibrant story and atmosphere of BG 2 the Icewind series always left me feeling somewhat adrift and alone, and I never got that far with it as a result. Though I appreciate in many ways a stripped down, combat focused take on the concept is advantageous if you just want to get straight to the heart of the gameplay experience.
Rawket Lawnchair
Member
I remember that the IWD and BG games were re-released at some point back in 2006 in jewelcases. I bought both of them back then (Planescape Torment was in intellectual property hell at the time and was re-released in 2009) and no matter how hard I tried, I never managed to get into them.
2-3 years later I suddenly decided to install IWD 1 and just try it one final time, and it finally clicked with me. I think it's the most straight-forward and enjoyable game of the bunch (along with IWD2). BG and PST are fairly heavy in the story front.
2-3 years later I suddenly decided to install IWD 1 and just try it one final time, and it finally clicked with me. I think it's the most straight-forward and enjoyable game of the bunch (along with IWD2). BG and PST are fairly heavy in the story front.
CrunchyFrog
Member
Oh I totally get you, it's a distinct experience from that offered by BG. I found the nonspecific narrative liberating, though, personally. It's a bit more like playing a proper D&D campaign with a rag tag group of nothings getting sucked into an adventure to make of it as they want instead of something like BG where you're kinda chained to the character arc laid out before you with a hint of messiah complex. That's not to disparage BG at all, it's just that IWD is meant to be something different and in so doing lends itself more to multiplayer roleplay.
Rawket Lawnchair
Member
IWD had some pretty great voice-overs, as well as music.
I used to play it in May-June, with my windows open and the summer breeze coming in. Pretty amazing.
I used to play it in May-June, with my windows open and the summer breeze coming in. Pretty amazing.