I just love IWD. The music, the art style, the environment, even when the action packed adventure sometimes proved too much for the 12yrs old me to handle, all these elements came together giving me an emersive and believable harsh, rusty, frozen northern Iceland to play in. And when the moment you know who's telling the story the whole time just blew my little mind back then.
Dude I just found this, I have not checked, but I hope you have not stopped making videos like this. You have talent, so you'll reach people. It's just a matter of time and us sharing this.
Icewind dale was the first infinity engine I played, and it will always hold a special place in my heart, even though I never beat it. The severed hand dungeon was just too brutal.
7:58 Creating a full party of 4-6 characters where you choose their classes and everything is the classic RPG experience. Look at Wizardry, look at Ultima, look at Might and Magic, look at the original Final Fantasy, that's how all of those games played; you created your party with the classes you wanted and had fun exploring the dungeons and fighting the enemies. It's a perfectly fine and enjoyable gameplay formula, in fact being able to create you own team is one of the main appeals and gives them lots of replay value since you can do another play-through with different classes for a completely different experience.
I roleplayed my characters via custom journal entries, both imaginary and based on what happened in the story and battles. Like actual character development bases on carrying a fallen ally back to the temple in kuldahar for example. In the end, I grew very attached to the characters during that playthru
Review of this review: 10/10 I too, spent a literal 3 days in character creation, wrote them biographies and workshopped names. Also yeah man, the boss fights are haaard AF especially when the undead boss started throwing symbols of hopelessness in my face 😅 One of the hardest bastards I’ve ever faced in my gaming history (and that wasn’t even the midway point of the game!) and one of THE most satisfying kills ever. And what you said about more things to do in the game doesn’t make for a better game is super true. I’d argue that Icewind Dale is one of the most laser-focused and intentional games to get released, EVER. It feels good as a linear game because the whole thing really does feel like a table-top game. I mean, even the intro sounds like a DM!
I also find it more approachable to replay as an adult. I know that IWD is going to be around a 40-hour experience (with Heart of Winter) rather than the 100+ hours for BG2. The linearity also helps because I can step away from the game for a few weeks (or months) and dive back in without trying to remember what's going on with a dozen or more sidequests.
IWD is my favorite of the Infinity Engine games and the exact reason is the engaging combat. Btw, I'm glad I found your channel, you make awesome videos.
Icewind Dale is king. A game so good I wrote a song about it (Icetroll Murderhobo.) It was the only infinity engine game that "grabbed" me back in the day. Baldurs Gate is great but I hated it when I first played it. It had like 6 CDs and was slow paced and super wonky. It was like having a DM that wanted you to play through their fanfiction but forgot to playtest any of their encounters so you get stuff like fighting a level 5 wizard at the beginning of the game. Icewind Dale was the opposite. It doesn't have much of a story but every dungeon is expertly crafted and balanced. It's challenging but always gives you the tools you need to figure out a way to win. I am replaying all the games now and this one is just as fun now as it was back then. The dungeons are just super well designed and they're actually fun to inhabit and explore.
Personally I always loved IWD. The ability to build a themed group CANNOT be overstated. The Heart of Winter, while fun to play and a great story addition, was also free! I can't understand why people didn't like the game.
1 year latter and only 373 votes. This is criminal for a really good video. I 100% share of your opinion. Thanks for making this. I just finished Icewind Dale and i must say it was an amazing experience. There is something about this game that is special to me. I don't know if its the setting or the music. Now, let me go back to Earth of Winter.
I found your content recently and really love your cozy approach, while still organised. Your voice is also really soothing to listen to. Keep this quality up, I consider you a hidden gem for now, but you have that Noah Caldwell-Gervais potential, in my opinion.
One of the very first games I have ever played and definitely my first cRPG. I was mesmerized by it when it launched. Until this day, I am confident I've spent the most hours into this game than any other. The story, the setting, the music, epic fights and endless companion/gear builds makes it very replayable. One of those games I constantly come back to and probably play until old age. I am extremely surprised to see portraits of NPC's you talk to and fight with. I've played hundreds of hours into IWD:EE and I don't remember seeing them, why? Jeremy Soul - brilliant composer, but just an Orc it seems ;) I thank you for this video :)
BG games were fun, but IMO it was not the Dungeon Crawling aspect that made them amazing and IWD was said to be focused on that. So for me I never even gave it a chance until the EE version finally made me give it a chance. Oddly now I actually want to play ToEE.
It's a bit of a weird thing to insinuate that Icewind Dale "didn't get enough credit" or "received the most flack". It was well received upon release by both players and critics, and it's remembered rather fondly. I certainly like the game quite a bit, and I honestly haven't met a whole lot of people who have a strong dislike for the game (unless its people who like Infinity Engine games as whole, in which case, fair enough). Great video though, I like the style.
What absolutely kills me about IWD is that it did things many give account to original Baldur's Gate. Like proper race/class reactions and dialogue choice. In BG there was no such thing at all. In IWD one of first things that happen after tutorial is over - you meet the giant with a headache in an optional location. Normally you would have to go to Kuldahar, talk to town's headmaster, and return to giant, but if you have druid in the party, they will do exactly the same thing and will provide help to poor creature. Ain't that nice?
I just played this game over the last couple of weeks and have had more fun playing it then most modern day games. Wish there was more games in this style
I beat IWD about a month ago, I had to speed up the frames because character movement was horrendously slow, but that was my only issue with it. I had a blast!
I abandoned the game twice, in both cases after getting stuck in Dragon's Eye, but watching your video around a month ago motivated me to try again with a better party and today I finally finished it. I think the first chunk of the game really doesn't do it justice, the Temple has the same two types of enemies copied over in every room and Dragon's Eye's levels are unnecessarily large and visually boring (though I agree that the boss fight is well designed). I really liked the rest of the game, the fights became more enjoyable and the background art extremely pleasing, sometimes I even found myself exploring an area again to peek at the little details before proceeding to the next one (the salamander museum especially is a work of art). I even enjoyed the story overall, though obviously not as much as BG. I'll move to HoW in the next days, and probably grab IWD2 later.
That is awesome!! I'll always have a soft spot of IWD's environments. HoW is a good time and I've got another video where I talk about IWD2 (also really good but some of the circumstances of its development show). Hope you enjoyed!
You earned a new sub with that praise for AD&D 2nd edition! Icewind Dale is special to me because it was the first game I purchased for my new PC (my first computer that was mine alone) before I went away to college. As a lover of old-school dungeon crawlers, it ranks as my #1 Infinity Engine game. The environments, music (issues with the composer aside), and gameplay have never been topped. The enhanced edition with the option for character kits adds a whole new level of party customization. I have to ask, though, how did you get NPC portraits into your game during conversations? I've never seen that before.
This review is perfect! Really like it, I remember the first video of yours I've watched was about Baldur's gate blackpits and subscribed. Then forgot about this channel until I've spotted this in my recommendations! There's some charm to your videos. Keep it up and you'll get a much bigger following! I'm sure you will!
I won't lie playing Icewind Dale 1 made me appreciate BG1/2 more. Icewind Dale help me learn the minutiae in AD&D 2e combat and helped me learn how to do proper character builds in that system. So when I went back to the Baldur's Gate games I had a vastly better experience and enjoyed it keep because of that knowledge. I'll always love Icewind Dale for it's combat experience that helped me appreciate the Infinity Engine games a whole lot more.
I just found this video - full of mistakes. Baldurs gate also have option to create 6 characters - but no one use it , it was totally forgotten. Baldurs gate doesn't have a thief - what is yoshimo ? Sorcerer maybe . he was intended to be replaced it for Imoen who have enough thief skills. Icewind didn't have balanced combat - it had trash mobs mostly. baldurs gate 1 had mage duels , rival parties and enemies like basilisk and sirens which requred special tactics. BG2 had even more of this with dragons, beholders, vampires, golems, liches and demiliches and mind flayers all of which required special tactics, preparations and items. Traps were deadly. Icewind on the other hand have zero of this , you can easily beat the game wihthout a thief . I can count on one hand enemies that are immune to normal arrows which makes archers gods for the whole game not just the beginning. And the addons broke the whole pacing - no export with items , if you want to use one party to finish all you stop before supposed important boss, than play a little first addon, that finish the trials which makes cakewalk Heart of Winter last boss that when you came back to original story there is no challenge at all. At balance were thrown at the garbage. As a talk about the pacing it was very "good" idea to give you quests where you are at the end point of dungeon , than navigate back 2 levels with bad pathfinding, travel half of the map, do little combat and than return back all the wayyyyy, and than for the third time travel outside. The whole system was like this. Durlag's Tower alone had more content and better dungeon design than whole of Icewind Dale.
I have played BG, BG2, IWD, IWD2 back in the day. And out of those 4 only IWD, IWD2 managed to complete. They ware more fun to me than BG series. Especially playing them with 5 friends in local lan party. The utter chaos of auto pause and screaming your actions to 'party leader' who's in the other room than u.. ah. memories. T.y. :)
when I first played IWD after BG2, I stopped playing quickly as I missed the party banter and the non linear history. When I played a second time, without the expectations, I really enjoyed it for its qualities, and it made total sense. A game , like Diablo, focus totally in combat, which it does very well.
13:00 Well the problem with Storm of Zehir is mostly how unstable and poor the campaign works with those systems. Loading screens take a lot of time, characters already use their default AI before models load on so sometimes battle is already over. Also rewards are so big for simple random encounters it doesn't feel right. Also stuff from base game that didn't work already like camera, interface and random bug generator. I'm not kidding, each time I installed this game new bugs showed up, sometimes collision were wrong on specific tilesets, sometimes animations were put incorrectly, sometimes cutscenes broke for no reason. Mixing all issues it feels like tech demo for good expansion or base game. I would love to return to jungle of Chult for bigger adventure but... there is so little joy of it. Maybe for an hour or two. But the overland map gives some hope. At first player (usually after finishing Mask of Betrayer) is welcomed by colorful hidden country of Samarah. It brings so much joy at first. So many options. You can pick up a stick! Or a bottle and fight with a bottle! Or poke a stick with a stick! Then we learn that Samarah lives in fear of Yuan-Ti and because of it they are not very welcoming people. Everyone has spies, in this secret country, what kind of mysteries await us? None... The moment we enter the city the subplot of Samarah and their unique culture ends and whole thing is unexplored. Just like Jungle of Chult. There are dinosaurs out there! Oh, cool! Can we fight some tribes riding Dinosaurs to battle or discover some tribes on our own? Oh, how about some special wars between tribes? None of the above... There might be one or two encounters where humans and dinosaurs meet but outside of that? Dinosaurs are just big lizards with lootable teeth. You don't really hunt for money because trading system is completly busted. In second third of the game, there is transition and game becomes so simple. You invest some money... wait few days... you get some money... you invest MORE money... wait few days... you get the idea. And then there is crafting. It is very simple system. It is so simple that sitting in your base and waiting for the money allows you to make god tier armory. The rewards for finishing main quests are so big that skipping side quests is huge disservice for the player. You accidently finished main quest and you have so much XP there is no danger anywhere. What suppose to be a boss fight becomes a farming experience because you talk to two people. Icewind dale is not open and it is you against the dungeon. There is only one way... and the whole thing will shape your character. You no longer will be 6 drunk mercs from Eastheaven. You are gonna be 6 drunk mercs from Eastheaven who killed false gods and kings. I feel so bad for it for I love the ideas and concepts in this campaign. Each time I worked with the NWN 2 toolset I try to fix those issues but it is too much for me. All I can do is reduce XP, add new encounters (for example I added Halfogres from Chultian tribes), but I don't wanna remove the crafting for it feels great but I can't really change trading system so it wouldn't be broken.
I always ignored IWD because people said that it was just a dungeon crawler. With the EE however I finally gave it a chance and it was worth the playthrough. IT was enjoyable.
This is a bit of a simplification, but I see three major elements that make up a computer role playing game: narrative, exploration, and combat. Other elements, such as puzzles or platforming, may also be present. Many games emphasize one of these over the others, and players will have their preferences. In my case, I am drawn primarily to narrative and exploration, and I often find combat to be a nuisance, so it is a bit harder for me to get into a combat-focused game like Icewind Dale than a more story-focused game like Baldur's Gate, Pillars of Eternity, or Fallout: New Vegas. I've tinkered around in Icewind Dale but haven't gotten serious about pursuing it to completion. One of these days, I might give it another go and reduce the nuisance factor of the combat by playing on the easiest difficulty setting. Then, an interesting but sub-optimal party might be viable, and even if the story isn't the best, this game seems to have many interesting places to explore, which I would definitely enjoy. This video does a good job of explaining the situation with Icewind Dale. If people are judging these games largely based on the story, then a combat-focused game might not look so great in comparison. I try to judge games (and other things, for that matter) based on what they are trying to be. If Icewind Dale is, first and foremost, a combat-focused game, then it should be judged on that basis, and comparing it to Baldur's Gate might not be all that useful.
And it pains me that Icewind Dale 2 Enhanced Edition may never happen. People say the prime code of the original game is lost and they'd have to redo everything. :- (
To be fair Storm of Zehir coming out as an IWD style dungeon Crawler after we got a story giant like MotB was seriously disappointing. Also the gameplay and UI and mechanics (not talking about DnD) felt really clunky and didn't really lend themselves well to IWD type of experience.
I could see myself doing a video about AD&D, but I think one that runs through all of/compares them, while likely being very fun for me, has a lot of potential to get nasty in terms of viewer reaction. If I could think of some sort of unique way to present it, or even if I did it like a series of each edition getting it's own video, then maybe.
Black Sheep? IWD was great, I did not finish IWD2 though (but that is a me issue not a game issue). And I am fine with linear game play, keps me from getting too sidetracked and not finishing the game. I have completionist issues wich can make a game boring. :)
Assuming you're talking about the in-game combat, I would say that there are certainly strategies that are better suited for some fights as opposed to others, usually based on the enemies you're fighting. As for navigating individual ones (as well as the game in general), there have been a number of guides written over the years out on the web. Most of them are very good.
DnD 2nd edition doesnt work to well with crpgs for roleplay due to how limited you are with skills. Icewind Dale is all about taking the 2nd edition and making challenging fights within the rule set. I have a soft spot for Icewind Dale because it felt more of a ttrpg campaign then BG and PS.
you're wearing beer goggles on 2nd edition, Thac0 had to die! and instant death saves suck and don't get me started on the sexist characteristics maximums
what do you mean at 9:22 you're not going to touch the accusations you just mentioned accusations in the video meaning you touched it. if jeremy soule stabbed a few people they would still listen to his music
One of my absolute gaming memories for the atmosphere. Walking into Kuldahar for the first time...
P.s. This video is awesome! Thanks for sharing your perspective, Icewind Dale certainly takes way more criticism than it deserves.
Thank you! Kuldahar is easily one of my favorite in-game areas of all time. So much character in such a small place.
I just love IWD.
The music, the art style, the environment, even when the action packed adventure sometimes proved too much for the 12yrs old me to handle,
all these elements came together giving me an emersive and believable harsh, rusty, frozen northern Iceland to play in.
And when the moment you know who's telling the story the whole time just blew my little mind back then.
Dude I just found this, I have not checked, but I hope you have not stopped making videos like this. You have talent, so you'll reach people. It's just a matter of time and us sharing this.
Thank you!
Icewind Dale is my favorite series of the Infinity Engine games, absolutely love it. One of the all-time greats
I'd be lying if I said I don't actively look for reasons to make another video about this game. I've failed to this point.
>Linear game is not a bad game
100% agree with you. In fact I feel that I am starving for linear games nowadays. I hate empty open worlds.
Icewind dale was the first infinity engine I played, and it will always hold a special place in my heart, even though I never beat it. The severed hand dungeon was just too brutal.
Also, IWD has the best portraits, imo
7:58 Creating a full party of 4-6 characters where you choose their classes and everything is the classic RPG experience. Look at Wizardry, look at Ultima, look at Might and Magic, look at the original Final Fantasy, that's how all of those games played; you created your party with the classes you wanted and had fun exploring the dungeons and fighting the enemies. It's a perfectly fine and enjoyable gameplay formula, in fact being able to create you own team is one of the main appeals and gives them lots of replay value since you can do another play-through with different classes for a completely different experience.
I roleplayed my characters via custom journal entries, both imaginary and based on what happened in the story and battles. Like actual character development bases on carrying a fallen ally back to the temple in kuldahar for example. In the end, I grew very attached to the characters during that playthru
Review of this review: 10/10
I too, spent a literal 3 days in character creation, wrote them biographies and workshopped names. Also yeah man, the boss fights are haaard AF especially when the undead boss started throwing symbols of hopelessness in my face 😅 One of the hardest bastards I’ve ever faced in my gaming history (and that wasn’t even the midway point of the game!) and one of THE most satisfying kills ever.
And what you said about more things to do in the game doesn’t make for a better game is super true. I’d argue that Icewind Dale is one of the most laser-focused and intentional games to get released, EVER. It feels good as a linear game because the whole thing really does feel like a table-top game. I mean, even the intro sounds like a DM!
I also find it more approachable to replay as an adult. I know that IWD is going to be around a 40-hour experience (with Heart of Winter) rather than the 100+ hours for BG2. The linearity also helps because I can step away from the game for a few weeks (or months) and dive back in without trying to remember what's going on with a dozen or more sidequests.
IWD is my favorite of the Infinity Engine games and the exact reason is the engaging combat. Btw, I'm glad I found your channel, you make awesome videos.
BGI also had 2 expansions, Tales of the Sword Coast and, with BGEE, Siege of Dragonspear.
I have always loved Icewind Dale 1 and 2 and replay them every few years (specially the first one - the Enhanced Edition).
I love this game, the Yxunomei fight brought me to massacre a small village in real life.
11/10
Icewind Dale is king. A game so good I wrote a song about it (Icetroll Murderhobo.) It was the only infinity engine game that "grabbed" me back in the day. Baldurs Gate is great but I hated it when I first played it. It had like 6 CDs and was slow paced and super wonky. It was like having a DM that wanted you to play through their fanfiction but forgot to playtest any of their encounters so you get stuff like fighting a level 5 wizard at the beginning of the game. Icewind Dale was the opposite. It doesn't have much of a story but every dungeon is expertly crafted and balanced. It's challenging but always gives you the tools you need to figure out a way to win. I am replaying all the games now and this one is just as fun now as it was back then. The dungeons are just super well designed and they're actually fun to inhabit and explore.
Personally I always loved IWD. The ability to build a themed group CANNOT be overstated. The Heart of Winter, while fun to play and a great story addition, was also free! I can't understand why people didn't like the game.
1 year latter and only 373 votes. This is criminal for a really good video. I 100% share of your opinion. Thanks for making this. I just finished Icewind Dale and i must say it was an amazing experience. There is something about this game that is special to me. I don't know if its the setting or the music. Now, let me go back to Earth of Winter.
I found your content recently and really love your cozy approach, while still organised. Your voice is also really soothing to listen to. Keep this quality up, I consider you a hidden gem for now, but you have that Noah Caldwell-Gervais potential, in my opinion.
Wow! I hardly believe myself worthy of such praise, but I will do my damnedest to live up to those expectations.
Absolutely awesome content. Just finished your temple of elemental evil video, gonna be watching more
Thank you!
Wonderful video, this deserves some more views!
Thank you!
One of the very first games I have ever played and definitely my first cRPG. I was mesmerized by it when it launched. Until this day, I am confident I've spent the most hours into this game than any other. The story, the setting, the music, epic fights and endless companion/gear builds makes it very replayable. One of those games I constantly come back to and probably play until old age.
I am extremely surprised to see portraits of NPC's you talk to and fight with. I've played hundreds of hours into IWD:EE and I don't remember seeing them, why?
Jeremy Soul - brilliant composer, but just an Orc it seems ;)
I thank you for this video :)
i have very fond memories of both icewind dale and iwd 2. i am always surprised by how many people who loved baldurs gate 1 & 2 never played it.
BG games were fun, but IMO it was not the Dungeon Crawling aspect that made them amazing and IWD was said to be focused on that. So for me I never even gave it a chance until the EE version finally made me give it a chance.
Oddly now I actually want to play ToEE.
9:14 Jeremy Soule got his start as a video game music composer working at Squaresoft. His first soundtrack is for the action RPG, Secret of Evermore.
It's a bit of a weird thing to insinuate that Icewind Dale "didn't get enough credit" or "received the most flack". It was well received upon release by both players and critics, and it's remembered rather fondly. I certainly like the game quite a bit, and I honestly haven't met a whole lot of people who have a strong dislike for the game (unless its people who like Infinity Engine games as whole, in which case, fair enough).
Great video though, I like the style.
What absolutely kills me about IWD is that it did things many give account to original Baldur's Gate. Like proper race/class reactions and dialogue choice. In BG there was no such thing at all. In IWD one of first things that happen after tutorial is over - you meet the giant with a headache in an optional location. Normally you would have to go to Kuldahar, talk to town's headmaster, and return to giant, but if you have druid in the party, they will do exactly the same thing and will provide help to poor creature. Ain't that nice?
I just played this game over the last couple of weeks and have had more fun playing it then most modern day games. Wish there was more games in this style
I beat IWD about a month ago, I had to speed up the frames because character movement was horrendously slow, but that was my only issue with it. I had a blast!
I abandoned the game twice, in both cases after getting stuck in Dragon's Eye, but watching your video around a month ago motivated me to try again with a better party and today I finally finished it.
I think the first chunk of the game really doesn't do it justice, the Temple has the same two types of enemies copied over in every room and Dragon's Eye's levels are unnecessarily large and visually boring (though I agree that the boss fight is well designed).
I really liked the rest of the game, the fights became more enjoyable and the background art extremely pleasing, sometimes I even found myself exploring an area again to peek at the little details before proceeding to the next one (the salamander museum especially is a work of art). I even enjoyed the story overall, though obviously not as much as BG.
I'll move to HoW in the next days, and probably grab IWD2 later.
That is awesome!! I'll always have a soft spot of IWD's environments. HoW is a good time and I've got another video where I talk about IWD2 (also really good but some of the circumstances of its development show). Hope you enjoyed!
You earned a new sub with that praise for AD&D 2nd edition! Icewind Dale is special to me because it was the first game I purchased for my new PC (my first computer that was mine alone) before I went away to college. As a lover of old-school dungeon crawlers, it ranks as my #1 Infinity Engine game. The environments, music (issues with the composer aside), and gameplay have never been topped. The enhanced edition with the option for character kits adds a whole new level of party customization.
I have to ask, though, how did you get NPC portraits into your game during conversations? I've never seen that before.
Working on a new playthrough as we speak. One of my favorite games of all time,
This review is perfect! Really like it, I remember the first video of yours I've watched was about Baldur's gate blackpits and subscribed. Then forgot about this channel until I've spotted this in my recommendations! There's some charm to your videos. Keep it up and you'll get a much bigger following! I'm sure you will!
Thank you! Glad you liked it.
I never understood the dislike of IWD 1 & 2. I enjoyed them both a lot at the time and prefer IWD1 to BG1. IWD2 I think has a better story too.
I won't lie playing Icewind Dale 1 made me appreciate BG1/2 more. Icewind Dale help me learn the minutiae in AD&D 2e combat and helped me learn how to do proper character builds in that system. So when I went back to the Baldur's Gate games I had a vastly better experience and enjoyed it keep because of that knowledge. I'll always love Icewind Dale for it's combat experience that helped me appreciate the Infinity Engine games a whole lot more.
14:19 You just reminded me that Tara Strong did Yxunomei's voice.
I love both Icewind Dales. The music and sound design is really top notch. Best bards in all the infinity games too.
The BG games are also linear. The side quests do a good job hiding both games' linearity.
I just found this video - full of mistakes. Baldurs gate also have option to create 6 characters - but no one use it , it was totally forgotten. Baldurs gate doesn't have a thief - what is yoshimo ? Sorcerer maybe . he was intended to be replaced it for Imoen who have enough thief skills. Icewind didn't have balanced combat - it had trash mobs mostly. baldurs gate 1 had mage duels , rival parties and enemies like basilisk and sirens which requred special tactics. BG2 had even more of this with dragons, beholders, vampires, golems, liches and demiliches and mind flayers all of which required special tactics, preparations and items. Traps were deadly. Icewind on the other hand have zero of this , you can easily beat the game wihthout a thief . I can count on one hand enemies that are immune to normal arrows which makes archers gods for the whole game not just the beginning. And the addons broke the whole pacing - no export with items , if you want to use one party to finish all you stop before supposed important boss, than play a little first addon, that finish the trials which makes cakewalk Heart of Winter last boss that when you came back to original story there is no challenge at all. At balance were thrown at the garbage. As a talk about the pacing it was very "good" idea to give you quests where you are at the end point of dungeon , than navigate back 2 levels with bad pathfinding, travel half of the map, do little combat and than return back all the wayyyyy, and than for the third time travel outside. The whole system was like this. Durlag's Tower alone had more content and better dungeon design than whole of Icewind Dale.
I love Baldur's gate, but i ADORE Icewind dale
I have played BG, BG2, IWD, IWD2 back in the day. And out of those 4 only IWD, IWD2 managed to complete. They ware more fun to me than BG series. Especially playing them with 5 friends in local lan party. The utter chaos of auto pause and screaming your actions to 'party leader' who's in the other room than u.. ah. memories.
T.y. :)
when I first played IWD after BG2, I stopped playing quickly as I missed the party banter and the non linear history.
When I played a second time, without the expectations, I really enjoyed it for its qualities, and it made total sense. A game , like Diablo, focus totally in combat, which it does very well.
he's right !
Yes AD&D is the greatest, and gosh I loved IWD more than BG1. As mentioned by someone else, the setting, intro, music, ambiance. I love it.
You mention BGII doesn't have a thief but I definitely remember Yoshimo filling that role.
Technically true, which makes what happens to Yoshimo halfway through the story even more important!
13:00 Well the problem with Storm of Zehir is mostly how unstable and poor the campaign works with those systems. Loading screens take a lot of time, characters already use their default AI before models load on so sometimes battle is already over. Also rewards are so big for simple random encounters it doesn't feel right.
Also stuff from base game that didn't work already like camera, interface and random bug generator. I'm not kidding, each time I installed this game new bugs showed up, sometimes collision were wrong on specific tilesets, sometimes animations were put incorrectly, sometimes cutscenes broke for no reason.
Mixing all issues it feels like tech demo for good expansion or base game. I would love to return to jungle of Chult for bigger adventure but... there is so little joy of it. Maybe for an hour or two. But the overland map gives some hope.
At first player (usually after finishing Mask of Betrayer) is welcomed by colorful hidden country of Samarah. It brings so much joy at first. So many options. You can pick up a stick! Or a bottle and fight with a bottle! Or poke a stick with a stick!
Then we learn that Samarah lives in fear of Yuan-Ti and because of it they are not very welcoming people. Everyone has spies, in this secret country, what kind of mysteries await us?
None...
The moment we enter the city the subplot of Samarah and their unique culture ends and whole thing is unexplored. Just like Jungle of Chult.
There are dinosaurs out there!
Oh, cool! Can we fight some tribes riding Dinosaurs to battle or discover some tribes on our own? Oh, how about some special wars between tribes?
None of the above... There might be one or two encounters where humans and dinosaurs meet but outside of that? Dinosaurs are just big lizards with lootable teeth.
You don't really hunt for money because trading system is completly busted. In second third of the game, there is transition and game becomes so simple.
You invest some money... wait few days... you get some money... you invest MORE money... wait few days... you get the idea.
And then there is crafting.
It is very simple system. It is so simple that sitting in your base and waiting for the money allows you to make god tier armory. The rewards for finishing main quests are so big that skipping side quests is huge disservice for the player. You accidently finished main quest and you have so much XP there is no danger anywhere. What suppose to be a boss fight becomes a farming experience because you talk to two people.
Icewind dale is not open and it is you against the dungeon. There is only one way... and the whole thing will shape your character. You no longer will be 6 drunk mercs from Eastheaven. You are gonna be 6 drunk mercs from Eastheaven who killed false gods and kings.
I feel so bad for it for I love the ideas and concepts in this campaign.
Each time I worked with the NWN 2 toolset I try to fix those issues but it is too much for me. All I can do is reduce XP, add new encounters (for example I added Halfogres from Chultian tribes), but I don't wanna remove the crafting for it feels great but I can't really change trading system so it wouldn't be broken.
This is a very nice format. Came for the game specifically but will have a look around on your channel
Thank you! I hope I've got some stuff that interests you.
I always ignored IWD because people said that it was just a dungeon crawler. With the EE however I finally gave it a chance and it was worth the playthrough. IT was enjoyable.
3 seconds in and Goosebumps like crazy
BGII vanilla had Yoshimo in the starting area!
This is a bit of a simplification, but I see three major elements that make up a computer role playing game: narrative, exploration, and combat. Other elements, such as puzzles or platforming, may also be present. Many games emphasize one of these over the others, and players will have their preferences. In my case, I am drawn primarily to narrative and exploration, and I often find combat to be a nuisance, so it is a bit harder for me to get into a combat-focused game like Icewind Dale than a more story-focused game like Baldur's Gate, Pillars of Eternity, or Fallout: New Vegas. I've tinkered around in Icewind Dale but haven't gotten serious about pursuing it to completion. One of these days, I might give it another go and reduce the nuisance factor of the combat by playing on the easiest difficulty setting. Then, an interesting but sub-optimal party might be viable, and even if the story isn't the best, this game seems to have many interesting places to explore, which I would definitely enjoy.
This video does a good job of explaining the situation with Icewind Dale. If people are judging these games largely based on the story, then a combat-focused game might not look so great in comparison. I try to judge games (and other things, for that matter) based on what they are trying to be. If Icewind Dale is, first and foremost, a combat-focused game, then it should be judged on that basis, and comparing it to Baldur's Gate might not be all that useful.
And it pains me that Icewind Dale 2 Enhanced Edition may never happen. People say the prime code of the original game is lost and they'd have to redo everything. :- (
To be fair Storm of Zehir coming out as an IWD style dungeon Crawler after we got a story giant like MotB was seriously disappointing. Also the gameplay and UI and mechanics (not talking about DnD) felt really clunky and didn't really lend themselves well to IWD type of experience.
Have you considered making a video on your thoughts on every D&D edition?
(Or just AD&D)
I could see myself doing a video about AD&D, but I think one that runs through all of/compares them, while likely being very fun for me, has a lot of potential to get nasty in terms of viewer reaction. If I could think of some sort of unique way to present it, or even if I did it like a series of each edition getting it's own video, then maybe.
2:50 Preach!
3.5e is the best in my eyes but 2e has my utter respect as a system it's a very solid choice. I just prefer BAB over THAC0.
Wait...wait, Drizzt was in the Icewind Dale game at the end? I do not remember this...
Crenshinibon (the Crystal Shard) was. Drizzt himself only appears in the Baldur's Gate games.
@@fandraxx Ah okej! I missed that one I think or didn't get the reference! Thanks for the clarification!
Quality video good stuff.
Black Sheep? IWD was great, I did not finish IWD2 though (but that is a me issue not a game issue). And I am fine with linear game play, keps me from getting too sidetracked and not finishing the game. I have completionist issues wich can make a game boring. :)
Tremendous
Is there any known official or unofficial recipe how to do such combat encounters?
Assuming you're talking about the in-game combat, I would say that there are certainly strategies that are better suited for some fights as opposed to others, usually based on the enemies you're fighting.
As for navigating individual ones (as well as the game in general), there have been a number of guides written over the years out on the web. Most of them are very good.
DnD 2nd edition doesnt work to well with crpgs for roleplay due to how limited you are with skills. Icewind Dale is all about taking the 2nd edition and making challenging fights within the rule set.
I have a soft spot for Icewind Dale because it felt more of a ttrpg campaign then BG and PS.
you're wearing beer goggles on 2nd edition, Thac0 had to die! and instant death saves suck and don't get me started on the sexist characteristics maximums
I don't think Storm of Zehir was fun...
what do you mean at 9:22 you're not going to touch the accusations you just mentioned accusations in the video meaning you touched it. if jeremy soule stabbed a few people they would still listen to his music