Icewind Dale review: Is it living in the shadows of Baldur's Gate? Is this RPG worth playing in 2021
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- Опубліковано 25 чер 2021
- Welcome to our Review video on Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition. The Icenwind Dale soundtrack is revered as of the best soundtracks ever made. But is the quality of the gameplay in Icenwind Dale up to par with its musical counterpart? Is this D&D classic RPG sailing the seas of its older brother, Baldur's Gate? Os has it been living in its shadow unfairly?
This is our Road to Baldur's Gate III series of video reviews. If you wish to check out our upcoming videos, check our introduction video for the series here: • The Road to Baldur's G...
Here are links to the rest of our videos in the series so far:Baldur's Gate:
• Baldur's Gate review: ... Baldur's Gate, Siege of Dragonspear:
• Siege of Dragonspear r... Baldur's Gate II, Shadows of Amn:
• Baldur's Gate 2 review... Disclaimer:
This is a computer RPG review, it's not meant to comment on the advanced Dungeons& Dragons ruleset or on how well the game implemented it in its mechanics. This review is for a non RPG specialized gamer who's maybe hyped about Baldur's Gate III because of the trailers and footage of BG3 he or she has seen and who has maybe played Larian Studio's Divinity Original Sin II.
There are many games you could play in preparation for Baldur's Gate III: Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate Siege of Dragonspear, Baldur's Gate II Shadows of Amn, Neverwinter Nights 2, NWN 2 Mask of the Betrayer, NWN Storm of Zehir.
Should you add Icewind Dale to your list? Hopefully our review will help you decide. We still encourage to watch videos on Icewind Dale gameplay.
Our reviews are based on a criteria that assigns weights to aspects of the game that are particularly important for us. It is not meant to be the ultimate truth about the game. Classic Role Playing Games is our favorite video game genre for a reason, and there are a few things I expect from them... You can check our system of categories in one of our early videos. • And this is how we rev... - Ігри
I replay Icewind Dale more than any other IE game. There is just something special about it. And music by Jeremy Soule helps a lot with that.
Yes, there's some magic to it that is hard to single out. And yes... the soundtrack is the best soundtrack for any D&D game I've ever played.
Where/how are you playing IWD??
@@Rob6990 I didn’t start this thread, but I am in kind of the same place as op is. Considering that I travel an awful lot on trains and planes for work I have been killing time by playing IWDEE on an iPad like the old times.... the result is multiple playthroughs and a current Heart Of Fire run that is putting my tactical skill and powergamey spirit to the test.
Even in 2021 Icewind Dale is just amazing, as every other game in this series.
Same here. IWD has the most amount of that AD&D magic in it. Only thinking of that Kuldahar theme...
I came to the comments just to say that the amazing soundtrack was composed by Jeremy Soule. I was disappointed that he didn't credit the composer by name. Soule is well known for the Elders Scrolls music including Morrowind, Oblivion, and of course, Skyrim.
I respect your review and thoughts, but I won't deny, I feel the urge to nitpick.
My biggest complaint about the review really has to do with the expectation that the game was going to be a sequel to BG/BG2. As others have already pointed out, this is set 100 years before BG as it is. Even when we got this for my mom to play because she enjoyed BG1 (which was a joke gift from my dad to her on her birthday, intending to play it more than her, only to watch as she played and beat them well before he did), we knew it was something to tide us over until BG2 came out because it certainly would. To complain about it not being Baldur's gate is like playing one campaign with a friend, then going to a different friend as a GM and complaining that they don't do it the same as the first. It's the wrong attitude to take. Also bear in mind this released several months before BG2 even came out, and gave them a chance to test various mechanics and changes before releasing BG2 (and BG2 was when kits were first released, not IWD.)
Yes, IWD is more combat focused and less story. Where BG might be described as 50/50 combat/story, IWD i and my family saw as 80/20, a proper option as a combat heavy path before "Black Pits" that are now in both BG:EEs came around. It also doesn't hurt that IWD was the only game that, without playing multiplayer solo, you were able to make your party, as BG1/2 you could not before EEs. This is also a reason why this game was far easier for me and my family to play this together rather than BG where a family character may have to be abandoned to have an npc. That may also have been part of the point of its release, to fill that niche with that choice to not have NPCs, but that's just speculation on my part.
Not gonna lie, there are other frustrations that are lesser in this review, but you weren't off on the plot/story elements, music, and graphics for the game and as a self admission, perhaps you were only looking at it from the lens of it being EE (though the title of the series didn't give me that impression). Ultimately I wanted the biggest pieces put into view for consideration. Make of it what you will.
Underrated comment
Fully agree.
Also I hated progression after BG Shadow of Amn. All battles involving every mage cast Time stop, all melee enemies hasted, shields have no use (since EVERY single footsoldier can hit you), most of spells no longer working because again EVERY single enemy is to high level, +3 weapons and armor drop like its a common dirt and so on...
Icewind Dale with low level content is always like a breath of fresh air to me.
This game is also came out before Baldur's Gate II, so expecting it to be a sequel to Baldur's Gate II is silly since it's an older game.
@@Kipa2that's my biggest complaint about BG2.... The battles become an absolute slog and a pause fest.
Tiniest of nitpicks from myself... the part about not being able to make the whole party on your own before EE is simply not true, as I have done exactly that back in 2001 or so, when I have decided that none of the available mage companions quite lived up to my expectations and I have decided to go with two player characters instead. I didn't even have a connection or a second computer at home, I simply started a local game as the host and.... proceeded on my merry way with my premade party of two.
Icewind dale is set 100 year before Baldur's Gate, for this reason you can't import the party from Baldur's Gate (during baldur's gate the crystal shard was already in the and of the drow or destroyed)
Icewind Dale is in the year 1281. Baldur's Gate is in 1368, so technically 87 years, not 100 because the final boss of Icewind Dale returns in the Sequel expansion of Baldur's Gate called Siege of Dragonspear, which takes place months before Baldur's Gate 2 Shadows of Amn. A devil that has been slain in the mortal plane cannot willingly return to the mortal plane until 100 years has passed, and the final boss of Icewind Dale has not yet reached his 100th year (and never will).
What I want to know is why the fuck is my biography story has the default biography from the second baldur's gate game
@@phantomvulpe791 It's because Beamdog are lazy and they just ported IWD to BG2 engine with minimal required effort. They made even more errors while porting BG1 to BG2 engine, making infravision complete garbage and changed sprites and animations to BG2 instead of BG1 which were... well, not better, but different. And because of that BG1 looks like a mod for BG2 and not like original game. Yes, they fixed bugs, made ranger viable but some hidden items became too obvious (in BG1 finding Evermemory or Ankheg chitin Plate Armor was an event in BG EE it's like "yes, just walk few steps out of main way and here it is) and combat encounters weren't updated for the new engine.
@Mason what I revealed was spoilers, but I had to set the record straight.
@Mason It might be worth stating that SOD was made by Beamdog the creators of the enhanced edition not the original developers.
I'll probably get a lot of heat for this, but I actually liked the Icewind Dale series more than Baldur's Gate. Icewind Dale just always felt to me more like a real DnD campaign I might play over a few evenings with friends. No detailed backstory, no epic campaign. You just rolled some characters and went exploring, they weren't "Children of Bhall" or anything special really, they were just a bunch of average folks who wandered into town and found themselves in the middle of an adventure. That's not to say the story was bad, it was actually quite good really, but it wasn't constantly shoved in your face like it was in Baldur's Gate, it took a back seat to clearing out dungeons, finding cool magic items and making your party more powerful.
I think Icewind Dale 2 nailed the "bunch of average folks" part a lot better than the first game, but I get what you mean. That's also why I like Solasta Crown of the Magister a lot even if it has atrocious writing.
Icewind Dale was released before BG2, to say nothing of the fact that importing your character even from BG 1 would have totally distorted the experience curve and the total lack of narrative justification for providing an alternate history where the Bhaalspawn goes off to fight Belhifet instead of fulfuilling the destiny of their blood. Bizarre line of criticism.
Furthermore, Icewind Dale is iopenly a tactical simulator where you want to maximize your mechanical advantage rather than a full-blooded story RPG in the line of Baldur's Gate. They're diverging paths of design. It's not apples and oranges, but it's definitely apples and pears.
True, I often lamented that my favorite BG2 party is not even close to the optimal class composition.
Started playing Co-op with my father when I was a kid with Icewind Dale, has a special place in my heart for this.
How did you play co-op it won't let me?
this game has nothing to do with Baldur's Gate by the virtue of being made by a completely different studio with different goals and expectations. Black Isle already worked on plenty "narrative-first" games like Fallout and Planescape: Torment, and this was their attempt to make a classic D&D dungeon crawler. To that end, IWD still carries a lot of trademark Black Isle markings like much, much more stats/race/class reactivity compared to Baldur's Gate (race/class/stat dialogue checks in Baldur's Gate can be counted on one hand). and a generally bleaker tone with fewer offbeat jokes (Baldur's Gate was more fond of such).
This video is built entirely on the premise of believing Black Isle wanted to make Baldur's Gate and not its own game, and every single complaint rides on that premise - including erroneous info like "this game was meant to be a sequel to BG2". It doesn't make sense in terms of chronology, both in-game and in terms of development. Instead of rating the game on its own merits, it's constantly compared to something it isn't and wrongly called a "part of a series". It's telling that you are praising a feature IWD has in spades (class reactivity in dialogue) by saying "we have a BG2 successor" when BG2 doesn't do it at all beyond a single stronghold questline.
Exactly. IWD is dungeon crawler all the way. As far as I know there was never misunderstanding or misadvertising whatsoever. On the other hand is not so easy to deduce it from just looking on game's steam page.
The original BG series, and the original IWD, were both released by Black Isle, as far as I remember. Beamdog produced the Enhanced Editions
@@mariano178No BG was developed by Bioware, Black Isle just helped them a bit in a consultant role.
I've actually learnt much more about 2AD&D with Icewind Dale than after finishing BG1 + the expansion and 30+ hours in BG2 - I finished BG2 after Icewind Dale and it helped a lot. I discovered BG:EE in 2019, finished it in the "normal" where you can have an average understanding of the fighting mechanics and, with luck and reloads, triumph the boss. "Thanks" to pandemic's lockdowns I've played Icewind Dale on "core rules" and since you level up much quicker you reach spells, abilities and difficulties you would never touch in the BGs. I think I enjoyed it a bit more than BG 1&2 since I'm mostly here for the mechanics, the loot and, perhaps, a bit too old to care for the lore. Great series of vids by the way !
Bioware made Icewind Dale to be the hack'n slash dungeon romp in the holy trinity of Infinity Engine RPGs: adventuring (Baldur's Gate), storytelling (Planescape Torment) and combat (Icewind Dale). So it wasn't meant as a direct successor to Baldur's Gate, besides using the same engine.
It wasn't made by Bioware :d only their engine, otherwise yeah
Black Isle made Icewind Dale and Planescape Torment not Bioware.
I recommend Icewind Dale.
It was a shame the internet wasn't big when these games were all released. I learned about icewind dale because a gaming magazine I read had a picture of it and I noticed it looked like Baldur's Gate. It was a solid game even if not RPG focussed. There's been some fun mods released that introduce exploration which I liked, as all they had to do was add new points on the map you could wander to with side stories
Ah yes Icewind Dale. Incredible soundtrack and immersion, but just a little bit too combat heavy for my tastes. As Planescape Torment is almost completely story focused, Icewind Dale is very heavily combat focused. I've played through it twice, but probably won't do any more, some of the combat is just a slog of endless rooms of ghosts and skeletons. I think I prefer the BG series which finds a happy medium between combat and story. Having said that, I love the artwork and the soundtrack. It really creates a very immersive atmosphere. I also really enjoyed the story regarding the elves and the drawrves' betrayal and how it caused their destruction in the end. Loved it, best part of the game for me. Talking to the elven ghosts is both creepy and heart-wrenching at the same time as they describe how they fought to the last to stop the invading orc horde. Let's just say when I found that certain someone who had a key part in the betrayal, I avenged all those ghosts with extreme prejudice haha. Great game, love the music and atmosphere, just a bit too combat heavy for my tastes and can be a slog in some of the areas. Still, highly recommended in my book.
I’m the first group of fans you mentioned I really felt that IWD at least back in 2001 was BG without the BS. It trimmed the fat and did what the engine did best at the time and me and my friends creating our party felt like a true AD&D experience. Yes it was linear but that’s ok it didn’t feel like a chore to get through.
Exactly. It's very much like a tabletop campaign if you focus more on the combat than role playing. Honestly both styles are perfectly fine and don't need to be exclusive from one another. To have such a masterpiece of a game that this is, ALONGSIDE the bg series, is good in my book.
Icewind Dale (and IWD 2) has the best music in the whole series of games.
Man I literally am playing this right now on my old windows 7 love this game and it’s heart of winter expansion
That's the upcoming review
One thing I found about baldurs gate is there are alot of portrait mods. I found a great one that nailed the look of a character I had made ages ago as a novel idea. Mods make everything better... except morrowind 52 boot errors from mods lol.
How on earth do you give this classic the same 7.3 score as fucking Siege of Dragonspear?
That's what happens when you empty numbers in an Excel. That one was elevated to 7.3 because the gameplay was good (and although I gave it a 3.4/10 its story and lore... I was not enough to knock into "meh" or "bad" territory). This one was held down by series of things, mostly technical, that weren't all that great. But yes. This one is a game I would play again and Siege of Dragonspear isn't.
Icewind Dale is a masterpiece. It has two design features that put a lot of people off. One is it has a completely linear story. The other is it has little in the way of choice and consequence. It is a game almost entirely focused on character development, party building and combat challenge. However it does this brilliantly. The location and encounter design is exceptional, exceeding anything in BG1 and BG2 in many cases. The game is about following a reasonable main story line, encountering some interesting local story lines along the way, and fighting your way through some incredible and highly imaginative locations and encounters to progress these stories. It doesn't pretend to do what it doesn't do but it does do exactly what it says on the tin exceptionally well. It's a classic hard core dungeon crawler experience that has grown in reputation with time.
I loved the storylines in ice wind dale.
Btw, there's a dead elf later on in the game that you may have met in an inn at Easthaven. In his diary, he states that he is Xan's cousin. Elves lives hundreds of years in the world of forgotten realms as is with other lore like lotr
Elves can live for 700 years
im loving these. Keep up the great vwork!
Loved Icewind dale 1 back in the days, probably bc it was my first 2d rpg in this genre.
You summed up my disappointment well, I loved BG2, a big fan, ice wind dale felt genuinely cold in comparison, also I think the carrot and stick analogy is spot on
Ah Funny,here is your Icewind Dale Vid,nice :D
Explained already the Reason why i prefer it over the other Gamers in your Baldurs Gate vid,so guess theres no need for it here ^^
Really nice Video Series !
Thanks man. Was needing that.
I know that this video is about whether or not it is worth playing today but there's some things I felt were off. IWD was made before Baldur's gate 2. They couldn't have been milking Baldur's Gate because the only entries in the BG series were BG1 and TotSC. The game uses the Baldur's Gate 1 engine (which no one will notice today since all the EE's except for Planescape torment use the Baldur's Gate 2 engine). The game also isn't made by Bioware which is what made Baldur's Gate so successful, Black Isle only published BG and Bioware gave their infinity engine to them to work with. I also don't know if it's a version of the game you're playing, but all of my EE games have item comparisons, but that's not that important. Also if you wanna save some time you can use they/them instead of he/him she/her every time :d. Otherwise nice video and i'd personally agree with your views on IWD.
How do I play co-op in this?
seriously you cannot compare these two games series as both are unique and special in it's own ways
With IWD the entire draw is dungeon crawler combat like the Gold Box games of old . If you need a good narrative and interesting characters to latch on to you'll be disappointed. Edit 19:26 There is a mod that basically makes it so you only create your protagonist and have pregenerated companions with their own personalities, banter with each other and you and if I remember right quests. Quite the ambitious project for a mod haven't played it myself but have heard good things about it.
Icewind Dale was the first D&D game y played, and i almost quit at the start because of the goblins in eastheaven, now i am about to finish it but it's hard to focus on it. It's not the perfect game but it will always have a place on my heart.
The information in this video is top notch and gold. But something about the ominous bombastic music and pace of narration makes this a stressful 30 mins to watch.
I’ve been watching through your ’waiting for baldur’s gate' videos with great pleasure; I myself is in the middle of playing through all the infinity engine games, just for nostalgia’s sake, having playing all of the games at release. 😊 but also, as my own sort of preparation for BG III 😊
I’m currently on Icewind Dale; for me, one of the biggest flaws of this particular game is that it has huge chunks that just feels so repetitive. Overall, I think I like the Baldur’s Gate series better, yet I do believe that the Icewind Dale series does some things just a little bit better; for instance, the music, the maps (I think they’re partly hand drawn), and the portraits; nothing crucial, to be sure
I like the prologue in Easthaven well enough, and also the road to Kuldahar, and Kuldahar itself as well.
But then you go to the Vale of Shadows - where you do not need to go, and then to the Temple of the Forgotten God - arguably you don’t need to go here either, although I suppose it does provide the information to where you do need to go.
My party is currently in Dragon’s Eye, second level. And I just have to take a break at this point. I was reminded that this is always the hardest part for me to get through, just in terms of being motivated enough, to keep trudging through the almost endless caverns…
I do think that the main game picks up again at the Severed Hand, and the Dorn’s Deep areas I also find enjoyable, just in terms of having more varied areas to quest through.
Luckily, the expansion pack does a lot of things better 😊
Thanks. I'm glad you're enjoying them!
Icewind dale takes place before the time of trouble so it’s before bg1 so importing a save wouldn’t make a lot of sense but I can see where your coming from
Not being able to import... erm, the fighter/ mage/ thief that I have is now a level 30/30/30 by simply exporting/ importing it throughout iwd, bg1&2 after a number of playthroughs. I dont even use any mods or cheats.
Also, it wouldn't make sense to import it from bg2 or 1 as IWD was set a hundred years before the events in Baldur's gate.
The official forgotten realms timeline is:
1281 DR - IWD
1312 DR - IWD 2
1368 DR - BG1
Siege of dragonspear was just a couple of weeks or so after bg1
1369 DR - BG2
Throne of bhaal was also set a few weeks after the events of bg2
1492 DR - BG3
If you are going to import a magician from iwd to bg, just make sure to erase your memorized spells before doing so as some do not exist in bg
Sounds like an Old Fashioned Gold Box game. I need to finish PS:T, but I can't wait to try this.
Although I really, really love your channel and your reviews (this one included) there’s a big inaccuracy with this video that needs to be pointed out.
Namely, Icewind Dale could have never, EVER been considered as a “sequel to Baldur’s Gate 2”, because not only is is set a full century before the events of BG1, but more importantly Icewind Dale was published in June 2000, which is a full two-three months BEFORE Baldur’s Gate 2:SoA came out !!!
This is a huge imprecision, because it feeds on the inaccurate perspective that IWD was built from the experience of BG2, while this wasn’t the case at all. IWD was devised as a more “hands-on” D&D dungeon crawler adventure, targeted mainly at veterans of BG1 that were already familiar with the combat and the tactical/strategic aspects of the series. Moreover, IWD was actually used to test, refine and implement several different mechanics that would then see full glory with BG2:SoA and ToB (so in a way it’s actually BG2 that was perfected from the experience of IWD).
I have gnome team , fighter \illu berserker, cleric , thief\Illu , fighter bow user, one illlu.. i like this better BG1 2.. less storie more combat.. it was icewinddale give me ideas fod bg2 . great video !
Thanks man. I'm more a "more story" guy. But if for anyone who's a combat dude/dudette and is into D&D lore, Icewind Dale is the way to go, aye.
First off, using EEKeeper (the updated shadowkeeper), you can import any character you like with very little knowledge needed. secondly, the game may have come out second, but it predates the series. third of all, alot of the class-specific dialogue and options was to make it a bit more open for different people and be much less restrictive, especially for those still unfamiliar with the mechanics or lore. not all players understand the lore choice of being a druid, rather picked it because no one told them it was one of the worst classes that actually could have been something, or just to balance out there party. fourth, the game was not so much about the story-telling, rather about the combat and use world around you to the fullest. baldurs gate series, even on the hardest of difficulties, is very rarely challenging. icewind dale was meant to ramp up the difficulty curve, which it does. to me, the biggest flaw was not having the best of party balances made it impossible after a certain point, that almost inevitably had to be abandoned and just start the whole game over. as well, the game is much more for the beauty of its locations designs, that really wraps you more into the environment, instead of the story. it was a lot closer to the old forgotten realms setting that built a whole environment around you, over what was in baldurs gate series (in my opinion). It was not meant to be a sequel to baldurs gate games, it was meant to fill in and provide what baldurs gate didnt. i like to define it as a companion game. fifth, the locations are so beautiful, and i feel that was a bit slept on in the review, but i guess subject to opinion. the dungeons were so incredible and nice, filled with color and excitement almost (im not the best at describing things in my words). all in all, one of my favorite games, but i understand that it is almost something exclusive to people who grew up with it.
i love all of these reviews man, you are killing it.
Well that last phrase was still a better plot twist than anything I've seen in D&D games. XD And I thank you for it! Kudos to you. I try my best. I did like the game and I do think the dungeons are super cool looking and immersive, the towns... much less so. I think that this version makes things significantly more easy (with all the stacks of ammo you can carry about, and so on), but that also has its charm.
@@YeOldEntertainment i havent gotten to the EE version yet, but id imagine so. the towns are bleak, but that also captures the environment of icewinddale. its not exactly the nicest play on the planet to live in.
druid is one of the best classes in Icewind Dale by the virtue of being showered with proper druid gear and gaining access to a much better spell selection than Baldur's Gate, though.
@@ZerglingWasteland it is better than in BG, but outside the gear, a cleric is just better in every way. and shapeshifting is quite limited and only one is particulary useful.
@@guywhoneversleeps Not at all - not only does a druid get excellent equipment, they work very well in tandem with a Fighter dual- or multi-class, and some of their later tier spells absolutely decimate encounters (Insect Plague being the most obvious star player). IWD druids also get extra spells compared to BG ones, particularly covering up for the weaknesses at low levels. High-level Druid spells are very strong in both sagas - it bears repeating that Insect Plague, on its own, makes Druid a fantastic class. I would rather have a Druid than a Cleric if I really had to choose, but due to the IWD "meta" being five dual- or multi-classed Fighters outfitted with a Bard, I don't have to choose.
And with the Enhanced Edition making things much easier, you can also play one of the Druid kits, which are much more powerful than normal Druids, with Totemic Druid bringing insane summons (especially in the reality of IWD, full of physical attackers) and Avenger adding more good spells.
IWD1 just makes many classes just that much more useful. Where a Bard is a jack-of-all-trades curiosity in BG1, IWD1's Bard is a buffing powerhouse and a great source of XP from class-sensitive rewards.
What is the game at 0:28 with the boar-wolf things and snow?
That's Outward
@@YeOldEntertainment thanks!
You can't or at least shouldn't really compare Grim Dawn - an action hack and slash to an RPG based on a table-top RPG system in a game that was created roughly 20 years before that... different systems and different times.
While I disagree on some aspects, reflected in how a lot of these games are in their best states modded (by fixing never fixed bugs and sound issues), I'm personally of the belief that IWD I believe was intended to be a game with a separate type of experience where the points are the fights and dungeon slogging as opposed to the grand narrative while having mysterious and intriguing story bits along the way.
Meanwhile, I could not agree more on the soundtrack piece, though I will admit that if Beamdog did ANYTHING right, their new BG2 intro music is honestly on the level of some of the classics throughout the series, though I'll admit I still actively have Kuldahar on my phone to this day to listen to.
That's exactly the design philosophy it was made with. Idk how this guy came to the conclusion it was meant to be in any way a cash grab or part of the BG trilogy. It's a dungeon crawler through and through.
Though there's a mod to turn IWD into an experience more like BG with pregenerated companions with set personalities and banters and such.
And yet you have flooded "this guy's" channel with your comments over the last few days...
@@YeOldEntertainment Ah with hindsight my comment came off rude, my apologies.
No worries my man
I really enjoyed playing IWD, it was more about fighting but had a nice environment and was like a big dlc for baldurs gate. the only problem i had was, it was to simple. the hard fights against mages who have a huge variety of spells and buffs are just missing. you could easy play with your standard repertoire of spells and actions. if you do solo runs you feel that something is wrong with the game as it plays always the same. TOB/ToSC was a masterpiece in that case. lazy development i think =)
Icewind dale came out before baldurs gate 2 lol but i did agree it has that sort of feel going on
I really like both series myself 😀
I really liked the voice of the narrator, it conveys emotion! Excellent diction.
Congratulation!!
David Ogden Stiers, a fantastic actor as well as a vocal artist.
No, the best music of the series in my opinion is "icewind dale 2 ost targos" or "Baldur's Gate 2 Throne of Bhaal Main Theme".
But I would agree that IWD's music is some of the best in the CRPG world, so the score of 10 fits.
I just FINALLY started Icewind Dale on switch as a way of taking a curious break from Baldurs gate and uh...where has this game been all my life???
will you review pathfinder kingmaker after this series?
Thanks for leaving a comment. Maybe. But I hated the writing in that game to no end and it's a very very long game. We'll see.
@@YeOldEntertainment thanks for the reply, anow i really want a review :D but can you elaborate? Why did u hate the writing? To me i personally dont like the timed quests.
@@robertasruskulys1557 I feel that, like many other games nowadays, it is littered with social activism. Amiri's companion quest is a blatant statement about "sticking it up to the patriarchy" and Valerie's is also a social justice statement. Every character who is evil and/or incompetent is male (Stag Lord, Tartuccio, Irovetti, Vordakai). This is so obvious that at some point I said: "There's no way these guys are going to make Nyrissa an evil villain here... surely some evil male figure who's been manipulating/coercing her will appear" and, of course, it happened. It was the same formula from Siege of Dragonspear. And I don't like it when writers try to sell their vision of the world nor "point out the wrongs" of the real world in fantasy games. Much less in such a crude and obvious way.
It's a shame too, because Pathfinder is challenging, immersive and it has quite a few ideas that are fresh and innovative. It also has those sweet "defend stronghold" and "let's take the battle to the bad guys" moments that I'm a total sucker for. There's also plenty of scripted decisions (love those) and the game can have five or six acts depending on your choices (talk about player choice impact!). Some dungeons have this "the only way out is forward" design to them, which adds an interesting high stake "adventury" feeling to them. I also think the concept behind the Tiefling companion(s) (you know what I mean) is fantastic. Unfortunately... as it happens with Siege of Dragonspear... that stone on the other plate of the balance is just much too heavy. (If you're still interested I might try to put all that and more into a video further down the road).
@@YeOldEntertainment yeah, i agree that its pretty woke, Amira especially so i saw the developer live streams of pathfinder wotr and lets just say its going to be the same or more woke, im a bit afraid of wokeness might come to bg3, becouse some devs look like they might want to make a statement or two.
@@robertasruskulys1557 Well it's licensed by Wizard of The Coast... so I don't know how much of a say they're going to have the in the story, but if Magic the Gathering is anything to go by... it's not good. I'm still going to get BG3. I have faith in Larian Studios. The new Pathfinder... is a different story. I guess I will watch many reviews before I consider that one.
I'm a new subscriber...i have one request...Planescape:Torment (the Greatest game i ever played and i'm an old school BG1 & 2 Fan)
Thanks for the sub! I'll try to tackle that sometime this year.
Personally, I find IWD2 better than predecessor in terms of plot (yes, still linear), side quests and game mechanics.
so what you're saying in this video is that im going to enjoy this game more since i dont have waste my time figuring out where i have to go or where i complete side quests awesome! as i get older i find that that i hate when games dont tell you what you need to do just to bloat their playtime. i prefer 30 hours of streamlined game than 100 hours cause i never knew where anything was.
playing through baldurs gate 1 now and if i dont have a walkthrough i have no idea what i have to do. but hey i have a berserker with strength 18/83 that i rolled a 93 on..
You do get unique options and dialogues as paladin and bard classes. Although, you entirely missed the fact that game needs to be played at least twice to trully finish it and upgrade certain artifacts to their full potential. There is one obscure spell that could be useful for one particular demon encounter and saving the Smith's son is actually timed event that you can screw up if you are not fast enough in particular dungeon. There are hidden rooms that you can miss along the way and finally you didn't mention the 2 dlcs that enrich game's experience.
P.S. Divinity Original Sin 3 can go fuck itself so is your complaining about beutiful 2nd edition.
Iwd is a great experience in dungeon crawling, its EE is a staple on my android.
I am still disapointed we will never get iwd 2 ee.
I wonder what is the game that we can see at 0:28 ? it looks great 😳
That would be one of my favorite games of the last decade ---> Outward.
@@YeOldEntertainment oh i see, thanks ! mmh I think I'm gonna check that out, it kinda reminds me of Skyrim *_*
I was scanning comment hoping to find this answer. Thanks.
If you don't have a druid you can talk to Arundel and he will give you the formula for the ogre.
I am truly enjoying your reviews leading up to BG3, but many of your issues with this game are related to Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition, and not the game design itself. 2nd edition was VERY light in character customization options and Bioware did not have the option to change that. Also, on importing a party from BG2, Icewind Dale was released BEFORE BG2 was released so importing from a game that was not released yet makes little sense. Additionally, this game was meant to be a standalone adventure taking a fresh party from level 1 through to god-like power, not a sequel, so importing would make zero sense in that respect as well. This game was meant to be (and advertised as on release) a diablo-like dungeon crawl using the D&D 2nd edition ruleset, NOT a successor to Baldur's Gate. I think it fits that role very well.
And one last thing... picking up items in original Baldur's Gate or BG2 DID NOT bring up a comparison chart, that was added by Beamdog in the Enhanced Editions. So using the lack of this feature to compare it unfavorably with games that actually did not have it either is a bit disingenuous.
Disregarding this game came out BEFORE Baldur's 2 and the lore that separates the games, how are you going to import your character from Badlur's 2 into a new game? You should have beat Baldur's 2 at around Level 17 or more. So what, you're going to import that character who's nearly maxed level into a new game now? And level up twice maybe on your whole adventure? And everyone in the party has to be around level 16, 17? That doesn't work. You can have a long D&D video game where the character gets up to level 9 or so and then import that character into ONE MORE game where he levels to 17 or 18 ( The cap is 20 ). And that's it. You can't import that character again into a third game they won't level. You won't get new skills. You're already almost max level it does not work. So you got Baldur's 1 and Baldurs 2 because that's all your character can fit into they can't do a third game because by then they're very high level and there's nowhere to go. No leveling up, no new skills. Doesn't make for a very good D&D game.
Icewind Dale did not get me hooked on its story, and as i understood, it was not focusing on it, it was rather a dnd simulation that you could play with others/with your own party.
This game has beautiful graphics, locations (I mean who would not love to hangout in Kuldahar) and music, I really enjoyd playing. I just don't like the concept that you create six companions which are dead from character point of view and no background story except that you are a party of adventurers from south looking for an adventure. That's the reason I enjoyd BG2 much more.
I didn't mind the blank slate party of 6. In fact, it was refreshing in ways. Besides, I use custom journal entries to essentially role play them via diary entries along the way. Tons of fun.
Is there a game like this but with orcs, elves, dwarves and goblins?
This one has all that.
Just got through playing IWD 1 a few weeks ago and i have to say while i enjoyed the combat a bit more, the linear storyline/exploration and the lack of in game characters to recruit as well as the lack of banter and character story lines, this is vastly inferior to Bg1+2. Still a solid game. I give it 7/10
Icewind Dale came out before Baldur's Gate II did, so importing your character from Baldur's Gate II wouldn't have made a lot of sense.
This video has been out for a couple of years now. I've talked about this mistake several times since in other videos here on the channel.
Currently free with amazon prime
It's crazy how different (and good) the game is until you hit Vale of Shadows. IWD2 kiiiinda has this problem too but nowhere near as bad as IWD. And somehow IWD2 gets bashed way more than IWD for being a bland, combat-heavy dungeoncrawler. That just baffles me.
While I appreciate your reviews this one is a bit off. This one stands on its own with what it wanted to do whilengiving us great D&D dungeon crawling.
Owned and played both Baldurs Gates, Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale at the time and I cannot remember a single thing about Icewind Dale other than it being mid.
You are aware that Icewind Dale takes place almost a hundred years before Baldur's Gate, right? Why would you be able to import your character from a game that hasn't happened yet?
Yes. This video was made quite a while ago and I've said several times since then that I dropped the ball hard on this one. But now I know.
@@YeOldEntertainment Hey I just started watching this video for the first time after enjoying your BG1 commentary. I immediately paused the video to read the comments when you said the line about importing saves from BG2 ("but IWD came out before BG2 right??").
But I'm glad to see your comment here, thank you for accepting the criticism and I can enjoy the video knowing it was just a misunderstanding. I know it's just a simple comment from you and you've probably been nagged about it a lot so I'm glad you took the time to write it and I can shrug it off for the rest of the video.
Thank you for making the videos, have been sucking up my time lately! Cheers
@YeOldEntertainment you didn't drop the ball hard bro. The statements in comments that it wouldn't make sense due to releasing beforehand and taking place earlier are true and valid, and I personally love this game as is, but your critique of it lacking that sort of import to or from bg2 doesn't make this video any less solid or enjoyable.
is icewind dale better than the baldurs gates?
For me Baldur's Gate is better. But it depends on what you're looking for.
@@YeOldEntertainment is baldurs gate 1 same as baldurs gate dark alliance? they have different pictures
@@kupo3769 Noooo. not at all. Baldur's gate is a Classic RPG with RTS pause mechanics. This on eis a lot more about exploring, questing, the feeling of adventure. There is combat yes, but it's not the turnstone of the game. Dark Alliance is more an ARPG.
Really disappointing game, like you said, if you have played and replayed the 2 BG over and over like i did. IWD looks like a RPG but its just a straight line story-wise. The cool fights and the beautiful music / landscapes didnt make me hold my breath for very long. At some point i was like "ok I GOT IT -_-"
I really enjoyed my time with IWD in spite of everything. But I think that with IWD, things very much boil down to one's expectations. I can understand why some people love to no end, and also why some other people feel disappointed.
I don’t know why you keep bringing up Grim Dawn in your reviews. They’re different genres with different focuses. It’s like going to kfc and say your local steak restaurant does the steak better. Grim Dawn you control a solo character with action based combat and randomly generated loot. It would be pretty boring if you can only walk and attack with set loot that you get a few pieces per map. As would be if you need to manage a team of 6. You gonna pause the game every other second and give commands? Would that even be fun?
The infinite engine games were based on AD&D second edition rules. It was not made up front scratch. The rule book was released circa 1989. It’s an old game based on O-L-D rules. Of course it’s not going to be complex, as it’s designed to be played with real people doing maths in real time with dice.
The spirit of this channel, as stated in every video is to help people who have not yet played a game.. decide whether it is a game they should be picking up. These D&D games are worth playing in my estimation, but a lot has happened in the last 20 years. Unfortunately there are aspects of the experience that I WILL CONTINUE to compare with newer games (even if they are from different sub-genres) because these newer games are alternatives that are out there for others to choose instead of this one. I know that this a CRPG and that Grim Dawn, Titan Quest and others that I mention are ARPGs. I know this. I am NOT comparing the GAMES but the EXPERIENCE of one particular aspect like leveling. I could've chosen a genre equivalent game, I suppose, but I want to make the point loud and clear, for people who have not played these games, that when it comes to character progression they should expect leveling to be very different from games that offer a slew of options with synergies. etc. This is not to crap in a game... it's to make sure you know what you're walking into.
You are someone clearly knowledgeable in these games and D&D games, and you decided a long time ago, that you like this game. Any opinion that you might want to add, that helps people make their opinion about the purchase is welcome. But if you dislike the criterion being used so much, then you will probably continue to have a bad time with the videos in this channel. You might want to consider this.
@@YeOldEntertainment I feel like it’s a reductive way of looking at the game if the only thing you can say is “it’s not ” if you feel like this is part of what you want to put out there then go ahead but as a viewer it’s incredibly offputting. Would have appreciated if comparison was made against a modern game from the same genre (eg Pathfinder). As for experiences I don’t think they’re comparable. I just don’t think these comparisons are as effective at conveying what you wanna say as you think.
@@Dndditches This is not likely to change in the future as that is not the way I see it. There are perhaps other channels that might be more to your liking. WolfheartFPS, Fextralife, Neverknowsbest come to mind, they are all fantastic. I think you will perhaps feel more comfortable watching those instead.
As far as i know, Black Isle Studios was explicitly not allowed to use Baldurs Gate setting in any way on Icewind Dale by Bioware. That is why you see no connections between them. Also, Icewind Dale was released before Baldurs Gate 2, not the other way around. Come on, this is basic information that is 1 google away. How could you mess this up?
Icewind Dale has "it". The undefinable something that makes it magically great. If you look at the sum of the parts it should be nothing special compared to Baldur's Gate 2. You could even say each single aspect is worse than BG2. BUT what they created is special, it's lightning in a bottle. Icewind Dale has the atmosphere, the magic to keep you hooked until the end. Even Brian Fargo, the founder of Interplay, said it's his favorite infinity engine game.
The review is too nitpicky. It's almost as if someone is dissecting Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and instead of grasping the magic of the whole thing is complaining about a note at minute 27 and 23.5 seconds. :) I respect the work you put into the review, but I fear you don't see the beauty of the forest for concentrating too much on some rot on a few single trees.
It's fun but near the end it gets pretty damn boring.
Ehhh, it really isn't worth it. It was the arpg of the lot, and with that insanely badly balanced and chore-ish to play 2nd edition it was really not that fun. But the main thing against it is the preset party, which kills the best part of the Infinity Engine games - party interactions, romances, banter etc.
Admittedly, it did look nicer than BG, and its story wasn't all that bad either, but if BG was 9/10 and BG2/PS a 10/10, this would barely hit a 7.
There's one major difference between Icewind Dale and a shameless cash grab. What Icewind Dale does, it does well. The only real problem is what it doesn't do, like story, character or options.
Of all the computerized D&D adaptations, I enjoyed IWD the least. It felt so monotonous and tiresome, constantly returning to the central hub before you go searching for the next McGuffin in the next repetitive dungeon. And at least if the combat was great like in BG2 but it isn't; instead you have unseemly numbers of weak "trash mobs" (to use MMO terminology) thrown at you to make some encounters artificially difficult. The most egregious example was in the dungeon that resembled an Egyptian tomb, iirc: something like dozens of weak skeletons shambling at you. There were so many that it actually slowed the game down (never happened with the BG games). A game from 2000, slowing a computer from 2010 down, try to wrap your head around that.
IWD2 however was fantastic and did right everything IWD did wrong.
Bro I love your videos but your intros are way too long
Just today, more than 20 years later, I've 100% achieved IWD EE. It was my 1st IE game. BG1&2 and NWN where the pinnacle but IWD has my heart. For me it's unique. I'm proud in my fifties, with many duties, to have slained my good old friend Belhifet in HOF mode without cheating. Perhaps It's my last goodbye, I've bought the game more than 10 times old and ee, this is a legendary game that trades blows with its merits to even BG, UFO: enemy unknown (Original xcom) & Wing Commander 1&2. IWD is not as renowned as the overated Torment, or the excellent BG SoA& ToB, but it beats them in setting, story & lore. Get to chapter 3 and then the story begins. Yes its combat heavy and it obliterates the celebred Diablo, a pale meme( Albeit a very good game too by its time) in comparison to IWD. unmissable, just give it some time until the plot unfolds... thumbs up!
Icewind Dale kinda sucked, there where too many enemies and too much fighting. I prefer Baldur‘s Gate.
I don't know if "sucked" is the word. CRPG's do have to have an interesting story for me to become invested in the whole deal, and this is definitely isn't it. And yes, it is linear as hell and it offers nothing in terms of decision making. It goes from dungeon to dungeon and you can't even decide which one you want to go to first. But combat-wise it is a blast to play. Facing the combat encounters in Icewind Dale with a party that's entirely of your own making has its charm. Although yes... Baldur's Gate, but ESPECIALLY Baldur's Gate II is far superior.
This game is an absolute scam lmao, actually all these games are i came to the conclusion THEY LOOK EXACTLY THE SAME.