Icewind Dale 2 Complete

This is what RPGs were meant to be like. Took me back to the days before responsability.

And the reason is not only that Icewind Dale 1 got "Enhanced". As others have mentioned before, this part was a try get more money from first part's popularity. Second part was made in hurry. It is not so good as first, even considering some improvements. You will never see Ten Towns you are supposed to defend, except ruined and abandoned Targos with no interesting side-quests and NPCs in it. More so, you will have no "base" and many locations will be impossible to visit twice. Locations (backgrounds) themselves got worse than in first part. Art is not that impressive (still better than BG 1-2). Locations are ridiculously small, like Wandering Willage and surroundings, or absurdly big, like Ice Palace that can simply host one of Ten Towns. Every step on these locations however has tough battle in it. Most of them are impossible to win without decent preparations, but reconnaissance will be mostly ruined by cutscenes and/or monsters showing only when battle starts. Loot is overspecialized, meaning you need to carry tons of different equipment to change it in almost every battle (and interface is not helping at all). More so, there is no bestiary. You need to read battle logs very carefully to understand why your +2 axe cannot harm this yet another beast. Oh, and you have beat all crap from yuan-ti in first part at level about 6? Forget it. Here they will beat all crap from you on level about 14. Because screw you that's why. And so on. Better get first IWD. Hope someday we will see this old but cracked gem on proper engine (like Solasta) with turn-based fights as they should be in DnD.

There's something deeply echanting about Infinity Engine games, Icewind Dale 2 being no exception. I mean, yes, the D&D rules governing the gameplay make no sense whatsoever and are overly convoluted to the point of eating their own tail, yes the pathfinding is infuriating, but the cozy Forgotten Realms feel is nowhere else to be found.

This is one of the only games I have purchased from GOG that has never run. There are suggestions on the forums such as installing odd 3rd party files, but no advice from GOG about how to run the game - and plenty of comments about it not working on GOG Galaxy, or from the .exe file. The game itself however is fantastic and I have great memories of playing it from my old CDs. If GOG can provide a way to play it (preferably from their launcher) I'd recommend buying it. But as it is, it has just been a frustrating experience trying to make it work and a waste of money. GOG please fix this problem.

I'll start this off with the bad parts. Icewind Dale 2 was not as awesome as Icewind 1 in a lot of ways, especially level design and environmental visual wise. Stuff looks great, and there are some more imaginative scenarios at play... but the actual visual design never left me as dazzled as Ice wind 1, and there are a couple of levels in this game that will make you want to tear your hair out in frustration... Having said that; this is STILL one hell of a ride! Gameplay is similar to Icewind 1 (and Baldurs Gate 2 by extension), but unlike its predecessors, Icewind Dale 2 uses the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 edition rules, the same used in Neverwinter Nights 2 (albeit not as feature filled here). This makes for a party that's much more diverse and easily tweaked, and a a lot more useful skills. Likewise, the available weapon types are also expanded on. The plot is... okay. It is more fleshed out than Icewind Dale 1's story, but this is one of those games where you feel like you are forced into certain decisions that you don't agree with. It does, however, create some pretty a atmosphere, and for the first half of the game you'll really feel like you're a part of an ongoing war (especially if you have summoners in your party, which can enable you to summon up to 6 more goons for your crew, leading to epic battles of 12 vs the monsters). All in all, this is most certainly worth picking up. Its tons of fun, and does the previous infinity engine games proud.