Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition

The Enhanced Edition (EE) provides these very nice improvements compared to the vanilla game: 1) Support for the cool engine features which previously only Baldur's Gate 2 (BG2) had but Icewind Dale (IWD) didn't, in particular: - dual-wielding weapons - better weapon proficiency system - class kits (lets you further specialize your character within a certain class) 2) Some new content. Besides the kits, a bunch of spells etc. were also carried over from BG2 (but adapted to fit the IWD style and balance). 3) Instant loading and saving. No longer waste time staring at load screens. 4) Support for modern screen resolutions. For the original game you could install a mod to sort of get support for them, but it was a hack, and the UI didn't scale to it. The EE features a properly scaling UI and worry-free widescreen support out of the box. 5) Better accessibility: - zoom support (via mouse wheel) - font size slider in the settings 6) More convenience. Some small enhancements which let you avoid repetitive clicking, for example: - quick-loot toolbar - highlighting for spell scrolls (in stores or the inventory) which the active character hasn't learned yet 7) Mac and Linux support. This also makes your purchase more future-proof. 8) Less installation hassle. The three mods which pretty much everyone installed on the original game - "IWD Fix Pack", "Widescreen", "Unfinished Business" - are no longer needed with EE, as it already includes the improvements they added. No more need to install any mods or workarounds just to get a complete and stable game. 9) Better modding support. As a result, much more high-quality mods are available for IWD EE than there ever were for the original IWD. See [url=https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/36477/list-iwd-ee-compatible-mods/p1]this list[/url]. 10) Better documentation. The bundled PDF manual is excellent, and there's a new help system for newbies in the main menu. So, definitely buy the Enhanced Edition!

Of all the original Infinity Engine Games, Icewind Dale deserved an enhanced edition the most. Truly, Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II were perfectly acceptable with mods. However, Icewind Dale needed the attention to bring it up to date with class kits and new spells. It is a worthy purchase that has completely met all my expectations.

The game is well done and I've found no bugs yet. Many nice features have been added, like zooming. However, I was surprised that a few very nice features have removed in a way that takes away some of the player's freedom. For example, you can't create and add characters (in a single player game at least) at any time, like in the original game. Also, why is it impossible for my fighter-druid to read almost all the clerical scrolls? Not being able to add characters makes the game more unforgiving to mistakes in the beginning, because this is no Baldur's Gate where one can find and recruit new party members almost anywhere.

I will never understand the haters of this excellent remake. I also bought both IWD1+2 when they came out. First in german, than a few years later as english DVDs, then at GoG again when they came on sale and I still bought the EE all over again. And you know what? They've done everything right! 1) The small tweaks go over extremly well, like 80 arrows per quiver slot. 2) The engine works flawlessly and the little UI enhancements alone were worth the money to me. 3) The EE is easy to mod. Most Gibberling's & Co mods work, but you need far less of them. This goes especially towards the NPC MOD. I can't play Icewind Dale without it, so I waited until it worked, then bought the EE. To sum it up, Beamdog delivered a pure Icewind Dale experience in a very polished package.