A worthy successor to a Fantastic game
I still remember the reason I got the original Icewind Dale. I was simply bored out of my mind, disappointed with Diablo II, and looking for more Baldur's Gate while waiting for the sequel to be released. Icewind Dale had a unique flavor that distinguished it from the other Infinity Engine games, and a fast-paced, svelte system that still makes it an eye-opener in this world of 3-D everything games. The soundtrack, also, was arguably the best of any game I've seen.
Icewind Dale II is good enough that I'd call it a worthy successor. Like Baldur's Gate II it carries on in the flavor of the original, but with improvements to increase replayability. These improvements are largely comprised of a change to the 3rd Ed. D&D rules. In this regard, the game does a fair job at approximating them. I would say it's roughly comparable to Neverwinter Nights, though there of course are some major differences since you can control up to 6 characters.
The gameplay is pretty similar to the original, with less Fed-Ex quests and more good old-fashioned slaughter. The plot is still very much linear, but there's many ways you can go about meeting NPC's requests. One of these ways is to simply kill them all and take their stuff (though you might not always want to). There are quite a few new spells, and although the game lacks metamagic feats you can do things like spontaneous casting, domain spells, and wizard school specialization. All the old summoning spells have been upgraded as well, so they are actually useful at higher levels. Lastly, the 'Heart of Fury' mode is embellished with better weapons and items to make chopping down the horde less impossible. Your characters can advance to level 30, up to level 20 in any one class. It doesn't quite follow the epic level rules, but you'll probably be glad for the extra hit dice, since the only way to get that high is HoF mode.
I think that most of you shouldn't be discouraged because the game doesn't have any spectacular 3D visuals to offer, because the sound qualities truly make up for all of that. They create are really exciting atmosphere and the huge variety of character voiceovers also does the trick.
On an overall note, thanks to the enhanced character creation system, you now have a chance to make a unique-looking RPG hero of you very own. After creating your ideal character, you're faced with a challenge of properly using all of his/her potentials. Immersed in a good story, slicing enemies, completing quests, advancing you group's experience, are all elements that will keep you going in Icewind Dale 2 and they represent game's essential qualities. These features are all well-balanced and can guarantee some long hours of fun RPG fun.
Not to mention that for this low price, you cannot go wrong, play this game
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