Icewind Dale 2 Complete

Since it was released in '02, I've probably sank over 10,000 hours into IWD:II, and it will always be one of my top ten games. If you enjoyed the first IWD (can't speak for the EE), then you're going to enjoy this one. You play as a band of sellswords (a few premade groups or a custom one) who arrive just in time to save the day from... GOBLINS!?! Yes, Goblins. Not the typical, unorganized Goblins, but Goblins who are banding together into a unified force. In preventing a town from being overrun, you begin to discover a more sinister plot that doesn't just encompass one town but the entire realm, starting in the most northern reaches of Faerun. Driven by your morality, your greed, or simply a calling that even you don't entirely understand, your party pits itself against the massing army. Dialogue is informative, if a bit more streamlined for easier digestion, though later in the game some conversations can start to feel a bit drawn out. Being a very dark storyline where you can really see the changes in the world since the original IWD took place, there are still a few NPCs who can make you laugh ("I'm a rock. Rocks don't talk."). The fighting is much more challenging than in the first IWD, and some fights may seem to be entirely based on luck, or only won by stacking area-of-effects around your party. Strangely, the difficulty sometimes seems to drop or rise from area to area (or from room to room). As for why I give it four out of five stars... I have never liked the ending to IWD:II, it always left the slight taste of disappointment and abandonment in my mouth. It was too easy, and left too much open, for me to really feel like it was "the end." IWD was somewhat similar, but something about it told me that it was "the end"... IWD:II doesn't tell me that. Driving my party, who I hand-crafted and nurtured, through six chapters of Hell to have them run out of a door and "poof"... I get that their adventure isn't over, but mine doesn't feel over, either.

This game, way back in 2003 absolutely ruined my studies as a teenager! I remember playing it every which way; good party, evil party, neutral party, all paladins (multiclassed), all wizards, normal play, with cheat codes, with cheat codes and edited characters so they all had 30 in each stat... Goddamn the effects were spectacular, the story was genuinely interesting and cutscenes actually got you involved in the story. The spells, character customisation and story were the first things that really got me into D'n'D. Brilliant game and at less than £3 it's a bargain that deserves to be in everyone's collection.

Is a dungeon crawler at its best, with a fairly pronounced difficulty curve in his first hours of play, you have to create your group of heroes, each with a specific role, and see how they pass each obstacle that the game is implementing (Bosses, great hordes of enemies, puzzles, etc). If you like this class of classic Crpg's, this is definitely your game, this was the last of its kind, full of difficulty, an interesting story and many hours of play.

I haven't played the GOG version, but i played this ALOT with my best friend back in the days. It's not as story driven as BG or PS:T, but it has fun combat and is very hard to get through if you only choose to play with two characters (You and your friend), but is possible if you make good strategic descision. Someone gave it 1 star because he hates Beamdog. Beamdog wasn't involved in this version though and i will bump my 4 stars up to 5. It lacks some story elements for singleplayer IMO, but try it out if you want to play with a friend. I don't know if it's possible to play online anymore, but otherwise use Hamachi to emulate local Coop.

...but the weakest out of the old Infinity Engine bunch. Some tedious chapters and a different edition (3rd) from all the others but nevertheless quite worthwile to play. I can vividly remember how thrilled I was during my very first playthrough many years ago but consecutive playthroughs were not as thrilling compared to the rest (first instalment, Baldur's, Torment). Five star system does not give enough room to make that distinction though, ergo 5 stars.