Icewind Dale 2 Complete

This was a good sequel. I enjoyed the challenge and creativity involved in: character creation/advancement, spell selection/usage (i.e. the entire D&D spell list), equipping characters, the various tactics one can use in battle, etc. Basically it's enjoyable due to the things that make D&D enjoyable. I gave 4 instead of 5 stars because it's also *missing* some of the key elements that make D&D enjoyable. I'm sure this was somewhat unavoidable due to budgetary constraints, as well as the system constraints of the early 2000's, but I can't help but say what could have made the game better. The party cannot deviate from rather narrow areas of travel, and you have to complete the series of quests in an area before the next area can be visited. There is also no way to zoom out on the field of view. Effectively, you can see much shorter distances than you can in actual table-top D&D. In fact, the "Spot" and "Track" skills, which are critical in tabletop D&D, do not exist in the Icewind Dale series. This takes away some of the strategic fun of spying and sneaking up on potential enemies. You can use the "Hide" skill to explore unseen with your rogue, or you can use invisibility spells, but there are few scenarios in this game where that is really helpful, although I guess it's unavoidable that a tabletop game where your imagination if the limit is going to have more possibilities than a PC game. While the game feels large and long in a way, it also feels like it ends too soon. My characters had just reached level 16 when the game ended. I never got to try out those 9th-level spells! The ending battle also seemed a bit too easy and anti-climactic. Some previous battles had been more challenging than the final one. Also, toward the end of the game I was awash in gold from all the enchanted items I had found and sold, but there weren't any merchants that had anything I particularly wanted at that point. Would have been nice to see a few BIG-ticket items.

I've only played 80% of the game so far, but IMHO it is fairly tedious and unimaginative in comparison with Baldur's Gate, Planescape, Fallout, and even Arcanum. The story is just a thin pretext for more grinding - to the point that it at one stage sends you back to a level you have already completed, and asks you to re-clear it on an entirely unrelated pretext. Only one or two of the battles are really entertaining. Most of your time will be spent in the inventory screen!

Let's forget about ToEE and PoE for a second. This game is the ending of a beautiful Infinity Engine series, and convinces with its creative storytelling, amazing sound and music design and game mechanics that are capable of reflecting the depth and the strategic components of a decent board-game adventure. It's a tribute to the RPG-masters at Black Isle and their style of storytelling. As a well-polished Infinity Engine game with its render-backgrounds, character menus apparently carved from stone and no cutscenes, it is a game to get used to. It's not like a tower-defense, or a latter day Might and Magic, it won't bore you with offensive tactics or long tutorials. You are thrown into battle, without so much as a warning. And that is what makes it special: You aren't well prepared, you aren't chosen by the gods to do their dirty work: You are a hired goon, and the game builds on that premiss. All other factors that make games good for me (sound design, music repertoire and mechanics) play into the story. Much like the simplistic menu design, the weather animation, sound design and music convey sorrow, everlasting winter and helplessly hopeless conditions all around. The atmosphere is unique and, as the game reaches the last chapters, unfolds its entire potential. The mechanics are similar: They work, you can see the cogs turning, and cannot blame broken game mechanics for your inevitable failure, and will try to keep you on your toes. If you are like me, a sucker for well arranged games, in which every major segment has its part and works with everything else, then this will be an experience, a true adventure, a holiday from Dragon Age or Bloodborne with their respectable, but not at all astonishing level design.

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/87952/icewind-dale-2-enhanced-edition-is-released/p1 In a bit of context, the Source of Icewind Dale 2 was lost in the entire "fall of Interplay" debacle. So, as is what happens to most projects like this, it falls to a small team of modders to come in like heroes and save the day. They rebuilt the game from the ground up, so they deserve some respect

I'm not very good at these Infinity Engine D & D games but I do like them a lot. I think I prefer the more straightforward, hack 'n' slash direction that the Icewind Dale games offer as opposed to the story driven Baldur's Gate games. Sometimes a good story just means too much tiny text for my lazy modern gamer eyes to handle. Just let me click on monsters and make them die. Despite my many hours playing IWD and BG, I still haven't got a clue as to how best to utilize my magic classes. So many spells and options, there needs to be a tutorial in-game to help us dummies learn all the intricacies of each class. If, like me, you can't be bothered with learning what the heck "THAC0" means or dislike reading in-game tomes filled with lore, you might prefer the excellent arcade-style RPG Nox to this. That said, there still nothing more satisfying than finally getting through each one of the many tough battles that Icewind Dale will throw at you.