While I enjoyed the BG games, I felt constrained by the fact that all my characters after the main one were created for me. Despite all the great character interaction and tailored quests, it just never felt like it was "my" party. Icewind Dale lets one create the entire party from scratch (which can take awhile), and that's a tremendous part of the fun. These are "your" characters, molded in "your" style, just like a real tabletop experience. The BG games were good, just disappointing in the fact that my characters were handed to me, like a DM saying "Here, this is your party - enjoy". BG...4 ID...5+
