If you already have X4 Foundations, downgrade it to 5.1! If you are thinking to buy this - wait at least 2 or 3 months! This was pushed out early, while the Beta test with every day new reported bugs was still running, obviously to sell the new Kingdom End DLC, which is nice, but also not ready und not playtested. If you are in doubt, look at the Forums at Egosoft, there are pages full of reported, proven and accepted bugs, which are not fixed after 2 weeks! The reason is they just started another Beta for something else, give out no Hotfixes, and if you think to join the new 'after release Beta' think again: They test something else, and the old bugs from the 6.0 Beta are still not fixed. Egosoft had a very good record in bug fixing, when 5.0 came out last year, there were 4 Hotfixes in the first 10 days! No more... 2 weeks passed and the developers are busy with new features (which will introduce even more bugs) instead of fixing the 6.0 release. If you think by participating in the new Beta you will see bug fixes for Kingdom End and 6.0 earlier - think again, they are busy to test and fix a lot of new things, instead of fixing 6.0. And as a new player you will not want to do the Beta tests at all. So - do yourself a favor and wait at least 2 or 3 months before buying!! Version 6.0 is not exactly unplayable, but - especially for a new and less experienced player - it is an annoying mess, with no help from Egosoft at all!
I made the error and trusted Egosoft, purchased it on the first day. Won't make this error again... TL/DR: Do NOT BUY this mess, wait at least 2 or 3 months!! The DLC is not bad, but was pushed out at least one month too early! It has massive bugs and problems, which in part go back to the new game version 6.0, which is necessary for the DLC. Both, the new game version and the DLC was pushed out midst a running Beta test, which obviously was not concluded, the game has massive bugs because they introduced a new Physics Engine (Jolt), which by no means is ready. Pathfinding bugs, ships sticking together, ships hang in docks and are unusable, things like that, plus serious bugs, missions no longer working, and a lot more. Before buying have a look at Egosoft Forums, there you will find pages full of serious bugs reported, proved and accepted. But not fixed yet. After this release, which clearly is a Beta declared as release, and the DLC (which needs 6.0) they do not try to fix problems ASAP, no, they just started an NEW Beta for something different in the game, and let everybody who was naive and trusting enough sit with this botched release. So - do NOT BUY this, wait at least 2 or 3 months, hopefully they will find the time to fix this mess. Additionally if you already have the game, by all means stay on version 5.1, which is not perfect, but stable. Also wait at least 2 or 3 months before upgrading! In itself the DLC is nice, graphically and with a nice but too short storyline. But if you want to avoid frustration, wait! Up to now Egosoft had a fairly good record in fixing bugs promptly, the 5.0 release last year had 4 Hotfixes in the first 10 days! This seems to be over, release of 6.0 is now 2 weeks past, no Hotfixes, but a new Beta test, where they test somethings else and seem to have no time to fix bugs, and for everybody who just wants to play - no fixes at all. Will remember this Egosoft :(
I played IWD several times, I still have the original, with CDs, manual and box. It runs on Windows 7, not very well, but it runs. There are mods, which help to use the old game, but the Enhanced Version makes this unnecessary. The game in itself is quite linear, with a gripping but fairly simple story, both expansions (Heart of Winter and the free expansion Trials of the Luremaster) are included and integrated well. You can play every of the three items alone, or all three in one pass, with the same party. Less interesting for me is the multiplayer mode, so I cannot say anything about that. But you need the multiplayer mode if you want to change your party in mid game. (Instructions how to do this are on the Beamdog forums). There is a new quest (which was cut from the original game), and this quest is really nice and works flawlessly, as the entire game does. Also there are small things like a shield, which can be significantly upgrade by talking to a NPC, which really surprised me. XP values are higher in certain places, which leads to a very high level party. Spells (which always were missing in the original game) were added, but no High Level Abilities. In the original game toward the end of the game you could have a mage - without 9th level spells. This is now much better in the Enhanced Version. I recommend a party with multiclass characters (dual class could be done, but is very hard). Multiclass characters reach high levels too, are more versatile and more fun, because after level 25 characters do not really improve any more in AD&D. My party is in the Trials after doing most of the main game, and a good part of Heart of Winter, and they are around level 25 (Mage, Fighter) and over 30 for the Cleric. Recommended buy - good value for the money!
