Will I enjoy Icewind Dale if the combat was my least favourite thing about Baldur's Gate?

[Tavernking]

I've heard Icewind Dale is combat-centric and there isn't much story/character development. Choices and consequences are important too.

 

[Butter]

Maybe. Icewind Dale has better encounter design than BG, plus better deungeons and full party creation. The level cap is also higher, so there's a better sense of progression through a full AD&D campaign.

 

[octavius]

IWD is almost all about combat, character development and finding better loot.
Story is just an excuse for adventuring (the writing itself is pretty good, though) and there's no C&C to speak of.

 

[bec de corbin]

You absolutely will not, no. IWD is all combat all the time, that is the main appeal.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

Probably not, I kind of enjoyed it more than Baldur's Gate because of full party creation and no retarded characters, but I don't think the engine was appropriate for combat-centric games with tons of loot.

 

[Lawntoilet]

I've heard Icewind Dale is combat-centric and there isn't much story/character development. Choices and consequences are important too.

IWD has better encounter design than the BG games, but much less story. There's not much C&C either. If you didn't like the BGs I can't imagine you'd like the IWDs.
You should still play them though, after all, the Codex isn't about playing the games that you enjoy, it is about establishing your street cred to shit on the games you didn't enjoy. So just play the fucking IWDs already you double nigger.

 

[Bastardchops]

I'd say the IWD combat is better. I enjoyed it more not having like the combat in BG.

 

[laclongquan]

Around 95% is combat with 5% is story. So no, you wont like it if you dont like combat.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Better visuals, better writing though that's like 5% of the game (careful about the few lines added by shit dog, which are pretty terrible), better areas (aside for Durlag' Tower), best portraits in any crpg i've ever played.

Best way to enjoy combat is to limit resting as much as possible. That allows for some strategy on how to use buffs and spells. Game is hard as shit too up until the fist half after that it starts getting easier.

 

[Thal]

If you did not like even the better encounters of BG1, such as bandit parties, then IWD offers nothing to you. If you disliked only trash mobs, then you might enjoy IWD.

 

[The Jester]

No

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

If you mean strictly BG1 then I like IWD quite a lot while considering BG1 very meh/skippable so yeah, it's possible.

 

[NJClaw]

IWD is a very linear game, where the plot is just an excuse to keep the adventure going. There are neither choices nor consequences to speak of: you reach a new area, explore it, experience its content (mainly combat, but there are a couple of quests here and there), and then move on to the next area.

Combat is great, but what makes the game really stand out to me is the atmosphere. Everything in this game helps to establish a very specific tone for the adventure: the art style, the sceneries, the detailed backgrounds, the soundtrack, and the writing set a very distinct and unique mood that no other game managed to recreate ever again.

IWD is like a D&D adventure with a DM who's very good at orchestrating fun combat encounters and creating and describing interesting areas and NPCs, but who railroads his players into a predetermined plot and sequence of events.

 

[JarlFrank]

It's got the same clunky RTwP combat as BG. I somewhat enjoyed IWD but during my entire playthrough I kept thinking how much better this would be turn-based, where I wouldn't have to fight with the terrible aiming of AoE spells and the inevitable clusterfucks.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Icewind Dale is an overrated pile of garbage. Remove all the writing and exploration and charm of Baldur's Gate and you have Icewind Dale. Even the combat is worse, actually, as it lacks the fun mage duels and other interesting encounters of BG.

 

[NJClaw]

Icewind Dale is an overrated pile of garbage. Remove all the writing and exploration and charm of Baldur's Gate and you have Icewind Dale. Even the combat is worse, actually, as it lacks the fun mage duels and other interesting encounters of BG.

Funnily enough, Malavon in Dorn's Deep is a better encounter than any of the "cast Spell Thrust and Breach, then whack them with a stick" mage duels in BG2.

 

[Terenty]

It has an incredible cozy atmosphere that's for sure

 

[Serus]

I've heard Icewind Dale is combat-centric and there isn't much story/character development. Choices and consequences are important too.

IWD has better encounter design than the BG games, but much less story. There's not much C&C either. If you didn't like the BGs I can't imagine you'd like the IWDs.
You should still play them though, after all, the Codex isn't about playing the games that you enjoy, it is about establishing your street cred to shit on the games you didn't enjoy. So just play the fucking IWDs already you double nigger.

There's no much of C&C in BG2 either. Choose one of the two factions which leads to the same result, except a few fights early in game. And that's it. Most of other c&c are fake or very minor. So much c&c ! I only played BG1 for few hours back in thee day but was it better? I sincerely doubt it.

 

[Butter]

There's not really any C&C in BG1 either. I suspect a lot of codexers are misremembering the BG games through 20 years of SCS and nostalgia.

 

[Mikeal]

Of course. Figthing in IWD is miles ahead of BG.

 

[Silly Germans]

How is combat that much better ? Its pretty much exactly the same just much more of it in a tighter package. Many areas are just trash mob after trash mob. Its just harder than BG1 since you cant rest as easily, but the encounter design itself is at best marginally better. Some of you make it sound as if it's combat is in an entirely different league, which it is not. Its just more of it and a bit harder.

 

[Lawntoilet]

I've heard Icewind Dale is combat-centric and there isn't much story/character development. Choices and consequences are important too.

IWD has better encounter design than the BG games, but much less story. There's not much C&C either. If you didn't like the BGs I can't imagine you'd like the IWDs.
You should still play them though, after all, the Codex isn't about playing the games that you enjoy, it is about establishing your street cred to shit on the games you didn't enjoy. So just play the fucking IWDs already you double nigger.

There's no much of C&C in BG2 either.

There's very little in either BG game and I never said (or intended to imply) that there was, I just brought it up because OP mentioned it. Most of the C&C is just determined by which characters you bring in your party.

 

[Kalin]

Great game. Stay clear of IWD2 though.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

I wouldn't recommend it. It's all about combat and collecting equipment. The combat system is still the same, but there is much more room for tactical experiments (much more spells). The story is standard, there are no choices at all. I found the overall experience to be very bland when I replayed the game earlier this year.

 

[Trashos]

IWD's combat was about attrition, so by default it was garbage in comparison to BG2.

I did enjoy its art and atmosphere. And a couple of fights maybe. That's it.