Codex Review Icewind Dale II Review

[Sol Invictus]

Tags: Black Isle Studios; Icewind Dale 2

Does it succeed as a strong title or does it falter like its predecessor? Read Exitium's unbiased and well-balanced review to find out if Icewind Dale II makes the cut.

Read the full article: Icewind Dale II Review

 

[Spazmo]

I mostly agree with the review, although I didn't like IWDII as much as Exitium. It just seems like every single area in the game is filled with half a dozen identical combat encounters with one slightly tougher monster with a name at the end. I was getting so tired of this by the end of the game that I started cheating so that I could be done with this game and move on to more interesting things.

 

[Jed]

I went into the game well aware of what lay ahead, and while I enjoyed the game enough for what I was taking it as (a half-assed 3E combat sim), I ran into a serious bug. Twice in the game, upon entering a specific new area, the game would crash to desktop. Start it up again: same area, same thing. Being such a linear game, I couldn't "play around" the areas--I had to follow the path. First time, I uninstalled and reinstalled, and everything worked okay. Second time it happened in the Dragon's Eye. I waited for the most recent patch and installed it, but no such luck. I finally uninstalled it and erased my saves two nights ago, reclaiming precious hard drive space.

I had essentially the same problem with the same resolution when I played POR2, and like that game, I wasn't so sad to not finish.

I've got Geneforge now, anyway.

 

[Spazmo]

*Shudder* Pool of Radiance II... I would have really liked for that game to be good. Instead, it formatted your hard drive. Ah, well.

 

[Anonymous]

Damn that review was waaaaay too long to read.

 

[Section8]

I agree, next time, provide us with less factual information, and simply slap an 85%+ rating on it, along with some paraphrasing of the marketing blurb. That seems to be the standard practise for most reviewers. :twisted:

 

[Anonymous]

icewind dale II lost fascination with game ending bug

In Dragons Eye need a modified mandrake root that did not appear when it is supposed to. It is a known bug with no fix other than using a cheat program. I refuse to play a game that can't be completed with such a game ending bug

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

God bless Interplay Quality Assurance. :D

 

[Exmit]

We need IWD 3 Obsidian

 

[Melcar]

It will probably be a third person action game though. Do we really want that?

 

[Jaesun]

There is no publisher on Earth that would approach Obsidian to do a party based RTwP D&D stat and skill based cRPG.

So that's not going to happen.

Ever.

 

[St. Toxic]

Maybe they could turn it into an fps? It's what they would have done if they had the technology back then.

 

[Gragt]

There is no publisher on Earth that would approach Obsidian to do a party based RTwP D&D stat and skill based cRPG.

So that's not going to happen.

Ever.

It happened with NWN2 though.

 

[Roguey]

@Gragt - http://forums.obsidian.net/index.php?sh ... &p=1142754

RPGs, even RPGs with turn-based combat, still have to compete with the AAA, cinematic, multiplatform RPGs out there and it's much harder to stand out in that environment.
...
Anyways, if PS:T had never existed, and we released it this year up against Skyrim, I have to be honest and say that it's probably the case that I wouldn't be likely to choose PS:T on the PC. Especially at full price - it's just a hard sell to say to PC gamers, "Sure, you could buy the latest hotness, or you could buy a game thatwas the latest hotness 13 years ago."

But then, if you sell it at a discount, you risk getting lost in the bargain bin. Occasionally you have a standout success there (Torchlight) but more often than not, you don't
...
No publisher or developer is going to be excited to develop the kind of game that has an expected return on investment of a NWN2 or MotB. It's not a lack of interest in the games, it's a lack of interest in the relatively low sales given the cost of development.

Soz. However, Atari is totally interested in funding 2D turn-based microtransaction-funded D&D games for Facebook. Now there's some hot RoI potential.

 

[Shannow]

Anyways, if PS:T had never existed, and we released it this year up against Skyrim, I have to be honest and say that it's probably the case that I wouldn't be likely to choose PS:T on the PC. Especially at full price - it's just a hard sell to say to PC gamers, "Sure, you could buy the latest hotness, or you could buy a game thatwas the latest hotness 13 years ago."

Wow, that's retarded as anything Beth or Bio ever uttered. Obviously PST would be released with current gen graphics and production values (whether we, the codex, would like that or not). And Obsidian have no problems releasing trash like DS3 at full price, so there is that.

No publisher or developer is going to be excited to develop the kind of game that has an expected return on investment of a NWN2 or MotB. It's not a lack of interest in the games, it's a lack of interest in the relatively low sales given the cost of development.

Now that's probably true. Though one has to say that DAO sold very well. I don't know how well NWN2 sold but I had the impression it sold well enough too (considering how blatant its flaws are). So it boils down to "enough is never enough" again. They killed kwa, they are killing you rope and they killed good computer games. Gods, I hate turbo capitalist swine /gd influenced but on topic nonetheless

 

[Sacculina]

Anyways, if PS:T had never existed, and we released it this year up against Skyrim, I have to be honest and say that it's probably the case that I wouldn't be likely to choose PS:T on the PC. Especially at full price - it's just a hard sell to say to PC gamers, "Sure, you could buy the latest hotness, or you could buy a game thatwas the latest hotness 13 years ago."

Wow, that's retarded as anything Beth or Bio ever uttered. Obviously PST would be released with current gen graphics and production values (whether we, the codex, would like that or not). And Obsidian have no problems releasing trash like DS3 at full price, so there is that.

I think his point is that Planescape: Torment (even with current-gen graphics) is less likely to get any publisher's interest than 'mindless trash like DS3'. And because a lot of PC gamers are elitists and graphics whores, they won't settle for anything else than the full AAA treatment. The alternative is budget pricing, but then it would have to stand out against the ocean of indie games and C-list titles. The only place he expects to make any money from PS:T with the original production values is the iPad.

I hate the gaming industry.

 

[Shannow]

I think his point is that Planescape: Torment (even with current-gen graphics) is less likely to get any publisher's interest than 'mindless trash like DS3'. And because a lot of PC gamers are elitists and graphics whores, they won't settle for anything else than the full AAA treatment. The alternative is budget pricing, but then it would have to stand out against the ocean of indie games and C-list titles. The only place he expects to make any money from PS:T with the original production values is the iPad.

I hate the gaming industry.

Actually I think what he meant was: If PST were done today they'd have to give it Pong gameplay with facebook integration, because, as we all know, that's the only thing that sells.
The reason he wrote something completely different was because he didn't know what I'd want to interpret into his words. (And morons claim sarcasm doesn't translate well to writing, pffft)

 

[RK47]

IWD on Facebook would persuade me to register for an account just to kill time with friends in the office

GO FOR IT OBSY!

 

[RK47]

Does it succeed as a strong title or does it falter like its predecessor? Read Exitium's unbiased and well-balanced review to find out if Icewind Dale II makes the cut.

Where's the link?!

 

[CappenVarra]

Just say NO to necromancy.

 

[Shannow]

Does it succeed as a strong title or does it falter like its predecessor? Read Exitium's unbiased and well-balanced review to find out if Icewind Dale II makes the cut.

Where's the link?!

Gods, and I even indulge you lazy bastards...

(Ok, looking it up took only 10 seconds, but still.)

 

[RK47]

 

[Jaesun]

I miss rex, The Queen of Drama.

 

[jagged-jimmy]

Well from a development end I’d reduce the party size abit and go with a NWN2 camera system. Maybe go down to 4 characters and allow you to play over the shoulder...

I dunno if i want that. But i'd totally play an infinity game like for 20 dollars.