Icewind Dale Icewind Dale is a very boring, bad game

[PorkyThePaladin]

Just hit Chapter 5, going only on inertia, because this game is boring me to death.

It's like a duller version of Diablo, with more numbers and less fun. A constant progression of corridors with waves of trash mobs to kill. The combat is actually far worse than in BG saga, as even BG1 had its share of memorable fights. Here, I can't remember any.

The story is sleep inducing. It gives you no motivation at all to play. You are some random pos who came out of nowhere, and now are suddenly supposed to be invested in some bs that's going on in the north, which is essentially just a sequence of meaningless mini-villains, one after another, not one with any backstory that makes you actually want to find them and take them down. Sorceress so and so, followed by necromancer billy bob, who was actually innocent because it was really lizard king larry, and so on.

The loot tables are atrocious. I spent most of the game armed with a weapon I bought from the store keeper in Kuldahar. Half the things I find have restrictions on them (alignment, class, race, etc), and the other half plain suck.

No exploration obviously, given that you are traveling between PoIs along tight corridors. One puzzle in the entire game so far, and it was horrible. How is this game #22 on the top 70 list?

 

[Sigourn]

I presume Icewind Dale must be one of the best games ever made, assuming you:

1. Like RTwP combat.
2. Enjoy the shit out of building and customizing your party.

Sadly, I hate RTwP. I still managed to crawl (heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh) through the base game, the expansion, and Trials of the Luremaster. It's just a shame it isn't turn-based, because I really like the idea behind the game.

 

[MajorMace]

I presume Icewind Dale must be one of the best games ever made, assuming you:

1. Like RTwP combat.
2. Enjoy the shit out of building and customizing your party.

precisely

Sadly, I hate RTwP.

Now playing: Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (BioWare, 2000)

Why do you do this to yourself ?

 

[Sigourn]

Why do you do this to yourself ?

I wanted to find out if the hype was real after the disappointment that Baldur's Gate was. Luckily for me the Codex agrees that PoE is just "meh" and Deadfire doesn't appear to be any different, so I can safely skip those.

 

[Zombra]

IWD was the first game that allowed me to customize my party and add custom portraits for all my characters, so I remember it fondly. There's no sense in playing it today though.

 

[Jokzore]

Just because you don't like it doesn't make it a bad game.

You're obviously in it for the story but that's not what Icewind Dale aims to do. Its goal is a dungeoneering experience and everything else comes after.

As far as combat is concerned, IWD has a much higher variety of enemies than other cRPGs. You actually have to think about and adapt to each new enemy as you meet them, as opposed to BG where you're pretty much asleep at the wheel until you hit a boss, and even then you just breach the mage.

For itemization... idk what else to say other than you're wrong. There's plenty of items to choose from, especially compared to BG.

Maybe you just don't like cRPG mechanics as much as you thought you do?

 

[Covenant]

I never finished Icewind Dale - I got maybe two thirds of the way through? - but what I experienced tallies up pretty well with your criticisms. Nothing ever got interesting, not the loot nor the combat encounters or plot. The only encounter I recall as being even worth a mention was that snake goddess thing who was also a little girl, and that was really nothing special.

In retrospect it reminds me of the Japanese Wizardry knockoffs I've played; same/similar systems and gameplay as a classic, but entirely devoid of any of the soul or character that so infused the games that inspired them.

 

[almondblight]

As far as combat is concerned, IWD has a much higher variety of enemies than other cRPGs. You actually have to think about and adapt to each new enemy as you meet them, as opposed to BG where you're pretty much asleep at the wheel until you hit a boss, and even then you just breach the mage.

You don't even need to do that. I never used breach and just brute forced everything with no problem.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

There's two IWD megathreads this could have been posted in. There's nothing new here, no new angle being broached, no reason for it to be a new thread.

Just hit Chapter 5, going only on inertia, because this game is boring me to death.

Can't say I've ever made it to chapter 5 of a game that's boring me to death.

It's like a duller version of Diablo, with more numbers and less fun. A constant progression of corridors with waves of trash mobs to kill. The combat is actually far worse than in BG saga, as even BG1 had its share of memorable fights. Here, I can't remember any.

Yes, it's a kind-of like a cRPG version of Diablo, that was its design goal, so mission accomplished. Yes, it's less fun than Diablo, if you consider cRPG D&D mechanics more boring than hack'n'slash action mechanics, there's virtually zero respawning for one thing. It's not a constant progression of corridors, there's barely any corridors. There is no wave mechanics. People like to accuse it of trash mobs, but there's barely any actual trash mobs. BG1 having memorable fights is edgelord reaction-bating horseshit.

The story is sleep inducing. It gives you no motivation at all to play. You are some random pos who came out of nowhere, and now are suddenly supposed to be invested in some bs that's going on in the north, which is essentially just a sequence of meaningless mini-villains, one after another, not one with any backstory that makes you actually want to find them and take them down. Sorceress so and so, followed by necromancer billy bob, who was actually innocent because it was really lizard king larry, and so on.

That's correct, the story is just an excuse to go monster hunting. Why you have a problem with that is beyond me. No-one's ever promoted IWD as a narrative masterpiece. If you need some kind of really strong motivation to go monster hunting then...

The loot tables are atrocious. I spent most of the game armed with a weapon I bought from the store keeper in Kuldahar. Half the things I find have restrictions on them (alignment, class, race, etc), and the other half plain suck.

So you're solo'ing the game? How many people in your party?

No exploration obviously, given that you are traveling between PoIs along tight corridors. One puzzle in the entire game so far, and it was horrible. How is this game #22 on the top 70 list?

There is exploration. Plenty of off-main-quest nooks and crannies to get into & the main quest takes you to lots of interesting and varied locations. A full speed-run would be a significantly different experience to a completionist run. Yes, the game only has one or two little puzzles. I've never known puzzles to be a huge dealbreaker, they're barely ever mentioned round here, but if they're a biggy for you then IWD2 has loads of them & you should have done that one first.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

& also, which version are you playing? Vanilla or EE? & Are you playing it with Heart of Winter installed or not?

 

[Micormic]

I did enjoy IWD to an extent but wasn't crazy about it. I was super excited when I heard about it, Fallout 1/2 blew me away at the time. Never played a game as good as those, only 2 that came close were BAK and Dark sun. I thought BG1 was good but not near the level of fallout so when I heard interplay/black isle were doing a game in the BG1 engine with the IWD setting I thought it was gonna be a sort of Fallout style game but instead of post apoc it would of been in desolate northern wastelands.


This admittedly was my fault for not reading they were making a diablo clone instead of a game that would of been memorable. Still decent but nothing special and forgettable.



IWD 2 on the other hand I didn't like at all

 

[frajaq]

How the fuck did you stand to keep going to Chapter 5 if the game bored you so much, I quit that boring ass game at the Vale of Shadows

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

What the fuck is going on Codex? IWD is a great game. Even if it doesn’t cater to your ideal of what a crpg should be, it still has arguably the best encounter design of any IE game (yes, yes, I know, BG2 mage battles), served as a great spiritual successor to the gold box games, and had perhaps the best art design and implementation out of any crpg released in the 90s. Also, what the fuck are you smoking OP? IWD has better itemization than 95% of crpgs.

I know I’m drunk, but Jesus fucking Christ you edgelords are going to turn me into Roqua. If you don’t see that IWD does A LOT right then maybe you should fuck off back to playing PUBG.

 

[Swampy_Merkin]

I've tried to play BG 1&2 and IWD 1&2. I hate RTwP, mostly, but of all those games IWD 1 had (from what I've seen) by far the coolest art design....really beautiful looking dungeons. That alone means I will keep trying to come back to it.

Am I a graphics whore for loving graphics from almost 20 years ago?

 

[Jokzore]

graphics =/= artstyle

 

[Swampy_Merkin]

graphics =/= artstyle

Fair distinction of course. I should have been more accurate. BG1 level graphics are just enough for me, whereas IWD1 art design is the pinnacle of IE design....for me.

 

[Trashos]

I have no idea what it is that some of you like about IWD's encounter design.

I haven't played it much, so I don't remember much about it, but I didn't find it nearly as interesting as SoA's encounters. I found SoA much more challenging and fun combat-wise, not to mention that SoA was a full RPG experience.

I liked IWD's maps, but that's the only good thing I can say about it. Combat difficulty usually scaled with the number of enemies, a retardation that is still going strong in PoEs, and is completely opposite to what SoA's combat was about.

 

[Swampy_Merkin]

Sorry...what's SoA?

 

[Trashos]

Sorry...what's SoA?

Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn. That is BG2 without the expansion pack Throne of Bhaal.

 

[Swampy_Merkin]

Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn. That is BG2 without the expansion pack Throne of Bhaal.

Ok...Thanks. Like i said...I keep trying to play those games. So far Icewind Dale vanilla is the only one I have been able to keep plugging away at.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

So its a derail into IWD vs SoA after just and handful of posts? Wow, so sad.

 

[Swampy_Merkin]

I sure as hell didn't mean to derail anything in this particular thread....please continue.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

Nah, not you this time.

 

[Nuclear Explosion]

What the fuck is going on Codex? IWD is a great game. Even if it doesn’t cater to your ideal of what a crpg should be, it still has arguably the best encounter design of any IE game

Have you played it recently? Other than maybe two areas (Dragon's Eye and possibly one other area) almost all the fights in the base game are trivial; I seldom had to pre-buff or even use spells. I'm not even particularly proficient at this type of game. Trials of the Luremaster is a lot better, though.

I haven't played in PST in years so my memory is foggy, but other than it IWD probably has the worst encounter design of the IE games.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

Have you played it recently? Other than maybe two areas (Dragon's Eye and possibly one other area) almost all the fights in the base game are trivial; I seldom had to pre-buff or even use spells. I'm not even particularly proficient at this type of game. Trials of the Luremaster is a lot better, though.

I haven't played in PST in years so my memory is foggy, but other than it IWD probably has the worst encounter design of the IE games.

Which version were you playing & at what difficulty?