Icewind Dale series compared to the Baldur's Gate series

[NJClaw]

Because fuck balance that's why (and i'm playing a game not reading a book).

Right. Balance and linearity are for those who are fed by a spoon. They used to have an artefact called television they stared at, drooling like hell in the same time. Now they still have that television but they have an artefact in their hands called console controller, and an awesome button on it. So, now they bash that button and keep drooling. Thus nothing much has changed.

If you dont like some part of a game, then you should not waste time playing it.
Linear games dont fuck around. Illusion of choice, is worse. It wastes more time.
If you want to skip portions of game, then you are wasting your time.

Brah:

Unless you are a very slow writer, in which case I'm just being ableist and I'm sorry.

 

[Abhay Saini]

Most Baldur's Gate fans are abusive, not so intelligent teens with an over-expanded ego and underutilised vocabulary.
Icewind Dale fans are productive, intelligent members of society who play a game for enjoying the atmosphere while BG fans mostly waste their entire days on BG, drooling over the
so-called "Choices" they make.

Baldur's Gate's PROs:-
1. Anticipatory Buildup, Mystery elements in the Story.
2. Quaint Wildernesses for a Morning Walk
3. Cohesive Story (iron Crisis - Sacrifice - War - Godhood)
4. Slow Progression (Indeed it's a plus, because RPGs are meant to be enjoyed slower. People who want to quickly level up are basically playing video games more often than is necessary)
5. Durlag's Tower and Werewolf Isle were great.
Baldur's Gate CONs
1. Shitty Art (Drab Browns and Greens ; Baldur's Gate city was the most boring city in Gaming History with 90% of houses being the same)
2. Virtually No Atmospheric Place/Music.
3. Useless Sidequests (With minimal relevance to the story).
4. Annoying NPCs and party members. Seriously, Dragon Age's Companions blows BG companions out of the water. One Dimensional, minimal dialogue, no serious philosophical banter and of course shitty graphics.

BG2 PROs
1. Huge Variety in Locations/Creatures/Spells
2. Watcher's Keep was the most immersive dungeon in the entire game.
3. High Level of "Epicness"
4. Above Average quality of Sidequests

BG2 CONs
1. Diluted Storyline with a weak plot
2. Side Content had minimal relevance to the plot. They diluted the game considerably from a Dark Fantasy to a Random Bazaar of Quests. More like a Bounty Hunter from the West.
3. Better Art, Atmosphere, and Environment than Baldur's Gate 1 but still pretty weak.
4. Excessive Randomizations in the dungeons and locations. They seemed to me, as being forced by Bioware to showcase their great knowledge of D&D lore.
5. Mediocre Writing Quality. Minsc and other companions (except Keldorn and Valygyar) lowered the writing quality considerably.
6. Cheesy Mage and Lich Fights. Pathetic and One Dimensional. IWD2 and Divinty Original Sin had much more tactical fights.

Icewind Dale PROs
1. Brilliant Atmosphere
2. Engaging Story
3. Beautiful Art
4. Immersive Writing

Icewind Dale CONs
1. Leveling up was too cheesy sometimes. You got hundreds of thousands of XP for transporting some seeds and pure water?
2. Less variety in weapons and spells.
3. Too few dialogue based and playing fetch sidequests.

Icewind Dale 2 PROs
1. Best tactical combat in all Infinity Engine games.

CONs
1. Puzzles were pretty tedious and thus got boring
2. Plot was mediocre

Basically, TLDR :-
Icewind Dale is for casual, imaginative folks
Baldurs Gate is for beginners and mystery lovers
Icewind Dale 2 is a hardcore campaign
BG2 is for DnD fanboys/girls

 

[Abhay Saini]

Because fuck balance that's why (and i'm playing a game not reading a book).

Right. Balance and linearity are for those who are fed by a spoon. They used to have an artefact called television they stared at, drooling like hell in the same time. Now they still have that television but they have an artefact in their hands called console controller, and an awesome button on it. So, now they bash that button and keep drooling. Thus nothing much has changed.

If you dont like some part of a game, then you should not waste time playing it.
Linear games dont fuck around. Illusion of choice, is worse. It wastes more time.
If you want to skip portions of game, then you are wasting your time.

Brah:

Unless you are a very slow writer, in which case I'm just being ableist and I'm sorry.

Meaningful Role Playing and decision making is no where present in Baldur's gate Games. They are "Illusions of Choice". Nothing more.
Neither can we get into the "essence" or "boots" of the character nor can we make world breaking decisions (except at the end, where you can deny Godhood).

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

I think NJClaw's post was meant to point out the fact that you're replying to an eight years old post. The guy has probably stopped playing by now.

 

[Sharpedge]

Because fuck balance that's why (and i'm playing a game not reading a book).

Right. Balance and linearity are for those who are fed by a spoon. They used to have an artefact called television they stared at, drooling like hell in the same time. Now they still have that television but they have an artefact in their hands called console controller, and an awesome button on it. So, now they bash that button and keep drooling. Thus nothing much has changed.

If you dont like some part of a game, then you should not waste time playing it.
Linear games dont fuck around. Illusion of choice, is worse. It wastes more time.
If you want to skip portions of game, then you are wasting your time.

Brah:

Unless you are a very slow writer, in which case I'm just being ableist and I'm sorry.

Well, the response to you didn't take 8 years, so there goes that theory.