Icewind Dale The Icewind Dale Series Thread

[NJClaw]

Then again, I kinda like the ice temple (battle squares aside) and fellwood and wish the fellwood section was expanded with sidequests, more areas and a dungeon. The marsh and river caves are alright, but I think I'd rather have chapter III more focused on a single large location with more stuff.

Don't tell me, man. I know the consensus on the ice temple is that it's too long and boring, but it's one of my favorite areas. Maybe it's just the nostalgia, but I love everything about it (battle squares aside, I'm not THAT mad). I'm also a big fan of chapter 3: the atmosphere of the village and the fell wood is top notch, and I think the encounters with the barbarians (both at the beginning of the chapter and at the stone gate) are great fun. I just wish there was a little more to do in the duergar citadel, but I get it's an unreasonable expectation for a very minor location.

Of the supposedly bad parts of IWD2 - ice temple, fellwood, volcano, this is the only one I have an issue with. You just sail around on the lava boat talking to people to trigger something new to progress to the next day and it's full of sections where the game takes the controls from the player to slowly play a scene. There's what, two real fights in total in the whole time loop sequence? Once you know what to do, it's passable, but it's the one part of the game that I just want to be done with when it starts.

I think the situation and characters involved have just the right amount of absurdness and uniqueness to make the whole sequence slightly enjoyable despite the lack of combat. The inquisitor that throws himself into the lava, the preoccupied salamander ambassador, the ascetic and enlightened fire elemental, the power-hungry and hot-headed giant king... these guys grew on me over time, and now it's just like watching a rerun of a short episode of an old sitcom (on a replay, the whole thing doesn't take more than ten minutes). It's not my favorite part of the game, but I guess I'm glad it's in it.

 

[Lagole Gon]

Fellwood is one of my favourite parts of the game. Great atmosphere.
Well, for the most part. It borders on parody when villagers send you there for the THIRD time.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

With the battle squares the only problem is how many fights it requires. I saw that the EE mod has an option to reduce it, but I haven't got around to playing it yet.
And yes, the atmosphere in Fellwood is great, that's why I wish it was a larger location with sub-areas, like the horde fortress or the glacier+ice temple combo. Throw in some haunted ruins with a dungeon and undead in there, there's hardly any undead in the whole game. The whole plot of fighting the goblin horde gets sidetracked until chapter 5/6, so it's not like anyone's in a rush.

 

[Melcar]

Yeah, the EE has options to basically speed up all those "problem" areas. Some have alternate resolutions.

 

[Jigby]

Posting here to say that I think the magma level in IWD2 is completely fine and I'm tired of pretending it's not. It's one of the lowest points in the game, but it's so short that the backtracking isn't nearly enough to become boring. Obviously, it's not WHY I replay this game, but it also doesn't really count as a reason not to.

Of the supposedly bad parts of IWD2 - ice temple, fellwood, volcano, this is the only one I have an issue with. You just sail around on the lava boat talking to people to trigger something new to progress to the next day and it's full of sections where the game takes the controls from the player to slowly play a scene. There's what, two real fights in total in the whole time loop sequence? Once you know what to do, it's passable, but it's the one part of the game that I just want to be done with when it starts.
Then again, I kinda like the ice temple (battle squares aside) and fellwood and wish the fellwood section was expanded with sidequests, more areas and a dungeon. The marsh and river caves are alright, but I think I'd rather have chapter III more focused on a single large location with more stuff.

These days I usually just ctrl+j around the islands in the time loop puzzle so it's quite fast . The part that I disliked are all the puzzles before level 4 involving the Histachi Brew. I'm going by memory here, but I think you first have to release from prison the alchemist/brewer on level 1, sleep some time to let him move to level 2, go to level 3 and realize that you can't move forward without doing the Seth's Unseeying Eye puzzle for which you have to be a Histachi zombie, go back to level 2 and ask the alchemist to do his research, you sleep some more, but it turns out the library on level 2 has insufficient resources and the alchemist has to move to the alchemical lab. You sleep some more so that he can get there, talk to him again to do his research, get all the ingredients for the Brew which involves talking to the guy bulldozed by the giant boulder on level 2, but the guy wants his sword back on level 3, you get the sword, the guy gives you the location of one of the ingredients (mandrake root), you go to level 1 to get the ingredient, you get all of it, go to the alchemist lab on level 2 and switch ingredients, you sleep some more to pass time, finally get the brew, go to level 3 to do the Unseeying Eye puzzle aaand.... Jesus, you haven't even fought with Thorrasskus yet.

On a more positive note, I just realized that you can enter the Ice Temple via the sidedoor. I kind of knew of that, but I always thought that it's just for gnomes and whatnot, but apparently, the whole party can eventually enter. And you don't even have to have a gnome in you party, the merchant looking for his pet spider (Zack) can open the entrance for you. Choices and Consequences.

Fellwood is one of my favourite parts of the game. Great atmosphere.

Yes, I too like the first half of chapter 3. The second half to me feels like a slamdunk slop though, especially the dwarven mines. You fight hook horrors then for some reason slimes, then shambling mounds. And before hook horrors it's wyverns. Whoever designed the encounters there was just filling it up with these "iconics" from D&D monster manual, only the gelatinous cube is missing.

 

[mediocrepoet]

This is bizarre, I've played and beaten both IWD and IWD2 more than once but other than some vague memories of the ice temple + battle squares and some barely there recollections of lava creature battles in a volcano or something, I don't recognize anything you guys are talking about.
Also, I tend to blend IWD and IWD2 together in my memories, so there's that.

 

[Average Manatee]

The part that I disliked are all the puzzles before level 4 involving the Histachi Brew. I'm going by memory here, but I think you first have to release from prison the alchemist/brewer on level 1, sleep some time to let him move to level 2, go to level 3 and realize that you can't move forward without doing the Seth's Unseeying Eye puzzle for which you have to be a Histachi zombie, go back to level 2 and ask the alchemist to do his research, you sleep some more, but it turns out the library on level 2 has insufficient resources and the alchemist has to move to the alchemical lab. You sleep some more so that he can get there, talk to him again to do his research, get all the ingredients for the Brew which involves talking to the guy bulldozed by the giant boulder on level 2, but the guy wants his sword back on level 3, you get the sword, the guy gives you the location of one of the ingredients (mandrake root), you go to level 1 to get the ingredient, you get all of it, go to the alchemist lab on level 2 and switch ingredients, you sleep some more to pass time, finally get the brew, go to level 3 to do the Unseeying Eye puzzle aaand.... Jesus, you haven't even fought with Thorrasskus yet.

I'm pretty sure its not forced to be this convoluted but that may be an EE-shortening.

Yes, I too like the first half of chapter 3. The second half to me feels like a slamdunk slop though, especially the dwarven mines. You fight hook horrors then for some reason slimes, then shambling mounds. And before hook horrors it's wyverns. Whoever designed the encounters there was just filling it up with these "iconics" from D&D monster manual, only the gelatinous cube is missing.

I feel like it could really be improved a lot by one or two short optional sidequests for the noncombat areas, like the prologue and chapter 1 had. Or better yet some kind of plot thread or quest to connect the village/fellwood/dreugar/monks.

 

[Butter]

The Ice Temple is where IWD2 beat me. It's just too fucking boring.

 

[NJClaw]

On a more positive note, I just realized that you can enter the Ice Temple via the sidedoor. I kind of knew of that, but I always thought that it's just for gnomes and whatnot, but apparently, the whole party can eventually enter. And you don't even have to have a gnome in you party, the merchant looking for his pet spider (Zack) can open the entrance for you. Choices and Consequences.

Sadly, that sidedoor gives access only to the abishai lair. You still have to go through the main entrance to explore the rest of the temple.

The part that I disliked are all the puzzles before level 4 involving the Histachi Brew.

I despise that quest too, but it's a bit simpler than what you remember:
1 - you free the prisoner on level 1 (he tells you to find his companion, who has the ingredient you need);
2 - you find the corpse of said companion on level 2, but not the ingredient;
3 - you go back to the prisoner and he tells you to find the companion's sword and bring it to the corpse;
4 - you find the sword on level 3 and bring it to the corpse. The companion reveals the ingredient location;
5 - you go back to the first level and get the ingredient;
6 - you go to the lab on level 2 and switch the standard mandrake root with the one you found and wait for the alchemist (a different character, not the prisoner) to activate the lever (if you have Alchemy, you can activate the lever yourself).

To progress, you also need to make the wyvern poison at the same lab, but that's more straightforward.

The whole "sending the prisoner around to research stuff" is for a different (and irrelevant) side quest.

 

[Jigby]

You still have to go through the main entrance to explore the rest of the temple.

You can sleep in the abishai room to wait for Lyssara's ritual and enter the temple that way. Of course there's a fight there, but it's just an IE game, not Thief .

I despise that quest too, but it's a bit simpler than what you remember:

Well, it's not 100%, but close. One thing I didn't mention is there's the wooden rounded door on level 3 which is closed. I've seen it mentioned many times on the net, people being stuck there not knowing what to do. Never really looked into what triggers the door to open, I always kind of assumed it's related to the histachi quests, maybe you know.

Edit: the door I had in mind

Spoiler

Edit2: Took a look at the door and apparently the door just opens after passing 1 ingame day. Completely random. I play with the 8hour/sleep setting turned on - I essentially have to sleep 4 times to trigger it (that is 4 times after entering level 3 Dragon's Eye and exploring the room with the door). Normally I sleep only when I need to move the alchemy guy around and eventually the door opens itself so I guess I thought that it was related to the Histachi Brew. If you play like me, trying to minimize spent ingame time and almost never resting, that door can be a bit of a headscratcher.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

I don't remember how these Dragon's Eye quests go exactly. Only that they're not very good. The Ice Temple isn't nearly as bad and it gets a lot more shit, but that's probably because many people quit before they get to Dragon's Eye

 

[Cael]

I don't remember how these Dragon's Eye quests go exactly. Only that they're not very good. The Ice Temple isn't nearly as bad and it gets a lot more shit, but that's probably because many people quit before they get to Dragon's Eye

There is a timed section, which did not age well...

 

[Grunker]

I always wonder why I quit this game so many times until I read other people discuss it and remember

 

[catfood]

I don't remember how these Dragon's Eye quests go exactly. Only that they're not very good. The Ice Temple isn't nearly as bad and it gets a lot more shit, but that's probably because many people quit before they get to Dragon's Eye

There is a timed section, which did not age well...

The Enhanced Edition changes that section to make it shorter.

 

[Snufkin]

I don't remember how these Dragon's Eye quests go exactly. Only that they're not very good. The Ice Temple isn't nearly as bad and it gets a lot more shit, but that's probably because many people quit before they get to Dragon's Eye

There is a timed section, which did not age well...

The Enhanced Edition changes that section to make it shorter.

EE elevates this game into S tier.

 

[Grunker]

I don't remember how these Dragon's Eye quests go exactly. Only that they're not very good. The Ice Temple isn't nearly as bad and it gets a lot more shit, but that's probably because many people quit before they get to Dragon's Eye

There is a timed section, which did not age well...

The Enhanced Edition changes that section to make it shorter.

EE elevates this game into S tier.

I had no idea this had even released. It looks very rough and messy? Full of random, very strong buffs to the player and very little counteracting to balance out enemies. Though I suppose one could just play with the quest changes.

 

[catfood]

I don't remember how these Dragon's Eye quests go exactly. Only that they're not very good. The Ice Temple isn't nearly as bad and it gets a lot more shit, but that's probably because many people quit before they get to Dragon's Eye

There is a timed section, which did not age well...

The Enhanced Edition changes that section to make it shorter.

EE elevates this game into S tier.

I had no idea this had even released. It looks very rough and messy? Full of random, very strong buffs to the player and very little counteracting to balance out enemies. Though I suppose one could just play with the quest changes.

It's very modular. You can install what features you want.

 

[Grunker]

I don't remember how these Dragon's Eye quests go exactly. Only that they're not very good. The Ice Temple isn't nearly as bad and it gets a lot more shit, but that's probably because many people quit before they get to Dragon's Eye

There is a timed section, which did not age well...

The Enhanced Edition changes that section to make it shorter.

EE elevates this game into S tier.

I had no idea this had even released. It looks very rough and messy? Full of random, very strong buffs to the player and very little counteracting to balance out enemies. Though I suppose one could just play with the quest changes.

It's very modular. You can install what features you want.

 

[Cael]

IWD2 EE is also not an official thing, but more of a mod by someone. I would buyer beware that.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

Yeah, reading the changelog for various modules of the EE, it seems it mostly buffs the player characters and items, sometimes by a lot. Only concrete things I see for more challenge are a different point buy system and better AI and spells for enemies, but I think Creature Revisions buff enemies in general?

 

[Grunker]

IWD2 EE is also not an official thing, but more of a mod by someone. I would buyer beware that.

for all the retards on this site i dont think one exists that would download a weidu mod and install it in the belief that it is official content

 

[Cael]

IWD2 EE is also not an official thing, but more of a mod by someone. I would buyer beware that.

for all the retards on this site i dont think one exists that would download a weidu mod and install it in the belief that it is official content

Enhanced Edition it is not. It is just a mod. Lying in advertisement.

 

[Hydro]

It does itself no good though given Beamdog’s EEs is a pile of shit

 

[Fatberg Slim]

I went through IWD2EE recently, after not playing the original since it first came out. The various “alternative solutions” (i.e. shortcuts) did make the game flow better for the most part. The woods in Chapter 3 are still annoying, but less than before and I guess the game still needs a reason to use Wilderness Lore. The one area that I think was adjusted too much was the end of Dragon’s Eye, which now just jumps to the final battle. I can’t say the time-loop stuff was extremely fun, but it was at least different and somewhat interesting to think through IIRC.

As far as other changes:

- I played mostly casters who weren’t that affected by class/race balancing. The bard does get a free level of Armored Arcana to mimic 3.5E rules, which was appreciated. Arcane casters can take 5 levels of “lichdom” feat (only the last of which does anything) to get a lot of immunities and bonuses. I only reached this point at the end of the game and didn’t have much chance to play around with it, but going around slapping people with unlimited Lich Touch was enjoyable as a change of pace

- Some of the NPCs you can new hire were unique. Viera (ghost diviner) was fun to play around with in the beginning of the game, especially getting mobs to waste their spells/abilities while you hide inside a solid object, but not great long-term due to low HP and bad subclass (not to mention setting off some triggers unintentionally by going through walls). Vrek Vileclaw (troll barbarian) was awesome and pretty much soloed the first few chapters due to incredibly high strength and regeneration, but he tailed off a bit near the endgame when his AC and unarmed attack didn't keep up with the equipment you start seeing. Xhaal (devil abishai fighter/sorcerer) was a bit disappointing in that he didn’t play much differently than a typical sorcerer. He got upgraded very close to the end of the game with some OP stat increases and improved inherent abilities - they didn’t make much of a difference at that point but could make a case for a more melee-focused build

- Of the new spells, I used Duel the most - it allows the caster to fight the target one-on-one until one of them dies. Fun spell and situationally useful, although it probably works better with a paladin rather than the cleric of Helm I was playing. There is also a high-level spell for making soul power gems to increase your stats permanently, but it was very conditional (need to have the right gems on you, deliver the final blow, and kill an enemy above a certain HD level which I couldn’t be bothered to check). Probably something better suited for HoF mode

 

[Melcar]

You can install what you want on the EE. Personally I would avoid most of it. The base module (it's mostly QoL stuff) plus the alternate solutions to quests is enough. The added content like classes and spells is very janky and breaks the game. A bit of a shame actually, as they did not really fix the base game (broken skills and perks are abundant even with the patches), just made changes and added their own stuff.