Icewind Dale The Icewind Dale Series Thread

[IncendiaryDevice]

Also just noticed from the screenshot that the second door is closed, this was not the case in vanilla, in vanilla you can even exit the entire area and go back to camp to restock. In HoW expansion I believe they locked the level door but no doors on the level, so EE must have moved the lock in even more to right outside her lair, cheeky buggers. [unless I'm misremembering and HoW did that as well].

 

[Lacrymas]

Fuck me, maybe its pedantic but people talking about real rpgs then talking about dps and tank and cc and buffs kills me

It's not only an MMO thing, dmg dealers, cc and buffs have existed forever. Tanking is what doesn't exist in the oldies in the same way it does in MMOs, because there are no aggro mechanics. You can still abuse the AI to attack your tank though.

 

[Jazz_]

Also just noticed from the screenshot that the second door is closed, this was not the case in vanilla, in vanilla you can even exit the entire area and go back to camp to restock. In HoW expansion I believe they locked the level door but no doors on the level, so EE must have moved the lock in even more to right outside her lair, cheeky buggers. [unless I'm misremembering and HoW did that as well].

Yeah with locked door I meant the door in the hallway leading to her chamber, if the locked door was that of her chamber the fight would have been ragequittingly hardcore I guess.
I tried to go to the room on the left in the hallway (empty, cleared all the enemies before hand) in some attempts but that was a horrible idea, but no doubt someone pulled it off by retreating there.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Also just noticed from the screenshot that the second door is closed, this was not the case in vanilla, in vanilla you can even exit the entire area and go back to camp to restock. In HoW expansion I believe they locked the level door but no doors on the level, so EE must have moved the lock in even more to right outside her lair, cheeky buggers. [unless I'm misremembering and HoW did that as well].

I just wrote above - in vanilla + HoW the same door is locked as in EE.

Yeah with locked door I meant the door in the hallway leading to her chamber, if the locked door was that of her chamber the fight would have been ragequittingly hardcore I guess.
I tried to go to the room on the left in the hallway (empty, cleared all the enemies before hand) in some attempts but that was a horrible idea, but no doubt someone pulled it off by retreating there.

This closing off of the doors isn't unique to the EE. I am currently playing the original IWD. Just passed HoW this evening, now I'm returning to end the main campaign. So, in the original these doors are closed when the battle begins. Initially I thought the doors to Yxunomei's room were the ones that were closing. There are traps in there in addition to numerous enemies, so this would have made it really much tougher.

 

[Tigranes]

Fuck me, maybe its pedantic but people talking about real rpgs then talking about dps and tank and cc and buffs kills me

It's not only an MMO thing, dmg dealers, cc and buffs have existed forever. Tanking is what doesn't exist in the oldies in the same way it does in MMOs, because there are no aggro mechanics. You can still abuse the AI to attack your tank though.

Of course, the things they refer to have existed for years. I guess the reason it grates me is that so often, use of that language contributes to people thinking about and playing all RPGs in the same, rote, templated way. I want my DPS, I want my tank, I want my off-tank (whatever that means, or is it off-DPS?), I pull the enemies, I use cc, etc. And then they whine and complain if the mechanics of that specific RPG is more complex and isn't amenable to them building the same characters they always build. (This isn't a jibe at Jazz, which is why I said I'm just being pedantic here.)

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

Also just noticed from the screenshot that the second door is closed, this was not the case in vanilla, in vanilla you can even exit the entire area and go back to camp to restock. In HoW expansion I believe they locked the level door but no doors on the level, so EE must have moved the lock in even more to right outside her lair, cheeky buggers. [unless I'm misremembering and HoW did that as well].

I just wrote above - in vanilla + HoW the same door is locked as in EE.

Yeah with locked door I meant the door in the hallway leading to her chamber, if the locked door was that of her chamber the fight would have been ragequittingly hardcore I guess.
I tried to go to the room on the left in the hallway (empty, cleared all the enemies before hand) in some attempts but that was a horrible idea, but no doubt someone pulled it off by retreating there.

This closing off of the doors isn't unique to the EE. I am currently playing the original IWD. Just passed HoW this evening, now I'm returning to end the main campaign. So, in the original these doors are closed when the battle begins. Initially I thought the doors to Yxunomei's room were the ones that were closing. There are traps in there in addition to numerous enemies, so this would have made it really much tougher.

I do apologise, your wording was quite confusing. HoW isn't the original IWD. Even in this post you use the phrase vanilla + HoW, which could lead to the impression that both Vanilla and HoW are the same. Whenever I'm referring to those 2 old games I say either Vanilla or HoW, I don't use both to describe each other. Secondly, I read all the posts but then came back to the thread when my mind had picked up the door thing, on first read through I wasn't even thinking about that, I only noticed it from the pic that I quoted in my post, hence why my post on it begins "also just noticed". No excuse, but somewhat of an excuse, I do apologise. I guess that's just another one of the many reasons why I don't like playing HoW and so have sketchy memories of it

 

[AwesomeButton]

Ah I see. I can't really test on IWD without HoW though. The GOG installer installs both directly.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

Thank heavens for CD/DVD drives and ebay. It's frustrating for me to think that one day the vanilla IWD I regularly play will have evaporated into non-existence

 

[Roguey]

It's frustrating for me to think that one day the vanilla IWD I regularly play will have evaporated into non-existence

Doesn't GOG offer the original as long as you buy the EE?

Oh never mind, you were talking about a HoW-less IWD. I can't imagine wanting to play such a flawed product.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

See Awesome Button's post directly above mine.

Thanks for your heartfelt empathy.

 

[TigerKnee]

An off-tank is the 2nd line of defense - they "catch" whoever the main tank misses so they don't reach the squishies, which would be your mages etc.

If we're going D&D, I don't really have a good example of what that would be. I would say a non-multi Cleric in Plate would be a good example but with buffs up, it might actually be better at its job than your Fighter based classes.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I'll go with a druid shapeshift as an "off tank" squishy slinger becomes a dire bear.

 

[Tom Baker's Arse]

Fuck me, maybe its pedantic but people talking about real rpgs then talking about dps and tank and cc and buffs kills me

It's not only an MMO thing, dmg dealers, cc and buffs have existed forever. Tanking is what doesn't exist in the oldies in the same way it does in MMOs, because there are no aggro mechanics. You can still abuse the AI to attack your tank though.

Of course, the things they refer to have existed for years. I guess the reason it grates me is that so often, use of that language contributes to people thinking about and playing all RPGs in the same, rote, templated way. I want my DPS, I want my tank, I want my off-tank (whatever that means, or is it off-DPS?), I pull the enemies, I use cc, etc. And then they whine and complain if the mechanics of that specific RPG is more complex and isn't amenable to them building the same characters they always build. (This isn't a jibe at Jazz, which is why I said I'm just being pedantic here.)

Geez, I wish to hell I could brofist you on this point

 

[Lilura]

Haste is actually just +1 attack/round, you are thinking of Improved Haste.

Haste doubles ApR in the original IWD.

 

[Projas]

Actually didn't know that. It's been ages since I played the original.

 

[Dorateen]

Haste doubles attacks per round in the Gold Box games as well (and ages the character by one year).

People would benefit by playing those titles to have a better understanding of where the Infinity Engine was coming from.

 

[Tigranes]

Yep. Haste was the original Awesome Button for iwd1. You could fight battles without pausing, everyone died so fast!

 

[lili]

I guess the reason it grates me is that so often, use of that language contributes to people thinking about and playing all RPGs in the same, rote, templated way. I want my DPS, I want my tank, I want my off-tank (whatever that means, or is it off-DPS?), I pull the enemies, I use cc, etc. And then they whine and complain if the mechanics of that specific RPG is more complex and isn't amenable to them building the same characters they always build.

Pillars cucks are disgusting larpers - film at 12!
The archetypes are built, around the rules, because one needs a balanced lol force, lest u be countered dead. Its a fucking evolutionary principle, from military armies to team sports.

Also, wat RPG doesnt let you build tanks, glass cannons, etc?

 

[Jazz_]

I didn't follow a typical ''I gotta have a healer, a tank, etc'' mmo line of thought when I did my party, otherwise I would have gone with a warrior class that lets you use plate armor, not with a lowly barbarian who's restricted to chainmail, and I'd have chosen a cleric as healer not an avenger druid that's mostly specced offensively. The principle I followed was that of ''this sounds cool, let's go with this'', hence the karate kid monk and all the other kits. As IncendiaryDevice noted having a party that's not well put together can add fun and challenge to the game.

 

[Jazz_]

Does wisdom influence how much exp you get? My druid is lvl 11 while all my other guys are lvl 8, coincidentally she's the one with the highest wisdom stat in my party..

 

[Krivol]

AFAIK no differences in exp gain, just every class has different amount of exp needed to level up.

 

[SwiftCrack]

Yeah, there's an XP table (this is the one for the Beamdog version):

Find all the classes here: http://www.beamdog.com/files/iwdee/iwdee_manual2.pdf

 

[ghostdog]

Yeah druids level up slower, but they are pretty good in iwd so it evens out. Their summons can be great help, since they get them early. lol wtf am I even talking about

Haste is indeed the best spell in iwd since you always have to fight big hordes of enemies. Fatigue is pretty brutal though, especially since there are certain areas that prohibit rest. I think fatigue in IWD is worse than in BG, your accuracy is reduced a lot and if you use haste again eithout resting, you can't hit shit.

This is about the original game though, Idk about EE.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

*Druids level up quicker.

[as do some other classes]

It's usually best to keep haste as a back-up for reloads if you get frustrated trying to defeat an encounter IMO. This could still result in you using it a lot though, but it will help you better understand all the other skills and methods you can manipulate for when not even a dose of haste is helping too much.

 

[Lacrymas]

Druids level up faster at the lower levels, in BG1 they were the best healers because they got access to 5th lvl spells while clerics didn't. Then their leveling dramatically slows down.