What exactly is Icewind Dale?

[Commoner]

Please excuse my ignorance, I understand that Icewind Dale is a place in Forgotten Realms, but, I was wondering what the game actually is. I have played and finished BG and TotSC. Is Icewind Dale an add on to this or a different game altogether? Is it played the same way as BG? Do you start at level 1? And finally is it worth getting? I am looking for a new challenge. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

[BlakJak Birkin]

Hey, Icewind Dale is a completely new game, but is played very similarly to BG and BG2, and yes you do start at level 1. I think you should play/buy Icewind Dale, it's great!

BlakJak

[Daniel]

One big difference between IWD and BG is there are no NPC's to join your party, you create your entire party at the start instead of a single character, apart from that there is not much major difference.

[Larry_OHF]

Originally posted by Daniel: One big difference between IWD and BG is there are no NPC's to join your party, you create your entire party at the start instead of a single character, apart from that there is not much major difference.

And for me, that is why I think IWD is more fun to play, because you can build all six character to your liking, instead of some programmer that built the game deciding who can do what. If I am going to control all six characters, I might as well be the one to build them. That is different from Neverwinter Nights...where you can only have one lackey at a time, and cannot fully control the actions of it in battle. In that case, it is alright for the programmer to have already assigned stats.

[Witch King]

The only gripe i have about IWD is how rigid the story line is. In the BG series (my favourite) you get loads of interesting sub-plots, which not only makes the game alot more enjoyable but also gets you lots of xp points [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Tormentor]

just go and buy Icewind Dale for the ATMOSPHERE! it has the best atmosphere next to BG1 in my opinion....

[--Twilight--]

Hello,
if you played BG1/TOSC, then you'd better pick-up BG2/TOB (its not exactly new anymore, so you can get them both at a discount)! Some people like BG1 better, but the consensus is BY FAR that BG2 is an even greater game!

The only problem might be: do I play IWD/HOW (Icewind +add-ons) or BG2/TOB (gotta get it with the expansion!) first? IWD is more linear. In IWD you create all of the party members: bad for the storyline, but awesome for getting exactly what you want! BG2 has you choose (you can completely get around this) real "characters" and is larger, but both are well done and a lot of fun. BG2 has a few more advanced features, so its hard to say which one to do first. You'd better hurry: IWD2 is coming, Neverwinter Nights are hear, and no one can play ALL of these.

- Twilight