How Good Is It Really?

[Lavindathar]

Ok, I've completed BG1+TotSC, BG2, IWD1.

So, how good is IWD2?

I'm gonna get it, but how soon do I need this game? I've not read anything about it, how is it different from IWD1 and BG2?

[LS0158]

It's very hard, but fun. Also, most items (nonmagical) can be used by any character. You could actually have a mage or theif wearing full plate armor, although the mage would likely miscast a spell, and the theif probably couldn't ever suceed at hiding. Also, a theif can use scrolls and wands, although it has a chance of blowing up in their faces. You meet Oswald Fiddlebender, the short guy with an airship, and Nym, the drow merchant from the first Icewind dale. There are more skills than the other games, like diplomacy and intimidate, and the weapons proficency has been reduced from BG2 where you needed proficiency in about twenty weapons to use any type of weapon in the game well at all, and there are more subclasses, so you could be a duergar, drow, wild elf, tiefling, and others.

[arion windrider]

i think iwd2 is cool just hard to stick with it as others have said... but good use of graphics...

[Desdicado]

It's not as good as the Baldurs Gate Series.
It depends on what you're looking for I guess, if you want a linear hack and slash fest with a lot of options for your team to develop and no control over what you do and where you go next, then it is exactly what you're after.

If you want choice in where you go and what you do next (real roleplaying) then avoid it.
It's the only Black Isle game (except Planescape) that I didn't finish and won't play again.
I got to the hand so had almost done I guess but I just didn't want to go on with it. Play BG2 with the TOB expansion would be my advice.

Also, it was the most buggy B.I. game by far (for me anyway) with loads of crashes etc, after installing the patch too.

So, if you want it I'm selling!.

[The Hierophant]

I agree with most posts here.
It's ok, but nothing amazing. 3rd edition rules are the main attractive feature. The story doesn't draw you in. The locales are pretty uninspired. There's no character interaction within the party (ala Baldur's Gate II).
All in all, I'm pretty bored with it. I havn't completed it yet and it's unlikely that I ever will. Still, I'll hang onto it as a collectors item due to it being the last ever Infinity Engine game.

[Luvian]

Icewind Dale II is a great Hack and Slash game, just Like Icewind Dale I was. If you liked Icewind Dale I, you will like Icewind Dale II.

I am really tired of people saying Icewind Dale is linear and does not have Baldur's Gate II's features. This is exactly the point of Icewind Dale I and II, and they where even marketed as such. Here is the quote from the Interplay website:

Return to the frigid north of the Forgotten Realms® in the sequel to the critically acclaimed Icewind Dale™. This exciting high-fantasy action adventure unites 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons® rules, new character classes and races. Enhancements such as auto-balancing game-play and an upgraded Infinity Engine will allow for more dynamic battles than ever before. Icewind Dale II will appeal to both Action-RPG fans and players new to the genre.

This is not a Role Playing game, it's an ADVENTURE GAME. It's written on front of the box: "A Baldur's Gate engine Adventure".

If I buy a comedy movie I don't complain about it not having enough action, if I buy an action movie, I don't complain about it not making me laugh. If I buy an Action game instead of a RPG, I don't complain if there is no RP enough in it, I just get new glasses, so that I can read the cover of the box...

[Magness]

Well said, Luvian.

I liked the BG series for what it is and I like IWD/IWD2 for what IT is. I don't put either one down for not being the other.

I do think that there's a little bit of roleplaying in the IWD games.

1. In IWD2 there are plenty of "evil" conversation paths with the various NPC's you encounter.

2. When you build your party, you can create the party of your choice and build histories to flesh out and to give "character" to those characters.

[the new JR Jansen]

Originally posted by Luvian: Icewind Dale II is a great Hack and Slash game, just Like Icewind Dale I was. If you liked Icewind Dale I, you will like Icewind Dale II. I am really tired of people saying Icewind Dale is linear and does not have Baldur's Gate II's features. This is exactly the point of Icewind Dale I and II, and they where even marketed as such.

I think it's just a way that people give information to others and not necessarely a complaint. If it is, then yes, people should read the box but if somebody comes over here and asks how it is, then saying that it's linear and so on is just passing down information on the game so that the person asking it can make up his own mind.

[Lavindathar]

I'll try and get it then!

Desdicado! Check your email!

[ 01-06-2003, 02:28 PM: Message edited by: Lavindathar ]

[Cloudbringer]

I like it quite well, Lav! I'm finding it pretty challenging but it's keeping me interested! I took a break when I met a dragon and have been playing NWN, but I intend to go back and finish IWD2 for sure!