Does it get any better. (Beggining of Chap 2 MINOR Spoiler)

[Sythe]

I am currently at Dragons Eye I have been stuck there for a looong time. To be honest I don't really like Icewind Dale. Does the game get better more exciting?

[marco]

if you have the HOW and TOTLM loaded i think these just add to the original game --- and YES to me it does get better!.

[Albromor]

Sythe, it truly does get better. Is it the fact that you've been in the Dragon's Eye so long (as you put it) that the frustration has dampened your like for the game? Can you tell us what you are experiencing so that we may/can help you? What is your party like and what level are they?

[Witch King]

Sorry to come across all downcast and all but I must disagree with the other two who have replied (sorry!). I think if you have not enjoyed IWD so far in terms of storyline, lack of sub-adventures then you may well in fact hate the rest of the game too. Where about in Dragons eye are you exactly? As Albromor said, surely we can help you??

[Sythe]

Nah I don't need help even though I have been stuck in Dragons Eye for MONTHS!!!!! Well when I think about it I can use a little help. What really annoys me is that I gone down about lemmie see one two three SPOILER
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I am on the fourth level in Dragons Eye where you see people that they worship some kinda god and they turn out to be imposters. I just need to get close enough to kill that High Summoner Yuan Ti and my biggest problem would be over. I can not take like 5 trolls and 8 Lizard Men all at the same time! Even though I went north and released the small party that was doing half the work for me. I can't find them I didn't look hard enough for them though Oh and my levels and stuff like that ummm I forgot the level but I have a paladin ranger necromancer Cleric Bard and Thief. Theif and bard get killed a lot especially the bard. When she dies she says "Oh nooooooo" in a expressionless voice. THAT ANNOYS ME BIG TIME!!!!!! I keep on hearing it! Over and over! Any tips how to kill the High Summoner. After I get the dam Heartstone Gem and return it to that Dam druid who was to dam lazy to go over there and get it himself! And I see he sends to fetch another thing I WILL BURN THIS GAME!!!!!!! First told me go the the vale and I was there playing in it for a week I stopped for a looong time and played again beaten it and went where the Giants were. Man they caused me so much trouble I went to get the hearstone gem and you know what..... IT ISN"T THERE! Now that Motha FUC*IN Druid wants me to go to Dam Dragons Eye go deep where a lotta lizards kill my Bitc** Bard and Theif Over and OVer! And I keep reloading!!!!!!!! Went down to the next level saved a Dam priest went down another and I fought a strong wizard or cleric and hordes of Frost Wights!! went down to another LEVEL and saw a guy that says I can rest and buy scrolls and stuff. I was relieved phew finnaly over and I soon found out he is nothinng More thAN FUC*ING SNAKE!!!!!!!!!

[Sythe]

Oh and i forgot one little thing I HATE ICEWIND DALE SO FAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope this isn't kind like trolling. If it so I don't mean it well actually I do but I didn't mean to be a troll. The Game better get better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[marco]

OK! well, why did you even bother buying the game ? I noticed you had played BG before. I guess it would have been a good idea to read some threads on a forum before jumping into it.

oh well the developers can't make everyone happy!

[Dundee Slaytern]

I like IWD. It is always fun to create a party, then let them loose on the enemy, allowing the AI Scripts to do their thing. I only guide them step by step when I am casting spells or playing on HoF mode.

It is kind of soothing watching them go. Brainless fun is still fun, and it is a welcome break now and then. Not to mention that the entire party is your creation, there is just something special about that.

Some people complain that there is no party interaction in IWD. I just say that they lack imagination. Everytime I pit my party into the game, I can feel what is going on in the imaginary fantasy world of IWD. I can visualise what my party members are saying, and what they are thinking.

In short, I flesh out the story. The game simply provides the story skeleton.

[B1ade]

As someone else who is stuck in Dragon's Eye-I know what you mean, it was pretty frustrating to have done the Temple level only to realise the gem had already been taken!

The fact you've been on Dragon's Eye so long is probably why you aren't enjoying it as much-but here's some tips....

get your thief to enter shadows and position themselves so that only one or two people are revealed. Exit shadows and then lure out-they are much easier to deal with then and in close combat as opposed to just running in with everyone. Alternatively, try using an archer with magic arrows/spells like magic missile (i.e. long range ones), again, only exposing one/two people. It can be more time consuming, but it was relatively easy to kill the high summoner once the room was cleared out.

As to your bard - all I can suggest is change the fighting order so that they'll stay back a bit and give them a weapon that does not require them to get into the thick of combat-alternatively teach them spells like armour,shield....and they will live through it.

As to the voice shouting "oh nooo"-I bet it annoys everyone-turn the volume down for that bit [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Hope that helps!

[NobleNick]

sythe,

I agree with salient parts of Witch King's and B1ade's posts:

First, not everyone likes the same thing; and IWD may not be for you. I like that brainless game called Diablo II a bit more than I do IWD. Some folks here think that makes me crazy. I have seen a lot of defensiveness from some posters on this forum (and others) in the past, when someone intimates that they are less than totally-hard-over-bonzo on game that the forum is about. However, maybe you REALLY don't like the type of gameplay that IWD intended to give ..... and that's O.K.!

Second, though I haven't even reached mid-game, I am well ahead of you, and .... I don't think the gameplay is significantly different. What keeps me going is the unfolding storyline (IWD really shines, here!), and planning and testing out the increased capabilities of my group.

With that said, your problem might be that the challenge that IWD presents has gone beyond challenging and become frustrating. I think that most IWD players over the age of 10 (funny how my 7 year old can blast through stuff I'm clueless on), at some time or another run upon a challenge that they can't get past without a.) getting help, or b.) spending an inordinate amount of time on the game with little or no results. The latter choice can quickly lead to FRUSTRATION.

It seems that you, my friend, have, knowingly or unknowingly, spent a lot of time going down this latter path. I don't believe that is the intent of IWD. There is an easier (challenging, but not too challenging) path that this forum can help you figure out. That is what the forum is for; and I think it does a pretty good job. I consider getting advice from the forum part of the gameplay: like having a war counsel.

Finally, let me share a bit about what I did. Frankly, the game is a bit TOO challenging to hold my interest. (Guess I'm just a wimp, or not patient enough, or too old, or whatever...) When I found that the game was moving too slowly for me, I cheated. It was structured cheating: I made rules for myself and held myself to them, so that I didn't cheat enough to make the game boring. In this manner, I tailored the game's difficulty to my interest level. (After all, don't we play these games for ENJOYMENT?)

Here is what I allow myself: 1.) If I find something really useful (e.g., Kresselacks' sword or acid arrows+1) I may use "export character" to duplicate the item as many times as I want when I get back to town; and 2.) If I come to a point in the game where I expect to get lots of expo (e.g., returning a quest item), I may save the game and use "export character" techniques to run each character in the original party once through the reward sequence, three characters at a time, two at a time, or (if I am feeling extraordinarily greedy) even solo.

This latter technique is one you could use to pump your bard up enough to keep her from dying as often: Just before an expo-laden event, drop the quest item, save ("game 1"), and THEN kick the bard out of your party. Then pick up quest item and run your bard-less party through the quest reward sequence, save to a new game ("game 2"). Go back to your old saved game ("game 1"), kick out everyone except your bard, have her pick up quest item, and run her solo through the quest reward sequence. Save game ("game 3"). Open "game 2". Import Bard to reform your full party. Now your party has gotten twice the experience from the quest that they normally would have gotten, distributed as follows: Everyone except the bard has Y/(Y-1) of the expo they normally would have gotten; and the bard has Y times the expo she normally would have gotten. (Where "Y" is the number of characters in your original full party). For an original full party of 6, this works out to 6/5 = 120% for every one except the bard, and 6 = 600% for the bard. I'm sure it won't take long for you to start noticing that your "weakling" character appears to have been pumping steroids.

Another technique, for those a little reluctant to venture as far as I have into "the dark side" is to start out the character you are having problems with as a fighter. Level a bit and then switch to your desired class (I forget whether you can do this with bards). Maybe even solo to as high as level 9, then start new game and have fighter dual over to the desired class (that you are having surviviability problems with) when he joins the party of newbies.

Yet another idea is to import most of your party (or maybe just a select few) into a brand new game and run them through again, to beef up their experience. (This should be VERY easy for you, and is not considered "cheating" by most.) It is amazing what a few levels will do!

I also use Dale Keeper; but only to correct character build mistakes, and to make it easier to do those things that I could do without DK.

I hope some of these ideas have helped.


[ 09-19-2002, 10:40 PM: Message edited by: NobleNick ]