Icewind Dale EE & other infinity engine games.

[Ruin Explorer]

Actually, you might be surprised: word on the street is that it captures the vibe very well, even with modern shiny graphics.

It doesn't feel like a BG game - it's been discussed extensively in the other threads by people who have played it (including me).

That's not a bad thing, though.

BG1/2 lean towards melodrama and dramatic reveals, and there's not a huge amount of substance to the story or NPCs, and most situations only have one or two solutions. BG2, particularly, has some really cool scenarios and locations, but that's an awful lot of the charm.

BG3 has a more knowing, cynical tone, is a lot less melodramatic, and features complicated situations and characters, and the situations often have a significant number of very different solutions, not all of which will be handed to you. It feels drastically more like a tabletop RPG than either BG1 or 2 did, and is generally the product of 20+ years of steady CRPG evolution, not just "upgraded graphics". A lot of the dialogue even features "fail forwards"-type design, rather impressively.

I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes CRPGs.

I'm hoping using a gamepad doesn't take away from the experience.

It should be entirely fine as the combat the turn-based, and they have a special UI for gamepads.

 

[Zaukrie]

IWD and all the add ons is fun, at least I found it fun. And I probably played it about 4 years ago?

 

[Clint_L]

I played them to death back in the day - at least twenty years ago, now. I think I found the IWD games a bit short and easy compared to BG1&2, but maybe that's just because BG had trained me to be better at them.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yeah, I like IWD, have completed it two or three times. It's very much a railroad, but still it has a decent story with a bit of a twist and great narration by David Ogden Stiers (although it helps to have read The Crystal Shard to appreciate it). I have lifted quite a bit for my home games. My players visited Kuladahar, and Icasaracht's lair from the Heart of Winter expansion.

Didn't really really get into IWD2 though. Found the big combat setups got tedious.

 

[Zaukrie]

I suppose I should consider creating a PDF based on all the stuff in IWD. My third biggest seller is a PDF based on all the BG games...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I suppose I should consider creating a PDF based on all the stuff in IWD. My third biggest seller is a PDF based on all the BG games...

I've go a hand drawn battlemap of Icasaracht's lair somewhere.

 

[Zaukrie]

I've go a hand drawn battlemap of Icasaracht's lair somewhere.

My PDF is just about the places and stuff that might happen there. No detailed maps, though there is one giant one. I have a separate PDF with a great map of the lighthouse and several encounters, and no one buys it.

 

[Zaukrie]

My PDF is just about the places and stuff that might happen there. No detailed maps, though there is one giant one. I have a separate PDF with a great map of the lighthouse and several encounters, and no one buys it.

Which is probably marketing on my part as much as anything....

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Which is probably marketing on my part as much as anything....

Yeah, marketing stuff feels like blowing your own trumpet, something we where taught was uncouth. I at least brought up to show humility, witch makes selling your own stuff difficult. I've never even had the nerve to try, so you've done better than me on that!

 

[TheSword]

I picked up Icewind Dale I & II recently. I have started Icewind Dale I in the past but didn't get far due to life distractions. I know these games are old as dirt now but I'd like to discuss them. So far I made it to the Forgotten Shrine (I think that's what it's called). I'm really enjoying it, just a dungeon crawl. I've played all the BG games. They are probably my favorite games of all time. Anyone else playing these games or have any fond memories?

How did you get Icewind Dale 2? I thought it was consigned to the dustbin of history as they lost the source code files and Beamdog couldn’t produce the new version?