Includes the original Icewind Dale II and the Adventure Pack The worst fear of the civilized realms has come true. The Goblinoids have united into an army of outcasts and misfits and they want to claim the Ten Towns for themselves. Massive swarms of Orcs and Worg-mounted Goblins are attempting to overrun the town of Targos, and that's just the beginning! A call has gone out to all those willing to face insurmountable odds in defense of the Ten Towns. Will you heed the call to arms and face the greatest threat to the Spine of the World?
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[Played with the Enhanced Edition mod]
Icewind Dale II proves to be an excellent title, capable of transporting the player to the magical Forgotten Realms of the D&D house. Unfortunately, however, the entire game system remains but an enhanced copy of its predecessor, bringing back both its merits and flaws. Forget narrative depths worthy of an RPG, since, while accompanied by a fascinating storyline, the game will present us with a very massive series of confrontations.
I recommend it to those who appreciated the first episode and to those who cannot live without Forgotten Realms and the d20!
Icewind Dale II proves to be an excellent title, capable of transporting the player to the magical Forgotten Realms of the D&D house. Unfortunately, however, the entire game system remains but an enhanced copy of its predecessor, bringing back both its merits and flaws. Forget narrative depths worthy of an RPG, since, while accompanied by a fascinating storyline, the game will present us with a very massive series of confrontations.
I recommend it to those who appreciated the first episode and to those who cannot live without Forgotten Realms and the d20!
Finally finished this up. What a fucking game, I had a fabulous time. I should note I played with the fan-made enhanced edition mod, mostly for the quality of life tweaks.
Icewind Dale 1 and 2 generally aren't liked as much as their Baldur's Gate counterparts and for understandable reason... grand overarching narrative and fleshed out characters aren't a focus of the games. Funnily enough, I actually find Icewind Dale's conveyance of its setting, mood, aesthetics, etc to hit me a bit harder than Baldur's Gate does in the moment to moment. I'm not really trying to take digs at Baldur's Gate cuz I totally love 1 and 2 but I can't really help but compare.
The visuals are SOOOOO gorgeous... Every single environment, even the dungeons that are just empty rooms, feel like they were given such attention bottom to top. It comes across like a painting where every detail is inevitably intentional, rather than being able to notice concessions that tend to come with 3D environments in games at the time. The awesome lighting is definitely a huge part of it. There's just so much detail aside from a few exceptions.
While the visuals look great on their own, the sound completes them. The fantastic soundtrack is used very sparingly, often playing during key battles or as an introduction to a new area without looping. The subsequent ambience does an amazing job at maintaining the atmosphere. Being met only by the sound of freezing wind or the deep hum of cold caves or temples between the constant difficult fights adds to the setting being so crazy hostile feeling. It's a really interesting vibe to me that the game balances very well, being in a beautiful winter wonderland while also surviving how relentlessly vicious the setting is. This makes the brief moments of peace feel so special... I particularly remember wandering into a potion making lady's tent in the wilderness and being so surprised by how playful and fun the music is.
The writing is a gag too. It might not be trying to reach Baldur's Gate's narrative heights, but dialogue and descriptions are written so beautifully. Its generally very straightforward yet with a slight poetic bend? Iunno if poetic is quite the word but I can't think of anything better. I'm sure its in part due to how fleeting most NPCs are, but a lot of the writing feels like it characterizes and is an expression of the setting itself... direct and fierce but playful and endearing. Characters like Lysara and Oswald are emblematic of these things to me. A loooot of NPCs, such as Lysara and Oswald, also have specific speaking quirks. Many people you meet leave a pretty lasting impression because of it, nobody really quite melds together for me. Also the voice acting goes CRAZY....It's just great. As for the actual story of the game, its like... whatever. I find the plot somewhat uncomfortable as it has themes of marginalization but handles them about as poorly as you would expect from the forgotten realms. I just uhhhh try not to think abt it lol.
The 3E mechanics work great. I find myself making more interesting micro-decisions in battle compared to the 2E infinity engine games, particularly around positioning. Once your squishy back-liners get caught, they'll just eat attacks of opportunity and get obliterated real quickly. This type of thing, on top of enemy-specific quirks, makes battles feel very rewarding to plan for and execute fabulously. Character building with the addition of feats and skills is much more fun too, though it feels like theres an abundance of worthless feats that I suspect will dull my enjoyment of character building on subsequent playthroughs.
Icewind Dale 2 pretty much solidified my love for the setting. It's just such a vibe.
Icewind Dale 1 and 2 generally aren't liked as much as their Baldur's Gate counterparts and for understandable reason... grand overarching narrative and fleshed out characters aren't a focus of the games. Funnily enough, I actually find Icewind Dale's conveyance of its setting, mood, aesthetics, etc to hit me a bit harder than Baldur's Gate does in the moment to moment. I'm not really trying to take digs at Baldur's Gate cuz I totally love 1 and 2 but I can't really help but compare.
The visuals are SOOOOO gorgeous... Every single environment, even the dungeons that are just empty rooms, feel like they were given such attention bottom to top. It comes across like a painting where every detail is inevitably intentional, rather than being able to notice concessions that tend to come with 3D environments in games at the time. The awesome lighting is definitely a huge part of it. There's just so much detail aside from a few exceptions.
While the visuals look great on their own, the sound completes them. The fantastic soundtrack is used very sparingly, often playing during key battles or as an introduction to a new area without looping. The subsequent ambience does an amazing job at maintaining the atmosphere. Being met only by the sound of freezing wind or the deep hum of cold caves or temples between the constant difficult fights adds to the setting being so crazy hostile feeling. It's a really interesting vibe to me that the game balances very well, being in a beautiful winter wonderland while also surviving how relentlessly vicious the setting is. This makes the brief moments of peace feel so special... I particularly remember wandering into a potion making lady's tent in the wilderness and being so surprised by how playful and fun the music is.
The writing is a gag too. It might not be trying to reach Baldur's Gate's narrative heights, but dialogue and descriptions are written so beautifully. Its generally very straightforward yet with a slight poetic bend? Iunno if poetic is quite the word but I can't think of anything better. I'm sure its in part due to how fleeting most NPCs are, but a lot of the writing feels like it characterizes and is an expression of the setting itself... direct and fierce but playful and endearing. Characters like Lysara and Oswald are emblematic of these things to me. A loooot of NPCs, such as Lysara and Oswald, also have specific speaking quirks. Many people you meet leave a pretty lasting impression because of it, nobody really quite melds together for me. Also the voice acting goes CRAZY....It's just great. As for the actual story of the game, its like... whatever. I find the plot somewhat uncomfortable as it has themes of marginalization but handles them about as poorly as you would expect from the forgotten realms. I just uhhhh try not to think abt it lol.
The 3E mechanics work great. I find myself making more interesting micro-decisions in battle compared to the 2E infinity engine games, particularly around positioning. Once your squishy back-liners get caught, they'll just eat attacks of opportunity and get obliterated real quickly. This type of thing, on top of enemy-specific quirks, makes battles feel very rewarding to plan for and execute fabulously. Character building with the addition of feats and skills is much more fun too, though it feels like theres an abundance of worthless feats that I suspect will dull my enjoyment of character building on subsequent playthroughs.
Icewind Dale 2 pretty much solidified my love for the setting. It's just such a vibe.
Beaten: Apr 25 2022
Time: Not sure, guessing around 35-40 Hours
Platform: Windows (via Parallels on Mac)
Icewind Dale 2 is a sequel for the people who mastered the first game and D&D years ago, and want to be tested.
If you’re unfamiliar, Icewind Dale 1 is an Infinity Engine game (along with the Baldur’s Gate series and Planescape Torment) with less of a focus on storytelling and much more emphasis on the dungeon crawl experience. It comes up less in best-of lists than it’s brethren, but make no mistake, it’s a classic in it’s own right. The first game uses AD&D 2 as its basis, just like the other infinity engine games, but really required a mastery of those systems to get through the end.
Icewind Dale 2, on the other hand, runs the at-the-time newly-released D&D 3.0. I’m not really qualified to talk on the differences between the systems, but the only real balancing difference I noticed was that creating characters felt more hit or miss, like you needed a better idea of what you were doing to get past the first area. Beyond that, IWD 2 bumps up the number of enemies and dungeon/puzzle complexity significantly, starting at a point similar to around halfway through IWD 1 and ending up in a crazy spot, before ratcheting it down a tad in the final hours.
The world building doesn’t feel quite as… unique, for lack of a better word, as the first game. The situation is interesting, sure, but the areas you end up in are a little bit more standard for these games, and a lot of the dungeons are just places you pass through. There’s one big exception to this, the bottom of Dragon’s Eye, which contains a weird little situation you need to solve to move on, but beyond that and the final dungeon (chapter 6, which is phenomenal), it just feels a bit more transient than I would’ve liked.
The pacing also falters in a way that none of the other infinity engine games really have for me, with chapter 5 just having such a specific puzzle solution, followed by another puzzle situation, followed by the final dungeon’s smorgasbord of semi-optional content, it just felt like the game should’ve cut a dungeon out or something.
Besides that though, the complex puzzles and situations throughout the six chapters feel well done and well placed, with the scale of each encounter being solidly one notch beyond the last, and a really high standard of writing throughout. It actually reminded me of Fallout 2 in that way, being a funnier, more self-referential game than the first in the series
It’s not a game that would set the world on fire (you can tell, cuz it didn’t lol), but for a dungeon-romp with high quality dialogue? You could do so, so much worse. If you like the first one and wanna explore D&D 3.0, pick this up (over NWN 1, if that’s the choice lol)
Time: Not sure, guessing around 35-40 Hours
Platform: Windows (via Parallels on Mac)
Icewind Dale 2 is a sequel for the people who mastered the first game and D&D years ago, and want to be tested.
If you’re unfamiliar, Icewind Dale 1 is an Infinity Engine game (along with the Baldur’s Gate series and Planescape Torment) with less of a focus on storytelling and much more emphasis on the dungeon crawl experience. It comes up less in best-of lists than it’s brethren, but make no mistake, it’s a classic in it’s own right. The first game uses AD&D 2 as its basis, just like the other infinity engine games, but really required a mastery of those systems to get through the end.
Icewind Dale 2, on the other hand, runs the at-the-time newly-released D&D 3.0. I’m not really qualified to talk on the differences between the systems, but the only real balancing difference I noticed was that creating characters felt more hit or miss, like you needed a better idea of what you were doing to get past the first area. Beyond that, IWD 2 bumps up the number of enemies and dungeon/puzzle complexity significantly, starting at a point similar to around halfway through IWD 1 and ending up in a crazy spot, before ratcheting it down a tad in the final hours.
The world building doesn’t feel quite as… unique, for lack of a better word, as the first game. The situation is interesting, sure, but the areas you end up in are a little bit more standard for these games, and a lot of the dungeons are just places you pass through. There’s one big exception to this, the bottom of Dragon’s Eye, which contains a weird little situation you need to solve to move on, but beyond that and the final dungeon (chapter 6, which is phenomenal), it just feels a bit more transient than I would’ve liked.
The pacing also falters in a way that none of the other infinity engine games really have for me, with chapter 5 just having such a specific puzzle solution, followed by another puzzle situation, followed by the final dungeon’s smorgasbord of semi-optional content, it just felt like the game should’ve cut a dungeon out or something.
Besides that though, the complex puzzles and situations throughout the six chapters feel well done and well placed, with the scale of each encounter being solidly one notch beyond the last, and a really high standard of writing throughout. It actually reminded me of Fallout 2 in that way, being a funnier, more self-referential game than the first in the series
It’s not a game that would set the world on fire (you can tell, cuz it didn’t lol), but for a dungeon-romp with high quality dialogue? You could do so, so much worse. If you like the first one and wanna explore D&D 3.0, pick this up (over NWN 1, if that’s the choice lol)