25 replies to this topic

[cirerrek]

I'm in the Severed Hand now (the furthest I've ever made it in the game).

It just dawned on me that there is barely any story and my day in the game goes something like this:

Enter a room. Get my arse handed to me.
Re-load
Haste, Prayer
Slaugther everyone
Run to the next room while haste is still in effect
Mostly slaughter everyone, then haste runs out
Take lots of damage while mopping up the leftovers that survived Blitzhaste.
Use up all my healing spells
Maybe take on one more fight with the HPs I have leftover
Head back to town to rest
Rest twice because once doesn't alleviate the fatigue on all my characters
Sell a few craptastic random drop items
Drool on items I can't afford
Rinse
Repeat

Its not the silent party. I actually preferred playing BG1 & BG2 for years with a party I created myself. Especially after I met Aerie the first time through BG2!

The story. Well, it moves you from place to place.

I actually like the battlegrounds. They are heck of a lot more tactically challenging than most battles in BG2...Goblin Archers, behind low walls that they can fire at you from. On terrain elements that are difficult for you to reach.

Maybe it is the combination of tactically challenging battlegrounds and swarms of enemies that are driving me nuts. And the lovely feedback of Jimmy did 6 damage to orc (5 damage resisted) that so often seems to pop up.

I'd consider using 2 handed weapons to see if I can up the damage a bit, but then my poor characters armor class would go to heck and I'd get hit even more often. That and at such low levels and the lack of Weapon Style specializations means that attacks with 2 handed weapons are slowwwwwwwww.

Oof, and trying to take out archers that are peppering your party with missile weapons, while you grunts are trying to hold off a horde of monstrosities, is shall we say interesting. Perfectly realisitc, except for the fact that if it were realisitic, you'd survive about 10 seconds with some of the setups they have in IWD.

Okay. End frustration. I'm going to go kill me some Armored Skeletons and Shattered Souls.

[Grunker]

Lack of story, lack of roleplay, lack of fun. That's my take on the game. Still, it was more enjoyable than PoR and ToEE.

[Seifer]

I like the difference in area quality personally. Take a look at some of the overlays in the vale and they're much more striking then anything the BG series has.

I'll agree with cirerrek, the battles were very challenging and I've further then I have before.

[Rastor]

I found the battles to be quite fun, although they were still a bit easier than I would have liked. The lack of party interaction irritated me the most. I still had a lot more fun with both IWD games than I did with many others, though.

[Grunker]

The lack of party interaction irritated me the most.

*Nods*. Although I would say lack of roleplaying in general.

[Rastor]

The lack of party interaction irritated me the most.

*Nods*. Although I would say lack of roleplaying in general.

IMO, the only IE game that really has roleplaying in abundance is PST.

*ducks the inevitable rock throwing*

[hlidskialf]

PST rocked. Pun intended.

As for IWD, I too suffered much the same when it came to the Severed Hand. It became ridiculious. (From a roleplay aspect especially. I mean, how often would you like to sleep in a haunted, enemy stronghold??) However, I'm with Seif on the graphics. That and the music helped alot. I did enjoy most of the game enough to play it through twice. (In all honestly though, I soloed a tripped out Fighter/Mage/Thief the second time.) The SH was the low point, so stick with it Cirerrek, and enjoy the unfolding story. It's a nice tale.

[Azazello]

cirerrek, to speed up (down?) the travel time for resting, you can rest right outside SH. No random attacks.

I played and recently finished IwD on Insane. The only cheat-, er, powergaming I had to do was Ctrl-R'ing characters who got hit, as enemies hit double damage. Wish there was a hack for this.

Also, sounds like you're missing the benefit of two types of spells:
- Invisibility 10' R -- this allowed my party to set up in the best defensible location and then start the battling on my terms.

- monster (and undead?) summoning -- on Insane they also hit double-damage, have increased HPs, AC, blah-blah. They are then not just arrow fodder, they soften up and distract the enemy so that my party delivers up a liberal serving of missile damage and area spells.

Lastly, just like every BG-related games, EVERY party member has a missile/thrown weapon - and uses it. H2H occurs only when unavoidable.

[cirerrek]

The SH was the low point, so stick with it Cirerrek, and enjoy the unfolding story. It's a nice tale.

Thanks for the encouragment hlidskialf. I will keep plugging through it.

And for the record, it does have nice music and scenary and the story is not that bad, just brief and to the point for the most part.

cirerrek, to speed up (down?) the travel time for resting, you can rest right outside SH. No random attacks.

I played and recently finished IwD on Insane. The only cheat-, er, powergaming I had to do was Ctrl-R'ing characters who got hit, as enemies hit double damage. Wish there was a hack for this.

Also, sounds like you're missing the benefit of two types of spells:
- Invisibility 10' R -- this allowed my party to set up in the best defensible location and then start the battling on my terms.

- monster (and undead?) summoning -- on Insane they also hit double-damage, have increased HPs, AC, blah-blah. They are then not just arrow fodder, they soften up and distract the enemy so that my party delivers up a liberal serving of missile damage and area spells.

Lastly, just like every BG-related games, EVERY party member has a missile/thrown weapon - and uses it. H2H occurs only when unavoidable.

Ah, I hadn't tried resting there yet, because the first time I went there I left after I was running low on ammo for my ranged weapons. Then I went back and realized I had forgotten to purchase any ammo

I haven't gotten a scroll of Invisibilty yet. I'll keep my eye out for one (Pun intended )

I'll have to try the everyone use a missile weapon. In BG2, I tend to use 2-3 tanks to form a wall between the bad guys and my ranged weapon people. With the droves of enemies, it is harder to make this strategy pay off. Perhaps I'll give it a go.

Thanks,
Cirerrek

Edited by cirerrek, 28 April 2006 - 07:07 PM.

[Azazello]

I can't remember whether I found the spell or bought it somewhere. Maybe Auril's Bane included it, either in a store or as treasure.

For my party, I used Blucher's BG2-to-IwD NPCs.
They all had their soundsets which added some little life to the usual lobotimized IwD NPCs.

- Viconia came with her Magic Resistance.
- Saverok came with his +2, +1HP/hit 2H-sword - yay!
- Cernd came with Firetooth +3 Dagger - don't know how he got it, but I wasn't about to complain. Never left home without it.
- Tashia came with her cat - you could summon it but when unsummoned it didn't reappear in the quick slot. Surprisingly, I stopped using it even before Shattered Hand.
- Imoen came with her charm
- I had a Paladin so that he could eventually use the special armor added by Auril's Bane. IMHO, the Smite Evil innate was the most useless spell in the whole game.

[Delight]

Lack of story, lack of roleplay, lack of fun. That's my take on the game. Still, it was more enjoyable than PoR and ToEE.

I disaagree.

ID has an interesting story and has more roleplaying than BG due to stat/race/class checks in dialogs.
It's a shame that a hack & slash has better dialogs than BG.

When I play ID I usually use an edited team of experienced elven adventurers.

One think that I dislike in ID is an atrocious lack of logic - how the hell a band of level 1 unequipped adventurers came to ID?
It's impossible to travel to such location without any equipment and without getting some experience underway.

[oralpain]

Icewind Dale was not bad, the first (and maybe second) time through. However, it has virtually no replay value. The story is interesting, but it is extremely linear. Once you 've seen it, you've seen it.

As for the "role-playing" aspect, I don't really consider occasional stat checks as role-playing.

One think that I dislike in ID is an atrocious lack of logic - how the hell a band of level 1 unequipped adventurers came to ID?
It's impossible to travel to such location without any equipment and without getting some experience underway.

Zero level merchants, pilgrims, and imigrants/emigrants move to and from icewind dale all the time. I really don't think it's that implausible for adventures to start their carriers after they reach the place.

[Grunker]

ID has an interesting story and has more roleplaying than BG due to stat/race/class checks in dialogs.

Roleplaying? As in lots of dialogue options that differ from each other? As a personal viewpoint of the story the characters are thrown into? As in "I actually feel my character has a personality?"

It's amazing how people can have different oppinions

[roshan]

Icewind Dale actually had class and race based role playing, unlike the Baldurs Gate series. I am willing to bet that there are more class and race checks in Easthaven alone than the entire BG series. (Just one example: If you are an elf, you can understand the chick by the sea. And if you are a bard you can play a song for her - Let me know if being a specific class or race ever had any impact in a BG series quest at all!)

[Kellen]

Strongholds. Slightly changed dialogues in a few places. Slightly different romance with Vicky. Lack of Romance. I'm not sure of any more.

[Rastor]

Strongholds. Slightly changed dialogues in a few places. Slightly different romance with Vicky. Lack of Romance. I'm not sure of any more.

BG2 was basically zero roleplaying, imo.

[grogerson]

Role playing is far better in BG/TotSC than any of the other IE games (except perhaps PS:T).

My two cents...

[Klorox]

IMO, cRPG's are mostly about powergaming, fighting, and tactics anyway. IWD1 and IWD2 are the epitome of this.

BG1 and BG2 are a good mix of powergaming and roleplaying, since there's such a great story. PS:T is the closest to real, great roleplaying as I've ever seen in a cRPG. There's really no point in trying to min/max that one, making it great (in that way).

[Grunker]

Bloodlines.

Knights of the Old Republic.

And what about Fallout?

BG and PS:T were the greatest ever, and still are, but that doesn't mean there aren't any good ones after them.

IMO, both of these games far surpass ToB, and almost reaches BG/BG2.

Of course, no one has yet reached anyhting like PS:T. But, who knows, maybe some day.

[Gabrielle]

Bloodlines.

Knights of the Old Republic.

And what about Fallout?

BG and PS:T were the greatest ever, and still are, but that doesn't mean there aren't any good ones after them.

IMO, both of these games far surpass ToB, and almost reaches BG/BG2.

Of course, no one has yet reached anyhting like PS:T. But, who knows, maybe some day.

I agree with everything but PST. Hated it.

Fallouts and BGs are classics.

Bloodlines came so close to being a classic but alas, bugs that were never fixed before Troika bit the dust.