IWD vs BG2?

Remove all ads!

I was and still am a very big fan of BG. As a result I bought and am still playing BG2. Probably the BEST rpg ever made.(So Far). I am about two thirds of the way through it and find it very challenging. I've gotten some advice from fellow gamers but have yet to use any cheats. My question is: After BG2, I'll be looking for another good rpg and want to know how IWD & HoW compare to BG2? Any input would be appreciated.

 

IWD & HoW are definitely worth buying! It's a little different than BG, in that there are no NPC's to join your party.

It's also kind of fun to make a full party on your own. The other thing I like is that it is less of an errand running game and more of a down and dirty dungeon crawl...

Always a nice change!

 

Thanks Belisarius. I didn't realize there were no NPC's. Sounds interesting, similar to multiplayer in bg2? Also, do you know if it runs along the storyline in the R.A. Salvatore series "Icewind Dale Trilogy"?

 

If you look in the post below you should work out my opinions!

 

iwd is more of kill everything win...

 

I have some strong opnions on this and have the problem of repeating them. IWD is a great deal better than BG2 in terms of art, graphics, sound and music, some dialogue and voice acting, and overall classic style. It does not have an engrossing story but it does have *a* story and its alright. HOW adds some to it. I miss playing it, I think its making a comeback. It doesn't have the intricacies that BG1 and 2 do, though, and it is more straightforward and as a result a shorter experience, but totally worth it. I imagine now the prices are pretty good, too. When I first installed IWD and checked it out, I couldn'tbelieve how cool looking itr was, and the voices and music werel ike movie quality. A bit better than "Never had rats, no sir"..."I love money, yes I do..."
Check it out.

 

biggest difference to me is that BGII is very mage oriented. You have to have a mage to drop the defenses of good ole Jon and the hordes of other high level mages you will face. I have yet to finish IWD, but I have yet to really need a mage. I could have gotten as far as I have now with 4 fighters, a thief and a cleric (or a bard, they have an AWESOME song that regenerate hp for the entire party, eliminating the need for clerics heal abiltiy).

One big improvement to me that was not mentioned earlier was how they took care of druids (which have always been a favorite of mine). They added a bunch of really cool spells and abilities not in BG. Not to mention the fact they can go past level 14. That was the biggest drawback to me in BGII. Once you hit lvl 14, then what?

I also really like the ability to create my entire party and not have to rely on the same tired NPC's in BG.

Its a great game. You can have tons of fun.

 

oh yeah druids in IWD RULE!

 

Oh dear, I hate to be the negative one but .... I think Icewind Dale is by far the worst of the Infinity engine games and that it deserved the much lower review scores that it normally recieved. Now to be a bit more positive I still think it's worth playing if you like this type of game. It also has the best music of all of them all.

The reasons I don't like it have been touched on above. The story is much weaker, it's almost completely linear and there are no NPCs. Of course some people prefer to have no NPCs in the party but at least you get the choice with the BG games (multiplayer with all your own characters). It's also very noticeable that the game made very little impression on me. I have seen people post questions here and in the chat room and I can't even remember the area they are talking about half the time (even only a month or so after I completed it). Compare that to Planescape or BG1 both of which I played a much longer time ago and still remember clearly.

Oh well, to sum up I still think it's an OK game though I am glad I found it at a bargain price. I would also recomend it to anyone who likes these sort of games. Of course I would recommend BG1, Planescape and BG2 before it unless - if pure dungeon crawling, hacking and slashing, powerplaying or Diablo style games are more your thing, then IWD is for you.

PS just remembered one other thing I did like. The giants were much more fun than the slightly dissapointing BG2 dragons.

PPS just a quick note about Corval's comment. I admit that BG2 appears at first to be Mage orientated. I think though that this is misleading and more to do with the very noticeable increase in mage power compared to BG1. However, after completing the game with no magic users at all (mage, druid or cleric) I now feel that the balance bewteen magic and non magic is still ok and would recommend people who don't like mages to give the game a try without them. In many cases it is actually much easier. For more info, see my diary of the non-magic user party:
http://www.sorcerers.net/ubb/Forum2/HTML/001920.html



[This message has been edited by Slappy (edited June 22, 2001).]

 

cool journal Slappy. nice job. I havent the patience for all the temple healing and waiting for mages defensive spells to run their course.

 

Yeah but the truth is that if you think about it all of the infinity games are linear.
Balder's gate does not have multiple endings and there are no different ways to complete a quest (apart from the option of either pickpocketing or killing!). You call it less linear than Icewind Dale because it has a great deal of totally useless (but fun) maps.
The only thing that annoys me about Icewind Dale is it's incredibly short span. Apart from that it is the best game of the lot.

 

Just replaying IWD now after completing BGII the other weeks. Second time through now (with HoW, but yet to explore that) and trying it with only two characters rather than the six I had before, which does seem to make things easier.

Anyway, I do like this game, certainly more so this time round. The storyline may be little more than a contrived excuse to get you to visit several dungeons, and never matches up to the BG games, or let alone Torment. It doesn't try though, and seems to have no ideas as to being anything other than a dungeon crawl, and as far as I'm concerned it succeeds those objectives very successfully.

Actually for me comparing it to the other infinity engine games is possibly a mistake. A comparison to Diablo II (released around the same time) would be more appropriate. I borrowed that title off a friend, and glad I didn't spend my own money on it at the end of the day.

I recall reading a review of the game in PC Zone at the time of it's release, and I think they were expecting the wrong thing out of it, something along the lines of a BG, not sure where they got that from as I wasn't expecting that, but if anyone goes in twith that expectation they will possibly end up disappointed (at best enjoying a different style of game).

It's fun, and for that I rate it highly. And it runs much better on my system than BGII. Which is always a bonus.

Finally though, it is always a it funny as to how time passes, seeing Nate as a young lad all the time. Currently passed day 3,000 in game time and he's still as young as ever .

 

Yeah, why is that? IWD runs better on my PC than BG2 does also. What's the deal with that? Anyway, I love IWD. I can't wait for the DL dungeon.

 

On on that note I'd like to retract (at least partially) one of my remarks about speed. Having just reached a location where everything goes slowly - and there is a noticeable slowdown as the game has been going on - the Burial Isle in particular (HoW) really does crawl.

 

Ditto on that, I had to reconfigure for the burial isle and then go back to the way it was before I went there. I'm clueless as to why.

 

I don't actually have IWD, but I played a good bit of the demo that comes with BGII.

I agree totally with Slappy. It's an OK game, but never better than that.

The storyline was not great; it was so bad that I just pressed Continue all the time to get though the dialouge. I hated the part of the story when Hrothgar and his team got killed in the avalanche and only your team survives (how unrealistic or what - all of your team, but not one of the others). I think they should have had it that they tell you to split up, and you go back and find them dead or missing, which makes the story alot more spooky.

When you go to the town in need, the one with the big tree house thing, it's too dark. I could hardly see a thing. Basically it looked like a piece of black paper with characters walking over it.

I found that there were too many bard summoning items in a shop there, which makes your bard too powerful, or if you don't have a bard, makes your party less powerful.

I don't like the way the big beetles don't attack you. They just sit there while you kill them.

The dialouge the villagers use is terrible. I actually said "I have to go" or whatever to everyone I met, just to get away from them, even though that meant missing out on the info.

No NPCs did create a bit of a downside, as it makes your party very boring, and you can easily create your party with very high abilitiy scores at the start.

Not telling you what your reputation is was terrible. The level-up screen was so confusing that I just picked a weapon specialisation, gave out thief skills and pressed OK, whereas in BGII I would read the whole level-up thing.

The proficiencies for weapons were terrible, having things like Great Swords, etc instead of two-handed swords and bastard swords. There was also no two-handed weapon, single weapon, sword and shield, etc.

Not being able to wield two weapons was a down-side, but the least of the faults. Not being able to choose a specialty of a class was also bad, as I wanted an Inquisitor, etc.

IWD is a hack 'n' slash game, no more. It is appealing in several ways, but less so than BGII. I liked the dungeons, but hated the optional quests. The music was great, far better than other ones I heard.

BGII is more visually appealing and realistic, whereas alot of IWD looks corny, etc.

There's more I can go into, but as Slappy said it wasn't engrossing enough to remember,

With all due respect to BI,

Herr'Don

 

In reply to above, I'd like to say a few things. To start off with, IWD kicks ass. Secondly, the level-up screen isn't confusing, in fact it's alot more comprhensible compared to BG2's. Also, the option in weapon specialization concerning Great Swords is better than BG2's, as a fighter can cover both 2h Swords and Bastards at one time. IWD doesn't have Sword and Shield style and all that extra krap because (1)- There's no real need for those options and (2)- if it didn't occur to you at the time, IWD actually came out before BG2. And you can wield 2 weapons at the same time in IWD. And wtf cares if you want to be an Inquistor- boo bloody hoo.
On a final note, who are you judge a game that you've only played the demo version of?

 

Sheesh, keep your head on Sparhawk! I was stating my opinion, nothing more. And if you didn't notice, I said I was basing my theory on the demo, no more. Anyway, everything I said would be accurate with the actual game anyway, since the demo is part of it!

I don't like IWD's storyline, or it's design scimatics either. But that's all part of the Hack'n'Slash genre. You don't make a good story, no, you make good dungeons, and as I said, I loved IWD's dungeons, but the story ruined it for me. The fighting was tough, but you're only lvl 1 anyway!

And as I said before, In all due respect to Black Isle,

Herr'Don

PS. Anyway, I was only agreeing with Slappy, and I didn't see you biting his head off. Before you go biting someone's head off, you should think if it's realy neccessary. I stated my opinion, which is what the forums are about. The question was IWD or BGII - I choose BGII, and you choose IWD; we're not the same people; we have different tastes, and we have different opinions!

 

BG2 is much better!