IWD l or IWD ll ?

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I have to go with IWD I. Why? Because i don't really like the 3rd edition rules, and Fellwood and Dragons Eye in IWD II really gets on my nerves


Yay i got a new gem I like when that happens

 

The original Icewind Dale.
IWD2 is a good game, but it misses something. I don't have anything against 3E - actually I think that it is better than 2E. But, yeah, those two areas were just so boring and you couldn't complete them without walkthrough.

Icewind Dale 1 has great music, good graphics, story and atmosphere - it makes IWD1 much better than IWD2 (Just started playing IWD1 fourth time through )

 

IWD 2 of course.3-rd edition rules rule as a my brother says.What's the problem with them?

PS:Yea music in IWD 1 is much better.But the original is closer to a Diablo game as to an RPG....

 

Now, don't get me wrong, I liked them both. But there was something about the original that IWD2 just didn't have. IWD just sort of drew me in, and I would think about it constantly - strategies, plot twists, etc.

I did that with IWD2, as well, but nowhere near as much. IWD2 felt a little tedious at times...but I still enjoyed it very much. Still, with encounters like Yuxonomei and Belhifet, IWD just seemed so much better made.

 

If it was just the 3E rules, I could deal with it. Or, even if it was like Arcanum's rules, I could totally deal with it.

Yeah.

The atmosphere is lacking. I've never table-top gamed D&D in my life. But if I did, I'd want to imagine something like IWD1 unfolding. Or LotR. Or something like one of those Greystar "Choose your Own Adventure" books.

Now there's a thought.
(if it wasn't going to get moved, it sure is now)

For Icewind 3. I'd like to see them take one of those old Greystar CYOA books, and translate it over to the Fareun area. There's a demon portal, and a demon horde, and a moonstone, and old crypts, and an ancient powerful samauri-like race that breeds these really powerful horses, but they don't use them to ride around on because they can run faster so the horses are like pack-mules. The atmosphere is THICK, so you just use a scapel, and cut out the parts you don't like or that just won't work.

Write the book. Then make the game.

Yep. IwD3 could have some really good atmosphere. But it would have to be set like, 100 years before IwD1 or something. Like when Kressalack was roaming around or something.

 

Something EJ said reminded me - Kresselack. You know, when you hear that name, everyone who has ever played IWD immediately thinks back to wandering through the crypts, battling countless undead, and finally making it to stand before the Black Wolf himself. We all were expecting a big showdown with him as the cause of the trouble in the vale - but it had nothing to do with him.
That's what I'm talking about - the feel, the mood that IWD set. I just didn't get the 'feel' to that extent from IWD2.

 

A lot of good points in this thread. I like them both. No, it's not the rules that I see as the issue, it's the story.

One of the reasons why I like IWD II is all the tie-ins to IWD, but that may be the problem. Take away the tie-ins and what do you have? Some good stuff, but not enough. I think IWD II ties in better with IWD than it does with some of it's own parts.

Consider that in IWD your next destination always had a reason, even if some parts of it were mysterious to you. You get some of this in IWD II (prologue - Chapter 2, Chapters 5 + 6), however, 3 and 4 are not bad, but you could take them out and it wouldn't hurt the overall plot that much. (Luckily Omris and the Monks make a re-appearance in the Severed Hand, tying back to the Monastery.) But there is no solid reason to go through the Fell Wood, the Ice Lakes, the Cold Marshes, the Underdark, etc. except to get to Kuldahar. I know Nathaniel and Oswald say they're going to warn citizens of the Ten Towns and evacuate Kuldahar after that. It works as an excuse, but it's still on the shaky side. Furthermore, there's nothing wrong with having to go to all those places to get to Kuldahar, except there should have been more to it. For example, how much better would it have been if you learned that Isair and Madae and their Legions were actively pursuing you? (This is why I like the final battle in Chapter 3, with the war-bears, blocking the way to the Monastery, but it's not enough IMHO.)

And when Nickodemus calls you back to help him out in Chapter 5, it falls kind of flat. It could have been more relevant to the overall plot. Furthermore, the visit to Dragon's Eye is not bad in my opinion, but it's not great either. To make it better, there should have been better reasoning behind. I still don't understand why the party has to travel through Dragon's Eye, to get to the Fields of Slaughter, to get to the Severed Hand. It just seems too contrived. But overall, these are just a few flaws. IWD II has some great moments. I love defending Targos, re-taking the bridge, infiltrating the Goblin Fortress, defending the Heartstone Gem, all of Chapter 6.

What could really make the IWD trilogy (if it were to come to that) something to remember would be a solid IWD III. Here's some ideas I've thought about. Isair and Madae and Belhifet return. This time, they are at odds. Two groups of baddies, at odds with each other, and definitely at odds with you, each wanting retribution on their humiliating defeats.

All kinds of twists could come out of this scenario. For example Belhifet, being the cunning demon he is, could plant untrust and discord between the twins, making them think the other was secretly forming an alliance with Belhifet and trying to backstab their sibling. The effects of their struggle with each other, and their struggles with the Ten-Towns, would put the whole North in disarray. I could even see the Ten-Towns forming alliances because of mistrust. Targos attacking Easthaven and Kuldahar? Maybe. And what of the other Ten-Towns? There's a lot of possibilities. Even a climatctic trip to the Nine Hells, turning the tables for once.

 

I like more IWD1. It's the atmosphere(music and that stuff) that contributes to the game. IWD2 may have the subraces,3E rules and many other but misses the point of RPG; it looks like Diablo in some cases.
I often say for computer games: "The older the better". BG2 is a very good game though it misses something that BG1 has-just like IWD2/IWD1. Have you ever played "Zelda:A link to the past"(or any other Zelda)? And I mean the old ones (1991-1993). They have something that new games don't have. It's a feeling, a strange feeling, which "overwhelms" you when you're playing old games. So: "The older the better"

As for IWD3, I would like to see a sequel to this game(as well as a BG3) though it wont use my beloved Infinity Engine. Bye bye IE

 

Both... 'Nuff said.


Both have their respective Strengths and weaknesses. For IWD i think the second edition rules are boring as well that a newb party could get slaughtered anytime. For its sequel its mostly that hardcore fans were familiar, but those who wasn't "hardcore" had difficulty getting in to the game...

Also Madae and Isair were never defeated, they had just gotten themselves to much into the mythal that the elven mage had casted in panick during the horde offensive on the Severed Hand.

 

There is always something special in the first roleplay game you've ever played... That's the stuff with IWD 1... The others are just RPGs... The first one is the special one...

IWD 2 is good, but it's one going-everyrwhere-&-killing-everything... IWD is little more defined and pleasent... It's a matter of taste I think, after all...

 

IWD = RPG iwd2 = Hackn'slash.

I enjoy intrinsic storylines with some relevants. I want to have the constant urge to play, to see what's next, to find the next part of a puzzle.. An Actual Quest, not finding a dead cat in a warehouse..

Alot of people compare Iwd to Diablo, Hell. That's not an entirely bad thing, after all, Unique items = fun.

I personally like the 3e rules, but i like the roleplay aspects of games.. Unfortunately, iwd2 didn't have a whole lot of that..

As for iwd3?? I doubt it will happen.. They will probably try to come up with another region, somewhere on the face of Faerun, with some new engine that will either Rock, or will suck hardcore..

We will probably see a game come around called "Dorn's Deep" Or somesuch, and it will be Axe heavey.. LoL.

Oh well, we can't really predict what they will do next.. *Shakes head*

 

I loved IWD1 for its story, while IWD2 is a little lacking in that department (not that it's all bad, mind you, just a little... thinner). This is compensated for, though, with the 3rd ed. rules.

Now, someone making a mod that converts IWD1 to 3rd ed. rules...

 

I found iwd2 hack and slash. I got totally tempted to go and play BG 2 again with a full party and continue it on to ToB, i mean i missed the cool storylines and Plane jumping,..item finding , monster ass kicking, i mean if you dont even follow the main storyline you've got hours of entertainment anyway!

I think i;ll just beat IWD2 and then play something more roleplaying, not hack and slash

as for icewind dale 1, never played it

 

I like both. Perhaps I have stronger feelings about IWD1 still although the 3E's flexibility is really welcome - however 80 points (Aasimar) is not enough for a chevalier-based paladin

I'm getting the full set of IWD1+HOF+Luremaster for roughly $7.50 today or tomorrow

 

I
[I think we would all prefer a little more than that if you're going to post - BTA]

[ May 16, 2003, 16:32: Message edited by: Blackthorne TA ]

 

wow i guess this should have been a poll instead of a regular topic, but, here's how i see it.

i agree with most of us here on the fact that the story line in #1 was much better, as for the soundtrack, c'mon guys, mute the music and provide your own.

i don't have a problem with 3e rules, but, why change rule editions for a sequel? i know they're the latest set of rules, but i say stick with the original formula (if it aint broke, don't fix it).

@ ejsmith, your reference to the old CYOA books takes me way back, i loved them, and that's a damn good idea implementing such a layout into a CRPG

 

IWD of course I never played IWD II

 

Id have to go with Iwd1 not that the 3rd edition D&D rules are bad, or the graphics because they are better. I think Icewind Dale 1 had a better overall game layout and the expansion is good to.

 

I gotta agree that IWD 2 is seriously lacking in the story... While in IWD, Belhifet had some reason to conquer Icewind Dale (he wanted rule the world - what better reason, could he have? ), in IWD 2 the twins are bad, because it is said that they are bad... And that makes me quite confused...