Should one get the IWD series? BG series comparison?

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Well, currently there arent any worth while new RPGs out there. Once i finish BG 2 + expansions im on the look again until HoMM V comes out.

But basically i have never tried IWD. Should i play the 1st one thirst? And is IWD with 3.0 rulesets or the old ones?

I would be extremely thankful if you would post how IWD/2 is better than BG/2 and how it is worse.

[ April 26, 2006, 02:41: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

IWD uses 2E rules, then IWD2 uses 3E rules. The biggest change from BG2 is that you make your whole party. There are no joinable NPCs. The story line is quite a bit different, but it is good IMO. If you liked BG2, I would think that you would like the game. You should be able to get the Ultimate Collection, IWD/IWD2 for pretty cheap.

 

Thanks for replying.

How is the games depth? Is it as huge as BG? I know its considered hack-n-slash but are there conversations, interesting plots and characters nevertheless?

Also, in the first IWD, are the rules(spells, skills etc.) at the same usefulness bar as in BG? And in the 2nd IWD are the characters balanced? How is the druid class? For once id like to play not an underpowered druid.

And i also dont understand the hack-n-slashness. In BG all you basically did was kill monsters and people. How is it different in IWD?

 

Both games are very linear, and neither plot is particularly interesting. There's little dialog in the first game, a bit more in the second. IWD2 has more situations where you can peacefully talk things over, or cleverly bypass combat, rather than having to kill every living being in site. The IWD1 rules are somewhere in-between BG1 and BG2 (not surprising considering the game was released in-between). Druids in IWD1 are actually quite good IF you install the expansion (Heart of Winter). A F/D multiclass is very powerful. IWD2 uses the 3E rules, but has some carryover from the 2E rules due to engine limitations (there are no attacks of opportunity for example). Both games are fun, and IMO worth a try.

 

I was never a big fan of IWD. Just couldn't get into it much. Which is not to say I've never finished it, but I only did ONCE. IWD2 is a better game, IMHO. If you're looking for the kind of story you had in the BG series, you will feel sorely let down. However, if you're looking for something that isn't quite so darn epic and world shaking, IWD2's story works. Since you don't pick up joinable NPCs, you don't have some of the interesting party interactions that BG2 got you, but in my opinion some of the combat is better than BG2. Plus, as a big fan of 3E, I really like to ruleset (aside from the fact they can't seem to get the Challenge Rating system to work the way it should). You have a lot of ability to create interesting characters of your own for your party, so that's fun.
All in all, I enjoyed IWD2, and replay it on occasion, so I'd say it's a worthy addition to any RPG gamers collection. There a few things about it I like better than BG2, but all in all it is an inferior game. Then again, what ISN'T an inferior RPG to BG2?
Oh, and the classes are balanced OK, with the main balance issues coming from the fact it's 3E (instead of the improved 3.5E). Such as classes like Ranger and Paladin being very front loaded and NEVER worthy of taking more than 1-3 levels. Druids ARE rather underpowered, IMHO. Tho, there a few on these boards who will... rather passionately disagree with me.

 

I personally like the IWD games more like the BG games.

The stories are more logical.
The games are not that unfair.
The classes are better balanced.
The athmosphere is brighter.

Another advantage is that you can play any characters you like.
In BG you are limited to only a few NPCs unless you play a multiplayer game. And most of them have the wrong alignment, kill each other or are just unbearable.

 

I was really frustrated by suites of armor in IWD2. Coming out at level 16 with no one having better then +2 armor was more then abit annoying.

IWD2 also plays far faster then BG2, it is almost impossible to deviate from from the story line, unlike in BG2 where, when you are based out of Akathla (sp?) you have multiple ares you can go to (IWD2 has a load of locations on the map, but you can't go to just about any of them). Some of the race/class specific conversations where a nice touch, but generally, aside from paladins, they didn't really change the outcome of dialogues (people were far too willing to except duergar, drow and half-orc characters or at least put racism aside for the time being).

As for IWD, I have the game, but have never bothered to play it.

 

So basically i should just skip the first IWD?

By the way, how are the sub races? To they add a nice touch? And i also saw something like Lathander or Selune classes. What are those?

 

I'd say buy the Ultimate Collection (which IIRC has both games as well as HoW, which is the expansion for the first game) and play them both. Neither is a great game, but I think they're both good games, and definitely worth a try if the price is right (it should be)

The sub races are quite a lot of fun actually. Some of the most powerful builds take Deep Gnome or Drow as a class (the Magic Resistance is great). Almost everyone in my party was a sub race. Tieflings and Aasimars for example are a lot of fun to play, and don't have severe penalties. One of the great things about sub races is that they allow you a nice variety in enhanced stats and preferred class, which makes party building quite fun.

 

the cleric, monk and paladin sub-classes where rather annoying in my opinion because you had to choose one and they where very limited in scope. Surface drow clerics should at least be able to choose to follow Vhaeraun, Duergar to follow Laduguer and Paladins to be able to follow Tyr or Torm (Torm is the god of paladins after all). While granting Deity domains was a step up over BG and BG2, it really, really restricted RP as clerics can only follow 9 different gods, monks can only join 3 different orders (2 of which have a patron deity) and Paladins can only follow 3 different gods (including one, Mystra, who doesn't have a large paladin following).

The sub-races however was a nice touch that more games should try to emulate. After all, that's what the WotWC markets 3.0 and 3.5 as allowing for options and flexibility.

 

Keep in mind that IWD2 works on a radically different ruleset than the BG series and even IWD1, so it could take some getting used to. IWD1, however, works on the same ruleset as the BG series, though HoW changes it quite a bit. My suggestion would be to get both, and play IWD1 with HoW as a stepping stone between 2e and 3e, since it's almost a mix of the two, and then graduate to IWD2.

 

@ Mercury

Get it - it's cheap now for the ultimate collection (10-20 bucks) and it's extremely fun, especially if you like dungeon crawls, challenging battles and tons of unique loot. Be sure to download the Trials of the Luremaster expansion as well.

 

I thought and i decided to go straight to IWD2. The first one seems kind of, well, boring. The old rules are really annoying and restrictive and, in my opinion, poorly developed(elves cant be druids etc). Not only that but IWD is lacking, it has like 2 wizard spells at level 9.

I do, however, simply love the new rulesets. And IWD2 looks really great and quality. The huge battles are quite impressive.

By the way, how long is IWD2? If il be playing it about 2-3 hours a day, how much will it last?

 

It is not as big as bg2, but still long enough. you will be busy for at month or so whit only 2 or 3 hours a day. longer if you reload much. It has some mods, and you can use the icewind2 engine and ruleset to play bg2 with. (Icewind gate mod)It is very unstable but nice to see how 3.5 works in bg.

 

IWD1 is 2E and somewhere between BG1 and 2 technically. The HoW and TotL expansions introduce some nice improvements, as well, but the engine version is still behind the BG2 one a bit. IWD2 is less nice to play than 1, I think, and it's 3E, except it has some leftovers of the 2E engine, so it doesn't look like the NWN or ToEE rules in practice.

It should be cheap by now. If you have the time, go for it. Can't tell you about the playing time. It really depends on how much you do, if you do a lot of planning, if you reload much or not, if you go for a happy ride of are into micromanaging. I don't even remember the official numbers of hours for those games anymore. But you can surely finish one in two weeks and expansions in a week each, without hurrying. My brother typically takes a day or two to finish a game the size of BG2 without ToB if it isn't his first time through.

 

Chevalier, what...? Your brother finishes huge games like BG in a day on his play through? Thats physically impossible without cheats.

 

No it's not. A straight run through without the sidequests can be done in a day, if you're bored. It's the sidequests that fill the time out.

 

So basically i have been playing IWD2 for a bit. A very little. But it seems to be better than BG. First of all the ruleset is MUCH more better. The dialogs are longer and more complicated.

 

I had trouble getting through IWD2. I got slightly bored by the lack of party interaction.

Plus, I'm stuck at the cave where you fight the ICe Wyrms. They slaughter my party every time.

 

Mercury Star, I did *Fallout 2* in two days on my second run and it's not like I spent all the time playing. The HoW expansion to IWD, when I got it, I just sat down, launched and finished before standing up, overnight. And it's not like I was hurrying. I suppose the most playing time people take is wondering, saving, reloading, thinking about quests a lot, perhaps admiring the view. Cut down on these and the game will be short. If areas are straightforward and enemies don't overpower you in the first second so you have to resort to a micromanaging guerilla tactic, then you can indeed finish such a game quickly without much hassle. I like to enjoy the view normally, but I secretly like a nice, energetic tempo, doing something for the emotions as things in game unfold, not only a mental exercise. Incidentally, that's what IWD1 gives you. It's quite moving, really, and it's easy to immerse in the game world and feel its problems. IWD2 doesn't have that, although I won't say it's a bad game.

@Daie: Here.