So tell me what you think about certain aspects?

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I have been a big fan of BG and BG 2, although NWN was a disgrace and I hope never to hear of it again. So recently I just bought IWD2 because it looked and was said to be very much like BG2 with more options and more feats, and you get to create you whole party which seems cool.
I got to the part where the villagers are held around the explosive barrels. I was wondering a couple questions.

1. Are there lots of side quests, and non essential dungeons to explore but which reap great rewards,as in BG2.

2. And as you get further in the game do things start to pick up a little bit in terms of being able to go to different areas and becoming more interesting. Because right now walking along this one path to save a bunch of villagers seems a little too linear.

Those are my questions, just hoping some experienced players can offer some insight.

 

1) Cannot answer, not very far in the game yet, but from what I've heard there are lots of sidequests.

2) The game line is pretty linear. It is not like in BG2, where you can hop from one big quest to another in the order you choose. This is a bit of a downer to me, but IWD1 was the same, and this game has enough good stuff to compensate for it

 

The game has a lot of quests. But it does not have much in the way of optional areas. Many areas have different ways they can be solved, but very few can be skipped completely.

The story line is basically linear. It is very, very good but its a straighline path. You can't just ignore the story and wander all over the place for the heck of it like in BG2. "oh, yeah, Imoen is being tortured, but I hear there are some wierd goings on in some vilage on the other side of Amn. I think I'll go there. I'm sure Imoen won't mind."

 

I'm still not done the game yet, but there are not too many side quests, at least that I've found. There are maybe four ot five for each chapter, but other than that, it's a pretty straightforward game.

[ September 24, 2002, 11:54: Message edited by: reepnorp ]

 

The game is pretty linear all the way through, but that is how the IWD series was meant to be. From the onset, it was designed as a linear hack and slash kind of game. Granted, IWD2 has added more puzzles and problem solving than IWD had, but over all it is pretty linear. As to the side quests, well there are several per chapter, however some are not really "side" quests but more things that you have to do in order to advance the game. You do however, get to choose how to do it. For example, you can kill all the monks in the monestary to get the key to the tomb, or you can do the 8 chambers test to become a member of the monestary and get access that way (killing the monks is easiest since all they did was throw darts at me, compared to the "monks" in the tests who will kick you butt). Killing the monks is not really a side quest, but you get xp and items from the Duergar if you do it.

There are a few non-essential things that you can do to gather xp such as battle squares in Chapter 2, but overall you pretty much go through the game hacking your way to the Severed Hand to kick the tar out of Isair and Madae....

[ September 24, 2002, 14:32: Message edited by: Grey Ghost ]

 

Frank:

I hate to tell you this, but Baldur's Gate 2 is just a linear as Icewind Dale 1, which is just as linear as Icewind Dale 2. It's that way because they don't have time to code two different games. Just because you can pass through a chapter 2 fairly different ways doesn't make the "game" any less linear; but it makes the chapters less.

You're wanting side-quests, and two seperate paths through each chapter (akin to how you could pass through the Underdark in BG2).

There's a few side quests once you hit chapter 2, but not anything *near* BG2. This is the Icewind Dale series; it's fairly different than BG series.