Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition

simply a timeless classic, every rpg fan should play this masterpiece at least once in their life. its just as good as baldurs gate 1, but even tho it also has a linear campaign and a decent story, the main focus here is exploring dungeons. its literally one dungeon after another and the atmosphere this kind of game has is unique and incredibly immersive, from the dungeon design and creatures to the ambient sounds and music. just play it if you enjoy a good rpg, especially one with real time combat and no turn based mechanics. you can even enable the command console if you want to make the difficulty easier and focus only on adventuring and enjoying the journey, which is truly memorable and massive!!

[h1]Enhanced Edition Review[/h1] I really liked the blend of tactical combat and the deep RPG mechanics from the pen-and-paper game translated into a video game. While Baldur's Gate laid the foundation, it had several issues. Icewind Dale fixes many of them, although it introduces a few new ones of its own. [u]Gameplay[/u] I won't describe the core gameplay mechanics that define Baldur's Gate, as they're largely the same here. What matters is how Icewind Dale changes the focus. While both games look similar on the surface, Icewind Dale places a much greater emphasis on combat encounters, and it improves them significantly. Experience comes much faster, allowing you to move beyond the slow and restrictive early levels more quickly. The game also features larger, more challenging battles that require better tactics and party composition. This works especially well because you create your entire party from scratch. Since there are no recruitable companions and you cannot rebuild your characters later, every decision during character creation matters. From a combat perspective, Icewind Dale is the superior game. There is a greater variety of magical items to discover, more high-level encounters, and generally more rewarding battles. The game even features a dragon fight, something the original Baldur's Gate surprisingly lacked. [u]Enhanced Edition[/u] Like the Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, this version modernizes the original game with widescreen support, quality-of-life improvements, and compatibility with modern systems. However, the effort feels much more modest. Unlike Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, it doesn't introduce major new content such as additional companions or storylines. [u]Story[/u] Unlike Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale doesn't feature recruitable companions with unique personalities, dialogue, or personal quests. Instead, the game is almost entirely focused on combat. The main story has an interesting premise and, in my opinion, a more surprising twist than Baldur's Gate. However, the narrative is much less dense, and the constant stream of combat encounters can become exhausting over time. Side quests are relatively rare, but the ones that are present are generally well-written and engaging. Even so, Baldur's Gate offered a much more memorable world and cast of characters. [u]Sound[/u] Because your party consists of custom-made characters, there is very little voiced dialogue beyond the combat voice sets you choose during character creation. NPCs also have far fewer voiced lines than in Baldur's Gate. The soundtrack is still excellent and fits the game's atmosphere well, but I found it less memorable than Baldur's Gate's music, particularly its iconic exploration and environmental themes. [u]Conclusion/TL;DR[/u] Icewind Dale is an excellent RPG with a very different focus from Baldur's Gate. Players looking for memorable companions, character interactions, and a story-driven experience will disappointed. However, anyone who enjoyed Baldur's Gate's combat and wanted a game that expands and refines that aspect will find exactly what they're looking for here. While I believe the lack of memorable companions ultimately hurts the overall experience more than the improved combat enhances it, Icewind Dale is nevertheless a fantastic tactical RPG and one of the best combat-focused Infinity Engine games.

tl;dr: The closest comparison is obviously Black Isle's Baldur's Gate games. It uses the same AD&D 2E ruleset, the same Infinity Engine and is set in the same Forgotten Realms universe. The biggest difference is that, whereas the Bhaalspawn Saga focuses on story, companions and Forgotten Realms lore, Icewind Dale is a combat focused dungeon crawler built around a custom party. If you enjoyed the combat in Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II, and wanted to experiment with very different party builds with plot largely out the way, you'll probably have a great time with Icewind Dale. If you found Baldur's Gate's combat tedious and only put up with it for the story, this probably isn't the game for you. Player Context: I first played Icewind Dale in the mid 2000s, not long after Baldur's Gate II, which was my introduction to CRPGs. I remembered very little of the plot and wasn't even sure whether I'd finished it. This year I've been working through my backlog, and because I only had vague memories of the game and had never played the Heart of Winter expansion, it still felt fresh. The Enhanced Edition adds a few useful quality of life improvements, such as widescreen and modern resolutions support, the very useful quick loot bar, extra spells and additional classes and kits not in the original. There are also a few more questionable additions, such as the new voice sets and portraits. The portraits are fine, but don't really match the style of the original artwork. You'll probably end up using custom portraits anyway, so that isn't a big deal. If you're coming into this from later D&D games like Neverwinter Nights or Baldur's Gate III, the 2E rules are not going to be intuitive to you. Classes and kits are very restricted by race, with humans having the greatest variety; AD&D was afterall only one step removed from the original D&D, in which "Elf" and "Dwarf" were both classes as well as races, class/race restrictions were largely removed by 3E. With THAC0, all you need to remember is that lower Armour Class and lower THAC0 are better, while higher resistances are better. Your Full Plate Armour with Armour Class of 1 is going to suit your frontline fighter better than the Studded Leather with 7. For my first run I went with a gimmick party of five dwarves, four fighters and one fighter/cleric, plus a halfling thief. Basically Thorin's Company from The Hobbit. The party handled the early game with ease but started struggling in the middle of the game, and the party composition became repetitive. By the time I started Heart of Winter, I decided to start again with a more balanced diversed party. Heart of Winter and Trials of the Luremaster: By the time you reach Kuldahar at the end of Chapter One, you'll meet a barbarian shaman who starts the Heart of Winter expansion. You cannot begin it until your party reaches around level 9 or 10, and once you do, you cannot return to the main campaign until you've finished it. I recommend leaving Heart of Winter until after the main game, either by importing your party or starting a new one. Playing it in the middle and then returning back of the main Icewind Dale campaign makes the too much easier. If you do import your characters, remember to remove valuables from your Bag of Holding, Scroll Case, Potion Case and Ammo Belt first, as their contents do not carry over. Heart of Winter is enjoyable, with a good story, but it is very short. Its length was apprently a common complaint when it was released, and Black Isle later added Trials of the Luremaster as a free extra adventure inside it. I enjoyed the combat throughout Icewind Dale, but Trials of the Luremaster wore me down. It is about the same length as Heart of Winter, but is almost entirely combat with very little story. By this point, most fights are not difficult, there are just a lot of them. Like Heart of Winter, playing it before finishing the main game will leave the rest of the campaign too easy. As a side-note, Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition kept the original character record screens almost unchanged. Compared to Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, which redesigned them into a much cleaner layout with buttons taking you to skills/stats/abilities instead of one dump of text to scroll. Minor issue, but it made for comparing character stats and kills slightly troublesome. If I replay Icewind Dale in the future, I'll happily play Heart of Winter again. I doubt I'll bother with Trials of the Luremaster a second time. Technical Points and Bugs: The game is buggy, a side-quest could not be completed and a few times I encountered game-stopping bugs prevented me from progressing game without resorting to opening up the console to resolve this. A few times a character gets stuck behind a door, Ctrl-J to teleport them to a new location saved the game. I played on Linux, and experinced one crash-to-desktop attempting to drink multiple potions from a character's inventory rather than via quickitems belt. The Good: Combat is the main attraction here. If you enjoy building parties and experimenting with different class combinations, there's plenty to like. Creating your own six character party gives far more freedom than Baldur's Gate. Heart of Winter is a worthwhile expansion despite being short. The Bad: The story is serviceable but expansions messes with the pacing and difficulty curve, Heart of Winter is over too quickly. There are bugs, but enabling the console and learning a few commaands will save you. The Ugly: Trials of the Luremaster is almost entirely combat. If you're already feeling fatigued by the end of Icewind Dale, this pushes it even further into boredom. Some Tips >Keep a few weapons that deal elemental damage. Some enemies can only be killed by certain damage types (fire and acid). >Enable AI scripts for your thief so they're always searching for traps, and for your bard so they keep singing unless told otherwise. >Increase the mouse scroll speed to maximum. The default makes moving around the map painfully slow. >Turn on auto pause for Enemy Sighted and Trap Found.

For new players absolutely no! That was my first team rpg like and it ♥♥♥♥♥♥ me up pretty good. I chose a default 6 people team and they were dying instantly. I was combinating not drag em all to beat one guy while the rest shoot you to death with arrows right? In some way I was doing so but anyways they ♥♥♥♥♥♥ me up. Was playing on that original normal difficulty which says ,,with basic rules'' Sorry but no I cannot reccomend it to new players rn even to myself to try again on ez.

2026年 7月 5日記。今日たまたま以前途中までやって、そのままになっていたこのゲームを再開したところ、指定言語の中に日本語があったので、それを選んでやったところ、画面上に会話などが日本語で表示されたので、すっかり喜んで、ゲームの続きを（と云っても以前のファイルは消えてましたので、新しく）はじめ、ゴブリンをやっつけたところで、セーブをしたところ、画面の下に緑色で「セーブに成功しました」と出るんですが、実際にはセーブされておらず、終了しようとすると、もとへ戻ってもいいのかと警告が出ます。 察するところ、セーブとロードは英語でやった場合は有効で、ストアに「日本語はサポートされていません」と注意書きがあるように、自由にできないみたいですね。これじゃ、ゲームの進行時には日本語でやっておいて、セーブとロードをするときは英語に指定し直すわけですか？　こういう器用なことができれば、やってみますが。日本語化されていると喜んでいたんですが､ぬか喜びだったのかな。もうちょっと調べてみますが、これだと、過去に少しやりこんでいたファイルは、英語にすると出てくるのかな？　この状態では中途半端で、バルダーズゲートと並んで、古くても定評のあるゲームなのに、残念に思います。 その後、気になったので、英語でやってみたところ、同じく注意が出て、セーブできません。してみると、オートセーブみたいに一定のステージをクリアするとか、ある場所に来ないとセーブできなかったのかな。実を云うと、このゲームは、遙か昔パッケージ版で、クリアしたことがあるんですよ。結末は地味だった記憶があります。その後も懐かしさのあまり、Steam 版を購入したわけですが、すっかり忘れてしまってました。 そうだとしても、「セーブに成功しました」という表示は一体何でしょう。私としては、日本語でも、英語やその他の国語でも、いつ、どこの場面でも、自由にセーブやロードができるといいな、と思っています。長時間パソコンの前に坐っていられない身だもんで。有名なゲームを長生きさせてくれてる現在の会社さんの努力には敬意を払っていますが、更なるご検討をよろしくお願い申し上げます。 7月10日記。上記で指摘した点は、もしかして、6月24日に「バルダーズ・ゲート」と「Icewind Dale」にEE向けバージョン2.7アップデートしたと公表されていることと関連しているのではありませんか？　Steamさんとしても、この点をどうか精査して下さい。

This game came out in 2000, I believe. I was deep into it by 01-02, after completing Diablo, Fallout, and Baldur's Gate. This game is a favorite of mine and have played through it a dozen times or more since then. Most Black Isle Studios, and Interplay games were ahead of their times. Look at the precision of mechanics, gameplay agency, and extremely wonderful storytelling. This greatness starts at the beginning after creating all 6 characters (base agency), with the introductory video of the overall world you are about to enter, with a specific focus. You will find out, and remember, "He who fights monsters might take care lest he thereby he becomes a monster." A classic of all time! Just like Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gare 2, all the DLC for both of those. And Planescape Torment. Bioware was behind the Black Isle Studios development team, but because of their newness? was not getting immediate recognition, and was initially hidden in the data. Bioware is a company that was founded in 1995 by 3 newly graduated medical doctors that were working in medical units to support their passion---->Video games, lol. They are Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. Thank you guys!👍 This team continued to rollout Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights (although the team soon sold the rights to Atari), Jade Empire, The Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords, Mass Effect in 2007, then Dragon Age: Origins, and Mass Effect 2. By this time, in my mind and heart, this RPG developer ruled over all developers. Amazing consistency of quality. Also a premium experience, I really appreciate Larian Studios games for their current RPG's success and fun playing, as I do older developers that started me on my video game path. Like, Doom 1, 2, and Ultimate Doom. Developers Id Software, John Carmack and John Romero were solid on creating fun with FPSs. Soon moved on to RTS games with Myth: The Fallen Lords, Age of Empires, and several other RTS and Shooter games like, Unreal came out 1998, much fun, then another FPS's. I played all of the Quake games, including the multiplayer tournament one. These games quality may have been enhanced by the simplicity of newly discovered graphical interface programming, but the quality and solidity of the games of the times were without question super solid without many bugs. I do not know why to this day why quality overall, has faded. I'm not talking about graphics when I say this. If you find quasi good graphics, with an amazing story quality, easily understandable character choices and development, with simple and fun combat mechanics Late 1990s and early 2000s the developers were amazing in most categories. Take the time to play this game! What an existence for a few very smart men to create all this fun for us! I fully recommend this game to all who recognize this quality that has been lost over the years in development and publishing of many RPGs today. Buy it and play it!

If you like Baldurs gate type of game, then this is obviously perfect from the golden age of CRPG, but focus more on builds, combat and RPG part of the game, though the story is also quite compelling (I have finished this game several times back in the time and came back for achievements)

Just like any other tableslop rpg, except old and ♥♥♥♥♥♥ like my grandpa's ass

Junto a los Baldur's Gate y Fallout clásicos, mi otra saga de CRPGs favorita. Cierto es que el título de Black Isle está un peldaño por debajo de los clásicos de Bioware. O de su otra gran saga, pues los dos primeros Fallout fueron una maldita locura. Sin embargo, creo firmemente que es una de las recomendaciones más certeras que podría hacerle a cualquiera que guste del género y no le echen para atrás este tipo de juegos "más antiguos". Eso sí, creo importante aclarar que esto no es un Baldur's, pues la experiencia que propone es mucho más directa y guiada. Deja la libertad a la hora de explorar o la profundidad de su historia a un lado, centrándose casi exclusivamente en el combate. Pero VAYA COMBATE. De los más disfrutables de la época. Y si a eso le sumas una ambientación sublime, el mucho contenido que trae la remasterización de Beamdog (entre expansiones, Heart of Winter y Trials of the Luremaster, y añadidos propios del remaster, aunque varios de estos rompan un poco el equilibrio jugable... pero den mucha más libertad) o su principal seña de identidad, la creación desde cero del grupo de aventureros al completo, lo que te queda es una de esas joyas que todo buen amante de los RPG debería probar sí o sí.

Icewind Dale knows exactly what it wants to be. The varied dungeons, different environments, and huge number of encounters make it a great game for anyone who loves the Infinity Engine's combat system. There are some nice story elements that I appreciated more on a second playthrough, but it was clearly never the focus. I'd especially recommend it to anyone who's already finished the Baldur's Gate games and is looking for more of the tactical side of classic Dungeons & Dragons combat. If you're coming from Baldur's Gate, don't expect all of the same spell strategies to work, as quite a few mechanics have been rebalanced. Druids are much more useful, and thanks to the EE engine Sorcerers can be incredibly strong as powerful mage scrolls are limited and often not available as early as a Sorcerer can select the spell. As you get further into the game, surviving becomes less about wearing heavy armour and more about finding ways to avoid getting hit altogether or reducing the damage you take, so keep that in mind when building your party. One thing I really liked is how the Insane difficulty works in this game compared with the other infinity engine games. The extra enemies and bonus experience provide a different challenge compared to enemies simply hitting for double damage, and in some aspects it is easier than core rules as you'll be getting to higher levels faster. However, without a solid understanding of spell tactics and party composition, insane will be overwhelming in the early parts of the game and the major battles. The inclusion of the expansions are a bit clunky, and it's a shame that the Enhanced Edition doesn't automatically continue into Heart of Winter like it does for Siege of Dragonspear. Likewise, it seems odd that EE gives us classes and kits that the original game didn't have yet HLAs are excluded. In an ideal world we'd be able to select these sorts of things as options, thus preserving both the original as it was and spoiling us with everything the infinity engine offered.