comparing this game to BG II

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Hi, I'm currently playing BGII right now, but when I'm done, I'm wondering if I should start Ice Wind Dale. I understand the story is no where as involved as BGII but I'm wondering what differences there are when compared with BGII? better graphics? same game engine right? how about battle? anything like this would be helpful. thanks

jim

 

Battles are pretty much the same. The big difference is in party make up. You create all the characters, there are no NPCs. The banter is different due to this. Graphics are pretty much the same but there is a roughness in the art in IWD. Its a good game, the story line id much more linear.
It does use the same engine.

 

Spells are different.
You have less mage cheese in IwD than in BG2.

The difficulty in IwD is far better balanced, you even have a chance to beat the game without spoilers, reloading or using cheese if you create a strong party.

In IwD you are the heroes who save the world while you are driven by a pseudo-religious horror story in BG2.

 

We really should make one of these threads a sticky or something.

 

@kmonster, i'm just taking a wild guess, but it seems you prefer IWD to BG? btw, what do you mean be "less mage cheese"?

thanks

 

IWD gives you a feeling of being more on your own than BG2. I mean, while in BG2 you're this big-shot spawn of a god with powerful NPC's flocking to you or looking after you (Elminster checking up on you from time to time anyone?), in IWD you simply control a party of random, 1st level adventurers who happen to get pulled into a struggle of epic porportions. You embark on this mission with a seasoned but not epic adventurer (Hroathgar) and then your party members are the sole survivors upon reaching Kuldahar. From there, your party must face all kinds of deep, sinister evil in the cold, forgotten ruins of the north, with only the small hamlet of Kuldahar to fall back on. Not only this, but it becomes pretty clear that your party is the only hope to save the world, and everyone else who is good is pretty much in the dark about whats going on or what to do. Its...just...so...cool...so lonely and surreal in a way, which is just what good fantasy should be. Banter between characters (like BG2) would be nice though...

 

@uglijimus: Yes, I like IwD more. About cheese:

In BG2 mages are far too powerful.
Mirror image and stoneskin makes mages already nearly invulnerable, but there are even more cheesy mage spells which are not in IwD:

timestop + shapeshift mf, wish, projected image, protection from normal/magical weapons, spell triggers, spell sequencers, mislead, horrid wilting that doesn't affect the party ...

Just imagine a mage duelling a fighter (or a monster without special abilities) without even using offensive spells.

The fighter has to hit 18 times to eliminate stoneskin and MI first before he can hurt the mage. Then the first spell trigger kicks in with mislead, stoneskin and mirror image, so the fighter has to hit more than 20 times again, then the next spell trigger kicks in ...

During this time the mage can of course refresh stoneskin and mirror image, use his spell sequencers for protection spells, cast protection from normal or magical weapon spells to get invincible, cast wish to refresh his spells, ...

Finally the fighter will die of fatigue.

Your mage can still become your most powerful party member in IwD, but the classes are not that unbalanced.

 

that is great kmonster!

 

I agree, the classes are better balanced. A decent mage in BG hurls fireballs as if it were his/her second nature.

But then, the opposite side tends to have mages, too, either to dispel your protections or to kill your fighters.

 

Another difference is:

In IwD you won't find many mage scrolls.
For many spells there is only one mage scroll available in the whole game.
You also won't get the scrolls that easily.
It might happen that your mage reaches a spell level before you have scribed a spell of that level.

 

earlier such thread

This one had alot of good comments, just wanted to link it so you could read it.

 

thanks for all the info guys, I really got a better understanding of the game because of the informative posts. I'm gonna go with it and try it. thanks again

jim

 

I think IWD and BG2 are all different, and I simply love BOTH.

BG2-Epic story, excellent plot, cool NPCs, living worlds, start as semi-decent adventurers to rise in power to godhood! The gap in power is incredible! Compare a starting mageling to a level 40 arch-mage with BEST stuff. HLAs are way cool. Encounters are very varying too. From lowly goblinoids to Dragons, Liches and practically Demi-Gods! Isn't this cool or what?

IWD-Snowy and 'cool' atmosphere is incredible. You write your own story with your party. The legendary places you visit are, simply put, awesome and worth remembering. Kuldahar, Severed Hand, Dorn's Deep, icy caves, snowy wastes, all too brilliant! Start as a newbie adventurer, from scratch, and rise up to level 30! Random treasures. Insane difficuly gives more XP! HoF mod totally rocks or so I heard. Haven'T tried though. Two expansions, hardest places and battles ever assembled! Cool!

 

Both games are cheap and easy enough to obtain, so just play both and be happy us CRPGers have two damn good games. Both are better than 90% of the other CRPGs of the last 15 years.

 

Positives: To me, IWD is more of the classic D&D game, as virtually the entire game is a dungeon crawl. And I mean that in a good way. IWD is much more linear than BG1 or 2. I remember the first time I played BG1, I headed north after going to the FAI, and my four-person party consisting of all level 1 characters were slaughtered by a single ankheg. You don't get that in IWD, because of the linearity of the game. You really can't get to super difficult areas of the game without going through easier areas first, so generally speaking your characters are of appropriate level in relation to the creatures you are facing. Also the music in IWD rocks. Finally, I like that there's a second level cleric spell cure medium wounds. You only need so many slow poisons and DUHMs.

Negatives: I have to echo what kmonster said. Not only are mage scrolls far more rare than in BG1 or BG2, they are also extremely expensive to purchase. Whereas in BG1 you can purchase a level 1 magic missile scroll for like 60gp, that spell will cost you something like 900gp in IWD. Granted, once you get into the game money becomes much less of an issue, but having a low level mage is extremely frustrating when you're 3rd level and your mage "book" consists of 4 spells. Finally, I found it somewhat frustrating that to complete certain quests you have to click on a small switch or something in a really big room, and it isn't always obvious where said switch is. I needed the walkthrough in certain points not because I couldn't figure out how to win a battle, but because I was completely stuck as to how to advance the storyline. Maybe that's just me though.

 

^Cough, pardon me but I NEVER bought a magic missile scroll for 900 gp in IWD. What was your main character's CHA score?

 

I had a paladin in the leader position, so it had to be at least 17.

 

If you have HoW you can buy more spells.
Maybe even the scroll costs are changed.
Most level1 spells cost only about 100 GP.
If you have a bard you can easily get 20 cha and the cheapest prices with just one friends spell.