Why should I play IWD?

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So olimikrig have you started it yet? I can't add anything to the above posts but you really should play this game. It's great. Oh, I will add that I liked that my adventurers were just your everyday garden variety adventurers, no god spawns. Whatever they achieved they did it on their own steam.

 

A little late to the party, but since I'm making another run-through I like popping into forums to read people's thoughts/discoveries on strategy and tactics and just share in the overall appreciation of the game.

Silverstar is right on with his first post...

To me, where this game truly shines is in allowing the player to use his/her imagination in role-playing his or her party however they choose. By creating a party of all my own characters with histories as deep as I want to make them, my personal investment is so much greater than it is with my BG parties. Hand in hand with that is truly letting yourself become emersed in the setting, which carries a sense of history and grandeur that many games can't match. Basically, the BG setting has ready-made characters and party-based conflict for a player to just jump in and feel like he is part of something bigger, while getting the same feeling in ID requires you to use your imagination a bit.

The other aspect of ID is that it really teaches you how to play the Infinity Engine games. Because it's a true dungeon crawl in the spirit of traditional Dungeons and Dragons gameplay, and because it's well-balanced in terms of difficulty, you encounter many diverse combat situations where you have to think and streamline your combat tactics. Spell selection, identifying how you can use particular terrain elements to your advantage before you engage in a battle, party formations, advanced scouting, etc. are all skills that are improved greatly in ID. It's not that being good at the ID and BG games is a particularly useful skill in the big scheme of things, but it raises enjoyment by letting you diversify and experiment in the future without getting creamed (also a reason why playing solo games to truly learn to use certain classes is a great idea IMO).

Finally, if you play the ID, BG, or NWN games often, I recommend getting your hands on a copy of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book. Not only does it increase enjoyment of the games by helping you place characters, events, and places in the games in the bigger scheme of things, but it also allows you to imagine your own characters in greater depth. If you like to read, checking out the various novels can enhance the experience as well...the Icewind Dale Trilogy by Salvatore is perfect for the ID games, and for the BG series the Moonshaes Trilogy deals a bit with Bhaal (particularly the third book), and the Avatar Series describes the events leading up to, and following Bhaal's death and Cyric's rise to power as the new Lord of Murder (God of Tyranny and the Dead as well).

 

Few days back I bought IWD2, I started to play the game about a week and a half back and as I went through the game, I restarted because I didn't like the party, so, this is my third try. I reached some bridge that I have to take care of, then I felt that I had to start all over again with a new party.
So I found that the store where I bought the game, replaced the empty space with IWD; my question is if what happens in IWD2 has something to do with IWD, so if that's the case, I'll buy IWD to play it first.

 

IWD2 takes place after some time of IWD, IIRC 30 or more years later.

There IS a connection ofcourse, some places are revisited in IWD2, but with different obstacles ofcourse.

Other than that, the story does have a very little connection, but it is good to see old NPCs from IWD back in IWD2. The kid NPCs in IWD have grown up to be defenders of Kuldahar in IWD2, that is cool!

There is also a slight connection with IWD main enemy and IWD2 main enemy(ies) but it is nothing too important, I played IWD2 first, and still enjoyed the story. But, for truly epic feel I reccomend you play IWD first!

 

There are many places you'll visit both in IWD and IWD2, and you meet some IWD NPCs reappear in IWD2 a few decades older or are spoken of.

Revealing what happened to those guys when they were younger is as pleasing as seeing those guys when they are older.

So the story shouldn't influence your playing order.

IWD and IWD2 have totally different rules so I recommend to play IWD2 first unless you are an expert with 2E rules. Switching from 3E to 2E and back again can be really confusing.

 

I liked the fact that you don't have a clue who the enemy is until really late in the game. Plus there seems to be two different bad guys who are at odds with each other. Not till you find a journal in dragons eye do you learn any names of potential major enemies. I also prefer to create my own party rather than use NPCs.

 

It's funny... I think IWD really bites compared to BG. There are so many things I miss: the continuous terrain (though that's gone in BG2, as well), the masterful plot and characterization, the sense of being part of a larger and believable world of people, the sprawling network of side quests.

And yet... I find myself playing IWD all the time. I usually lose interest about the bottom of Dragon Mountain (or whatever it's called), but it's hard to resist that classic dungeon-crawl premise that is so much like the pen and paper days. "You wanna role play and have backstories and stuff, join the drama club!"

What I really can't understand is why IWD has been so ignored by modders. All those shortcomings can be viewed as the benefits of a blank canvas, if you take an optimistic view!

[ January 30, 2007, 04:46: Message edited by: Otis ]

 

IWD's replayability is better than the BG series. Part of that is the random loot, but part of it is the lack of dialogue. Anyone who's played through the BG series more than once has got to get tired of hearing all the same dialogue over and over. Admit it, on your 3rd or 4th time through BG you're just clicking rapidly through the dialogue and paying it no mind. So who cares that it has richer dialogue and a deeper plot?

 

well i don't know what about the the poster of this thread, but all those posts of you guys really made me wanna return to IWD. I only have the original version, and too, like the thread poster got bored at some point in the game (if i remember correctly it was after helping the weird mage fix this machine so he could use the crystal ball or something).
im actually installing it back now (luckily i saved the game files)

 

IWD is a valuable part of my RPG collection!

The scenery is amazing and so atmospheric, better than many modern RPGs in my opinion. Kuldahar, Kresselack's Tomb and Severed Hand are unforgettable and yeah there isn't much dialog and plot compared to most other RPGs, but for some reason exploring these places and surviving them is more memorable than many of the dungeons in other games.

I played BG first and seriosly, when I got to Kresselack's tomb I was laughing with joy at how different they were, in the first BG dungeon you might get to fight 3 Kobolds at a time... but in the first IWD dungeon you are hacking your way through a HORDE of Undead! I remember thinking, wow, this party would slaughter those punks who were struggling with 3 Kobolds back in the day.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not saying BG is worse than IWD!!! They are just different and I think I enjoy both of them more after having played the two of them.