Icewind Dale Complete - Released on GoG

[skavenhorde]

GoG has released another classic. This time it's Icewind Dale. The game comes with it's two expansion packs-Heart of Winter and Trials of the Luremaster, 2 manuals, 4 HD wallpapers, 2 soundtracks, 10 avatars, 24 artworks, a map and a screensaver. Icewind Dale Complete is $9.99 and a 1.5gb download. You can get it, here. (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/icewind_dale_complete/pp/f6e1126cedebf23e1463aee73f9df08783640400)
More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=15901)

[Nathanyl]

Great! Never finished this one and lost the discs.

[Maylander]

Already have the whole collection (including IWD2), and played through it not too long ago. Probably won't buy it on GOG.com for a while, but I might just do it the next time I feel like having a go at it (it's a lot easier to buy/download something from GOG than digging through the ol'pile of CD/DVDs).

[JDR13]

I love the IWD games, even if the plot was a bit cliche. The visuals were fantastic from an artistic standpoint, and the music was epic..

[blatantninja]

I absolutely loved IWD (maybe even a bit more than BG at times), but the ending really annoyed me:

There was absolutely zero resolution. You literally killed the bad guy and the credits rolled.

[woges]

The screens look really nice what res does this one go up to?

[Maylander]

That's true. I like the "and this happened" screens a bunch of games use - Arcanum, BG2, NWN1/2 and so on.

[azarhal]

The screens look really nice what res does this one go up to?

Use the Infinity widescreen mod (http://www.gibberlings3.net/widescreen/). No more problem. ;)

[Davion]

Heh, looks like someone cheated with his stats.

[woges]

Use the Infinity widescreen mod (http://www.gibberlings3.net/widescreen/). No more problem. ;)

Yeah thanks, I googled that up straight after typing that knowing I'd look foolish :-/.

Now that I actually have a wide-screen monitor, after many poverty years of CRT gaming, I shall look into implementing that mod. I take it that's what the screen-shots are using because I don't remember IWD ever looking like that.

[woges]

Heh, looks like someone cheated with his stats.

Yet still managed to pick 18/99 and not /00 for str.

[BillSeurer]

The IWD games weren't supposed to have much plot other than "get me to the next battle". They were supposedly meant to complete better with Diablo. They really had to twist things in order to keep the levels coming later in the games, though. I remember doing some quest in IWD that got a couple back together and I got a significant chunk of all the experience I had earned up to that point in the game. I was all "WTF?" at the time.

Supposedly the ending of IWD2 is an impossible battle. I know I played them all but I don't remember that. Maybe it was so frustrating that I purged it from my memory.

[BillSeurer]

Look at the hit points, too. That "all 18s" guy with 1004 HP is the wimp of the group. It looks like the 4th one down has 8000.

[Maylander]

I assume the one who cheated before taking the screenshots thought 18/99 was higher than 18/00, because he/she didn't realize 00 actually means 100.

[Thrasher]

Yep, the art direction is superb in these games. I loved all the combat and character building aspects. Getting to design your whole party is a big plus, too.

[wolfing]

I couldn't get into the game (IWD1)... too combat-centric. No inter-character chat, no towns to visit, nothing, just go, combat, combat, combat.

[EvilKoala]

I couldn't get into the game (IWD1)… too combat-centric. No inter-character chat, no towns to visit, nothing, just go, combat, combat, combat.

Normally that would bother me too, but combat in the IWD games (and BG games for that matter) is just so superlative that, for once, it didn't matter to me. Perhaps the games are little too long for the "all-combat" format, but since all content is of high quality it's not much of a problem.

[Thrasher]

It's not like a Diablo click fest, or a Mass Effect FPS interactive movie. You have to really like deep tactical turn- and party-based combat that can be simulated with RTwP. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it.

[getter77]

Certainly an eventual purchase at some point for me. My complete collection of IWD and IWD2 can just continue sleeping peacefully on the shelf....never did find the time to sample them as many years late to the party as I was.

I will laugh if it turns out that nearly everything for the rest of the year to come on GoG winds up on my wishlist page....laugh and then at some point have that much lighter a wallet...

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I couldn't get into the game (IWD1)… too combat-centric. No inter-character chat, no towns to visit, nothing, just go, combat, combat, combat.

I had a similar experience, and so I call IWD a "flawed gem" or a "gem with missed possibilities/chances".

Because the bathmosphere, the mood was really, really excellent for me - if the game had been filled with social interaction, then it would have been a masterpiece, imho ! :)

But as it is now - a flawed gem. For me.

[blatantninja]

Supposedly the ending of IWD2 is an impossible battle. I know I played them all but I don't remember that. Maybe it was so frustrating that I purged it from my memory.

I didn't find it impossible, but it wasn't easy. Actually, there is a battle just before the final battle that I found damn near impossible. I'm pretty sure I used DaleKeeper2 to change some stats and let me beat it (I suck as a tactician in games so I probably had a harder time than most at it).

All in all, I didn't care for IWD2 outside of the IE nostalgia factor. I don't like 3rd Edition rules, and the storyline in it was really difficult to get into/follow IMO. I remember the first time I tried playing through, I got to a monestary and realized I had absolutely no clue what the main quest was about. It seemed they'd have a boss, then you killed him/her, then you found out "No, that's not the real boss, there's another one!" about 5 times. Felt like Super Mario Brothers where you get to the end of the level and you get the "Thank you Mario, but our princess is in another castle!"

I do think that the joinable party mod for IWD2 is a must have to make the game better.

[blatantninja]

Yep, the art direction is superb in these games. I loved all the combat and character building aspects. Getting to design your whole party is a big plus, too.

I thought the art in IWD was great, but that it was lacking in IWD2. It just seemed like a lot of the colors and such were done very poorly.

[BillSeurer]

People who really liked BG and BG2 for the story and characters could be badly disappointed by IWD (1 & 2). IWD is BG with most of the RP parts stripped off. So it doesn't surprise me that some of you couldn't get into it.

[Thrasher]

I don't remember the final battles of IWD 2 being frustrating, but it was a long time ago,

[Zaleukos]

Neither do I. I had much more problems with the Holy Avenger battle and the Guardian of Chult. On the whole I found IWD2 easier than BG2 in terms of battles. It also had some bugs that made certain enemies much easier (charmed party members wont fight but rather just stand around doing nothing).

IIRC the final battle is set up as two or more consecutive battles with no resting in between, maybe that could be a factor?

Cant really vouch for IWD1s difficulty as I played it at the highest difficulty level and admittedly died a lot, but it was fun to plan battles meticulously while teaming up with my gf.:D

People who really liked BG and BG2 for the story and characters could be badly disappointed by IWD (1 & 2). IWD is BG with most of the RP parts stripped off. So it doesn't surprise me that some of you couldn't get into it.

That is definitely a factor (just like some players diss TES:D), we are looking for something the games just dont have.

I think they resemble the old Golbox games (minus the open map) in the level of roleplaying, but they are far from more modern RPGs. The goldboxes were incidentally also a tactical battle engine with a fantasy setting tacked on:p

[Cthulhufan]

Wow, excellent, another great title from GOG.

I never got to play this one but always wanted to and now I can.

They netted 15.99 USD from me today between this and Septerra Core. I have Septerra's original box/disc/manual but could never get it to work right in Win7 due to QuickTime nonsense and lack of motivation to spend free time fixing it.

Anyway, looking forward to playing IWD finally. Combat centric plus based on the lunatic 2nd edition ruleset? Always sounded fun :)

PR stunt aside, I can see both sides of the story there, I'm glad these folks are doing what they are doing and they earned my cash today for offering IWD plus a bonus since I wanted Septerra Core also.

[Cthulhufan]

…
I think they resemble the old Golbox games (minus the open map) in the level of roleplaying, but they are far from more modern RPGs. The goldboxes were incidentally also a tactical battle engine with a fantasy setting tacked on:p
Yep, just like SSI's Wrath of Nikademus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantasie#Phantasie_III:_Wrath_of_Nikademus), one of my all time favorites and Questron and Ultima and and and ;-)

[RivianWitch]

OMG, I completely forgot I still have Septerra Core sitting unplayed on my shelf. With all these cool titles from GOG popping up like this, and Arcania, and still having to play/try out Venetica, the coming Xmas holidays are going to be a buzzzy buzzy time indeed! :biggrin:

[skavenhorde]

Septerra Core isn't that good. It's battle after battle with no end in sight. If they just toned down the amount of enemies you fight it would have been a fun little jrpg style game.

The story wasn't that bad at all. A heck of a lot better than anything Final Fantasy has come up with in a long time. It's still strange, but a good kind of strange that I can actually understand :)

[RivianWitch]

Hmm, yes, the game was recommended to me based upon the apparently good story. I'm a bit discouraged to hear about the endless battles- it will be one of those games then, that I'll play a bit of every day, perhaps, and alternate with other games - just to rest a bit inbetween… :P
(If I ever get to it inbetween all the new games that are winking!) :excited: