Icewind Dale Complete - Released on GoG

BillSeurer said:

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.

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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.

Thrasher said:

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.

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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.

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.

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

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.

BillSeurer said:

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.

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That is definitely a factor (just like some players diss TES), 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

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.

Zaleukos said:

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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

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Yep, just like SSI's Wrath of Nikademus, one of my all time favorites and Questron and Ultima and and and ;-)

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!

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

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…
(If I ever get to it inbetween all the new games that are winking!)