Icewind Dale: EE - Heart of Winter

HiddenX

The Elder Spy
Staff Member
Original Sin Donor
Original Sin 2 Donor
Joined
October 18, 2006
Messages
19,818
Location
Germany
Ye Old Entertainment looks back at the expansion pack Icewind Dale: EE - Heart of Winter:

Icewind Dale review: Will Heart of Winter change your heart about Black Isle's icy D&D rpg?



Welcome to our Review video on Icewind Dale, Heart of Winter, an expansion pack included in Beamdog's Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition, along with its own expansion pack: Trials of the Luremaster.

For many, Icewind Dale is the best Dungeons and Dragons RPG of all time, for some others, is not up to par with the Baldur's Gate series. But if you are on the fence about getting Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition as one of the games you should be playing in preparation for Baldur's Gate 3... Will Heart of Winter make any difference?
More information.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
19,818
Location
Germany
I tried to like the Icewind Dale games but they could never compare to their counterparts Baldurs Gate 1&2. I get it they went for different experience in the Icewind Dale games.

Icewind Dale is combat focused while Baldurs gate is much more story focused.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,185
Location
Spudlandia
I like them both, roughly about equally I'd say. Having read Salvatore's books over thirty years ago now has given me a love for the entire Dale region that equals or surpasses my interest in some other areas. There's something to be said for when you're journeying through an area and you already have such a keen mental image of the surroundings, as well as some of the people that inhabit the area. Any game that can pull that off is on solid footing.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,799
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
I rank Icewind Dale 1 & its expansion as one of the best party RPGs ever made. But not played it in years - and no interest in Beamdog. The sequel, ID2, suffered from Interplayitus in its rushed production schedule and recycling of assets; the transition to 3.5e was exemplary however.
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
5,979
Location
Florida, USA
I loved Icewind Dale. The sheer amount of combat got a bit much, but the atmosphere was fantastic, and I really enjoyed exploring. Great soundtrack - just the sound of it makes me want set off into the snowy mountains, in search of magical things.
 
Joined
Nov 8, 2014
Messages
12,085
I like the series a lot. Not more than BG but more than PS:T.

And yeah, Jeremy Soule's music tracks are fantastic. Inon Zur's work on IWD II was really good too.
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
39,138
Location
Florida, US
I never tried the first, but I started Icewind Dale 2 several times. It's weird....I didn't dislike it or anything, but it never really grabbed me, and I only made it maybe a third of the way through. I didn't find it as combat centric and devoid of anything else as some make it sound, but I did miss having party members with personalities and the banters and such that come with that. There was/is a mod that add such banters and I did use that for one of my playthrough attempts. It was on Gibberlings Three, Pocket Plane or Spellhold Studios, I don't remember which.
 
Joined
Aug 31, 2013
Messages
4,881
Location
Portland, OR
I always loved the atmosphere in the Icewind Dale games (having read Salvatore's books helped). They might not be as questy as BG, but are still great games.
 
Joined
Feb 21, 2015
Messages
2,164
Location
BW, Germany
Joined
Nov 8, 2014
Messages
12,085
I prefer the stories from Icewind Dale to the Baldur's Gate ones and have replayed Icewind Dale 1 and 2 more often than BG 1 and 2.
 
Joined
Dec 26, 2007
Messages
1,786
I liked it enough to play twice but not like BG which I played over and over. It had too much combat for my taste.
 
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
3,960
Location
NH
I liked it enough to play twice but not like BG which I played over and over. It had too much combat for my taste.
Interesting. Normally I also don't like much combat in games. For me fighting is like salt in the soup. When there is too much combat, it is like an oversalted soup.

But I mostly have that problem in games with twitchy real time combat. In games, where you can either play turn based or you have enough auto-pause options (like in the infinity engine or Drakensang, for example), that is nearly like turn-based, I don't have a problem with much fighting. In this situation you can play the fights like chess by considering every single move. That is often even fun to do.

In Icewind Dale I even liked the final boss fights (which is very rare for me) because you could win them with very careful choice of moves.
 
Joined
Dec 26, 2007
Messages
1,786
Fantastic idea, on paper. Unfortunately after I began the game it was soo cheesy and insufferable - not the hardcore "Warhammer 40K Necron vs. Tyranid Massacre" that I prefer.. So I was unable to continue playing Heart of Winter after about the first hour… :(
 
Joined
Mar 21, 2013
Messages
3,453
I loved it the first time I played it, when it was released. Since BG had very little party banter, it didn't feel like there was a huge loss going from joinable NPCs to full party created. However, after playing BG2, with its much better overall story and the joinable NPC interaction, I had trouble getting back into IWD when I went for a replay.

A few years later I gave it another go with the NPC mod and it really made it a lot more enjoyable. Per the link on that mod, apparently with either the EE or the IWD in BG2 mod, the few hiccups are gone too. May have to give it a try once I'm done with my current BG run through.
 
Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Messages
4,353
Location
Austin, TX
Interesting. Normally I also don't like much combat in games. For me fighting is like salt in the soup. When there is too much combat, it is like an oversalted soup.

But I mostly have that problem in games with twitchy real time combat. In games, where you can either play turn based or you have enough auto-pause options (like in the infinity engine or Drakensang, for example), that is nearly like turn-based, I don't have a problem with much fighting. In this situation you can play the fights like chess by considering every single move. That is often even fun to do.

In Icewind Dale I even liked the final boss fights (which is very rare for me) because you could win them with very careful choice of moves.

That makes sense to me. I think in this case my feeling on combat can't be taken generically as about combat but only makes sense with my own idiosyncrasies in personality.

That being said I am not really big on any combat - twitch, FPS, dark soul style, TB, RTwP, etc., doesn't matter. I do have preferences in combat with RTwP being my favorite followed by games that allow you to play third/first person on the fly. While not a fan of TB there is combat I dislike a lot more as I can play a TB game and enjoy it but not twitch or shooter style games.

The only game I ever really enjoyed the combat a lot is FO4. Doesn't make sense I know but there is that personality thing coming into play. It clicked with me. Yet Skyrim I did not like the combat much except stealth style.

My main issue with TB isn't exactly TB combat itself but in the time commitment. I don't have the time I used to and I don't enjoy combat like others do. Combine those two and TB is a time sink. I remember some battles taking up to 30 minutes to an hour in some cases. That is fine for a big boss fight but not every battle.

Just me though. I don't enjoy the combat enough to want to spend the time on battles over and over, like multiple chess games.

IWD was like these big long battles over and over with not as much other content (IMOC) to help break it up for me. I still remember going up this long winter trail at some point in the game and was never ending. One blockade after another, one endless battle after another. I did enjoy the game as I said but got burnt out on the combat.

Anyhow this wasn't meant to criticize IWD or any specific combat style. Just an explanation of how I view combat. Also explains a bit why I prefer BG3 over Solasta even though both are TB and good games. I simply feel Solasta is more about the combat and a bit less about the other stuff. All my own opinion of course.
 
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
3,960
Location
NH
Loved the game.
I feel like I carted a LOT of arrows around...
 
Joined
Aug 13, 2013
Messages
2,871
Personally I'm holding out for the ToEE total conversion. I never could get into Heart of Winter, just because it seemed more of the same.
 
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
5,521
Location
Seattle
Back
Top Bottom