Icewind Dale (Mac)

Rating:
Summary: Pick a warm sporran for this delightful winter adventure ...
Review: (NOTE: I have played this title exclusively under Mac OS X 10.1.3, so any performance-related statements I make may not apply when running Icewind Dale under Mac OS 9.2 or lower.)

After finishing Baldur's Gate II, Shadows of Amn, life threatened to become pretty empty. Fortunately, Icewind Dale came along fairly soon, and it does not disappoint. However, in terms of interface and engine, Icewind Dale is a step above Baldur's Gate I and one below Baldur's Gate II. First of all, BG II's 800x600 resolution is not available in Icewind Dale, nor are all the slick options for hiding the interface partially or altogether, so in terms of the viewable area, it's back to what BG I provided (this makes sense, as Icewind Dale utilizes that game's engine). So if you come straight from BG II, you may experience a sense of claustrophobia for a little while, but you get used to it pretty soon. On the bright side, Icewind Dale does not suffer from some of the performance and design issues of BG I: saving and loading games is very smooth and fast, and while there certainly is no shortage of areas to explore, Icewind Dale does not feature wide expanses of terrain that has little to do with your quest. Character pathfinding is so-so, depending on how many nodes you set in the configuration utility, but at least your heroes will squeeze past one another and not get stuck in the many dungeons.

As far as gameplay is concerned, the first major difference between Icewind Dale and the Baldur's Gate series is that you do not just create your player character and meet your other party members as you travel. Instead, you 'handcraft' your entire group of up to six characters yourself (you can have a smaller party if you like--just remember that the number and strength of your opponents will not adjust accordingly). Allow some time for this--you can even choose to write your characters' biographies--and make sure to save at least one game with the newly created party, as this is the only way to save your characters. Of course, meticulously putting together just the right mix of heroes is a lot of fun. A possible downside is that the rather interesting element of meeting Non-Player-Characters and gathering them into your party along the way is absent from Icewind Dale. If it turns out that one of your characters doesn't do it for you as you play, you can delete her/him and create a new one. Any new character thus added will begin at level one, so you should probably make such decisions as early in the game as possible.

The storyline in Icewind Dale is fairly linear, but certainly not dull. The slew of 'side quests' that were such a prominent feature of the BG games are absent, and the focus of gameplay is distinctly on fighting your way to your objectives. To facilitate this, leveling up occurs quite quickly in this game, and connoisseurs of arcane weaponry will certainly find enough powerful items to keep them happy. Spellcasting characters develop an arsenal of impressive magicks fairly soon. But of course, as your quest progresses, the opponents you encounter will get tougher as well ... tactical use of a well-balanced party is the key to success.

Although Icewind Dale lets you see only a comparatively small part of the areas your party traverses at once, what you see is stunningly beautiful. Torches and braziers flicker in gloomy caves and temples, snow and greyish winter light dominate most outdoor areas, and spell effects are, if you excuse the pun, magical to behold. For example, the 'Entangle' spell causes countless vines emitting an eerie greenish glow to snake up out of the ground, seizing friend (careful) and foe alike; the 'Burning Hands' spell produces not only the expected impressive jet of flame, but fleeting apparitions of skulls shoot out of the blaze toward the target as well. And so on and so forth.

On the sound side, Icewind Dale is nothing to scoff at, either. The music is atmospheric and, naturally, picks up dramatically when battle is joined, but often it is only howling wind, sounds of wildlife, or the haunting echoes inside a tomb that set the mood. The voice acting is lovingly done, as well.

So there it is. If you are a already fan of the "Forgotten Realms" RPGs, Icewind Dale will make you feel right at home with a familiar interface. If you are not, the only drawback is that a detailed game manual is provided only in PDF format--although the slimmer, printed Quick Start manual will get you started nicely. And hey, if it save a few trees, right?

I would have given Icewind Dale five stars--it deserves them in every aspect except for the interface, which hides a little too much of the beautiful landscapes (yes, BG II spoiled me in this regard).

Rating:
Summary: Would have been good... if I hadn't already played BG & BG2
Review: Icewind Dale is a late, late comer to the Mac. If you absolutely need a novel BG/BG2 type fix, okay but as a game it takes a step back from BG2.

Rating:
Summary: A good game but with several flaws
Review: Icewind Dale is an rpg using the same tecnology as Baldur's Gate, the pc version was released several years ago, and now that this game has managed to make its way to the mac, it seems a little out dated. The graphics are a mix of BG1 & 2, using monsters, etc, from both, but the scenery and spell effects seem better than BG's. So graphics wise, this game is fine, though nothing spectacular. As far as sound, the music I think is very good, it gives you a good sense of what is taking place in the game. (Although some of the ambient sounds get VERY annoying.) Through out the course of the game, I got this feeling that I had done it all before, because I have played both BG 1 & 2 through several times, that took away from it I think. Lastly, the system requirements are not as stated on the box, believe me. My computer can play BG2 perfectly, which theoretically should be more demanding, but when I played Icewind Dale, it often got very laggy, especially when you are facing hordes of monsters, which you will do VERY often. So because of the low performance quality, and the relative age of the graphics, this game is fun, but not the greatest, and if you want a good rpg, choose BG2, which is excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Not so good
Review: My problem is I played this AFTER I played BG2. BG2 is much better in graphics quality, side quests etc. At first I thought it would be better to create your own party (IWD) as opposed to meeting up with people and asking them to join, (BG2) but the interactions you get with NPCs well make up for that. If you can only have one or the other go with BG2. If you want both, I suggest you play IWD first, then move on to BG2.

Rating:
Summary: Not so good
Review: Not nearly as sprawling as BG 2 which leaves less gameplay, barely any side quests. I, for one, consider that to be a fault, as RPG's should be a long journey, giving you maximum time to develop your characters.

That you can create your entire party is very cool. That there are zero NPC's who will join you is a bit [uncool]. Why can't we have it both ways?

The one big thing Icewind Dale has over BG 2, that running it on my iMac (9.2 and 128 RAM) was a lot smoother. Yes, the battles could get choppy, same as BG 2, but the area to area loading screens took a lot less time.

All in all, if you get through BG 2 and are starved for more, then get this.

Rating:
Summary: Not quite BG 2, but fun nonetheless
Review: Not nearly as sprawling as BG 2 which leaves less gameplay, barely any side quests. I, for one, consider that to be a fault, as RPG's should be a long journey, giving you maximum time to develop your characters.

That you can create your entire party is very cool. That there are zero NPC's who will join you is a bit [uncool]. Why can't we have it both ways?

The one big thing Icewind Dale has over BG 2, that running it on my iMac (9.2 and 128 RAM) was a lot smoother. Yes, the battles could get choppy, same as BG 2, but the area to area loading screens took a lot less time.

All in all, if you get through BG 2 and are starved for more, then get this.

Rating:
Summary: A very good RPG
Review: Now no offense to all you Baulders Gate 2 Freaks but i liked Icewind Dale better that baulders gate 2. In ID I like the plot better and the game requires less patience. I like the enemys in ID. The only really big downside is that you cant party up with NPCs you create your own party. At first i thought that was a great idea but when i played the game is really wasn't. i missed going into taverns and finding a guy to join my party. It gave you a sense of interaction with the game. Anyway if you like D&D games pick this one up. 4 stars.

Rating:
Summary: RPG at their best
Review: Several months since Icewind Dale showed up at my door step, I'm still hacking and slashing my way through it. I patiently followed Baldur's Gate and its uninspiring add-on 'Tales of the Sword Coast' to the amazing and complex 'Baldur's Gate II:Shadows of Amn', glad to see they're still converting games in this series to Mac. I was disappointed at first to make up a new party from scratch, since you can't import your character from Baldur's Gate, but the gameplay makes up for this flaw. Like most games in this series, it has a sharp learning curve at first, as many of your weaker characters aren't too many stabs from dying. Once you make it through an area or two, it gets better as your characters advance. Quests and areas move in a fairly straight line, unlike 'Shadows of Amn' that gave you an overwhelming number of quests to complete in nearly any order you wish. I did have occasional problems with it crashing in 9.2, but I save frequently, something you should do anyway. I hope they continue to port all the RPG's games in this series..especially when i finish this game in another month or so. Great game, especially if you like RPGs.