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Icewind Dale

Icewind Dale

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Baldur's Gate in the arctic
Review: Icewind Dale uses the same engine from Baldurs Gate(not really a bad thing:) yet it seems to have a feel all its own. though a bit too linear in comparison to Baldurs Gate, its still great fun and excitement. i also like it because you dont get killed every five seconds like in Baldurs Gate. My only real complaint about this game is that there is a limit to the number of experience points you can get, and most classes can only go as high as around 15th, 16th, or 17th level. Other than that, it is an awesome game and a must-have for fans of fantasy rpgs.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Easy Click Easy Go
Review: Icewind Dale is not like Baldurs Gate, this difference are that Baldurs Gate has more freedom in it, both stories are a straight line story, and pretty easy to understand. Although you really have to know a bit about roleplaying, and not the 3rd edition but the old AD&D 2nd edition. If u were a fan of the old Roleplaying way you should diffinetly get this game, actually you should get this game if you are a Roleplaying fan.

The Game set in the world of Icewind Dale also better known as the home of Drizzt Do' Urden the famous Drow. written by R.A Salvatore. Although Drizzt is not in the story the game is amazing great Grafic and nice sound.

If you are a person of patience and person which love to explore this is something for you.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Better than Baldur's Gate but BG is still excellent.
Review: In IWD you can create your entire party, not just the leader. You can create however you want it. One thing I can't stand about most D&D players is thier constant insistance that one play a certain type of party. Not so says I! I play in terms of the most interesting party rather than the one that will be most powerful. Don't let others tell ya how to play. That's the fun of it. My Paladin leads, but in my next game a Ranger will lead(low chr and all) and there will be no Paladin. despite creating my whole party I like to have my alter-ego lead. Rangers and Paladins are my favorite characters. Paladins are better characters in BG but in IWD have no fighting advantages other than specilisation. Rangers get double attacks.(3 at level 7) I have one evil mage in my Paladin party just for some friction heh!(BG is better with friction) Reviewing Icewind Dale is pointless as it is odviously the best game I've ever played,

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Way better then BG
Review: Inoticed that alot of people who have problems with this game say that it is good compared to BG. However I had all the problems they complain of with BG. Considering that the Character choices (except for the one you start with) statuses were extremly bad. In Icewind Dale this is fixed in the beginning you select all your party. I don't know if this was done in BG2 (since I did not want to buy the sequel to a game I could not finish not understanding the plot) but it should of been done in BG1.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great hack and slash
Review: This is a game for people who love to dungeon crawl. It is linear, it is challenging, and it has nice visuals and excellent music. People may say it gets too hard, or that it doesn't have enough story or it is too linear, and other derogatory things like that. This game was obviously not meant for them. They are also missing the point. This game was made to be hard, straightforward, and have more combat than any other forgotten realms game. This is a game if you love to level up, battle creatures, and increase your ablitities. I personally loved this game. I love the endless dungeons, traps, and bosses. They were very impressive to me. 5 stars for what it is, 4 stars for what people were expecting.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The end??
Review: How friggin hard is the last battle? I just gave up on that scene - I'd love to know how anyone else did it. Apart from that, interesting (and addictive) game. You soon get bored with all the text, tho...

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Sorta o.k., but not worth the money
Review: .... It's ... frustrating, too the point that it isn't fun. I'm an avid gamer. It's fun to "role-play" low level characters. An orc or two can be a very scary thing. This doesn't translate well to a computer game that wipes out an entire party in ten seconds even with the "AI" scripts on. The visuals are cool, but I wish I would have plunked my money down for something else. This game does not deliver. Boring linear plot and hack-n-die. Buy some dice, a figure and paper for a real roleplaying game.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Linear and slow
Review: Dull very very dull and very linear. Not worthy of the Baldar's Gate games. The funny thing is that even after I knew this (about five min. into the game) I continued to play. Trust me it is not worth it and 2 stars is more then gererous.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beware.....
Review: "He[/she] who fights with monsters should see to it that he[/she] himself[/herself] does not become a monster... when you gaze long into the abyssm the abyss also gazes into you" ~Friedrich Nietzche

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Fun Game, But Frustrating at Times
Review: If you had asked me--when I was about halfway through Icewind Dale--whether or not I recommended this game, I would have given you a resounding, "No!" I would have told you that the game was battle intensive to the point of being absurd. I would have told you that Icewind Dale was more frustrating than fun. I would have told you to save your bucks and buy another game instead (or else reload your copy of Baldur's Gate on your PC). And although I don't think that Icewind Dale completely absolves itself of these concerns, I do have to admit that the second half of the game was pretty darned fun.

The problem I initially found was that the early levels (or chapters, as they're called in this game) were a bit too difficult given the levels of your characters. Don't misunderstand me. I don't want easy battles and cheap experience points. Nevertheless, I found the first three chapters a bit frustrating. I don't know how many times I experienced the monotonous "encounter big battle, die, reload, die, reload, die, reload." This is fine, occasionally, when you encounter a "boss" at the end of a chapter, but in Icewind Dale you'll encounter very difficult battles with every step your party takes. Many fine reviewers have mentioned how Icewind Dale was released to compete with Diablo II, and I cannot help but agree. Icewind Dale--unlike Baldur's Gate or Planescape: Torment (my personal fave)--is all about battle; you'll encounter hordes of baddies and basically kick their butts. The problem: it's difficult to balance AD&D rules with a monster count the size of Diablo. And if you ARE going to try and achieve this balance, well, then I think the battles your party encounters should be reasonable in regard to your party's experience.

Let me give an example in order to make my point concrete. There are some possible spoilers here, so if you haven't played the game you may want to skim past this. In both chapters 1 and 2, you'll encounter a plethora of enemies who can only be damaged with magic (magical weapons or spells). The problem is, this early in the game, your party members have found only a few magical weapons and they're not very powerful (oooh, a +1 dagger!!!). Likewise, your spellcasters don't wield very powerful spells yet (ooooh, Magic Missile). Yet Icewind Dale still hurls tons of such magic-resistant creatures at you. Super frustrating!!! (although reviewers brag about how this game will last 100 hours or so, about 75 of those hours are spent reloading saved games).

Yet sometime around chapter three your party will finally become powerful enough that the game will run a bit more smoothly. The game still isn't a breeze, though. You'll encounter difficult battles where the "die, reload, die, reload" factor comes into play. And, yes, this does ruin the role-playing aspect of the game (for instance, my party probably "rested" a lot more than it adventured because after every difficult battle I'd have to sleep and heal--even if I'd just slept five minutes prior!!! This, needless to say, kind of ruins the spirit of the game).

But lest I be accused of being too negative about Icewind Dale, let me comment briefly on what IS working well: 1) The voice acting and music are excellent, helping to create some serious atmosphere, 2) Although the story is fairly simple and straightforward, there are nevertheless some nice plot touches within the individual chapters, 3) Awesome number of magical items and spells (I remember not even dealing with melee combat in BG because it simply wasn't worthy to do so, but in Icewind Dale, believe me, those +4 swords, hammers, flails, etc., do some sweet damage), 4) nice battle changes over BG (now you can pause a battle and make changes in your inventory without that annoying "the game is no longer paused on this screen stuff," 5) great locales (elven stronghold, dwarven smithy, etc.), 6) lastly, once your characters become powerful enough this game becomes very addictive.

In short, this game is very, very close to being an excellent game. With a little more attention paid to balancing out the difficulty of battles, I think this could be a perfect game (for your information, I'm now playing Icewind Dale again, using my high-level party that completed the game, and I'm finding the adventure much more enjoyable). As it stands, however, I think it's best for each person to decide whether or not Icewind Dale is for him/her. Perhaps it will be useful for prospective customers to look at the recent Black Isle games on a spectrum with Planescape: Torment on one end (plot-intensive, battle de-emphasized), Icewind Dale on the complete opposite end (battle-intensive, basic-plot), and the original BG falling somewhere in between. My own preferences steer, I admit, towards Planescape and BG, but that doesn't mean that your preferences--dear reader--need mirror mine. If you're a fan of battles and wished that BG featured more intense skirmishes, well, you'll LOVE Icewind Dale. If, however, you appreciate plot and detail above fighting, you may want to pass this title by--or else wait until the price drops significantly. I hope this helps. Good Luck in your adventuring!!!


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