Icewind Dale 1 & 2

Loretta · #1 07-01-2010, 01:21 PM

I loved NWN2, playing through that with friends is simply awesome - But if you are going solo I would also suggest Dragon Age: Origins, if your looking to go for a more new-school single player RPG experience. Its similar to NWN2 due to same company developer, but they made some improvements to the combat system which I enjoyed - I liked both games a lot, but NWN2 is probably superior due to its multiplayer / DM capabilities and some of the things like owning your own keep which was fun [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.].

Cars · #2 07-01-2010, 05:01 PM

BG1 is the very first computer RPG I have ever played and to be honest i was so young I didnt get it. After I let it sit on my shelves and get dusty for a few years I picked it up and had one of the most amazing roleplaying experiences of my life. BG1 and BG2 definitely deserve to be in the top list of RPG's ever made and anyone saying different is crazy. The ID games seriously do not even come close to touching what the BG series did and thats the same as any game that was made by a company that leached off of bioware. BG1 and 2 were awesome but interplay tried to recreate it with icewind dale and failed. Bioware makes KOTR and obsidion (the company that came from the interplay split) makes KOTR 2 and it sucks a donkey dick. Then neverwinter nights comes out and kills it, Obsidion makes NWN2 and all the work was already done for them, they just replaced the engine, added a handful of placeables and focused on a story. NWN2 did have a good story but thats because all the leg work was done in NWN which is for sure the better game. anyways thats all for my rant. Play BG1,BG2, KOTR, Jade Empire, and never winter knights and you will be playing quality games from a quality company.

Daywolf · #3 07-01-2010, 08:06 PM

Yeah I recall the poor reviews for ID, I mean at least lesser the game compared to BG. So I never played it since I already had major time sink with EQ and UO subs at the time. ID was released I think shortly after Kunark which was the best EQ expansion. Most RPG’s are boring though, not many good releases over the years imo, compared to mmo’s. Sadly, mmo’s are becoming more like RPG’s now… and all it’s stagnate forms.

So yeah, probably best three of the RPG’s I’ve played past 10 years have been Elder Scrolls, NWN and BG, at least the best of them. And countering what someone else said, NWN2 was better than the first. But if you like busting boxes... lol NWN1 is the way to go.

stormlord · #4 07-01-2010, 08:45 PM

IWD review scores are very high, up there with the other black isle games (bg, bgII, torment, etc). The developers said BG was 50/50 story/fighting, torment was 75/50 story/fighting, and IWD was 75/50 fighting/story. Personally, I kind of like the combat aspects. I've always considered myself an RPGamer, but diablo-like gameplay has its special place in me. It reminds me of rogue-likes. Stories are fun, but they're hard for me to get into early on. That's why I'm having so much trouble with Torment.

Right now I'm in the mortuary. I know that this would be a horrible time to stop playing. I've read several reviews on Torment so I know better, but it's still hard to get myself into it. It has a lot of philosophy and quests so far, but since I know so little about the world I'm in, a lot of it passes right by me. To be honest, I wish I could crank up the combat difficulty more (it's max). I'd probably regret it later (i've read it gets harder in the second half of the game). I think it's just habit. I'm doing a lot more talking in this game.

And... the world in torment is not what I'm used to. It's not dwarves and elves and castles. That should be a good thing because it's original, but that means I have to start from scratch to familiarize. Lol.

BG2 has crossed my mind. That looks very interesting to me as well. 50/50 story/fighting is ok to me.

Crover_CT99 · #5 07-02-2010, 02:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stormlord [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

IWD review scores are very high, up there with the other black isle games (bg, bgII, torment, etc). The developers said BG was 50/50 story/fighting, torment was 75/50 story/fighting, and IWD was 75/50 fighting/story. Personally, I kind of like the combat aspects. I've always considered myself an RPGamer, but diablo-like gameplay has its special place in me. It reminds me of rogue-likes. Stories are fun, but they're hard for me to get into early on. That's why I'm having so much trouble with Torment.

That analogy pretty well sums it up.

I've played the Icewind Dale games over the years more than the Baldur's Gate series, but that's just because BG2 is such a huge time investment. You can knock out IWD games pretty quick, just don't expect very rewarding stories/twists.