Icewind Dale The Icewind Dale Series Thread

[AwesomeButton]

Is this really a concern, though? Genuine question, seeing as the EE has an extensive zoom range and there's no performance factor to consider, what would be the benefit in setting the resolution manually?

It's not, as long as the resolution choice is correct.

I'm currently playing IWD2 at 1360x768 because I consider that to be the best compromise between how large characters are and how readable the interface is. If there was an EE for IWD2, I would be forced to play at whatever resolution the game decides and have a blurry picture.

Generally, my only reason to play IWD EE would be to see how much I can break the balance with the additional races and spells.

 

[Gargaune]

I played 2.5 (?) after my BG Trilogy replay last year, to see what it was like. Side-by-side the EE image quality definitely looks noticably worse even with all the retarded shit turned off - not only the upscaled backgrounds but the sprites themselves.

Try enabling Nearest Neighbour Scaling in the graphics options and see if that's more to your liking. The EE uses the Linear algorithm by default, and even though the description says the setting should only cover creatures and spells, I'm seeing the difference in backgrounds as well. Personally, I prefer the smoother Linear filtering even if it's not quite as crisp.

It's not, as long as the resolution choice is correct.

I'm currently playing IWD2 at 1360x768 because I consider that to be the best compromise between how large characters are and how readable the interface is. If there was an EE for IWD2, I would be forced to play at whatever resolution the game decides and have a blurry picture.

Generally, my only reason to play IWD EE would be to see how much I can break the balance with the additional races and spells.

That's not my experience because the scaling seems to work differently between classic and EE. Like yourself, I play IWD2 at 1280x800 to have a comfortable perspective on the characters, running it at my native 1680x1050 would make things too small. But this also means that stretching the image to full screen will inherently result in a slight blur on an LCD monitor. By comparison, on the "mandatory" 1680x1050 resolution, IWD EE has almost the exact same character proportions at its default zoom level (i.e. at its sharpest).

So you've got a slight loss in sharpness as the EE defaults to the smoother Linear filtering, but comparing like for like, with both games running full screen at the same proportions, the visual quality is fairly similar on my end, except the EE also gives me a nicely blended fog of war and smooth camera scrolling. And you can always go back to Nearest Neighbour Scaling if that's more your speed.

 

[Snufkin]

There are some things that EE does right. Changing from bows to sword+shield is now easy, mouse clicks feel more responsive and mouse movements are smoother. Also, during character creation it shows how much you rolled, so you can store good roll, and then roll until you find one that suits you.

 

[Krivol]

There are some things that EE does right. Changing from bows to sword+shield is now easy, mouse clicks feel more responsive and mouse movements are smoother. Also, during character creation it shows how much you rolled, so you can store good roll, and then roll until you find one that suits you.

I agree with that but... that's all. If you don't use zooming option then there is literally 0 good changes (well, fast save is somewhat welcomed but loading time is not an issue on modern decks), and they want plenty of cash for that (and you ccan't buy original version without buying EE right now).

 

[A horse of course]

There are some things that EE does right. Changing from bows to sword+shield is now easy, mouse clicks feel more responsive and mouse movements are smoother.

It's not supposed to be that easy. There's a reason BG1 didn't pause when you opened the inventory. Is it better? Sure, but it removes a small decision-making aspect from how you fill your characters' quickslots. BG2 already let you pause before entering the inventory screen though, so I suppose it was already rendered a simple matter of convenience. Of all the small changes the EEs made it's a pretty minor offense.

 

[Gargaune]

I agree with that but... that's all. If you don't use zooming option then there is literally 0 good changes (well, fast save is somewhat welcomed but loading time is not an issue on modern decks), and they want plenty of cash for that (and you ccan't buy original version without buying EE right now).

I think there are a few more worthwhile improvements. Quickloot, for one, I've found to be a very comfortable QOL feature. And on the technical side, even if you don't care for the zoom options, you've got instant load times and full widescreen support out of the box, no tinkering required. Which tinkering can be a bit hit or miss, I've tried native, GOG's and Aqrit's DDraw libraries, but I haven't been able to shake this irritating camera scroll jitter from IWD2 on my latest install.

As for pricing, if you already own the originals you're no in rush and Beamdog does deep sales regularly. If you're a new customer, sure, right now on GOG the original IWD2 is €8 while the EEs are €16... but the complete PoE 1 is €37. I know which one I think is the better deal...

 

[AwesomeButton]

I've always hated area loot and actually whined about it in the PoE beta long enough that they implemented a radius slider for area loot in the options.

 

[Gargaune]

I've always hated area loot and actually whined about it in the PoE beta long enough that they implemented a radius slider for area loot in the options.

Interesting. Could... Could I trouble you to pick up a copy of BG3 EA and whine about the toilet chain for a bit?

 

[AwesomeButton]

Proof that Josh Sawyer is more responsive to feedback than Swen, who is apparently the genius designer of indie RPGs and therefore infalliable.

My argument was that the prolonged satisfaction of clicking every piece of loot to pick it up is better than that of swooping all loot with one click. Area loot may be faster, but that's an element of the game that may not really need streamlining. Also, not using area looting makes the player check out the loot better. Sometimes you don't even know what you've looted otherwise.

 

[Chippy]

There are some things that EE does right. Changing from bows to sword+shield is now easy, mouse clicks feel more responsive and mouse movements are smoother. Also, during character creation it shows how much you rolled, so you can store good roll, and then roll until you find one that suits you.

Quickslots was the only thing it did right. If you read the original manual they intended the weapon setup to be that way in BG1, but I think it was always a moot point for me since they implemented pause on inventory in BG2 and mages were so much more powerful than regular fighters. So why not give fighters the convenience of quick slots in mods or further iterations of the game...

On the other hand the EE was such a step backwards in design decisions made, writing, and quality that quickslots (that really finalised my fighter characters for me after 20 years) just wasn't enough to balance the scales with the huge dollops of shit Beamdog loaded onto them.

 

[Gargaune]

Proof that Josh Sawyer is more responsive to feedback than Swen, who is apparently the genius designer of indie RPGs and therefore infalliable.

Wish someone had told me that before I gave Vincke sixty eurobucks like a complete dumbass.

My argument was that the prolonged satisfaction of clicking every piece of loot to pick it up is better than that of swooping all loot with one click. Area loot may be faster, but that's an element of the game that may not really need streamlining. Also, not using area looting makes the player check out the loot better. Sometimes you don't even know what you've looted otherwise.

Yeah, but all those goblin axes in Targos? They really taught me to appreciate the Quickloot, man.

 

[NJClaw]

Yeah, but all those goblin axes in Targos? They really taught me to appreciate the Quickloot, man.

To me, the worst offenders are the thousands of gold pieces and gemstones that you have to pick up one by one. And I'm not even taking arrows, bolts, and pebbles into consideration, it's humanly impossible to loot those without killing yourself around the Ice Temple.

 

[Melcar]

You fucks complain too much. OMG, I can't be bothered to pixel hunt dropped loot. OMG, zooming in makes everything blurry on my 8k super awesome screen. OMG, game balance is totally broken with these kits and classes that I can chose not to use. OMG, I can't switch weapons without going into my inventory screen. OMG, I'm such a fag.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Proof that Josh Sawyer is more responsive to feedback than Swen, who is apparently the genius designer of indie RPGs and therefore infalliable.

My argument was that the prolonged satisfaction of clicking every piece of loot to pick it up is better than that of swooping all loot with one click. Area loot may be faster, but that's an element of the game that may not really need streamlining. Also, not using area looting makes the player check out the loot better. Sometimes you don't even know what you've looted otherwise.

Meh since you have unlimited inventory in the POE games the main draw of individual loot piles - choosing what to pick up or discard - is gone. I'd rather just vacuum it all up into my stash in one go. It's different for the IE games of course.

 

[Tigranes]

Yeah, but all those goblin axes in Targos? They really taught me to appreciate the Quickloot, man.

To me, the worst offenders are the thousands of gold pieces and gemstones that you have to pick up one by one. And I'm not even taking arrows, bolts, and pebbles into consideration, it's humanly impossible to loot those without killing yourself around the Ice Temple.

You could... not pick those things up, you know

Quickloot isn't the problem, but it betrays the larger problem. Your game shouldn't be so full of 8000 different kinds of loot that the player has no idea what's in their inventory. Getting a new sword shouldn't feel like "oh hey, I have 8 swords I never knew about in my backpack? And one of them has 0.001% more DPS?" (i.e. DOS2)

 

[AwesomeButton]

Proof that Josh Sawyer is more responsive to feedback than Swen, who is apparently the genius designer of indie RPGs and therefore infalliable.

My argument was that the prolonged satisfaction of clicking every piece of loot to pick it up is better than that of swooping all loot with one click. Area loot may be faster, but that's an element of the game that may not really need streamlining. Also, not using area looting makes the player check out the loot better. Sometimes you don't even know what you've looted otherwise.

Meh since you have unlimited inventory in the POE games the main draw of individual loot piles - choosing what to pick up or discard - is gone. I'd rather just vacuum it all up into my stash in one go. It's different for the IE games of course.

I fought for weight limitations and the ability to remove the stash completely, but Josh believes inventory management adds nothing to gameplay. And the majority of Obsidian forum casuals agreed with him. In the end Obsidian implemented a half-assed solution where on expert mode you are not able to take out stuff from the stash when you are in a dungeon, but you can still send stuff to the stash without limitation

 

[Harthwain]

You could... not pick those things up, you know

Items should have meaning. In NEO Scavenger all items are useful in some way, even something as basic as a shard of glass.

I fought for weight limitations and the ability to remove the stash completely, but Josh believes inventory management adds nothing to gameplay. And the majority of Obsidian forum casuals agreed with him.

I can get behind weight limitation, but weight limitation AND slot limitation on top of that is too much. If I recall correctly, Icewind Dale 1 and Baldur's Gate 1 didn't have containers (such as the bag of gems), which you could get in Baldur's Gate 2.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Items should have meaning. In NEO Scavenger all items are useful in some way, even something as basic as a shard of glass.


I can get behind weight limitation, but weight limitation AND slot limitation on top of that is too much. If I recall correctly, Icewind Dale 1 and Baldur's Gate 1 didn't have containers (such as the bag of gems), which you could get in Baldur's Gate 2.

To be fair, both IWD and BG were less strict about weight and slots than it seems at first sight. I remember that in BG2 eventually each of my party members had a bag of holding.

 

[Brancaleone]

Yeah, but all those goblin axes in Targos? They really taught me to appreciate the Quickloot, man.

To me, the worst offenders are the thousands of gold pieces and gemstones that you have to pick up one by one. And I'm not even taking arrows, bolts, and pebbles into consideration, it's humanly impossible to loot those without killing yourself around the Ice Temple.

You could... not pick those things up, you know

Next thing you'll be suggesting not to steal everything that is not nailed down and not to murder everything that draws breath.

 

[NJClaw]

Yeah, but all those goblin axes in Targos? They really taught me to appreciate the Quickloot, man.

To me, the worst offenders are the thousands of gold pieces and gemstones that you have to pick up one by one. And I'm not even taking arrows, bolts, and pebbles into consideration, it's humanly impossible to loot those without killing yourself around the Ice Temple.

You could... not pick those things up, you know

Yeah, tell that to my OCD. After a lot of internal struggles, I reached a compromise with myself and I no longer pick up non-magical ammunition, but I can't physically leave anything shiny on the ground. Then, when I reach the final boss, I go over all the loot that I collected and left in my inventory to rot.

 

[Snufkin]

Guys look what i found in my storage room

https://ibb.co/WvRMGBj

This has 20 years, makes me feel old..

 

[NJClaw]

Guys look what i found in my storage room

https://ibb.co/WvRMGBj

This has 20 years, makes me feel old..

That's beautiful. You should frame the cover and CDs, and if it's still in there also the manual.

 

[Snufkin]

Found no manual, also there was game guide which is also missing. Found also Fo1, Fo2 and Fallout tactics and Baldur's gate 2 with same conditions.

 

[Tigranes]

Yeah, but all those goblin axes in Targos? They really taught me to appreciate the Quickloot, man.

To me, the worst offenders are the thousands of gold pieces and gemstones that you have to pick up one by one. And I'm not even taking arrows, bolts, and pebbles into consideration, it's humanly impossible to loot those without killing yourself around the Ice Temple.

You could... not pick those things up, you know

Yeah, tell that to my OCD. After a lot of internal struggles, I reached a compromise with myself and I no longer pick up non-magical ammunition, but I can't physically leave anything shiny on the ground. Then, when I reach the final boss, I go over all the loot that I collected and left in my inventory to rot.

I know, I know. All I can say is that for IWD & for most RPGs, ignoring everything except magical items, special items, pots & scrolls (except for, say, the first 2 hours of the game), you will always have more money than you need. So you're literally doing it for (1) OCD satisfaction, fair enough, (2) a higher meaningless number in the gold pile that you'll never spend, which is a tad silly.

 

[Orud]

Some of you people complaining out paying for the inferior the EE edition are either not true IE fans, or liars. True IE fans have bought all these games at least 5-6 times already, what's another EE edition. It's like paying for your daily coffee, but then yearly.

Either way, you disgust me.