Icewind Dale The Icewind Dale Series Thread

[NecroLord]

Looks reasonably OK. New items/Spells = good, IWD2 was badly lacking both. Obviously depends on how well they are balanced though. Some new abilities for weaker classes = good, Fighters for example had no reason to exist as a class past level 4.

Title is retarded though and makes it sound like something official or at least just a fixup rather than a full mod.

IWD 2 had many spells, but I find that the high level Arcane and Divine spells are really lacking.
No Time Stop, no Foresight, no Polymorph Any Object, Miracle, etc...

 

[The Jester]

Wasn't this part of that "Enhanced Edition" people were making for IWD2?

No that's another project by a completely different team.

 

[Average Manatee]

Looks reasonably OK. New items/Spells = good, IWD2 was badly lacking both. Obviously depends on how well they are balanced though. Some new abilities for weaker classes = good, Fighters for example had no reason to exist as a class past level 4.

Title is retarded though and makes it sound like something official or at least just a fixup rather than a full mod.

IWD 2 had many spells, but I find that the high level Arcane and Divine spells are really lacking.
No Time Stop, no Foresight, no Polymorph Any Object, Miracle, etc...

It's lacking everywhere. IWD2 only has Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, and Eagle's Splendor. Why the buffs for endurance, intelligence and wisdom are missing no one will ever know I expect. It's like the campaign is being run by some weird super restricted low magic DM.

 

[razvedchiki]

Anyone tried this?

Icewind Dale II - Special Edition​

Yeah, i've been playing it recently and it's ok. There are some changes and additions that are weird, but on the other hand it's WeiDU, so you can choose which parts to be installed and which to be omitted.

does it work with tactics?

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Looks reasonably OK. New items/Spells = good, IWD2 was badly lacking both. Obviously depends on how well they are balanced though. Some new abilities for weaker classes = good, Fighters for example had no reason to exist as a class past level 4.

Title is retarded though and makes it sound like something official or at least just a fixup rather than a full mod.

IWD 2 had many spells, but I find that the high level Arcane and Divine spells are really lacking.
No Time Stop, no Foresight, no Polymorph Any Object, Miracle, etc...

It's lacking everywhere. IWD2 only has Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, and Eagle's Splendor. Why the buffs for endurance, intelligence and wisdom are missing no one will ever know I expect. It's like the campaign is being run by some weird super restricted low magic DM.

 

[Red Hexapus]

Anyone tried this?

Icewind Dale II - Special Edition​

Yeah, i've been playing it recently and it's ok. There are some changes and additions that are weird, but on the other hand it's WeiDU, so you can choose which parts to be installed and which to be omitted.

does it work with tactics?

Had only SE installed, haven't tried it both with tactics, so can't really tell.

 

[VHS9000]

Is it me or IWD2 tough as fuck even without all the tactics mods? Haven't played it for years and feel rammed at the end of the Chapter 1.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

It demands more micromanagement of every fight yes. It was designed as an extra gift for people who already had mastered IWD1.

 

[Jigby]

It's just you :D

You can just cast 5x Animate dead with your clerics, cast 2nd level Invisibility on your char (or 3rd lvl Invisibility Sphere) and you can go clear all of the goblin warrens with the invisible char + skellies. (assuming that your Animate Dead is summoning Boneguard Skeletons, but your party at this point should be around lvl 7~8, no?)

Edit: I guess iwd2 can be annoying if you play it with the usual "nice" tactics of 2 frontliners as meatshields, druid casts some entangle / spike stones crap, wizard casts web/fireball crap, cleric casts Prayer, rinse and repeat every encounter. You run out of spells quickly thanks to the Vancian system.

Edit2: With invisibility sphere, you can make the skellies invisible too and then easily surround and takeout important targets (I'm thinking of the orc sorcerers/shamans)

 

[Average Manatee]

IWD2 should be pretty easy on normal difficulty, but unlike all other IE games the difficulty slider has a much greater effect. Where other games just add +50/100% damage (which is irrelevant if you have huge AC or something like mirror image), IWD2 also adds huge AB bonuses, I think enemies get +10 on insane which is where broken things like monk dips to stack massive AC, mirror image, or spamming summons (which get difficulty bonuses) come into play, normal things like fighter/barb/ranger/paladin just have no way to keep up. Taking enemy hit rate from, say, 15% to 65% along with a damage boost is ridiculous. I think they may also get some kind of bonus to saves but not nearly as drastic so save or die/save or be disabled spells are still quite effective.

For normal difficulty though it should be pretty reasonably doable with a normal setup and no cheese, assuming you're competent at building characters and utilizing the systems (I'm also assuming min-maxed stats because you did the same thing in IWD1/BGs, no one made a fighter there without 18/xx strength/18 dex/18 con). I feel IWD1 on normal is harder up until the expansion content which is badly balanced because its balanced to be possible to begun half way through the main campaign and gives tons of experience. IWD1 is just weird because insane also gives +100% XP there which means that it can actually make the game easier.

 

[VHS9000]

if you play it with the usual "nice" tactics of 2 frontliners as meatshields, druid casts some entangle / spike stones crap, wizard casts web/fireball crap, cleric casts Prayer

That's my way. Party of four with sword'n'boarding pal-o-fighter, dual wielding barb-ranger, painbearer with a single level dip into the broken ones and pure wizard. RP autism gives me a strength.

You can just cast 5x Animate dead with your clerics, cast 2nd level Invisibility on your char (or 3rd lvl Invisibility Sphere) and you can go clear all of the goblin warrens with the invisible char + skellies

What a vile insidiousness!

 

[cretin]

Is it me or IWD2 tough as fuck even without all the tactics mods? Haven't played it for years and feel rammed at the end of the Chapter 1.

It's pretty tough. It was definitely designed with IE veterans in mind, and the AI is somewhat "better" than previous IE games, by which I just mean its common for enemies to try to bypass your frontliners to get your squishies. Definitely makes things more sweaty and less uniform.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

 

[VHS9000]

Not sure if there is any graphical scheme of Fell Wood in internet so there is the hand-drawn of mine. Fuck this place.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Not sure if there is any graphical scheme of Fell Wood in internet so there is the hand-drawn of mine. Fuck this place.

Having a character with the tracking (iirc?) skill helps with this area

 

[NecroLord]

Is it me or IWD2 tough as fuck even without all the tactics mods? Haven't played it for years and feel rammed at the end of the Chapter 1.

It's pretty tough. It was definitely designed with IE veterans in mind, and the AI is somewhat "better" than previous IE games, by which I just mean its common for enemies to try to bypass your frontliners to get your squishies. Definitely makes things more sweaty and less uniform.

It's tough in the sense that you absolutely need a well rounded party or, at least, a really good character who can fulfill multiple roles.
You need a tank, healer, mage, buffer...
There are also many combat and deadly encounters which can destroy you. Yeah, can be a challenging game.
That's why you get to make your own party. Make them the way you want.

 

[octavius]

That map makes IWD2 look like an Adventure game.

 

[Snufkin]

if you play it with the usual "nice" tactics of 2 frontliners as meatshields, druid casts some entangle / spike stones crap, wizard casts web/fireball crap, cleric casts Prayer

That's my way. Party of four with sword'n'boarding pal-o-fighter, dual wielding barb-ranger, painbearer with a single level dip into the broken ones and pure wizard. RP autism gives me a strength.

You can just cast 5x Animate dead with your clerics, cast 2nd level Invisibility on your char (or 3rd lvl Invisibility Sphere) and you can go clear all of the goblin warrens with the invisible char + skellies

What a vile insidiousness!

It's not that bad .. what i would miss is bard, as party leader with all those dialogue skills, and wizard does get delayed on getting fireball and haste (you need to find scroll, unlike sorcerer who learns them by lvl up). You may wanna pump wilderness lore on your ranger for Fellwood maze. Makes it a breeze.

 

[Cael]

if you play it with the usual "nice" tactics of 2 frontliners as meatshields, druid casts some entangle / spike stones crap, wizard casts web/fireball crap, cleric casts Prayer

That's my way. Party of four with sword'n'boarding pal-o-fighter, dual wielding barb-ranger, painbearer with a single level dip into the broken ones and pure wizard. RP autism gives me a strength.

You can just cast 5x Animate dead with your clerics, cast 2nd level Invisibility on your char (or 3rd lvl Invisibility Sphere) and you can go clear all of the goblin warrens with the invisible char + skellies

What a vile insidiousness!

It's not that bad .. what i would miss is bard, as party leader with all those dialogue skills, and wizard does get delayed on getting fireball and haste (you need to find scroll, unlike sorcerer who learns them by lvl up). You may wanna pump wilderness lore on your ranger for Fellwood maze. Makes it a breeze.

You'd want some rogue skills. Some of the traps are not fun, and there are lots of them.

Also, you don't want a Paladin or Monk as your face. They automatically decline quest rewards, IIRC. Paladins are also only really good for a dip. A Pal/Painbearer is not a bad combo for a tank.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

I think Ilmater pallies reject rewards due to their creed. Dunno about the rest though.

 

[Cael]

I think Ilmater pallies reject rewards due to their creed. Dunno about the rest though.

All of them do. That is why my usual party face is my Sorcerer.

 

[NecroLord]

I think Ilmater pallies reject rewards due to their creed. Dunno about the rest though.

All of them do.
Don't let your Paladin speak to others when there's rewards involved. Let your high Cha Sorcerer or Bard do it.

 

[Snufkin]

Sorcerers are bad diplomats because it's more optimal to go human with 3 int. That leaves 2 skills which should be concentration + spellcraft to unlock feats that give boost to elemental dmg.

 

[Jigby]

You don't need to invest in the skills, with Eagle's Splendor you can have 8+ Charisma bonus. That's enough for all the diplo skill checks, with the exception of those at the end in Severed Hand (there's a diplo check I think on the Severed Hand entrance map and there's an initimidate check with the dead cats and the troll)

 

[NecroLord]

Sorcerers are bad diplomats because it's more optimal to go human with 3 int. That leaves 2 skills which should be concentration + spellcraft to unlock feats that give boost to elemental dmg.

Yeah, but do you really want to play a human with 3 Int?

Isn't that way too min-max?