Icewind Dale The Icewind Dale Series Thread

[sea]

I kind of agree about the spells interface... the constant scrolling got really old, really fast, to the point where I honestly just kind of forgot about or stopped using certain spells because I had to tab through three pages to find them. A hotbar with everything on it is ugly, but a pop-out menu that shows your entire spell book on a separate screen or overlay would be fine. I guess it wouldn't really work for real-time play, since it'd have to obscure the screen, but... well, just make it auto-pause when it's open.

Still, I think the Infinity Engine interface holds up surprisingly well considering the age. The learning curve certainly isn't as steep as with some games and for the most part, it doesn't hide any functionality to deeply. Plus, it's actually good-looking in every instance the engine's been used, scales well to high resolutions, and is very economical with its use of space. That's a lot better that what can be said of many modern interfaces.

 

[Excidium]

No, I don't want to constantly assign and reassign spells to hotkeys. I want to be able to look at all of them at once.

So you want an ugly HUD like in WoW, which is full of spell icons. Yeah, this looks so good.

What's wrong with that UI? It's functional.

 

[J_C]

We are a little different then. I don't like crowded UIs, especially in a game where I can pause the game, and take my time to choose the correct spell.

 

[Excidium]

Ah yes, I wouldn't want something crowded like that in a SP game either. A single bar would suffice.

 

[J_C]

I think Neverwinter Nights 1-2 did well, you had a single bar, plus you could bring up 2 additional bars if you pressed Shift or Ctrl. Although I missed the artistic UI design of the IE games.

 

[JrK]

IWD2 was the best with the customizable buttons.

 

[Roguey]

No, I don't want to constantly assign and reassign spells to hotkeys. I want to be able to look at all of them at once.

So you want an ugly HUD like in WoW, which is full of spell icons. Yeah, this looks so good.

No, I used Shattered Lands as an example, though it doesn't necessarily have to take up that much of the screen (pressing F in NWN2 pops up a menu containing all your memorized spells which worked well enough for me). Since nearly all the battle complexity involves spell casting, accessing those spells should be as convenient as possible and Bioware look like a bunch of tools considering a D&D game from five years earlier did it far better.

 

[deus101]

have anyone of you had experience with bash console?

I'd kill if i could quickly choose spells and equipment with such a function, with the tab "autocomplete" and a bit of practise its quick as hell.....I'd kill to have such a function in Morrowind.

 

[Surf Solar]

It's ofcourse a matter of taste, but from the pure "art direction" side, the IWD interface nailed it for me, only Torments one looked better. I never had/have problems with "clunkiness", it's actually pretty comfortable to use it.

The WoW one looks ugly.

 

[Daemongar]

No, I don't want to constantly assign and reassign spells to hotkeys. I want to be able to look at all of them at once.

So you want an ugly HUD like in WoW, which is full of spell icons. Yeah, this looks so good.

No, I used Shattered Lands as an example, though it doesn't necessarily have to take up that much of the screen (pressing F in NWN2 pops up a menu containing all your memorized spells which worked well enough for me). Since nearly all the battle complexity involves spell casting, accessing those spells should be as convenient as possible and Bioware look like a bunch of tools considering a D&D game from five years earlier did it far better.

I really like Dark sun nd it may have had a better better spell casting interface, but it wasn't exactly what I'd call eloquent. Cherry picking the best parts of various games and saying the IE is bad because it doesn't combine all the parts, from games before it or after it is kind of silly. Example: Dark Sun didn't even have a quick item slots, WHAT A PILE OF SHIT! Man, I'll bet SSI is red in the face over that boner!

 

[Cenobyte]

They're both good games. Not outstanding or anything, but they offer a fulfilling and entertaining dungeon crawl experience. Also, as has been mentioned already, especially IWD1 has fantastic atmosphere, sound and art direction.
Additionally, like some other posters in this thread, I actually like the IWDs more than the BGs, but I'm in any case more of a dungeon crawler than a storyfag.

 

[1eyedking]

What's wrong with that UI? It's functional.

Fucking spreadsheet gamers, man.

Fucking soulless SOBs...

 

[Burning Bridges]

Funny I discovered IWD2 a week ago but overlooked this thread.

So far this and PST are the only IE engine games that instantly grab me. Imo contrary to what some people said it began relatively easy. During the whole prologue I have not died a single time, even though I am a noob when it comes to IE combat.

Overall it does not come near Fallout or Arcanum but as far as Tolienesque RPGs I couldn't think of a game that I found more enjoyable. Well the combat system still pisses me off of course, but it's useable.

As far as visual style and sound go I would give the top spot to TOEE and IWD. Only retards prefer the WoW graphics about IWD.

 

[SCO]

It's ofcourse a matter of taste, but from the pure "art direction" side, the IWD interface nailed it for me, only Torments one looked better. I never had/have problems with "clunkiness", it's actually pretty comfortable to use it.

The WoW one looks ugly.

Torment? WTF? It sucks ass, especially the ability selection wheel.

 

[sirfink]

The stereotype that there's no story is an exaggeration. There's plenty of story, decent voice acted narration and a good atmosphere. The fact that it doesn't do the typical "you are the chosen God-man! Save the world!" bullshit is a good thing IMO. And if you insist on romancing a gay drow, then there's a mod for that isn't there?

 

[Surf Solar]

It's ofcourse a matter of taste, but from the pure "art direction" side, the IWD interface nailed it for me, only Torments one looked better. I never had/have problems with "clunkiness", it's actually pretty comfortable to use it.

The WoW one looks ugly.

Torment? WTF? It sucks ass, especially the ability selection wheel.

I could select Spells way faster with this wheel than with the spellbars in the other IE games.

 

[SCO]

I assume you don't use keyboard hotkeys?

 

[Surf Solar]

Yip. I usually try to play all my games /w mouse only.

 

[Radisshu]

It's ofcourse a matter of taste, but from the pure "art direction" side, the IWD interface nailed it for me, only Torments one looked better. I never had/have problems with "clunkiness", it's actually pretty comfortable to use it.

The WoW one looks ugly.

Torment? WTF? It sucks ass, especially the ability selection wheel.

I could select Spells way faster with this wheel than with the spellbars in the other IE games.

I liked Torment's wheel, especially since the game automatically paused when it was activated.

 

[J_C]

The spell selection menu was quite handy, but I didn't like the UI of Torment either. Not just because it wasn't accessible enough (cramming everything into the wheel menu) but I also didn't like the art design of it.

 

[Surf Solar]

As I have completed IWD I recently, is IWD II worth a try aswell? I have to say I genuienly enjoyed the first one..

 

[Jaesun]

Yes. Personally IWD II (as the very last IE Engine Game) is worth a run through. I loved a number of the area encounters, and with Sawyer at the helm of this title a number of them are very fucking challenging. It utilizes the 3rd edition rules (some of the skills are broken so do a read of them first), and for the most part are well implemented. There are also a number of class and stat checks.

There are some areas of pure DERP, and the story is kind of ...meh, the overall and sum of it's parts is good and worth it to play through. Especially if you do enjoy the IE engine games.

I think it has the best area encounter design of all the IE games, as it exploits all the weaknesses and strengths of the engine.

 

[Surf Solar]

Cool, that sounds good. It's also the first time I'll play a game with 3rd edition rules. I was a horrible noob at D&D when I started IWD I, it's a bit better now. What I always fail though is rolling good characters.. I may want to do a playthrough with only 2 or 3 characters, is that recommended for a "noob"? If yes, could you give any tips of interesting classes/combinations that are fun to play?

 

[Jaesun]

Have 1 Bard (Name him Jaesun) and do what ever you want party wise. All party configurations work well. Some are WAY overpowered and some brutally under-powered. But they all work. Do what you like. I usually stick to one of each class (and/or multi-classed).

I typically like having at least 2 Clerics (one pure cleric and one multi-classed). Just like in the old classic Gold Box Games.

 

[Surf Solar]

Yes, I had such a bard during my IWD I playthrough and it rocked. :D What I want this time though, is to have only a limited number of characters, maybe 3 at maximum so that they gain levels faster.. Is that recommended? Like, one bard with maybe thief stuff, a ranger/cleric and a wizard or so?

Also, has anyone tried the "special" races, like the drow or so? Is it worth to take one, since they have a huge penalty to gain experience..