Yea its definutely a good way to cover old gen graphics engines is give great art. It's TRUE to dnd spirit of how a lot of the real game engine is the players imagination.
IWD2 was basically the last infinity engine game and although it never reach the heights of BG2 in terms of narrative and world building, the combat was unmatched imo. Specifically the encounter designs are much more interesting than the original. Basically it's a dungeon crawler like Diablo in the form of an old school CRPG instead of an ARPG.
I've heard someone describe some of the encounters as "training courses to qualify as Sherlock Holmes" lol The music and the atmosphere are also big strengths of this game, even moreso than the combat in my opinion. Targos, the Shaengarne, Fell Wood and the wandering village, Kuldahar... Great, cold, lonely vibes all throughout.
this was the very first boxed game, I´ve bought with my first own money, saving for a long time... the manual that came with it was amazing and we were able to play DnD to some degree thanks to it and to this day I love this game. Still... I love BG2 more, it´s my most favourite game of all the time.
I'm replaying BG2, IWD2 and NWN2 every year for the past 10 years or so. They just don't make masterpieces like that anymore, but my body needs that dose of rpg goodness.
I thought IWD2 was so so gorgeous. The icy, beautiful bleakness of the Spine of the World. The moan of the wind, the melancholic creak of timber. The muting snow blanketing the palisades and sundry trappings of war. The gruff and stoic bevy of characters, the hardened floatsam of Faerun pushed, or rather drawn to its cruel northern fringe. All of this lent color by the vivid and even violent streak of magic that pulsed through the game - both in the spells themselves and the wondrous sense of adventure that it drew out of this child playing it. I was enraptured. It was more than a game world it was a masterpiece of art that stretched before you on a canvas so large and alluring you wanted to get lost in it and explore every stitch.
Every few years I replay this game during the winter period when the weather is snowy. It is connected to nostalgia but also to the amazing replayability - every new group you form gives you different ways of battling. The world feels very immersive and the lore is rich. The NPC stories give me reason to care for them and be invested, you get to decide if you wanna kill everything or talk your way through the situations. It is a fine example that graphics are not all. I definitely recommend the game to anyone who is into dnd!
Absolutely love all the old infinity engine games. I was excited when beamdog ressurected them with enhanced editions. Unfortunately the source code for icewind dale 2 was lost which is why beam said they wont be doing the EE of ID2. They took the Infinity Engine variant they used to ship Icewind Dale and started from there. Somewhere along the path of the Dungeons and Dragons license moving from Interplay to Atari and then reverting to Wizards of the Coast, preserving source code and transferring it to the new rights holder somehow data was lost. Hopefully some day soon the source code is recovered, otherwise the game would have to be completely rebuilt from the ground up, which is a monumental task, and also why they decided to forget it and move on. I wish games were still made like this , pillars of eternity is probably the closest we have.
Or Pathfinder games. But somehow, the original Infinity are unsurpassed. The newer Unity engine iso-RPGs look more polished, but it's not quite what it was. Infinity had... soul, charm, heart.
@@Stoigniew666 Pillars of Eternity games have in my opinion much less engaging combat mechanics than the Infinity Engine games but the quality of worldbuilding, roleplaying, story, voice acting etc. especially in the sequel is well beyond those of Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale and rival Planescape Torment.
There is Icewind Dale 2 Enhanced Edition (Highquality Fan Mod/Non Beamdog) The moddergroup is called Red Chimera Group(found in Beamdog Forums) the project is beta and 100% playable. It brings improvements like enemies using new lorefriendly abilities, overall improvement like instant save/load,smoother gameplay, improved areas, tons of new skills&ands feets,overall rebalancing and much more. the mod project shows how "could" other Enhanced Edition Games from Beamdog could work too.
Thank you for this. I generally feel like my love for this game is a minority in the gaming community as a whole and when I mention it as one of my top 10 RPGs, I usually get heckled. There is so much to love about this game, and you touched on most of it. I, especially as an angsty teenager, really felt that the Legion of the Chimera was a fantastic antagonist and I agree, the plot grabs you immediately in a way that the original ultimately failed with. The importance of skills/abilities is also REALLY understated. I remember the first time I played it, I min/maxed my tank, and when encountering a goblin commander had to navigate through the entire conversation with nothing but grunts - not the canned responses present in BG1 and BG2. If I remember correctly, the goblin asked if I was alright - which was hilarious.
@@YeOldEntertainment Stone to flesh a statue and it works?! That is something I would only expect in a pencil and paper D&D experience. I started another playthrough early last week, and will definitely check that out.
I think this review absolutely hit the nail on the head. 10/10. i happened to have enjoyed the dragons eye dungeon, and thought it quite entertaining. i got more stuck at durlags tower than i did this, but i understand how you can see some of it a bit unfair and even frustrating. btw, loved the shout out in the video. actually quite nice, and also adds to the specialness you have with this channel and the interactivity between you and your community. this was by far my favorite review you did, and you did this game great justice.
Shit play on the hardest difficulty with heart of fury turned on as starting characters. Dragons Eye is massively hard. Hold person will get you thru most of the game tho except the undead.
Hah I absolutely love eye of the dragon dungeon, everything there is actually logical and "clicks". But that volcanic time loop is the least enjoyable part of the game for me...
Always preferred Icewind Dale 2 too Baldurs Gate 2, which I know is an unpopular thought. But I have replayed Icewind Dale 2 like 15 times only replayed Baldurs Gate 2 once ever. That shows you how much I love it.
Arundel sending you to Kresselack was probably still himself. When he sand you to yuaan ti, he's a demon. So, first quest: he send for help from Easthaven and honestly dodn't know who is attacking Kuldahar, pointing you to Valley of Shadows. Second quest he's a demon and he want you to do his dirty work.
Ah, i recently played it with a paladin and after each section i used detect evil. The thing is Arundel that sends you to dragons eye is still the Real Arundel, he gets replaced right when you are at the dragons eye attemting to defeat the Yan-Ti Demon Xi...mei something. Also the kid outside also says that there was a man entering Arundels Hut. It looks like the real Arundel sent you unknowingly to dragons eye. But it wasn't wrong they where still capturing Villigers.
Absolutely my favorite game ever. I've played normal too many times but Heart of Fury mode is insane. Still cannot beat it. I'm at the end of Fellwood and stuck.
make new game, play through it all as a group or at least front line, deep gnomes if need, play it yet again :P to get levels then do Heart of Fury makes HUGE difference in survivability also, use summoned critters t soak up the damage first
@@YeOldEntertainment I love the games and thanks to your videos I'm looking at them in a slightly different way. And one thing. I'm can't see Neverwinter Nights 1 video anywhere. Have you decided to skip it?
The only thing missing from ID in my opinion is unique characters and party dialogue like BG. Though being able to customize your characters abilities is great.
The only flaws are the lack of subplots, the linear gameplay and lack of good NPC's and dialogue that is good or important. One of the best things is they used edition 3.0 as opposed to 2nd edition, makes character creation a lot better.
It's nice to find a RUclips game reviewer who isn't far-left. For the game: this was my first infinity engine game and I LOVED it. Also, because of the focus on combat, I was able to DOMINATE Baldur's Gate (which I played next, and has easier combat IMO). I almost never hear positive things about IWD2, I appreciate you giving it a fair shake.
Thanks man! I absolutely loved it. I'm still scratching my head about how to make some time for a second playthrough. Yes, the combat here is definitely more tactical and challenging than in the first Baldur's Gate and I'd say even better than in Baldur's Gate II also. Thanks for leaving a reply!
I'm late as always. The review is very much appreciated, Thank You! Just wanted to say that some of these tracks in IwD2 like the one you mention at 22:00, but also one in the Ice Temple, are only about 30 seconds long. So that may be where the issue stems from. It's also one of the reasons why I think I still prefer the first game. It seemed more coherent to me in terms of narrative, but I also just prefer the soundtrack and the environments we travel through. It's still kind of convoluted, but I think returning to Kuldahar so often is a connective element that is lacking in IwD2. It probably also helps that IwD is a bit easier and that it isn't as long (90 hours (!) for IwD2). Not that IwD2 was that difficult overall, but for instance Chapter 1 was quite trial-and-errorish and the last bossfight annoyingly has no autosave or anything else in between both phases. Which makes it unnecessarily frustrating. But yeah, more dialogue reactivity and a bit more complexity to the various situations were very much appreciated. Same goes for having more possiblities for character and group building. Overall some good some bad, but I think I still prefer the first one. But there are a few years between my playthroughs of both games. Edit: I played through it for the first time in 2019 I think, so my impressions are fairly fresh.
No worries. I was this close to naming this Channel "late to the party" instead of YEO, but I think someone beat me to it. For me Icewind Dale II is hands down better than the the first one. It even beats the handicap of being played (by me) for the first time in 2021 while I played the first one when it was fresh out of the oven. (Or perhaps games have gotten less impressive over the years and that's why this one swept me off my feet. Go figure).
I'm playing these old games because I'm not really crazy with the colorful, turnbased style of Divinity games, and now, Baldur's Gate 3. They have the feel of the Dragon Age series more than the original Baldur's Gate. I rather see more of the Planescape Torment style and Pillars of Eternity games.
This game really shines in the amount of character customization at your disposal. You can absolutely clear through the game playing vanilla characters, but there's nothing stopping you from multiclassing several times for class bonuses and bypassing item restrictions.
Nah. After a few minutes of "man this user experience is dated" you'll be saying "aaah these were the days". I think this one is still a better adventure than those 2 (and I like Pillars 2 a lot).
@@YeOldEntertainment Its all about personal opinion i guess, once i find a better game in mechanics, graphics, etc. its hard for me to go back to something less. Since i played Pathfinder wotr i tend to compare all crpgs i play to that one as its the best one i ever played and im gaming since 1996. As for Pillars, its a shame they are done with it, but Im looking forward to Avowed.
Good review,I am totally agree with you about Dragon's Eye section,I hardly held myself to look at walk-through because this place is annoying and crawling with unobvious riddles and it reused old assets from original game. By the way I could say the same to Ice Temple and Fell Wood segments,they are interesting for first time and hard though,but if you want to replay game,you screwed,I have suspicion that developers had a competition "how to prolong gameplay",and they did damn good. About music,it is not bad,but tracks are too short to feel atmosphere, my favorites are Kuldahar Theme,the Severed Hand in final battle,Skeleton of Town in Targos town and Choose the Hero,it is not played anywhere but it supposed to be played at character creation stage. Btw at 21:45 it is not battle music it just some kind of intro music its called "Lair of Horrors" I really like roleplaying there, your class and stats are matter.Level design is minimalistic as it is,just snow and ice,but it is quite beautiful,finally the game fits its name Icewind dale,there are icewind dales unlike 1st game!However Yuanti (serpent) Temple is whole the same,it sucks and feel like laziness.I also like breaking of 4th wall,when npcs are talking about game mechanics ,this is the gem.And the last thing ,if you want to replay this game for some reason then install unfinished business mod ,it restores couple if npc and encounters and the Enhanced edition from fans which has a ton of optional quality life improvements, I could sent it to you,EE in closed testing now you cannot reach it so easy.
Was my favourite Infinity Engine game. I was always more of a combat orientated RPG player, but IWD2 does have a LOT of story and atmosphere. Just less dialogue which is fine with me. The game is EPIC. It's HUGE. And it's not difficult! You're supposed to play smart and slowly, and approach combat in a way that uses the merits of your party and plays to the enemies weakness. I loved the game, played through it numerous times, and never get tired of it.
play the UA toolbox game; Unlimited Adventures lets people 'build their own' goldbox game and some enterprising scholars have made adaptations of all the classic modules like Tomb of Horrors, Against the Giants etc. as well as thousands of original modules.
how does one get this game working on modern machines? last time i heard the source code was lost and so no remastered version can be made of this specific game
Minor quibble (you only say it once after all), but 3E does not have the *Advanced* Dungeons & Dragons moniker. When WotC bought TSR they dropped that particular bit from the name. TSR had the *Advanced* in the title to avoid paying royalties to Dave Arneson. WotC just paid him off with a lump sum, so to speak. I gotta say I was a diehard BG>IWD proponent in my youth, but age has made the IWDs grow on me. Probably helps that there are (well written) NPC packs around for them now ^ ^;
@@GodOfPlague Pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It introduces joinable NPCs into IWD, complete with banters, lovetalks and interjections (like in the Baldur's Gate series).
I'm still less than convinced about 3Ed mechanics, I started playing on Basic, 1st Ed AD&D and (mainly ) 2Ed, I never had a problem with THAC0 or proficiencies. Maybe I'm just an old fart who doesn't want to let go of the past but I used to love wandering down to my local shop (Virgin, I think) and buying the latest TSR release, and there were an awful lot of them lol.
@@Para2normal Personal opinion alert, but I feel like 3E is, mechanically, one of the worst editions of D&D overall. As Ye Old Entertainment points out in the video, compared to older editions, 3E has a lot more bobs and bits to adjust and fiddle with while creating and leveling up your character. This is both its greatest strength (LOTS of people love the sheer amount of customizability and choices, as 3E's huge popularity to this day can attest to) and simultaneously its most glaring weakness...considering it lead to the game's balance being snapped in half like a twig. Now first of all, you don't need *perfect* balancing in a tabletop RPG (heck, you probably don't even want it), but without at least some semblance of it, the game *will* be negatively affected. This is basically what happened in 3E. Class balance is utterly broken. Literally, the community grades classes in 6 tiers of power, if you pick a tier 6 class because the name or concept sounded nice and someone else at the table picks a tier 1 class you'll eventually find yourself twiddling your thumbs while the other guy resolves every situation (whether social or combat) before you even know what's happening. Multiclassing is broken. You either end up with a mangled piece of garbage if you don't know what you're doing, or an overpowered combination abomination. The caster/martial divide is the biggest here it's ever been. Most mundane skills effectively become worthless eventually. Feats range from +2 to underwater basket weaving to 100+ extra damage damage while charging. The list goes on (and on...and on) for basically every aspect of the game. 3E was such a *major* deviation from the up-till-then established D&D formula that the designers largely didn't know what they were doing. Only in the later years of the edition's life cycle did class design and balance notably improve comparatively.
I only played through it twice, the first I barely remembered and didn't finish so I returned a couple of years ago. I made things very difficult on myself and limited my starting party to 2, the difficulty forced me to add 2 more and it got better. The game feels like it was designed for ad&d but plays like early 3.0 so it was a little off putting but I enjoyed it. Oswald is my favourite character, I liked the idea of a half-dragon blocking my path but Sherincal was a bit of a let down. And the final villains where a shame, I agree hearing about them was more interesting than meeting them...such a shame.
I hold off for a long time on IW2 as I heard about high difficulty (I disposed Kingmaker for example), but I was surprises how much I liked it when I played it. Difficulty felt fair and tactically challenging rather then checking my knowledge of D&D buffs and debuffs - that’s not a feat that any other D&D game managed - they are either boringly easy or frustratingly specific in required solution.
Spot on, mate that's exactly what I liked about Icewind Dale II, it never felt like a test of knowledge on buffs, debuffs, effects and counter-effects!
For me, Skyrim and Icewind Dale 2 are at the top of my favorites list. For just wanting to live in the game, Skyrim wins hands-down. For game play, challenge, team structure, combat style, it's Icewind Dale 2 all the way. Loved this game!
Your analysis is pretty stellar. The granularity you use when you break games down offers up a massive amount of insight into the titles you review. You often throw clips of other games into your videos. Many of these games look awesome and I want to play them. But you sometimes don't actually reference the games during your discussion. I would love it if you put the names of games on the screen when you show clips from them. Thanks and I am eagerly awaiting new content you create.
You can't imagine how much I needed to read this. I've been taking truckloads of flack in that last two days. I've even thought of ending the channel. As a shout to you, I'll try to add the names of every game I reference whenever I use them as examples. Thanks!
@@YeOldEntertainment Wow... that sucks. Not sure why people are attacking you. I played many of the games you featured on your channel when they first released. Watching your videos has brought back dozens of fond memories of playing those games. On top of that, you have revealed aspects of these games that I either never knew about, or had forgotten. I even find myself tempted to replay games like Dragon Age Origins, which I dismissed as a single player WoW clone when it released. I quit playing it mid way through because I hated the game play and felt the story was forced. Watching your videos has made me rethink this and contemplate how much fun it might be. I'd love to see you tackle other franchises, like the older Elder Scrolls games going back to Daggerfall, Wasteland, Fallout 1 and 2, late Wizardry games, Gothic, Deus Ex, and others.
@@paladinpariah325 wow made me miss a lot of rpgs just cause i rathter had been doing the same thing in wow. but that all went away when in single player rpgs i can actually do all the content without elitist telling me im not geared enough.
@@YeOldEntertainment dont quit your videos are starting to get a lot of views. sometimes people come off as mean on the internet but its cause your reading. plus 90% of the time people on the internet are assholes cause they dont have any consequences other than getting blocked or ignored.
@@kigeruse Well thanks man. Not sure what to make of the "cause your reading" part. But thanks I'll the same. I think I'll stay a while longer to say how things work.
Played it on the ol' days dubbed in spanish, it was a gem. It was a borrowed copy. When I bought at GOG - as multilingual - it only had spanish subs (and interface). If you never touched it, I highly recommend you go for it. Good luck, tho. (and if by chance you get across it, please tell me where and how)
I still play this game - more often even than BG2. Admittedly, it's often as level 1 solo character HoF start, just to see if I can complete the prologue with whatever restrictions I give myself. Conclusion: summons good - everything else bad. And Animate Dead is broken. I've proved I can get through everything except the final siege battle with a no summon spells (items are OK though) party too. I think I could eventually win even that with a couple of high speed ranged characters and lots of ammo.
I invested around total of 200hr on iwd2. I love it. I love the background, music,combat and all the areas I can travel too. It was hard asf but omg I enjoyed every second of it. Someone should make iwd2 mod for nwn2. I would fucking pay.
I have played IWD1 and it's not so hard for me on basic rules.(Yes, I've played BG1 and 2 too).But I never played IWD2. Can you explain what is so hard about second game?
I am an CRPG lover, who played BG1, BG2, PoE 1, PoE 2, Tyranny, and more... With Icewind Dale I always struggled touching it because many people describe it as an "story-less DnD fighting simulator". Would you guys still recommend playing this to me, as an very story-focused player?
Yes hands down, yes! I was in the same camp as you. I wasn't crazy about the first one and everyone kept repeating how linear this was. And story and plot are important to me. This one has no branching paths that make the story turn this way or that way but the story is good, high-stake and compelling. And there ARE decision nodes (check the video at about 9:32 to see what I mean. And it goes for 9.99 on GOG. This is a no-brainer man. Give it a shot!
@@YeOldEntertainment Thank you so much for the reply! Alright, then I'll start my adventure this weekend :-) Until then, I start deciding on which party-setup I choose. I did not watch until 9:32 as I feared some spoiler to be coming my way, so I stopped at ~6:00. How spoiler-free is the part where you talk bout story/decision/nodes? Howsoever, great video and great channel! Just found you recently. Keep it going! One last question: how would you rate the story compared to other big names (BG, PoE, Torment, DoS, Tyranny...)?
I can't get past that part where you have to run around with flame spouting statues and a couple of monsters chasing you. Even on easy lol. Other than that, liked it alot
You actually don't have to fight the guardian if you don't want to. If you simply wipe out all of the Yuan-Ti it counts as completing that quest. Iselore says something like ''did you simply defeat them through force of arms?''.
Hah, I was a big fan of this - IWD2 is actually a bit controversial. This is the last version of the isometric party based infinity(ish) engines prior to NWN. I was really excited about it because I loved IWD1 and BG2. I even tried a very failed attempt at writing an IWD1Tutu mod - really wanted it to work - but auto conversion really doesn't work between these engines - they are much further apart then BG1 and BG2. Having said all that =D IWD2 is kind of a grind they way IWD1 is - you either like it or you don't. I really do miss the open world of BG2-SoA with the IWD games...
Oh wow, and I forgot about Dragon's Eye - they may be a community fix pack for some of those problems you found - I'm pretty sure the game was rushed at the end of development...
Also - I agree about the tactics and 3.5 rule set. They worked very well together in IWD2 - I really wish Bioware had pushed this further instead of dropping it for NWN...
think it's worth it since I tried to run an early release of BG3 on my toaster and it started emitting smoke. think I'm sticking to oldschool rpgs until I can afford a new pc xD
Iwd is the fallout tactics of the infinity engine game. It’s more about mechanics than story game. I don’t complain, it’s the more beautifull and difficult infinity game. I love all the infinity game! Best crpg ever!
First time I played the game 20 years ago, Dragon's Eye Dungeon did not annoy me. It annoyed me last year when I replayed the game. For 20 years, games have spoiled us with easy modes and user friendliness.
I right now trying to beat it with solo warrior, it's quite fun (tho battle squares were INSANLY slow). I did it already with BG1 and ID1 so, next would be BD2 I guess...
I see alot of back and forth on IWD2 but personally... I fucking love it. I love the art, the vibe, the mood the game creates... So as much shit as I get, it's my favorite infinity engine D&D game even above Baldur's gate 2 and planescape ... In no way am I saying they are bad games, just IWD2 really hits for me, good areas, good battles, good music, good art.... And yea, the 3rd edition character creation system is beautiful ❤️, definitely slightly better than 2nd edition character creation... The way skills and saves work 😁 *kisses* is beautiful
IWD2 is, to me, the best IE game ever released. I loved this game so much. I find its setting and soundtrack way more immersive than the ones from the BG series. Sadly, it never received an enhanced edition, and running it in a modern computer sux big.
I wouldn't day it sucks. Back in the say I skipped this one. I played it for the first time last year and I was impressed! Loved it instantly. But I guess someone young or new to crpgs altogether might think so.
well, I'm not buying or playing BG3 ever, it's only game which used BG title to sell better but has nothing to do with original saga. iwd series tho are worth being played every year and that will never change. wish they could make 3rd part but not being so modern made like bg3 it could be more like ee versions but new part of iwd games so we could have trilogy
The good is, GOG version of the game, coming with fixed DirectDraw emulation, so graphics dont drop the fps when many enemies or huge sprites are on the screen. Because the game released and supported the DD from old Geforce nvidia graphics (it run fast and smooth on this old card) but not on next generation GPUs even if they was more powerful. DirectDraw abandoned , so need the emulation to run the game smoothly!
I think they'd have to do a full remake because apparently the code has been lost or it's otherwise not easily enhanceable. Although there seems to be a fan-made mod pack that overhauls it quite decently. I haven't tried myself. But I really like the game as it is, so I have to no problem giving it a second shot. Just need to find the time.
It is fine, but it is quite hard if you do not know how system works, you have to be quite well informed about this type of games to be able to build proper team.
I was a bit confused by incorporation of D&D 3 rules - probably 'cause I really didn't appreciate its potential. Enjoyed the combat systems though. Some really tedious quests - like traversing the magic forests - seemed needlessly complicated. Also when I played it was bugged toward the end and I was unable to finish so ultimately a very unsatisfying experience. So much wish it had the same system as IWD 1 - which I loved and replayed many times.
@@juusovuolle8251 I actually like the first icewind dale better. Cleric/mage is what i always play and icewind dale 2 never added prestige classes so i couldn't do that.
People always compare IWD and BG2, and always prefer BG2. I can understand why, even though I consider them equal at the end of the day. IWD actually did many things better than BG2... The soundtrack, the voice-acting, sound in general, artwork/artstyle, portraits, scroll/spell art, the amazing stone-and-wood menus/interface, atmosphere, and level design. The places you go to in Icewind Dale 1 are truly memorable. From Kuldahar, to Vale of Shadows, with its tombs and mystical statues, to Dorn's Deep and Temple of the Forgotten God, again with so much atmosphere and feeling of ancient, mystical and forgotten to it. The narrative feels decent until the latter stages, when it turns out that the story reaches a very lame conclusion. But up until the conclusion of chapter 4, maybe even chapter 5, I found it very appealing to form this expedition that needed to investigate and search for this "hidden evil" that Arch-Druid Arundel always spoke about. His voice actor (Jim Cummings) succesfully really created a sense of urgency and danger - time being of the essence. Of course, BG2 had companions, and quite a few of them were incredibly well done, rich in detail, and very interesting. That's where BG2 shines and is superior, in addition to not being a dungeon-crawler. It's more story-driven. Most RPGs struggle to make interesting NPC companions, so fundamentally I'm not necessarily negative to the IWD approach of creating your own party. It really depends on the quality and depth of the companions. There is somethign appealing to creating your own stories too for your own characters... As for the story itself in BG2 - it is actually overrated in my opinion. It served a purpose, but the story is not what made BG2 great. "Man stole your soul, and you chase him to win it back". That's basically an accurate summary of the story. It was everything else that made the BG 2 great. It's scale, size, relative free-roaming and companions, and it was more personal. Icewind Dale II introduces feats and skills, which is great, and the prologue and chapter 1 are great, and overall the game is very good, but the quality drops progressively for each chapter. The production was apparently troublesome for Black Isle, and it shows from the fact that the game got off to a great start, only to wane progresively, as I said. The game is inferior to both BG 2 and IWD 1, which remains the joint best two RPGs of all time, in my opinion. But my advice is to play IWD II, if you haven't already. There is an "unofficial" Enhanced Edition of IWD II in the making, by the way, if you're interest. It's not made by Beamdog, but by fans I think. You can find info on the Beamdog forums. look it up if you're interested.
Its a shame the IWD2 source code has been lost and Beamdog can't do an enhanced edition because I feel IWD2 would be the game that benefits the most from a EE. In my opinion it is the best of the Infinity Engine games.
i liked this more than the other infinity engines games, you probaly wanna hack your characters though to make them stronger. So disappointing beamdog couldn't modernize this. I liked this more than bg2 as while this was also very long you always feel like you're in a book or something on a linear journey.
@@MedievalFantasyTV they somehow lost all the game code, or something. I always liked the graphics and races more than the previous 3. I started playing through again after watching, i've never played through as a lawful evil type party.
@@asai667 No probs man. This is a ridiculous price for a game that's +80 hours of gameplay and a fair bit of replay value. If you liked Baldur's Gate or if CRPGs are you thing and you don't mind getting your hands dirty with some early 2000's mechanics, this worth way more than the price of the admission.
@@YeOldEntertainment I have a copy of the game on CD from around 2005 (bought in the Windows XP era). Tried to install it. Game installed, but couldn't run - asked for administrator's account. I tried to open game with "run as administrator", but nothing happend. Game uninstalled, at least for now. Last time I played it it was on the old laptop with Windows XP, I was in the Yuan-Ti temple- that with the dragon at the end. I hope I could finish the game someday.
its a shame the source code has been lost to time so we'll never get an enhanced edition of this game.... one of the last games black isle studios and wizards of the coast worked on
It's always worth playing the infinity engine games.
I words from Sarevok himself, Thank you
word
Honestly after 20 years i still prefer the IWD series than BG. Im Just in love with that Winter icy atmosphere.
Something also has to be said about the portraits. They're absolutely incredible.
Yes they are. I originally intended to say something about them, then for whatever reason I forgot.
@@YeOldEntertainment heresy 😅
@@YeOldEntertainment What possessed you by the way, to use a non-IwD portrait for your player character! That's pretty much sacrilege ;)
Yea its definutely a good way to cover old gen graphics engines is give great art. It's TRUE to dnd spirit of how a lot of the real game engine is the players imagination.
The portraits are indeed awesome but the gameplay graphics are so bad they just put me off playing in 2022.
Soundtracks from Icewind Dale series is amazing.
Probably the best from Infinity Engine era
One thing that everyone agrees IWD did way better than BG.
Kuldahar town music from IWD1 is hauntingly beautiful and my personal favorite.
-Probably- the best from Infinity Engine era
IWD2 was basically the last infinity engine game and although it never reach the heights of BG2 in terms of narrative and world building, the combat was unmatched imo. Specifically the encounter designs are much more interesting than the original. Basically it's a dungeon crawler like Diablo in the form of an old school CRPG instead of an ARPG.
I've heard someone describe some of the encounters as "training courses to qualify as Sherlock Holmes" lol
The music and the atmosphere are also big strengths of this game, even moreso than the combat in my opinion. Targos, the Shaengarne, Fell Wood and the wandering village, Kuldahar... Great, cold, lonely vibes all throughout.
Baldurs gate never reached the heights of planescape torment in terms of storytelling and world.building
this was the very first boxed game, I´ve bought with my first own money, saving for a long time... the manual that came with it was amazing and we were able to play DnD to some degree thanks to it and to this day I love this game. Still... I love BG2 more, it´s my most favourite game of all the time.
Same!! missing those days alot. BG2 its the first game Ive ever finished.
I'm replaying BG2, IWD2 and NWN2 every year for the past 10 years or so. They just don't make masterpieces like that anymore, but my body needs that dose of rpg goodness.
So many damn good memories with the Icewind Dale games, even more than Baldur’s Gate. Loved forever. ❤️
I thought IWD2 was so so gorgeous. The icy, beautiful bleakness of the Spine of the World. The moan of the wind, the melancholic creak of timber. The muting snow blanketing the palisades and sundry trappings of war. The gruff and stoic bevy of characters, the hardened floatsam of Faerun pushed, or rather drawn to its cruel northern fringe. All of this lent color by the vivid and even violent streak of magic that pulsed through the game - both in the spells themselves and the wondrous sense of adventure that it drew out of this child playing it. I was enraptured. It was more than a game world it was a masterpiece of art that stretched before you on a canvas so large and alluring you wanted to get lost in it and explore every stitch.
It was lightning in a bottle
Every few years I replay this game during the winter period when the weather is snowy. It is connected to nostalgia but also to the amazing replayability - every new group you form gives you different ways of battling. The world feels very immersive and the lore is rich. The NPC stories give me reason to care for them and be invested, you get to decide if you wanna kill everything or talk your way through the situations. It is a fine example that graphics are not all. I definitely recommend the game to anyone who is into dnd!
To anyone who is into RPGs, really. It is still a truly amazing experience.
Still playing it. Even converted it to a pnp campaign
Nice one. Reminds me of running a campaign in Arcanum setting. A prequel adventure before the blimp crashes
Absolutely love all the old infinity engine games. I was excited when beamdog ressurected them with enhanced editions. Unfortunately the source code for icewind dale 2 was lost which is why beam said they wont be doing the EE of ID2.
They took the Infinity Engine variant they used to ship Icewind Dale and started from there. Somewhere along the path of the Dungeons and Dragons license moving from Interplay to Atari and then reverting to Wizards of the Coast, preserving source code and transferring it to the new rights holder somehow data was lost.
Hopefully some day soon the source code is recovered, otherwise the game would have to be completely rebuilt from the ground up, which is a monumental task, and also why they decided to forget it and move on.
I wish games were still made like this , pillars of eternity is probably the closest we have.
Or Pathfinder games. But somehow, the original Infinity are unsurpassed. The newer Unity engine iso-RPGs look more polished, but it's not quite what it was. Infinity had... soul, charm, heart.
@@Stoigniew666 Pillars of Eternity games have in my opinion much less engaging combat mechanics than the Infinity Engine games but the quality of worldbuilding, roleplaying, story, voice acting etc. especially in the sequel is well beyond those of Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale and rival Planescape Torment.
There is Icewind Dale 2 Enhanced Edition (Highquality Fan Mod/Non Beamdog) The moddergroup is called Red Chimera Group(found in Beamdog Forums) the project is beta and 100% playable. It brings improvements like enemies using new lorefriendly abilities, overall improvement like instant save/load,smoother gameplay, improved areas, tons of new skills&ands feets,overall rebalancing and much more.
the mod project shows how "could" other Enhanced Edition Games from Beamdog could work too.
That mod absolutely butchers a lot of things from the original, i dunno what they are thinking
Thank you for this. I generally feel like my love for this game is a minority in the gaming community as a whole and when I mention it as one of my top 10 RPGs, I usually get heckled.
There is so much to love about this game, and you touched on most of it. I, especially as an angsty teenager, really felt that the Legion of the Chimera was a fantastic antagonist and I agree, the plot grabs you immediately in a way that the original ultimately failed with. The importance of skills/abilities is also REALLY understated. I remember the first time I played it, I min/maxed my tank, and when encountering a goblin commander had to navigate through the entire conversation with nothing but grunts - not the canned responses present in BG1 and BG2. If I remember correctly, the goblin asked if I was alright - which was hilarious.
@@YeOldEntertainment Stone to flesh a statue and it works?! That is something I would only expect in a pencil and paper D&D experience. I started another playthrough early last week, and will definitely check that out.
I think this review absolutely hit the nail on the head. 10/10. i happened to have enjoyed the dragons eye dungeon, and thought it quite entertaining. i got more stuck at durlags tower than i did this, but i understand how you can see some of it a bit unfair and even frustrating. btw, loved the shout out in the video. actually quite nice, and also adds to the specialness you have with this channel and the interactivity between you and your community. this was by far my favorite review you did, and you did this game great justice.
Thanks man. Well I expect the channel to become about the community down the line. I think that's where the real value is in channels like this.
@@YeOldEntertainment well, you're doing great so far
Shit play on the hardest difficulty with heart of fury turned on as starting characters. Dragons Eye is massively hard. Hold person will get you thru most of the game tho except the undead.
Hah I absolutely love eye of the dragon dungeon, everything there is actually logical and "clicks". But that volcanic time loop is the least enjoyable part of the game for me...
Always preferred Icewind Dale 2 too Baldurs Gate 2, which I know is an unpopular thought. But I have replayed Icewind Dale 2 like 15 times only replayed Baldurs Gate 2 once ever. That shows you how much I love it.
Arundel sending you to Kresselack was probably still himself. When he sand you to yuaan ti, he's a demon. So, first quest: he send for help from Easthaven and honestly dodn't know who is attacking Kuldahar, pointing you to Valley of Shadows. Second quest he's a demon and he want you to do his dirty work.
Ah, i recently played it with a paladin and after each section i used detect evil. The thing is Arundel that sends you to dragons eye is still the Real Arundel, he gets replaced right when you are at the dragons eye attemting to defeat the Yan-Ti Demon Xi...mei something. Also the kid outside also says that there was a man entering Arundels Hut. It looks like the real Arundel sent you unknowingly to dragons eye. But it wasn't wrong they where still capturing Villigers.
@@Knurrbauch1 Oh, that's really interesting! Thanks for sharing it!
Absolutely my favorite game ever. I've played normal too many times but Heart of Fury mode is insane. Still cannot beat it. I'm at the end of Fellwood and stuck.
You mean with the bunch of trolls that come immediately after? That requires some... "petting" hehehe
Not the trolls. The dendroids or ents or whatever they were called.
make new game, play through it all as a group or at least front line, deep gnomes
if need, play it yet again :P to get levels
then do Heart of Fury
makes HUGE difference in survivability
also, use summoned critters t soak up the damage first
@@silverbladeTE I think he's talking HoF with a fresh party.
@@toprak3479 yes I know but you need ot work up their levels/gear before you go into HoF mode :)
i.e. a regular playthrough first
Finally the wait is over. Awesome video.
Thanks! Finally managed to finish it... it wasn't easy! Most difficult review yet. Glad you liked it!
@@YeOldEntertainment I love the games and thanks to your videos I'm looking at them in a slightly different way.
And one thing. I'm can't see Neverwinter Nights 1 video anywhere. Have you decided to skip it?
The only thing missing from ID in my opinion is unique characters and party dialogue like BG. Though being able to customize your characters abilities is great.
The only flaws are the lack of subplots, the linear gameplay and lack of good NPC's and dialogue that is good or important.
One of the best things is they used edition 3.0 as opposed to 2nd edition, makes character creation a lot better.
There's a mod that adds companions to IWDII who are well on par with those of BG2, and some are actually integrated into the story as well.
I was waiting THIS, thanks Alex
Thank you for your comment! Let's hope you like the review.
I hope they make a new Icewind dale games running on the old Infinity Engine.
It's nice to find a RUclips game reviewer who isn't far-left. For the game: this was my first infinity engine game and I LOVED it. Also, because of the focus on combat, I was able to DOMINATE Baldur's Gate (which I played next, and has easier combat IMO). I almost never hear positive things about IWD2, I appreciate you giving it a fair shake.
Thanks man! I absolutely loved it. I'm still scratching my head about how to make some time for a second playthrough. Yes, the combat here is definitely more tactical and challenging than in the first Baldur's Gate and I'd say even better than in Baldur's Gate II also. Thanks for leaving a reply!
Thank you for the review. Thanks for your time.
oh no, thanks to you for watching!
Amazing review, makes me wanna play the game, and i will surely do it after watching this.
Thanks! It was awesome yes. Hope you have a great time with it!
I'm late as always. The review is very much appreciated, Thank You!
Just wanted to say that some of these tracks in IwD2 like the one you mention at 22:00, but also one in the Ice Temple, are only about 30 seconds long. So that may be where the issue stems from.
It's also one of the reasons why I think I still prefer the first game. It seemed more coherent to me in terms of narrative, but I also just prefer the soundtrack and the environments we travel through. It's still kind of convoluted, but I think returning to Kuldahar so often is a connective element that is lacking in IwD2.
It probably also helps that IwD is a bit easier and that it isn't as long (90 hours (!) for IwD2). Not that IwD2 was that difficult overall, but for instance Chapter 1 was quite trial-and-errorish and the last bossfight annoyingly has no autosave or anything else in between both phases. Which makes it unnecessarily frustrating.
But yeah, more dialogue reactivity and a bit more complexity to the various situations were very much appreciated. Same goes for having more possiblities for character and group building.
Overall some good some bad, but I think I still prefer the first one. But there are a few years between my playthroughs of both games.
Edit: I played through it for the first time in 2019 I think, so my impressions are fairly fresh.
No worries. I was this close to naming this Channel "late to the party" instead of YEO, but I think someone beat me to it. For me Icewind Dale II is hands down better than the the first one. It even beats the handicap of being played (by me) for the first time in 2021 while I played the first one when it was fresh out of the oven. (Or perhaps games have gotten less impressive over the years and that's why this one swept me off my feet. Go figure).
And now i feel like playing it again. Thanks.
Yeah. It's contagious!
@@YeOldEntertainmentCouple more videos from you and i wont have time for sleeping, because i Will be playing 20 year old games.
I'm playing these old games because I'm not really crazy with the colorful, turnbased style of Divinity games, and now, Baldur's Gate 3. They have the feel of the Dragon Age series more than the original Baldur's Gate.
I rather see more of the Planescape Torment style and Pillars of Eternity games.
This game really shines in the amount of character customization at your disposal. You can absolutely clear through the game playing vanilla characters, but there's nothing stopping you from multiclassing several times for class bonuses and bypassing item restrictions.
That's where it shines, yes! I've not multiclassed yet myself, but maybe I will for my next play
through.
There is a nice mod in the making for this game called IWD2 EE, you should try it out!
Subscribed! Thanks for reviewing my childhood
Thanks my man! I'll try to skip the traumatic moments of your childhood! :D Thansks for the sub.
After Pathfinder and Pillars 2 its really hard to get back into these older games..
Nah. After a few minutes of "man this user experience is dated" you'll be saying "aaah these were the days". I think this one is still a better adventure than those 2 (and I like Pillars 2 a lot).
@@YeOldEntertainment Its all about personal opinion i guess, once i find a better game in mechanics, graphics, etc. its hard for me to go back to something less. Since i played Pathfinder wotr i tend to compare all crpgs i play to that one as its the best one i ever played and im gaming since 1996. As for Pillars, its a shame they are done with it, but Im looking forward to Avowed.
Never played IWD 1 or 2 would still love to see a 3 on current and next gen. Rich deep story and world. Looks fun
Good review,I am totally agree with you about Dragon's Eye section,I hardly held myself to look at walk-through because this place is annoying and crawling with unobvious riddles and it reused old assets from original game. By the way I could say the same to Ice Temple and Fell Wood segments,they are interesting for first time and hard though,but if you want to replay game,you screwed,I have suspicion that developers had a competition "how to prolong gameplay",and they did damn good.
About music,it is not bad,but tracks are too short to feel atmosphere, my favorites are Kuldahar Theme,the Severed Hand in final battle,Skeleton of Town in Targos town and Choose the Hero,it is not played anywhere but it supposed to be played at character creation stage. Btw at 21:45 it is not battle music it just some kind of intro music its called "Lair of Horrors"
I really like roleplaying there, your class and stats are matter.Level design is minimalistic as it is,just snow and ice,but it is quite beautiful,finally the game fits its name Icewind dale,there are icewind dales unlike 1st game!However Yuanti (serpent) Temple is whole the same,it sucks and feel like laziness.I also like breaking of 4th wall,when npcs are talking about game mechanics ,this is the gem.And the last thing ,if you want to replay this game for some reason then install unfinished business mod ,it restores couple if npc and encounters and the Enhanced edition from fans which has a ton of optional quality life improvements, I could sent it to you,EE in closed testing now you cannot reach it so easy.
I was very impressed with this game and I'm still figuring out when yo play it again. Need to find the time for that!
I've been unable to get the GOG version to run at all on my current PC. Any tips? I've scoured the internet, but nothing has worked for me :/
In the forum is a post about this, I remember looking it up as i played it myself. Was a simple workaround I think
Was my favourite Infinity Engine game. I was always more of a combat orientated RPG player, but IWD2 does have a LOT of story and atmosphere. Just less dialogue which is fine with me.
The game is EPIC. It's HUGE. And it's not difficult! You're supposed to play smart and slowly, and approach combat in a way that uses the merits of your party and plays to the enemies weakness.
I loved the game, played through it numerous times, and never get tired of it.
Hey.
Play the SSI Goldbox games. They deserve to be on this list.
I've always been curious about them.
@@YeOldEntertainment
Palpatine voice:
Dewit
@@Mrkyleuvkewl hehe
play the UA toolbox game;
Unlimited Adventures lets people 'build their own' goldbox game
and some enterprising scholars have made adaptations of all the classic modules like Tomb of Horrors, Against the Giants etc.
as well as thousands of original modules.
how does one get this game working on modern machines? last time i heard the source code was lost and so no remastered version can be made of this specific game
The GOG version is ready to go. No additional trickery or fiddling needed in my experience.
Minor quibble (you only say it once after all), but 3E does not have the *Advanced* Dungeons & Dragons moniker. When WotC bought TSR they dropped that particular bit from the name.
TSR had the *Advanced* in the title to avoid paying royalties to Dave Arneson. WotC just paid him off with a lump sum, so to speak.
I gotta say I was a diehard BG>IWD proponent in my youth, but age has made the IWDs grow on me. Probably helps that there are (well written) NPC packs around for them now ^ ^;
Yes, that is correct.
May I ask what an npc pack does?
@@GodOfPlague Pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It introduces joinable NPCs into IWD, complete with banters, lovetalks and interjections (like in the Baldur's Gate series).
I'm still less than convinced about 3Ed mechanics, I started playing on Basic, 1st Ed AD&D and (mainly ) 2Ed, I never had a problem with THAC0 or proficiencies. Maybe I'm just an old fart who doesn't want to let go of the past but I used to love wandering down to my local shop (Virgin, I think) and buying the latest TSR release, and there were an awful lot of them lol.
@@Para2normal Personal opinion alert, but I feel like 3E is, mechanically, one of the worst editions of D&D overall.
As Ye Old Entertainment points out in the video, compared to older editions, 3E has a lot more bobs and bits to adjust and fiddle with while creating and leveling up your character.
This is both its greatest strength (LOTS of people love the sheer amount of customizability and choices, as 3E's huge popularity to this day can attest to) and simultaneously its most glaring weakness...considering it lead to the game's balance being snapped in half like a twig.
Now first of all, you don't need *perfect* balancing in a tabletop RPG (heck, you probably don't even want it), but without at least some semblance of it, the game *will* be negatively affected. This is basically what happened in 3E.
Class balance is utterly broken. Literally, the community grades classes in 6 tiers of power, if you pick a tier 6 class because the name or concept sounded nice and someone else at the table picks a tier 1 class you'll eventually find yourself twiddling your thumbs while the other guy resolves every situation (whether social or combat) before you even know what's happening.
Multiclassing is broken. You either end up with a mangled piece of garbage if you don't know what you're doing, or an overpowered combination abomination.
The caster/martial divide is the biggest here it's ever been. Most mundane skills effectively become worthless eventually.
Feats range from +2 to underwater basket weaving to 100+ extra damage damage while charging.
The list goes on (and on...and on) for basically every aspect of the game.
3E was such a *major* deviation from the up-till-then established D&D formula that the designers largely didn't know what they were doing. Only in the later years of the edition's life cycle did class design and balance notably improve comparatively.
Really looking forward for Neverwinter Nights 2 Review, that game is truly an underrated flawed masterpiece
Ouch... well... hopefully you won't hate if I don't entirely share that opinion.
@@YeOldEntertainment Nooooooooooo(Darth Vader scene)
Nah.. i think is the worst Dnd game
I only played through it twice, the first I barely remembered and didn't finish so I returned a couple of years ago.
I made things very difficult on myself and limited my starting party to 2, the difficulty forced me to add 2 more and it got better.
The game feels like it was designed for ad&d but plays like early 3.0 so it was a little off putting but I enjoyed it.
Oswald is my favourite character, I liked the idea of a half-dragon blocking my path but Sherincal was a bit of a let down.
And the final villains where a shame, I agree hearing about them was more interesting than meeting them...such a shame.
Voice acting was superb!
I hold off for a long time on IW2 as I heard about high difficulty (I disposed Kingmaker for example), but I was surprises how much I liked it when I played it. Difficulty felt fair and tactically challenging rather then checking my knowledge of D&D buffs and debuffs - that’s not a feat that any other D&D game managed - they are either boringly easy or frustratingly specific in required solution.
Spot on, mate that's exactly what I liked about Icewind Dale II, it never felt like a test of knowledge on buffs, debuffs, effects and counter-effects!
For me, Skyrim and Icewind Dale 2 are at the top of my favorites list. For just wanting to live in the game, Skyrim wins hands-down. For game play, challenge, team structure, combat style, it's Icewind Dale 2 all the way. Loved this game!
Your analysis is pretty stellar. The granularity you use when you break games down offers up a massive amount of insight into the titles you review.
You often throw clips of other games into your videos. Many of these games look awesome and I want to play them. But you sometimes don't actually reference the games during your discussion. I would love it if you put the names of games on the screen when you show clips from them.
Thanks and I am eagerly awaiting new content you create.
You can't imagine how much I needed to read this. I've been taking truckloads of flack in that last two days. I've even thought of ending the channel. As a shout to you, I'll try to add the names of every game I reference whenever I use them as examples. Thanks!
@@YeOldEntertainment
Wow... that sucks. Not sure why people are attacking you.
I played many of the games you featured on your channel when they first released.
Watching your videos has brought back dozens of fond memories of playing those games.
On top of that, you have revealed aspects of these games that I either never knew about, or had forgotten.
I even find myself tempted to replay games like Dragon Age Origins, which I dismissed as a single player WoW clone when it released. I quit playing it mid way through because I hated the game play and felt the story was forced.
Watching your videos has made me rethink this and contemplate how much fun it might be.
I'd love to see you tackle other franchises, like the older Elder Scrolls games going back to Daggerfall, Wasteland, Fallout 1 and 2, late Wizardry games, Gothic, Deus Ex, and others.
@@paladinpariah325 wow made me miss a lot of rpgs just cause i rathter had been doing the same thing in wow. but that all went away when in single player rpgs i can actually do all the content without elitist telling me im not geared enough.
@@YeOldEntertainment dont quit your videos are starting to get a lot of views. sometimes people come off as mean on the internet but its cause your reading. plus 90% of the time people on the internet are assholes cause they dont have any consequences other than getting blocked or ignored.
@@kigeruse Well thanks man. Not sure what to make of the "cause your reading" part. But thanks I'll the same. I think I'll stay a while longer to say how things work.
Played it on the ol' days dubbed in spanish, it was a gem. It was a borrowed copy. When I bought at GOG - as multilingual - it only had spanish subs (and interface). If you never touched it, I highly recommend you go for it. Good luck, tho.
(and if by chance you get across it, please tell me where and how)
I passed on this one back in the day. Played it for the first time in 2021 and I was blown away. Truly one of the best games ever.
I come and rewatch this every once in awhile cause my computer is broken and I can't just load it up 😂
The fact that the source code was lost is a complete injustice, giving this game the enhanced edition treatment is really needed.
I still play this game - more often even than BG2.
Admittedly, it's often as level 1 solo character HoF start, just to see if I can complete the prologue with whatever restrictions I give myself. Conclusion: summons good - everything else bad. And Animate Dead is broken. I've proved I can get through everything except the final siege battle with a no summon spells (items are OK though) party too. I think I could eventually win even that with a couple of high speed ranged characters and lots of ammo.
I invested around total of 200hr on iwd2. I love it. I love the background, music,combat and all the areas I can travel too. It was hard asf but omg I enjoyed every second of it. Someone should make iwd2 mod for nwn2. I would fucking pay.
I have played IWD1 and it's not so hard for me on basic rules.(Yes, I've played BG1 and 2 too).But I never played IWD2. Can you explain what is so hard about second game?
I am an CRPG lover, who played BG1, BG2, PoE 1, PoE 2, Tyranny, and more... With Icewind Dale I always struggled touching it because many people describe it as an "story-less DnD fighting simulator". Would you guys still recommend playing this to me, as an very story-focused player?
Yes hands down, yes! I was in the same camp as you. I wasn't crazy about the first one and everyone kept repeating how linear this was. And story and plot are important to me. This one has no branching paths that make the story turn this way or that way but the story is good, high-stake and compelling. And there ARE decision nodes (check the video at about 9:32 to see what I mean. And it goes for 9.99 on GOG. This is a no-brainer man. Give it a shot!
@@YeOldEntertainment Thank you so much for the reply! Alright, then I'll start my adventure this weekend :-) Until then, I start deciding on which party-setup I choose. I did not watch until 9:32 as I feared some spoiler to be coming my way, so I stopped at ~6:00. How spoiler-free is the part where you talk bout story/decision/nodes? Howsoever, great video and great channel! Just found you recently. Keep it going! One last question: how would you rate the story compared to other big names (BG, PoE, Torment, DoS, Tyranny...)?
I remeber the dragon fight, took 3 seconds, since Finger of Death hit.
I can't get past that part where you have to run around with flame spouting statues and a couple of monsters chasing you. Even on easy lol. Other than that, liked it alot
It takes a little bit of trial and error
@@YeOldEntertainment Thanks for your site. Good stuff! Check out Redneck Rampage! A great oldy!
You actually don't have to fight the guardian if you don't want to. If you simply wipe out all of the Yuan-Ti it counts as completing that quest. Iselore says something like ''did you simply defeat them through force of arms?''.
There you go
That dragon fight would've marked the end of many playthroughs if it was mandatory
My favourite infinity engine game
Would love to see a Icewind Dale 3, except maybe in a Conan Exiles, Dragon Age style game engine.
I dream of a D&D game in a Conan Exiles-like engine!
@@MedievalFantasyTV Sounds fun.
It is a fantastic game, the challenge is pretty epic, and the game is LONG AS HELL ! I love it and still play ID2
I fell in love with it.
Hah, I was a big fan of this - IWD2 is actually a bit controversial. This is the last version of the isometric party based infinity(ish) engines prior to NWN. I was really excited about it because I loved IWD1 and BG2. I even tried a very failed attempt at writing an IWD1Tutu mod - really wanted it to work - but auto conversion really doesn't work between these engines - they are much further apart then BG1 and BG2. Having said all that =D IWD2 is kind of a grind they way IWD1 is - you either like it or you don't. I really do miss the open world of BG2-SoA with the IWD games...
Oh wow, and I forgot about Dragon's Eye - they may be a community fix pack for some of those problems you found - I'm pretty sure the game was rushed at the end of development...
Also - I agree about the tactics and 3.5 rule set. They worked very well together in IWD2 - I really wish Bioware had pushed this further instead of dropping it for NWN...
think it's worth it since I tried to run an early release of BG3 on my toaster and it started emitting smoke. think I'm sticking to oldschool rpgs until I can afford a new pc xD
Iwd is the fallout tactics of the infinity engine game. It’s more about mechanics than story game. I don’t complain, it’s the more beautifull and difficult infinity game. I love all the infinity game! Best crpg ever!
Honestly, just art and music of this game is worth playing it.
This game has a lot more going for it than that, but yes, the music in both Icewind Dale games is ridiculously awesome!
@@YeOldEntertainment for sure, but it's Justin Sweet's art and the music that does it for me, makes me come back every couple of years
Love this game! Too bad we may never see an Icewind Dale 2 Enhanced Edition because they lost the code and would have to program it from scratch...
First time I played the game 20 years ago, Dragon's Eye Dungeon did not annoy me. It annoyed me last year when I replayed the game. For 20 years, games have spoiled us with easy modes and user friendliness.
I right now trying to beat it with solo warrior, it's quite fun (tho battle squares were INSANLY slow). I did it already with BG1 and ID1 so, next would be BD2 I guess...
Battle squares is boring. I skip it everytime.
Icewind dale 2 is so criminally underrated!
Yeah man! I don't understand why!
That skeleton of a town theme
I see alot of back and forth on IWD2 but personally... I fucking love it. I love the art, the vibe, the mood the game creates... So as much shit as I get, it's my favorite infinity engine D&D game even above Baldur's gate 2 and planescape ... In no way am I saying they are bad games, just IWD2 really hits for me, good areas, good battles, good music, good art.... And yea, the 3rd edition character creation system is beautiful ❤️, definitely slightly better than 2nd edition character creation... The way skills and saves work 😁 *kisses* is beautiful
IWD2 is, to me, the best IE game ever released. I loved this game so much. I find its setting and soundtrack way more immersive than the ones from the BG series. Sadly, it never received an enhanced edition, and running it in a modern computer sux big.
I wouldn't day it sucks. Back in the say I skipped this one. I played it for the first time last year and I was impressed! Loved it instantly. But I guess someone young or new to crpgs altogether might think so.
Thank you! Love this review. It's a fav game of mine even though everyone I know who played it, hated it.
I think most people in the comment section here like it. I hadn't played it before and I freaking loved it!
well, I'm not buying or playing BG3 ever, it's only game which used BG title to sell better but has nothing to do with original saga. iwd series tho are worth being played every year and that will never change. wish they could make 3rd part but not being so modern made like bg3 it could be more like ee versions but new part of iwd games so we could have trilogy
Why did yall post the video in 4:3 format?
Yes. The answer is always yes.
The good is, GOG version of the game, coming with fixed DirectDraw emulation, so graphics dont drop the fps when many enemies or huge sprites are on the screen. Because the game released and supported the DD from old Geforce nvidia graphics (it run fast and smooth on this old card) but not on next generation GPUs even if they was more powerful. DirectDraw abandoned , so need the emulation to run the game smoothly!
Yes. I do get fps drops here and there when the the fights get too busy. But nothing serious.
This and BG 3 were my favorite games as a child. Glad it's getting the recognition it deserves.
Is there any chance to IWD2 Enchanted Edition? I love this game more than BGI, II and IWD I
I think they'd have to do a full remake because apparently the code has been lost or it's otherwise not easily enhanceable. Although there seems to be a fan-made mod pack that overhauls it quite decently. I haven't tried myself. But I really like the game as it is, so I have to no problem giving it a second shot. Just need to find the time.
Honestly it's also able to run pretty well with minimum bugs when comparing it to the other games.
Did you use stone to flesh on the sphinx? I was amazed it actually worked when I tried it, the sphinx actually have a dialog and stuff. Amazing game
What??! Now I'm definitely going to go for a second play through!
I don't even remember a sphinx from this game what the hell lol
What? What Sphinx?
Do you mean Chimera creature?
Difficulty is fine! If he is a noob that's his issue not the games particularly as a sequel. Sick and tired of people blaming difficulty.
Who said it was difficult or blamed the game for being difficult?
He said the game wasn't overly difficult on medium and hard though.
It is fine, but it is quite hard if you do not know how system works, you have to be quite well informed about this type of games to be able to build proper team.
I was a bit confused by incorporation of D&D 3 rules - probably 'cause I really didn't appreciate its potential. Enjoyed the combat systems though. Some really tedious quests - like traversing the magic forests - seemed needlessly complicated. Also when I played it was bugged toward the end and I was unable to finish so ultimately a very unsatisfying experience. So much wish it had the same system as IWD 1 - which I loved and replayed many times.
One of dearest
Shit that fight with the Hook horrors was hard as hell.
i had evocation wizard and druid so everything but the black dragon guarding the yan-ti temple and the last boss fight were pretty easy.
@@juusovuolle8251 I actually like the first icewind dale better. Cleric/mage is what i always play and icewind dale 2 never added prestige classes so i couldn't do that.
I'd wish I could get into IWD but, IWD seems to lean more toward gameplay, unlike BG2.
thats it.. im sucked in.. lets start IWD2 for the 4th time
Excellent! Happy adventuring!
People always compare IWD and BG2, and always prefer BG2. I can understand why, even though I consider them equal at the end of the day.
IWD actually did many things better than BG2... The soundtrack, the voice-acting, sound in general, artwork/artstyle, portraits, scroll/spell art, the amazing stone-and-wood menus/interface, atmosphere, and level design. The places you go to in Icewind Dale 1 are truly memorable. From Kuldahar, to Vale of Shadows, with its tombs and mystical statues, to Dorn's Deep and Temple of the Forgotten God, again with so much atmosphere and feeling of ancient, mystical and forgotten to it.
The narrative feels decent until the latter stages, when it turns out that the story reaches a very lame conclusion. But up until the conclusion of chapter 4, maybe even chapter 5, I found it very appealing to form this expedition that needed to investigate and search for this "hidden evil" that Arch-Druid Arundel always spoke about. His voice actor (Jim Cummings) succesfully really created a sense of urgency and danger - time being of the essence.
Of course, BG2 had companions, and quite a few of them were incredibly well done, rich in detail, and very interesting. That's where BG2 shines and is superior, in addition to not being a dungeon-crawler. It's more story-driven. Most RPGs struggle to make interesting NPC companions, so fundamentally I'm not necessarily negative to the IWD approach of creating your own party. It really depends on the quality and depth of the companions. There is somethign appealing to creating your own stories too for your own characters...
As for the story itself in BG2 - it is actually overrated in my opinion. It served a purpose, but the story is not what made BG2 great. "Man stole your soul, and you chase him to win it back". That's basically an accurate summary of the story. It was everything else that made the BG 2 great. It's scale, size, relative free-roaming and companions, and it was more personal.
Icewind Dale II introduces feats and skills, which is great, and the prologue and chapter 1 are great, and overall the game is very good, but the quality drops progressively for each chapter. The production was apparently troublesome for Black Isle, and it shows from the fact that the game got off to a great start, only to wane progresively, as I said. The game is inferior to both BG 2 and IWD 1, which remains the joint best two RPGs of all time, in my opinion. But my advice is to play IWD II, if you haven't already. There is an "unofficial" Enhanced Edition of IWD II in the making, by the way, if you're interest. It's not made by Beamdog, but by fans I think. You can find info on the Beamdog forums. look it up if you're interested.
Its a shame the IWD2 source code has been lost and Beamdog can't do an enhanced edition because I feel IWD2 would be the game that benefits the most from a EE. In my opinion it is the best of the Infinity Engine games.
i love this game, and can't understand why there is not a enhanced edition with ccnsequent console release.
I still play it now. HoF mode
OMG transparency is so messed up in IWD2 vs Win10, it didn't age too well. The fog of war and spell effects suffer.
I run it on DXwnd to fix the angled fog of war.
i liked this more than the other infinity engines games, you probaly wanna hack your characters though to make them stronger. So disappointing beamdog couldn't modernize this. I liked this more than bg2 as while this was also very long you always feel like you're in a book or something on a linear journey.
It is indeed great. I didn't miss the modernization too much though. I think it's really good as it is.
Why couldn't Beamdog modernize this? Any special reason? That always bugged me... Also, the fact I can't buy it on Steam.
@@MedievalFantasyTV they somehow lost all the game code, or something. I always liked the graphics and races more than the previous 3. I started playing through again after watching, i've never played through as a lawful evil type party.
@@danm3570 Wow. Black Isle did a really shod job of preserving its assets... This is not the first time I hear about their carelessness.
Imo a game shouldn't be allowed to use the "enhanced edition" feature if the graphics hasn't been improved.
I'm bad at video games. I kept getting absolutely STOMPED post Targos
Nooo! perhaps try a different party build or something, but try to endure a bit, this game is a truly awesome gem from the early 2000's.
Where you can buy this game?It's not on steam.
It's on GOG for 10$!
@@YeOldEntertainment Thanks
@@asai667 No probs man. This is a ridiculous price for a game that's +80 hours of gameplay and a fair bit of replay value. If you liked Baldur's Gate or if CRPGs are you thing and you don't mind getting your hands dirty with some early 2000's mechanics, this worth way more than the price of the admission.
@@YeOldEntertainment I will check it out for sure.
Wtf what mods are being used?? It looks like Enhanced Edition
It would be nice if Windows 10 could run this...
I ran it on windows 10.
@@YeOldEntertainment I have a copy of the game on CD from around 2005 (bought in the Windows XP era). Tried to install it. Game installed, but couldn't run - asked for administrator's account. I tried to open game with "run as administrator", but nothing happend. Game uninstalled, at least for now.
Last time I played it it was on the old laptop with Windows XP, I was in the Yuan-Ti temple- that with the dragon at the end. I hope I could finish the game someday.
@@23trekkie Well. You could get the GOG version for ten bucks. I can think of worse ways to spend 10.00$
Also I agree Dragon's Eye is the worst place in this game... but it does make the rest seem even better. Sweet and sour.
The rest of the stuff in this game far outweighs the problems this dungeon has. This is lightning in a bottle.
its a shame the source code has been lost to time so we'll never get an enhanced edition of this game.... one of the last games black isle studios and wizards of the coast worked on
I liked the game. But somehow felt more like strategy (Fallout tactics, maybe?) than RPG.
Lol, Unlike Baldur's Gate "I wish this game had been 100% non-voiced"!
Hehehe. not where Icewind Dale II shines.
Answer: YES:)
This game is epic ... So simple
sadly it's not enhanced, but modders are working on ut. 800x600 res is horrible lmao