Krikkert

Some might call it a dungeon crawler, but I say it was much more. There certainly was a story. I would agree that the conclusion to the story was a bit simple and could have been a bit better, but the whole way to the end was awesome. There is no more combat in IWD vs monsters etc. than in BG2, the story was simply more linear, which is why some label it a dungeon crawler. I would say that linear is usually not a good thing, but in IWD's case the linearity kept the story focused and created a sense of urgency that BG2 never had. Most of the game is spent searching for answers you do not yet have, looking for this "unknown evil" (as Arundel would put it). The game succeeds in creating that feeling of urgency and importance, that this is "do or die" for the people who live in Icewind Dale, and possibly beyond. So the lack of side-quests and secondary content feels about right, as your characters need to push on find the answers they seek, there's no time for anything else, and the game ended up being of significant and satisfactory length nonetheless. You compare with BG, and let's be honest - BG1 doesn't reach BG2 to the knees in terms of story, content, interaction and so forth. So I think BG2 is the natural comparison to IWD. They were even released more or less at the exact same time, in 2000. In BG2 you've "lost your soul" or somesuch to Irenicus, or at least been reduced, and you need to regain what has been lost, and yet you have the time to do so-called fed-ex quests and secondary side-quests aplenty. The result is that BG2 never had that sense of urgency that IWD had, despite your life hanging in the balance. IWD also didn't have many of those childish elements seen in BG, such as talking swords and spacehamsters and... well, the list goes on. You'd often get the sense that BG was trying to reach out to a child audience. The underlying tone in IWD was always serious and grave, which I always appreciated. It's also the whole frame around the game in IWD. The art, the visuals, the sound, the amazing soundtrack, the spectacular level designs, and the absolute magic of the region Icewind Dale, so remote and "forgotten", so shut off from the rest of Faerun. The whole atmosphere and feeling around the place and the story, it was unique. Don't get me wrong, I loved BG2 too, but IWD stand shoulder-to-shoulder with BG2 in my book, probably taller too. But opinions differ, of course. That's fair. But to label IWD a simple dungeon crawler is not fair in any sort of way. For the record, I don't think that the actual story itself of neither BG nor IWD can measure up to some of the best novels I've read. But that's how ambitious a game developer ought to be, in my opinion, on the narrative side of the things.

Yeah. A matter of creative freedom then.

Cuz they liek, own Obz. Seriously ? Oh, well. Ok.

Yeah. I know Obsidian doesn't have the licence, which is why I spoke of obtaining it in my original post. I'm just unsure why Microsoft would be in the picture. It seems strange to me that Microsoft having the licence would help Obsidian towrads this end, but again, maybe I'm missing something here. Either way, I would find it extremely odd, and unlikely, that Obsidian wouldn't want to make IWD 3, and possibly more after that. They know how much the fans cherish IWD, and one should think that the people involved in making IWD would feel the same way. For all I know, maybe they did try to obtain licence. I just know I miss it, and live in some futile hope that we'll all travel back to the dale some day.

Yeah. Kresselack the Black Wolf. "Promise? I made you no promise, adventerurer." There weren't many voiced characters in the game (or in any game in general at the time), but the the ones that were; Kresselack, Arundel, Everard, Larrel and such, great voice acting. Always a highlight encountering them. Lots of highlights in that game to be sure. Why is it important that Microsoft has the licence? Am I missing something? Has it to do with cost/finances or creative freedom? I admit I don't know whether we are talking about great sums when buying a licence like this. I also imagine that there potentially could be a matter of the developers having their hands tied a little on the creative side of things if the owners of D&D (Wizards of the Coast, is it?) say you can't do this and you can't that. So I imagine that if obtaining the licence it would have to be With full freedom.

So, Fergus and Josh, and whoever else are there from the good old days (Black Isle), when will you throw everything else to the side and return *home* to Icewind Dale?? I'm talking about Icewind Dale 3. and IWD 4. and IWD 5... and possibly IWD 6, eventually. If this doesn't tickle players' fancy, then I don't know what will? Many Obsidians on these forums may be too young to have played the blockbuster work of art the original game from 2000 happened to be (and they may not have played the sequel either), at least not when it was fresh and sitting top of the world. It's time to take RPG home to the dale, for the old guard's sake, such as me, having passed 30 now, and for the younger generation. No? Surely, it can't be impossible to obtain the necessary licence(s) to get going with this? What are you waiting for??? I've been waiting for IWD 3 for some 17 years now, and I'm still waiting. I'm aching to return to the dale, the north beckons. Even to this day, I've never laid eyes on a place more magical than the town of Kuldahar. I want to return. I need to return. Vale fo Shadows, Temple of the Forgotten God, Dorn's Deep, you name it... The feeling we had while walking through those great halls, temples and dungeons was that of sheer ancient and mystery. Not to mention the history that clung to the walls of these places, of which you could learn bits and pieces by reading journals and written pages you came across as you explored… Sometimes, almost out of the blue, that gloriously pompous main theme of Jeremy Soule's come to me in my mind, as well as other themes from the soundtrack, and there's a mixture of nostalgic beauty and a stab of disappointment as I feel how much I miss the place. Do move IWD 3 to the top of your list of priorities

I enjoyed investigating Vale of Shadows in Icewind Dale, which eventually led to the meeting with Kresselack the black wolf in the deepest place of the catacombs. I generally like investigation-quests, so long as there's a good reason for investigating. So I liked Icewind Dale - lots of investigating and searching for the Heartstone gem in amazing and mysterious places. Investigating the troubles in Umar Hills and eventually beating the whole Shade Lord dungeon in BGII was cool. The Anomen Delryn Quest involving the murder of his sister and the bitterness of his father. Good drama Great quest. I liked repelling the troll invasion of Arnise Keep as well. And also rescuing the slaves/gladiators in the copper coronet. NWN had a few cool quests too. I have trouble remembering the locations and stuff so I'll leave it be...

If they're 8 cool and interesting companions, then it should be enough. 8 well-made companions is better than 4 well-made and 10 mediocre companions says I

All I did in Dragon Age 2 was being bored of Hawke, and just desparetly trying to listen to gossip about my old character from Dragon Age 1. He married the Queen and became a prince when I left him. He became a king over the years and was said to be a 'good ruler' along with his wife. I giggled with glee before I glanced back to Hawke and the current party he was with and I sighed. Hawke's a tool and I don't like his voice. Isabela is a terrible person who takes no responsibility and she's not someone you'd stick around with for ten years. She is someone you meet at a brothel and include in a threesome/foursome before you ditch her. Oh wait that happened in the Origins. But that was the perfect role for her. She isn't 'friend material'. However, you don't get that many other likable party members so you let her stick around. On that note, Merril and Fenris are about as exciting as a doorknob. Varric is.. actually, he's okay. Anders and Sebastian are such catty people. The men act like sh*tty girls. The girls act like sh*tty men. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! It's frustrating. I didn't really like that many from the old party except for Alistair, Shale, and Oghren, but the others were also my peeps. But I say: Let the main character continue in the second game, and have some of the old popular party members be in it, like in Mass Effect 2. If you don't like the new crew, then at least you got something to fall back upon. Hehe. No wonder you missed the guys from Origins, coz DA2 was terrible, terrible, dreadful, weak. I only played DA2 for 10 hours, that's how weak it was, nothing like Origins

I'd do all in power to save BOTH Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and Icewind Dale, or die trying, which wud obviously result in failure and me saving none of them.... :S

I want an ending that does not directly continue in a sequel. Don't get me wrong; sequels are good, but when our main-character have been the hero of the day once, that's enough. That character's story is over and their time in the limelight is over. New characters will "take up the torch" so to speak in sequels to come

Quality ALWAYS comes ahead of quantity, ALWAYS. That's like a ground rule. But why not have lots of quantity which is also full of quality ?

I agree with the OP. All weapons and armor shud look realistic and practical. A sword so big that realiticly it wud take 3-4 grown men to lift it is NOT cool. So tired of that in RPGs

Such childish cheats is a waste of time and has nothing to do with the game. A serious gamer doesn't use cheats to turn people into squirrels and chickens.

Turn-based can be cool. Real-time-pause is cool too. I think Temple of Elemental evil, which had turn-based combat, was great in terms of combat and gameplay, so there's a proof that turn-based can be great. But the complete lack of a real main-story line unfortunately stopped the game from being as great as it could have been. Anyway, I'd be interested in the game whether it was turn-based or real-time

I think we're all gonna have our hands on the EE of BG 1/2 when they come out

That's pretty much what I feel too. It wasn't a very complete game in the sense BG2 was, but instead it specialized in extreme locations with either freezing cold caves or burning hot lava pits. And the way they managed to insert temples and lush palaces inside these elements was stunning to me. The entrance to Dorn's Deep with the glowing mushrooms and the sorcerer's iron lab; the sorcerer's tower at Kuldahar! the horse-riding statue at Easthaven temple! So many enchanting places within a fairly small game. I felt it was the darkest of Black Isle games, and yet it was the one where magic seemed to be more present. So far PE looks like it's going to be a cross between IWD and BG, so let's wait and see. I also liked Easthaven for some reason. It just felt like a cozy, little fishing village. The beautiful Easthaven theme no doubt enhanced that feeling. In Baldur's Gate II I found the Arnise Keep highly interesting, not to mention The Copper Coronet where a lot of things was going on. Also the water-city of the Shaugin (or however it is spelled) was cool.

Well, I certainly hope there will be romance-possibilities and friendship-possibilities, and banter and dialogue and arguments and discussions and disagreements with/between my companions. It makes everyhting seem more alive and becomes more immersive. Enough said.

oh, ok. I thought we all liked to be able to pursue romances and friendships :S

Have the good folk at Obsidian said anything about whether companions will be romancable or not and if friendships can be formed like in BG2? It sounds to me there will be banter, dialogue and stuff at least.

Why not just allow us to use custom portraits for our companions as well as for our own main character ? That will give us all the freedom in the world, and our characters can have the portraits of everyone's choosing. EVERYONE will be happy

I agree that sound and voice is incredibly important and enhances the feeling of immersion. Has it been stated that there won't be much emphasis put on voice in the game??

Aww, c'mon that's a no brainer. Kuldahar ! Vale of Shadows ! Temple of the Forgotten God ! Hand of the Seldarine (Severed Hand), Dorn's Deep ! The atmosphere and feel of ancientness and mystery in the beautifully drawn 2d backgrounds of Icewind Dale was second to none, so beautifully enhanced by Jeremy Soule's amazing music. When it comes to locations, atmosphere and sound (Music and voice-acting), Icewind Dale completely crushes all of the other mentioned games.

What is it they call a mixture of too many time-periods and technological gadgets in one game ? Steampunk isn't it ? I guess I just don't want to see the game ending up like that. I'm still more for only swords and shields and spears and wish the world was more like year 1100, but I read the article you pasted, Pangur, and it makes more sense now. In fact, they did say late middle ages, almost like rennesaince. So I suppose I can't argue anymore, sadly I want to, cuz I don't want there to be guns and stuff, but there's no ground for it

You sure about that? hehe