Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition Announced

[ManifestedISO]

Oh yeah, sorry Bruce, when starting Icewind Dale, you create your own party, from one to six characters. As far as I remember, there are no NPCs that join. All story dialogue occurs between the first character you make, and whomever holds the quest, basically. It uses very old D&D rules, like I mean AD&D, or 2nd Edition I believe, with THAC0 and everything. Percentage points into Pickpocketing, Disarm Traps, Lockpicking, all that, at level-up, not skill points. This game is like that one French cheese you keep on the second from the top shelf, behind the nutmeg--looks like something it's not, but when you taste it, your mouth says, mmm, not bad, nice texture, predictable flavor, with a pleasant after-taste.   

[Majek]

Malavon's rage and Nym's squirrels. Good memories.

[BruceVC]

 

from our pov, actual story elements o' iwd were stronger than BG. as noted elsewhere, not only were bg2 released after iwd, but iwd were designed as kinda a low risk, quick development that were s'posed to sate bg fans before bg2 release. actual, a major goal were to get iwd out the door and on shelves with some meaningful time previous to diablo 2, and that didn't happen. what iwd were being marketed as, and sold as, were a limited and far more "linear" dungeon crawl than bg. truth-to-tell, we found iwd to be superior to bg in virtual all respects, and we missed the... companionship (HA!) o' the bg1 premade and joinable party members not at all. 

 

Yeah, I nearly played / finished all the IE games in order of release. The exception is PS:T even though I had bought PS:T when it was released. I initially couldn't get into PS:T (quite removed from BG) and put it aside and a few months later IWD was released which I found the game style more familiar with BG and was immediately hooked. It was always marketed as a dungeon crawl where you create your own party so companions weren't going to be in. And not long after that, some months later BG2 was released. So it was a while before I got around to playing PS:T again. My progression was BG, IWD, BG2, PS:T, IWD2.

 

When playing IWD after BG, there were a lot of technical improvements. So it was a natural progression to go from BG, IWD and then BG2 where you see IWD animations in BG2. It flowed really well for me.

 

I really enjoy IWD but not enough to buy it again as there's nothing wrong with my copy of the game and runs on my comp. The mods like unfinished business isn't a strong selling point when I can download that for free, and having been bitten once with the BG:EE with all the bugs, I'm quite wary of Beamdog.

 

Same with Amentep, that I've played IWD more than BG2.

 

 

You probably find you couldn't get into PS:T because it didn't have the deep and engaging Romance options you were expecting

[HoonDing]

Nothing wrong with PS:T romance. That girl with tail had big b00bies.

[Spider]

 

 

from our pov, actual story elements o' iwd were stronger than BG. as noted elsewhere, not only were bg2 released after iwd, but iwd were designed as kinda a low risk, quick development that were s'posed to sate bg fans before bg2 release. actual, a major goal were to get iwd out the door and on shelves with some meaningful time previous to diablo 2, and that didn't happen. what iwd were being marketed as, and sold as, were a limited and far more "linear" dungeon crawl than bg. truth-to-tell, we found iwd to be superior to bg in virtual all respects, and we missed the... companionship (HA!) o' the bg1 premade and joinable party members not at all. 

 

Yeah, I nearly played / finished all the IE games in order of release. The exception is PS:T even though I had bought PS:T when it was released. I initially couldn't get into PS:T (quite removed from BG) and put it aside and a few months later IWD was released which I found the game style more familiar with BG and was immediately hooked. It was always marketed as a dungeon crawl where you create your own party so companions weren't going to be in. And not long after that, some months later BG2 was released. So it was a while before I got around to playing PS:T again. My progression was BG, IWD, BG2, PS:T, IWD2.

 

When playing IWD after BG, there were a lot of technical improvements. So it was a natural progression to go from BG, IWD and then BG2 where you see IWD animations in BG2. It flowed really well for me.

 

I really enjoy IWD but not enough to buy it again as there's nothing wrong with my copy of the game and runs on my comp. The mods like unfinished business isn't a strong selling point when I can download that for free, and having been bitten once with the BG:EE with all the bugs, I'm quite wary of Beamdog.

 

Same with Amentep, that I've played IWD more than BG2.

 

 

You probably find you couldn't get into PS:T because it didn't have the deep and engaging Romance options you were expecting

 

 

Torment had one of the better written romances I've seen in a RPG so I don't know where you're coming from there...

[Volourn]

I agree a love-hate love affair between a foster father and his foster daughter is BEST romance ever.

[Hiro Protagonist II]

Bruce is just trolling me like his usual troll self due to the romance threads in the PoE forums. Just look at his responses to me in this thread. It's okay Bruce, I can see you have nothing worthwhile to do than to troll me all over the forums.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Hiro Protagonist II

[ManifestedISO]

Finished the Vale of Shadows. There were thousands of undead. Okay, dozens and dozens, maybe a hundred, but it felt like millions.

 

It wasn't until before the final battle that I had to buy potions, Frost Giant Strength, Speed, Healing, paid for +1 Full Plate, the two front-runners had their AC down to 1, and 2. So we cleansed the place, did the dialogue with Kresselack, killed the Priestess of Auril, then went back and claimed the black plate and magic weapons from the sarcophagus, a two-hander and a long sword. Now there's a temple with some verbeeg that need attention. Gotta go.   

[Doppelschwert]

Now I'm interested in playing IWD2 again. Going to try to solo it with a kensai kind of character

[Doppelschwert]

On a related note, where can I see my attack bonus? Can't find it in the menus.

[Magnum Opus]

Open up your character's Record screen.  To the right of their name and race at the top of the screen will be four small, almost decorative-looking ovals.  Click the second one of those for your combat stats.

[Iucounu]

If it's going to be the same qualitywise as the BG EEs, no thanks. I found the new characters just annoying, and the overall execution appeared just lazy and minimalistic. I remember how I couldn't even change the game's resolution from the dumbed down menu like I could in the original. Considering the price, the bit of added content was just a joke.

Perhaps if Beamdog had delivered something better and bigger (something a bunch of mods doesn't already do 10x better and for free), I'd respect them even though I still consider the concept of 'enhanced' editions of old classics fishy and a cheap money grab..

I just hope they aren't getting to make a BG3

Edited September 9, 2014 by Iucounu

[DarthSlayer]

If it's going to be the same qualitywise as the BG EEs, no thanks. I found the new characters just annoying, and the overall execution appeared just lazy and minimalistic. I remember how I couldn't even change the game's resolution from the dumbed down menu like I could in the original. Considering the price, the bit of added content was just a joke.

Perhaps if Beamdog had delivered something better and bigger (something a bunch of mods doesn't already do 10x better and for free), I'd respect them even though I still consider the concept of 'enhanced' editions of old classics fishy and a cheap money grab..

I just hope they aren't getting to make a BG3

Except Beamdog already said there won't be any new NPCs, and the new story additions include some deleted quests from the original game, such as The Voice (an undead paladin) in Lower Dorn's Deep. IIRC, the BG EEs were restricted by Atari's licence as such they can't modify existing story content and restore deleted stuff, which isn't an issue with IWD EE.

 

And your comment about the resolutions is bogus, considering that it scales to whatever your desktop resolution is, and it actually supports widescreen resolutions without needing to starting a new game. Mods can't add the new multiplayer matchmaking, zoom function, scaleable UI, quickloot option, and all other nifty options (such as proper support for Windows 7/8 and multicore processors), since they don't have actually access to the source code. IIRC, some features of the original game, such as barbarian abilities and backstab multiplayer, are hard-coded and aren't moddable, and as such, Beamdog actually externalized several features so that mods would work better.

Edited September 9, 2014 by DarthSlayer

[Bester]

Cons:

EE has horrible fonts and actually surgically removed the possibility to use custom fonts. Incredible huh?

EE has the most blurry UI I ever saw. It literally hurts eyes.

 

Pros:

The zoom feature is good, makes it possible to zoom in like you're playing on an old 17" CTR and can only see so far.

 

Which makes EE a very ambiguous thing. I want to play it and at the same time I don't want.

[Iucounu]

 

If it's going to be the same qualitywise as the BG EEs, no thanks. I found the new characters just annoying, and the overall execution appeared just lazy and minimalistic. I remember how I couldn't even change the game's resolution from the dumbed down menu like I could in the original. Considering the price, the bit of added content was just a joke.

Perhaps if Beamdog had delivered something better and bigger (something a bunch of mods doesn't already do 10x better and for free), I'd respect them even though I still consider the concept of 'enhanced' editions of old classics fishy and a cheap money grab..

I just hope they aren't getting to make a BG3

Except Beamdog already said there won't be any new NPCs, and the new stoy additions include some deleted quests from the original game.

I'm not interested in whatever additional content they come up with if it's of the same quality as in the BG EEs.

 

 

 

And your comment about the resolutions is bogus, considering that it scales to whatever your desktop resolution is, and it actually supports widescreen resolutions without needing to starting a new game.

The only way to modify the resolution was to edit an ini-file, there was no menu for it. And I'm not sure how far that was even supported.

[Tale]

I started up Icewind Dale just to create my party and I can't believe how spoiled I've been by EE and Tutu.

 

No sorcerer? No style proficiency? You're throwing me off my game here, people!

[Iucounu]

 Mods can't add the new multiplayer matchmaking, zoom function, scaleable UI, quickloot option, and all other nifty options (such as proper support for Windows 7/8 and multicore processors), since they don't have actually access to the source code. IIRC, some features of the original game, such as barbarian abilities and backstab multiplayer, are hard-coded and aren't moddable, and as such, Beamdog actually externalized several features so that mods would work better.

 

Then I'd say they didn't make much out of their privileges. An utility feature like the quickloot option hardly justifies the price.

[Bester]

IIRC, some features of the original game, such as barbarian abilities and backstab multiplayer, are hard-coded and aren't moddable, and as such, Beamdog actually externalized several features so that mods would work better.

 

 

Surgically removing the possibility of having custom fonts = "making mods work better".

[Cluas]

Soon I can play IWD with a Half-Orc ?? 

Wouw

[Doppelschwert]

Open up your character's Record screen.  To the right of their name and race at the top of the screen will be four small, almost decorative-looking ovals.  Click the second one of those for your combat stats.

 

Thanks. I know the DnD 3.5 rules pretty well, but I always struggle with the differences in DnD 3.0. In particular, needed that record to see how big the dual wielding penalty is.

 

Playing a solo Aasimar Fighter 4 / Monk 1 'Kensai' dual wielding longswords at the moment, having a blast so far. I guess I'll hit lvl 30 even with the 20% multiclass penalty of playing Fighter 4 / Monk 26.

Edited September 9, 2014 by Doppelschwert

[Bester]

Reinstalled IWD. If anyone else is going to, here's a good guide to mods. http://forums.gibberlings3.net/index.php?showtopic=24870

And after all that, don't forget to install bigger fonts and the DirectDraw Glitch fix. http://bitpatch.com/ie_ddrawfix.html

 

You still won't be able to use WASD or arrows to move the camera. Only numpad keys move it, and they only do it in big jerking motions, which is unusable, so forget about moving the camera with your keyboard. Sigh.

 

So at the end of the day, the only problem EE could fix is the camera. And while they do that, they'll make most mods unusable. Just great.

[Bester]

Can anyone remind me what levels are achievable with a 6 npc party in IWD?

 

I'd like to dual class a warrior into a priest at level 7, but I'm not even sure there's enough XP for that kind of thing in this game.

 

Also, super disappointed at the nonexistence of dual wield.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Bester

[Marky]

snip

 

Also, super disappointed at the nonexistence of dual wield.

You know, the enhanced edition will bring that in.

[Nepenthe]

Can anyone remind me what levels are achievable with a 6 npc party in IWD?

 

I'd like to dual class a warrior into a priest at level 7, but I'm not even sure there's enough XP for that kind of thing in this game.

 

Also, super disappointed at the nonexistence of dual wield.

What, there is no mod for that? And those BASTARDS at Beamdog will probably put it in! SMH

[Bester]

 

Can anyone remind me what levels are achievable with a 6 npc party in IWD?

 

I'd like to dual class a warrior into a priest at level 7, but I'm not even sure there's enough XP for that kind of thing in this game.

 

Also, super disappointed at the nonexistence of dual wield.

What, there is no mod for that? And those BASTARDS at Beamdog will probably put it in! SMH

 

 

Well, there is IWD Tutu that can achieve that, but I wanted to experience IWD's engine.