Icewind Dale II Reviews (original) (raw)

Released On: Aug 26, 2002

My Score

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It succeeds in presenting a believable story with likeable characters in a world that is far more detailed than the original. If I had to pick an RPG of the Year, (or hell Game of the Year) right now, Icewind Dale II would be it.

It lures you from one challenge to the next, and just when you think ah ha, I've finished the game, a quietly compelling little voice asks whether you might have even more fun restarting the thing with a completely different party.

A real good D&D game. It is set in Faerun in the Forgotten Realms in a region called Icewind Dale. It is a harsh icy land full of dangers that does not easily forgive mistakes or weakness that became famous from the novels from R. A. Salvatore about Drizzt Do’Urden. It uses the third edition rule set of D&D with some adaptations and is set approx 30 years after the events of the prequel. Don't worry you do not need to know the first game to appreciate the story (There are some references and developments from back then but that is not important here). You play a party of up to 6 adventurers on the way to the town of Targos to defend it against a siege of constant attacks by a goblin army. This however is just the beginning of the story as there is far more to this menace as you can see on first glance. I like the story and twists. I becomes better and better as you uncover more of the plot and backstory. The villains are also well done and I understand their motivations and actions. Gameplay: You can create your own party or use a premade one. Instead of tossing the dice for character stats you have a pool of ability points to spend (min/maxing works well). This game gives you more options than ever for races. You can use Drow, Asimar and Tieflings as well as sub races. Each race has their benefits and drawbacks. Along with all classes there are a lot of options including multi-classes (Beware of alignment restriction, stats and experience penalties). Alone the thinking and testing of builds made a lot of fun. There is also the Heart of Fury (HoF) mode which is a challenging difficulty and will give you troubles (Beat the normal game first and then try it). I think I give some tips: Summoning creatures or undead is really useful. These get stronger as you level up and in HoF they get also an upgrade. While fighters work well I would multi-class them into spellcaster classes as the benefits are superior (Maybe not Berserker but even there a few levels for weapon mastery help and not for Monks while I heard good arguments about Clerics with some Monk levels). Some races like Drow gain experience slower because they are more powerful at the beginning but because of min/maxing this means not that they are always better (Use races that get stats bonuses in classes that benefit from them). There is not much need for a pure thief character. Have a cleric or two in your party (Should be a no brainer). There is some variety here at different deities. Carefully plan ahead when you want to play in HoF. There are some good guides on GameFAQs. Back to the game. It focused more on exploration and challenging battles. I like it a lot as I had to figure out how to overcome the challenges. There were some memorable battles that I praise. I must clarify that focus on battle is not equal to poor story. Like I said before the story is engaging and I fully understand the antagonists motivation to a point were I can see myself dragged down their ways if I were in their situation. They are like Thanos in the Avengers. While you disagree with the methods, you see the validity of the problem and understand were they came from. The technical presentation is excellent. The graphics improved a lot since the prequel. The soundtrack is atmospheric and helps to create the immersion. Overall this is an excellent D&D game that won me over. I did not even like the Icewind Dale setting or region (outside the books). However the good story, villains and battle system made a remarkable experience. Special warning: I want to play the prequel after this game and it was the wrong decision. D&D games improved a lot including this and made Icewind Dale 1 look inferior.

I've played this game many years ago. One of the best games of my childhood

With some nifty tweaks to the engine, A-class writing, and a dazzling implementation of the D&D 3rd Edition rules, ID II is like hauling out yesterday's burrito casserole and realizing that it tastes even better reheated. [Oct 2002, p.87]

So the engine is clunky and the pathfinding is bad. Ultimately that doesn't matter much. This is a great RPG.

It may not look like much, but it's got it where it counts. [Nov 2002, p.80]

A very good game...Though, one simple fact remains constant. The engine is truly showing its age.

The control aspect is passable at times, and downright painful at others. Whoever wrote the code for this "nodes" system needs to be taken out in the road and ran over.

The perfect choice for RPG gamers that want a complete custom party. Less solid than other isometric RPG games, with a shallower history and no new innovates, tends to be repetitive.

Game is very similar to Baldur's Gate games. Differences are in setting and few mechanics. Back then was a very decent RPG game.

if you played baldurs gate or icewind dale 1 you know what to expect. Same graphics, same game play, art is really cool. This is hack and slash like the others, but i found this game really **** chapter 3 i could not wait to get this game over and done with. At least the other games had a story that was interesting to follow... this time it fails. i would encourage people to play it so that they may learn what not to do when you are a dungeon master and thinking of plots and hooks to your dungeons and dragons home campaign. if you do not feel frustrated by the predictable npc's and mish mash of random monsters then i don't know what is wrong with you.

There is some climate, there are some nice handmade graphics... Well, that's it. The mechanics may be a lot better than in the first game of the franchise, still it doesn't matter if the game itself ****. It it was just a hack-and-slash game, I'd say there are numerous better games of that genre. It it was a joke, it'd be a sick joke indeed. Maybe if the game were created by fans, there would be something to be proud of. Unfortunately, the game has nothing to offer for most of us, NPCs are sick and the poor story cries to heaven any time someone tries to play that mess :(

Summary The worst fear of the civilized realms has come true. The Goblinoids have united into an army of outcasts and misfits and they want to call the Ten Towns their own. Massive swarms of Orcs and Worg-mounted Goblins are attempting to overrun the town of Targos, and that's just the beginning! A call has gone out to all those willing to face ...

Rated T for Teen

Initial Release Date: Aug 26, 2002

Developer:

Publisher: Interplay