I play old games: Icewind Dale

By ArbitraryWater January 26, 2011 20 Comments

Yeah. Finally, right? Wrong. Technically, just like when I blogged Baldur's Gate, I have yet to actually finish Icewind Dale (then again, I never did technically beat Sarevok. Because that final battle is literally eons harder than anything else in the game and I didn't feel like playing the game for another dozen hours to get my party to the level cap). However, due to the... aggravating circumstances of where I am in the game right now, I've decided to blog about it now instead of doing the last 5 or so hours of the game at this moment, especially since I just received Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne in the mail and will probably play that for next blog thing. But whatever. Time for this blog thing. 
 
Icewind Dale is one of the 5 games made for the Infinity Engine (released in 2000, $10 on Good Old Games) and is perhaps the least visionary of all of them. It doesn't have the verbose dialog and unique setting of Planescape Torment, nor does it have the general adventurous feel of Baldur's Gate and its sequel, not to mention the length and depth that such adventures hold. It doesn't even have the benefit of a better ruleset like Icewind Dale 2 with its 3rd edition glitz. Nope. But what it does do, and what it does extremely well, is throw a ton of guys at your party and have you sort them out before everyone dies horrendously and you have to reload a save. There's not really much pretense of scenario or story like in BG, nor can you just kind of talk your way out of everything like in PST. There is evil. You must stop it. Go to dungeon. Kill everything. Get loot. Repeat.
 
Certainly, this somewhat constrained vision does mean that the game is pretty much all hack n slash, so if you are looking for a deep story or even something resembling what an actual D&D adventure might be like, this is not the game for you. However, I find that creating my own party and watching them advance from being level 1 pieces of paper to level 10 or so juggernauts of death and doom is quite satisfying (It helps that the game is flexible on what party you want to create. Even bards are good, though Charisma is even more of a dump stat). It also helps that there is very little filler. Generally speaking, most of that game is fighting, or moving towards the next fight. No real turning in quests or exploring the wilderness. Just fighting. And maybe looting, and maybe disarming traps. As most of us probably know, the Infinity Engine had pretty good combat (understatement), and making a game focused around that combat works. But I feel like I'm repeating myself. The combat is pretty good, alright? Cast fireball, move in your dudes, etc etc.
 
IWD also has some of the best pre-rendered backgrounds of all the Infinity Engine games, with some really strong art design. So when you're not looking at dudes to kill, you can at least admire the quality and detail of whatever ice area you happen to be in (which, still looks quite good at 1920x1080). The music is pretty good, as the composer guy ( Jeremy Soule) is the same dude who went on to do Morrowind and Oblivion. Nonetheless, not a very music intensive game. 
 

However, if I may, I might now explain some of my grievances with that game. While the under the hood tweaks of the Heart of Winter expansion are pretty good (basically making Bards useful, adding some more spells, screwing over evil clerics, etch etc), what I played of it (more on that later) was kind of weak and not anywhere as good as the base game. In addition, the way it's included in the main game itself is quite awkward, basically requiring you to stop going through the last set of dungeons (because it's restricted based on character level) and go back to the main town (which is what I did). However, my larger beef has to be with the Trials of the Luremaster mini-expansion that was included in the game's final patch. Whereas the rest of IWD is fairly straightforward, Luremaster is a tedious slog, throwing enemies with high HP and armor class at you, but also throwing super overpowered equipment that is way better than almost anything else in the game (which, along with all the experience it gives you, I'm sure will make my journey through the rest of the game a cakewalk). Then, a few inane puzzles, a few cheap enemies with insta-death spells, and the fact that you can't leave it once it has started makes me hate it so much and is why I am blogging about this game now instead of finishing it. Just take my word for it, ok? 
 
Despite that horribleness however, I still think that Icewind Dale deserves its spot as the #3 on my best games of 2010 that didn't come out in 2010 list. Even though I'm finishing it in 2011. A minor technicality. But be assured. I will finish it.

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