Systems: Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS, Android, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Release Date: October 30, 2014
Publisher: Atari, Beamdog, Skybound Games
Developer: Overhaul Games
Time Spent: 196 Days, 8 Hours
First off, I did not spend 4,712 hours playing this game, but neither the game nor the Amazon Game client keeps track of time spent playing the game so instead of my actual game time, I decided to put my in-game time. A lot of that was spent traveling between Lower Dorn's Deep to either Khuldahar or the Severed Hand to sell/buy items/equipment/arrows or to have items identified, but more on that last one later. Secondly, all of the pictures I have and am using are pictures I took of my laptop screen using my phone because the Amazon Games client has neither a dedicated screenshot button nor my go-to Windows button + PrtSc resulting in only black screens.
I dare not say that I beat Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition because I know The Kid would decry that statement because not only did I not beat the game on any one difficulty, but I moved around the difficulty quite a few times just to get through troublesome sections. I only say that because last month (I think,) The Kid beat Icewind Dale using only Core Rules which means that the game is played using the 2nd Edition AD&D rules set (or normal rules and settings that enemies are at their default level and don't do anymore or less damage, healing spells/potions do their respective healing amount as opposed to easier settings where they always heal the maximum amount relative to the level of the spell/potion). I started playing on Core Rules, mainly as a point of pride since I have many years/decades of experience with Baldur's Gate and several other of the Infinity Engine D&D games, but that was not always the case.
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But then I went into battle against Yxunomei, the Marilith in the Dragon's Eye. This battle was exceedingly difficult for my party. Even with a lot of prep work of drinking various potions, and having various buffing spells cast, I found that the combination of not having enough characters with +2 weapons and likely the class make-up of my party led me to have to drop the difficulty setting down to Easy. On Easy, enemies do only 50% damage (there are other benefits on Easy like always learning spells, gaining maximum HP when leveling up, etc. But those are more passive-like modifications than those that actually play a part during combat). I also lowered the game down to Story Mode for several battles in the Forgotten Temple where I was fighting against The Voice of Durdel Anantha, umpteen Boneguard Skeletons, several Greater Mummies, and whatever the hell was causing my characters to lose their minds the moment I stepped into that damn room.
But since the general consensus seems to be that my party was the cause of a lot of my problems, let's meet this ragtag group of adventurers who all ended up in the Icewind Dale town of Easthaven in 1281 DR. One quick thing about my characters and the classes I chose, was that I wanted to pick classes that I had never used before, so there were a lot of specializations, and I didn't multi-class anyone because I wanted to focus on their main class and see how they built out.
Kiersa: Half-Elf Fighter - Wizard Slayer
The de facto leader of this group. For the first half of the game, I had her primarily as a melee fighter, but due to the magic weapons that were found and available and my lack of gold to buy any weapons that she was already proficient in, she ended up being proficient in a lot of weapons. We're talking Bastard Swords, Long Swords, Maces, Axes, Long Bow, Katana, and Sword & Shield Style. For the second half of the game, she was getting outpaced in terms of AC because a lot of the magical gear couldn't be worm by Wizard Slayers, and was taking a lot of damage, so I had her hold back and take up the Longbow. I kept this way until the final battle where she was able to equip the Restored Blade of Aihonen +5 which felt like it was going to be needed for the upcoming final boss fight. I also couldn't tell you what the benefit was of the Wizard Slayer class.
Grendar: Human Fighter - Berzerker
I somewhat based the creation of Grendar on Wulfgar and Kierstaad, as a member of a Barbarian tribe in Icewind Dale, but wanting to experience more of the world than what the traditional/rigid beliefs of his tribe would normally allow. My thought was that he joined up with Kiersa recognizing her fighting ability and that they were the two that started this group before everyone else joined in. As far as the Barbarian skills, I would frequently forget to use his Berzerker Frenzy ability, but even when I did, he became exhausted along with all of the penalties that come with that status effect, so I found I used it sparingly, but almost always during boss battles. And while the extra 15 HP was appreciative, I feel that in this game, with as frequent as combat is and how many enemies you usually fight, 15 HP is really just an extra hit and never felt like a significant boost to temporary HP.
Begorn: Dwarven Cleric - Priest of Tempus
Being a Dwarf in Icewind Dale and in somewhat close proximity to the Barbarian tribes there, I thought that having a Dwarven cleric be a Priest of Tempus would be a good way for there not to be any (who are we kidding , more likely "as much") animosity between the Dwarf and Human Barbarian. Plus, I knew that Icewind Dale was significantly more battle-focused than either of the Baldur's Gate games so having a healing tank with some offensive buffing capabilities seemed like a good way to go. Although, Before ended up not being as many as I would have liked/hoped due to lower that expected HP and higher than desired AC. I did experiment around the time I fought Yxunomei with non-healing spells and I did try some buffing spells going into the Fallen Temple room in Lower Dorn's Deep, but in the end, most of Begorn's spells ended up just being healing spells; more on healing spells at the end.
Denal: Elven Ranger - Archer
I didn't think that there was going to be any tracking needed in this game as it just seemed like a mechanic that would be too class-specific and a problem for a group made up entirely of Fighters or Bards. This was my reason for her being with our group though, was that she was already in Easthaven and was hired to lead Hrothgar and company. I also just liked the idea of an Elven Ranger. I had originally thought I would have her focus on dual wielding along with archery, so I did give her one point in Two Weapon Fighting, but that ended up being wasted since she ended up being my main ranged fighter. So by the end of the game, she was firing off five arrows per turn which while awesome, meant that I had to frequently restock on arrows, even with the ammo belt and the Bag of Holding loaded. It also meant that I would have to quickly unequip special arrows because they would go fast. She was really my saving grace in the later areas where I would need to draw out single enemies and quickly pick them off.
Melida: Halfing Thief - Bounty Hunter
It was a toss-up between the Bounty Hunter and the Swashbuckler, but since the Swashbuckler couldn't backstab, what I felt was a key feature of the Thief class next to finding traps. What's funny though is that Melida was horrible at hiding in shadows despite frequently putting 5-10 points into Hide in Shadows every level up and she ended with 105, and 70 for Move Silently. Plus with her having not-great armor for most of the game, I decided that she was going to focus on ranged attacks. This then became an issue because there weren't any nice magical short bows, only one with a +1 rating, at least that I was able to find. But she was great at finding all but the hardest-to-find traps and always succeeded at disarming them. As for setting her own traps, it seems bad game design to have a key feature of a class be that they can only set their super special trap when there are no enemies around, in a game where enemies are almost literally everywhere except where you've already been.
My in-game explanation for why she was with our group was that she had been tracking a bounty up to Easthaven, but by the time she got there, either the bounty had been claimed by someone else, or they had frozen to death and it was a bring in alive only bounty. So just her next job.
Alakan: Human Mage - Invoker
If you are going to create a wizard and have them specialize in a school, do not create a Diviner because then you cannot use any Evocation spells like Magic Missile, Fireball, and Lightning. Creating an Invoker means that you cannot learn or cast any Divination (or Conjuring) spells, which includes Identify. This means that you'll be traveling to any merchant whenever your passive Lore skill is not high enough to identify those cool-looking gauntlets that are probably not cursed. Probably. Really, the Invoker subclass was only expensive in the early game when I was still picking up every bit of gear to sell, and then just inconvenient to hold onto gear before I knew its magical properties.
My biggest problem though with the Evocation spells, especially from about 3rd level on, was how many of them were area-of-effect spells. I mean, sure I could cast Web and hope to ensnare a handful of enemies then cast Cloudkill or Chain Lightning, but I felt that with a few exceptions, I really only needed spells that targeted individuals. Although I did really enjoy casting Fireball; although annoyed when it was cast too late and it ended up being targeted behind the swarm of monsters and only hitting a few of the stragglers.
I could probably go on about all of the things that I don't like about Icewind Dale although I feel like I've already talked The Kid's ear off about all of these, which at times comes across as complaining because the game was too hard. But since I am not on that boat, let's just go over a couple of them.
- Considering how combat-heavy the game is, and how many monsters are thrown at you in each encounter, healing spells should be comparable to balance the game and not strictly RAW to 2nd Edition. Because I can guarantee you (without any evidence) that Gary Gygax did not design "Cure Moderate Wounds" to be an acceptable spell after going up against a dozen salamanders.
- Enemy type and placement for nearly the entire game felt like it was designed by the type of DM who thinks that D&D is a competitive game where the DM is actively trying to kill the PCs. You know, an asshole.
- There were so many encounters where I would enter through a door, attack for literally fewer than 5 seconds only to exit back through the door when I knew that the enemies couldn't follow. I would do this until my spells were used up and then I would rest and repeat until the room was clear. These moments felt like chores.
- I apparently missed getting the first two lieutenant badges that you need to proceed to the end of the game. These two badges are in chapters 4 and 5, and you do not need to acquire them to continue to chapter 6. I find it to be bad game design that there is a main objective-required item located in an area that you can miss entirely. Even more so since the explanation for what the badges are and why you need them are given to you back in chapter 4, but only if you collect that first badge.
- That last room against the BBEG must have been designed by a DM with a power trip seeking revenge on the PCs for making it to the last room. There were so many traps that repeatedly tripped in that room that caused so much damage that even if I could see them, the AI for your party members is so bad that they'd probably walk all over them even if Melida had time to search for them.
Despite all of that, I did enjoy the story, implied and direct, and how it retroactively tied into "The Crystal Shard" by R.A. Salvatore. I don't recall in that book if there was any discussion about how Crenshinibon ended up in the Icewind Dale region, or it might have been brought up in subsequent books. I had partly started it because I wanted to play Baldur's Gate but I am still reading books in 1348 DR and BG takes place in 1368 DR and I really want to read through the Avatar series that takes place during the Time of Troubles, when Bhaal spawned a score of mortal progeny, so sayeth the wise Aluando. And since I had never beaten Icewind Dale and with it taking place in 1281, I felt that it was the perfect time to attempt this classic CPRG.
I guess the next question is if I start the Heart of Winter expansion with my current party or create a new one? I may have to do a bit of research on that, and then see if I have a copy of Icewind Dale II on one of the game clients or a physical copy lying around somewhere.
So yeah, a mostly fun game with a good story, but a shitty and antagonistic DM who needs to go to therapy to work out a lot of issues.
~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
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