Get ready for a huge wave of Planescape Torment fandom.

PS:T is awesome, but if you have no experience with isometric RPGs (like Fallout and BG) you'll need time to get into it, it may confuse you, you won't understand how it works. I would start with the two IWDs first, and then move to something as majestic as PS:T - actually that's what I did. :-D

wow thats a tough choice :O if it was planescape torment vs any other game i would have said planescape torment, but vs icewind dale 1 or 2 all i can say is you wont be satisfied until you play both of them

I own the original BG so you know. I know how the games play and stuff.

While I'd completely concede that PS:T is one of the greatest RPGs ever made (if not one of the greatest games ever made), I think that IWD never got the love it deserved from the D&D PC RPG crowd. Me, I loved it from start to finish, and even though I shelled out way more than I should have for MacPlay/OMNI's OS X port back in the day I gladly shelled out for it again on GOG.

I loved IWD so much because it gave me everything I loved about one of my other favorite games, BG2, but without the main element that really turned me off during my first playthrough. The combat was the perfect mixture of tactical and strategic gameplay with the fast and furious hack n'slash that I loved while as a pen-and-paper DnD player when I was younger...and it cut away all of the relationship BS that I didn't like in BG2. All of the characters were empty vessels into which I could pour in my own imaginary backstory, my own imaginary histories, and my own imaginary witty banter laced with innuendo-filled one-liners.

While many people complained about the simplistic plot, I was really engaged and sucked into it. The history of the Shattered Hand and the tragedy which befell it really drew me in, and the frozen aquarium at Wyrm's Tooth especially filled me with a profound sense of sadness at a friendship torn asunder by pride and jealousy; at something truly beautiful and great, lost forever. Rarely has a game touched me like that.

So yeah, I'll probably one of the only people sticking up for IWD. In the end, though, with GOG's pricing, does it really have to be a zero-sum either-or proposition? Go on, treat yourself: get both games. You know you want to...

Well I had originally put the 11 dollars on my paypal for the steam sale but since it's been 11 days and I still don;t have it and the sale is over today sooooo yeah i only have money for one.

PS:T, no question.

It's more a question of what you'll like better, mate.

Planescape: Torment took me juss under 3 months to finish. But make not mistake, it's a complete game. The story was very well done, and completely fit the relatively short amount of time I spent playing it.

Judging by how I play BG1 & BG2, Icewind Dale 1 would take me at least 9 months to finish.

Both stories are written by Chris Avellone, so I'm thinking when/if I get to play IWD1 (I bought it during the big December 2010 sale), I'll probably like it as much as I liked PS:T, so long as I take it as a completely different game, which'll only sometimes show elements of PS:T and the BG series.

Hey thanks for the input but I'm still wondering about the length of both games? I've heard several things so I want to hear the real story.

^

I haven't played IWD1 yet, but judging what I've read of the game it plays like BG1 & BG2, w/more emphasis on combat and less on story. So it looks like it'd take as long as it takes one to play BG1.

PS:T is a bit longer, it could have been somewhat even longer but at around 70% of the game you start going through various places with pretty much nothing to do but search for specific people, and it doesn't take time, you'd bound to fall on them after 3 or 4 minutes of minimal exploration and non-existent battles - also, it takes some time to get into it - you are likely to get bored even before you leave the Hive, because the game takes off just right after that part.

I got a mental image of myself surfing in on a literal wave of people. Surfing is considered cool, no?

Anyhow, IWD and PST are basically on the opposite ends of the meters with regards to combat and story. I could never get into IWD myself due to being used to not having six automatons in my party (whew, a lot of negatives there), but PST isn't really for everyone with its rather weak combat and the incredible amount of text to read.

Really, if money isn't all that much of an issue, pick up both. If there was an education for gamers I'd push for Planescape: Torment's curricular inclusion, but if you'd rather have something more action-oriented for now, pick up Icewind Dale and get PST some other time.

Surfing is totally cool, dude.
While I love good storytelling I personally don't care to do much reading in games (save it for books).

And try not to be so negative ;)

Maybe you can see it this way:

If you want to play a great interactive book take PST if you´re more into really good streamlined (because unlike BG you wont really have much choices where to go next) tactical fighting experience you should go for IWD.