Planescape has the best story & most interesting setting. Icewind Dale is the truest of the 3 to the board game but uses an old ruleset and can be very hard. Baldur's Gate is between the two and does require some grinding.

For a first timer I'd go Planescape Torment because you won't play another game like it for some time. The setting is very unique, the main character is genuinely interesting and the world is engaging & not a typical fantasy environment.

Maybe you shouldn't spoil your appetite with another RPG :P Have you considered Sacrifice?

I would go for Planescape Torment , but I like the others as well Planescape just brought something different to the table for me and I found it very enjoyable.

Based on what you said there, I'd recommend Icewind Dale first, then Baldur's Gate, then Torment. IWD is the most action-oriented of the three -- primarily a dungeon crawl, with just enough story to tie it all together. Torment is the exact opposite end of the spectrum: heavily story-driven with more dialog than action. BG is right in the middle with a good mix of both.

If you are a true top down RPG gamer, you would just throw a die , while assigning values to each game, and let the odds sort it out.

Or you could even carve a personalized Die with Baldur's Gate, plans cape torment, etc on the sides, and roll to let destiny chose for you.

The question is, are you a true adventurer :) ?

Start of by saying that I can't comment on Baldur's Gate since I haven´t ever finished them.

You say you love dungeon crawling and story is not the most importent thing for you so that would lead me to recommend Icewind Dale, not that it's story is in some way inherently bad.
It's a game where you create a 6 man party and go from one place to another fighting enemies to continue the story. So the emphasis is on fighting, leveling up and getting better items for your party.

On the other hand I take it that you intend to play this alongside Diablo III. Diablo is hack & slash, you level up and get better loot. So I'm wondering that if you take Icewind Dale you end up playing 2 slightly similar games.
Planescape Torment is story focused and the general consencus is that it's story is amazing. I you choose it you'll most likely end up spending more time going around talking to people then fighting (which isn't the games strong point). My point is that you might want to counterbalance the constant fighting in Diablo III with a more story-driven game that plays at a more relaxed pace, i.e. Planescape Torment.

Sorry I couldn't give you a clear answer but I hope it helps you in finding what you really want at whis point.



P.s. Temple of Elemental Evil is very dungeon-crawly I believe. Anyone got any thoughts on that one?.

Planescape: Torment's appeal is NOT combat. To me I think of it as the story BEING the gameplay. Most of the time you will be reading and making dialogue choices in that game. I myself love it BUT it isn't for everyone.

Baldur's Gate still has a lot of combat (maybe a bit too much for me since I don't like the spell memorization stuff in D and D even though my favorite game is Planescape: torment).

Icewind dale from what I know is mostly combat and I can't see any bioware d and d title combat being fun from a diablo real time action rpg perspective.

There are probably games much more like Diablo on GOG such as Nox. Not sure which one is good cause I am not much into that subgenre. Hell, the most diablo like of the d and d games is probably NWN because you play solo and ithe game felt very diabo from the short bit I played of it. One of the reasons why I found it boring though, lol.

The objectively better game is Torment. Of course, it's the antithesis of Diablo II. Then again so are BG and ID (BG is quite good too).

Well, none of those games are short, I'm afraid.
If you just want something fun to tide you over until you get Diablo 3, then Baldur's Gate is way too long for that, Planescape is shorter, but on the other hand isn't the kind of game you can just give up in the middle of and come back to later, since the story is the whole point.

I'd say go for Icewind Dale, since the story is mostly an excuse to go fight stuff, and you can easily leave in the middle and come back to finish it later. As combat-focused as it is, though, it's not really a Diablo-like game, since if you just rush into combat mindlessly, you'll simply get slaughtered. All of the Infinity Engine games feature real time with pause tactical combat, if you want a hack&slash game, then you're better off with Sacred or Divine Divinity.

Planescape: torment has the best storyline and some great environments and characters. It's very heavy on text and takes place in a very atypical setting, however, so it's not for everyone.

The Baldur's Gate series, on the other hand, has more typical crpg storyline but is more fun gameplay-wise. It's also more lighthearted and has a more typical rpg setting.

The Icewind Dale games are my least favorite of the bunch. The surroundings look nice, the music is nice, but it's really just a simple dungeon crawler. It's just about hack n slash and the characters don't mean a thing. I suppose it's the most diablo-like of the bunch. Not that it's bad, I know many people who love it, but I really miss the actualy roleplay elements that are so common in the other games.

Great question and I kept changing my answer as I read everyone's Posts...

As a big fan of all 3 titles I'd have to say that, based on what you've laid out I'd suggest Baldur's Gate 2. BG is a great game, but I don't feel it holds up as well as 2 does and it's easy enough to pick up the Story. It's going to offer you the widest sample of the world of D&D...
Don't get me wrong, all these titles are amazing...I just picked BG2 based on what you described you're looking for. If I were you, I'd plan on playing all these Games at some point.

In my mind, the only way to play Baldur's Gate is if you combine them all with BGTrilogy :)

That means you play both games with the BG2 engine and create a huge frankengame!

I would suggest you Icewind Dale, it is more combat orientated. Then BG(2) and at last Planescape Torment. I think, it has the best story but not so much dungeon crawling and action.

But like mystral said: or [url=http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/divine_divinity]Divine Divinity should be your games because they are more "Diablo-like".

I used to recommend playing the Infinity Engine games in the order they were released, but with the Enhanced Edition of Baldur's Gate coming up, it might make sense to start with either Icewind Dale or Planescape: Torment.

In the end, it doesn't really matter, they're all great.