I know I haven't updated my progress in a while, but anyway, just wanted to come here and say I just beat the game. I thought it was pretty darn good, but there were a couple of places/levels I didn't like so much: The road to Ice Temple, Fell Wood and especially Dragon's Eye. Also, I thought the game didn't feel very constant throughout; what I mean is that while Targos felt like a generic CRPG town with different quests (don't get me wrong, I really liked Targos), in some places the game went a very straightforward path and felt more like a hack 'n slash. I wish there would've been more towns like Targos. But like I said, I still thought the game was lots of fun and it definitely made me want to try out Icewind Dale 1 too. I also liked how you definitely could see your characters getting really powerful over time: In chapter 2 I was in trouble all the time, while in later chapters I didn't have to worry about battles that much and could pretty much just watch the carnage (after buffing everyone to their peak of course, and keeping spellcasters out of harm's way). One could argue if the difficulty level is unoptimized, with the game being the hardest at a very early stage but later becoming much easier, but I didn't mind.

Once again, here's a rundown of my final characters and what their role was if someone happens to be interested. All of them were around level 16 by the time I got through the final battle (did it on my first try btw!); a couple might have been only 15. All of them were good-aligned and pure class (since it was my first D&D game, I didn't want to confuse myself with multiclassing).

My lead character was a Half-Elf Cleric: her role was mostly casting healing spells outside of battles (as a cleric should); before battles, I used some spells to buff my characters; not resistances so much, but mostly Strength and Bless; later on Holy Aura and stunning enemies with Holy Word (or whatever it was called). For the worst of times I also made her have a few necromantic spells like Harm in case things got too difficult at certain points; I can't remember the name of the priest outside Severed Hand HQ but he was giving me tons of trouble...until I used Harm and he lost like 180 HPs straightaway. In battles she most often used a crossbow though.

Next was an Aasimar Paladin, a generic swordsman but also the team diplomat. I didn't use his spells that often; main reason being that I often forgot he even had spells, but since his wisdom was pretty low, he could've cast only the lowest level spells anyway. So I just made him fight. He wasn't my favorite fighter, because unlike the character I'm about to describe later, he got pretty hurt occasionally and also, his sword was useless against certain enemies. He was still pretty good though, I rank him 2nd of my three melee combatants. Wielded a longsword or a scimitar, depending which was better at the time, and a shield.

Third character was a Human Monk. In some situations he was gold after getting through the initial suckiness of his, (for instance he was the one who cleared all of the eight trials) but I made the mistake of giving him too low wisdom, so he didn't get the benefit or extra dex. He was able to smack some good damage sure, but out of the three fighters he was the one I had to heal and worry about most often. I wouldn't pick a monk again in games such as this one was. Naturally he was an unarmed combatant.

Fourth character was a Half-Orc Barbarian, and this one I really liked. He had the most hitpoints by far, and with a natural Strength of nearly 30 (can't even imagine what it was with buffs), the guy was a war machine. I bet with enough protection buffs he could've solo most of the maps. True powerhouse, and my favorite character of the bunch. He was also the guy who handled all the intimidating in the team. At an early stage he used a one-handed axe and a shield, but (approximately) since chapter 2 a two-handed battleaxe.

Then, a Wild Elf Sorceress. Definitely the weakest one (smallest amount of hp), but otherwise unbelievably powerful. I was sad to notice there weren't that many good offensive spells that target just one creature (Magic Missile was the best one out of the ones I had, if you don't count Disintegrate), so I picked all kinds of AoE spells. Fireball, Acid Storm, etc. She could deal MASSIVE damage and get rid of the hardest mobs, even by herself. I also used Firewall to keep the ones trying to get close at bay, and summoned Shadows and Cacofiends in the harder battles. She was also pretty quick so therefor I could run away from mobs, maybe toss web or grease, then obliterate them later. Outside of battles I used her to buff my party with spells like Stoneskin, Emotion: Hope, Mass Haste and Cat's Grace. When out of spells, she used a longbow.

Last was the Tiefling Rogue. In battles she was pretty forgettable (not much use) and was very vulnerable, but outside of battles she was okay. I used her to make bluffs, search, open locks, and pick pockets. She did all the scouting too, with some nice values in Hide and Move Silently. If I started a new game now, I'd probably replace her with a third spellcaster or a fourth fighter though, but also give that character enough INT to get access to enough skill points to be able to open locks. That was the most useful skill in the game. Depending on the battle at hand, she used either dual daggers (or rather, a short sword + a dagger) or a longbow.

So, there you have it. My thoughts about the game and a summary of my party. And like I said, I got interested in IWD1 too while playing this, so I'll give it a shot, definitely. I already have some ideas about my next party for that game: I was thinking three dwarven fighters, a cleric, a druid, and a mage. Call me silly, but I also thought about some meta-roleplaying elements too: The dwarfs are brothers naturally, each one specializing in a different weapon (kinda like the Ninja Turtles...minus one); also the cleric will be the father of the cleric I used in IWD2 ^_^ Helps with the immersion I guess.

Anyway, final score for IWD2: 7-7.5/10. With less impact on massive battles, which happened all the time, and more interesting sidequests to do (plus more towns), and better path detection(!) it could've been an 8-9. I consider a 7 quite good though.