And I mean in terms of combat, and action. I tried playing Baldur's Gate about a year ago, and found it immensely difficult when it came to combat. My main problem was that my characters seemed grossly underpowered, even in the starting areas, and everyone was getting killed left and right.

So can anyone confirm that death is not a quick thing in this game? Keep in mind that my created character in Baldur's Gate was a fighter with recommended stat rolls.

From what I've been told, IWD is at least as hard, if not harder, than BG.

There's no significant difference in difficulty, and by design IWD is more combat-oriented than BG was. Keep in mind, though, that most Dungeons & Dragons-based games are challenging at first since low-level D&D characters are very weak; it's more an inherent part of the ruleset than a specific design choice by the game developers.

My advice is just to keep trying until you get past the first third or so of the game (either by luck or increasing skill or both) and then things will most likely get a lot easier. When I played BG1 for the first time around 1998-1999 I had no real in-depth experience with hardcore PC RPGs, and consequently got murdered over and over again by the lowliest of random encounter enemies. It all felt impossible at the time, but I did go on to not only finish BG1 but also BG2 and Throne of Bhaal (and IWD and PS:T etc.) and have a ton of fun in the process. These games may not be as accessible at first as you might wish they were, but rest assured that they get progressively more fun the more you play them.

I think it's even harder. Many times you will battle with multiple enemies at once. In Baldur's Gate youre often encountering just several enemies.

In icewind dale youre always outnumbered.

Thanks, that put things into perspective for me. I'll probably pick this one up, because the aesthetics seems more appealing to me than Baldur's Gate did. And I'll try for the life of me to progress.Thank you, this was the most helpful thing I've read all day.

I'd say it's a lot harder, with the proviso that it's much more rewarding.

As you've likely gathered, IWD is pretty much BG/BG2 without the character interaction, and with the fights amped up considerably. The first third or so of the game was really rough going for me, until I found my legs and was able to find a good way to balance out my characters' abilities. So yes, fairly early on, death comes quickly and easily, but you'll be easily mopping up the enemies in no time once your party gets more experience.

The fights themselves at some points almost remind me more of RTS battles since they can move very quickly, and there is actually a surprising amount of strategic planning that you can use, in my experience anyway. You may be intimidated that, at least numerically, the odds may be stacked against you, but there's nothing like that satisfying feeling you get when you take on a hoarde of enemies and crush them under your feet.

As kmonster points out though, where IWD can be most unforgiving is if you mess up in building your characters. Unlike, say, Spiderweb Software's Avernum series, if you don't know enough to build an effective party from the get-go you can find yourself in a really tough spot at certain points in the game.

I don't remember if IWD was more "fair" than BG in terms of my combat rolls as kmonster says. It's been such a long time since I played it, and I've just now finished downloading it from GOG.

If you played BG1 on Normal then IWD is considerably easier than BG1. Because you can create your own party (or use the NPC mod that adds banter/interactions from g3 with a proper party for you). In BG1 you have a severe lack of properly "diced" fighters and clerics which is why many people complain about the difficulty of the boss encounters (indeed, the first and second boss encounters have to be meta gamed at normal because with 20+ enemies, and at least 10 bow users you are usually dead faster than you can finish casting an AOE spell) So often you are forced to "enter/exit" the area to grind down the enemies.

Also unlike in BG1 you get more XP in IWD on Easy difficulty and gain faster levels than in BG1. And if explored properly, you also get vastly better items (and better Unique items ;p)

If you don't want to dice your own party theres always (which also adds banter/romance/interjections etc.)

NPC Mod
http://www.pocketplane.net/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=174&Itemid=122

Which works perfectly fine with this

IWD Tweak pack
http://gibberlings3.net/daletweak/

Pardon my ignorance, but what does "meta game" mean?

Actually no, reloading is not meta-gaming. Meta-gaming is where you, in simple terms, use out of game information or resources to affect your in-game decision. For instance you know that there is a monster that you have no chance of winning against in a certain room but there is no way your character would know that, meta-gaming would be to avoid the room based solely on the knowledge that the player has. Another example would be that you know there is a bug in the AI script for a certain type of monster, by exploiting it you are using a out of game knowledge and flaw to your benefit, hence meta-gaming.

EDIT: Your example is more a case of power-gaming.

The invisible scout tactic gives good results. Use a thief hidding in shadows, or any invisible character, as recon. Then when you know where the bad guys are, use area effect spells from afar, like fireball, to weaken them. Slowing them down does help too. Even smallish, low level spells can be efficient when used that way. Good all druidic "entangle" will do wonders all game through.

Finally, after some practice, you'll realize that turning off IA of your characters is, all things considered, your best option. If not, they will get in the way of your area spells, attack enemies that are too strong for them, or advance too far and end up surrounded.

Indeed, for boss battles the AI has to be disabled for a moment and spell targets need to be micro managed (and spells learned so they match the situation (Install Rest everywhere from IWD Tweaks) but generally IWD allows smooth sailing - as long as you don't allow spells to be cast automagically (nothing can end your smooth sailing faster than a gas cloud in the wrong place). Although if you do all side-quests and explore everywhere you will gain a LOT more experience so it becomes generally easier. IWD really rewards exploration more than BG1 ;)

Unlike in BG1 in IWD you also get extremely nice items very early (lvl 3'ish) (like a +1D10 electrical damage halberd, so skill 1 fighter to use halberds properly! ;P).

As for meta gaming.

Meta Gaming is a classical RP term. It means out of character actions that you need to do to win an encounter with your party which you need to do BEFORE you encounter said encounter (because its not winnable as you are). Heres a good example. You enter an area, now you see the encounter, you note what spawns where and reload. Now you change your spells, equipment and potion layout so that each "spawn" can be adequately handled by a spell or scroll and target these locations in the "0 round" (round before dialog initiates or monsters can interact).

Thanks to FlintlockJazz and eRe4s3r for the clarification. It's always good to get my terms straight.

Damn. Now I have to go back and redo my game - thankfully I just started...

Don't do that ;p The weapon proficiency is not the world (at least 1 or 2 stars are not..) . If you got a fighter speced with 3 prof in a weapon and all you find is +1 stuff, and you have a +4 dagger with a 1D10 effect on it, use the dagger even if you have absolutely no proficiency in it. And if you have a good weapon you can always later on add a proficiency when you level up... no need to restart just for that

urgh, quote function totally messed up now ;p