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General discussion (archive)Release: Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition(152 posts)(152 posts)
(152 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted October 30, 2014
Even snow looks better in high-res!

Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition, the updated and expanded edition of the Dungeons and Dragons heroic fantasy RPG classic, is available for Windows and Mac OS X (with the Linux version on the way!), on GOG.com for $19.99.

Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition takes you on a journey deep into the Spine of the World mountains, a harsh and unforgiving territory settled by only the hardiest folk. You will encounter fearsome beasts that have learned the cunning and ferocity needed to survive among the snow-shrouded peaks and confront an evil that schemes beneath the carven glaciers and mountainsides to wreak destruction upon the face of Faerûn. The Enhanced Edition fully restores the classic RPG gem giving it a new life with numerous tweaks, updates, and upgrades. You'll be able to explore quest content cut from the original game, now finished and restored, join your fellow adventurers in cooperative, cross-platform multiplayer games, take advantage of all new interface, including the new Quickloot bar, wield dozens of new spells and items, including new magic armor and weapons, and add characters of previously unseen player classes to your party. The Enhanced Edition includes both original expansions: Heart of Winter and Trials of the Luremaster.

Under the ancient branches of Kuldahar's mighty sacred tree, in the the northern reaches of the Spine of the World mountains, a new adventure destined to inspire legends and myths is about to begin. Be a part of it again, or maybe for the very first time, with Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition, for $19.99 on GOG.com!
Post edited October 30, 2014 by G-Doc
Posted October 31, 2014
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vulchor: I've looked into this for a long time and I don't remember seeing anything official about it. I think they would be interested in doing it after they finish up with IWD2, and I recall reading somewhere that the creators of PST would have no objection to them making one.

Even though the original release of BGEE was really buggy, after about 6 months it was a very playable game and I think BeamDog has done an excellent job with these editions. The only thing that I worry about with PST is them adding content that doesn't fit quite right. PST is high art. That said, I'd love them do it so that PST can hopefully get into more people's hands that never played the original, as long as it is done with respect. I believe BeamDog is capable of doing that.
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wvpr: Torment had some extensive unused text assets from quests that were cut. For instance, there were considerably different outcomes available in the Undead colony, and I think there was supposed to be more to Undersigil than random combat. It should be possible to expand the game quite a bit with the unused material.

I haven't played the other enhanced editions yet, so I can't weigh in on their added content.
I know that a lot of that was reintroduced by mods. I played a heavily modded PST and it was a fantastic experience. A PST that officially does what those mods do would be well worth the money.
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niky45: (sorry, I haven't read the full thread since it looks too long, but I need an answer to this)

.... you mean, NATIVE linux port?? or that wine wrapping thing? (not that I have anything against wine... it0s better than nothing, anyway)

THAT would be a reason to buy it for me. I mean, I own the original, and it's not my favorite DnD CRPG out there, but I would buy it anyway so companies understand that native linux support is worth something.

... also, are you (or the publisher, or whoever) planning to release a linux port of the baldur's gate EE's ?
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JudasIscariot: As to your first question, not sure if it's native or not as I haven't looked at it myself and yes, I can sort of tell a Wine wrapped version from a native one :P

As for your second question, I really don't know the answer to that one, sorry :(
Are Linux versions on their way for BGEE and BG2EE as well? One can only hope, because they are offered on Steam.
Post edited October 31, 2014 by vulchor
Posted October 31, 2014
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vulchor: Are Linux versions on their way for BGEE and BG2EE as well? One can only hope, because they are offered on Steam.
They were beta versions until recently. Were they already released?
Posted October 31, 2014
Great release! Even more good news is the Linux version for all those games! XD
Posted October 31, 2014
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Enebias: Nice release!
Maybe it will sound like blasphemy, but I always liked Icewind Dale way more than Baldur's Gate for its appealing visuals and -imo- improved, better balanced and challenging combat.
Nah, I agree. While e.g. Baldur's Gate 2 was a great game, some aspects of its combat irritated me. Sometimes its combat felt almost like rock-paper-scissors, e.g. if you faced vampires and didn't have the right anti-vampiric spells or items prepared beforehand, you were pretty much phucked. Also I don't recall was there also some enemies which could be hurt only by magic (or magical weapons), or the opposite, ie. you could hurt them only if you had weapons which had no magical enhancements at all (I hope I recall correctly, and this latter case was actually not in IWD :)).

Also there was something very irritating to those demi-liches in BG2, having some kind of instadeath spells and whatnot.

To my recollection, IWD didn't have such blockers for encounters. It seemed all enemies could be harmed some way, without having to prepare exactly the right spells and weapons beforehand. I was surprised why IWD was said to have very hard combat. I played it in the Insane difficulty level IIRC, and overall I found the combat easier and more enjoyable than the combat in e.g. BG2.
Post edited October 31, 2014 by timppu
Posted October 31, 2014
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timppu: To my recollection, IWD didn't have such blockers for encounters. It seemed all enemies could be harmed some way, without having to prepare exactly the right spells and weapons beforehand. I was surprised why IWD was said to have very hard combat. I played it in the Insane difficulty level IIRC, and overall I found the combat easier and more enjoyable than the combat in e.g. BG2.
While it was quite a while since I last played Icewind Dale, I'm fairly sure that there were enemies that could only be hurt by magic. I don't remember the opposite though, and it should be fairly easy making sure the whole party has some magical property to their attacks (whether magical weapons or ammunition, or a magical effect from a spell or item).
Posted October 31, 2014
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Enebias: Nice release!
Maybe it will sound like blasphemy, but I always liked Icewind Dale way more than Baldur's Gate for its appealing visuals and -imo- improved, better balanced and challenging combat.
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timppu: Nah, I agree. While e.g. Baldur's Gate 2 was a great game, some aspects of its combat irritated me. Sometimes its combat felt almost like rock-paper-scissors, e.g. if you faced vampires and didn't have the right anti-vampiric spells or items prepared beforehand, you were pretty much phucked. Also I don't recall was there also some enemies which could be hurt only by magic (or magical weapons), or the opposite, ie. you could hurt them only if you had weapons which had no magical enhancements at all (I hope I recall correctly, and this latter case was actually not in IWD :)).

Also there was something very irritating to those demi-liches in BG2, having some kind of instadeath spells and whatnot.

To my recollection, IWD didn't have such blockers for encounters. It seemed all enemies could be harmed some way, without having to prepare exactly the right spells and weapons beforehand. I was surprised why IWD was said to have very hard combat. I played it in the Insane difficulty level IIRC, and overall I found the combat easier and more enjoyable than the combat in e.g. BG2.
The only enemies in BG2 that could not be harmed with magical weapons were the magic golems and mages under the "protection from magical weapons" buff. IWD had no such enemies so yes, you are correct.

BG2s demi-liches are a pushover actually. The answer, a protection from undead scroll. Have one of your fighters use it, send him to face the lich alone and ......flawless victory. BG2 had some ulra powered enemies but they also had their ultra powered counters which made combat in BG2 a cheesefest and ultimately, unsatisfying. Rock, paper scissors was also how I would describe it. However, I already expressed all of that in the IWD vs BG thread a while ago.
Posted October 31, 2014
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Maighstir: While it was quite a while since I last played Icewind Dale, I'm fairly sure that there were enemies that could only be hurt by magic. I don't remember the opposite though, and it should be fairly easy making sure the whole party has some magical property to their attacks (whether magical weapons or ammunition, or a magical effect from a spell or item).
Yeah could be. And as you said, usually you had at least some party members being able to inflict magical damage (either spells or magically enhanced weapons), so that in itself wasn't much of a problem.

But as IwubCheeze noted below, BG2 apparently had some enemies which couldn't be hurt with anything magically enhanced, so for them you had to find and keep in your inventory at least some basic weapons with no enhancements at all. I recall having to backtrack to find some basic weapons for such enemies, as all my weapons were already magically enhanced.

And then there were those vampires, demi-liches etc. where the success depended quite much on having the proper spells or items ready. If you didn't have some, oh well... :) IWD enemies seemed more generic, ie. you could usually do at least some damage to them with whatever you had in your possession at the time, even if some other spells or weapons might still work better against that particular enemy. I preferred that.
Post edited October 31, 2014 by timppu
Posted October 31, 2014
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timppu: But as IwubCheeze noted below, BG2 apparently had some enemies which couldn't be hurt with anything magically enhanced, so for them you had to find and keep in your inventory at least some basic weapons with no enhancements at all. I recall having to backtrack to find some basic weapons for such enemies, as all my weapons were already magically enhanced.
That may hold true when dealing with the mages (and you have no pierce magic or breach magic spells available) but IIRC, magic golems only appeared in a single area in Watchers Keep and there was a rack loaded with ordinary weapons right outside the door containing the magic golems. I never bothered carrying normal weapons through any of my playthroughs because breach / pierce magic dealt with the mages easily. Considering most of the 5th levels spells are junk, I just loaded up a mage with breach and left it at that. I was never at a loss when dealing with mages.
Posted October 31, 2014
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jalister: The lack of companions and being able to make my entire party is one reason I liked Icewind Dale a little more than Baldur's Gate. Having said that, I did really like the companions in Baldur's Gate. They added a lot to the game. Go for the eyes Boo.
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Gnostic: In BG2 you can actaully make a party that composed entirely of customize character, through multi player local play. You don't even need to lan with other players and can play such local play alone.
I know, but that wasn't how I first played it, so Icewind Dale is the one that I got the most from.
Posted October 31, 2014
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HunterZ: I liked IWD a lot because you get to roll your whole party at the start instead of recruiting a party of NPCs.
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skirtish: You could and can do the same in BG if you start a multiplayer game and play it alone.
I know, but it wasn't really designed that way.
Posted October 31, 2014
This game brings many fun memories. Not as deep as BG but a lot of fun. If you've never played it, it's going to be great to play the enhanced version as a first time introduction to the dale.
Posted October 31, 2014
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JudasIscariot: As to your first question, not sure if it's native or not as I haven't looked at it myself and yes, I can sort of tell a Wine wrapped version from a native one :P

As for your second question, I really don't know the answer to that one, sorry :(
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pcamagna: Yes to both. It's native and since all three games use the same engine, yes, we are planning on Linux BGEE and BGIIEE.
oh, man. this is AWESOME.

thanks. thanks for caring about us linux gamers. (also, thanks gog for bringing us these games drm-free. )

now I need to start saving until the linux version is released... duh. my wallet ain't gonna be happy.

... on another, almost-unrelated, thought... what about planescape torment? any plans for an EE, and then a native linux port? (I know I'm asking a bit too much, but hey... that would also be awesome.)
Posted October 31, 2014
So, is this a game like Diablo 2 and Torchlight as some reviews say? I stopped playing both around halfway because I grew tired of the mechanics...this genre is not for me, sadly.
Post edited October 31, 2014 by geoconker
Posted October 31, 2014
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geoconker: So, is this a game like Diablo 2 and Torchlight as some reviews say? I stopped playing both around halfway because I grew tired of the mechanics...this genre is not for me, sadly.
I have to say no, it's not like those. Those are Action RPGs. You control one character and it's pretty much a clickfest. I do like those ARPGs though. With Infinity Engine (Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate) games, you control multiple characters with various abilities. Everything does moved like a real time game, but you will most likely find that you have to pause a lot to issue your orders to the 6 characters. The combat is probably better described as an RTS. Also, the quests and story are much richer than the ARPGs. You also design your characters from several different races and classes. With the ARPGs, you only have a choice of a few predefined characters.
Posted October 31, 2014
Did I miss something here? yYahoo said on page one of this thread that the 'Enhanced Editions' of BG and BG2 were at gog.com but they are not. Why did IWD: EE get here but not the BG 1/2: EEs?
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Community
General discussion (archive)Release: Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition(152 posts)(152 posts)
(152 posts)