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So Cool!!! Pun Intended!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 17
Date: January 13, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Icewind Dale is a wonderful game built on the engine used in Baldur's Gate. As I stated in my review of BG, I was not a fan of role playing before this system of games came out. Now I am so hooked on them that when another game comes out, my better half sighs knowing that we won't be going anywhere for a while.

Icewind Dale is more a hack and slash adventure compared to BG which was more story driven. BG with the add on of Tales of the Sword Coast put a experience point cap of 161,000. Boy is that changed for ID.

Positives for Icewind Dale include: 1) experience point cap of 1,801,000 allowing high level characters (Fighter 15th level, Paladin/Ranger 14th level, Thief/Bard 18th level, Cleric 16th level, Druid 14th level and Wizard 14th level). 2) fully customizable party as you select and make up all six party members. 3) plenty of small side quests which drive the story along. 4) animations are great. 5) new creatures such as ice trolls and salamanders. 6) plenty of gaming time for the buck. 7) lots of very hairy fights. 8) ability to pause during combat to give directives to each character. 9) a very extended spell selection. 10) controls to operate the party are easier to use than in BG. 11) expanded party formations at the click of a mouse. 12) alot of frozen landscapes which are cool (think Conan's village).

I did find that by the time I completed the game I had not reached the experience point cap. But that was ok as the final battle was very challenging (the casualty rate was enormous).

This game is a must have for fans of BG. I like the series much more than Diablo and Diablo II which are very simply hack and slash games with no story and rather limited spells.

Death awaits around every corner, including your own home as you begin to ignore your loved ones, so be ready!!!

Baldur's Gate on speed

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 17 / 19
Date: November 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Icewind Dale's gameplay was intended to fall somewhere between Diablo's frantic action/arcade style and Baldur's Gate's more traditional, story-driven RPG. It succeeds adimirably in its chosen niche. Graphics are solid, action is constant, and there is just enough story to keep you interested. The game is very similar to BG (it uses the same graphics engine and interface), but the monsters are thicker on the ground, and rewards (both treasure and experience) are greatly increased. I personally found the level advancement a little too accelerated after Baldur's Gate, I didn't feel I had fully earned my new powers, but there is no denying it was a lot of fun. If you enjoyed the combat in BG but thought the game overall too slow and boring, this is the perfect game for you. If you loved BG (as I did), but are looking to take a break with a quick, fun dungeon crawl, then you also will enjoy Icewind Dale. My only reservation is that the game is fairly short.

Nice game while waiting for BG 2.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: June 30, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game while not being as story driven as Planescape and Baulders Gate is still a fun game. You get to create you party at the start of the game so choose wisely. NPC interaction, while there, is at a minimum. That doesn't take away from the game. The enviornments are big and very nicely done taking you from dungeons and ruins to the "10 towns" of Icewind Dale. This game is a good buy but it is not for everybody, so if you want good dungeon action pick it up if you want a story wait till BG2.

Totally different from Planescape: Torment.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: November 21, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Black Isle first made Planescape: Torment, which was a plot driven game without any focus on combat. Now, they made Icewind Dale, which is the exact opposite.

The plot in this game is thin, just an excuse to go through massive dungeons killing hordes of monsters and findings tons of goodies. Whereas, in PS:T, combat was just there to drive the plot.

This game is one of the best in character creation fun, second only to Baldur's Gate 2. But, in this game, you can create six characters of your own without losing out on NPC interaction. In BG 2, you had the option of getting prefabricated NPCs to join you, who had personality and charm. There was guilt if you made your own six characters. In IWD, no such dilemma exists, so one is free to make whatever sort of party that suits one's playing style.

Another bonus is the nice atmosphere. Jeremy Soule's music is beautiful and the artwork from Black Isle is great.

All in all, excellent Infinity Engine game. Buy it now!

Something completely different

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: February 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Icewind Dale wasn't a game that was intended to build over BG or succeed Torment. The whole AD&D gaming world hasn't been in the PC world for very long, and only a couple of games have really stood out. Baldur's Gate was the first and biggest, and introduced everything. Torment was much less a fighting game, with more attention to the plot itself. Icewind Dale goes to the opposite extreme with absolutely NO plot, minimal NPC interaction, and no satisfying conclusion, no matter how you view it. Instead, it allows you to tailor you party to exactly what you want, and explore the AD&D world of fighting in much more depth than Torment or BG. Your characters advance much more quickly than those in BG, and you can make use of some great high-level spells. The terrain is absolutely fantastic, even in the small villages; one town sits intertwined with a giant tree's roots, and you can get a bird's eye view of the whole thing. The Shattered Hand and the crypts of the Vale of Shadows are works of art. There are some interesting monsters to fight, including dark elves, myconids (mushroom-like monsters) and the huge, huge frost giants. If you create and handle your party right, there are plenty of challenges, but there will only a couple of the incredibly demanding battles that either force you to create some unheard-of strategy, or [save, die, reload, die, reload] more than two or three times. For those of you who believe that the plots, quests, subquests and demiquests of BG and Torment are essential to a good AD&D game, this will likely be a waste of money for you. For those of you who just want to battle through Faerun, buy Icewind Dale and see what it can show you about AD&D on the PC.

I urge everyone to try all the other AD&D's before buying BG2. Baldur's Gate II is far beyond anything that has gone before it. It is truly amazing, and will completely ruin your image of BG, IWD, and Torment. Too many people are comparing these games to BG2, and overlooking everything that they have to offer. Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Torment are incredible games in themselves, and not one of them should be missed.

BUY THIS GAME NOW! YOU WONT REGRET IT!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: August 23, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Ill have to admit Im an avid Sci-Fi and fantasy geek. However, as far as my gaming tastes go, I usually play first person shooters. This all changed the day Icewind Dale was released! I shifted uncomfortably as I forked over my money to buy a game that was in a genre I usually could care less about. The one catch that brought me to this title in the first place was the name itself Icewind Dale. Those of you who have read the RA Salvatore books know what Im talking about! And I admit totally, once I loaded the game up I was swept into an obsession that had me playing every night for the first 2 weeks after I bought the game. The higher points of the game are the beautiful background art and the music. The art was painstakingly molded to provide that desolate snowdrifted emptiness that the games title implies. And the dungeons themselves give the player that creepy feeling in the stomach when emininent danger is approaching. The music, in my opinion, is nothing short of AMAZING. These lovely tunes sweep you up into a world of mystery that every RPG should try to emulate. The gameplay, though clunky sometimes, was excellent as well. The ability to plan out your moves while paused gave a good mix of turnbased and real time strategy. Sure the technology is a bit behind the times, but who cares Im now( after playing this game) a firm believer in the idea that a game need not be cutting edge to provide a good experience! As for what else I have to say about this title: BUY IT NOW! YOU WONT REGRET IT!

Great RPG action

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: November 02, 2000
Author: Amazon User

What an incredible game! Having played Baldur's Gate for almost a year now - and been frustrated as hell with it from time to time - this was a real breath of fresh air. Tremendous graphics, outstanding music, and excellent gameplay. I've put at least an hour or two into this game almost every day for three weeks and it's utterly addicting.

One beef that I've heard from fans of BG is that IWD is 'too linear.' To that, I'd point them to one of the 'high points' of tabletop AD&D from the 1980s, the Against the Giants/Vault of the Drow/Queen of the Demonweb Pits series...IWD has much of that feel of uncovering a gradually more and more insidious plot and defeating evil on an ever-larger scale. Are you pointed somewhat from place to place? Yes. Does that detract from the game? Not for those of us who found BG to be something of an unsupervised mess. If you're looking to go exploring in an expansive world - and you don't mind spending large amounts of your gaming session trudging around from point to point - go play BG. If you want a more brisk pace of gaming, IWD is for you.

Don't hesitate to pick this one up. I've talked to veteran tabletop AD&D players and long-time CRPGers alike and the love for this game is unanimous. I'd give it 6 stars if I could.

The only thing missing is a pencil and a 20 sided die

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: July 14, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I first started playing D&D about 20 years ago as a 12 year-old in grade school. When I became "too cool" to play I had forgotten about it for a while. Recently, a friend of mine and I were talking about how great it would be to play again (of course we have lives and jobs and no time to get together - much less play D&D until 4:00 am!).

This game brings all the great things about table and dice D&D together in one really fun to play package. There's not a lot of puzzle solving or errand running that has become the norm in PC D&D games. When we used to play it was go into the dungeon, grow your character, find some goodies, kill a whole lot of baddies then go home. This is it. Tons of cool dungeons to explore, lots of great effects and all of your characters are needed to win - no one man parties here!

The only thing missing is a dragon to slay - but, hey, you can't have everything... maybe IWD2!

To sum it up, this is a lot of fun to play. It brings back all the great elements of D&D you may remember without the need to get 6 guys together, a lot of coffee and a table in the basement so you wouldn't wake Mom & Dad. If you are a D&D fan who hasn't picked up a Monster Manual in a long time (like me), you will love this game. Prepare to go to work with bags under your eyes!

Not the best

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: September 16, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Icewind Dale, seems to fail, doesn't meet expectations,

Linear Dale, follow the trail, like your on probation.

Baldurs Gate, now that was great, the Dale should've known,

Don't close us in, we like freedom, as Baldur's Gate has shown.

As you can tell, although this is quite a good game, it just doesn't meet the expectation from Black Isle's first Forgotten Realms game - Baldur's Gate. The newer the game the better it should be, but Icewind Dale isn't quite as good, it isn't quite as big, and it isn't as good a story.

At the beggining you create six characters, which fills all available slots. Unlike Baldur's Gate where you created one who met several computer players who joined with you and all had their own personalities. So there's no more conflicts between characters and their generally rude (fun) behavior.

Icewind Dale is a full-on R.P.G game, with player statistics, dice rolls (although this is transparent to the player, he justs fights and hopes to hit, in georgous graphical combat, with lots of spells and many magical weapons), and dungeons & dragons.

Using the same engine as Baldur's Gate this game scores well for gameplay, but is let down by a very linear plot - no side quests, and some extremely difficult battles. Some say this would make it last longer, but if loading a saved game ten times is a game lasting longer, then who needs it. Apart from this it is still a good buy, as good R.P.G games are scarce lately.

Simple yet fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: August 15, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Icewind Dale makes no attempt to be The Game With A Story (Like Planescape: Torment). It's a graphic dungeon crawl, reminding me of those fun-filled nights behind a table covered in character sheets and handbooks. Though simple and at-times unsurprising, its excellent music and art and fairly enjoyable combat system make the game a certain winner.

In the current battle between Icewind Dale and Diablo 2, I'll go for Icewind Dale. I'm just a bigger fan of D&D than an unknown world, I guess...

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