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What an excellent game!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 31
Date: June 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Just when you thought it was safe to put off Baldurs Gate, here comes Icewind Dale. A magnificent combination of BG and the older games in the gold box series. Dungeon hacking and roleplaying at their best.

In Icewind Dale, you form an entire party of your Player Characters, compared other BG engine games in which you were allowed one main player. This makes it more fun, allowing you to watch your adventurers progress one at a time as they grow so much more powerful than they were when the game began.

Another added bonus is the addition of new spells and monsters. The enemy AI is stronger, and the new monsters such as mind flayers will provide enough fun and frustration to make this game a challenge for any level player.

Look out Diablo 2, Icewind Dale is a major contender to knock you off the number one spot! One error for Diable 2 and its gone, because Icewind Dale is perfect.

Icewind Dale review

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 8
Date: May 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Icewind Dale is a hack and slash game, disappointing role-players expecting a story line like Baulder's Gate's. The plot goes as such; there is a big scary evil somewhere and you just have to pick up the biggest weapon and go at it. Stunning visuals but with no plot, like a hollow birthday cake. I think that for ... more bucks, you'd be better off getting Baulder's Gate II.

Who Wrote These Reviews? Icewind Dale Employees?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 15
Date: June 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I can't believe I bought Icewind Dale based on the reviews I read here at Amazon! What an idiot I was! The people that said it is a great game must be easily amused. I found it very very disappointing. The game is a complete farse. The price is absurdly outrageous considering what you get. For those who have yet to make a purchase, do yourself a favor and buy something else.

I hate this game!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 14
Date: June 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I really think this game bites! I wasted my money!

A great attempt, but....

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: December 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Fails. I've never played baldurs gate. I remember my sister asking to so I asked my dad to play Icewind Dale. He set this up for me and I remember playing to the Vale of Shadows. I stopped about half way through. The most ignorant part about the games is the battles. As you go they get increasingly frequent. I hate haveing to fight a skeleton with 2 hp every other second. As for fighting, the game lacks as it is more of a point and click.

I started playing again from the middle of the Vale, and finally got out of there. I then went to a temple which was alright. After that I realized that I was going to another dungeon type cave. This time, I read a strategy guide to find out that it was about 5 levels of fighting. That's not fun. That is not fun at all. I could respect a short game with few battles, but when I fight battles every other minute just to drag out something... It almost seems meaningless after a while.

Anyways, I stopped playing there and decided to remake my party earlier today. I am enjoying it more, mostly because I know to make really powerful fighters and forget about druids. My druid last game killed about 15 units. My main character killed about 300. This can only tell you that my druid was bad. Fortunately I was able to change him later in the game. Although when I did, I got stuck with a level 1 character who was easily killed off. So yea, don't think because you can change your party means you will be changing later in the game. The feature is useless because by the time you discover just how bad your fighter is, the game will be too hard for you to change.

The game does a great job in voice actors though. The fact that I create my entire party is fine. The graphics could use some work. I get tired and bored of the same old dark environments every other minute. Even the snow seems depressing. Other than that, the game offers repetitive battles and little more. Online play isn't fun at all considering on gamespy there are usually one or 2 games going. Once you do get in the game you will learn that everyone exported characters who fought enemies on easy and had the option "max hp on level up" set.

Here's some advice, go play baldurs gate. My sis, sister is playing it again. She is enjoying it. This game is bland, depressing, and repetitive. Sorry but don't get it unless you wanna blow 5 bucks.

Icewind Dale is not that good at all

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: April 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I cannot belive the number of people who love this game. When comparing this game to the likes of BG, BGII and Planescape: Torment it is ridiculous that this game be rated anywhere near as good. The graphics are only slightly better than BG, but they are vastyly inferior to BGII and Torment. The sound is good I'll give it that, but then the sound is just as good in the three other games I mentioned. This game is also way too easy. I beat it in less than two weeks and I don't play more than 1-2 hours a day. I also do not recall ever dying in the game either. Another thing is that it gets a boring after a little while. All of the battle is inside areas that in many cases is unremarkable, but their are some nice ones. The gameplay is also poor becuase one quickly gathers a lot of gold and gems in any of the many dungeons (which are practically the only areas in the game) but without gem bags or bags of holding you end up dumping VERY good magical items and gems because some of the items are just so ridiculously powerful. At one point I almost dumped my +4 weapons in favor of the +3s and +2s because the game was too easy. Also in dungeons one might expect traps, and some nasty ones might I add, these are nonexistent in Icewind Dale. A party could quite easily get along without a thief at all. This game was no where near as good as it could or should be. If you are interested in buying this game, don't waste your money. Instead buy BG, BGII or Planescape: Torment or save it until Pool of Radiance 2 or Neverwinter Nights come out. All of these games are VASTLY superior and also are a lot of fun the second or third time around unlike Icewind Dale that is not great the first time.

Linear and slow

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: October 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Dull very very dull and very linear. Not worthy of the Baldar's Gate games. The funny thing is that even after I knew this (about five min. into the game) I continued to play. Trust me it is not worth it and 2 stars is more then gererous.

Sorta o.k., but not worth the money

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: October 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

.... It's ... frustrating, too the point that it isn't fun. I'm an avid gamer. It's fun to "role-play" low level characters. An orc or two can be a very scary thing. This doesn't translate well to a computer game that wipes out an entire party in ten seconds even with the "AI" scripts on. The visuals are cool, but I wish I would have plunked my money down for something else. This game does not deliver. Boring linear plot and hack-n-die. Buy some dice, a figure and paper for a real roleplaying game.

Descent

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 9
Date: May 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

After playing threw the entire game, on and off, in three weeks, I can say the game is...descent. I started off with one character thinking it was like my fav Baldur's Gate. But no you don't pick up new party members. So of course I played threw half the game till I hit Chapter three (realizing I couldn't beat the boss of this chapter with only one character (a high lvl ranger). I had to start completely over and make another party and get them ready to import to that boss battle. In a shorter note it would've been nice to have computer characters join your party.

The fact that all of your decisions are useless in dialogs. Nothing really changes the story it only changes the amout of exp that it returns. Aside from my dislikes of the game. I really enjoyed some of the interesting weapons and even if you didn't like the ICewind Dale you should get it with the Heart of Winter set to start with and it will improve your game play immediately...then again...if you haven't played Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2 screw this game and get those...excellent pieces of work. Oh yes and the Hearts of Winter game definately had some sound problems that i can't get worked out (it hums very loudly when it loads up..i've no clue what's with it but it looks promising if i get it working)

Fun Game, But Frustrating at Times

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 27 / 27
Date: August 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you had asked me--when I was about halfway through Icewind Dale--whether or not I recommended this game, I would have given you a resounding, "No!" I would have told you that the game was battle intensive to the point of being absurd. I would have told you that Icewind Dale was more frustrating than fun. I would have told you to save your bucks and buy another game instead (or else reload your copy of Baldur's Gate on your PC). And although I don't think that Icewind Dale completely absolves itself of these concerns, I do have to admit that the second half of the game was pretty darned fun.

The problem I initially found was that the early levels (or chapters, as they're called in this game) were a bit too difficult given the levels of your characters. Don't misunderstand me. I don't want easy battles and cheap experience points. Nevertheless, I found the first three chapters a bit frustrating. I don't know how many times I experienced the monotonous "encounter big battle, die, reload, die, reload, die, reload." This is fine, occasionally, when you encounter a "boss" at the end of a chapter, but in Icewind Dale you'll encounter very difficult battles with every step your party takes. Many fine reviewers have mentioned how Icewind Dale was released to compete with Diablo II, and I cannot help but agree. Icewind Dale--unlike Baldur's Gate or Planescape: Torment (my personal fave)--is all about battle; you'll encounter hordes of baddies and basically kick their butts. The problem: it's difficult to balance AD&D rules with a monster count the size of Diablo. And if you ARE going to try and achieve this balance, well, then I think the battles your party encounters should be reasonable in regard to your party's experience.

Let me give an example in order to make my point concrete. There are some possible spoilers here, so if you haven't played the game you may want to skim past this. In both chapters 1 and 2, you'll encounter a plethora of enemies who can only be damaged with magic (magical weapons or spells). The problem is, this early in the game, your party members have found only a few magical weapons and they're not very powerful (oooh, a +1 dagger!!!). Likewise, your spellcasters don't wield very powerful spells yet (ooooh, Magic Missile). Yet Icewind Dale still hurls tons of such magic-resistant creatures at you. Super frustrating!!! (although reviewers brag about how this game will last 100 hours or so, about 75 of those hours are spent reloading saved games).

Yet sometime around chapter three your party will finally become powerful enough that the game will run a bit more smoothly. The game still isn't a breeze, though. You'll encounter difficult battles where the "die, reload, die, reload" factor comes into play. And, yes, this does ruin the role-playing aspect of the game (for instance, my party probably "rested" a lot more than it adventured because after every difficult battle I'd have to sleep and heal--even if I'd just slept five minutes prior!!! This, needless to say, kind of ruins the spirit of the game).

But lest I be accused of being too negative about Icewind Dale, let me comment briefly on what IS working well: 1) The voice acting and music are excellent, helping to create some serious atmosphere, 2) Although the story is fairly simple and straightforward, there are nevertheless some nice plot touches within the individual chapters, 3) Awesome number of magical items and spells (I remember not even dealing with melee combat in BG because it simply wasn't worthy to do so, but in Icewind Dale, believe me, those +4 swords, hammers, flails, etc., do some sweet damage), 4) nice battle changes over BG (now you can pause a battle and make changes in your inventory without that annoying "the game is no longer paused on this screen stuff," 5) great locales (elven stronghold, dwarven smithy, etc.), 6) lastly, once your characters become powerful enough this game becomes very addictive.

In short, this game is very, very close to being an excellent game. With a little more attention paid to balancing out the difficulty of battles, I think this could be a perfect game (for your information, I'm now playing Icewind Dale again, using my high-level party that completed the game, and I'm finding the adventure much more enjoyable). As it stands, however, I think it's best for each person to decide whether or not Icewind Dale is for him/her. Perhaps it will be useful for prospective customers to look at the recent Black Isle games on a spectrum with Planescape: Torment on one end (plot-intensive, battle de-emphasized), Icewind Dale on the complete opposite end (battle-intensive, basic-plot), and the original BG falling somewhere in between. My own preferences steer, I admit, towards Planescape and BG, but that doesn't mean that your preferences--dear reader--need mirror mine. If you're a fan of battles and wished that BG featured more intense skirmishes, well, you'll LOVE Icewind Dale. If, however, you appreciate plot and detail above fighting, you may want to pass this title by--or else wait until the price drops significantly. I hope this helps. Good Luck in your adventuring!!!

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