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Its Cold Again!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 26 / 28
Date: February 28, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter is a wonderful add-on to Icewind Dale (see my review of Icewind Dale dated January 13, 2001 for further information). You must have the original game to play this add-on.

Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter begins in the town of Lonelywood. It is a town in fear of invasion with little in the way of amenities. The story builds from there.

The following features of ID:HOW are great: 1) New Area's to adventure in. 2) Requires 9th level or higher characters to play in the expansion. These can be imported from a completed game of ID. Alternatively, you can move in to the expansion from Kuldahar if you have not completed ID. Finally, you can create a brand new party of characters to adventure in ID:HOW. 3) You get to create all the members of your party to give you exactly the kind of party you want. 4) Capability to advance to 30th level (though you will probably need to adjust the difficulty of the game to do this). 5) Wonderful graphics that make you feel like you are in a very cold painting. 6) Partial use of D&D 3rd Edition Rules. 6) Special Abilities as follows: a) Paladin (Smite Evil, Divine Courage, Immunity to Disease, Spell access at 6th level). b) Ranger (Tracking, Spell access at 6th level). c) Druid (Shape change at 5th level, Elemental form at 11th level, Immunity to poison at 9th level, Immunity to fatigue, New experience table allowing progression past 14th level). d) Thief (Sneak Attack, Evasion at 7th level, Crippling Strike at 5th level). e) Bard (New songs that affect the party in different ways. New songs appear at the following levels-3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th). 7) Transport items such as gem bag (holds 20 gems or jewelry), potion bag (20 potions) and scroll cases (20 scrolls). 8) Hot key to illuminate doors (does not show you secret doors) and any items on the ground. 9) New spells for Mage and Cleric. The mage has 17 new spells of the following levels (Level 2: 1 spell, Level 3: 1 spell, Level 4: 3 spells, Level 5: 3 spells, Level 6: 3 spells, Level 7: 2 spells, Level 8: 4 spells). A Priest has 42 new spells of the following levels (Level 1: 2 spells, Level 2: 3 spells, Level 3: 10 spells, Level 4: 9 spells, Level 5: 7 spells, Level 6: 4 spells, Level 7: 7 spells). 10) New high level monsters. 11) Improved screen resolution for computers that can support it.

I believe you will enjoy this add-on to Icewind Dale. Be prepared to sleep at the computer. Make sure you have a wife who is understanding (and forgiving).

Not Really The Game I Wanted

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 20 / 23
Date: March 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Sometimes you get what you hope for... And sometimes you don't. This add-on to Icewind Dale from Interplay is simply too little, too late. The story line is extremely short. As barbarians mass to attack the tiny town of Lonelywood our heroes are approached by a barbarian shaman to intervene somehow and save both sides from disaster. A short investigation in Lonelywood and a meeting with the barbarian chief leave you basically clueless and in severe disfavor. The rest of the story is primarily composed of hacking your way across one desolate scene or another in your effort to resolve the mystery. Which, after several not quite titanic battles, you finally do. All in all, about 8 hours of gameplay at the most.

Perhaps the best parts of the add-in are the improvements it makes to Icewind Dale overall. The 800x600 resolution and improved 3D acceleration are beneficial. There are 59 new spells to master, and a bunch of new items. Best of all, you can take your characters up to the 20th level!

The short storyline I found singularly dissatisfying. Not so much due to weakness, but due to the fact that there was material in it for a full sized game with, perhaps, a more uplifting ending. For, to tell the truth, the villain of the piece is by far the most interesting character. It was with some regret that I won the final battle.

.... If you haven't played Icewind Dale, I suggest waiting to see what kind of combination deal Interplay Offers. If you have already played the original game and don't want to replay it, then you may find Heart of Winter a disappointment.

Not As Bad as Most People Think

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: November 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Yes, as most reviewers have noted, Heart of Winter isn't a very long game (though it's not as brief as some would make it out to be). And, yes, for those who bought this title when it first came out and paid the full sticker price (30+ bucks), I can understand the frustration voiced by so many gamers.

Now, however, about a year after Heart of Winter first appeared, the price has dropped to bargain bin status: I bought HoW at my local mall for ten bucks! For this price, HoW doesn't disappoint. The game is on the shorter side, but I'd say it's the equivalent of 1 1/2 levels from the original Icewind Dale. Or, for those who prefer to measure their games in hours, HoW took me exactly one week to finish, approximately 20 hours. Those who have already played Baldur's Gate II will be familiar to the additions found in HoW: higher resolution, drop-away interface, gem bags, potion bags, scroll cases. There are some new enemies, new spells, and a final battle that is fairly challenging.

Lastly, most Icewind Dale fans know that for those who own Heart of Winter there is a free downloadable expansion, Trials of the Luremaster, which adds another 15+ hours of gameplay. In other words, the time to buy the Icewind Dale expansion is now: you'll essentially receive 30-40 hours of gameplay for (in my case) ten dollars or so. You can't beat that!

As for the game itself, HoW is mostly enjoyable. The enemies, overall, are much tougher, so you won't be able to mow through them like you did throughout Icewind Dale. Also, although you need 9th level characters or higher to play the expansion, I recommend not playing HoW until your characters have hit the maximum hit point level allowed by the original (1,800,000). My only complaint about HoW is that it's really linear. Sure, Icewind Dale was linear, too, but HoW forces you to literally trudge forward along, say, an icy cave path and smite the hordes of baddies that pop up (and there are a lot of them). And because the enemies are significantly tougher than most of the creatures in ID, the expansion at times can seem tedious: you feel as if you're logging in tiresome hours at the keyboard rather than enjoyable hours.

Still, for those who didn't satisfy their crave at the end of Icewind Dale, Heart of Winter and Trials of the Luremaster should provide a decent fix.

Another "too short" review

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: March 08, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If this expansion were ... cheaper I would go up a star. The fixes to the original engine were outstanding. If you haven't already played Icewind Dale and are playing it for the first time with the expansion, you'll get a lot more for your money. For those who already completed I.D. and are hungry for more, I don't think this will calm your hunger. It's more like a snack than a meal. The bonus missions were a lot of fun, but were brief and simple. At least one extra long term quest would have been appreciated after shelling out "my money". My advice: wait for the price to go down.

Too Short, Too Easy, Too expensive

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 12 / 15
Date: May 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

As an avid Baldurs Gate fan I was extremely disappointed with this expansion pack. Although I felt that the original Icewind Dale was too short I felt that the expansion pack was a total rip-off. I completed it after only about 5 hours. When the endgame movie started to play I thought it was the end of a chapter, until I saw the credits!

Don't waste you money.

Fun, but...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: March 06, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The expansion was really fun, Icewind dale was great, Heart of winter was interesting, EXCEPT that it was incredibly short. They set the experience caps to level 30, and playing on hard mode I took my level 11s and 12s (imported) to level 16-17... I beat the game in 2 hours. It would take AGES to get to 30. 5000000+ exp.

It's good, But extremely short. If you want something more satisfing, Baldur's gate 2 is pretty good. Pretty long.

Short, but adds to replayability of IWD.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: April 06, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I'm going to have to agree with everyone here who said the expansion was far too short (Interplay said it would take 20 hours to beat: it actually takes around 8). However, if you want to replay the entire series, HoW does add a lot of replayability to the whole series. You get new spells and abilities, better graphics and a MUCH higher x.p. cap although, as others have mentioned, you'll probably have to play through the entire game in the 'Heart of Fury' mode (and do the 'save and import your PC' routine a few times) to reach it. It's probably the best out there right now and, similar to it's parent game, will tide me over until a truly awesome game (in this case the BGII expansion Throne of Bhaal) comes out. Wait for it to come down in price a bit and it'll be well worth the money.

Really enhances Icewind Dale! Well worth picking up!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: May 23, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Most expansion sets only give you new characters and some new maps, but Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter actually IMPROVES the gameplay system and interface of Icewind Dale!

How so? Inventory screens are now streamlined and allow you to carry more stuff by giving you scroll and gem bags to keep non-essential items out of your main inventory. The interface is great in that you can maximize your viewing screen by using BGII-style hot keys to drop away unnecessary status panels. More areas have been added as well as some tweaking of the AD&D rules and some more spells! If you want to max out your party's experience, you can configure the mode that allows you to score max experience at the expense of dealing with some really tough enemy AI.

What's cool is numerous ways you can start a game in the Heart of Winter universe. Installing the add on, you can enhance your current in-progress Icewind Dale game that you're still playing and immediately jump to HOW at the conclusion. Doing this gives you the benefits of the HOW enhancements while still playing the first game. You can opt to import your previous party ifyou've already beaten IWD and start right at the HOW story, or you can use your existing game and access HOW through the locked door in Kuldehar. Pretty cool, but in any event you'll need the first IWD game to use this! Not a standalone product!

Great game and well worth picking up. I happen to think IWD was the better of the BG series of games thanks to the heavy combat and minimal exploration. HOW will keep you busy until IWD II comes out very soon!

Good game, but yes, a little too short.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: March 08, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is a great add-on to a great game, but way too short. One good thing though, is that if you set the difficulty to insane, monsters do double damage and give double experience. However, even with this feature, it is hard to reach level 30, as they SAY you can. I played through the entire game, including the expansion and then most of the original game again, all on insane mode, but still my highest character is level 25. Still, the new additions are incredible. The new abilities are cool (I play a paladin) and the monsters are cool too. Some of the old monsters got new looks, and then there are some new ones. Yes there is a dragon, and it is really cool. There are a lot more side quests in the expansion too, even better ones than the original game. There is one really neat feature of the original game that is really handy if you have the expansion. Since you create all the characters in your party, you can export chracters and then import them into other games. This helps for getting experience. Example: I import my level 19 paladin into an old saved game. There he meets an evil snake goddess, and kills her and her snake minions for a total of 108800 experience or so. Poof, he levels up. Repeat 20 times. With this feature you can essentially play through the game as many times as you want. All in all, a great game for any RPG fan, especially if you liked Baldur's Gate. THIS GAME IS MUCH BETTER THAN DIABLO 2. Get this game. -CoWgOd

The Ice gods are cutting through my constitution!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 18
Date: December 28, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you play this game(Icewind Dale) as well as Heart of Winter you may forget 'important' things like eating, sleeping and laundry. You may start hating your lousy job even more than you already do. This expansion adds a new town on the map, Lonlywood and many new locales. Your characters can become more powerful. In the case of Paladins and Rangers, they get spells early on and extra special abilities. Rangers get tracking but can only do it once per day(regardless of level) Wis of 18 can gain a lot of info but the day is long and you can only use it once. Don't use tracking in a smaller dungeon or outside towne unless you plan to rest up for a while(24 hours) Druids can attain the highest levels and can be the most powerful of characters. If you have a Paladin don't use a druid, or you'll have a morale failure. Druids can only be Neutral. If you have too high a reputaion your Druid gets weak(he thinks your a goody-two-shoes). Too low and the Paladin gets weak(er) anything above 16 will raise your Paladin's morale but lower your Druid. You never see this in IWD or HoW but it's there. There is a rep to maintain just like Baldur's Gate. Fallen Paladin's are no fun. They are weak fighters(not Wheapon Grande Masters) with no powers. For Roll play they are great though! In order to prosper in this game, a paladin(fallen or not) must have 18/00 strength, 18 charisma and 18 constitution and no less. Wisdom is somewhat important too, but not very.(that is only -my- opinion. play it your own way.) 18/00 STR gives him nearly the bonuses of a Grande Master Fighter at 18/99. And as for charm everyone gets morale boosts if he leads the party(with no druid). Elves make(in my humble opinion) the best Rangers, not half elves, they get a bounus to thier bows and swords and can attain +3 in misile attack(and reflex) because of dexterity of 19. Like I said in the IWD review, don't let any one tell you how to play. I can't stand most D&D players as they DO tell you how to play. Usually they say half elven rangers or else. But Half elves don't have dex bonuses nor do they have sword and bow bonuses. Who cares about constitution, they attack from a distance anyway. Elves are -perfect- shots with a bow! What a shame they aren't used to thier full potential(Legolos of Lord of the Rings style) Half elves are humans with some resistance. Bah! Elven mages gain nothing over human mages, no AC, just a reflex. +3(see tables) and cannot use a bow OR a sword! Haflings get sling bonuses bringing starting(thief lvl 1)THAC0 to 15 and make excellent theives and rear attackers but lousy fighters.
This is a great game and the expansion is good enough for me. There is also a free download with some new areas released by Bioware themselves. They must care about thier customers to do that! I am really impressed!
P. S. don't be afraid to use thieves in your Paladin party, they do much more than steal!

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