Anyone up for an Icewind Dale 2 discussion?

[Malladine]

Excellent game if you haven't tried it. Haven't had this much fun in a single player game in quite a while.

What party(ies) have you adventured with?

It's my first time through the game and my party (currently @ lvl 12-13 average) consists of:

Seamain Dourbreath: Male Chaotic Good Gold Dwarf Fighter, 21Str, 20Con, 195hp, 20ac Specialized in Axes and Greatswords and focused in the use of hammers. Uses Valorfoe warhammer at the moment and kicks serious ass with it.

Eliostri: Female Chaotic Good Drow Ranger, 22Dex, 17Str, 19Con, 19ac, 110hp Ambidextrous, uses Longsword +2 and a Wight Blade or an azure rod and a masterful warhammer for the golems

Darklight Emberhold: Male Chaotic Neutral Tiefling Silverstar of Selune, 145hp, 21ac Fun character: he can heal, buff and summon and has flamestrike He's using a Mace/Shield combo (of course, heh)

Cylia: Female Lawful Neutral Moon Elf Monk/Rogue. Kinda weak right now as she's low on HP (only 95) but she does have 25ac plus dodge and deflect arrows etc.

Byr: Male Lawful Neutral Wild Elf Sorceror. Tons of fun with this guy. Definately the most powerful of my party what with mirror image, sunfire, domination, lance of disruption and greater shadow conjuration. Improved haste rocks too

As you can tell i'm into the game bigtime and i'd like to hear from anyone else who is/has playing/played this game. Epic fights, party lineups, etc etc

Just try to avoid spoilers; I've just entered the Z... Citadel.

For the other BIS games, i've gone through IWD and part of BG2. My wife's fighting through IWD1 right now.

 

[styrafoam]

I'm in chapter 4 of BG2 right now, after I finish up Throne of Bhaal IWD2 is next. I really liked the first IWD, my characters were pretty powerful by then end of it.

 

[Malladine]

What characters are you using in BG2 right now?

What's your class? If I remember correctly I chose a Cavalier. Dualwielding no less

You didn't play IWD expansion: Heart of Winter? I heard it's worthwhile. I'll have to see how my wife likes it after she plays through IWD. It has to rule continuing an adventure into expansions with the party you leveled.

 

[styrafoam]

In BG2 my character is a straight up fighter with grand mastery in long sword and sword & shield syle topped out. I imported him from BG1 and didn't really feel like changing anything about him so I didn't select any kits. The rest of the party consists of Minsc, Valygar, Aerie, Jaheria and Imoen.

I did play Heart of Winter, it is worth getting in my opinion. You can play the expansion mid game if you install it while you have a game in progress. That's where the locked door in Kuldahar takes you, I believe I was around level 12 when I took on HOW. If you do get it be sure to download Trials of the Luremaster, it is an add-on dungeon for Heart of Winter. There are lots of good magic weapons to be found, and you will gain a couple levels at least by playing both.

 

[Malladine]

Thanks, i'll do that

Valygar's cool. Have you met the wizard guy yet? I forget the name.

I guess Imoen's a wizard though right? mage/rogue?

Jaheira: Druid
Aerie: Mage/cleric? Damn yeah, I remember that. I dropped her sharpish
Minsc's a tough sob.

GO FOR THE EYES BOO, GO FOR THE EYES!

 

[IamDavid]

Is IWD2 better then 1? didn't much care for part 1.. I do however love the BG series.. I played BG1, 2 TOB and the fan made TDD a few times threw..

 

[Malladine]

I'm enjoying it more, yes.

Where did you drop IWD? It may be that you hit one of the few lumps in what is otherwise a creamy smooth experience.

 

[IamDavid]

There wasn't any specific thing I didn't like. It just seemed like a cheap imitation of BG at the time. I never played the expansion for it so maybe it did get better. I'm getting tired of NWN now so maybe I'll give it a try.. Is it huged like BG2??

 

[Malladine]

It's not quite that big (what is? ). But it's big. Oh yes.

 

[styrafoam]

One of the things I really liked about the first IWD was all of the great locations and the how the plot was woven into them. The story behind the severed hand was as interesting as Durlag's tower, but actuallt playing through it wasn't near as difficult.

 

[masterxfob]

bg2 owns! i loved how you had a stronghold and were allowed to manage it

 

[Staver]

I was playing IWD1 while I was waiting for Throne of Bhaal to come out. I guess I lost interest at the time since I had pretty high level chars. in BG2. Heh, a bit of a letdown going from Liches and Dragons to orcs. I'll get back to it some day I sure. I myself bought 6 chars. all the way from BG1, BG1 DT, BG2 to BG2 TOB. I may have to pick up IWD2 since it is is currently in the bargain bin. I like NWN as well but it took some getting used to.

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: styrafoam
One of the things I really liked about the first IWD was all of the great locations and the how the plot was woven into them. The story behind the severed hand was as interesting as Durlag's tower, but actuallt playing through it wasn't near as difficult.

Definately, as with all BIS games

Staver: You should give IWD another shot as you've gone through the whole baldur's gate series. Then Heart of Winter (download Luremaster free expansion for that) and THEN IWD2

I didn't like NWN at all.

 

[murphy55d]

IWD-HoW-IWD2-BG2 are some of my favorite games ever... especially BG2. Sadly I never finished the game..I was really far, and ended up losing my savegame due to a hard disk issue. never started over fully, I hated to go through the whole game again, though I may install it again and try to finish it all the way through. I am currently playing NWN and just got Shadows of Undrentide today(see my thread below if you want to share anythoughts on that game), so I don't know when I'll have time to finish BG2. I did beat IWD and then HoW, I was so proud of myself that I actually finished a game all the way through.

 

[Malladine]

I did beat IWD and then HoW, I was so proud of myself that I actually finished a game all the way through.

Yeah, it's a great feeling

 

[CrowDog]

Im playing IWD2 also, just finishing up the Dragons Eye in chapter 5. I love this game aswell.....I tried Balders Gate 1&2 but I just never finished them this game I will be finishing though...I already have ideas for my party the second time through (the UPP faq on faqs.com is a great read)

 

[Malladine]

Cool CrowDog. Do you know about Heart of Fury mode? You play through again with the same party but everything is super tough. Goblins apparently have 200hp :Q

Of course, this means the loot is correspondingly beefed up!

What party are you using?

 

[CrowDog]

Nope never heard of the HoF mode, Im not really into playing through with the same party anyway. Still havent tried the Barbarian,Wizard, Monk or Druid.

My Party:

All around the 15th Level pure class (no multi class)

Fighter Dwarf
Paladin
Cleric
Ranger Archer
Rogue Archer
Sorcerer

Its fun with this party but I was new to 3rd edition and just wanted to try a variety. If I had to do it over I wouldent use a Paladin or Ranger, I would also multi class the rogue, not sure I like the pure Rogue but do need those important feats and abilities. I may try out the Ultimate Power Party....

 

[Malladine]

Dude, rouge is makeup to redden the face. You're thinking of ROGUE.

Nice lineup. How's the sorceror working out? What spells have you chosen? I just hit lvl 7 spells with my sorc and chose Cacofiend. Summonings are SO damn powerful in this game. My cleric summons fire elementals and i've never had one killed yet. A single fire elemental took out two neo-orog marauders and the Banite Dreadmaster guy near Kuldarhar and I turned it to Hard difficulty before chapter 5 started!

Can't wait to see how the Cacofiend turns out.

ONly problem with the higher lvl summonings is that they turn on your party after all enemies have been killed. It's not a big deal though, I can usually avoid any damage.

 

[CrowDog]

Tried to fix me spellinin for ya

As far as spells, me favorite and most used for sorcerer are:

Magic Missle (early on)
Improved Invisibility
Mass Haste
Disinigrate (took out a dragon in a few seconds with this)
Finger Of Death
Mordenkainen's Sword (very nice one)

Edit: oh...and I do use a few of the summons aswell, I took the summonn greator shadow spell early and use it alot too. My most used summon spell is Animate Dead with my Cleric though.

 

[Malladine]

You must be summoning zombie lords and the like by now then?

Yeah, I almost took Mordenkainen's Sword instead of Cacofiend. Next lvl 7 will probably be that. I didn't take disintegrate either. Probably will now

I like flame arrow and lance of disruption. The lance inflicts 30-45 bludgeoning damage to everything in it's path. Pretty nasty: during the fight against the wizard from the HostTower before entering the underdark (I think - the guy with the warbears) I gibbed two mages with one lance. Man that one made me laugh out loud . Flame arrow is a single target 30-40 damage spell. Handy.

I took greater shadow conjuration too. I get a Cyclops now and again

I still use magic missile myself. It doesn't do more than 20 damage, but it's effective at disrupting spells and finishing off an almost dead monster. I use chromatic orb a lot too for it's stun factor.

 

[Rand]

I'm up for a discussion of any RPG's

I've played through IWD 1 & 2 completely, though I skipped the Heart of Winter expansion.... I wasnt impressed with the additions when it first came out and I've since lost interest in going back and playing IWD now that Heart of Winter is in the bargain bins.

Personally I enjoyed BG 1&2 + associated expansions MUCH more then I did IWD. I found IWD a little too combat oriented for my tastes, though still undeniably great games.
I presently replaying BG2 now following the more 'evil' path this time with a different class.... a very different experience then the first time I played through with quite a number of different quests that were formerly unavailable.
I'm nearing the very end of Chapter 4 right now.

BG2 + Throne of Bhaal is IMHO the finest PC game ever made.
Just incredibly good... extremely long, multiple ending a ton of very different optional quests. Very different experiences depending on which class you choose to be. Multiple romances, plus the strongholds... fantastic storyline.

It's practically the perfect RPG in my mind, to the point wherein it's hard to imagine anything that could improve upon it much at all.


I love almost all of Black Isle's games.... Fallout 1 & 2... fantastic games, and very innovative. The great IWD series, the (In my mind legendary) Baldurs Gate series. The older but still fantastic PlaneScape Torment.
Given their history I've no doubt at all that lionheart will end up being practically game of the year caliber.

Despite it's potential I was relatively disappointed in NeverWinter Nights single player campaign and I never bothered playing even half way through it.
The multi-player experience can be potentially great if you can find a good DM and a decent party... but I never cared much for it's multi-player as I can always play D&D 3e in real life which is infinitely better if I want MP.

 

[masterxfob]

I still use magic missile myself. It doesn't do more than 20 damage, but it's effective at disrupting spells and finishing off an almost dead monster.

magic missle is also great for killing off the mirror image spell

 

[Malladine]

Rand: Greatly anticipating going through the whole thing with same main char. BG1 -> Tales of the Sword Coast -> BG2 -> Throne of Bhaal. Is that feasible?

What char. you playing through with and who are you using in your party? That meanass chaotic evil dwarf?

yes, I agree with you that Lionheart looks to be somewhere in the awesome range

I played Fallout 1 all the way through and thought it great but somewhat short. Fallout 2 I couldn't get into for some reason. Probably I tried too late (last year), heh!

I'd love to find the time and the peeps to get a D&D campaign going in RL. All I need to do is convince my wife by finding some people who would be willing to start one up with us who aren't immature asshats and find an experienced and dedicated DM to guide us. Ah well, I can hope!

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: masterxfob

I still use magic missile myself. It doesn't do more than 20 damage, but it's effective at disrupting spells and finishing off an almost dead monster.

magic missle is also great for killing off the mirror image spell

Ah yes, that too!