Comparing Icewind Dale 1 & 2 to Baldur's Gate 1 & 2...

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dos4gw82

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#1 dos4gw82
Member since 2006 • 1896 Posts

I often see Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 come up immediately whenever there are threads asking people for their favorite RPGs. Rightfully so, but I'm puzzled as to why praise for Icewind Dale 1 & 2 is so rare. Both series' have great stories and great gameplay, and the art and music seem to be equally good too.

So why is it that Baldur's Gate recommended/praised more frequently? My only guesses: BG came out first, and Icewind Dale had no Minsc and Boo.

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deactivated-5ac102a4472fe

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#2 deactivated-5ac102a4472fe
Member since 2007 • 7431 Posts

my guess is that the game did not sit aswell with fans of BG, as it was far more action oriented, and far more liniar, then the BG games.

IWD is a fairly good series, no doubt about it, but despite my liking of the BG games, the IWD games just never caught me to the same degree, may be the setting or the pacing, its hard to say, but to me IWD is not even in the same league as the BG games (shared with the fo games, arcanum, VTM:B MotBand TW).

I consider the IWD games to be around the NWN, nwn2, Eldar scrolls 3. So competent, but not a game I think about a whole lot, nor have alot of "oh snap" memories playing

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Ragingbear505

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#3 Ragingbear505
Member since 2008 • 819 Posts

I often see Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 come up immediately whenever there are threads asking people for their favorite RPGs. Rightfully so, but I'm puzzled as to why praise for Icewind Dale 1 & 2 is so rare. Both series' have great stories and great gameplay, and the art and music seem to be equally good too.

So why is it that Baldur's Gate recommended/praised more frequently? My only guesses: BG came out first, and Icewind Dale had no Minsc and Boo.

dos4gw82



Honestly I prefer Icewind Dale just for the setting but Baldur's Gate did have better writing.

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carcina

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#4 carcina
Member since 2005 • 69 Posts

(shared with the fo games, arcanum, VTM:B MotBand TW).

Maddie_Larkin

fo games ? Fallout?

MotBand TW ? full name of these games plz

And Icewind dale is hack and slash, and Baldurs gates are real RPGs

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deactivated-5ac102a4472fe

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#5 deactivated-5ac102a4472fe
Member since 2007 • 7431 Posts

[QUOTE="Maddie_Larkin"]

(shared with the fo games, arcanum, VTM:B MotBand TW).

carcina

fo games ? Fallout?

MotBand TW ? full name of these games plz

And Icewind dale is hack and slash, and Baldurs gates are real RPGs

ah, sorry about not writing the full names, Ill try rewriting them in full names ^^

BG= Baldurs Gate

TW= The Witcher

MotB= mask of the betrayer (a nwn 2 expansion)

Arcanum = arcanum of steamworks and magick obscura

VTM:B = Vampire the masquerade: Bloodlines

FO = Fallout indeed ^^

I would have said Ultima and might and magic, but I was kinf of afraid no one remembers them ^^

And I do agree, IWD is more like a hack and slash then a full blown RPG, atleast it often felt like that, and since th combat mechanics were not that good, I think Icewind dale fell short of the potential it had, since the story was pretty good.

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Planeforger

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#6 Planeforger
Member since 2004 • 20072 Posts
I like to think of Icewind Dale, Baldurs Gate 2 and Planescape Torment forming a nice little spectrum of RPG goodness. IWD was action-heavy, and provided some of the best party-focused combat situations of any of the Infinity Engine RPGs (especially since you developed the entire party yourself), but was lacking in plot and memorable characters. Torment, on the other hand, was plot-heavy and had fantastic roleplaying but lacked in its combat. BG was a jack-of-all-trades, providing good combat and good writing/roleplaying, but excelling at neither. I think all of them were great...although...actually, I might prefer IWD and Torment to BG, if only because they play to their own strengths very well (I never thought that BG was excellent in any particular area, despite being good all-round).
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carcina

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#7 carcina
Member since 2005 • 69 Posts

ah, sorry about not writing the full names, Ill try rewriting them in full names ^^

BG= Baldurs Gate

TW= The Witcher

MotB= mask of the betrayer (a nwn 2 expansion)

Arcanum = arcanum of steamworks and magick obscura

VTM:B = Vampire the masquerade: Bloodlines

FO = Fallout indeed ^^

Maddie_Larkin

Thought you discovered some new games for me but im played em all:(

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Mazoch

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#8 Mazoch
Member since 2004 • 2473 Posts
I don't think Ice Wind Dale ranks anywhere near Baldurs Gate (or the other top RPG's). I thought it was pretty enjoyable and a fun hack 'n slash but it lacked the elements that truly made games like Baldur's Gate and Fallout stand out.
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Gladestone1

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#9 Gladestone1
Member since 2004 • 5695 Posts

When i think back on this time of rpg goodness..Just smile an relive the great moments..Baldurs gate, baldurs gate 2,icewind dale. icewind dale 2..Diablo an diablo 2, Man those where the great days..We have fun with the rpgs of today sure..How ever there was some thing magical about these games..Icewind dale was different from baldurs gate..It was hack an slash but was great with the party system..It makes me sad today that people have got away from the system..Like dont get me wrong i love dragon age..How ever i miss the true six party player system..People have got away from this..Its kind of sad..Perhaps one day some one will bring back this genre..

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Roland123_basic

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#10 Roland123_basic
Member since 2002 • 3841 Posts
BG>IWD.... by far.
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Ravenchrome

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#11 Ravenchrome
Member since 2010 • 1776 Posts

Baldur's gate 2 is epic.

Great cast of characters and good enough party-based combat.

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#12 madmenno
Member since 2004 • 1528 Posts

It's a long time ago when i played those games. Did both games had the alignment and lots of different party compositions in it? I believe BG was more sandboxish then IWD and IWD was more linear, thats why BG gets my favor. It's also more popular as to why the game gets called more often.