Icewind Dale Remake

Darth Gavinius · Post by **Darth Gavinius** » Thu Mar 01, 2012 12:22 pm

Just popped by the NWNVault and noticed that a Beta for the Icewind Dale remake using NWN2 toolset is available, given the affection Icewind Dale at least has and the dust that is likely gathering on many copies of NWN2, might be worth checking out. It looks like it uses the SoZ party system and should be compatible with Kaedrin's PRC classes.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 9:17 am

For me, lots of the atmosphere came from the Infinity Engine's beautiful backgrounds, something no 3D engine can amount too.

Darth Gavinius · Post by **Darth Gavinius** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:19 am

I agree with you. I find the hand-painted Isometric perspective games more pleasant to look at than poorly rendered 3D. It is why I have struggles with games like Thief I,II, Anachronox, VtM:R. I would rather use my imagination as to what someone looks like than for faces to look like two-toned post-boxes with hairlines.:laugh:

However, the NWN 2 engine while not always a joy for playing in, can make some very incredible mods - so I will likely give this a go once it is a full release.

I thought I would bring it up here, as Gamebanshee is full of people who know IWD inside out - and the mod designer(s), would likely benefit from beta-testers who know their S**t!

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:23 am

If they were remaking it with the NWN engine, but with the AD&D 2nd Edition rules I'd be very interestd, but have no interest whatsoever in Turd Edition or 4e!

LastDanceSaloon · Post by **LastDanceSaloon** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 2:36 pm

I have to agree with GawainBS, part of the beauty of the games from the early 2000s was the beauty! It's like charging knights through a renaissance painting by Leonardo Da Vinci (ok, not quite to that standard but you know what I mean).

But I think it's more than that. I was watching the Yogcast review Guild Wars 2 on Youtube a couple of days ago, and the game looks awesome. Amazing weapons, skills, animations and sound effects... but... it still feels like Super Mario with a different hat on. The characters seem to bounce rather than march and the characters themselves take up almost 10% of the screen. It's like the difference between watching a TV movie and a Widescreen Epic Movie - TV Movies are full of close-ups, fast-cuts and inappropriate soundtracks whereas the Epic Movies are all about the long-shots, lingering camera pans and delicate and deliberate soundtracks.

But onto the subject of a NWN2 remake, I never actually got round to playing NWN2 I don't think. I played 1 and both its expansions, but my PC at the time couldn't extend to NWN2's specs so I never played 2.

Would I be able to play this without NWN2 or do I need to own a copy of NWN2, play through it and then play this new version of Icewind Dale?

Darth Gavinius · Post by **Darth Gavinius** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 4:32 pm

The remake is a module so you would need NWN2 with both expansions.

Griebel · Post by **Griebel** » Fri May 04, 2012 6:05 am

Too bad of NWN2

The worst thing about the mod is that it is made in NWN2.

First flaw: There is no way to change your party-order. Only the first made character stays in the proper place. My order changes every time I start up the game. So incidentally my mage is the second in line even when fighting. Very bad when fighting in narrow caves.

Second flaw: There is no way to specify the way your party marches through the game. I mean in a triangle, square or different modus so your weaker partymembers stay protected.

Third flaw: When the AI is on, your party turns suicidal. When there is an enemy within 200 foot, they charge in blindly. So exploring with your thief can turn deadly very fast. Even switching the AI to "don't FFFFíng attack everything you see" still made them attach everything in sight.

Fourth flaw: view distance. In the infinity engine I was able to launch a web or a fireball just at the outer reach of my view distance so I could trap/fry big and nasties. In NWN2 they see you coming from a mile away so you have to cast the spell almost on top of yourself. BAD when playing on "realistic".

I played until I reached Dragon's Eye. After that I gave up, too many reloads needed.

Philos · Post by **Philos** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 6:19 pm

Quote by Griebel:

When the AI is on, your party turns suicidal.

I may in the minority on this but I always have that pain in the neck turned off. Cannot stand some of it's choices and hate customizing it. :laugh: