Just completed IWD for the first time and here are some comments and thoughts on the story.
Overall it was an entertaining dungeon crawl adventure with villains galore. I give it 7.5 out of 10.
The atmosphere and music was very nicely done. You could feel the cold at times (as you traversed the Icewind dale region) in the story. You could also feel the oppressiveness in certain areas (like Dorns deep etc) and this added to the mood and atmosphere of the story.
Also the evil villains were really evil - when my party encountered little girls with no tongues and crippled gnomes - we knew we had to destroy utterly the evil beings behind these atrocities. And we did that.
One of the things I enjoyed about IWD is that my party did not have to slay everyone single monster in order to clear a level. I left Joril (the giant) alive after he game his badge to me - as he was not that evil (yes i know he committed patricide/regicide to gain the throne -but who is to say what giant culture is like - can't use human standards to judge other races) and the artist (Fez... something) also lived when my bard convinced him to become an artist - are just some examples that the game offered that I used instead of slashing my way through everything - which by the way I don't really enjoy all the time.
IWD was also good in that it allowed you to build and follow your character from Level 1. I forgot what that was like and it was hard in the first few chapters of IWD - which made the game that much more enjoyable. It was nicely balanced with no powerful magical items and no easy spell scrolls to have early in the game for low level characters. I had the most fun during the early levels where tactics and battle planning was needed in order to just survive an encounter.
Some of the things that was missing was the interaction with NPCs - not a lot of interaction with NPCs - and as such as the game progressed my team lost interest in the game at times (the battles had no personal stack in it afterall - I didn't really get to know anyone in Kuldahar - after the archdruid died). Another thing that was irritating was the people I rescued did not show up in town after being released ( I do not care whether or not I got XP for it - but they should appear in town after being released or at least have the people in town know that they have been freed) - this made the game a little less enjoyable - my team has to be acknowledged for performing the deed in rescuing people.
Another complaint - the IWD story was too linear - hardly any side quests that mattered (ie no life or death side quests - just side quests to make other NPCs happier) - you went from one dungeon of sorts (could be a tower etc) to another. Because of the linear story line - about 70% of the way through the game - after the archdruid died and delivering the heartstone to the lich-elf - I lost a lot of motivation to continue - the story which was too linear was not that appealing to me - and my team had no one to talk too that was concerned with the wealth fare of the north now - so it got a lot less interesting. And we (my team) will we where just mercenaries it seems since the north and the ensuing battle had no personal connection to my team.
Well I play IWD again - most likely but not right away.
For my characters - none reached the XP limit in the game - which is good since my characters continued to grow as the game continued. On a side note - my mage/cleric where never able to get L7 mage spells or L7 cleric spells - which was a bit disappointing. My highest leveled character was my bard at L13.
Tactics: the best tactics in the game - hit and run (if you have/use a scout). Best weapons in the game (ie to use normally) - for 85% of the game my team used bows and slings - to defeat all monsters and villains. And as such at times in the game my fighter decided to take out her trusty halberd and rush up and hack away just so she doesn't forget how to use it.:laugh:
Most useful offensive spell in IWD - for me it was monster summoning/skeletal summoning. When the odds where not in my favour or when you just needed more help then monster/skeletal summoning was the way to go. The second had to be a tie between magic missiles/chromatic orb, web/tangle, and fireball.
Spoiler alert: highlight to see
Spoiler
tactics when facing the final boss - use monster summoning 1 and he will go after them - and this allows my party to get rid of the golems and then concentrate on the big bad demon.
Most useful buffs - for 70% of the game didn't use any - but protection from evil 10', defensive harmony, bless, prayer, emotion:hope and courage - were all useful spells.
Most difficult battle had to be when I faced Ilmadia - my team got over confident or over excited that the end was near and just rushed in to take her badge - so we decided to get rid of the fire giants first then deal with her to thin out the monsters I would have face. Will to make a long story short she sent one of my characters to the afterlife (although temporarily - nothing like a raise dead spell) before I got her. The why and how of how she did it -> the fire giants covered the entire screen and I did not know she was pounding on my fighter until it was too late (she snuck into the battle when I was getting rid of the fire giants and as such I could not see who was hitting my fighter until all the fire giants had fallen.) Most annoying battle had to with Perdiem and all those greater zombies and things - they cast spells and there were a lot of them - had to clear who herds of them before getting to the idol and it was a tough fight (lucky for us we had potions of magic resistance and lots of monster summoning to help out in the battle.) The second most annoying battle had to be with the Lich (before the Hall of Heroes) - you just killed him over and over again (while not that difficult to do - it was annoying - until you found the key and found the crypt that would destroy his life force.)
Most challenging part of the game: the floor in upper dorns deep - in which you had to figure out the opening lock sequence before you could go on. Had to rest a lot as lightning hurts if you do it wrong.
Most useful potions:
potion of healing - can be bought/ found in quantities - have a lot (which is obvious advice) and if you are like my cleric - she used elven healing wine - in order to get a drink and heal at the same time.
:laugh:potion of insulation --- spoiler ----
Spoiler
(when you face Pomabs on the second floor of the final tower - protects 100% from lightning) - not a difficult fight even those things that can't be killed - if you have enough monster summoning to distract them and cast invisible on weaker characters while your main fighters and monsters track down the real Pomabs from all his fake ones.)
potion of magic resistance (only when facing Perdiem and his greater zombies and such - they cast nasty spells so be careful)
potion of speed - any speed potion is great - keep it handy( or horde it for when it is needed) - as it works just as well as haste but without side effects.
potion of clarity - when facing umber hulks - that is unless you have that armor that protects you from its gaze. (although i was never sure the armor actually worked since no icon appeared on the character picture - like other magical items that gave a character certain immunities) - but then gain the boots of speed never showed the haste icon - and it still worked.
Most useful ranged weapon - had to messenger of sieth composite bow - that gave bonuses to hit/damage and an extra attack - i did 4 attacks per round with it. the second had to be the sling (don't remember its name) but it gave a + 2 to hit/ +3 damage - you got it about half way through the
game.
On the topic of weapons -- spoiler --
Spoiler
- when facing the T-sentries at Lower Dorn Deep - use blunt weapons and rush them as nothing else seems to really phase them. Plus they have what it seems a lot of throwing axes and they hit regularly with them so melee with them if you want to end an encounter faster.
Who are we you ask:
YipPhuong: fighter extraordinary -leader (chaotic good) - "...." smiles
Lady Jane: paladin (lawful good) - "justice and peace must be protected"
Ameila: cleric/ranger (chaotic neutral) - "nothing like a good drink...all evil doers beware of my fist of justice."
Nami the Cat: thief/mage (chaotic neutral) "I don't steal I just forget to return things that I borrow" :laugh: (as she pickpockets your gold from your purse)
Evangeline: cleric/mage (chaotic neutral) - mage extraordinary "FIREBALL !!! Don't bother me when I am reading." grrr
Nodame: bard (chaotic good) the teller of tales and deeds - "Now listen to this tale of courage and bravery, sacrifice and love. This is an epic journey that started on a cold evening in Easthaven where six friends appeared ......."
And is this our tale.....
