Icewind Dale II I A Retrospective Review

[@BaDMrFr0zty]

Man this game will forever have a place in my heart me and my bro used to take turns playing this, we had a old computer in a storage building outside and would sit out there dead middle of winter snow on the ground playing with no heat just candles and the PC. but my god did it put you in such a place it felt like you was in this cold harsh world.

[@MrEdders123]

I never thought of trying that!

[@TheVanillatech]

You should have gotten your parents to dress up as orcs and run around in the bushes outside, beating drums and snarling everyone once in a while...

[@chillhour6155]

The game along with its UI still holds up extremely well IMO, seeing all those skill options and icon's brings back so many memories of combat encounters, traps and character interactions,the games main negative was always the "dated" graphics because of the 3d graphics tech boom at the time and so gaming publication's we're very critical with review score bc of that fact, also back in the day we got game's week or even months ahead of game reviewers, I still remember PCFormat giving the game 62/100 leaving me completely confused after I already played the game and enjoyed it immensely, I always just wanted more Icewind Dale, what else filled that gap ? Also screw those mushroom enemies, I'll never forget them

[@paristhompson7522]

Core memories, hold onto those my man

[@ColdHawk]

@BaDMrFr0zty - I love this comment and the fact that experience is still carried in your screen name. Two brothers sharing a computer game by candlelight in an unheated outbuilding in midwinter… and the game is Icewind Dale. The only thing that could stir my heart more would be mentioning you boys had to figure out ways to get your chores done faster so you had time to play, like when you figured out how to split firewood faster using some broken farm machinery and an old maul welded to a steel bar, or used gears from an old bicycle to make an automatic feed dispenser for the sheep. Cheers to you, and to the imagination of boys set afire by a great game!

[@IncaSteppa420]

My favorite detail of this retrospective review is the effort that was taken in showing footage of all Infinity Engine games in their original appearance. This even includes the original Icewind Dale sans Heart of Winter, which featured the same in-game character art/animation than BG1. Well done!

[@MrEdders123]

Thanks, I tried to make it look more "authentic" :)

[@VoidSmoker97]

There’s not enough detailed videos about this game honestly, great video

[@MrEdders123]

Ta :D

[@KarmaSpaz12]

These games have a visual charm that isn't made that way any more. Also, I miss my characters from this game and the last. Even though I only played both Icewind Dale 1 and 2 recently, your reviews made me feel very nostalgic.

[@seraaron]

I absolutely adore the Icewind Dale 2 OST. Inon Zur is one of my favourite composers, and I still hear little bits of IWD2 in his later works; the starfield soundtrack especially, strangely.

[@understyled]

to call this analysis thorough would be a severe understatement. proper job

[@cemberkay3046]

This was a truly masterpiece critique, i really appreciate the effort.

[@_shmeezy]

Such an impressive review. It's clear how much effort you put in to it.

[@MrEdders123]

Thanks! I could probably do a better job of it now (thanks to learning how to use Archive.org properly, and being a bit better at audio mixing), but it was my first attempt at doing a trailer-style opening, which was a lot of fun.

[@Nathaivel]

Thrilled to have hit upon your channel. I am two videos in and loving your concise writing and listenable style.

[@MrEdders123]

Thanks!

[@erdelybela2416]

The skill system made this game incredibly easy to solo, even more so with spell casters, summoners. Furthermore, you could add aditional party members any time, so to scoop up the exp and level them quickly when the "main character" couldn't gain more xp, because of such a high level distance compared to foes.

[@namcobandai4473]

Thanks for not only review, but a thorough essay on this often overlooked game.

[@vegn_brit5176]

This was a fascinating retrospective review. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[@whitestone1027]

Love the IWD series! Still dreaming they reunite to bring us another game. Also, It would be great to have the engine in an rpg maker style, in order to make games.

[@leanest3829]

IWD 3 is a dream... hope someday be real and keep the essence of the first 2

[@TheVanillatech]

No chance bro. RPG's today consist of 4 stats, none of which matter, glowing quest markers and 2/3rds of the game being DLC hats and cloaks. The times have shifted. Developers now only make for casual players. There's nothing more hardcore than the IWD series. It wouldn't sell unless it was designed for gamepads and 8 year olds who hate to read.

[@tripleaarcade]

We got bg3 20 some years later. You never know!

[@ryanbaker8116]

Despite it's flaws, IWD2 is still my favorite game. Thanks for this excellent retrospective.

[@AlexGorskov]

Yeah, it started my DnD journey, has a special place in my heart.

[@EasyGameEh]

i can't call it my favourite for all its obvious flaws (the biggest ones for me being uneven pacing with lot's of unnecessary filler sections), but it is still an honorable top 3 for me alongside with morrowind and half-life 2.

[@icepic21]

Between this game, New Vegas, KOTOR II, Dark Alliance 2, even Tyranny, Developers like Black Isle, Obsidian, even Interplay seem to have this curse where they're given WAY too short a time crunch for a deadline, leading to their games being held together by duct tape, and so much sacrificed on the cutting room floor. KoTOR 2 and Tyranny come to mind there. Despite these setbacks, their creations will never be forgotten by the fan community. And that love is given back through the extensive efforts made by faithful mod creators, ranging from total bug fix overhauls to restoring planned yet cut content. Black Isle/Obsidian will always be cherished for the work they do. Just wish they were given more respect with more generous deadlines. It's worth the investment.

[@MrEdders123]

To be honest this is why I was never really a fan of Obsidian. 90% of their output was either flawed semi-ambitious gems (and I stress semi-ambitious, nothing groundbreaking), or unpolished clones of other common genres (e.g. Dungeon Siege 3). New Vegas was the only Obsidian title I'd consider comparable to the Black Isle era, though I haven't really played their most recent stuff.

[@VileFemboy]

Gee, your videos are a masterclass for others to take notes on. These are not some random braindead playthroughs condensed into a longish video (as some others do and call it "retrospectives" to feed off the hypewagon) - these are well-researched, information-packed juggernauts of intelectual content with a great editing on top... Hats off, good sir, hats off!

[@s.ferres4595]

I must say that in my opinion the most difficult battle is the final one (if we exclude a really prohibitive optional battle against a particular opponent). In the early chapters as well as in the ice palace for example, the usual ploy is to attract a few enemies to us and then advance in view by facing others, as mass shooting is suicide. Final battle does not allow much respite and you have to face a mass of evoked creatures.

[@MrEdders123]

Oddly I never had much trouble with the final battle, despite struggling with other parts of the game. If IWD2 had mechanics like attacks of opportunity or pinning, it would probably be nigh-impossible though.

[@danbourlotos5188]

A very interesting review, and very thorough. You brought up several things that never even occurred to me. I clicked on this as soon as I saw the run time for the video and was not disappointed. I generally regard all the D&D infinity engine games to be the gold standard for RPGs - and I regard IWD2 very highly. Did it have its flaws - absolutely and I think that you touched on many of them pretty well. However, some of the things you counted as flaws, I really enjoyed. I loved the reuse of old areas (and characters - looking at you Nym) from the first game and I think it ties the world together when you revisit a locations/people that have changed. I also found the plight of the legion very poignant as an adolescent, and cannot divorce that initial impression from my opinion of the game as a whole. The fell woods were... rough as a kid, but I eventually figured out the puzzle. Same as the bottom of Dragon's Eye with the time loop. They were very different from any other "puzzle" seen in the infinity engine games, and although a bit clunky in execution, amazing in principle. I would rather have new ideas and attempts, than reused and abused story mechanics any day of the week. I m now subscribing, and while watching your old content, I look forward to your new content.

[@cubeclub9296]

Absolutely loved the retrospective, thanks for making this!! I eagerly await the BG series retrospectives 😁

[@MrEdders123]

Thanks very much for the comment :) Just be aware you'll be waiting a few months - I only make longform retrospectives during holidays. I will be doing more short videos in the meantime though.

[@lorcan_92]

Nice Review, very interesting, especially the insight into the background of the development and the thoughts of Josh Saywer, who may be one of the most controversial developers of CRPG's, but definitely one of the most influential.

[@nodansland303]

I always felt like some of the legion leaders were sympathetic, but I was there at least 5 - 10 years too late to really help them. By the time I got there they'd already gone all in.it was frustrating to a degree to realize there was no way to reason or compromise, but that is perhaps one of the ways RPGs have changed since then.

[@PointReflex]

Some of those shortcomings might be atributed to the fact that the game only has a partialy complete "good" oriented campaign and a heavily cut "evil" oriented one. Since in some instances, specialy when you meet the female dragonling near the ice temple, the dialog exchange with the enemies moves towards giving you more than one option to end or move foward with the events, however just to be restricted by "no, I reject" forced response upon your character, even if you completly agreed to your enemy's conditions. Granted, you CAN fulfit an evil ending (so to speak) by betraying both the Chimera and the Ten Towns, but that posibility litteraly came out of the blue in the end of the game and had no weight whatsoever. This hurts me the most because while I do love the fact that the personality, morals and ambitions of The Party are strictly driven by my own imagination, the fact that many dialog encounters with my enemies actualy were perfectly in tune to my characters and their ambitions or, lets say, their understanding of what "morality" should be, I alwas end up forced to take the generic "I will banish ye!" for no practical reason. Granted you find this kind of methods in Icewind Dale (my favorite Infinity game) but since over there you DO NOT have branching dialogs and teasing in the amount presented in Icewind Dale 2, it doesn't hurt the roleplayability near as much.

[@m4c13k86]

A superb retrospective, I'm subscribing for more!

[@AlanLamb11]

I remember this game- only RPG I ever played thru twice and the game that made me want to be a PC gamer when I was a teen rather than console which all my friends had. I tried with BG2 but didn't finish the 2nd playthru but definitely did for this game. Still have the original CD in a box in the garage along with BG2 and SoA.

[@aleksanderstromfors183]

Thoughtful and well-researched without being meandering. Best Infinity Engine era game analysis I've seen on KZbin by miles. Can't wait what you have to say about BG and all the rest.

[@MrEdders123]

Thanks! BG video is due before the month is out, if all goes well :)

[@Vattghern_]

This review made me yearn for good old Infinity engine D&D goodness more than I can take, I'd give you two thumbs up if I could

[@gronndar]

Interesting and good video. This is how you do a "retrospective review". Usually people just retell game's plot and maybe add some own opinions on it (á la i did not like that part)

[@eclat4641]

I’ve hardly seen or heard about this- looks amazing!!

[@creationzikaz4836]

Good documentary, well done and well produced. Awesome!

[@Bjorick]

I never struggled with thac0 - the lower the number for AC, the better is pretty simple. the fact that critical ignored armor made sense, imo. Later, adding the ability to 'absorb' types of damage makes it the best system for me

[@KarlosMorale]

Excellent video. ID2 is one of the CRPGs I never got to, but own, and have always planned to play. Super interesting - thank you.

[@thegblob]

Awesome video. I never played these all the way through, but it turns out I have the Ultimate Collection box from about 20 years ago. Time to dust it off and find a CD ROM drive I can use to install it!

[@gaius_marius]

I'm on my third playthrough. I just love these old school isometric rpgs. Once you understand the 3rd edition mechanics, it's very satisfying to build your own party and prepare for each battle. I love seeing the dice rolls and damage numbers in the text screen. I agree the pacing is not ideal in some areas, but overall, it's a very satisfying dungeon crawler and remains one of my favorite games.

[@marcusbergman6116]

This channel is such a gem.

[@bondapovon]

Im a big fan of the first game and not the second. Which was a weird outlier position back when these games came out and most thought the inverse. But I thought you did a good job here explaining how the sequel, which on paper adds more, actually is far less of a cohesive and thematic experience.

[@Beregorn88]

It has been a long time since I played it, but I don't remember a particularly hard spike in the difficulty, and IWD2 was my first interaction with D&D 3E. One thing I noticed, however, is that your overall surviveability massively increase if you ACTUALLY READ the game texts, messages and suggestions. For example, the game discourages you from using races with a level modifier in your first playthrough, unless you already are familiar with the game mechanics: your party in the video have two drows and a duergar (and an aasimar, if I have to take a wild guess) all of which have a level modifier of -2. This means that not only half of your party is stuck to level 1 until the other characters and enemies start hitting levl 4-5, but that they also have a massive malus to hit chances, damage and saving throws when in daylight (aka, almost always in the beginning), plus they are blinded by fire spell... On the other hand, due to how the XP you receive scales with the average level of your party, your party will receive more XP, and it will be stronger by the end of the game.

[@duartemarco]

"and negligence against pets" is a hell of a line

[@G.B...]

Very good review. It provided all the details I wanted to know about this game. You can easily tell the creator put quite some effort to make this video.

[@MrEdders123]

Thanks :D

[@Empowerless]

I find it interesting that most people find Icewind Dale 2 to be the hardest one. For me it was the easiest as I had played all the other Infinity Engine games without any knowledge of AD&D rules, but by the time I got into IWD2 (around 2013) I had already played Pathfinder (aka 3.75e) which made me truly understand the ins and outs of how to min-max IWD2 so it was a breeze for me. Also great video!

[@zander2758]

All the skill checks and race checks in IWD2 are really cool, it's a trend i like black isle/obsidian kept going, though i didn't like how in NV and PoE the game showed you exactly what was a skill check and by how much, mad eit obvious as to what was the "correct" option, only time i think that was used effectively was with dean, where if you succeeded the barter check he wouldn't trust you as much and it made sense there, though at least PoE does have an option to turn off the game telling you what is a skill check in dialog.

[@geffreysarna3502]

As for the rest constantly and in ridiculously immersion breaking places and circumstances to heal up and get spells back problem that does hurt these games. Sometimes in CRPG's, sadly, you have to be your own dungeon master. For me that means using rest sparingly and only in at least somewhat plausible circumstances. It's not much, but for me it adds to immersion, makes combat a bit more tense and engaging, and makes scrolls/potions valuable items to be used with thought instead of cluttering up inventory.

[@EasyGameEh]

yeah, like that one time you ask a goblin stray to watch over you while you sleep and he rats you out to the horde, lol

[@xposhboyx]

I loved the ability to create my own party and tactics and just nitpick the hell out of every aspect of character, party management and battle management. Yeah all of the flaws are there as you cited, for sure. But the combat was so satisfying to me that I forgave all the flaws. So rewarding to see the different kind of parties you could create and how that could affect gameplay. And the fact that you could just plow through and have that kind of fun, without worrying about getting bogged down in the type of story and tasking that Baldurs Gate saddled you with was definitely something I appreciated.

[@oliverjoel5870]

Great video mate, Icewind Dale 2 was my first D&D based CRPG and despite its flaws it's still my favourite of the lot.

[@H3fron]

Outstanding video! Due to nostalgia i have more love for IWD 1 and 2 despite its flaws but i own most Infinity Engine games they are my treasures. Jeremy Soules OST for IWD1 and Morrowind's OST are just perfection.

[@heeroyuy298]

I absolutely loved this game, to the point that I eventually had to break my cd to stop playing. I took it to the backyard with a golfclub.

[@MrEdders123]

...

[@SimonAshworthWood]

I love the music.

[@EasyGameEh]

many wondered as i often wonder what difference only a few can make against so many and in the midst of such terrible circumstances

[@artursartemjevs6097]

A wonderful review of both ID games! Gotta ask, since it's bothering me - music at the end (57:43 for example) seems eerily familiar, but I just can't remember where I heard it before.

[@MrEdders123]

Hi Alex, I think the track is "Bonus Track 03" on my official GoG OST version, though I may have taken it from the IWD2 OST, which reuses a lot of IWD music. I think it was used in the credits of IWD or Heart of Winter :)

[@artursartemjevs6097]

@@MrEdders123 Oh, thank you! And waiting for new essays/reviews in the future. You have a very nice style :)

[@acg515]

The first time I found out about Icewind Dale was on a library computer. Me and my friends all played it constantly at the ripe age of 10. It's funny to hear the complaints that the combat is too hard or something. The only thing back then that stopped us was the puzzles. I feel like it still holds up pretty well all these years later when I go back to play it. Icewind Dale 2 always felt like such a massive upgrade on the first one to me. I loved the music of both games and the gameplay. When I compare the combat of BG3 to Icewind Dale I'm right at home on tactician or honor mode and I think that playing Icewind Dale 1 and 2 was a big part of that.

[@khatack]

I've got the feeling that Josh has been the brightest creative genius on Obsidian's payroll. The best parts of their games have, to my knowledge, consistently been Josh's handiwork.

[@georgelearns2post431]

Beautiful 2D graphic and art design, wonderful and memorable soundtrack and the first half of gameplay is engaging enough though I never finished it, since it becomes repetitive and grinding after entering the tower.

[@Levelworm]

For anyone who would like to try out this game, or replay it after endless eons, I'd like to recommend the IWD2:EE project to you. It is a community project, not a commercial one as the source code of IWD2 was lost to the void during ancient times. But it is very well done and mature enough to go with the current version without worrying too much about future updates.

[@OneTrueNobody]

28:30 - "Too much snow" feels like a remix of the "too much water" meme, only without it actually coming with the functional gameplay criticism that more water in a Pokemon game means more large swaths of unskippable random-battle tiles to move through. ^^;

[@toprak3479]

Inon Zur's score is absolutely fantastic.

[@ColaOfKoala]

Great videos, looking forward to more

[@0371998]

You are a precious stories tellers. You will give energy to all retro-hardware, + The past games have stories very importants. They are importants like the good books are. They are greats initiations to act. Long life to the personnal computer, They are a good tool for the revolution of the minds.

[@jonathansoko1085]

Plans for a Planescape retro? You did good with these, better than the others that have attempted to do this

[@MrEdders123]

Eventually, yeah. Will be the final video on the IE games, so probably a year off.

[@normanred9212]

What beamdog should REALLY do is make a new engine for isometric BG style games and work on a big open world Daggerfall size Faerun. Then with said new engine they could import all of BG, IWD and other titles like Planescape. Keep it sprites

[@MrEdders123]

I wonder about the legal difficulties of that :(

[@38procentkrytyk]

Even mechanical difficulties would be a lot.

[@B.L.S.]

You should make a retrospective review of "The Temple of Elemental Evil" and, of course, "Planescape: Torment".

[@Netherfly]

How do you have so few subs? This is *fantastic* stuff.

[@MrEdders123]

Bad production values, terrible audio mixing, niche subject matter, annoying accent.

[@chuth2768]

I think it’s unfair to blame the devs for the gameplay problems caused by faithfully adapting 3e lol

[@wuztron]

As someone who played this as a child. There are no combination of modifiers that would make AC in 3.5 worse or more confusing than THAC0

[@Banefane]

In my experience, full voice overs is always a fifty-fifty thing when it comes to the opinion of RPG fans. I can handle one line voice acting, but prefer full voice acting. I also love the soundtrack in both games, but I prefer Inon Zur. I love the humor in Targos. I like the story of mixed race people who long for a place called home. I found it believable and reasonable that they would fight for it in any way they could. Hearing the twins story was an inside which made the story dramatic. It was clear that they by turning evil will end in their death. It was sad. I've always wanted to play a doppelganger as the main character in a video game and enjoy the storyline that goes with it. But you know that a doubleganger is just a "monster". And that way of defining creatures makes things boring. Additionally, I agree with your thoughts on the ending and most of the other things you said.

[@andrewvincent7299]

The problem with the outcasts coming together to fight for a new home is that it's kind of hard to sympathize with them when they do incredibly evil things like torturing and experimenting on prisoners, pillaging towns, and murdering people. It's pretty twisted. Are we supposed to feel bad for them or are we supposed to be motivated to be against them and stop them?

[@Banefane]

​@@andrewvincent7299 Yeah, I don't sympathize with their evil deeds either, but I sympathize with their painful past and the pain they still felt. It is tragic and should be used as learning material that evil doesn't always come from being evil. Another example is the bhaalspawn. He is also an outcast in terms of his blood. And when we play as a bhaalspawn, we have the opportunity to see what that feels like in a way. e.g. The murdering attempts in Candlekeep and without knowing why. The loss of Gorion. The desire to murder because he has part of the essence of his father. That his actually blood relatives want to murder him (e.g. Sarevok). And many more negative experiences, if not properly compensated, will make the character twisted and evil, which in itself is tragic. This is the similarity in BG and Icewind Dale 2. And the difference? Well, in BG, we as players are the compensation for the bhaalspawn in terms of our choices. In Icewind Dale, we are the consquence of the choices made by the outcasts. Another example is Viconia...just tragic and twisted Maybe these are all complex thought processes, but this is how I roll my D20 ;D!

[@wolf19able]

great, now I want to play it again :D

[@StickmanA]

Love this game Different but fun definitely a must play for fans Never had a drama with the difficulty

[@EasyGameEh]

funnily enough iwd2 was my very first crpg with no prior dnd experience so i was more clueless than skyrim players nowadays trying morrowind for the first time. so basically i was so bad that my three mages couldn't cast any spells past level one. the game was hard af from the targos assault onwards and it took me, idk, maybe 6 months to beat it. and it was so worth it.

[@StickmanA]

@@EasyGameEh That's a great story. I think I would have given up though.

[@connerievelue611]

The best of all the black isle games

[@zeckul]

I love that you show the original games and not the Enhanced Editions... The EEs make a set of tradeoffs that I understand as an engineer but they arguably fail at being true remasters, except maybe for the BG2 one.

[@MrEdders123]

It's partly tradeoffs (how to deal with 2d assets when the original 3d models are lost), and partly them coming up with their own bright ideas that end up not working (SoD UI redesign, putting modern-Bioware-esque party members next to old-Bioware party members etc. Once I've done retrospectives on all the Infinity Engine titles, I'll probably do an addendum video explaining why I don't use the EEs for any of the games, as most of the other videos I watched on the topic seem to focus almost exclusively on Siege of Dragonspear and the political stuff.

[@FlourEater]

I thoroughly enjoyed your review. For me ID 2 was the first game I´ve ever bought with my own money when I was about 12. It came with a manual with short-ish, yet functional 3rd edition DnD rules and that kickstarted me to play DnD itself. My few points... I did listen to the OST separately (it was itself disc in the box) and I really enjoyed it and I know it´s nostalgia, but still I love it. Only one track that really grinds me is the final battle of chapter 1. I do love the complete freedom in creation of my party, even tho I absolutely adore characters from BG1 and BG2 (and now BG3). I would prefer to roll my stats tho. New races are great and here I have a small nitpick if you will, just from the lore... You mention tiefling having daemonic blood and there is very big and distinct difference between devils and daemons in DnD lore. They are mortal enemies, locked in apocalyptic war with each other, called Blood Wars. I love inclusion of drow and you can really lean into various themes with your party, even tho it´s pretty much just for you. I am glad that ID2 went with 3rd edition, a lot of restriction were lifted, the skills were badly implemented, but you really can´t implement some of those from pen and paper into digital. Feats are very enjoyable and trough years of playing 3rd editon, I appreciate that ID2 went tame with them, because you can create some absolutely bananas combinations with pen and paper. All in all, I find this game as one of my comfort games, which I love to play during christmas holidays, as well as BG1 and 2, Fallout 1 and 2 and ofc ID 1 and 2. I am very happy that my dad introduced me to BG1 back in the day. I understood nothing, as english is not my first language so I appreciated all those games way later, but still love them to this day.

[@Misa_Susaki]

tasteful

[@ivanlesnoy3633]

finish SMT

[@Misa_Susaki]

:/

[@SimonAshworthWood]

IWD2 is one of my favourite ever computer games. Thanks for this review. It inspires me to return to IWD1 (which I stopped when I moved to a different city in 2011). 😀

[@hvidponi]

Great review as always. As an annoying nerd, I can help myself writing a small correction: 3rd edition isn't a part of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the "Advanced" ruleset was an offshoot from "normal" D&D. 3rd edition is just called Dungeon & Dragons.

[@MrGaribex]

Fav of all time!

[@DungeonDiving]

Nice review. I very much enjoyed the first Icewind Dale game. It was laser-focused on dungeon crawling and combat, and did a very good job in executing that experience. IWD2, however, feels muddled and confused; like it isn't sure enough of itself to determine what it wants to be. I also hate the UI and am not crazy about the 3E changes.

[@MrEdders123]

Going back and researching the critical response, I was surprised that the professional reviews scored it so close to the original, as my memory was that fans considered iwd2 much weaker than the first game. I wonder if it gained a bit of a bump from reviewers due to being one of the last "hardcore"/traditional CRPGs (at the time of release) when everyone else had moved on to MMOs/diablo/action-RPGs etc.

[@SpecShadow]

KInda sad this RPG is forgotten. No EE for popularity boost, living in the shadow of ordinary hack'n'slash prequel, barely any mods, no expansion pack(s)... At the same time I have hard time starting another playthrough, some moments make me drop that decision 4ever.

[@geffreysarna3502]

Fantastic video, big thumbs up. I'm curious to know what difficulty setting you played on. Only because I was very surprised to hear you say the game difficulty was a bit mellow for you in the final chapter. My experience couldn't have been more different. On core rules/no max hp on level up, evil party (no spontaneous healing), no bard with lingering song (easy mode), no save scum run, my battle up the severed hand was the stuff of absolute legend. Some of the best designed and challenging high-level D&D combat encounters I've ever seen in a CRPG. I used almost every resource I had available, and I really didn't think I'd make it up the hand with my Iron man run intact, because Slayer Knights of Xvim wielding +5 greatswords give nary a care about your 30+ AC and 200ish hit points. But I did, in 2007, and I still remember all characters in that party to this day fondly. Truly one of the greatest senses of accomplishment and fun I've had in 35ish years of gaming. Black Isle games forever.

[@MrEdders123]

I don't recall for sure but almost certainly Core Rules. Briefly glancing at the footage, looks like the usual buff spam, magic arrows etc. I&M seem to have wasted a lot of time re-buffing themselves, casting spells against party members with immunity etc.

[@geffreysarna3502]

@@MrEdders123 Yes, the "final battle" was a big let down for sure. I just remember the fights going through the hand itself requiring all my resources and the sweatiest of sweaty micro. Keep up the great work man! you're my new favorite channel.

[@ФомаФиллипов-я5б]

Every time you post a video, Kalin murders a kitten.

[@MrEdders123]

What's a Kalin?

[@ФомаФиллипов-я5б]

@@MrEdders123 I have said too much already. I must go

[@tomislavstanceric2370]

Another awesome video, great work! Mind you, where did you get the artwork you placed between the video sections?

[@MrEdders123]

Official wallpapers. I think they're either from GoG or I downloaded them from an archive of the official website or something. I should still have them somewhere if you can't find them.

[@NeoN-PeoN]

47:09 Can anyone please help me understand just what happened here? I genuinely want to know!!!

[@MrEdders123]

Nothing at all desu

[@NeoN-PeoN]

@@MrEdders123 LMAO

[@SerpC]

Great review!

[@TooMuch4241]

Love how you gave a horrible list of all the bad things the legion was doing then ended it with “negligence towards pets” hahaha

[@Byeohazard]

I am using the UI mod as well as the resolution mod. You mentioned a game crash (50:56) while using these mods. Where does this happen? Has it changed or been fixed? Is there a work around? Does it always occur? Thanks in advance.

[@MrEdders123]

Er...I can't remember, sorry. I think it's in the haunted woods section...or maybe during a cutscene. I only have a vague memory of reading about it on the site where the resolution mod was posted. Off the top of my head, resolution and UI mods can be uninstalled and reinstalled without issues, though I'm not 100% sure.

[@fips711]

Nice, keep making content.

[@MRghowst]

Hah I remember that damn magma time loop. Good times.

[@Dylanface8791]

I heard you say Arcanum. I'm subscribing for that alone. ❤

[@Dylanface8791]

I'm playing baldurs gate 3 and I'm still racially prejudiced towards gnomes. Arcanum was great.

[@lauraheinz4839]

What is the music playing in the outro? Thank you for the great video! 😃

[@MrEdders123]

The one right before and during the credits is from the Icewind Dale OST, listed as "Bonus Track 03" in the GoG version of the soundtrack.

[@lauraheinz4839]

@@MrEdders123 Thank you!!

[@shinrafugitives3880]

I was reading a dragon magazine entry looking for racial templates and found this gem.

[@PsychoWedge]

I've always liekd the core story of IWD2 because I generally like stories that follow down the rabid hole of what people do more than the big save-the-world story. PST is much more interesting to me than BG 1/2/ToB, for example. Its a shame that they completely messed up what could be done here, by making everybody around the twins and one or two others so comically deranged and evil, when the twins themselves are rather sympathetic and the entire reason all of this started is an attack on them. Also: Great video. ^^

[@joeclay8987]

Nice video.

[@samflood5631]

I never understood why Icewind Dale 2 wasn’t on mobile gaming devices such as an Ipad, Samsung and/or Toshiba Handy Book. I mean this game has more customization options like playing as a Drow, Tiefling and/or Duegrar.

[@MrEdders123]

Last I remember the source code was lost, so it can't be redone for mobile like the EEs were.

[@samflood5631]

@@MrEdders123 F**k.

[@samflood5631]

@@MrEdders123 Can the same be said for the Source Code for Neverwinter Nights 2 since that game hasn’t had a console release so far?

[@ngastakvakis4425]

I really enjoy these reviews, but I can't help but fixate on how you pronounce "since" as "sense" :D Thanks for the videos!

[@alexblades5218]

The level scaling was super exploitable. Finish the prolonged with 2 characters, level camp (don't level up), use a party of 4 and keep 2 level 1 character to pull down average party level, etc Single character runs were pretty easy given the spell summoning strength An example of an OP character party would be 1 sorcerer, 1 druid and 1 cleric. Between summons, and creating area hazards you'll cruise through. Add three character that camp at level 1 and level up in the penultimate chapter and you'll be overlevelled and OP.

[@leftyzappa]

Notice how the opening speech from the chief villain in this game sounds *exactly* like the narrative of the current administration in the USA.

[@MrEdders123]

I don't recall exactly who wrote Isair's dialogue, but Sawyer is very left-wing (and a cyclist), so I doubt he intended it as such.

[@MrEdders123]

*as a critique

[@leftyzappa]

@@MrEdders123doesn't matter what he *intended*. It isn't my point.

[@MrEdders123]

@@leftyzappa s-sorry

[@notalefty999]

If you are going to make a pure hack and slash game, particularly one which will overwhelmingly be played by veterans, it should be hard. An experienced player will find the base BG1 and 2 on core or even insane difficulty pretty trivial.

[@alexpetrovich85]

Is there a mod that ports BG1/2 into the IDW2 ruleset/engine (2.5e)?

[@MrEdders123]

There was a mod in development called "Icewind Gate" that ported BG2 to IWD2, but it was never finished for various reasons (I think the scripts in particular were a huge problem). I think you can still download the development builds from somewhere. As for the ruleset, I'm pretty sure there was a 3E rules mod (at least for certain mechanics), but when I went looking I couldn't find it, sorry. Might've been my imagination. There was the Pools of Radiance reboot from 2000, which uses 3E, but it's hard to get running and is generally considered a bad game (I'd like to do a video on it one day).

[@alexpetrovich85]

​@@MrEdders123 Thanks Ed. I specifically remember playing that Pools of Radiance reboot back then because of the bad taste it left in my mouth...

[@aa-yt7wo]

The biggest problem with IWD2 was how many fetch quests it starts out with

[@m4c13k86]

"Durlags Tower or at least Watcher's Keep" ? IMHO watchers keep is in every way superior...

[@Marcusianery]

I like the low key, not so epic feel of Durlags Tower. Some Dwarves, some crazy stuff going on. Bad times. Watcher Keep is like...well Demogorgon escaping is on equal "Bad times for the Sword Coast" lvl as Melissans manipulations in ToB and the restoration of Bhaal.

[@m4c13k86]

@@Marcusianery well, yes I agree that low key feel is really nice, but for me Durlag's entire lore is sad and depressing, I always dread going there. Watchers Keep is more of "let's go on an adventure and fight against deamons"

[@Marcusianery]

@@m4c13k86 Yeah I guess. But all those priests left to die there, and that you can literally lock all of them inside! The guys and gals on the outside with Demogorgon! Is Demogorgon harder than the end boss in ToB by the way? I just finished ToB and skipped fighting him when I went for the dungeon in BG2.

[@r.kolemaistos7788]

42:36 I'm pretty sure you mean Kuldahar, not Lonelywood there.

[@MrEdders123]

The evolving town comment? I meant Lonelywood as it was much more "reactive" than Kuldahar, as there were more updates between quests or main quest progression. :)

[@David-ix3yo]

Based. Good review.

[@SimonAshworthWood]

I liked the fact that the villains had understandable justifications for their actions. However, I wished the game allowed me to side with the villains and go on an alternative series of quests as a result. My party was a multicultural group of evil women. I tried to act evil, but the game gave few opportunities for this, unless we consider that my characters were being evil by betraying and slaughtering a multicultural menagerie who were rising up for a justified egalitarian vision of the future.

[@roberts.1073]

the Enhanced Edition has been finished!

[@MrEdders123]

The community thing?

[@roberts.1073]

@@MrEdders123 yeah exactly. They posted it in the beamdog forums. So far it's good, but I barely have memories of the original IWD2

[@iantaran2843]

God I love Icewind Dale 2... It's so good 😭