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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Computer RPG-ing, August 2, 2001
When Interplay shot life into the nearly-dead Computer-Roleplaying Game genre in 1997 with their smash hit Fallout, and then followed up with Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, Fallout 2, and the like, it was a refreshing, bold new start on an overlooked area of the gaming market. The only real competition for Interplay's games at first was Blizzard's Diablo, an action romp that lacked the involved plot of the Interplay/Black Isle games. Where Interplay's games were story-and-character based, Diablo was more of a dungeon crawl that involved killing everything, finding better items, and had very little real role-playing involved. While that amused some, for those that craved games with more depth, Interplay truly came through.So because of Diablo - or, perhaps, in spite of it - Black Isle decided to release Icewind Dale, a classic dungeon-crawl game where dialogue is minimal, and killing is everything. Weaving together several unrelated adventures from the annals of TSR's library (yes, some of us are old enough to remember!), Icewind Dale allows you to create an entire party of six (you aren't forced to play wretched multi-class characters a la BG and BG2, thank goodness) for adventuring in an around the northern part of the Forgotten Realms world. The plot is linear, instead of free-form, and dialogue and character development is far less important than attacking the biggest and baddest monsters until they die. That may sound like a bit of a trade-off, and it is. It makes gameplay more limited, as there is very little wandering around and wondering what to do next. The plot, while engaging, isn't as "epic" as the events in the Baldur's Gate series (although, it resembles the traditional definition of "epic" more than anything). But, instead of being forced to have certain party members, or even to play a character that wasn't at all what you had in mind when creating him or her, you are allowed total freedom to develop - and, subsequently, role-play - your party as you see fit. Icewind Dale (courtesy of Bioware's Infinity Engine) certainly rises above the "click on the monsters over and over to win" MO of Diablo, and will likely entertain those who wish more out of a game than - well - clicking a lot on monsters. It resembles Baldur's Gate less than it resembles old-school C-RPGs like Bard's Tale and the early Might and Magic games. Players looking for something like Baldur's Gate are going to be disappointed; gamers looking for an old-fashioned dungeon crawl, where they are in control, won't have anything to worry about. I prefer playing Icewind Dale to Baldur's Gate or BG2 any day; this, my friends, is what classic Dungeons and Dragons is supposed to be about. A word to the wise - get Heart of Winter, as it allows you to go up to 30th level, adds a bunch of new spells, and makes some pretty important fixes. It's worth the extra money. In addition, visit Black Isle's website to get the patch (you will need it - Interplay should learn the definition of "playtesting") as well as an additional free expansion, Trials of the Luremaster. Trust me - true roleplayers will love Icewind Dale. It is money well-spent, for those with the tastes to enjoy it.
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