Icewind Dale II

Icewind Dale II is a computer role-playing game developed by Black Isle Studios, released in 2002. The game is set in the Forgotten Realms Icewind Dale region, and is the sequel to Icewind Dale and its expansions. As with its predecessors, it takes place long before the events described in R.A. Salvatore's Icewind Dale Trilogy which made the area a well-known part of Faerûn.

Like the previous games in the series, Icewind Dale II is based on the BioWare Infinity Engine. The game incorporates nearly all of the changes and additions to the series made by the Heart of Winter and Trials of the Luremaster expansion packs. Unlike its predecessors, the game is based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition ruleset, which brings such things to the series as feats, the ability for any race to be any class, and the ability for any class to use any weapon. As in Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, the 3rd edition character classes of Barbarian, Sorcerer, and Monk are present in the game, but unlike that game there are also many sub-races, such as Drow, and Tieflings, which all have racial advantages and disadvantages.

The game was praised by many critics for its pacing, music, and numerous improvements over the original game and its expansions, although most found fault with the game's graphics, which consisted of sprite characters and 2d prerendered backgrounds, and were considerably less impressive than those of other CRPGs released that year, such as Neverwinter Nights and The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Regardless, Icewind Dale II achieved mostly positive reviews. Indeed, in relation to the old system and graphics, PC Gamer described it as similar to microwaving leftovers and finding out that they tasted better reheated (the game received a 87% score from the magazine)

Game overview
The basic gameplay of Icewind Dale II is quite similar to that of its predecessors, as well as the other games developed on the Infinity engine. The combat system is a quasi-real-time adaption of the normally turn-based Dungeons & Dragons combat system used - dice rolling and the like are all done automatically, without requiring the player's participation, although it is possible to pause the game at any time to issue orders to the party.

Character generation is very different from the earlier Icewind Dale games, however. Instead of the usual virtual dice-rolling process to determine the amount of strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma a character will have, the player is given a set amount of points to distribute amongst a character's various statistics. Also included are the AD&D 3rd edition components of Feats and character abilities. Among other things, these replace the simple "weapon proficiencies" of previous Icewind Dale games. This, combined with inclusion of more classes and sub-classes, as well as more races and sub-races (all with their own advantages and disadvantages), makes Icewind Dale II's character generation much different from its predecessors.

Another significant change is the once more increased beastiary, which now includes such creatures as bugbears, hook horrors, and driders, as well as many returning monsters from the previous Icewind Dale game and its expansion packs, the Baldur's Gate series, and Planescape: Torment. In addition, a much larger section of Icewind Dale is explorable than in the previous games.

Plot synopsis
The game starts with the player's party of adventurers having reached the village of Targos, one of the loose confederation of settlements that forms the Ten Towns of Icewind Dale. Almost as soon as they step off the boat the party is drawn into an invasion by a goblin horde that threatens to overwhelm the fortified village. Initially they must fight off the goblins that have invaded the lower section of the village, in addition to several side quests.

The adventurers make their way higher up the town, where they can undergo several quests. There they will also will meet the gnome Oswald Fiddlebender, the owner of a balloon air-ship that will come into play later in the story. In the upper town they also meet Ulbrec Dinnsmore, the local lord, and he calls upon them to aid in the defense of the town.

The outer defenses of Targos consists of a palisade that undergoes a series of assaults by the goblin bands, which include magic users among their numbers. The party has a difficult time fighting off the horde as the attacks are steadily pressed home, but in the end they prevail.

To fend off further attacks, Ulbrec tasks the party with taking the fight to the enemy. The first task is to save the Shaegarne Bridge, which connects the town with reinforcements from Neverwinter to the south. Of course getting there is a task onto itself, and the party must overcome some bands of orcs with explosive kegs, and led by a powerful fighter named Torak. At the bridge is a host of minions defending the crossing while a pair of Ogres work to destroy the structure.

With the bridge secured, the party now presses toward the horde fortress. This is a well-guarded structure with battle-tested goblin veterans, worg-riders and shaman. The party faces several bloody fights before they find a way into the fortress. There they overhear a conversation between Sherincal and Guthma. The former is one of the mysterious leaders behind the attacks, while Guthma is the brutish commander of the fortress. After Sherincal finishes speaking with Guthma, she leaves the fortress, unintentionally allowing the party an opportunity to attack.

With the bridge cleared and the fortress captured, the adventurers have saved Targos. Now Ulbrec requests that they travel with Oswald to meet the overdue Neverwinter reinforcements. While flying southward, however, the ship is brought down by a mysterious ice storm. The party awakens to find themselves in a frozen landscape.

The first task is to gather the materials needed by Oswald to cast a spell that can repair the airship. These are found in the neighborhood, but the party is attacked by giant insects, hill giants, and a band of werewolves posing as priests. Even after the materials are obtained they still need to find the cause of the storm. This takes them to the northeast where they encounter a village of druids, then an area controlled by evil priests of Auril. At the far end of this glacial crevice is an ice fortress, run by the priests of Auril.

The fortress is a large, two-storied complex that the party cleared in order to reach the glacier blocking the pass and letting the Neverwinter forces through. The party discovers that the forces behind the attack on Targos are the Legion of Chimera, led by Isair and Madae. Their base of operations is the fortress of the Severed Hand, and it is up to the party to make their way there and put a stop to the legion.

Oswald departs with his airship repaired, and now the party makes its way on foot. Beyond the pass they come to the Wandering Village, a barbarian community. By aiding them, the party learns that they must make their way through the haunted forest of the Cold Marshes. This is a maze-like area that required careful mapping to work through, in addition to fending off attacks by skeletons, wolves, and other creatures. At the heart of the marsh the heroes finally solved the curse that cause the hauntings, and the forest was returned to normalcy.

Beyond the marshes is a river cave, wherein lies an entrance to the underdark. Unfortunately it is also home to a family of white dragons, that the party must defeat in order to continue onward. After climbing down, the adventurers struggle past a clan of Duergar and monks until they return to the outside world again.

Continuing onward requires the party to travel through the underdark. Doing that necessitated gaining the permission of a group of monks in the Black Raven monastery. To do this the party had to pass a set of eight initiation tests, each of which must be completed by one of the party members, stripped of their weapons and magic. Once this was done, however, they were allowed into the underdark entrance below the monastery.

Further progress now required defeating a band of evil Driders and a nest of Illithids. After working their way through they discover Oswald waiting to take them to the village of Kuldahar - an isolated village located beneath an immense tree that magically keeps the area warm and habitable. Kuldahar is being besieged by an orog army led by a priest who is raising undead from the local cemetery, and yuan-ti, strange snake-like creatures. After dispatching the undead, the heroes must travel to a yuan-ti temple far to the south (via a natural teleport, the "crossroads"), enter the temple and slay the crossroads guardian to prevent the yuan-ti further invading Kuldahar.


 * Battle to save Kuldahar
 * Passing through the Dragon's Eye.
 * Fields of slaughter
 * Working up through the Severed Hand
 * Clearing the fingers
 * Final battle with Isair and Madae.

Trivia

 * The music for Icewind Dale was composed by Jeremy Soule, while Icewind Dale II's music was composed by Inon Zur.
 * Icewind Dale II was the final Black Isle Studios game released for PC. After their next game, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, they were shut down by Interplay Entertainment, their parent company.
 * Icewind Dale II was the final game developed on the BioWare Infinity Engine.