What's with you guys and The Fall?

[Sol Invictus]

The story was no less nonsensical than the original story or any other 'epic fantasy' story, and the NPCs were most certainly as interesting as those in the original, especially the story built around the twins who formed the chimera army.

The game was definitely more interactive than any other game with the Infinity Engine, especially in regards to the maze (which wasn't a good addition, mind you - but it was something different), the monk trials, and the fun with the barrels in Targos.

Targos itself was beautifully designed, with the house with the old woman and her cats, the mayor's office and the haunted Inn. I thought that part was really nice, especially with the ghost's wailing and the concept art that Justin Sweet made for that specific encounter.

While the Ice Palace and the Maze may have suffered from relatively poor design especially for having too many combat encounters, they certainly had some flare of originality to their design. The machine that operated in the Ice Palace was certainly unique and added a very nice touch to the game. It's much more than can be said about Neverwinter Nights or even Baldur's Gate. Firewine, anyone?

And no, VD, you can't compare IWD2 to Lionheart. Lionheart was completely abysmal with very, very few good points - the music, and some of the written dialogue. IWD2 had so much more to offer.

 

[Volourn]

The fact you think IWD2 wa sbetter than LH shows how weak your entire point is. Sad, really.

Firewine Bridge was ana wesome littl dungeon. Awesome, and very memorable. it's biggest problem is that the kobolds returned way too quick. Otehrwise it is awesome. Period.

Sorry, IWD2 sucked. Targos was just another goblin and orc invested town. *yawn* the woman and her cats is old and boring and over done. nothing original there. OMG An old woman loves cats 'cause she's lonely. R00fles! Only good thing about Targos was the music and the inn and as far as the inn goes.. LOL OMG An inn haunted by ghost. how original! double r00fles!

I won't even get into the ice Palace. While I don't dislike it as much as others do; it simply was a poor area 9a common trend in IWD2).

IWD's story was twice as interesting than IWD. And, the characters in IWD2 sucked. period. Seriously, what was so good about them? Nothing.

 

[Transcendent One]

You like Firewine Bridge?

Now I thought you were full of shit, but this goes beyond all limits.

 

[Sammael]

Nothing Volourn says can't surprise me anymore.

 

[Vault Dweller]

The story was no less nonsensical than the original story or any other 'epic fantasy' story, and the NPCs were most certainly as interesting as those in the original, especially the story built around the twins who formed the chimera army.

The background story was good overall, although I prefer the IWD story. The story as it was presented in IWD2 was an excuse to deal with one wave of monsters after another, and thus was irrelevant. The same could be said about D2 and Lionheart: stories drowned in endless combat. It worked for D2, but didn't for IWD2 and LH, imo, of course.

The game was definitely more interactive than any other game with the Infinity Engine, especially in regards to the maze (which wasn't a good addition, mind you - but it was something different), the monk trials, and the fun with the barrels in Targos.

It didn't add much, did it? Why praise it then?

Targos itself was beautifully designed

That I gladly agree with. I replayed the game a few times, trying different classes, and enjoying Targos and few extra areas. Some dialogues lines are brilliant, playing evil characters has never been more fun, BUT when gamplay consists only of slaughtering waves of monsters, both DnD and SPECIAL (Lionheart) are unable to make it fun.

had some flare of originality to their design. The machine that operated in the Ice Palace was certainly unique and added a very nice touch to the game.

I could be, but I prefer old ideas that work and fit to many original ideas that do neither. Originality for the sakes of originality does suck.

And no, VD, you can't compare IWD2 to Lionheart. Lionheart was completely abysmal with very, very few good points - the music, and some of the written dialogue. IWD2 had so much more to offer.

IWD2 was much better, but both games belong to the same category. Both were action RPGs using systems that don't work very well with fast action. Both were linear games, with good background stories, little role-playing mostly in the starting city, and painful and boring combat that ruined both games.

 

[Vault Dweller]

What's with that stupid R00fles thing, Volourn? lols and rolls aren't good enough for you anymore?

 

[Ausir]

Lionheart's setting was definitely more interesting, but the game itself was much worse than any IE game.

 

[mr. lamat]

hey kiddies, i'm just saying design houses that don't have their shit in order will make crappy games. that there is indeed a correllation.

will a stable, well managed company put out shite games? sometimes, albeit with a disturbing frequency these days. can a company that doesn't have it's gear in shape release a good title? no, period. and the worst part is, you don't even see your work slide. that's the point you two lovelies just don't get... it's not intentional and isn't even noticable.

 

[Spazmo]

IWD2 was neat at times but it ultimately failed completely. All the wacky crap the BIS team managed to make the IE do was impressive, but it couldn't salvage what was ultimately a dull and repetitive game. IWD2 took the combat heavy RPG concept and went much too far with it. Each chapter was essentially just a handful of maps, each of which would give you the same encounter five or six times before you move onto the next map. There was a lot of neat things, but it was drowned in stupid puzzles and the endless combat. In the end, IWD2 got to be a chore because of all the combat.

It might have worked if IWD's combat had been as good as, say, (WARNING: BIAS!!!!!11!!#$% AHEAD) ToEE's which would have been really neat if it had, as Saint as said before, more dungeon variety. For me, take IWD's neat storyline, setting and dungeon design, put it in ToEE's engine and add some more branches to the storyline (like, again, ToEE did--you could join the Greater Temple and such) and you have D&D gold. It'd be D&D doing what D&D does best: monster thumping and loot gathering.

 

[Shevek]

IWD2 might have been a good bit better if the developers spent less time retooling the thing to work with a mangled version of the 3E rules and more time on other aspects of design. If I remember right, they had alot of neat ideas for kits and what not - seems to me the move to 3E really wasnt a necessity.

 

[Volourn]

Spoaz, one like you who loves TOEE shouldn't be accusing *any* game of having a lack of dungeon variety. Afterall, TOEE is one big dungeon pretty much.

 

[Spazmo]

Erm... Volourn, I was saying that ToEE with more variety in the dungeons would be cool. Specifically, the bunch of different dungeons the IWD games had instead of just the same one through the whole game.

 

[Volourn]

More proof that I'm an idiot... Next.

 

[Whipporowill]

B t w Saint, thanks for mentioning Evil Islands. Playing it right now and enjoying it - like that neolithical feel very much. Now if Nival would make something as charming with today's top notch 3D technology (their own, whoaa!) I'd be a happy camper.

And it IS hard, althugh there's certain tricks to the combat which I like. Are wizards viable for instance? I don't really have money to spare for fireball et al at m. Bone spears and silicon battle axes are the latest... hah.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

More proof that I'm an idiot... Next.

We can never prove it enough times, can we?

 

[Volourn]