Archived Site News - February 2001

If you have Icewind Dale, absolutely. The expansion pack is worth every penny. If you don't have Icewind Dale, what are you waiting for? Get it! Then refer back to the opening sentence. Anyone who enjoyed Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment or Baldur's Gate 2 wants Icewind Dale and its expansion, Heart of Winter.

When most people who have played Baldur’s Gate 2 try to describe it with a single word, I don’t think the word ‘linear’ would be one that would come to mind. There are a massive amount of quests in Baldur’s Gate 2, and you can do them in any order. The problem of linearity comes into play when you’re on one those quests. In each of our dungeon quests we have obstacles that the player must overcome if he wants to continue further into the dungeon. Some of these obstacles are monsters, others are special locked gates, or locked doors that can’t be opened using the pick lock skill. One problem is that there is usually only one option to bypass the obstacle. The other problem is that in most cases the obstacle blocks the only path to continue through the dungeon.

All in all, Heart of Winter appears to be an impressive expansion, adding everything you'd expect: new items, more gorgeous scenery, more intense combat, and also giving you the improvements enjoyed by Baldur's Gate II, the drop-away interface, resolution boost, and containers, as well as improved 3D support. More of the same has never been a better thing than in Heart of Winter, for those of us who loved Icewind Dale and couldn't get enough.

The bottom line for me in this short review is that Heart of Winter simply doesn't warrant the asking price. It is a solid effort as we've come to expect from Black Isle. It does not offer anything new to the genre and I found the adventure to be tedious rather than enjoyable. While the storyline was acceptable it was a far cry from the wonderful storylines or plot of Planescape: Torment or Baldur's Gate 2. One day this title will be bundled with the original game for a reasonable price and will be an excellent buy for anyone who hasn't played through it. I personally can't recommend forking over $30 for it however. The price tag and the relatively short scenario heavily influenced the score below.

When the collector's edition was first announced we were told that "Interplay is keeping the exact contents close to its chest for now", but we are happy to report that we now know what's going to be in the box. The game itself will come with "an additional in-game shop", while players will be able to show their true colours by wearing a Baldur's Gate t-shirt, sticking a Baldur's Gate poster on their wall, and sending Baldur's Gate postcards to their friends. There will also be a pack of trading cards based around the game, and a bonus CD-Rom with the extra shop on it, along with the game's soundtrack and a range of Baldur's Gate artwork and MP3s. Pricing is yet to be confirmed, but keep an eye open for it appearing on shelves across Europe three weeks from now.

Although we haven't managed to play through the whole of what's on offer in Heart Of Winter yet, our first impressions are definitely favourable. Anybody who loved Icewind Dale will go absolutely mad for Heart Of Winter when it hits the shelves, and when an expansion pack contains as much gaming goodness as this does, who can blame them? Snow and Sorcery has never been so much fun.

2) Bro: Are the starting values of the basic stats any different for the different paths that a character can pursue ?

Lar: Yes. Warriors are awarded a bonus for Strength, Wizards for Intellect and Survivors for Dexterity.
Remark: There is 3 paths in Divinity. Way of the Warrior, Way of the Wizard and Way of the Survivor

3) Bro: Do the basic stats improve on level-up ?

Lar: Yes. At the time being the player obtains 5 points for free distribution to the basic stats. There may be more points if balancing requires that move.

Icewind Dale demonstrated that a linear storyline combined with fast-paced action, frequent combat, rapid character advancement and lots of cool items could be a very effective formula for fun, critical approval and sales success. Heart of Winter offers more of the same feeling while also adding a number of significant features and plenty of new gameplay elements, all wrapped up in a highly entertaining quest. Exploring every corner, I completed it in about 28 hours of playing time, and enjoyed myself the entire time. Heart of Winter is everything a top-notch expansion pack should be. It will provide lots more fun to anyone who played and enjoyed the original game while offering even more reason to play it to those who have not.

The fundamental problem isn't that Heart of Winter is a poor game, because it's not. Its battles, its plot, and its impressive production values are all more or less in line with the high standards set by Icewind Dale. But its numerous ancillary improvements actually amount to very little value, considering you can finish the expansion in just a couple of casual play sessions. If you're used to marathon sessions with Baldur's Gate II, or with any Black Isle role-playing game for that matter, then you'll be disappointed by how much shorter Heart of Winter is by comparison. It's true that some players will probably like the inflated challenge of the heart of fury mode after they've finished the expansion quest, particularly because it lets you play through both the expansion and the original Icewind Dale with increased difficulty and proportionally augmented experience rewards. But the mode will be too difficult for a lot of players, while most everyone else won't find it very interesting, since the battles in the game are still scripted. In fact, even the heart of fury mode seems like an afterthought, since you can only toggle it on and off from an external configuration utility, not from within the actual game. In the end, it's not that Heart of Winter isn't worth your time, because it really doesn't take much--the problem is it just isn't worth your money.

Heart of Winter is a fine product. Unfortunately, the new areas add only about 15 hours of gameplay. While short for a full game, it is a tolerable length for an expansion. Players tempted to play through all of Icewind Dale again to experience the full impact of the improvements will especially find Heart of Winter worth the cost. Some especially brave souls will decide to play the entire game on Heart of Fury mode starting with new characters and no initial magic items. Those who complete such a game will know they have a place among the masters.

According to a press release from Interplay, the extension pack for Icewind Dale, Heart of Winter, ships today.

Ready to rush the shops ?

Since I leave in France, I'll propably have to wait one or two more months, gush !

We are only midway through the second month of 2001 and Interplay and Black Isle have already released what may end up being the best expansion pack of 2001. Sure, Diablo II’s expansion is coming out soon, but what Heart of Winter does for Icewind Dale seems to go beyond new monsters, areas, and items.

Spotted at RPGDot.

Strongholds are the class specific base of operations given to a player as a reward for finishing his class specific sub-quest. Out of all the features that made it into Baldur’s Gate 2, the strongholds were the closest to being cut. There was so much more that we could have done with strongholds, but time considerations didn’t allow for this. The main faults that people found with the strongholds are listed below:

1. 
   
2. The strongholds weren’t connected to the main story line.
   
3. The strongholds weren’t integral to gameplay; there was very little reason to return to a stronghold.
   
4. Travelling back to a stronghold was a pain in the ass.

All of these points connected to one major mistake made in the initial game design: the decision to have a stronghold for each class, instead of consolidating the strongholds into four, two or even one single stronghold.

I'm glad the testers found out that you could break all of those quests by attacking from invisibility. At first I was all like, "Aw, c'mon!" and then they were all like, "Seriously, man." so then I was all like, "Yeah, that's a good point." So it all worked out and everything. And we had to tweak "Heart of Fury Mode" about fifteen times before it was appropriately challenging, but I think those guys finally got used to it. I don't think my message board is going to be able to handle all of the traffic once the game comes out. At least I won't have to answer any questions related to 800x600 resolution anymore. Where's Fin? I think it's time to go to lunch. Man, I'm glad the game went gold.

With the amount of RPG's being released in 2001/2002, how will Divinity stand out? What do you personally like about the game?

Quality I hope. Divinity has no simple ordinary story, no level load times and it looks like the simulation of a fantasy world. Lar's AI is brilliant and has not been achieved before in the RPG world. Besides that we tried to combine all the technical, graphical and gameplay we liked so much in other games into Divinity. What I like the best, is a bit more difficult to answer. As one of the creators it is difficult to change your focus from the individual graphic bugs and the things one would like to see corrected, to be able to see the actual game. But I think it's the "screensaver" effect. You let the hero walk for a few meters into a forest or onto a field and enjoy the many things around you…just looking at the animals on your screen. My personal favorite of all the creatures I've done, is the blue Succubus.

I have to say right up front that I didn't finish Baldur's Gate 2. I probably never will. That doesn't mean I didn't love the game, or enjoy the time I put into it. In fact, I think it's probably the best RPG ever made. Some may consider the primary flaw of Baldur's Gate 2 to be just how immense the world is. One thing's for certain though. The first time I popped this game in, it had me hooked. I was lucky enough to have four days off from work, and they all went by in a blur. Four days, no moving, no eating, no talking, just playing. It was a pathetic sight. If my girlfriend came in the room, she would just get a glare. I'm very surprised she's still with me. It was only when the game reminded me to eat that I would take a break to grab some grub. Four straight days. I haven't done that since Final Fantasy 7, which single-handedly ruined my freshman year at college.

Yesterday, Black Isle announced that the Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter expansion pack has gone gold. Expected to offer fans some 20 to 30 additional hours of gameplay, the add-on comprises a new mini-campaign that can be played either as a huge side quest within the original game or as a follow-up adventure for parties that have completed the initial release. Play begins in the town of Lonelywood, which can be seen in our Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter Lonelywood Gallery. The next large area is the barbarians' Burial Isle. In celebration of yesterday's happy news, we offer a look ahead to this location in the 14 never before seen screenshots that make up this new Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter Burial Isle Gallery.

Hey everyone, After many days of long hours and 150 miles of driving pleasure, I am pleased to announce that the US version of Heart of Winter has gone gold and should be in stores shortly. French, German, Spanish and Italian versions are finishing up as we speak, so expect them soon as well!

Thanks to all of you who participated in our save game-a-thon, and we hope you like the game!

So, we're done with the game. It's gold, and being mass-produced as we speak. Final candidate 9 was the winner this time. We initially believed that FC4 was going to turn gold, but a number of bizarre multiplayer bugs continued to pop up with each passing rev. Of course, many of the bug fixes yielded new bugs in a cycle of Sisyphusian hilarity. For the designers and artists, it was a sleepy end to the dev cycle. We mostly just sat around and periodically asked Darren if he had any bugs for us. The answer was usually "no."

Black Isle Studios, the role-playing game division of Interplay Entertainment Corp., announced today that the highly anticipated expansion, Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter, has GONE GOLD! Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter will be available at retail stores nationwide soon!
This expansion pack for the popular role-playing game Icewind Dale, was developed internally at Black Isle Studios and will offer more classic dungeon crawl using the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition rules under license from Wizards of the Coast, including new monsters, spells, and areas to explore within the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter will also offer many new technological and gameplay enhancements to the original game including higher resolution support, larger monsters and new interface configuration options.

The Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter expansion will require an installed copy of the original Icewind Dale in order to run.

Now, I’m a game developer. I’ve got a pretty fair sense of how much time it takes to build a certain feature, or set of features. If one of my team came to me and pitched a game -- albeit with existing technology -- that would support 10+ totally unique character classes, with unique dialogue and quests depending on which class you chose, and 150+ hours of well-written, well-laid out and tactically interesting and balanced gameplay, I’d tell them to go get a job somewhere else.

They’d probably end up at Bioware. The magazine reviewers have done a fair job of laying laurels around Baldur’s Gate II’s neck, so I won’t belabor the point. Suffice it to say, from one developer to another, that you guys have crafted something special, something that shows you’re not merely committed to making money, you’re also committed to making games.

Ok. For those who never heard about Icewind Dale before, it's time to throw in a little reminder. Icewind Dale didn't really seduce the gaming community, although it was commercially acceptable. Indeed, creating a story in parallel of the first Baldur's Gate, set in the frozen and sophisticated world of North Forgotten Realms was an interesting idea... But limiting an RPG to some 50 hours of uninterrupted hack'n'slash, the whole coming along with junk items as powerful as magical sword Datkutsol +25, or even spells like Thermo-Nuclear-Fire-Balls, wasn't of blatant interest. For addition, many other glitches, like the in-game time management, were numerous enough to turn a scenario, at first sight rich, into something completely lame, wobbly. To come back to the in-game time management problem of Icewind Dale, you should know that it took me approximately 3700 days to finish the game or something like 10 years...

Dan Simpson has updated his huge and extensive Baldur's Gate II FAQ hosted at Gamespy

It says a lot when, in a year full of really superb role-playing games such as Deus Ex and Icewind Dale, the award goes to Baldur's Gate II in a unanimous decision by the Gamecenter editors. Baldur's Gate II was epic role playing, and it was one of the most engrossing RPGs we've ever played. This game made the Forgotten Realms spring to life in a startling way, whether you were exploring the city of Athkatla or skulking about the Underdark where the Drow Elves live.

If they gave you a PC in your prison cell, it would almost be worth doing a stretch of hard time because you'd just about be able to finish BGII before your sentence was up. Bioware sent us this gift from Canada's semi-frozen semi-north, a sequel that is in every way bigger, bolder and better than its esteemed pappy.

The way the system is set up really allows you to play Divinity either as a hack 'n slash game or as a true RPG. The high number of skills makes a lot of combinations possible, all of which are a lot of fun to play. For instance, the necroshifting thief is currently one of my favorites. Necroshifting is a skill that allows you to possess the body of a dead creature and walk around in it. It's quite handy for a thief with a good knife. He hides himself in a dark spot, waits for an unwitting guard to pass by, kills the guard, slips into the guard's body, and happily walks past the other guards. The hiding is, of course, hard to do in a well-lit area, but by picking a skill from the Way of the Wizard, the thief can access the telekinesis spell, which he can then use to extinguish light sources from a distance. This is a potent combination of skills.

Can you give us a brief summary of the story of the game for the fans that haven't caught on yet?
Basically, a barbarian shaman in the tundra north of Lonelywood believes that his tribe is gathering for war under false pretences. In a vision, he sees your party of adventurers in Kuldahar, and believes that you can help him discover what, exactly, is going on with the risen chieftain, Wylfdene. He brings you to Lonelywood and the antics commence.

Everyone always has questions about creatures in the game. Are there going to be dragons in the game, if so what types? Are there vorpal bunnies? Machete Wielding Penguins?

Let's just say that there are very strong reasons that we have a white dragon featured prominently in our logo and ads. No vorpal bunnies, nor machete-wielding penguins. There are, however, ghosts of sacrificed virgins floating around trying to kill you. Does that help?

Go read the interview.

Don’t be mislead by the title of this column. Although we felt some things could have been done better in Baldur’s Gate 2, we still felt that our final product was a success, and so far this assumption has been supported by the current reviews and sales of the game. In this week’s column I’m going to focus on the design elements in Baldur’s Gate 2 that we felt were not implemented as well as they could have been. The issues that I will be talking about are things that we want to improve in our future projects (Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars).

We've decided to change the look and layout of The Locus Inn to accommodate the user more. As you can see there is a navigation bar on the left that will lead you faster to where you want to be then before.
Unfortunately time was not on our side so the Games section (by far the largest section) has not been transferred yet, but will be in the coming weeks. Until then you will be directed to the old pages.

As you can see Divinity has been added to the navigation bar but is not active yet. This section will also come online in the next weeks.

There are some more new things such as the scroller window in the top left, always giving you the latest updates on the site and there is the random image in the right top which will be different everytime you pay a visit. There is also picture of the moment which shows an ingame screenshot of one of the supported games.

We've also enriched our community section with direct links to the forums and to a chat room, which is hosted by Sorcerers Place and can be accessed from our site.

I hope you will be having fun with the new layout :-).

"The plot, teamed with great graphics, incredible voice acting, and fantastic music, will surely draw you into the world of Baldur's Gate II, where you will willingly stay. Believe it or not, in the game there is even a hint that reminds you to take your meals, just in case you get so engrossed in the RPG that you forget to eat. It is that good."

Find more here.
And here.

GameSpy: Any favorite projects?

Jeremy: Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter is in a store near you! LOL Actually, we're both happy with how Heart of Winter turned out. HoW was an opportunity to expand on an already large idea. There are new themes in this game that still haunt me--in a good way of course.

Go read it.

Enter a fantasy world, filled with dark magic, and an intriguing plot. Divinity takes place in a world where the long-standing peace between elves, dwarves, and mankind alike is diminishing. You play the role of a young apprentice of the mage Zandalor, sent off to find an old friend of the mage at Stormfist castle. There, you find that the Duke has been murdered, and you decide to play detective and find out what happened. Choose from one of four character types as you prepare for the long, magical journey ahead of you. A large, fully populated, interactive game world featuring an isometric perspective similar to Baldur's Gate or Diablo, will make most role-playing gamers feel at home.

You can also vote for the RPG you are anticipating the most.

I also very much enjoyed the voice acting for many of the NPCs. David Warner's performance as Jon Irenicus is coolly arrogant and very effective, while Jennifer Hale's interpretation of Mazzy Fentan is worthy of mention. Some gamers may recognize her as the voice of Fall-From-Grace in Planescape: Torment, others may know her from her work on the Powerpuff Girls animated series. She does a fine job of portraying a character who has honor and noble ideals without being annoyingly pompous. The depth of the NPC characterizations adds a considerable amount of plot to the game and produces some rather poignant moments: I thought the result of Mazzy's quest for her missing comrades was especially well-acted.

Go read it.

At a certain point, the code base for IWD and BG2 began to diverge significantly. On the surface, they appear to be the same engine. During development, each team made changes to the engine for a number of reasons. Because the code base mutates more and more over time, it becomes harder and harder to simply drop a chunk of code in without doing excessive re-writing. The overhaul that BioWare did to support new kits/classes was significant.

Read the full thread.

I like the way that BG2 implemented armor-changing and pausing. You can pause the game, but if you try to change armor, it will read, "You cannot change armor in combat." Nice. Maybe we can do that.
I'll ask Darren about the "Pause when enemy sighted" thing.

Read the full thread.

I don't know if this has aleady been said, anyway, I'd like to remind you that Gamecenter named BG2: Shadows of Amn and Icewind Dale for the 1st and 3rd place of 200's best RPGs.

Find more here.

Although the folks at Interplay gave us a big "no comment" we're reasonably sure that an expansion is coming. Look for the official announcement soon. And thanks to all the attentive readers who pointed this out to us. We're sending you each a monkey.

They also linked to EB World who (already) started accepting preordering for the expansion... let's wait for the "next episode".