Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter

List Price: $29.99 Discount Price: $39.99

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

This is an awesome game [Posted on 2002-03-07]
I loved the game. However, it is a *MUST* that you play this before you play Baldur's Gate 2. The storyline is very linear and guided compared to BG2, so you will be disappointed compared to that. The best part about this add-on is that you get a free expansion to go with the expansion - you just need to download it off of Fileplanet (Tales of the Luremaster) and you'll be all set.

Really enhances Icewind Dale! Well worth picking up! [Posted on 2002-05-23]
Most expansion sets only give you new characters and some new maps, but Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter actually IMPROVES the gameplay system and interface of Icewind Dale!

How so? Inventory screens are now streamlined and allow you to carry more stuff by giving you scroll and gem bags to keep non-essential items out of your main inventory. The interface is great in that you can maximize your viewing screen by using BGII-style hot keys to drop away unnecessary status panels. More areas have been added as well as some tweaking of the AD&D rules and some more spells! If you want to max out your party's experience, you can configure the mode that allows you to score max experience at the expense of dealing with some really tough enemy AI.

What's cool is numerous ways you can start a game in the Heart of Winter universe. Installing the add on, you can enhance your current in-progress Icewind Dale game that you're still playing and immediately jump to HOW at the conclusion. Doing this gives you the benefits of the HOW enhancements while still playing the first game. You can opt to import your previous party ifyou've already beaten IWD and start right at the HOW story, or you can use your existing game and access HOW through the locked door in Kuldehar. Pretty cool, but in any event you'll need the first IWD game to use this! Not a standalone product!

Great game and well worth picking up. I happen to think IWD was the better of the BG series of games thanks to the heavy combat and minimal exploration. HOW will keep you busy until IWD II comes out very soon!

Not bad at all... [Posted on 2002-10-19]
Icewind Dale is a fun game, and I like the expansion quite a bit. True, it is a hack & slash game without a lot of opportunity for roleplaying, and I would not put it on the same level as any of the Baldur's Gate games, but the storyline is interesting, the items that you can acquire are neat, and just because a game is not real complex doesn't mean it is no good. If you find a good price on this game (probably under 25 dollars), by all means check it out.

Amused me somewhat [Posted on 2003-06-10]
I'm not going to talk about the gameplay, linear plot, etc., we all know about that... But here are some aspects of the game I found amusing: The artwork on the new character profiles was excellent and fit very well with the theme of the game-- Very moody with watercolor-like graphics! You get to choose new voices for your characters, and one of the female voices sounds very seductive...some of what she says has double-meanings. Quite naughty! This voice works perfectly with the blonde cleric. It's listed as "HOW-female3",(or is it 2?) Also there's some male voices that actually don't sound dorky. The addition of limited 3rd-edition rules with the expansion is especially cool. With the proper cheat code, you can now create that elven Fighter-Mage-Thief that you always wanted to- with the Sneak Attack ability. Just use the cheat code to give him XP "supplements" so it doesn't take you a year to level up... I've found that with prudent use of the cheat codes and use of certain magic items, you can emulate many 3rd-edition prestige classes. For $$- it's certainly worth the risk. But don't try to play the sountrack during a romantic evening with your significant other-- that's NOT worth the risk!

A Worthy Companion [Posted on 2005-12-29]
Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter is the worthy companion to the best selling Icewind Dale role-playing game. The two together have everything one looks for in such a game; from an incredible setting, to a highly original plot, to excellent multiple roleplaying options, to outstanding graphics, to extraordinary accuracy in relation to Dungeons & Dragons, and much, much more!
There is something here for everyone as the variety of challenges is large indeed, including battles, puzzle solving, and dialogue among others.
The game is set on Toril and specifically in Faerun. It deals with a great evil that has arisen and descended upon the region bringing the people misery and despair.
The story as a whole is excellent! The plot is so incredibly well written and presented that the gamer feels that they have been transported to another plane of existence and are actually present among the characters, seeing what they see, feeling what they feel, sensing what they sense. Moreover, the game does a great job of presenting the distinct cultures and civilizations of the inhabitants/peoples of Fearun, and Icewind Dale in particular. This has, without a doubt, been achieved as a result of a great deal of research that has gone into learning and understanding the numerous and often complex characteristics of the Forgotten Realms world.
Don't forget to download Tales of the Luremaster and be transported to a desert (!) setting for a few more encounters (puzzles and hacking and slashing) and some pretty nice treasure!
Strongly recommended along with the Baldur's Gate series and Planescape: Torment.

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