I'm finally giving Icewind Dale a shot. From my understanding

>>3483181
Didn't you make a thread?

>>3483191
Yeah, just now?

>>3483194
>>3482991

Ah hell, checked the catalog twice before making the thread, still managed to miss someone else already having one up. Perfect.

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>>3483181
Its a good game if you enjoy creating parties and classic fantasy.

The atmosphere is good and the story is very enjoyable.

Wish modern fantasy games tried to be closer to D&D.

>>3483181

If you care about RP at all, your party, or at least party leader, needs to be good and the kind of tard that goes on adventures for the sake of it. The game makes zero effort to motivate why you're doing what you're doing, so you need to fill in the blanks.

>>3483181
I suppose you could get away with a dual classed thief or even two ... dual one to a cleric at level 5-ish, then one to a specialist mage at maybe 8 or 9, that may you'll always have an active thief. Or even dual the first to a fighter at level 2 to 5. Or just dual class both of them to specialist mages.

Of course, you could also dual class *to* a thief, if you really wanted to!

Or just go with a multi classed mage/illusionist.

>>3483181
>Does anyone have some tips for the party? I thought I remembered somewhere that Thieves were useless,

never take a single classed thief, you do need one for traps but use a dual or multiclassed one

consider taking a single classed cleric, you lose some offensive power but there are a lot of undead in the game and turn undead can be useful.

if you have heart of winter bard's new songs are pretty nice(the last one regenerates hp for the entire party)

>>3483181
dwarf fighter - axes
elf mage
human cleric
halfling fighter/thief

Completely crushed the game with this party.

I figure I could cut out the halfling and run this party if I did it again:

dwarf fighter - axes
elf cleric
human fighter 3 (bows)/mage x, high str

>I thought I remembered somewhere that Thieves were useless, but I don't want to walk into a dungeon and die constantly to traps if that's true.
You won't. Or at least you shouldn't. Traps are *kinda* rare, and you can use cleric buffs to get your strength really high to bash open locks, or just use the knock spell.

99% of the time, your thief is just a bonus archer

regardless, if you run a thief, do a fighter/thief

>>3483181
In the non-EE original version, there are no joinable party members, just what you roll at the start.

If you have a paladin in your group, put points in long sword.

>>3485057
>In the non-EE original version, there are no joinable party members, just what you roll at the start.
theres none in either version

I lost interest somewhere in Severed Hand but loved the second game to bits(well, not the ice temple, but the rest). Just making parties and playing around with their composition is enjoyable. Ditto on the Spiderweb games.

>>3485567
>(well, not the ice temple, but the rest)

The Fell Wood? The Dragon's Eye? Running around the Magma Chamber five fucking times?

>>3485567
that's a shame
severed hand and upper dorn's deep are my favorite areas
had my wife try playing it recently, and she finished dragon's eye and didnt want to continue yet
I told her she just got to the good part

>>3485886
not that guy, but yes, the ice temple/fell wood/monk test/dragon's eye/driders/mind flayer areas are lame
the rest of it is pretty fucking sweet

Some points on Icewind Dale:

1. Contrary to posts above, it does have a storyline. There's far, far less talk than the BG games, but there's enough to string you along

2. You do need someone with thief skills in your party, to get rid of traps and open locks. You would go mad from frustration having to drink a 25 STR potion every time you want to bash open a chest, it's a stupid idea, though a pure thief is a waste. A thief > mage is the usual dual-class approach.

3. No companions join. The game is all about tailoring the ultimate party. I whittled mine down to 4 characters:

- Paladin
- Half-elf Ranger / Cleric (a quirk of the game engine means you get both Cleric and Druid spells)
- Dual-classed Thief > Mage (dual early)
- Bard, for the awesome HP regen song

4. The sound / music is fucking amazing. Esp. the lizardman temple, that sounds like a really old Amiga dungeon crawler MIDI soundtrack. Really nostalgic somehow.