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From the Icewind Dale II forums:Damien Foletto (Puuk)Weapon feats
long swords, like scimitars, will be grouped into the long swords feat. Bastard sword is it's own feat, and great sword is its own feat.
The long sword is not the main weapon in IWD2. You'll find pretty much an equal spread of different weapons in the game. Random drops vary the weapon distribution as well.
Improved Critical
It can be taken twice. It was implemented this way (I believe) because it would make it too easy to cheese early in the game. CRPG's work a bit different than PnP, so different things need to be done for balancing.
Taking it twice gives you +2 threat range to all my weapons. It doesn't sound like much for a PnP, but in this game it makes a big difference.
The character will have to re-roll to confirm the critical, just like PnP 3E.
Will bags of holding in the game
Yes.
Caucasions in the game?
No, since there is no Central Asia or Caucasus in IWD2.
Why no Tarrasque?
Well, let's look at the 3E stats for a tarrasque, shall we?
Tarrasque
Colossal Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 48d10+576 (840 hp)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 20
AC: 35
Attacks: Bite +57 melee, 2 horns +52 melee, 2 claws +52 melee, tail slap +52 melee (that's 5 attacks at +52, kiddies)
Damage: Bite 4d8 +17, horn 1d10+8, claw 1d12 +8, tail slap 3d8 +8 (this will average over 123 damage points per round)
Face/Reach: 40 ft. by 40 ft./25 ft.
Special Attacks: Damage reduction 25/+3, immunity to fire, poison and disease, regeneration 40 pts. per round, can only be permanently destroyed if the tarrasque is reduced to -30 points and using a Wish or Miracle spell to keep it dead. SR 32
Saves: Fort +38, Ref +29, Will +20
Abilities: STR 45, DEX 16, CON 35, INT 3, WIS 14, CHA 14
I think this proves my point that this critter in IWD2 would be ridiculous. The tarrasqu is a dooms-day monster that is pretty much impossible to kill, especially with level 15-ish characters.
Hard of fury mode and prietst
I can say your actions for the quests in the final area(s), be it good or evil, have a big impact on the end game confrontation. Thanks to Josh's crazy priest of Talos, he pretty much didn't get along with anyone, and had poor conversational skills. Where my priestess of Selune was very diplomatic and followed through with finding the optimum path to victory. Hence, the Sisters of the Blood Moon were a higher level in the final battle, and had an easier go of it because of their well planned, hard-line diplomatic problem solving. Priests of Talos are way too reactionary.
Efreeti and Djinni
Yes, the efreeti and djinni are both in the game. The djinni will cast a whirlwind during battle, and the efreeti will have a fire shield, and cast burning hands during battle - along with general melee.
Djinni casts Fireshield (Blue) to protect itself, and casts a Whirlwind at your enemies once/turn. Efreeti casts Fireshield (Red) to protect itself, and casts Burning Hands once every other round at your enemies.
Josh SawyerA monk image
http://feedback.blackisle.com/images/c9b.jpg
This comes to you courtesy of Vance "Vancey Pants" Kovacs, Jefferson's lead artist.
Another monk portrait should be coming soon, courtesy of Chris "Applesauce" Appelhans.
Justin finished a male barbarian (more wiry than brawny, and without a beard) recently, and he's actually had a very regal-looking gold dwarf fighter hanging around that he thought he had already passed on to us (whoops). The ghostwise halfling and wild elf are very close to completion. The only portrait that I requested that may not get done is the female Dreadmaster of Bane.
Going through HOF mode
Characters:
Makados: Chaotic Evil Human Male Stormlord of Talos 15
Dahel Bloody-Four: Chaotic Evil Human Male Barbarian 15
Amraith: Neutral Evil Moon Elf Male Fighter 15
Harbesh Carver: Neutral Shield Dwarf Male Fighter 2 / Rogue 13
Mirai Wainwright: Chaotic Neutral Half-Elf Female Wizard 15
Fissera: Neutral Evil Human Male Druid 15
Notes:
My Stormlord of Talos was the party leader, and quite good at keeping the party moving along. His domain spells were very useful, but they were by no means the defining features of the character. In the final area of the game, I absolutely loved using my Tremor domain spell to knock clerics and fighters on their proverbial asses. I ROELEPLAYEDE him to the fullest. When a priest of a goodly faith offered me a way to make the end of the game easier, I told him to convert to the ways of the Destroyer or suffer the consequences. He wasn't too happy about this, so he attacked me. My Flail of the Elements made short work of him. Makados of Talos doesn't make deals with Ilmaterians, SUCKA.
My barbarian started out strong and finished stronger. During the mid-game, his melee skillz weren't so great that he was more useful than my elf fighter. In the last third of the game, he really started to shine. His damage reduction was quite useful in several areas, and Greater Rage is nice. It sucked when he was the character in front of the party -- whom NPCs talked to. He had an 8 Charisma and low, low, low speech skills.
My elf fighter was my favorite character. He laid waste to everything with his bow. Easily my MVP, he had almost 30% of the total party kills at the end (669, to be exact). His high Dex came at a price, though. He had a junky Strength (10) and Con (10). When forced into melee, he often had to bust out and run for cover. Thankfully, his Hide and Move Silently were very high, so he served as my scout. Towards the end of the game, he became a worthwhile melee combatant thanks to some nice elven chain and a Strength-enhancing girdle. His best bow shot in the game was a critical hit against a cleric of Bane that did 48 points of damage, interrupting a Gate spell with the cleric's untimely death.
The rogue was the character I had the most mixed feelings about. He had a low Dex (10), but a high Int and Str. If I had him Power Attack and Sneak Attack at the same time, I could deal massive damage with a single shot. I took two levels of fighter, and I alternately am glad and sad that I did so. It helped him in some ways, but his thief skills suffered a little because of the neglect. I usually kept him on crossbow, since he could easily get wasted in melee. However, a well-placed Sneak Attack from him became a staple in the late game, offering a reliable 30ish points of damage to some unlucky sap.
The wizard was all-around awesome. She filled the traditional mage role and did it well. Providing buffs and a slew of offensive spells with horribly high DCs, she and the cleric worked well together. In the late game, my favorite tactic with her was the patented "Stoneskin/Mirror Image/Haste" rush, followed up by as many Sunfires as I could muster before hordes of enemies slaughtered her.
My druid was one of the more interesting characters. He stayed at the back of the party as an offensive caster. He was the "combat class" character with the worst melee combat capabilities. However, he was nice as a rear guard. When jerks would come up from behind, he would transform into a Dire Bear and murder everyone. Alternately, if someone needed help in a jiffy, he would turn into a Dire Panther and rush across the screen in seconds. His 4th level Flame Strikes were invaluable, as was his incredibly awesome Aura of Vitality in the late game.
The wizard was probably more useful overall, but... that's a tough call. The druid has a very interesting mix of spells, but it's kind of a grab bag. Spells like Thorn Spray and Smashing Wave are really only useful in very specific combat situations, for instance. However, when you do get to use them, the results can be dramatic, and quite different from the spells available to the wizard.
Amraith had a 16 Intelligence and a 20 Dexterity. I kept him in studded leather armor until the last chapter of the game, when he found magical elven chain.
Is the game potentially 'easier' for a good-aligned party?
No. In some ways, it is more difficult, because you have to jump through hoops to get things done the "good" way instead of just "getting them done, period."
Starting with a paladin
You certainly can do that, but it's not always a good combination. If you dump a bunch of points in Charisma, start off as a paladin, and later switch to fighter, those are points you probably could have spent in Strength, Dex, or Con. You certainly do get a nice saving throw bonus out of it, but you're a level behind in feats and your Lay on Hands ability sits stagnant. For a paladin/sorcerer, it could be a better combination, but that's another level or two that you will be behind every other single-classed spellcaster. I'm at the end of the game with all of my characters just barely at 15th level. I'd be pretty annoyed at myself if I multi-ed along the way and missed out on 8th level spells, greater rage, and other assorted goodies.
Leveling up
Leveling up happens fairly rapidly in the first half of the game, and becomes much more rare in the second half.
If I had not been so destructive, I probably would have ended the game at 16th level. Also, I believe that leveling becomes a secondary concern in the second half of the game. Your characters have enough options open to them at that point that you can start to experiment with everything they've accumulated up to that point. The areas are also very interesting, IMO. Though the first third of the game is extremely hack intensive (goblin hordes and all), even those areas have different ways of solving quests.
Besides, casual players almost never make it to the second half of a game, anyway.
A gold dwarf portrait
Justin Sweet graciously passed along this portrait of a gold dwarf. I particularly like this portrait because it shows a more regal dwarf instead of the rough-and-tumble type.
http://feedback.blackisle.com/images/c10b.jpg
Gold dwarves are actually quite dark skinned. To be honest, that's in the light skin tone range for their race. Justin could have gone all the way to dark African brown and still been within the "specs" for gold dwarves. Gold elves on the other hand...
Visiting IWD1 areas
My belief was that having IWD areas towards the end of the game would be good for the following reasons:
* The initial areas in the game need to be fresh.
* Only hardcore players make it past the halfway point in a game. These are probably the same people who loved IWD and will have nostalgic feelings about re-visiting places like Kuldahar.
Wild Elf Female Portrait
Courtesy of Mr. Sweet.
http://feedback.blackisle.com/images/c13b.jpg
The release date
Maybe I'm still playing it straight! I believe IWD2 is the last IPLY title that Vivendi will release, as per the terms of IPLY's contract with Vivendi. While IPLY certainly needs IWD2 out as soon as possible, the same is not true of Vivendi. Vivendi is gargantuan, and has both the power and motivation to shuffle around an assortment of titles to meet their needs, not ours. Vivendi doesn't need to recoup development costs on IWD2 -- they just need to place it on retailers' shelves at the exact time that it will make them the most money. That exact time is contingent upon many things, including the finalization of Warcraft III (their primary concern) and NWN (a competitive concern).
Does that not make sense? It seems very simple to me. I'm not trying to lay blame on Vivendi -- far from it. They have different priorities than the developer, and they have to weigh the "could be done by x's" all together with the "will be done by x's" and the "will be shipped by x's" to formulate a date for release on all of their titles.
Black Isle is to blame for the game not being done yet. No one is "to blame" for there not being a new release date. The distributor needs to get a clearer picture of where, exactly, all of the RPG products in their own channel and other channels are going to fall in the next few months.
Male Ghostwise Halfling
Vancey Pants Kovacs brings you this delightful chap.
http://feedback.blackisle.com/images/c12b.jpg
Ghostwise halflings are pretty creepy. He's wearing facepaint.
Ghostwise halflings get the ability to set a natural snare once a day. It takes the form of a little floating skull marker (it looks like Skull Trap). When a creature hits the skull marker, it affects the creature as a single-target Entangle spell.
I got the idea for his facepaint from the Guarani king in The Mission:
http://www.sun.ac.za/forlang/bergma...assets/king.jpg
I thought that the ghostwise halflings, living in a brutal environment, might be more likely to worship Urogalan, the halfling god of the earth and the dead. So, I asked Vance to add white teeth to the black facepaint. The idea was that this particular ghostwise halfling was a tribal hunter. His facepaint is his way of letting his prey know that its death was not random or for sport, but fulfilling a greater role in the jungle.
Or maybe he's just creepy. Whatever works.
Tex Yang (Bloodlust)Dash and stunning attack
You can only pick dash once.
Stunnning attack is the same as the monk's ability - you activate the feat. Also, you get one attack per 4 levels if I remember correctly.
Tutorial
There will be pop-up floaters in Targos (the town that the game starts in) which will give hints on how to do things as players go about.
Dialogue responses
Yup, paladins and monks get specific class-related responses and dialogues depending on where they are at.
Is there any way in IWD2 to hide and detect traps at the same time?
Hide and detect traps work as they did in the original IWD.
Chad Nicholas (Briareus)
I don't know about Holy Word vs. Unholy Word, but as for Protection From Evil, evil aligned casters can cast the spell, and should cast the spell before summoning creatures that don't like to be summoned.
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Icewind Dale II Forum Update
