Icewind Dale II is a role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Entertainment, released on August 27, 2002. Like its 2000 predecessor Icewind Dale, the game is set in the Forgotten Realms fantasy setting in the Icewind Dale region. The player assumes control of a group of mercenaries in a war between the Ten Towns of Icewind Dale and a coalition of persecuted races and religions.
The game is designed as an action-oriented alternative to other Infinity Engine games, with less emphasis on exploration and story. It uses a real-time adaptation of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) Third Edition ruleset. The Infinity Engine was modified to comply with the Third Edition, but the team was forced to remove certain rules because of the engine's outdated nature. It was the final game to be developed using the Infinity Engine.
The game was well received by critics, who praised its combat, pacing, and use of the Third Edition rules. However, some reviewers felt that the graphics and engine had become outdated, and could not compete with its contemporaries.
Gameplay
Icewind Dale II is a real-time adaptation of the D&D Third Edition ruleset. The game is viewed from an isometric perspective, and a head-up display (HUD) occupies the bottom of the screen. Accessible from the HUD are an automap and a journal that records quests and important events. The player uses a point-and-click interface to interact with the game; for example, clicking on the ground moves the selected player character, and clicking on a passive non-player character (NPC) will initiate dialogue. When conversations occur, the game presents multiple dialogue options. The game world is separated into area maps—obscured by fog of war—that are revealed as the area is explored. A multiplayer mode is available for up to six players over a local area network or the Internet. The "Heart of Fury" mode is also available, which increases the game's difficulty and contains more powerful items.
thumb|left|Example of the main screen
When beginning the game, the player may choose to play a pre-selected party, or to create a party of up to six characters; unlike the Baldur's Gate series, Icewind Dale II does not permit the player to import characters from previous Icewind Dale games. While creating characters, the player chooses their gender, race, class, alignment, and attributes, among other things. The player can sometimes choose a subvariety of a race or class, such as Deep Gnome or Cleric of Ilmater. Race, alignment, and attributes affect the player character's available dialogue options, as well as NPC responses. For example, some NPCs will be prejudiced against certain races, or a character of low intelligence will have limited dialogue options. Some sub-races in the game are significantly more powerful than the core races present in D&D Third Edition; these sub-races must earn more experience points than others before leveling up. Characters can reach a maximum level of thirty.
Icewind Dale IIs gameplay is focused on combat. The combat system is a real-time adaptation of the turn-based system used in D&D Third Edition, which caused the developers to remove certain aspects, such as "attacks of opportunity". Dice rolls are simulated by the game. In place of the turn-based rounds used in D&D, characters have independent rounds, during which they may execute one or more actions, depending on such factors as the duration of the action. The player can pause the game and issue orders to characters at any time. Each character can carry a limited amount<!--not "number", as this also refers to weight--> of items. Targos hires mercenaries to defend against the attack. the town of Kuldahar, constructed around a magical tree that emits heat; the Severed Hand, an ancient elven fortress that was lost during a war with goblinoids; and the Dragon's Eye, a network of volcanic caverns inhabited by yuan-ti. Other areas include the Underdark and the Jungles of Chult.
Story
The game begins as the player's group of mercenaries arrives by ship to defend Targos. They report to the town palisade and fend off an assault by the goblin army. Afterward, the mayor of Targos orders them to launch an offensive against the goblin army. The group kills the army's chieftain and discovers he was under the command of a woman named Sherincal. When they return to Targos, the mayor asks them to rendezvous with reinforcements from Neverwinter. The group travels to meet them in an airship piloted by Oswald Fiddlebender.
A storm causes the ship to crash, and the group awakens to discover that a glacier blocks the reinforcements' path. While investigating the glacier, the group finds Sherincal, a half-dragon, guarding the entrance to an Aurilite temple. They learn that Sherincal leads the Legion of the Chimera's western forces and the leaders of the Legion of the Chimera, cambion twins named Isair and Madae, reside in the Severed Hand. Inside the Aurilite temple, the group finds a prisoner from Kuldahar, who asks them to warn Kuldahar of the threat posed by the Legion of the Chimera. The group then creates a passage through the glacier and meets with the reinforcements.
As the group travels to Kuldahar, they meet a drow (dark elf) named Nym, who tells them the pass to Kuldahar is guarded by the Legion of the Chimera and an alternate path through the Underdark exists. Later, Isair and Madae locate the group with information from Nym. They state their intention to attack Kuldahar and warn the group to not interfere. The group then passes through the Black Raven Monastery to enter the Underdark. After exiting the Underdark, they are flown to Kuldahar by Oswald Fiddlebender.
When the group lands in Kuldahar, they discover it has been invaded by the Legion of the Chimera. They meet the Archdruid of Kuldahar, who tells them that a portal has been opened to allow yuan-ti from the jungles of Chult to assault Kuldahar. After the group prevents the attack, the Archdruid tells them they may reach the Severed Hand through an exit on the bottom floor of the Dragon's Eye. The group travels through the Dragon's Eye and proceeds to the Severed Hand. Once inside, they learn that the war between the Ten Towns and the Legion of the Chimera was caused by the mayor of Bryn Shander, who had sent Isair and Madae poisoned food. Eventually, the group finds Isair and Madae and kills them.
Development
During summer 2001, Black Isle Studios employed three development teams. These included the Icewind Dale team, the team developing Torn, and a team working on an unannounced project. Before and during Torns development, several members of its team expressed interest in developing another game using the Infinity Engine. Sawyer said of the decision: "In all honesty, the reasons for making Icewind Dale II have to do with limiting risks and maximizing our chances for a popular title". Conceptualization of Icewind Dale II progressed during the development of the Icewind Dale expansions, and production began late July 2001, shortly after the completion of Icewind Dale: Trials of the Luremaster. After six months of development, Icewind Dale II was officially announced on February 4, 2002.
Icewind Dale II was originally planned to be an incomplete conversion to the D&D Third Edition ruleset, with many rules omitted. The kit system (class specialization) introduced in Baldur's Gate 2 was to be used, but this idea was later abandoned. Sawyer and several other members of the team pushed for the game's conversion to Third Edition. The development team was eventually granted an extension, which allowed them to complete the change to Third Edition rules. Jason Manley, the portrait artist for the previous Icewind Dale games, left Black Isle Studios in late 2001; several new works he painted before his departure were later used in Icewind Dale II. Black Isle Studios artist Justin Sweet was asked to substitute. Partway through development, Sawyer left the team to work as the lead designer on another internal project; Dave Maldonado and Chris Avellone were given his areas to finish.
The game went gold on August 5, 2002, and was released in North America on August 27 and in the United Kingdom on August 30. After the release of Icewind Dale II, Sawyer expressed dissatisfaction over the Icewind Dale series, saying "I wasn't particularly thrilled with how my work on [Icewind Dale] came out..." and, "...[Heart of Winter] managed to actually be worse than my Icewind Dale stuff". In regards to Icewind Dale II he said: "[It] came out better than I expected, but still, not exactly awe-inspiring". Chris Avellone later said: "Icewind Dale was a fun series, but it didn't try to set the bar for anything other than a fun romp. People may remember enjoying it, but it wasn’t trying to break any new ground or do anything revolutionary. In some respects, it was almost a step back from other games we'd done and focused more on exploration and dungeon crawls". A Collector's Edition containing bonus material, such as a full-color cloth map and soundtrack CD, was also released.
Audio
The music of the game was composed by Inon Zur, whose previous works included Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal and Fallout Tactics. Inon Zur worked with Jeremy Soule, the composer for Icewind Dale, to maintain the tone of the music. As the game's music budget was low, a small Los Angeles orchestra was used to record the music; the sound of the each instrument was doubled during production. Inon Zur described the music as having "some uniqueness to it, that basically it developed throughout the game [with] the [inclusion] of more instruments, taking flutes and percussion and combining them with the standard orchestra". Zur later said: "I thought that we definitely met some high standards; we compared our products to big budget films scores and in the end we were quite happy". The game rose to fourth place the following week, and exited the weekly top 10 in its third week. Icewind Dale II sold between 100,000 and 270,000 copies in the United States alone by August 2006. Combined sales of the Icewind Dale franchise reached 580,000 units in the country by that date.