#baldur's gate 3 could definitely stand to learn a bit more from its infinity engine predecessors

[kirbyddd]

man im loving icewind dale

it's far simpler than baldur's gate text-wise, but that's perfect for me right now when i can barely think

what writing there is is top notch, a perfect traditional tale of legend without all the paragraphs of political technicalities. and the story doesnt feel any shallower for its simplicity, it has its own kind of layers and feels perfectly rooted in a tale of tribal mysticism

interestingly there seems to be more environmental flavor text in the maps than baldur's gate, despite the fewer character conversations

the 2E combat in Infinity Engine is as snappy as ever (with a properly built party), and so far I've been finding the maps generally far more streamlined than baldur's gate's; they get the point across instead of just sprawling into labyrinths of cliffs and corridors that dont actually contain anything to discover other than more of the same enemies

all in all icewind dale has so far been a very streamlined pick-up-and-play experience, very modern and engaging. though im sure there'd be more of a learning curve if i wasnt already familiar with infinity engine and dnd strategy from learning baldur's gate earlier this year. and initial party building still took me a whole day, though if my brain wasnt so fried it'd probably only take like an hour to look up and read everything necessary to understand good character and party composition

but with a solid party set from the beginning, the game itself becomes very smooth and engaging