I am a new player to IWD 2 after playing the Bg saga. The first thing that upset me was the fact that there are no NPC's. I think they really help add to the picture of RP. Does anyone else think this?

The whole idea of the original Icewind Dale, and its sequel, is that you are able to build up your perfect party yourself, without any limitations of pre-generated NPCs. This has its good and bad sides though... still, I haven't enjoyed the IWD games any less for it.

I miss the NPC interactions. And I find it kind of... tedious to create whole party from scratch, hehe.

I totally agree with you... try soloing (it's great when you get to the ice palace!!!)

it has it's good points and bad points. I miss the character development of BG2. Not the development stat wise, rather the personality/story development. However, I do like to tinker with my party to get that elusive "ideal". I've always viewed the IWD series as something slightly different, so I like this party building. For me it's part of the game's point, so I'm happy with it the way it is.

I prefer playing "living" characters with background, interests, hobbies...

If there were any personalities to be downloaded would be great. Like, you could create the character stat-wise yourself and then import a personality for him.
Would be pretty great IMO.

The closer you can get is by using the portraits and soundsets of BG2 characters adapted for IWD2... and recreate them for this different system. Just pretend Minsc and Jan keep chattering away like magpies and Jaheira keeps interrupting in the middle of a fight. ;)

I was actually pretty upset when playing BG for the first time that I could only create one character, and had to go look for others to join me. With time I came to like the idea. When playing IWD I miss the banters, even the fights. What is great though, especially with regards to IWD2, is that the huge number of subclasses and subraces opens up an incredible number of opportunities at character creation time, without any of the BG limitations, such as finding that the particular kit you want doesn't exist as an NPC, or can't be used the way you want because of stat distribution, or that the NPC is such a jerk you want to kick him out outright (*cough* Anomen *cough*). In fact I think this is what sets IWD most apart from BG. And I personally enjoy both styles of play.

@Gothmog

that's actually a pretty good idea.. i don't suppose you know of any mod that could do this?

I only just started playing IWD2, and am stuck at the moment (heh, long story), but I really enjoy it so far. I've played through the BG saga a few times and love it too. I think they are complementary games that offer different experiences. I love the NPC interaction in the BG games, I play those for the story and character development. But I am also enjoying IWD2 so far, personal problems nonwithstanding, because I really like the freedom of making your own party and tweaking them, etc. It really reminds me of my favorite cRPG of all time, a classic shareware game on the Mac called Realmz (which unfortunately looks like it's no longer under development). Realmz was kinda like a proto cross between NWN and IWD2...you create your own characters and then put parties together to play through scenarios. It was so fun that it was the only shareware I've ever actually paid for.

I think IWD2 appeals to me so much because it's like a much more complicated version of that.

I also miss the banters and the personalities. I've never had a problem with not being able to develop an entire party. Or actually, I had, but I solved it.
The first time through Baldur's Gate 2 I didn't know anything about this sort of RPG's, so I just played with a party that I found fun and didn't worry about not having created it all.
However, I wanted to test out some other classes and so I multiplayered on my own (that way you can create your entire party). I found it awfully silent, so I used Shadow Keeper to modify some NPCs to be like my characters and then took them along. It was great.

I'd really like to see that implemented into future games. Meeting NPCs with personalities and having them start at level 0 with some experience so that they can level up to the level of the rest of the party or somesuch.

I'd much rather create my own characters then get stuck with loser NPCs (like that Druid in BG who doesn't even have the right stats for Druiding). Creating characters is the most fun part of IWD II.

I agree that creating characters is fun also. ut so are NPCs. And if you don't like Cernd, don't take him, there are more than enough other NPCs.

I'd much rather create my own characters then get stuck with loser NPCs (like that Druid in BG who doesn't even have the right stats for Druiding). Creating characters is the most fun part of IWD II.Agreed. I haven't been playing Baldur's Gate II for very long (about two weeks) but some NPCs just aren't very good and piss me off (Anomen will die! :mad: ).

I actually quite like the silence of my custom party. They don't talk to me when its inconvenient (getting attacked by bandits, argh!). The few moments when I do have a conversation with an NPC are nice but I'd rather play a game where my party won't go out and try to kill each other.

I like a complete custom party.