With the release of all these classic CRPGs, I've been tempted to go on a spending spree. I have managed to control myself somehow but would like to buy at least one of these games at the moment. I have already played and beaten Planescape: Torment before and I can honestly say it is my favorite game of all time. However, I have heard great things about both Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale and am wondering which of the two I should buy. I just want see the opinions of other people before I make my choice so I feel more confidant that I chose one that will keep me busy for a long time.

Thanks!

In your case I recommend going for Baldur's Gate.
Considering you enjoyed Planescape so much, BG will really appeal you. Where as I understand, Icewind Dale is more action/combat oriented and a bit less hard on the role-playing/story side.
Once you are done with the BG story (full series), and if you still crave more Forgotten Realm settings, the Icewind Dale series is perfect, imho.
Cheers :)

Yeah, Icewind Dale is pretty much the complete opposite of Torment - no character interaction at all since you create all of your party members, and the NPCs exist only to give quests or to buy/sell stuff. It's basically a game-long dungeon crawl, albeit an extremely well-crafted one.

Baldur's Gate is much closer to Torment; while it still has more of a focus on combat, you actually recruit party members, and it's ultimately a nice combination of "save the Sword Coast" and a more personal quest. There's also the fact that it leads into Baldur's Gate 2, which is the only CRPG I'd consider putting above Torment in terms of quality. (And yes, you can take your character from BG to BG2.)

PS:T's story is definitely the best but I still liked BG2 more.

That said, I think BG is the better buy. Its fun and its balanced (between gameplay and story).

IWD has BG's gameplay but without any story to make it worth playing through.

I have to agree with what everyone else has said. If you love Planescape: Torment, you obviously love story in your games. Of all the titles (Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate 2, and Icewind Dale) I would personally rank them as best to worst:

1. Planescape: Torment
2. Baldur's Gate 2
3. Baldur's Gate
4. Icewind Dale

I've played BG, BG2, and PT in their entirety. BG and BG2 focus more on combat than PST, but still have great stories. I got bored with Icewind Dale quickly because I lost interest in the story and never finished the game.

Never liked PST, walking aroudn with an floating skull just didnt do it for me, i found that game too far out, but if you got more openmind than me try it, personally i would recommend Baldurs Gate strongly with the widescreenmod.

Lucky those that have not played it yet, got all the game content to discover, i envy you :-)

... and make yourself a favour, wait for BG2, buy both and install these. Without NPC mode, there are no party banters and interactions, which just sucks after playing PST.

Like everyone else is saying, go for BG. And if they release BG2 anytime soon, go for that too before you buy IWD. BG is a superb game and BG2 is even bigger and better in every aspect.

If you then still crave for more infinity engine goodness, then you could buy IWD and maybe IWD2 if they release it in the future.
Allthough you should be warned that the IWD series are still pretty good games, they have always been seen as the least good of the infinity engine.

Just a matter of not letting your expectations get too big afer playing BG/BG2 :)

I recommend getting IWD first.

After playing PST the comparatively flat dialogue and NPCs in BG might just make you feel like playing a fake PST without the depth which makes it special.

Therefore I recommend playing something different, IWD.
BG is like PST about one special character who is the center or the world, wanders around aimlessly and fights the guys who want to kill him, in IWD you create and play a party of 6 normal characters who save the world like in the classic AD&D crpgs.
Combat is better balanced than in BG and the IWD engine is also better, HoW was relased after BG2. There's a reason why quite some players can't bear playing BG without using programs to converts it into the BG2 engine.

I consider the BG games the weakest of the IE games, they are somehow a mix of IWD and PST, on the surface they have everything the others have, but they neither have the depth of PST nor the balance of the IWD games.

Well... IWD games are also completely linear, that might put people off. Lots of fun in BG is exploration. And, as I said, WHEN converted to BG2 engine and NPC MOD installed, you'll also get very deep characters.

Edit: At least first IWD is, I don't know about second, since I have never played it

Well, I haven't played PS:T much yet, so my favorite of the Infinity engine games is Baldur's Gate 2 (I have a feeling GOG with have that one soon). You could start there, but BG1 is a total classic. I am playing though it now, and man...it's just as fun as it was 10 years ago. In my opinion, you can go wrong with it.

As the others have said, IWD is good especially for the tactical combat side of RPGs, but it doesn't have as good a story as BG.

I just bought Baldur's Gate and am currently downloading it. Thanks everyone who told me the pros and cons of the games.

Remember that there's a mod that adds "talking" companions to IWD (i.e. party members with banter, player-initiated dialogue and that kind of stuff).