NWN Shadows of Undrentide impressions

[Jasede]

The radial is pretty good when you're pressed for time - as you'll often be online, and NWN is a lot about online play. You can't quickslot ALL the spells you'll need and all the items, so being able to select them with relative ease is rather important.

I must say NWN 1 has likely the best platform for online DMing/PnP I've ever seen! DMs can do everything they need to do efficiently and players have a very comfortable interface they can use.

 

[easychord]

Must have been poor spell selection. My AA didn't have much trouble hitting and damaging him with bow fire, and my pure wizard crushed him. Like most outsiders, he's got no acid resistance.

My spell selection was poor! How dare you.

Since I was an evoker and conjuration was prohibited, I was a bit short on Acid spells. My BAB just wasn't enough to hit him. I know how to read an attack roll. I tried enough spells to know that the fight wasn't much fun.

 

[Disconnected]

What was better about it? This is actually still a live topic on the BioBoards. The NWN1 radial was never popular, but some fans never forgave Obsidian for yanking it. I never really understood why anyone cared about the radial, since the only thing you use it for is to populate the quickbar.

I don't frequent those fora, but I'm pretty sure that's a false dilemma.

For myself at least, I've never used the radial menu, I use the quickslots.

NWN2 was worse because it:

1. Took NWNs already dysmal minimap and made it worse.
2. Replaced NWNs properly scaling & responsive radial menu, with an unresponsive, unscaling context menu.
3. Added a bunch of extra quickslot bars that visually clash with the rest of the GUI, can be accidentally dragged around, extended NWNs infuriating auto-deselect-spells to all quickslotted functions, and severely limited the kind of shit that can be quickslotted, forcing users to use the new and worse context menu.
4. Buried some of the functionality that was immediately accessible in submenues, or worse, submenues of submenues.

Basically, the one cool thing was the mode bar, but then, even after a bunch of patches and an expansion pack, the mode bar is still bugged. The spell bar might have been cool too, if it didn't eat up half the screen, necessitating yet more fiddling with the camera in a game whose max fps - if rendered by the combined computing power of the entire history of every real and imagined universe - is 25 on a good day.

I won't argue NWN2 isn't vastly superior to NWN in almost every way, but if you honestly think the GUI is one of them, it can only be because you've never played NWN.

I was about to say I'd gladly pay an extra $10 next time if that'd let them hire a professional GUI designer, but Atari has gone DRM so unless they drop their publisher, MoTB v1.2 will be the last Obsidian game I play.

 

[Volourn]

"The NWN1 radial was never popular"

Wrong. Toital, and utter bullshit myth started after Obsidian informed everybody of their decision to remove it. The radial menu was popualr. Sure, it had its detratctors which of course were really loud.

If we thought louds cumbags were speaking for the majority then we would have to believe that NWN series was/is a failure that had no fans which, of course, isn't true.

 

[Thrasher]

I'm sorry, but 5 or 7 mouse clicks to cast a spell off the radial menu is neither well scaled nor efficient.

The radial menu sucked for spellcasters.

Unless you like to memorize the 7 digit numpad codes. Even then that was crap when the codes changed because of the dynamic nature of the radial menu layout.

The right solution was to add more quickslots, which they did, and get rid of that crappy horribly inefficient radial menu.

 

[Volourn]

You should never need to use the radial in combat. If you ar ehalf intelligent. And, it should only take 2 seconds to get through it all and sicne you cna only cast 1 or 2 spells per round you have absoluitely no excuse. I never needed to memorize the digit numbpad codes either.

The radial menu was AWESOME. And, it was very EFFICENT.

Unless youa re pathetically retarded. Which you obviously are.

 

[racofer]

I'm sorry, but 5 or 7 mouse clicks to cast a spell off the radial menu is neither well scaled nor efficient.

The radial menu sucked for spellcasters.

Unless you like to memorize the 7 digit numpad codes. Even then that was crap when the codes changed because of the dynamic nature of the radial menu layout.

The right solution was to add more quickslots, which they did, and get rid of that crappy horribly inefficient radial menu.

Who the fuck would use the radial for regular spell casting ffs? It was good for accessing EVERYTHING, from emotes to feats to inventory and so on. It was good because every single thing was included in there in a well organized manner. NWN2 interface is a cluster fuck compared to NWN's, even I agree with that.

 

[Thrasher]

Well you are a braindead idiot, since you fail to understand the concept of "efficient" and good user interface design.

And know it doesn't only take 2 seconds to cast a spell 7 clicks deep.

Stop with the stupid posts, and try use a few braincells next time. Posts like yours it's what's ruining the codex.

 

[Thrasher]

Because if you play a high-level wizard, which you obviously never have played (at least not very diversely), there arene't enough quickslots for all your spells.

 

[racofer]

You claim to know so much about good user interface yet you haven't provided any examples of it, you are only bashing the NWN's interface since it's cool to so and you're probably aiming for rep points around here. Anyone with a pair of braincells would bind spells into the fucking quickslot bar, but it seems you were unable to do so.

And the codex being ruined? lulz

 

[Volourn]

Stop the bullshit. I played spellcasters includings wizards a lot. Heck, Ive played the game pratically non stopped for years. And, yeah, it should take no more than 2-3 seconds to go through the radial menu. And, you should never need during actual combat. Period.
NEWSFLASH: You don't need all your spells in quickslots. Why do you need a spell like Idenity in your quick slot? Or Bulls Strength which you should cast prior to battle since it lasts 1 hour per level in NWN1.

NWN's interface sign is awesome, great, and extremely efficient. End of dicussion.

You common sense, moron.


"Posts like yours it's what's ruining the codex."

Yup. I've been doing so for years. OH NOES! Poor Codex! HAHAHA!

Big Bad Volourn gonna ruin it. Or not.

 

[easychord]

Any user interface seems good if you have been using it regularly for years.

 

[Volourn]

Nah. Not neccesarily true.It would just mean getting used to it/overlooking faults to get to what you like.

 

[MetalCraze]

NWN2 has the ability to display two quickslot-lines at one time. and it is still not enough for me when I'm playing as a mage. so yeah - NWN1 quickslot system kinda sucked.
I also can imagine myself using radial menu in NWN with 1 character. I can't imagine myself bothering to do so with a party of 5 disabled cretins.

 

[Thrasher]

You claim to know so much about good user interface yet you haven't provided any examples of it, you are only bashing the NWN's interface since it's cool to so and you're probably aiming for rep points around here. Anyone with a pair of braincells would bind spells into the fucking quickslot bar, but it seems you were unable to do so.

And the codex being ruined? lulz

No, I'm not so insecure or needy to require any sort of validation from this community. But reading dumfuckery and idiocy that spreads misinformation requires a response.

ANyways, you qaulify as total dumfuck or as a totally inept reader of English as a second, third,..., or 99th language.

As I wrote above, there weren't enough quickslots, idiot, for a high level spellcaster. Now either read before you write or shut up.

 

[easychord]

The NWN2 UI isn't perfect but the quick cast panel is such an obvious improvement that my mind boggles when people say that they prefer the radial menu. Even the quick cast is too clumsy with too many tabs but the radial menu has serious issues with multiple levels of poorly differentiated sub menus. You need to be habituated to it to use it without being frustrated. Mapping spells to toolbar buttons is a chore that leads to other poor UI decisions like having to hold down a key to show another toolbar button. Wizards key ability of memorizing a different set of spells each night became to much of a pain in the arse to use.

 

[Thrasher]

.. more bullshit etc...

NEWSFLASH: You don't need all your spells in quickslots. Why do you need a spell like Idenity in your quick slot? Or Bulls Strength which you should cast prior to battle since it lasts 1 hour per level in NWN1.

NWN's interface sign is awesome, great, and extremely efficient. End of dicussion.

You common sense, moron.

Well if you buff yourself and your companions regualrly and you're an offensive spellcaster, and have weapons, items, and modes assigned to quickslots, there are not enough.

It is EXTREMELY tedious to go through 5-7 clicks for each spell. period. If you can't see that, then you're just a NWN fanboy sticking his head in the sand.

But if you just LOVE that radial interface so much, clicking your way to ecstacy, go fuck yourself, but don't expect others to appreciate your senseless idolization of pretty inefficiency.

 

[Volourn]

You crying again?


"Well if you buff yourself and your companions regualrly and you're an offensive spellcaster, and have weapons, items, and modes assigned to quickslots, there are not enough."

You are posting yourself into a hole. if you are an 'offensive spellcaster' than youa rne't going to do as much buffing right? Only so many slots to goa round lameo. The reverse is true. As a spellcaster how many weapons do you need? LMAO How many items outside of a few select potions are you gonna spam duringa ctual combat.

It should only take 2-3 seconds to do something with the radial menu. How do I know this? Because, I seem to do it just fine during battle and never miss a turn since a round lasts 6 seconds.

You just plain suck, you tool.

Keep whining like you do, and I will be joyous in my obvious superior intellectualness. Moron.

 

[Thrasher]

Wrong again idiot. A high level spellcaster has plenty of spells for both buffing himself and offensive casting. And lots of other items for self buffiing too.

Are you truly this dumb, or just lying about even playing this game to any depth?

More likely just trying to cover your lame ass, which I truly don't care about.

 

[Volourn]

"A high level spellcaster has plenty of spells for both buffing himself and offensive casting."

Define 'plenty'.


"And lots of other items for self buffiing too."

Only monty haul campaigns, and most items in said cmapaigns are useless in any meaningful enocunter anyways so why do you have them in quick slots. It's like putting mage armour in a quick slot. It's fuckin' useless 'cause the chasnces of you using that spell in midst of combat should be ZERO PERCENT.

You, ma'am, are a retard who is illgical and patehtic and slow as a turtle.

'WAAAA! IT TAKES MOI 35 SECONDS TO CLICK FOR SUM SPELLZ BOOO! WAAAAAAAAA!!!"

 

[Thrasher]

Princess, you clearly have not played in high level modules where there were lots of inherited items from previous campaigns, in addtion to lots of spells.

You have no idea what constitutes logic, stength, nor intellilect. Truly pathetic.

 

[Volourn]

That's the best you got? R00fles!

 

[Thrasher]

You're under the false impression that I really care about your immature attitude.

 

[Volourn]

Yet you keep spamming moronicy and responding in the same manner i do. I see you can dish it but can't take it. *shrug*

 

[Thrasher]

Take what? Idiocy from an immature moron? Who cares?