So I just bought Neverwinter Nights 2 Platinum off Steam

[Xor]

Eh, the NWN1 OC is pretty lame. It has some OK points but it's mostly just mediocre. I never finished the 1st expansion but I hear it was similar to the OC in that regard. HotU is good, though; BG2-level good for the most part, although it kind of drags in chapter 3.

The NWN2 OC is a mixed bag. I'd still finish it, though; the trial section is fun and eventually you get a keep to manage which is pretty awesome as well.

 

[Cynic]

Is HotU still single player focused or do you get a party with companions and shit?

 

[Xi]

Ah okay cool, yeah I am not selling shit other than useless 2H swords and junk. All stones and shiny things I am keeping.

Hopefully I can make some kind of lighting infused dagger from the 9th stage of hell soon...

You can enchant items too. It also works in a similar way as crafting, and as far as I know, you can enchant +element damage, etc onto existing weapons for gold. I don't think I'd waste those on the regular stuff, but if you can find a decent, slightly above average item, the enchants can make all the difference.

 

[Cynic]

You can enchant items too. It also works in a similar way as crafting, and as far as I know, you can enchant +element damage, etc onto existing weapons for gold. I don't think I'd waste those on the regular stuff, but if you can find a decent, slightly above average item, the enchants can make all the difference.

Ah right, so crafting is just making stuff, and you find recipes for making magical items, and then, if you like you can further enchant them, or you can enchant normal items.

And you need to be at a smithy to craft things right? And if you want to make something magical...you need to be at an Alchemist's table or something?

 

[Xi]

You can enchant items too. It also works in a similar way as crafting, and as far as I know, you can enchant +element damage, etc onto existing weapons for gold. I don't think I'd waste those on the regular stuff, but if you can find a decent, slightly above average item, the enchants can make all the difference.

Ah right, so crafting is just making stuff, and you find recipes for making magical items, and then, if you like you can further enchant them, or you can enchant normal items.

And you need to be at a smithy to craft things right? And if you want to make something magical...you need to be at an Alchemist's table or something?

Yeah, that's pretty much it. I imagine you could find a list online with all the craftable items so you know what to look for. Still, you'll have to find the in-game recipes first. I always think of crafting like it speeds up the process of gearing. You'll find plenty of comparable items along the way, but you can generally attain the crafted ones faster. Though, it's a mixed bag in some cases.

 

[Cynic]

Cool, good to know. Thanks man. I've got a few recipes already so need to fish through my stuff to see if I can make any cool items.

 

[The Gentleman Loser]

Is HotU still single player focused or do you get a party with companions and shit?

You do get NPC companions with stories and backgrounds of their own, just like in the OC.

EDIT: Forget that last bit I deleted. Misread HtoU as MotB somehow. The above is still true though.

 

[Xor]

Is HotU still single player focused or do you get a party with companions and shit?

Pretty much single player focused. You can have up to two companions, but the entire NWN1 engine doesn't do the companion thing nearly as well as NWN2 does it.

 

[20 Eyes]

NVN1 wasn't special, but I loved Deekin.

 

[Cynic]

Okay cool. So looks like I have my gaming sorted until well...for a long time!

 

[Demnogonis Saastuttaja]

Play the OC, it has got a lot of flaws but it does have some good things in it too. And you get 2 levels more & better starting stuff in MoTB

 

[Cynic]

Yeah I think I'll definitely see it through, quite enjoying it at the moment. I wish my laptop could run it better, for a 2007 game it really, really is heavy.

My specs on the laptop are:

i7 740QM
8GB RAM
ATI Mobility 5750

And I can't run the game on max without severe frame rate drops. Lowering the affinity to 1 core which is not the OS core helps a bit, but not enough!

Not 100% sure on the desktop specs as it's my bro's which he built and which I have stolen while he is working overseas. Muahaha!

 

[Lumpy]

The OC and MotB are great.

Anyone who tells you to skip the OC is a braindead retard. You will never fully appreciate MotB if you don't play the OC, as MotB is a direct continuation of the OC.

No, it's not, for fuck's sake. The story of MotB has nothing to do with the OC whatsoever.

 

[CappenVarra]

Yeah, NWN2 is known for having a very un-optimized engine. But hey, it's Obsidian, what did you expect?

NWN2 is full of flaws, but it has redeeming qualities as well. And compared to DA2 it looks like a great game. What doesn't? :D

NWN2 OC is worth playing once - it's generally tedious but has some neat elements. Just be warned, if you think Neeshka is annoying, wait till you meet Quara. And don't ask too hard why you have to spend 10 hours questing to get a certain locked door to open. And... nevermind, you'll see for yourself I replayed it twice (to check out both good and evil aligned quests and companions), but the second playthrough was definitely not worth it.

MotB is the best non-indie Western storyfag game released in the last X years, and it's often considered "Torment-lite". It's set in Rashamen, so the world is definitely much less cliched than the western part of Forgotten Realms. The best of the lot as a "proper" codexian RPG experience.

SoZ is quite different, more like a "spiritual successor to Icewind Dale" - create your full party, wander around the Realms, follow a loose main quest and look for unrelated mini-adventures on the world map distantly reminiscent of HoMM... :D


NWN1 is different, and the engines are not compatible (so expect crappy 3D graphics from 10 years ago). Before DA2, the NWN1 OC was the worst thing Bioware ever released, now they rank about the same for me. The more of it you skip, the better.

SoU is not as bad, and it's nice to see a proper low-level experience. However, it's really nothing special and I can't imagine why would anyone want to play it more than once.

HotU is a good dungeon-crawling epic level romp, even if the munchkinism gets ridiculous at times. As other people have recommended it before, I won't go into details


As for user-made modules, the NWNVault Hall of Fame is a good starting point for both NWN1 and NWN2 modules, and there's some great stuff there.

 

[Lyric Suite]

NWN2 is a mix between Baldur's Gate and KoTOR. Its uncanny how close to Bioware style they got, which is bad, but not Dragon Age bad. If you liked Baldur's Gate at all you'll probably like this game.

And then of course, Mask of Betrayer was excellent.

 

[Konjad]

Try NWN2 if it bores you go straight to Mask of the Betrayer and later to Mysteries of Westgate. After MoW you may try SoZ but remember that it's SOZZY!

 

[Roguey]

I decided to give the NWN2 OC another chance last week (after one abandoned attempt years ago) and I made it to the orc caves before I remembered why I dropped it in the first place. It's shit. And if you enjoy it, I look down on you for your shit tastes. It's a horrible, horrible hack and slash with idiot companions and nothing more. Despite Volly's claims, even SoZ is better. I agree with the fellow who wrote this:

Bioware's younger brother kinda saved the year with Neverwinter Nights 2, which could be described as Baldur's Gate 2 meets Icewind Dale 2, which is great, because these are my favourite games. From Baldur's Gate we've got the epic story reflecting the choiceless life of the Chosen One, and from Icewind Dale 2 we've got endless waves of enemies and more combat than in Halo, which is another of my favourite games, so I'm pretty sure we are dealing with an instant classic and a game of the year material here. Any game that features a githyanki proctologist

Spoiler

who will remove a two handed sword that got stuck in your ass during a questionable anal game when you were a child

has gotta be good. Don't worry about getting lost in the game though, it's one of the most linear games I've ever seen, and even individual maps feature super linear maze-like designs, firmly leading you in circles to your destinations through waves of unavoidable enemies. Every now and then you are given a dialogue option that can help you avoid 5% of combat in an area, to remind you that it's not a Diablo clone, but a fully blown role-playing game.

 

[J_C]

I decided to give the NWN2 OC It's shit. And if you enjoy it, I look down on you for your shit tastes.

Fortunately we don't give a shit.

 

[Cynic]

Had to stop outside the Lizardfolk cave. Just had the first interesting fight with a Dark Priest in the Highcliff Ruins. I guess I could have cheaped him with Fireball. That spell is way too overpowered in this game. Might switch to the highest difficulty.

Look I don't think it's some miracle of gaming, but it has enough nice stuff in it to keep me going.

 

[Marquess Cornwallis]

I'm playing Mask of the Betrayer right now after finally giving up on the NWN2 original campaign. So far (a few hours in) it plays like a really good, atmospheric adventure game that someone for some unfathomable reason decided to ruin with tiresome epic-level D&D antics. NWN2 combat wasn't exactly fun, but this is tear-inducing.

 

[The Gentleman Loser]

Oh god... Quara. Forgot about her.

She has this annoying 10-15 word battle cry that she will use OVER, AND OVER, AND OVER... even when it makes no sense in context. It's like she wants to remind you of her backstory at the start of every fight, so she reads a page of her journal.

Also, on Nesshka... Every time I heard "Hells, hells, hells. Was that all right?" I wanted an option to strangle her to death with her own tail.

 

[Cynic]

Btw CappenVarra thanks for your reply. I was looking at some clips of NWN1 on YouTube and graphics looked quite similar but are they worse?

Yeah Neeshka is fucked. Isn't there another rogue I can get? And since I'm evil I'm wondering where all the evil party members are. One thing I will always remember well about BG2 is being able to play a fully evil party who were kickass, Edwin, Korgan, Viconia..they were cool evil characters.

 

[Gord]

The OC and MotB are great.

Anyone who tells you to skip the OC is a braindead retard. You will never fully appreciate MotB if you don't play the OC, as MotB is a direct continuation of the OC.

No, it's not, for fuck's sake. The story of MotB has nothing to do with the OC whatsoever.

Is too!

Well, you don't need to play it to understand what's going on in MotB, but there are a couple of hints and references to the OC.
Anyway I think it's at least worth a try, OC is not that bad (much better than NWN1 in that regard).

NWN1 graphics are ok-ish, but I always found that the older 2D IE games looked better than NWN1.
Also NWN 1 art direction is mostly horrible, IMHO.

Should you decide to play it you can safely skip the OC there and go for the expansions (I even liked SoU, not exactly great but somehow nice atmosphere) or some of the excellent mods out there.

 

[catfood]

Oh god... Quara. Forgot about her.

She has this annoying 10-15 word battle cry that she will use OVER, AND OVER, AND OVER... even when it makes no sense in context. It's like she wants to remind you of her backstory at the start of every fight, so she reads a page of her journal.

Yeah, but you gotta admit she could really mow down those mobs with maximized fireballs. She made some of the end game battles bearable.

 

[The Gentleman Loser]

Btw CappenVarra thanks for your reply. I was looking at some clips of NWN1 on YouTube and graphics looked quite similar but are they worse?

Yeah Neeshka is fucked. Isn't there another rogue I can get? And since I'm evil I'm wondering where all the evil party members are. One thing I will always remember well about BG2 is being able to play a fully evil party who were kickass, Edwin, Korgan, Viconia..they were cool evil characters.

I started out as a wizard and ended up becoming an Arcane Trickster (Wizard/Rogue Hybrid) just to have the skills to replace her myself. I can't remember if there is another rogue NPC.

Yeah, but you gotta admit she could really mow down those mobs with maximized fireballs. She made some of the end game battles bearable.

In a small way that made it worse... if she was just useless I could ditch her, but I did want that firepower.

So I had to hear, "You know-nothing, academy-living, cantrip-casting sop!" more times that I wanted to.

There's an unwritten rule about battlecries: Three words or less.

 

[Data4]

I really need to check out the expansions. I played the OC until the stronghold and got bored. Also: Orc caves. 'nuff said. I never did get Mask or Storm or any of the other expacks.