So it has been three years of Neverwinter Nights 2...

[ghostdog]

The only good thing that came out of NWN2 is MOTB. Too bad they gimped their best game by using the horrible NWN2 engine and making it an expansion with epic-and-boring-like-hell levels .

 

[circ]

Well I just tried Drakensang, and wow. It's just about everything NWN 2 could have been. Someone understands how to use bloom. Someone also understands how to make good character models and graphics in general. And combat, oh, how sad it looks in NWN. Not impressed by the lack of a mini map and weird control scheme and camera. But hey, it's nice to see an amazon not have the same body structure as a mage, and with textures that weren't done by the visually impaired. Unlike NWN 2, which has everyone use the same model, that looks like crap. Voice acting is also better, not to mention the goddamn fonts. Nice.

 

[Jaesun]

 

[doctor_kaz]

NWN2's problems were mostly legacy issues carried over from NWN. NWN was the shit game, not NWN2. The total party control was a huge, huge improvement for NWN2, even though they fucked up some of the controls and interface in the implementation. The NWN OC was fucking terrible. It was ugly as hell, reptitive. Basically it was Diablo with D&D rules. The spellcaster NPC's that could join you were totally useless since their AI was terrible and they would do retarded shit like get themselves killed by constantly trying to cast spells in melee and provoking a bunch of attacks of opportunity.

 

[Phelot]

3. What unused or barely used D&D setting would be ideal for a Neverwinter Nights 2 campaign?

I want Ravenloft.

 

[buccaroobonzai]

3. What unused or barely used D&D setting would be ideal for a Neverwinter Nights 2 campaign?

I want Ravenloft.

Yeah definitely, if you want to try them, there are between 5-6 ravenloft mods for NWN1, 1 finished and 2-3 being worked on for NWN2.

I am running a Raveloft PnP campaign, it is a great setting.

 

[Shannow]

NWN2's problems were mostly legacy issues carried over from NWN. NWN was the shit game, not NWN2. The total party control was a huge, huge improvement for NWN2, even though they fucked up some of the controls and interface in the implementation. The NWN OC was fucking terrible. It was ugly as hell, reptitive. Basically it was Diablo with D&D rules. The spellcaster NPC's that could join you were totally useless since their AI was terrible and they would do retarded shit like get themselves killed by constantly trying to cast spells in melee and provoking a bunch of attacks of opportunity.

You're mixing up story and gameplay. I don't remember anyone in the thread claiming NWN OC had the better story/plot. So that point is pretty much a strawman. And yes, NWN was ugly whereas NWN2 ist ok, graphicwise. But personally, I rate performance and ease of use much higher than graphics. NWN2 performed like a piece of crap on a higher end system and the UI and camera are simply terrible. Whereas NWN performed ok on a then mid range system (and performs fantastically on current systems) and the camera only had to be handled once in a while. The UI didn't have the nice Fast Cast and Abilities slots but at least it didn't react laggy/sluggishly. Party is great in D&D games, if the rest of the gameplay can keep up. And plainly, in NWN2 it can't, IMHO. No TB is bad, no auto-pause is worse and coupled with the UI and camera problems it just sucks elephant balls.
I'm not gonna defend NWN1's henchmen but the game was easy enough to finish without them... (Not that that really is a plus)

As for favourite builds: I usually go with "boring" fighter builds so when I played Monk/Druid/Shifter on my last replay of SoU, HotU and the Adam Smith modules that was really a fun change. Of course, shapeshifting is handled badly in NWN and all the überloot prevented the build from outshining my previous fighter builds (because MDS through self-reliance shines in low loot campaigns and only gets seriously powerful around level 30 in Bioware games which I didn't reach by the end of HotU). But since NWN2 introduced the most boring class, warlock, and got rid of the fun shifter and nerfed monks and handles shapeshifting even worse than NWN1 I was back to boring 2Rogue/1Cleric/fighter/dwarven defender builds.

 

[quasimodo]

If someone could replace the RTwP mess with ToEE combat there would be something worth getting excited about. As it is MotB is the only thing here worth playing and it is certainly not for the combat.

 

[PrzeSzkoda]

1. What is your absolute favourite build for Neverwinter Nights 2?

2. What are your three most favourite community modules/campaigns for Neverwinter Nights 2?

3. What unused or barely used D&D setting would be ideal for a Neverwinter Nights 2 campaign?

4. Who was the coolest NPC in the official campaigns of Neverwinter Nights 2?

5. What was the single most awesome fight in all of the official campaigns of Neverwinter Nights 2?

1. Wizard 10/Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep 10/Red Wizard of Thay 10. Specialization: either Necromancy or Evocation. Race: Human (required for Red Wizard anyway). I can kick your ass whilst wearing only underwear. I also fancy Rogue/Duelist/Swashbuckler types of dudes, although the wizord's better, and mebbe even Rogue/Shadowdancer/Duelist (was great in Chronicles of Conan).

2. The Chronicles of Conan, especially the 2nd part.

3. Whatever.

4. One of Many, Araman, Myrkul, Safiya (from MotB), Sand from the OC. There isn't really anyone memorable in SoZ (except for One of Many of course).

5. Goiing low-level with just Safiya with me to beat the Tellflammar thieves, the Mask-worshipping dudes, in Shadow Mulsantir. Goddamnit, that Priest of Mask was one annyoing motherfucker.

 

[dolio]

Pool of Radiance Remastered

So, I just completed the above, and I want to say I enjoyed it, but I think it easily generated more frustration than any other NWN(2) module I've played.

The combat was difficult enough to make me reload a fair amount, which completely sucks when the module takes like 3 - 5 minutes to load. I appreciate having to manage my party to win battles, but having to fight with the engine in that regard and having to sit around twiddling my thumbs when I inevitably lose that battle from time to time gets old very fast (and then continues being old for the next dozen hours). Not to mention that the (2nd and 3rd chapter at least) modules seem to crash on reload about 50% of the time (which isn't something I've typically had problems with).

I also ran into a fair number of bugs-in-the-module. I delayed doing a certain quest because I thought I'd get some admantine weapons I needed for it (which I discovered failing to do it the first time) elsewhere. But when that didn't happen after a while, I went back to and completed it, but it transported me back to an earlier state in the module that broke any chance of completing the main quest (so, that's 20 minutes gone). There's also a quest where I'm supposed to have a disguise, which may have once worked, but doesn't seem to anymore, which was good for 5 - 10 reloads trying to figure out how I was supposed to use the disguise.

The final boss is completely screwed, too. I fought it twice, getting completely annihilated, before I started paying close attention to the message window. Then I noticed that my sneak attacking character was generating messages like:

Tyranthraxus: Damage Reduction absorbs 47 damage

So I popped open the toolset and saw that the boss had damage reduction:

15/+3
80/fire
80/electricity

Which means it will absorb 80 physical damage that can only be pierced by the weapon being both flaming and shocking (maybe; I don't think those are even available 3.5 style damage reductions. In any case, it certainly doesn't mean that he absorbs 80 fire damage and 80 electricity damage like I suspect the author wanted). So he's essentially immune to physical weapons (including the specialized dragon-slaying sword in there, as far as the 10th level characters there are concerned; I didn't have a frenzied berserker there to critical hit him with a scythe), and the only way I could see beating him legitimately (I just turned on god mode) would be to take the advice of the creator to the question and "switch to your best mage and ... let her cast missile spells". But I'd kind of like to be able to beat the boss without spamming the most broken spell in the game.

I suppose it's to the module's credit that I ended up finishing it in spite of all the above (or perhaps I'm just a masochist), but it could have been much better if it didn't have to overcome all the problems.

 

[bhlaab]

No game has done more for the computer roleplaying genre in the past five years than Neverwinter Nights 2.

If that isn't a condemnation of a genre...

 

[Freelance Henchman]

So I popped open the toolset and saw that the boss had damage reduction:

15/+3
80/fire
80/electricity

That means the boss has 15 points of physical damage resistance that can be pierced by a at least +3 weapon, and he will ignore the first 80 points of any fire and electricity damage.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

But I ramble. For all you glorious Neverwinter Nights 2 fans - Jaesun, Hummelgumpf, Vaarna Aarne, Dark Individual, and others - alike, I have questions to ask!

1. What is your absolute favourite build for Neverwinter Nights 2?

2. What are your three most favourite community modules/campaigns for Neverwinter Nights 2?

3. What unused or barely used D&D setting would be ideal for a Neverwinter Nights 2 campaign?

4. Who was the coolest NPC in the official campaigns of Neverwinter Nights 2?

5. What was the single most awesome fight in all of the official campaigns of Neverwinter Nights 2?

1) Yuanti Ranger 1/ Blackguard 3/ Sorcerer 26
You can add EK or ASoC levels, you'll miss out on 2 epic feats, but it might be worth it (especially ASoC, EK makes only sense in the official campaigns where enemy AC is low, in PvP you won't hit anything with your low BAB anyway).
Final AC with MotB-style equipment and Divine Shield was around 80. You pwn them all (unless you face a Favored Soul, now it gets tricky, because she has more Mantles than you'll have Breaches... you have to hope to get a Forceful Hand in somehow). So for anything that is not a Sorcerer or Favored Soul: Breach/Forceful Hand/Avasculate/Avasculate/PW Kill, see you next time... all the while you enjoy you AC 80 mirror-imaged and displaced.
Yeah it was a fun character to play in MotB, devouring its maxed-craving way through Rashemen...

2) I did not play many, but among those I played Subtlety of Thay was good (chapter 1 and 2, with 2 clearly better than 1), alas Chapter 3 doesn't seem to be released soon, or at all.

3) Lantan (gnome technology) ?

4) the MotB ones were good, OoM gets the top spot

5) Alas there were no memorable and awesome fights in the official campaigns.
But SoZ- although it was a bit too sozzy for my taste - had some fights where at least it seemed as the enemies would actually try it. Example: The Thay Hut, there was a Red Wizard who did indeed cast Forceful Hand on my Sorc. See? As if they would actually do something that makes sense. Of course there is more to it than to cast a single useful spell... I also liked the way they used the Difficulty slider in SoZ Endfight. Not just 200% damage, but the Herald did actually get some significant advantages. I wish they would use this more. Of course it didn't help much... this fight was still a cakewalk, but you had to keep some things in mind. Alas they also introduced Potions of Mirror Image/Displacement and the like, to ensure that even the crappiest approach to the fight will succeed. They don't want to alienate their customers after all...

 

[dolio]

So I popped open the toolset and saw that the boss had damage reduction:

15/+3
80/fire
80/electricity

That means the boss has 15 points of physical damage resistance that can be pierced by a at least +3 weapon, and he will ignore the first 80 points of any fire and electricity damage.

That isn't how it's working. Those are all in the damage reductions section of the creature, where you put the physical damage reductions, and the "fire" and "electricity" are the values in the "pierce" entry of the corresponding reduction.

It's easy to see in-game, too. Here is a screenshot of the god-mode character, consoled up to 50 strength, improved power attacking with the dragonslayer longsword wielded two-handed. Normally he doesn't do any physical damage even then, but that time he scored a critical hit. The damage reduction absorbed 80, and left him with 34 physical. Without the cheated strength, all he ever does, even on criticals, is the d8 magical vs. dragons, since the maximum physical he can cause is:

(8 (longsword) + 5 (enhancement) + 7 (strength) + 3 (2-handed strength) + 12 (power attack) + 2 (weapon specialization))*2 = 74

Unless I'm forgetting something.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

That isn't how it's working. Those are all in the damage reductions section of the creature, where you put the physical damage reductions, and the "fire" and "electricity" are the values in the "pierce" entry of the corresponding reduction.

It's easy to see in-game, too. Here is a screenshot of the god-mode character, consoled up to 50 strength, improved power attacking with the dragonslayer longsword wielded two-handed. Normally he doesn't do any physical damage even then, but that time he scored a critical hit. The damage reduction absorbed 80, and left him with 34 physical. Without the cheated strength, all he ever does, even on criticals, is the d8 magical vs. dragons, since the maximum physical he can cause is:

(8 (longsword) + 5 (enhancement) + 7 (strength) + 3 (2-handed strength) + 12 (power attack) + 2 (weapon specialization))*2 = 74

Unless I'm forgetting something.

Okay, I see what you mean. That's really weird then, no idea what the designer was thinking here. Unless he really wanted 80/fire etc. reduction as in "resists fire damage" and erroneously put those here.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

So I popped open the toolset and saw that the boss had damage reduction:

15/+3
80/fire
80/electricity

That means the boss has 15 points of physical damage resistance that can be pierced by a at least +3 weapon, and he will ignore the first 80 points of any fire and electricity damage.

That isn't how it's working. Those are all in the damage reductions section of the creature, where you put the physical damage reductions, and the "fire" and "electricity" are the values in the "pierce" entry of the corresponding reduction.

It's easy to see in-game, too. Here is a screenshot of the god-mode character, consoled up to 50 strength, improved power attacking with the dragonslayer longsword wielded two-handed. Normally he doesn't do any physical damage even then, but that time he scored a critical hit. The damage reduction absorbed 80, and left him with 34 physical. Without the cheated strength, all he ever does, even on criticals, is the d8 magical vs. dragons, since the maximum physical he can cause is:

(8 (longsword) + 5 (enhancement) + 7 (strength) + 3 (2-handed strength) + 12 (power attack) + 2 (weapon specialization))*2 = 74

Unless I'm forgetting something.

That seems ridiculous, it propably a bug. At what level is your party? Maybe you can kill the dragon with magic...

 

[dolio]

That seems ridiculous, it propably a bug. At what level is your party? Maybe you can kill the dragon with magic...

They were all 10th level. I did one try where I loaded up on Isaac's lesser missile storm, and got him to around 1/4 health before running out of steam. I might have been able to squeak by using the acid bolt reserve feat I had to whittle the rest off before he destroyed my party, but I didn't feel like repeatedly reloading until I got lucky enough for that to happen.

If I'd bumped the wizard up another level, I could have gotten greater missile storm which would probably have let me win, but that spell is so good (against single bosses; even if it's capped at 10 missiles, at that level it does comparable damage to disintegrate, except it auto-hits and has no save) it's basically cheating.

Besides, how am I supposed to be the hero of Phlan if I just stand there taking hits long enough for the wizard to destroy everything?

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

They were all 10th level. I did one try where I loaded up on Isaac's lesser missile storm, and got him to around 1/4 health before running out of steam. I might have been able to squeak by using the acid bolt reserve feat I had to whittle the rest off before he destroyed my party, but I didn't feel like repeatedly reloading until I got lucky enough for that to happen.

If I'd bumped the wizard up another level, I could have gotten greater missile storm which would probably have let me win, but that spell is so good (against single bosses; even if it's capped at 10 missiles, at that level it does comparable damage to disintegrate, except it auto-hits and has no save) it's basically cheating.

Well at level 10 it's tricky. The only things that come to my mind are:

Wizard:
-several Rays of Enfeeblement (stacks and if the Dragon has low STR he's not that fearsome in Melee anymore..)
-several Enervations , after loosing levels and thus having lower saves he might be ready for:

Cleric:
- Slay Living (maybe you need Assay Resistance too)

Of course 1 more level and things are getting easier, Harm/IGMS/Disintegrate...

Besides, how am I supposed to be the hero of Phlan if I just stand there taking hits long enough for the wizard to destroy everything?

That's what fighters do tbh.

 

[dolio]

Wizard:
-several Rays of Enfeeblement (stacks and if the Dragon has low STR he's not that fearsome in Melee anymore..)
-several Enervations , after loosing levels and thus having lower saves he might be ready for:

Cleric:
- Slay Living (maybe you need Assay Resistance too)

Yeah, I didn't actually have those spells. Enervation is my fault; I didn't pick it at level up, but I wasn't expecting it to be the only way to (maybe) win. And I must not have seen either of those wizard scrolls, because I probably would have jumped on them.

The cleric they gave me (I didn't have the opportunity to choose any of his levels) was actually a Cleric 7/Paladin 3, so no slay living.

Anyhow, my original point was that was that the boss was bugged in such a way that it crippled most of the party, making the fight overly difficult, and that was one of a few bugs that tarnished an otherwise decent module.


Going back to some of the original topic, I I'll agree that the Conan chronicles were good (although I thought part 3 was fairly lacking). It simply had some nice ideas implemented that I hadn't seen done well in NWN(2). For instance, when you break into a castle to save someone, you can try to disguise yourself as a slave or a guard. However, just getting the right clothes doesn't mean you automatically succeed at that like you see in a lot of games/modules. Rather, you have to pass bluff checks whenever a guard sees you, or he'll notice, and attack you. My thief was able to accomplish that, but when I tried a barbarian, I had to kill guards instead. Those sorts of touches are nice.

Harp and Chrysanthemum also had a lot going for it. One detail I liked was that the vendor who sold magical weapons got his stock by trading with adventurers, so all his items were custom, and had a back story. He didn't sell anything named "Studded Leather +1" for instance, even if that's what the actual stats were (I don't think any other items in the module had generic names like that, either). And, of course, the rest of the module was of similar quality (although the final boss of that was pretty ridiculous, as well, unless you used a certain spell that made the fight trivial).

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

I'm going to try these modules.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

That has to be a either a bug or a design mistake. You should post a bug report on nwvault in the module's page.

 

[poocolator]

It's been three years and I still haven't bonked Neeshka