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Neverwinter Nights 2 : The Underrated Gem

NWN2 vs other RPGs

  • NWN2 is God

    Votes: 3 3.5%
  • NWNw2 is underrated

    Votes: 27 31.4%
  • NWN2 has bad camera

    Votes: 46 53.5%
  • BG2 is my god and iam a fag

    Votes: 4 4.7%
  • I am a punk who hates NWN2 because i lack any real brain

    Votes: 6 7.0%

  • Total voters
    86

Abhay Saini

Novice
Joined
Feb 19, 2020
Messages
9
I played this game after playing Icewind Dale I&2, Baldur's Gate 1&2, Dragon Age Origins.
And to my surprise, i found this game, despite its clunkiness and bad camera, to be full of a rich, lively atmosphere, brilliant High fantasy setting interspersed by demonic lore of D&D and having the awesme D&D 3rd Edition ruleset.

The Omnious King of the Shadows, the Great War, the references to gith and devourers make for an interesting backstory. The uneasiness amongst the wild animals, nature and the goblinoid tribes also point to a general agitation.

The Beginning of the Game, the quaint town of West Harbor, with its brilliant colors, simple and cool friends, interesting NPC villagers and the fair with its games could possibly be one of the best introductions to an unexplored word. The dialogues are very natural, the sports are fun and the environment is also pretty colorful. +1

The Githyanki attack seems a bit out of the way because Dark Dwarves and Gith are supposed to be tough motherfuckers and not pathetic underlings meant to be disposed off by meager peasants, a deer hunter and a parlor trickster. -1

The path to Neverwinter is one of the best "anticipatory beginnings of a great journey". The omnious warnings to stick to the road, the quaint, lonely inn at the edge of the swamp, the mysterious crypts and caves in the jungles and swamp, the haunting art of the crypts all make for a great buildup.

Fort Locke, was like an American frontier settlement in the Wild West, meant to uphold the law of the land. Small but compact.

The city itself is a mammoth, of which we can initially explore only the fringes. The city is massive, detailed and has many quaint incidents like the finding of the wolf, the great arrival of the Luskan ships and the gradual ascent in altitude.

Later on, Ammon Jerro's Haven was a great introduction to the Demoni lore, with scintillating beasts leering at the puny humans.

Old Owl Well has a very omnious and quaint name with memories of apocalyptic zombie hordes, and the desert terrain really lives up to its name. Tracking the beasts in their rocky hideouts, is a grand game, with trolls and bugbears to spice up the fights.

The Keep was well done as well as we have to spend our money judciciously and on the proper things else, things might go awry. (scouting the roads to keep travellers safe, protecting merchants, improving infrastructure and in general playing the good guy, is very satisfying)

And comparing all this to the shabby Athkatla, dreary landscape of BG1, "trying to be God cliched villain" Irenicus, people abuse NWN2 so much. I feel like smashing their nerdy faces to bits.
 

DavidBVal

4 Dimension Games
Patron
Developer
Joined
Aug 27, 2015
Messages
2,994
Location
Madrid
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Pathfinder: Wrath
NWN2 had good expansions and had some great community content and persistent multiplayer servers.

The Crossroads keep was ok.

That's about it.
 

Abhay Saini

Novice
Joined
Feb 19, 2020
Messages
9
I never could quite enjoy Baldur's Gate 2, primarily because of :-
1. Athkatla :- This city was dreary as hell. With dull shades of browns and greys, and square houses, it looked like a true slum than a fantasy slum.
2. Hype :- People praise it so much but it fell flat.
3. Excessive Epicness of lore :- Normally, in a story or game, the simple characters/places come first and the divine/demonic level godly "items monsters and magic" come later. In BG2, we are introduced to Djinns, Golems and Beholders from the very start. Liches are as common as goblins. And strangely, we don't have powerful goblins or orcs, which are the staple diet of every fantasy. A dish with only toppings and no base is no dish.
4. Villains :- Irenicus is introduced from the very start. That takes away the charm of finding the villain. Compare for eg, NWN2, where the King of the Shadows, though referenced from the beginning, is not clearly described until the very end. Also, in IWD, the Mighty Belhifet, is given vague references to but described at the end.
5. Voice Acting :- BG2's voice acting seems dull and flat. Icewind Dale at least, feels epic. Brother Everard, Hrothgar, Belhifet, Yuxonemi and other foes of IWD seem much more epic than Anomen, Irenicus, Keldorn, Bodhi etc.
6. Unconventional Fantasy :- Although it describes itself as High Fantasy, it doesn't give that feeling. High Fantasy or Tolkinesque Fantasy is much different from BG2. It more northern european, has bright vivid art, epic dialogue. BG2 has a mixture of renaissance southern european, north african and baghdadian cultures, which just seems a mishmash.
7. Companion Hype :- I find the companions in BG2 utterly boring, with few exceptions. Anomen is a whining pussy, Jan is an annoying gnome, Minsc is an irritating simpleton etc. Dragon Age Origins has much more fleshed out characters and their voice acting, art etc is just in a different league. NWN2 companions are also nothing special but they at least are conventional. BG2 aren't even conventional. They are just a weird mix who somehow got popular because the game itself was one of the earliest.
 
Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
Yes. NWN2 is pretty gud. I have very fond memories of it, played it twice and been kinda wanting to run through it a third time, do OC, MotB and Zehir, give myself the excuse of completing the story in order to finally finish Storm of Sozzy.

<3 Neeshka!

neeshka_in_the_lower_planes_by_vanefox_d5kljpn-pre.jpg


nwn2main%2B2011-08-12%2Bneeshka.jpg


tumblr_myvngqOABB1t4tltzo1_640.jpg
 

Elex

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 17, 2017
Messages
2,043
If i remember about NWN 2 OC i always have to think how it just drags on and on and on.

And suddenly you have a base that you can manage.
And suddenly there are big battles where you have to decide what troops you take with you.
And suddenly Neeshka - NEESH - KA

And suddenly and suddenly and on and on and on...
Zzzzzz...
And suddenly mask start.
 

BarbequeMasta

Learned
Joined
Mar 6, 2020
Messages
511
I never played much of it purely due to camera, I enjoyed the other aspects of what I played(more than the first one even) but the camera was borderline unplayable from what I remember.
 
Unwanted

Sweeper

Unwanted
Zionist Agent
Joined
Jul 28, 2018
Messages
2,394
Based and redpilled.
People talk about content and companions and story and shit in BG2 and how the camera is awful in NWN2 and the horrible 3D engine.
All fair points. But ultimately meaningless. What matters? The ruleset.
3.5 >>>>>>>>>>>>> AD&D 2.0
This alone makes NWN2 the superior game.
Accept it, and move on with your lives.
 

Chippy

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 5, 2018
Messages
6,037
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I wasn't that bad. It was my first introduction to the Warlock class, and if they hadn't let Sawyer balance it (citation needed) it could have been much better with that class working well.
 

Kainan

Learned
Joined
Jul 24, 2020
Messages
191
NWN 1 main campaign is kind of underrated and has cool atmosphere gfx. NWN2 however is just horrible and i felt embarrassed while playing and didnt want anyone to see me playing it.
 

DalekFlay

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Oct 5, 2010
Messages
14,118
Location
New Vegas
I never finished. I tell myself one day I will. I remember I took a break because I found the story rather boring which hurt my motivation, and by the time I picked it up again Mask of the Betrayer was out and I just went with that.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
One of Obshitstain's better efforts, to be sure.

Definitely not as bad as Poncefinder: Cuckmaker and Lariantardation.
 

Eastwood

Educated
Joined
Jun 21, 2020
Messages
78
I have mixed feelings about NWN2. It had great expansions, but the OC was one of the most boring campaigns I've ever played.
Its only saving grace were the trial and crossroad keep.
Overall I'd say it was ok, but I would not want to replay it.
 

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