Review 1UP insists that NWN2 is crap

[Trash]

Somehow I'm kinda glad my current rig isn't up to the new games I really want to play. By the time I might have a new one medieval 2, nwn 2 and gothic 3 will probably run a lot smoother.


PS Shit, kinda sad to see that all the games that seem worthwhile are sequels. The industry for pc games really has gone rather stale. Oh well, gears of war will be available this weekend in the Netherlands, and that bad puppy I'm sure to pick up.

 

[bylam]

Gaming journalism is in shambles.

I remember when POR2 came out and some reviewer managed to lose some files from his windows config and then formatted his hard disk and then released a review that said "OMG POR2 erased my hard disk".

You cannot trust anybody but yourself when it comes to games.

 

[Jim Kata]

What baffles me is the fact that he highly praises much of the game, then knocks off 40% (apparently) for technical problems. Some of those are pretty big, sure, and I've been pretty frustrated as well - but 40% of the total grade? And he didn't even bother to review the toolset, despite billing it as possibly the most important element of the original NWN.

Gosh.

Well, if the interface and such are shit, what's the point of a toolset?

 

[The_Pope]

I agree with the reviews. The game would have been so much better if it dropped DnD entirely and used an intuitive and realistic system (Special, GURPS, WHFRP etc) as well as a gamworld thats more than just a big pile of cliches. It also would have been much better if it actually worked - the quest bugs and performance are terrible. Still, it does have pretty good writing and characters, so it isn't all bad news.

 

[Elwro]

You mean WHFRP become realistic in the new edition? I'm a huge fan of the "old" WHFRP, but I would never call it "realistic".

 

[TheGreatGodPan]

The review could be better, but it is a review of NWN2 rather than D&D this time at least.

 

[The_Pope]

The new one is reasonable as RPGs go. Hit point growth is very limited, characters can't take on huge numbers of enemies (even weak ones), big monsters like dragons will crush individual heroes and magic is rare enough to still be magical. It's still fantasy, but at least it's not whimsical idiocy like DnD. The main thing that makes it stand out is the careers system, which makes characters seem a lot more like people rather than the usual RPG walking spreadsheets.

 

[Voss]

You mean WHFRP become realistic in the new edition? I'm a huge fan of the "old" WHFRP, but I would never call it "realistic".

He may be implying that, but it isn't. (Of course, neither is GURPS or SPECIAL, but hey... 0 out of 3 is par for the course for most people these days). Its a slightly streamlined version of the old system, with updated background. (And I mean updated in the GW sense of the term- some interesting background got cut).

It isn't bad, the magic system is interesting (and rather dangerous, to the caster and anyone around him), but the core of the rules is the old version. The price, however, is absolutely ridiculous, since you're getting far less than the old tome.


As for NWN2, I've pretty much put it aside until I feel like dealing with the performance issues. My first battle involving semi-serious spellcasting put me off, as the whole thing ground to a crawl. I was left with the overwhelming impression that the gameplay was a clear second to the graphics... and not being at or beyond the recommended level, the performance was going to be increasingly sucky.


As for 1UP- bad computer gaming journalism? Quick, someone tell the early 90s!

 

[The_Pope]

RPGs are unrealistic by definition. If you weren't a retarded pedant, you'd look at the systems I mentioned with regards the standards of the genre (bkini clad elves with billions of hit points using daul greataxes). By those standards, they are realistic.

 

[kris]

RPGs are unrealistic by definition. If you weren't a retarded pedant, you'd look at the systems I mentioned with regards the standards of the genre (bkini clad elves with billions of hit points using daul greataxes). By those standards, they are realistic.

Which RPG can I use that?

 

[The_Pope]

DnD, for one. The monkeygrip feat allows it. As far as crpgs are concerned, pretty much every action rpg or mmo.

 

[aboyd]

I have a lot of other problems with NWN2 that completely overshadows those above, mainly the boring, easy-as-hell combat and the many battle-your-way-from-one-end-of-the-area-to-the-other kind of quests.

The combat is easy for you? Did you leave the default on "normal?" Try this: switch it to hard level (standard D&D, where friendly fire is a possible danger), leave the AI on, then take on the sorceress girl. Make sure you have her piss off her classmates. When you're mobbed by 15 spellcasters, and our little NPC girl wants to light 'em up with a few fireballs, that can make things less than easy.

(By the way, is it a bug that I cannot prevent her from taking fireball? I was able to swap out a couple other spells she was using, but when I try to remove fireball, the interface just won't react.)

 

[Volourn]

The game is easy. On hardcore. Playing with AI doesn't make it harder; just stupider.

As for the class of 15. Big whoop. I controlled her in that battle, casted 2 fireballs during that on tgop of us all.. The enemies all died, we wer einjured but we all laughed it off including her despite being a sorc.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

[MountainWest]

I have a lot of other problems with NWN2 that completely overshadows those above, mainly the boring, easy-as-hell combat and the many battle-your-way-from-one-end-of-the-area-to-the-other kind of quests.

The combat is easy for you? Did you leave the default on "normal?" Try this: switch it to hard level (standard D&D, where friendly fire is a possible danger), leave the AI on, then take on the sorceress girl. Make sure you have her piss off her classmates. When you're mobbed by 15 spellcasters, and our little NPC girl wants to light 'em up with a few fireballs, that can make things less than easy.

(By the way, is it a bug that I cannot prevent her from taking fireball? I was able to swap out a couple other spells she was using, but when I try to remove fireball, the interface just won't react.)

Hardcore. Using puppet mode. That swarm of spellcasters was one of the harder battles, I was at the brink of death, but still... I won it at my first attempt, go figure. Has anyone actually died in that battle? Didn't it get interrupted by one of the "mean girls" father? I remember wondering if it was a scripted win.

 

[Pegultagol]

NWN did not like ATi cards, which is a long time ago from my experience, since the Aurora engine is Opengl based and Nvidia cards post overall better results with that format of API.

Seems the technicalities of the game contributed disproportionately to the score. I think there is not much to understand this review based on anything else, particularly it could be seen as arbitrary in his position to change the score when the editor already claimed support for the previous reviewer (thus implicitly his verdict) and that the review could have simply been phrased differently. I just consider this as one of the many opinions that I would base my purchasing of the game. I frankly would value opinions of Codexers here more than any collection of reviews that is around the web.

 

[kris]

Hardcore. Using puppet mode. That swarm of spellcasters was one of the harder battles, I was at the brink of death, but still... I won it at my first attempt, go figure. Has anyone actually died in that battle? Didn't it get interrupted by one of the "mean girls" father? I remember wondering if it was a scripted win.

I found that one to be a increidble breeze of a battle. My monk just annhilated them, that their spells kill their own also didn't help them :D

Otherwise, letting the AI loose on the game is if anything the thing tha increases difficult rating.

 

[sabishii]

I find it funny that he says the game "increased the first game's one-companion limit up to four" when it is five later on for a noticeable amount of time. Guess someone didn't finish the game.

 

[SpFiota]

I don't think hardcore mode is hard, just annoying. You have to set all your guys to puppet mode, otherwise they'll charge into your fireballs like the brainless ass spelunkers they are. Puppet mode would be fine, except those morons at Obsidian crafted a horrible UI that is incredibly annoying thanks to the fact that you can neither select characters by clicking them or by dragging a box around them. Great job! Way to take a leap back from Baldur's fucking Gate!

 

[suibhne]

Puppet mode would be fine, except those morons at Obsidian crafted a horrible UI that is incredibly annoying thanks to the fact that you can neither select characters by clicking them or by dragging a box around them.

Wrong. You can select characters by clicking them; you apparently just need to read the manual first (or check out the game preferences ).

In general, tho, I agree. It's ridiculous that you can't click-drag as in BG, and even stupider is the fact that there's no "select all" button.

 

[Vault Dweller]

What is this manual feature you speak of? Is it some obscure DnD knowledge that only die-hard fans and geeks are aware of?

 

[HardCode]

It tells hardly anything of what it's supposed to be in a review (first of all a serious analysis of graphics, sound and gameplay).

Watch your step ...

 

[Volourn]

The manual has hundreds of errors anyways. Ignore it.

 

[aboyd]

I find it funny that he says the game "increased the first game's one-companion limit up to four" when it is five later on for a noticeable amount of time. Guess someone didn't finish the game.

No, I think the reviewer is correct. At the beginning of the game you have 3 companions, 4 players total. After chapter 1, you have 4 companions, 5 players total. Your own character is not a companion. Does that make sense, or do I have it wrong?

 

[Bradylama]

That's what I was thinking, but then I only just now got the druid chick to join, so I can't say much.

In any case, it's a much better review than the last one, though I find the performance issues puzzling since I can't play Company of Heroes with any settings set to medium while with NWN2 I can at least use high textures at 1024X760.

The AI is awful for spellcasters, at least. I can't take my thumb off of my Sorceror for a second before he starts casting Dispel on everything for no reason.

It's a helluva lot better than the original, I can say that much. Liked this fan-review though:

Bioware needs to stop throwing Obsidian jobs :/. They didnt finished there work on KOTOR2 and again they didnt finish it here

I guess I can agree, but for different reasons.

Are they contractually tied to Bioware? Can Obsidian just not find their own publishers?

 

[Greatatlantic]

Performance started out just fine for me, it wasn't until later when battle multiple foes with a bunch of spell effects did the system stutterwith really low FPS.

Specs: 1gig RAM, 3.2 ghz P4, 7800GS (256 MB)