Review Gamesradar Slams Mysteries of Westgate

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Tags: Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate

In <a href="http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/neverwinter-nights-2-mysteries-of-westgate/review/neverwinter-nights-2-mysteries-of-westgate/a-200906261454724078/g-20090626132523451044">under 500 words</a>, please make the most vague, contradictory review of Mysteries of Westgate possible. Go!<blockquote>The pacing problems carry over into the action: early confrontations quickly hit walls of difficulty that it can take an irritating degree of mid-battle party micro-management to scale.</blockquote>You mean I can't just put the game on auto-pilot? I actually have to play it? Also, this<blockquote>Basing the action in a technically safe city, Ossian have also reduced the number of combat opportunities</blockquote>Doesn't jive too well with this<blockquote>There are whiffs of artificially extended game-length, one particularly galling example coming later in the main quest, forcing you through hours of backtracking and drudgery</blockquote>Now I realize that "backtracking and drudgery" isn't always combat. In fact, traveling back and forth can be a pain. Oh wait...from our good friend Vault Dweller's <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=192">review</a>;<blockquote>In many games, including Baldur's Gate 2 and especially The Witcher, traveling between areas ranges from tedious to painful. It's definitely not the case here. Each area has several exits, so you are always close to one, and once you exit an area the travel menu will give you a list of all main locations and will teleport you next to a building you wish to enter.</blockquote>Great job Gamesradar! But hey...at least you've got <a href="http://www.gamesradar.com/f/the-100-sexiest-booth-babes-part-1/a-200710301402595024">your priorities down</a>...
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://gamebanshee.com/">Gamebanshee</A>

 

[denizsi]

Comment posted on review. I wonder how long it will take for that particular comment to be deleted.

 

[Zomg]

jibe not jive

 

[Blind Eye]

You'll hate

* Incorporates none of Storm of Zehir's technical advances
* Artificially extended game-length
* Unbalanced difficulty curve

What a fucking moron.

Somebody get the tar and feathers.

 

[Darth Roxor]

your chats with the party have no obvious bearing on things.

whatever we do now, I can't see all the outcomes instantly!

one particularly galling example coming later in the main quest, forcing you through hours of backtracking and drudgery to cobble together a frankly ludicrous amount of cash needed to progress.

So, getting some (not even all of them, since at least two are very well paid) of the side quests done to get 40k gold means hours of backtracking (backtracking through 3 areas in total, lolz) and drudgery?

early confrontations quickly hit walls of difficulty that it can take an irritating degree of mid-battle party micro-management to scale.

What? The only combat encounters I had problems with so far were the optional fights in the arena.

the technological lurch back to late 2007

Hey look, it doesn't have about one feature that would come in handy from SoZ (party dialogue). What a fucking technological lurch back to '07.

 

[MetalCraze]

incorporates none of Storm of Zehir's technical advances

You mean it has none of those stupid two room cellars called "dungeons" and 30 seconds loading times to get in and out of them? Why haven't I played this game still?

who can stomach the technological lurch back to late 2007

Can anyone explain to me what this moron is talking about?

The pacing problems carry over into the action: early confrontations quickly hit walls of difficulty that it can take an irritating degree of mid-battle party micro-management to scale.

My god I die in this game because simple button mashing doesn't work, this game is shit.

 

[flushfire]

incorporates none of Storm of Zehir's technical advances

You mean it has none of those stupid two room cellars called "dungeons" and 30 seconds loading times to get in and out of them? Why haven't I played this game still?

SoZ did have some things that could've been great in MoW, particulary letting your party members do things/pass checks your main otherwise could not (the extended AI options would've been great as well, given MoWs tendency to put your party in compromising positions before combat begins). But since MoW was finished a year before SoZ that particular criticism from the review doesn't make any sense.

 

[Jim Cojones]

But since MoW was finished a year before SoZ that particular criticism from the review doesn't make any sense.

You don't write a review to judge developers. You judge a game. Would the game be any better by using SoZ new features? Yes. How possible is that someone reading the text doesn't know about history of production? Huge. So reviewer have full right to inform that one can't expect seeing those features in SoZ (and it's mentioned in the review what's the reason). It's not developers' fault but it hardly matters for the player.

 

[Vault Dweller]

But since MoW was finished a year before SoZ that particular criticism from the review doesn't make any sense.

You don't write a review to judge developers. You judge a game.

Exactly. However:

Would the game be any better by using SoZ new features? Yes.

Would the game be any better if it was 2D and had awesome handpainted backgrounds BG/IWD style? Would the game be any better if it was sandboxy like SoZ? If it was turn-based like ToEE? Review the game, not your expectations.

A reviewer can certainly mention features that he wishes should have been there, but using his wish list as cons is just too fucking stupid.

 

[Lockkaliber]

A great example of how to not write a review.

 

[MetalCraze]

SoZ did have some things that could've been great in MoW, particulary letting your party members do things/pass checks your main otherwise could not (the extended AI options would've been great as well, given MoWs tendency to put your party in compromising positions before combat begins). But since MoW was finished a year before SoZ that particular criticism from the review doesn't make any sense.

Except it was too artificial in SoZ. Some of your characters of different classes but with the same skill had exactly same responses on the list. I would've preferred older way of doing things, like other characters adding something to the game themselves provided they are in a party. Especially considering that MoW is a "story-driven" game that didn't pretend to be a shallow version of a tabletop game.

 

[Jasede]

This review has me intrigued to try out the lil' game. Though still need a computer that can run NWN 2, dumb unoptimized game from graphics hell.

 

[Gragt]

Except it was too artificial in SoZ. Some of your characters of different classes but with the same skill had exactly same responses on the list. I would've preferred older way of doing things, like other characters adding something to the game themselves provided they are in a party.

It's true that most of the time different characters would give the same result but sometimes different level of the skill gave different responses and a few characters also had something unique to say, even if most of the time it was only done for flavour.

 

[Sodomy]

There are whiffs of artificially extended game-length, one particularly galling example coming later in the main quest, forcing you through hours of backtracking and drudgery</blockquote>Now I realize that "backtracking and drudgery" isn't always combat. In fact, traveling back and forth can be a pain. Oh wait...from our good friend Vault Dweller's <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=192">review</a>;<blockquote>In many games, including Baldur's Gate 2 and especially The Witcher, traveling between areas ranges from tedious to painful. It's definitely not the case here. Each area has several exits, so you are always close to one, and once you exit an area the travel menu will give you a list of all main locations and will teleport you next to a building you wish to enter

Pasting quotes out of context is fun!

Hint for the reading-impaired- it wasn't the walking back and forth that he was complaining about. It was the need to raise 50,000 gold to advance the main quest, purely as a way of forcing the sidequest content (most of which is "walk to point a, click through branchless conversation, do 5 easy fights, walk to point b, get reward") down players' throats. It sucked when BG2 did that, and it sucks here.

The review is mostly right; despite the blowjobs it's getting on the Codex/ITS, MoW is nothing special. It's marginally better than the OC, but that's mainly because it's shorter, and therefore has less filler. It actually has fewer meaningful choices than the OC does; its improvement is that it has less filler. I'm personally not willing to praise a game simply because its mediocre but isn't mediocre for long.

 

[Thrasher]

More shit from a shit gamesite.

Poorly written, childish, and as pointed out, inconsistent.

 

[Voodoo Daddy]

Pasting quotes out of context is fun!

I take it that this is the first Codex newspost you've ever seen. :D

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Hint for the reading-impaired- it wasn't the walking back and forth that he was complaining about. It was the need to raise 50,000 gold to advance the main quest,

Well, that wasn't so bad. I already had like 10000 gold and the chick in the tower gives you another 10000 beforehand (you have to ask obv). So I had to raise just 20000. And after your visit on the ship you get all the money back anyway.

purely as a way of forcing the sidequest content (most of which is "walk to point a, click through branchless conversation, do 5 easy fights, walk to point b, get reward") down players' throats. It sucked when BG2 did that, and it sucks here.

The majority of sidequests weren't like that. Instead it really had some more original sidequests.

The review is mostly right; despite the blowjobs it's getting on the Codex/ITS, MoW is nothing special. It's marginally better than the OC, but that's mainly because it's shorter, and therefore has less filler. It actually has fewer meaningful choices than the OC does; its improvement is that it has less filler. I'm personally not willing to praise a game simply because its mediocre but isn't mediocre for long.

I concur that VD's review is very positive, maybe a bit too positive. But it was a fun experience, and especially considering the low price (would have paid 20€ too) it's recommended. Would play again.

PS: It has one very strong point: from all NWN2 installments, it has the most challenging combat encounters. Neat.

 

[Sodomy]

Well, that wasn't so bad. I already had like 10000 gold and the chick in the tower gives you another 10000 beforehand (you have to ask obv). So I had to raise just 20000. And after your visit on the ship you get all the money back anyway.

Getting your money back just makes it worse, because it becomes that much more transparent that "this is just something we did to force you to see our kewl click-through sidequests!"

The majority of sidequests weren't like that. Instead it really had some more original sidequests.

Yeah, the Sphinx Riddler sidequest didn't exist. And neither did the "retrieve my diamond, bitch!" sidequest. And neither did the crypt-robbing sidequest (want to turn back? Doesn't matter, THE EXIT REQURIES GOING RIGHT BY WHERE THE PHAT LEWT IS ANYWAYS LOL FAIL). The lich-revival sidequest didn't exist, either.

PS: It has one very strong point: from all NWN2 installments, it has the most challenging combat encounters. Neat.

Wrong, and I don't understand why people think this is the case. MoW, for me at least, actually was the EASIEST NWN2 game; in two playthroughs, one as a Sorc and one as a Pally/Divine Champion, I died exactly once, and that was mainly because the pathfinding fucked up. The only "challenging" fight was completely optional and didn't kill you if you did lose (namely, the fight with the Dukes of Daggerford).

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Yeah, the Sphinx Riddler sidequest didn't exist. And neither did the "retrieve my diamond, bitch!" sidequest. And neither did the crypt-robbing sidequest (want to turn back? Doesn't matter, THE EXIT REQURIES GOING RIGHT BY WHERE THE PHAT LEWT IS ANYWAYS LOL FAIL). The lich-revival sidequest didn't exist, either.

Oh really? The sphinx riddle, Lich revival etc those were the stupid, generic, seen-1000-times-before, click-click-click, 5 easy enemies die - sidequests you were refering to? I see.

Wrong, and I don't understand why people think this is the case. MoW, for me at least, actually was the EASIEST NWN2 game; in two playthroughs, one as a Sorc and one as a Pally/Divine Champion, I died exactly once, and that was mainly because the pathfinding fucked up. The only "challenging" fight was completely optional and didn't kill you if you did lose (namely, the fight with the Dukes of Daggerford).

I played as a Sorc too, and I had to reload on more than one occasion. And I don't mean the arena, which is later in the game and was not that difficult. The single fights were no problem and the group challenge - only the last fight was serious, and it might be a problem only if you do it early, pre levl 13. But what about those Duergars with the essence of Laduger - this was a whole different matter. (or were those Duergar the 5 easy click-die enemies you were refering to regarding the sphhinx sidequest?)

 

[Jasede]

Don't feel bad, VentilatorDerVerdammnis, we can't all be as awesome as Sodomy at NWN 2.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Hi Jasede, my name this was actually a translation error, it should have meant VentilatorDesGrauens, but I translated inaccurately to english.
But of course I'm fully aware of the possibility that I just suck at playing the gaem, I just want to know his sikrits so that I can improve. There is always something left to learn.

 

[Jasede]

You just need more APM; and remember to harass with Mutas.

How else would you translate Grauen though? Doom seems the only logical choice. Even my dictionary only gives me "terror, doom, horror".

Zeit des Grauens was a cool sci-fi movie.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

APM? Mutas?