Review Discworld likes SoU

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: BioWare; Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide

<a href=http://www.thediscworld.co.uk>The Discworld</a> has finally got time to <a href=http://www.thediscworld.co.uk/neveradd.htm>review</a> <a href=http://nwn.bioware.com/shadows>Shadow of Undrentide</a>, giving it <b>77%</b> for some unknown reasons.
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<blockquote>One of the game’s nice new touches is in the way you actually travel to and from places of safety. This time round you’re given a magical ring, which allows you safe transport back to Drogan’s school. However you can only use it if you have a focus crystal, which itself can only be made from combining three gems in Drogan’s laboratory. </blockquote>If you're having problems teleporting, kids, remember: <b>You have to equip the ring before you do that!</b>

 

[Anonymous]

I never understood why NWN is so fancy on making you collect shit. Why dont these damn wizards have their shit together?

 

[Spazmo]

Huzzah, a fresh round of NWN bashing.

Wasn't it a big deal that SoU did away with the ridiculous Stone of Recall and made you tough it out? So what's the deal with this Ring of Running Away? Isn't that exactly the same thing? Why yes, yes it is.

 

[Transcendent One]

Anyone with even half a brain would immediately see that stone of recall, as it is implemented in NWN, would simply not work and cause problems in combat, so it really is odd why it is there in the first place.

 

[Voss]

It doesn't work? Odd.

This reminds me of something though... I'd really rather see a World Map in Dragon Age than yet another random teleportation device.

 

[Volourn]

VD: LOL Funny stuff.

Spaz: Because the ring in question makes a hell of a lot more sense that it just isn't handed to you for nothing. It is limited as well. Not to mention, as soon as story dictates it; the ring no longer works. that's why it's nowhere near a horrible idea as the Stone of Recall was.

 

[Spazmo]

So I suppose it's just a device to stop the player from walking all the way from the bottom level of dungeons and across miles of empty--or worse still, respawning--wilderness? I guess that's okay.

 

[Volourn]

Well... it can work in combat ONLY if you have the rquired gem AND if you are within certain range of a particular town which you re only in ch1. Plus, the gems in question are relatively rare so if you spam use it you gonna run out of the gems and you may not have use of it when you actually need it.

That said, it isn't the best way to handle things; but it most definitely was 80 steps above the stone of recall.

 

[Transcendent One]

It doesn't work? Odd.

Oh it works as far as doing it's task of teleporting you back to the temple/whatever, but it certainly doesn't contribute well to the game when you consider how much it screws up the already screwed up combat system. My point was it's a wonder why it was implemented so sloppy in the first place. Why is it not until the expansion that they got it right.

 

[Voss]

The implementation isn't really sloppy. Nothing breaks, it has a 'use' animation and takes a bit of time, and nothing crashes.

The problem you seem to have with it is that its an easy out of combat in order to save the player's ass/rest/heal/regain spells, etc. So your problem is really with the design decision, not the stone's implementation - it does what it's supposed to do. And while this argument is a little trite, you could always not use the stone in combat.
Problem solved.

 

[Transcendent One]

Okay then, my problem is with the design decision