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NWN Gargaune's Greater Guide to Enjoying Neverwinter Nights 2

Joined
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Messages
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The western road to Erromon.
Well, I just finished the game today which coincidentally is exactly six months since I put the game on hold, took me about a week or so to get through Act III. Impressions remain more or less the same as I felt when I finished Act II.
I continued to enjoy the Crossroad Keep restorations that took place over the course of the chapter with the exception of some of the timed events just never triggering no matter what I did. I have a feeling the time progression mechanic just caused me to miss them due to not returning at the right times or something. Didn't really care for that to be honest. Missing out on content might be realistic, but it isn't fun because nothing else replaces it. Maybe if there were more events designated for late game that you wouldn't otherwise see, but alas that wasn't the case. Still feel like I saw most of them, so whatever, it's fine.

Managed to finish the romance off with Elanee without running into any trademarked Aurora/Odyssey engine dialog obliterations, so that was nice. Also finished the character quests of all the other companions I could. Bishop betrayed me which was predictable, I didn't care about him at all, told him to fuck off and he listened. Pretty sure it was a scripted betrayal anyway. Qara also betrayed me, but again who cares. One of the most unlikable companions I've ever been saddled with in an RPG. The new addition of Zhjaeve was useful mechanically as the only Cleric, but sadly she just wasn't interesting as a character. Even playing the influence game as best I could with her, all that I learned of her backstory didn't profit me anything. I don't even understand why I needed to gain her trust for her to tell me about it. "Mindflayers bad!" is not some deep personal revelation warranting secrecy. Ammon Jerro was the stand out, though I still missed Shandra. Helping him come to terms with killing his great granddaughter was satisfying. Come to think of it, Zhjaeve's dialog did serve one purpose in reminding my character of the Nietzschean theme of "He who fights with monsters..." to echo back at Jerro when he was trying to avoid coming to terms with his kinslaying. That was clever enough. All in all though, it felt like a lot of the OG companions had basically nothing to do in Act III except maybe Khelgar. It was to the point I couldn't remember the last time anything happened with the likes of Neeshka, Casavir and Sand. I'd say that's actually a pretty big flaw to have for an entire act, but again it's a symptom of party size/ companion bloat. I maintain that many among the party simply have no reason to exist.

Some minor things started to annoy me greatly by the end. Firstly, the beginning of Act III where it throws you directly into yet another big combat segment solo, without even having the opportunity to sell shit you picked up prior, forcing you to drop loot. Secondly, whoever the retard was that designed the cumbersome interactions with objects that need to be bashed during combat should have been shown the door. Not being able to simply right click to attack an object with the entire party, but rather being forced to do two click commands for each individual companion was beyond tedious. Thirdly, the pathfinding in this game is atrocious in small areas with many party members. You can imagine how bad it is at the end boss when you're playing keyboard piano with the entire party and commands get stuck in queue left and right due to pathing issues. Another thing was the merchant bloat. It got to the point where I just couldn't be bothered reading through another giant list of items that were only marginally superior to what I already had from loot. Even at the end with them all unlocked, I just said fuck it and decided what I got was what I got. It got to the point where the game was overstaying its welcome. Areas existed just for padding out the game like the last dungeon/maze before the final boss. Resting causing random encounters there, when it didn't anywhere else in the game. So unnecessary. Game also didn't autosave nearly often enough.

Even after spending so much time in the game absorbing the story, I still kinda have no idea what the fuck was going on. The King of Shadows was like some sort of rogue A.I. that was trying to preserve some civilization that was already extinct. I don't recall if I was ever given a reason why that piece of the Blade of Gith was in my character or not, nor really why it had anything to do with the KoS. The villains and their motivations were just sort of bland and didn't make much sense. The main villain felt more like a force of nature than a character and not in a flattering way. It was boring because of it. Even NWN OC didn't have this problem. Maybe there were just too many names to keep track of on the villain side, with nothing interesting about any of them (except Ammon Jerro), that I couldn't keep it all straight. I kinda stopped caring which is unusual for me. Lastly, this chapter seemed a lot more linear, even the dialog options gave me the feeling of "All roads lead to Rome." which I didn't feel in Act I or II.

Something else I noticed, this game has well enough written dialog responses for the PC to give but there were far fewer moral dilemmas than practically any Forgotten Realms game I've played. In fact, I can't recall agonizing over a single choice, the best direction was obvious in all cases. Even NWN 1 had a few hard decisions, but not here oddly. It did manage to subvert my expectations once in having the noble savage Lizardmen betray the humees of Highcliff even though the latter were acting in good faith. Expected them to go the typical route and have the humans betray the lizards again, so that was nice to see. I quite liked the Crossroad Keep bridge and siege sequences as well. If only they kept the momentum and had us fight the KoS there, rather than dragging the game out with another pointless dungeon.

I don't really know how I feel about it compared to Neverwinter Nights 1. It's definitely not as bad as is made out, it's just sort of okay. Some companions were better, some were worse. The game looked a hell of a lot prettier, had better dialogue options. Lots of recycled music, but I liked what was original. I guess if I had to say anything about it, I'd say that the story was somehow worse than the first game, but all the side quests, set dressing and other shit made it a game I'd rather spend time in. As it is, NWN2 OC is a 6.5/10 game, which is what I rated the NWN 1 OC as well, just for different reasons.

Edit: Also wtf was up with that grim ending? Lmao, did we even manage to escape?
Rocks fall and everyone dies!
 
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whocares

Savant
Joined
Nov 8, 2016
Messages
450
I will not eat the bugs. I will not live in a pod. I will not use 2FA.
 
Last edited:
Joined
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Messages
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Location
The western road to Erromon.
Lmao, did we even manage to escape?
MotB answers that in a kinda half-assed way. But the expansion is actually gud, so you should be heading over there anyway now.
Hmmm, hopefully it will be somewhat satisfactory because man, what a wet blanket of an ending. It'll probably be some time before I start MotB though, need another long break.
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
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Messages
29,592
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Lmao, did we even manage to escape?
MotB answers that in a kinda half-assed way. But the expansion is actually gud, so you should be heading over there anyway now.
Hmmm, hopefully it will be somewhat satisfactory because man, what a wet blanket of an ending. It'll probably be some time before I start MotB though, need another long break.
You'll not regret MoTB, unless you're a retard who can't manage the spirit chow.
 

whocares

Savant
Joined
Nov 8, 2016
Messages
450
I will not eat the bugs. I will not live in a pod. I will not use 2FA.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 21, 2023
Messages
3,593
I used TonyK's AI mod for the first game and that only resulted in enemies rushing towards me as soon as I attacked one of them. I'd end up walking through empty levels after every combat session. Is this something that happens with the second game too?
 

Gargaune

Arcane
Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
3,562
I used TonyK's AI mod for the first game and that only resulted in enemies rushing towards me as soon as I attacked one of them. I'd end up walking through empty levels after every combat session. Is this something that happens with the second game too?
It's a popular mod, so I'd be surprised if it were that badly broken, but dunno, never tried it myself. NWN's default AI was configured with a sort of "yell" behaviour where when an enemy dies, he alerts nearby allies, I don't know whether Tony_K messed with that radius. You can try it on a whim though, just stick it in a single subfolder in your Override and if it acts up, give it the old Shift+Delete treatment.
 

Gargaune

Arcane
Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
3,562
Hey, Infinitron, look who put the Codex on the first page of Google!

sup-lilura.jpg


I was just looking for Katrina's toolset guide and bam, sixth hit for "guide to nwn2" and I don't even know what SEO is. Now where's my gold star? :-D
 

Gargaune

Arcane
Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
3,562
Might as well get rid of the SoZ menu screen.

Restore NWN2 Menu Screens

I guess, if you prefer the original graphic. Though the comment there suggests the music is still the NWN1 theme. I didn't mind the SoZ menu visuals, you only see it for a couple of moments anyway, but the audio track keeps running through chargen and SoZ's is very shrill.
 

Just Locus

Educated
Joined
Mar 11, 2022
Messages
508
I've been enjoying the Kingmaker module more than I expected, I was actually 10+ hours into the OC and abandoned it because of how painfully bland it is.
Kingmaker is smaller in scale and scope but no compromises were made in the writing and gameplay department at all, It's great.

Although I'm currently stuck in the "Slip me some skin" Quest, cause I can't lure the manticore into the trap so I have savescum due to the manticore killing my character the instant it spots him.
 

Gargaune

Arcane
Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
3,562
I've been enjoying the Kingmaker module more than I expected, I was actually 10+ hours into the OC and abandoned it because of how painfully bland it is.
Kingmaker is smaller in scale and scope but no compromises were made in the writing and gameplay department at all, It's great.

Although I'm currently stuck in the "Slip me some skin" Quest, cause I can't lure the manticore into the trap so I have savescum due to the manticore killing my character the instant it spots him.
If you want advice on the first NWN, you're probably better off asking in the pinned thread. I ain't played the Kingmaker PM so I can't say, but I'm sure someone around here has.
 

Yosharian

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
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Location
Grand Chien
I've been enjoying the Kingmaker module more than I expected, I was actually 10+ hours into the OC and abandoned it because of how painfully bland it is.
Kingmaker is smaller in scale and scope but no compromises were made in the writing and gameplay department at all, It's great.

Although I'm currently stuck in the "Slip me some skin" Quest, cause I can't lure the manticore into the trap so I have savescum due to the manticore killing my character the instant it spots him.
The what quest?
 

BruceVC

Magister
Joined
Jul 25, 2011
Messages
9,506
Location
South Africa, Cape Town
I just completed NWN2 OC for the second time but I used mods for this playthrough

Fun and worthwhile experience, it gets 75/100 on the globally followed "BruceVC game rating system"

What I loved about the game

  • captivating narrative and lots of interesting quests
  • great example of D&D ruleset, whats not to like
  • interesting companions and companion side quests

Combat wasn't overall that challenging but still strategic. The final battle with the Shadow King was hard, took me about 3 hours with my mostly magic using party

Now Im going to play the expansions :salute:
 
Joined
May 25, 2021
Messages
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Location
The western road to Erromon.
Thinking on starting up MotB finally after a year's break. Any consensus on whether it's better to import your character from NWN2 or should I just start a fresh one? Does the former fuck with the balance/ make everything too easy?
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
29,592
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Thinking on starting up MotB finally after a year's break. Any consensus on whether it's better to import your character from NWN2 or should I just start a fresh one? Does the former fuck with the balance/ make everything too easy?
Doesn't make a lick of difference.
 

Gargaune

Arcane
Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
3,562
Thinking on starting up MotB finally after a year's break. Any consensus on whether it's better to import your character from NWN2 or should I just start a fresh one? Does the former fuck with the balance/ make everything too easy?
The starting balance gap is fairly small - rolling a fresh character will automatically level you to 18 and give you a handful of level-appropriate mid-range magical gear, whereas importing a previous PC will only let you keep currently equipped gear, except for weapons, which get removed with the rest of your inventory.

By the way, good to hear you're finally taking the plunge on MotB!
 

Gargaune

Arcane
Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
3,562
If a game needs a special "guide to enjoy", it probably isn't worth playing at all. Just saying. There might be exceptions to the rule.
I thought "Gargaune's Greater Guide to Getting the Best out of Neverwinter Nights 2 or at Least the Mask of the Betrayer Expansion Pack by Alleviating the Few Annoying Issues of an Otherwise Wonderful RPG" might be a bit long for a thread title, but I did clarify my intent in the opening two paragraphs.
 

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
10,919
Location
Nottingham
After finishing BG2 and having around 15 hours with IWD, I decided to play Solasta for a more modern take on CRPGs.

Fucking stupid decision, it was boring and woke.

So I've now jumped back to NWN 1 & 2. NWN1 I've already quit though, certainly not a bad game at all, but it really suffers from that early 3D transition and the combat is just so, so lacking in strategy that I can't stay interested. Doesn't help that I was having to play the game at a lower resolution to make text readable either; it just wasn't clicking so I decided to move on.

Now NWN2 has been a bane of mine for years; a clearly potentially great game which has always been SEVERELY hampered by it's God-fucking-awful camera for me. I mean, fuck me was it a battle trying to do even the very basics when this game first came out. So I never got very far in the game. tried again a few years later, and had the same issue.

But boom! THEY'VE FUCKING FIXED THE FUCKING CAMERA!! :bounce: And what a difference it's making! I'm already really enjoying the game, and so hopefully it just gets better from here.

Just feels so good to finally, at long last, get around to playing this bad boy for real.
 

KainenMorden

Educated
Patron
Joined
Aug 19, 2022
Messages
938
Codex Year of the Donut
I did a run of Solasta a year ago or so, not a bad game and not really that woke but I dont really care for 5e personally so never played any of the modules released by the community. Solasta could be considered a successor to NWN 1 in that regard as apparently it is easier to make modules for than many other games.

If you wanted tactical combat in NWN 1, Swordflight is a must play.
 

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