It begins, time to drive back the foul invaders and save West harbor once and for all! Time to inform Georg that we have gathered the militia.
: Well done. Now we have a chance! All right, militia! Ready your weapons and move out! It’s time we stand our ground!
The militia all advance to the farms cleared field, in an attempt to fight fair, I guess. Why use tactical positioning in choke points or have our Archers atop buildings, or other vantage points? That’s for people without honour.
The Duergar and Blad- I mean, mysterious unknown creatures that totally aren’t identified when you click on them surge forward in the first wave and a free for all punch up begins.
After what feels like 15 minutes of just watching the animations play out, and as the battle to end, more dialog commences, which I swear is mocking me. Me personally.
: Cyric’s blood! They’re entering the Starling house. But if we don’t hold the next wave off, the whole village could be overrun.
Writing this now I realize something for the first time. They kept the defenceless children in a house, on the edge of the town, at the very place they KNEW the attackers would be coming from. I mean, what is this shit? It’s one thing to not use even rudimentary battlefield tactics, but to position the people you are protecting in the most possible exposed position?
: Let’s go, Julian! If we hurry, we can stop them before they find the children!
: We can’t let the next wave by. I’m staying here to help with the defense.
We could use every sword. But the children.
: You do what you think is right. I’m going in before anything happens to my brother and sister!
: Brace yourself, men!
This is mocking because it feels like this could actually be a Choices and Consequences moment, but you would be laughably mistaken. If you help Bevil, you fight a few Duergar and save the kids, if you stay here Bevil manages to save them unharmed anyways. You pick which fight you want to do. And it’s not even a good choice, both fights are pretty mediocre. Bevil’s is marginally better, but I wanted to stay here to talk about something I mentioned last update.
I touched on how there was a major problem with the combat here, but didn’t elaborate last update, but Obsidian made a mistake here that I consider absolutely awful. Once I was playing a solo campaign of 3.5 with a friend of mine new to DMing. He’s a good guy, and had good ideas but he made a massive mistake in the end battle of one session. I was helping a group of guards raid an abandoned building where a group of criminals were holed up, and it was very similar to the above screenshot.
I controlled a single melee type, Fighter/Soul Knife for those interested, and there was a group of the guards with me. It should have been a big awesome battle, except I was only able to control my PC. So the battle was me saying: “I hit guy X” and then the DM controlling everything else. There was no tactics I could use, and the action was on other people, not the player.
And that is what has happened here, the PC is completely negligible, I could do nothing here and we would still win the fight, this is a HORRIBLE idea. The player should be the focus of the fight in most cases, of course there are story situations where this can be changed, but as a rule… don’t do this shit.
: Thank the god’s that’s over.
My sentiments exactly.
: We would not have held them much longer-
Heroic entry! Just in time to save us from the wave of combat we would have defeated anyways. It’s the thought that counts though, right?
: Much blood has been lost tonight. Let us make the enemy pay in kind.
Just insert one of the previous screenshots of the battle here, as they all look about identical.
: That is the last of them – for now. Gather the wounded and the dying. Let’s see how many we can steal from death’s clutches.
: Thank the gods we were able to hold them at the farm. How many did we lose?
: Ian, Vera, Pierson…
: What were those things, anyhow? Never seen anything quite like them.
I wonder if playing a Duergar would actually make any difference during this segment of the game. Probably not.
: They’re called bladelings. Their kind is rarely seen in our realm – they dwell in a place beyond.
: Well then – what in the nine hells are they doing here?
: Lathander doesn’t illuminate all mysterious for me. We must rely on our own wit and resources.
: One of the dwarves mentioned they were searching for something… does anybody know what it was?
: Boy, come over here… I understand you lost a friend of yours in the attack. A tragedy . She was a promising young mage, or so I’ve been told.
: I’ll get over it.
: That you will. I see you understand the folly of dwelling upon loss. I do not have much time to talk – there are many who are wounded, Julian. Now, there is something you must do. Tonight. Those… bladelings were here to find something, and I fear I know what.
Well, Obsidian just aced the test. Small Village? Check. Orphan? Check. Village Attacked? Check. Mysterious Artefact? Check. Bra-fucking-vo.
: We barely trade words, and NOW you decide to fill me in?
: Tonight is NOT a night of words – but of action. There is an item… a silver shard. Long ago I concealed it in the stones outside of town. I fear it may have drawn these creatures down upon us.
: [Fishing for exposition] Why do you think the shard is their goal?
: Think it through. Their kind doesn’t plunder a village like West Harbor, not for a few coins and an old helm or two. They had a REASON.
: You’re the one who hid it. Why don’t you just get it?
: There are too many wounded to care for, more than Brother Merring can handle on his own.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Son, you must go to the ruins to recover the shard in the swamp. I cannot, even though I am a Ranger and therefore better suited to wilderness combat, because I must help brother Merring with the wounded, even though you are a Favoured Soul and therefore probably the second most qualified in the entire village to heal people.
I mean, seriously.
: Where did the shard come from?
: It is from the time when your mother died. Those were dark times for the village… We can speak more of the shard after you’ve returned. For now, all that matters is it’s retrieval.
: I am ready. Tell me what I need do.
: The stones outside of town are older and deeper than you may think. In the farthest chamber of these ruins, look for a strongbox – inside is the shard.
: Anything else?
: There remains only one thing. You should not go alone. Bevil. I need you to accompany my son to the ruins. This is an important task.
: But Georg says the ruins have been overrun by lizardling tribes…
: And that is why you must go. Together two can succeed where one might fail. The cries of the wounded cannot be ignored any longer. Find the shard, Julian. Find it, and bring it here.
Daeghun then wanders of the presumably care for the wounded. Fuck him, unless he has been pumping the heal skill like I have he wouldn’t have anywhere near my healing prowess. I mean, he doesn’t get even GET healing spells until level 8 at the minimum, and even then, only ONE Cure Light Wounds a day. I, on the other hand already have 5 Cure Minor Wounds and 4 Cure Light wounds available, and my healing skill. Fuck this shit.
: No offense meant, Julian, but your father makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Still, if we’re going to do this we should make some haste. It sounds urgent.
: I’m ready, let’s go.
: The path that runs along the river is our best route into the swamp. I hope these ruins aren’t too hard to find – we could be out there all night.
It then jumps straight to the swamp, which is weird because I recall having to manually go there through the map last time. Maybe it was my selecting options that said I was ready. Class Choice? Fuck you. God? What now? Selecting dialog options a certain way? Oh yeah, we pay attention to that.
: There’s probably more than lizardlings ahead. So – uh – lead on, I guess.
That establishing shot was quite cool, with the over the shoulder angle. The completely arbitrary and random camera shots in the engine during dialog can lead to some cool effects. Anyways, as much as could be expecting the swamp is pretty tedious and the combat is pretty much click and wait.
I don’t even know why they bother with these sort of encounters with the NWN rest system to be honest. The purpose they serve traditionally is to wear down the part and make you burn resources, but when you can just rest at will they serve only to be an annoyance.
Seen here is me taking the long way around so as to avoid an encounter. It is possible to totally avoid some combat in NWN2.
What’s this I see, an interesting encounter? It can’t be! But it is, this is in fact a fun fight. Shaman at the back, lots of the little bugs to obscure your path and the big tanky fighter type, I almost had fun here, but stopped myself because that would ruin all my credibility on the Codex, instead I do this.
Yep, the OTHER massive problem with the NWN rest system, you can blow your load on every fight, and they didn’t bother to counteract that. Bevil here just tanks everything while I spam heals on him like it’s going out of fashion, it’s not like I’ll be punished by lacking spells later or anything.
Another fucking trash encounter. You know, I’ve heard a LOT of bitching about Dragon Age’s trash heavy design on here, but not much about how this game is the exact same. Both games have you rest completely between fights, both games tend to use the same groupings of units again and again, is it just that this game is bad across the board where-as Dragon Age is actually enjoyable?
Cleaning up the last of the lizards outside of the tomb, I get a brief moment of peace with some very minor story stuff before back to dreary combat.
God damn female Elves look weird in this engine. While she doesn’t say anything here (thankfully) she does speak later in the game, and you bastards are lucky you don’t have to hear it, the voice acting like almost everyone else in this campaign is grating. Although she seems like Tony Jay compared to a certain other character…
Hey, I actually like the look of this place. Kind of atmospheric, not as massively cliché, this place has potential. Potential which is wasted on Lizardfolk encounter #43.
I had a lot more screenshots of this place but this update is already graphics heavy so I shall save you the rest of the dungeon, needless to say there were Lizardfolk, they were slain, and Julian advanced to level 4 and gained access to level 2 spells in the process. So, let’s just jump to the end of the dungeon.
: And before we fight them for our ancestral hatching grounds, we ask for your blessings! (I actually lost a screenshot of the line before this, but fuck you if you expect me to do this shit again to get it)
: There certainly are an awful lot of them. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
: A warm blood – here!? Your very presence offends the stone god!
: [Diplomacy] When this land was once ours, my “tribe” left something here.
: [Success] And this gives you the right to intrude on our lands – and disturb our most holy of rituals!?
Ok, I take it back. The writing here is solid and yet that is not an obvious success. However, it could have just as easily used [???] tags, like the dialog battle with the interrogation of the Legion Prisoner in New Vegas.
: It’s needed to save my tribe – something you should be able to understand.
: What do you propose then, warm blood?
: Let me save my tribe, and perhaps one day we can return the favour.
: A favour for a favour, eh? We may have need of you… We will let you do this thing – do what you have come here to do. We will leave the warm blood in peace, my followers.
Julian has every intention of following through here, a promise is a promise and he is lawful. This was certainly the best part of the game thus far. As I’ve mentioned I’ve a massive boner for skill use in dialog, and you may have inferred by now that I am something of a storyfag, and this was quite an enjoyable conversation. Now to get the shard and put this whole shitty opening behind us.
: We were risking life and limb – for THAT? None of this makes any sense. Daeghun can do his own blasted quests from now on. When you’re done searching around, let’s get out of here.
: Let’s go.
And with that, we are teleported back to West Harbor, and we finally get to leave this fucking place.
: That’s all you can say? I almost died out there.
: If I did not believe you could handle the task, I would have sent another.
: Yeah, well, YOU weren’t out there in the swamp getting attacked by Lizardfolk.
: No, I was here attending to the wounded, Bevil – now find Merring and do the same.
: I don’t see how you put up with him, Julian.
: Now for the shard, let me see it.
: Glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks we should leave Bevil out of this.
: What I have to say is not for Bevil’s ears – and after this night, you two shall not travel together again. Bevil has his uses, but it is not wise to depend on someone of Starling blood for too long. Also, his complaining tires me and will not serve you where you are bound.
: I retrieved the shard, what now?
: I need you to go to the city of Neverwinter. Find my half-brother Duncan, and retrieve the second shard, and take it to a mage you can both trust. Duncan owns an inn in the dock districs of the city, the Sunken Flagon. Not the most… reputable place, but safe enough.
: Why don’t we dump this shard, or give it up?
: The… problem is more complicated than that. If we give them the shard, I doubt it will prevent them from believing the second one lies here as well – or others.
: Others?
: We only found two. It is possible there were others, scattered into the swamp, or taken away – or have met other ends.
: [Wisdom] There’s something you’re not telling me.
That’s a wisdom check? What, Wisdom 8?
: There are many things I have chosen not to tell you, and that is because they are not relevant. Perhaps if you were to question less and heed my words, it would prevent you from becoming confused.
: [Shepard] Maybe if I beat the hells out of you, that’d settle this right now.
Spoiler: There is no possible way to attack Daeghun.
: I… I did not mean what I said, and this is not time for us to fight – you need to leave West Harbor, tonight. Head to the small part town of Highcliff when you free of the swamp. There, seek passage on a ship to Neverwinter. The beats that attacked us will leave West Harbor alone once they realize their quarry has fled. If all goes well, you should be in Neverwinter before they find your trail. Say your farewells – your boots may travel many roads before you return. I let some of the others know you are leaving – but not the why of it.
Ever notice how the RPG’s where you can’t attack any NPC you choose or where there are immortal NPC’s are the ones that manage to have the ones you want to kill the most? Funny that. Anyways, I’m not going through the rest of the dialog with the village because it’s probably shit, so I head to the exit after finishing up with Daeghun.
Fuck you West Harbor, you were a shitty introduction. Didn’t draw me in, didn’t entertain me particularly much and your characters are bland and forgettable. May you burn to the ground.
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Important question time, I’ve noticed that I tend to talk a lot in these about my RPG experiences when they relate to what’s happening to make comparisons and talk about game design and ways to improve the campaign. This is probably drawn from there not being much to say beyond: “Shit sucks” and I want something to say.
Does this bother people, do you like enjoy it, what? If people don’t enjoy it I would rather spend extra effort to come up with jokes and shit then piss you off with more blatherings. Cheers.
)
: It’s no blight, Georg, it’s something else. There’s no mold, no rot. It’s like the crops don’t want to grow. Like they haven’t got the guts to up and face the sun.
