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In Progress Let's Play: Neverwinter Nights 2 (and expansions)

Monocause

Arcane
Joined
Aug 15, 2008
Messages
3,656
But wasn't Tony_K's ai script pack implemented in SoZ already? I'm pretty sure it was, I've got tons of behaviour settings which AFAIK weren't there back when I played vanilla.

Even with the improved behavior there's still a need to micromanage. I miss a simple party member script like in the infinity engine games where party members would by default just attack the closest enemy with the equipped weapon and do nothing else. Even with a lot of tweaking NWN2 companions often do stupid mistakes, like standing still because the pathfinding to the enemy or your PC fails, or charging/shooting at a different group of enemies further down a corridor, guiding a blob of death your way.

The spellcasting, while improved, is still better micromanaged completely. Party members still often waste buffs/spells at mobs that can effortlessly be hacked to pieces without any magical aid. Item usage can be horrible, with party members using up valuable limited use items that you'd rather hold on to.

You can get around all that but there's no reason to. It's better and less annoying to just micromanage more difficult encounters and turn the AI (set to simply attack) on when exploring a safe environment/hacking away at mobs.
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
I never found NWN2 camera that onerous, except when exiting out of doors (then the superzoom makes you go in and out and in and out of the same fucking building). I just stuck it on strategic view, turned all possible AI off, and used keyboard to move camera & mouseclick to move. Basically, it just becomes a Baldur's Gate with rotatable camera that screws up every once in a while.

But then, I always believed in pausing 50 times a battle and micromanaging every character, except for easy filler battles. It's just no fun with AI.
 

RK47

collides like two planets pulled by gravity
Patron
Joined
Feb 23, 2006
Messages
28,396
Location
Not Here
Dead State Divinity: Original Sin
I'm pretty much bored of the characters and gameplay when I reached Neverwinter.
A tiefling who likes to thieve, a dwarf fighter who likes to fight, a nature girls who loves nature..
Shiiiiit. I finished it once and never done it again, now I know why.

nwn2main%202012-07-25%2023-45-59-77.jpg
 

Monocause

Arcane
Joined
Aug 15, 2008
Messages
3,656
Well, most of the characters in the OC are bland and one-dimensional as fuck. On the bright side, you've got Casavir, Ammon Jerro and Bishop, all of them having a hint of personality and a more interesting backstory - especially Ammon. Sand's decently written too, the voice actor is just overdoing it.

Still, even the bland ones get more bearable later on. They're still one-dimensional but they stop being so obnoxious, except for Grobnar who doesn't make any fucking sense and Qara. The greatest problem with them all is that (save Ammon) they have no development. Despite weird shit going all around them, interplanar creatures fighting demons while shadows jump from every corner all of them still behave as if they were a part of a low-level DnD cookie-cutter rat-and-goblin-killing band.

One thing I can't understand is that I seem to have a soft spot for Khelgar. I guess playing BG when I was young made the "FINE DWARRRVEN ALE" stereotypical dwarves something special. Also, Korgan who was basically a stereotypical dwarf just with a tint of evil about him and still was awesome.
 
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
1,875,973
Location
Glass Fields, Ruins of Old Iran
For what it's worth, the village beginning is skippable. OCD makes people suffer through it unfortunately.

Also, after you get Khelgar a new section of the swamp opens up, but it's easy to miss since you're in a hurry to get to neverwinter. You can get an enchanted mace there.

The LP at LpArchive also goes for a lawful evil human character, though it's a female thief. That and Chaotic Good are the most interesting alignments, so it's to be expected :cool:
 

abnaxus

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 31, 2010
Messages
10,849
Location
Fiernes
If "BSB" ever makes it into a (urban)dictionary, there should be a pic of the NWN2 box next to it.
 

Erebus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 12, 2008
Messages
4,763
You know what makes NWN 2 OC look good ? NWN 1 OC does. Sure, the companions in NWN 2 are walking clichés, but at least you have a party you can control, instead of a single companion who can barely take a few basic orders.
 
Joined
Jan 7, 2007
Messages
3,181
I'll give you plenty of reasons why NWN2OC is superior to NWN1OC in every way:
- Performance: is a non-issue in NWN2, stop complaining, upgrade.
- Graphics: I believe Codex Consensus agrees that bloom, waxy finish and sparkly magics > blocky assets, dull palette and consistent design.
- Romance: in NWN1OC you could, at best, get a hint of a forming relationship with an emo elf. In NWN2OC, you get all the horribly-written elf you can take and consummate that relationship in the Final Fuck. It gets even better with the Romance Pack made by loyal Obsidian fans.
- Dialogues: they may be just as retarded - they may be even more so - but in NWN2OC there's more of them.
- Gameplay: remember the never-ending caves in NWN1OC? Now they're shinier.

See, this is how you make a prequel to DS3.
 

sea

inXile Entertainment
Developer
Joined
May 3, 2011
Messages
5,698
I still think that the second act of the game is pretty good, and the third act would have been if they had time to finish it properly. The first is the worst due to ridiculous length. In my opinion, Illefarn is the turning point where the game switches from completely insufferable generic crap with a few nice touches to mediocre-good. I though Jerro was well written and I liked all of the lore around the King of Shadows, even if in practice it was the most horribly generic villain ever. There are also hints of interesting subplots, like Casavir, Sand, Qara etc. but they were all dropped - those would have been pretty good, judging from leaked info from the game's development.

I'll never play it again, and almost didn't get past the beginning, but I certainly don't regret playing it through.

But wasn't Tony_K's ai script pack implemented in SoZ already? I'm pretty sure it was, I've got tons of behaviour settings which AFAIK weren't there back when I played vanilla.
Maybe, but I know I installed it on the Platinum Edition (all expansions) and noticed a massive and instantaneous improvement in the original campaign, i.e. wizards now buffing warriors automatically during fights and using AOEs on groups, single spells on single monsters, etc. Maybe the options are there but not the default script changes or spell selection tweaks? Or maybe it's only in Storm of Zehir?
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
The version implemented in SoZ is old and stripped down and apparently not very effective.
 

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