Review Tiny text and loading, downs in an otherwise fun SoZ

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir

<a href="http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/934/934642p1.html">IGN have reviewed SoZ</a>:
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<blockquote>And that brings up one of the weaknesses of the expansion: load times. The cost of a bigger world and more locations is that each of those locales is a lot smaller than what they were in NWN2. Many towns consist of just an inn and a temple that you can visit, dungeons are a lot smaller than before, and even the big cities consist of just a single district. Any time you transition to battle or to and from the world map or enter or exit a building you hit a load. And since you do all those things constantly, you'll see a lot of the loading screen. Plus, you have to save early and save often, as there's nothing more annoying than to survive three or four battles and then run into a foe that crushes you on the battlefield, wiping out all that progress (and those loads) in a heartbeat.
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The other down point is that the cinematic conversation system from Neverwinter Nights 2 has been replaced with tiny text boxes that feature static portraits. It's nowhere near as involving as the cinematic camera system, and it doesn't help that the text is tiny and presented in a small box in the corner of the screen.</blockquote>
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I hate <a href="http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=536">games with tiny text</a> in the bottom left hand corner. Those types of games <i>suck</i>.
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Thanks <b>Kthan75</b>!

 

[FalloutBR]

To tell the truth, NW2's engine had no way to increase the text font size... I remember even looking for any mods that could do that but I was only successful in changing the cinematics font, not the dialog box one. When you're running it at a somewhat high resolution it sure puts a strain on my eyes... :evil:

 

[AlanC9]

Obsidian devs have flatly stated that they never intended the higher resolutions to be used on regular monitors; there was never any intention of making the interface size scale.. They're only in for people using huge monitors.

 

[Silellak]

Ugh, reading mainstream reviews of RPGs can be painful.

First, they attack the "annoying" spirit eater mechanic in MotB, saying its idea is to prevent you from resting all the time. Because of course that's the only reason it existed. It had absolutely nothing to do with addding a visible C&C system to how you deal with your curse.

Second, they don't even mention the 'party dialogue' thing in SoZ, where anyone can add to a conversation - I think thats a great feature. But I guess it doesn't appeal to the WoWers they're writing the review for.

Third, of course, no mention of story quality. MotB's story was incredible. SoZ's is far from that. But hey, that's not important. The WoWers need to know how the hack and slash is, damnit!

Forth, do people really not have Hide and Move Silently on the overland map party leader? I keep hearing about "constant" hostile encounters, but I can't even think of half a dozen times I've been spotted and actually chased by a hostile encounter. I can almost always avoid them with the initial Hide check.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Everyone who complains about hostile encounters every step they take on the map, are idiots who, pardon my internet language, fail at skills pure and simple.

 

[Saxon1974]

The load times must be due to said users pc, the load times aren't bad at all for me on my pretty average rig.

3.2 mhz processor with 2gig ram
ATI 3650 video card

 

[Lesifoere]

My gig is considerably better--a quadcore with a 9800 GT--and the loading times are shit for me. Maybe it doesn't utilize multi-core CPUs?

 

[Rhalle]

While playing it I wondered if the game actually loaded and unloaded-- I mean, does it actually remove the overland from memory at a random encounter, and then re-load it all again when it's over?

I'm curious to know if it's actually hitting the HDD in a major way for every one, and what it actually caches.

The loading times aren't terrible-- they are like 5-10 seconds, but it's no doubt intrusive.

 

[Silellak]

I haven't noticed any loading time issues. The worst is when it has to reload the entire module on loading a save, but even that takes 10 seconds or so at most.

3.3 Ghz Dual Core with 2 gigs RAM, 8800 GTX.

My gig is considerably better--a quadcore with a 9800 GT--and the loading times are shit for me. Maybe it doesn't utilize multi-core CPUs?

Interesting idea. Maybe try defragging (if you haven't already) or manually setting the NWN2 process to only use 1 or 2 of your 4 CPUs and seeing how it changes things?

 

[MetalCraze]

While I agree with the first part - this

it doesn't help that the text is tiny and presented in a small box in the corner of the screen.

Holy crap Obsidian should've used MUTHAFUCKIN' HUGE 1/4 SCREEN SIZE CONSOLE TEXT because SoZ text is too small for those blind console 'tards.
NWN1's text is much smaller than NWN2's text btw. And that wasn't a problem for them.

 

[Kthan75]

Speaking of shitty mainstream reviews, here's another one:

http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/neverwinternights2stormofzehir/review.html

This guy really doesn't have any clue...

 

[Silellak]

Speaking of shitty mainstream reviews, here's another one:

http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/neverwinternights2stormofzehir/review.html

This guy really doesn't have any clue...

Christ, this one is horrible:

Obsidian Entertainment attempts to turn back the clock with Storm of Zehir, a Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion that tries hard to emulate the seminal single-player role-playing game Baldur's Gate.

What BG features were they trying to emulate the most - the free-travel overland map, the trading system, the "create-your-own-party" feature, or the narrative-driven aspect?

Rather than playing as a solo hero chosen for some great destiny, you roll up a party of four average joes just like you did way back when in D&D classics like the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale franchises.

Yeah, I remember when I rolled up Imoen and Minsc in BG1. Wait, what?

I have no problem with people disliking SoZ. It's certainly not for everyone. I enjoy it because it reminds me a lot of Pirates! combined with D&D in some weird way that shouldn't really work but, for some reason, does.

However, it does not excuse crappy reviews by lazy writers. Some of their criticisms are correct, but the review is so poorly researched I almost wonder if that's by accident. At least they mentioned the weak storyline and the nifty dialogue system, which IGN couldn't even bother to do. However, they still bitch about being constantly under attack by random encounters:

Unless you have a party leader like a ranger who has serious points dedicated to skills like hide, move silently, and survival, you can't help but stumble into one pack of monsters after another every time that you hit the overland map to head to a new quest.

So maybe you should have a party leader who is good at travelling through the wilderness like, I don't know - A RANGER?

I get the feeling that, in some ways, the random encounters are to SoZ as the soul meter was to MotB: a roleplaying feature used to add choice and consequence to a game that ends up being universally panned by the mainstream media cuz WAAAH, it makes the big bad game harder. If you play smart, it's not really a problem, if you don't, then it quickly becomes tedious and annoying and will probably kill you.

Mainstream sites should be stripped of their right to review RPG's.

 

[Darth Roxor]

The expansion’s other extras include tweaks to the game engine that hardcore fans of the series may appreciate, but more-casual players may gloss over.

OH TEH NOEZ

 

[Anthony Davis]

People like what they like.

The only problem I have with the Gamespot review is it looks like he cobbled it together from forum posts.

There are a lot more than 3 trade goods.

The final battle is anti-climatic? Even people who don't like the game agree that the final battle is pretty epic - certianly on DnD rules. Also, it doesn't end till you retire - there is no drop to the desktop.

My inside source at Gamespot said that this guy is a freelancer and he doubts he played the game for more than 2 hours, which apparently is typical of freelance reviews.

Anyway, we knew SoZ would not be for everybody, we just didn't expect it to be so polarizing.

 

[Anthony Davis]

The expansion’s other extras include tweaks to the game engine that hardcore fans of the series may appreciate, but more-casual players may gloss over.

OH TEH NOEZ

I don't think any 'casual' player is going to gloss over the new death system. lulz.

 

[Gragt]

Just for this I should buy SoZ. The problem is that it will force me to go in society.

 

[Darth Roxor]

The only problem I have with the Gamespot review is it looks like he cobbled it together from forum posts.

Not only this one though. In October, there was a SoZ review in one Polish magazine, that made me suspicious if the author actually played it even for 10 seconds and didn't just consult all the possible teasers and announcements before the game was released.

 

[Data4]

The expansion’s other extras include tweaks to the game engine that hardcore fans of the series may appreciate, but more-casual players may gloss over.

OH TEH NOEZ

GOOD! Casual gamers have been the death of RPGs. Let them gloss over it, hate it, and stick to their Halo.

 

[PrzeSzkoda]

Actually, I prefer the windowed dialogue mode to the cinematic one (plus, party dialogue in the cinematic system would be a pain in the ass to implement and/or script). First off, you don't get to look at an imp's ass whilst Safyia is declaring her love for you (although it could've been an indication of some sort - she's a transmuter, ya kno'), and second, it simply doesn't work for non-voiced dialogues. Many modders prefer to use the cinematic system because it's cool, but to tell the truth, if there's no voice-over, it's just annoying - makes skipping boring parts a chore (because you've got to wait due to the mod-creator's decision that the interlocutors are supposed to be "emoting") and makes reading larger chunks of text a struggle.

 

[Lesifoere]

Just for this I should buy SoZ. The problem is that it will force me to go in society.

Digital distribution. Or you could order a copy from Amazon or something.

 

[Gragt]

I do not trust the mailman.

Horrible creatures...

 

[Zeus]

Holy crap Obsidian should've used MUTHAFUCKIN' HUGE 1/4 SCREEN SIZE CONSOLE TEXT because SoZ text is too small for those blind console 'tards.

Yeah, legibility is retarded.

And what's with the English text? Lame as hell. I want it in Swahili.

 

[Livonya]

My gig is considerably better--a quadcore with a 9800 GT--and the loading times are shit for me. Maybe it doesn't utilize multi-core CPUs?

My multi-core rig has very fast load times... sometimes so fast that I can't finish the hints/flavor text unless I read very fast.

- Livonya

 

[PastorOfMuppets]

Anyway, we knew SoZ would not be for everybody, we just didn't expect it to be so polarizing.

Be glad you released it on the PC where godless players perform the heathen ritual of "thinking" and enjoy sacriligious orgies of challenge.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

"The entire point of spirit-eating was to prevent you from resting your party after every battle; essentially recharging all of your spells and hit points."

what