Spider

Or have the available quickslots be the ones of the first character (in the case of NWN2 the main character), so that if a slot is activated when all characters are selected only the main character does the deed. The only commands that are given to the entire group would then be attack and possibly movement.

Right outside the tower. Did it last night. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> This is, of course, provided that you built the NWN9 tower, he wouldn't spar with me when I allowed a mage to settle there instead.

Just out of the blue (well, it's about the end fight), I think it was kinda cool that you get Bishop back as an ally if you side with the KoS. Edit: I don't think Khelgar can join KoS. Or Elanee. Or Grobnar, although if you fail your influence check with Grobnar (and Bishop presumably) Construct goes over.

Are you perhaps anywhere near the glowstone? if so, then there is a perfectly good reason for goblin's casting spells and it's explained in the game.

I'm currently playing a warlock and I'm not having this problem at all. Quickslotted Blasts and everything. Or, I only have one blast slotted since it's the only one I use. Eldritch Chain/Beshadowed Blast. But that one works fine for me.

While I agree that the AI is awful, that is hardly anything that Oblivion does better. Whenever I had a follower in Oblivion I would grind my teeth. Until I realized mos tof them can be told to stay behind while I clear out the cave. And NWN1 is just as bad, or worse, when ti comes to AI. So hardly a point in any games favor. If anything, I'd give the point to NWN2 since there I can turn off the AI and control my party myself (which is what I basically always do). I think the camera is wonderful. I play in free camera mode and have no problems with it at all. Although I am used to that type of camera since playing Silent Storm, so it's possible it's worse than I give it credit for. I also think the UI is very good (now that weapon combinations can be added to the quickbar). As for the trap thing, yeah that is a bit stupid, but on the other hand given how harmless most traps are, you're probably going to take more damage (from archers) by NOT charging over it. But it should probably have been a toggle. But I'd still like to hear why you think Oblivion is a better game for people with no experience in the genre, something the reviewers won't answer. (it's quite possible that you're right since Oblivion is a much less complex game, although NWN1 was fairly complex as well and that managed to become fairly popular)

No, but non-linearity is still non-linearity. And a plot is still a plot. A plot where the end comes first, the beginning somewhere in the middle and the middle is all over the place may sound fun to some, but certainly not to me. I actually like having the beginning at the start of the game.

I'm just wondering exactly what you're hoping to accomplish with your posts. This is not a flame, but a genuine question. You say NWN2 is a worse game for the uninitiated than Oblivion, but you don't say why. You say NWN is popular and that NWN2 sucks in comparison (at least that's what I'm getting between the lines) but again you don't say why. You come with no suggestions on how to improve the game to make it better, although admittedly depending on the suggestions those can be kinda futile. There is a certain limit to how much can be fixed in patches after all. But making suggestions and being constructive helps a lot to avoid getting bashed by other forum goers. As for NWN2s growing impopularity, I don't know about that. Most people I talk to who play the game like it. There is truth that there are a lot of people bashing it as well, but that happens to any game. I've seen so much Oblivion bashing that you wouldn't believe it. People are more vocal when they're upset, this is a known fact. I personally like the game and think it is much better than Oblivion. This is not to say Oblivion was a bad game, far from it. I liked Oblivion, but I'm liking NWN2 a lot more. But if you prefer Oblivion, then that is an option that is clearly open to you (again, not a flame).

Or you can just use the console, which was my point to begin with.

I recall JE saying that the mandatory NPCs is not a choice he would have made but when he came aboard it was too late to change it. I personally didn't mind it so much. I think having everyone hanging out at the Flagon or the keep is fine and while I can udnerstand the frustration of having to bring certain NPCs to certain maps, I don't share it. The only real issue I have with it all is Ammon Jerro. I liked the character and didn't mind having him around per se, I just feel a role-playing choice of killing him would have been nice.

Actually, Michael Moorcok experimented with non-linear fiction in the 60s I think. I've read some of it and it's incomprehensible mess. Masterfully written, but still a mess. So I agree with the notion that no one in their right mind wants an actual non-linear plot in a game. Basically, you get two additional feats. Either Blessing of Waukeen or Merchant's Friend depending on what edition. However, both feats are in the regular version of the game as well and can thus be given to any character with the console.

Really? I think I found three my last playthrough, but it could be four. And I know it's quite possible I missed one in Castle Neverwinter due to lack of lockpicking skills. But I thought I got all valuable gems outside of that. Unless Sand's inventory resets, never went to his shop before he joined tha party. Or if one of the keep merchants I didn't got has one. Although my point still stands (depending on how many items you want Bracers +8, Strength +8 or Energy resistances +30 on)

And you have no mods installed? But since it's beta it's a bit hit and miss, I guess. Some people have even reported problems with the game they didn't have prior to patching.

alan, the part of the quote I was mostly responding to was "I'm not sure at all how this happened. How on Earth were you able to even hurt a non-hostile NPC?". That seemed to be about AoE spells to me. But no, when it comes ta targeting allies that seems to be a big no-no. Well apart from a couple of specific instances.

Don't forget that you now can but two weapon combos in the quick bar and turn off the confirmation dialogue at merchants.

There will be a stable base of operations available to you in Act II, so at least that'll be fixed. While the procedure will be the same, this will improve a little once you change base of operations. You still have to exit the area to change party, but exiting brings up the world map where you can simply cancel and stay at the area. Fine for just switching stuff between NPCs at least. I personally don't have any thoughts on the actual issue, since I'm not familiar with 3.5 rules enough. I have seen the logic used by people defending this choice and it is as follows. Apparently armor have two sets of AC modifiers. On one hand it has it's base armor value, which is a static number, ie 8 in the case of a full plate. Then it has it's magical armor bonus, which is an added value, ie +5 or whatever. The bracers provide an armor bonus which is functionally different from armor value. Two armor bonuses don't stack so only the highest of the one from armor or bracers is used. Regardless of which armor bonus is used, it still stacks with the armor value. I don't know if this is the way it's supposed to work in 3.5, but it is the way it works in NWN2. Personally I hate XP costs in crafting, so the current system suits me fine. There is a limit to how much of the best gear you can craft though and that is the availability of gemstones. I think there are only 6-7 blue diamonds, 2-4 Rogue Stones and 3-5 King's Tears available in the game and that puts a fairly hard limit on how many of the more hardcore stuff you can do. Enough to give everyone +5 weapons, sure (unless you have multiple dual wielders) but you only get to full equip one character with the absolute best. You can proably do a lot more +3 and +4 stuff though, but there is plenty of equipment of that level available in the game so it really makes little difference. Also, I don't think that crafting the supreme gear impacts difficulty of the game overly much compared to only using in-game stuff. Alan, you're playing on normal difficulty, right? On hardcore, you can definitely hurt your own party with AoE spells. I've never actually had anyone go hostile though (but I have had them go down on a few occasions, damned evasion characters for failing their reflex rolls).

Sounds like the "High Texture" bug where autosaving the game will crash the game, remove any autosave that existed previously and corrupt other recent saves. I've only heard about it corrupting one save apart from the autosave though (which is what happened for me). Don't know how it relates to high textures, but at least turning them off fixed it for me and most others. Also don't know if it's been fixed in the beta patch, but that one is working like a charm for me. NWN2 with AA looks much better than NWN2 without. (this part not a reply to Darque) Also, I can't understand the complaint that inventory icons are tiny. I thought they were fairly large unmodded. Probably a resolution thing though, but at 1280x1024 they were fine. I have, however, added a gui mod that makes all of your inventory fit in one tab rather than four. THOSE icons are tiny. Still worth it though, I really hate the tabbed inventory.

I think quicksave is F5. Or F9. Pretty sure it's one of those. it took me a long time before I figured it out as well, but eventually it showed up in a loading tip I think. Or maybe that was NWN2.

It's a fun game, but definitely not without issues. It runs like crap on my computer (which is in the bottom part of medium end machines), it's only playable with basically everything set to minimum. This does not lead to a visually stunning game. Although the latest patch is said to improve performance so maybe it's better now. I can run NWN2 with medium-high settings without a problem for reference. Apart from the bad performance, the game isn't that buggy I don't think. Sure, there are some bugs (like the character not getting certain, or at least one, skills after they've been trained) but nothing really that major. Also, anyone complaining about NWN2 load times had better stay far away from this game. But once you get into it it's pretty fun, if a bit repetetive. It's basically go to a town, do all the quests, decide whether to kill rebels or orcs (or hashishin or nomads), then wash, rince, repeat. But the gameplay is still fun and there is some variety at times. So I'd say give the demo a shot and if it's to your liking, then consider getting the game.

Gothic 3 can, technically, be played in first person. However, doing so requires a fairly strong machochistic streak in the gamer. It's clunky and awkward and the second you interact with anything that isn't a hostile, you get sent back inte third person and have to zoom back. So it's certainly not adviced.

Actually, it was more where programs go and how harddrives are viewed that I didn't like. Getting permission to place my storage stuff could be done, that I know. But to decide on what harddrive it was to be placed would have been a bit more complex iirc. Doable, though I think. So to try and stay on topic, any hope for a Linux version of NWN2? (yeah, I know that question has probably been asked and answered a million times, so I guessthere's no need to bother. It's not like I really care or even use Linux)

You probably can if you're a god enough programmer. But I got the impression the thing I disliked was part of the core of how Linux was designed. I never got any options on where to install programs and while I could probably save random files outside of my Home folder, it was heavily adviced against. But someone with more knowledge than me will probably set me straight.

Don't the ambushers in Ember come out through those doors? Or maybe I'm thinking of something else. Edit: Didn't BG2 have 3-4 years of devtime and NWN2 only 2? Even if not, I'm guessing there is a difference in time used when a new graphics engine needs to be writtn rather than using (and updating) an existing engine. Should account for 6 months at least

So does this mean that basically all older games wil be completely incompatible with Vista? Or at least saving will be? As for the larger issue, I'm actually with Sand. I hate having save games in the My Docs folder, although not exactly for the same reason. I just don't like using it at all. I'm a bit of a control/neat freak when it comes to my computer. I want to decide where everything is going and I want to keep it free of clutter. I've even uninstalled programs I could have considered using simply because they didn't allow me to decide exactly where they were installed (only programs I was on the fence about or similar other software was available, if it's something I'll definitely use then I'll growl a little and leave it be). I actually hate this about Linux. Tried it out some during the summer, but the lack of control made me very frustrated with it. I also have issues with games using the My Docs folder because when uninstalling them, the typically don't delete all the files there. Or the one in the game folder for that matter. So that means I have to remember to manually delete two folders instead of one. Not a big issue, but annoying all the same.

IB is Improved Battles, right? I installed that once and hated it. Almost every fight in that thing led to me getting completely pummeled. I hadn't had so much experience with Tactics then as I have now though, so I'd like to try it again sometime. Only it's not currently available (at least not last time I checked). The mod-fight that always gets me though is Tactics Improved Faldorn. I don't think I've beaten that yet. In regards to the usefullness of Breach, by the way, there is a world of diference between paying BG2 with or without Tactics. Without it's pretty much a wasted spell slot, since most fights are pretty damn easy anyway. But with Tactics it pretty much becomes the most important spell in the game. All of a sudden mages become inteligent, have good pre-buffs AND a good spell selection, so if they don't go down quickly, they will cause serious damage to your party.