~Di

Great, hope you enjoy it! Do consider using sorceror as your magical base rather than wizard. The whole point is to be selective in the spells you choose, so if you need to pass out buffs to your whole party or cast six fireballs in a row you can do so without having to memorize spells purely on guesswork. You don't need lots of spells, you need the right spells and be able to use them when you need them. I've never played SoZ, so this assumes that the Eldritch Knight plays the same in that expansion as it did in the original game. Let us know how MOTB turns out with the build you finally decide on.

My absolute favorite NWN2 character is the Eldridge Knight. I'm not usually a spellcaster either, but spellcasting and buff spells are so powerful and fun in NWN2 that I can't resist. I usually build on a fighter/sorceror foundation, getting strong buff spells sprinkled with key offensive spells like fireball, fireburst, Mordenkainen's Sword, and a couple of powerful undead spells like sunburst and Undeath to Death. The result is a powerful, fully-buffed fighter who can take out mobs with well-placed AOE spells then beat the snot out of what's left with her weapon-of-choice. Having those buff spells also allows me to protect party members. I kept all of my fragile Graycloaks alive in the "take the bridges" quest by casting stonskin and protection from arrows on them. I keep intelligence and charisma as high as possible, put as many points into diplomacy as possible, and use leftover points in search, open locks and disarm traps... helpful when there isn't a rogue nearby. (Naturally, spellcasting, concentration and lore have to be kept at top level as well.) Although MOTB isn't my favorite game (I actually prefer NWN2 OC), I've played it twice with this build and it worked beautifully there as well. It's just a terrific fun combination of powerhouse melee and explosive spellcasting that I personally enjoy a lot!

Well, yeah.,Bethesda makes wretched games that deserved to be bashed. Repeatedly and with a really big hammer. (As Sargy would say, who loves ya, baby!) Guess I'm just clueless, too intellectually stunted to recognize wretchedness, because I happen to have enjoyed playing Bethesda games. So get out your bashing hammer and use it on me as well. Clearly, I deserve it.

Big difference between legitimate criticism and rinse-repeat Bio-bashing (or Bethesda-bashing)... on a game that nobody here save one has even played. In the past I have offered my own opinions, good and not-so-good, about games I've played, and explained why. When asked, I've explained why I'm not interested in a particular game. But I sure as heck don't follow every single thread about those games/developers inserting post after post of unbridled insult while gleefully chortling that I have never played said games and never would play said games because I just "know" that they are going to be (fill in the blank with list of rambling complaints). Big difference between discussion of a games pros and cons, or potential pros and cons, and a simple bashfest meant to be neither constructive nor conducive to anything beyond insulting not only the games/developers, but also heaped with a healthy dose of condescention aimed at those who might actually, you know, enjoy playing games by said developers. If "criticism spurs the conversation", that must be why there is so much yakking going on in this forum, because nearly every thread ends up being one long whine. Someone dropping in here for the first time would wonder what the hell most of us are doing on a video game board when there doesn't seem to be a game on the planet that anyone here likes! Are we all so danged intellectually extraordinary that the talentless hacks at development studios can't possibly satisfy or challenge our vast gaming superiority? Because that's what some of these threads sound like, a mental masturbation session where a positive word is sneered at as weakness and haughty conceit is considered the epitomy of awesome. Hmm. I guess I had one more rant left after all! Sorry about that.

I'm pleased to see alanschu's points laid out so well here. This forum has turned into a near-constant bash-BioWare and Bethesda fest, and it's getting on my last nerve. Lots of you aren't interested in BioWare games. Fine. We get it. After reading tome after tome after tome from the same batch of usual suspects blasting these developers and their games, even games that haven't been released, believe me we get it. My question... why the hell do you have to continually whine about this day after day, week after week? I'm not interested in Alpha Protocol... you don't see me in there pissing and moaning about all the reasons I'm not interested in that game, why I think it's going to be a boring game, a cliched game, a linear/nonlinear game, a seen-it-all-before game. No, I let the people who are interested in AP chat about it. I, on the other hand, join discussions about games I AM interested in, and frankly it's pretty danged annoying to see those discussions innundated by the same people barging in for no other reason than to slam the games and drone on about why they hate or are going to hate games that they've never even played. Good grief, enough already. There are more positive ways to garner personal attention. /rant That felt good. Carry on.

Awww... *hugs* I've been watching this game with cautious optimism. Divine Divinity was rollicking good fun, except for a ponderously overdone and boring final chapter. It was an old-style game that didn't take itself too seriously. Their next game, Beyond Divinity, was a real let down. I couldn't even finish it. It took itself TOO seriously, and lost the element of fun. Dull. Dark. Boring. Poorly executed. So I'm not sure what to expect for DD2. Hoping for the best... I'll probably look for some player feedback before I buy this time.

I know this probably doesn't mean much to most of you... hell, other than vague memories of reruns during my childhood it doesn't mean much to me either... but Gale Storm, who played the lead in the 1950's tv series My Little Margie, also died last week. Talk about a celebrity roll-call up yonder...

In start contrast to the negativity on this board about everything Bio or Bethesda, I am truly looking forward to Dragon Age. My only concern at the moment is whether or not my machine will be able to handle it without a processor upgrade. I think it's going to be a terrific game, and I fully expect to play it repeatedly for the next few years, just as I repeatedly play all the games I genuinely enjoy. And if I am by any chance disappointed in it, I'll give it the courtesy of actually, you know, playing the game before I make that pronouncement. alanschu, thanks for your updates (vague as they must be, of course) and comments. I've enjoyed them.

On the contrary; the death of a random African child is newsworthy. It is newsworthy because it happens every day, and many times every day. It is newsworthy because it can be corrected. It is newsworthy because it is something that is evil and terrible and wrong in the world that can be fixed with political and economic action that is never tried because Americans are distracted with "Michael Jackson died" and the corporate shills in congresses and parliaments worldwide have no reason to do anything with their public so mollified, and can thusly continue to get contributions from the most disgustingly oppressive corporations in return for never bringing it up. If you are craving attention and an appropriate soapbox to tout your favorite personal ideology, why don't you simply create a thread for it instead of hijacking this one? Not interested in the topic of this thread? No problem. Skip it and move on.

NWN2 didn't bore me. I really loved that game. Apparently I'm the only one on the planet who did, but I'm still enjoying it to this day. MOTB, not so much. Two play-throughs and I was done with it. Too annoying and aggravating for my tastes. I never even bothered with SOZ. Actually after reading this forum, it seems like the majority of posters here don't much like anything that's been released in the past decade. Maybe my sights are set too low, but I've played a lot of games in the past years that I have really enjoyed. NWN 2 is high on that list. Don't go dissin' my buds, Neeska, Khelgar, Sand... I mean, what's not to love?

An immensely talented and tragic human being. I've watched him go from child star to young adult superstar, with music that affected generations... to a self-destructive, emotionally-stunted, pitiful, lonely man desperate for the childhood he never had. His public spiral into a mental meltdown from which he never recovered is so very sad, yet pretty darned predictable. This isn't the time for me to speculate about his guilt or innocence of the charges he has faced. I have my opinion, but it no longer matters. He's gone, and he died as I had expected him to... wallowing in a hell of his own making. As much as I pity him, I believe that for the first time in his life, he's no longer in pain. What a waste.

There are sex origins: Human noble City Elf Dalish Elf Mage Noble Dwarf Commnon Dwarf Wow!!! I am soooo going to get this game!!!

It's called hypercorrection. Bad writers frequently write entire passages in passive voice. When told to not do this, they hypercorrect and avoid using it at all. Then they take it upon themselves to tell other people not to use passive voice, ever. Agreed. Passive prose can be lilting and beautiful... but it stops the forward momentum in a work of fiction, so the writer must know exactly when and for how long the reader's attention span can be redirected from the active action that most fiction novels use to keep the reader flipping those pages. The best wordsmiths know exactly when to give their gasping readers a quick breath by the use of beautiful, descriptive, even poetic prose, and how long to keep those reading engines on idle before pushing the prose back into active forward-motion again.

If you're realistic... and lucky... you'll up that from 18 to 25 years, then devote the decades of your remaining life to incessant fretting and worry about their well-being. Parenting is a job that has no retirement package.

Whoa... Drassen counter attack is ON? Yikes! Once I read about that puppy, I took it off so fast it left skid marks. I mean, talk about suicide. Besides, there are too many ways to get one's arse kicked in JA2 without going for certain death. I pride myself at being good at this game, but I'll humbly admit I doubt I'm that good. You're brave, my man. *bows in awe* Let us have a moment of silence for the Grizzly one... *sniff*. His mom was proud.

Yep, airport then Drassen.

Just noticed you're considering Grizzly... a personal fave!... but don't forget that he hates Dr. Q. Won't make a harmonious relationship there, so you might have to rethink your medical needs. Also, I always train my main merc in explosives. Takes about 20 minutes with a landmine, and I'm good to go. Cheap explosives expertise if you want to save the big bucks Trevor wants. Me, I like to have one explosives and one lockpicker in each of my squads. I love Wolf, a great all-rounder, but he'll never be good enough for the tough locks, and his marksmanship never really rises to the occasion, so I always had him on my B team.

Hi Di! Great to see you. Hope you will stick around and play in our thread. Your JAg 2 awesomness would be great to have on our side. I'm not online enough to be a real help, but I'm looking forward to checking your progress daily! Personally I've never started a JA2 game without my BFF Raven or that sexy-voiced Shadow. Then again, I usually, ah, use the local ATM for the cash to cover my... extra expenses.

Dr. Q is my favorite MD... and Trevor is my favorite everything. With Trev, you've got the best mechanic AND one of the best explosive guys. Plus he's got a cool accent. Pity he is so pricy... I like Steroid for the lulz factor, and for his bulging bicepts. Got to have a couple of strong guys to carry the heavy stuff. Plus Steroid is a pretty danged good shot. I always leave Ira behind to do the training. Her skill increases fast, and it's the only thing she's good at!

The US has already admitted it acted too slowly to the outbreak, and the WHO has voiced similar concerns. Really? Do you have a link for that, please? don't need a link or proof. it is a Given that the vast majority o' the world's tragedies in the post WWII era is the result o' American incompetence or greed. some folks start with the assumption that the US flubbed the swine flu thing and then work backwards... look for proof after the fact. why you gotta rock the boat? Gromnir is old fashioned-- we blame the Pope for all the world's ills. not any more valid than American hate, but at least our stoopidity gots pedigree and tradition. n00bs. HA! Good Fun! Way to completely misinterpret my post and have a bit of a paranoid rant while you're at it. I'd still like to see a link to your allegation that "the USA has admitted that it acted too slowly"... I find it hard to believe that the USA has made such an admission, verified by the WHO, when incidents of USA confirmed/suspected has been released within hours. I personally think the entire swine flue panic has been media driven... but you've made a specific allegation. Please support it or admit that it was speculation. Thanks.

CrashGirl: This is aaaaaaages ago, but I was saying that I thought if you stop after the big explosion then you can avoid the endgame. I didn't realise that is too late though? I suppose Vault 112 really is the point of no return? This was my post, not CrashGirl's, so I'll respond: You can continue on after Vault 112 (except then you have to contend with everything the Enclave can throw at you, which are power-armored baddies everywhere, ground and air) and go on exploring the wastelands. However, as soon as you begin the final main story quest (which begins after V112), you're pretty much stuck and the big bang at the end of that is indeed the end of the game. I didn't know that on my first game, and found myself done before I'd explored even a small portion of what I'd wanted to explore. Hence, my warning to CrashGirl.

The US has already admitted it acted too slowly to the outbreak, and the WHO has voiced similar concerns. Really? Do you have a link for that, please? I ask because it seems now as if the swine flue had been in Mexico for weeks, even months before its existance was publicly acknowledged, yet USA cases were announced within days, even hours, of confirmation. What's more, every single USA case (as of yesterday evening) has been traced to American citizens who were visiting Mexico within the past two weeks, even the NY outbreak which was traced to a group of high school kids who went to Cancun on spring break. For those who scream "close the borders" (which I'm in favor of, but not because of this), if we could have done that we wouldn't have nearly 20 million illegals in country right now. And it still wouldn't have prevented a single case, since that would have required refusing re-entry of American citizens to their own country... 'cause that's how it got here. That's also how it got to every other country that has cases thus far, their own citizens returning from Mexico. I'm not really too concerned overall, since the USA cases have been extremely mild with no deaths and few hospitalizations. Unless the virus spreads a heck of a lot faster than we've seen here and mutants into the more virulent form that seems to be affecting Mexico, I doubt it will be much of a threat. Don't forget, the USA loses 34,000 people to flu-related death even in an average year. Swine flu would have to go some to even put a dent in that. We should all be cautious, but a bit calmer, methinks!

So is this series like the Diablo/Sacred games? I didn't think it was anything like Diablo... which I dispise, or Sacred which kind of left me cold. It was fun, campy, and humorous, but not without its flaws. You'll notice that there are many positive posts here from people who truly enjoyed it. There are many folks in here, though, who are super-critical, and sometimes I wonder if they have ever played a game that they didn't hate. You should probably go review all the screenshots in the link Krezeck supplied to get a feel for what the game will look like.

Sorry to hear that. I wouldn't have been getting it, of course, and am happy that Witcher 2 is still in the works. Hopefully they won't be forced to cancel it too.

I am cautiously interested. I absolutely loved Divine Divinity, thought it was campy and great fun... at least until the drudgery of the final chapter. Then I snapped up and played Beyond Divinity. What a horrendous disappointment. Not sure what to expect of Divine Divinity 2, but I hope they went back to the strong points of the original and learned from the mistakes made with their second game, which was so horrendous I only managed to play about 3/4 of it before I gave up entirely.