Volourn's Wowwy Journey With NWN2:Spoiler Edition

[Volourn]

"The stupidest thing that i really REALLY hate is that area of effect, and even Chain Lightning, hurts containers. Half the dragon loot was broken. I mean, what the hell is that?! Fireball and whatever I can understand, but chain lightning is supposed to jump from hostile to hostile. If it can avoid jumping to friendlies why can't it avoid jumping to boxes? Dunno how it works in pnp, but poopies."

 

It's how Obsidian seems to have viewed hardcore/D&D rules in NWN2. Pretty much any spell - espciially area effect spells - seem to target EVERYTHING in their area. Thankfully, due to some cajoling, much of this seems to be on the go for a fix - most noteably spells like IGMS being party friendly as well as spells like Fireburst *not* effectiing the caster since it shouldn't. I'm hopeing to get them to change a few spells so they can be more 'true' to the intention of the spell in question.

 

IIRC, in pnp, I'm not even sure Cl can even jump party members. It effects whatever is in its path. I may be wrong as it's been awhile since I opened a pnp book and the lightning spells have never been amongst my 'go to' spells.

 

As for it breaking up the loot. LOL I never had that happen to me with the drgaon hoard. hehe. Most of its junk anyways, imo. The good part comes when you get back to the keep and see how much loot your goons brought back.

 

 

"Volo, I found Firkraag ridiculously easy, so its just personal opinion. I don't think any of the dragons were really hard though, except for some of those super-modded BG2 dragons. They were insane."

 

I don't use BG mods; but while I agree Firkragg isn't hard or anything; he's surely more challenging than this one. Though, he has some tricks like regen. Wing bffet won't ruin your spells if your casters aren't near - neither of mine were.

 

 

Raven: Try the regen spell. Z should ahve it, and I'm sure Elanee has it as well IIRC. You regen very quickly; but duration is hort. It's what the dragon casts I believe. Grobnar is not that good as an offensive spellcaster. Heh. he's a bard. Most of his offensive spells won't likely work on bosses though ice storm should be decent. With stoneskin, the drgaon should do soemwhere in the neighbourhood of 25-30 damage in my experience.

 

 

"like using that effect on custom weapons also."

 

HAHAHA! That's possible? R00fles!

Edited November 20, 2006 by Volourn

[Dark_Raven]

"like using that effect on custom weapons also."

 

HAHAHA! That's possible? R00fles!

 

Very much so. Firk uses a undroppable creature only item that has that effect. I made a sword that has that effect. I had it set to a certain percent of when it hits, it knocks you across the room.

Edited November 20, 2006 by Dark_Raven

[Volourn]

Aww.. Thought you meant NWN2! BOO!!

[Dark_Raven]

Too bad it's not in NWN2.

[Darque]

I knew better than use my fire base spells, red dragons being immune to it. I even had my characters switch weapons. They were using fire based weapons so I changed them over to using their weapons that did other damage.

 

Next time I will bump up my fire resistence. But still that bitch hits you hard in melee.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Stoneskin.

Energy Immunity spells stop the fire damage.

Summoned pets will distract it.

 

After that just tank it.

 

Easy battle overall.

[kumquatq3]

Not to brag, but I ****ing owned that dragon and the black dragons.

 

Should have been tougher battles.

[Dark_Raven]

[Darque]

Not to brag, but I ****ing owned that dragon and the black dragons.

 

Should have been tougher battles.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

They were pretty easy.

 

Far easier than the ones in BG2.

 

Of course, I solo'd the ones in BG2 also.

[Tigranes]

Well, I was roleplaying, so I fully expected to make a deal with the dragon, then it pissed me off so I decided to fight with half spells and no prior preparation.

 

All Qara could do was cast 6 chain lightinngs, so... broken items all over the place. Maybe the loot was crap,but its really depressing because you never get to find out if they WERE any good.

 

I think the Dragon could have been harder if they made the AI better; i.e. make it randomly change targets eveyr once in a while, get spellcasters if they do +40 damage in one spell, or just go after someone that has low health. It seemed pretty content to just attack Khelgar all the time, even though I was casting heal and regen on him all the time.

[Dark_Raven]

Not to brag, but I ****ing owned that dragon and the black dragons.

 

Should have been tougher battles.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

They were pretty easy.

 

Far easier than the ones in BG2.

 

Of course, I solo'd the ones in BG2 also.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You guys must be on something I am not. The BG dragons were far easier to kill. Even with the Improved Firkraag mod I could beat that easier than this stupid dragon in NWN2.

 

Why the hell isn't Timestop in the game? Bleh!

[Volourn]

"I think the Dragon could have been harder if they made the AI better; i.e. make it randomly change targets eveyr once in a while"

 

LOL My version of the dragon decide to ignore my tanks and went straight for Grobnar who was on the other side of the map. HA! Poor little guy didn't stand a chance and died rather quickly. The dragon mya move funnily and very slowly but it has a HUGE reach.

[Wistrik]

I haven't fought the dragon yet. The first time I went through, I made a deal with the dragon to kill the Fire Giants, and it agreed to assist me in doing so. Alas, I encountered a bug. I killed the Fire Giants alone, and the dragon was stuck in a dialog/script loop back in its lair, so it never did anything, and I could advance no further in conversation with it. Maybe this time it'll work better.

[Dark_Raven]

In one of my reloads Grobnar was my last one standing. I was screwed. His spells used up and using his bow with +2 arrows, my only hope died rather quickly.

[Dark_Raven]

I haven't fought the dragon yet. The first time I went through, I made a deal with the dragon to kill the Fire Giants, and it agreed to assist me in doing so. Alas, I encountered a bug. I killed the Fire Giants alone, and the dragon was stuck in a dialog/script loop back in its lair, so it never did anything, and I could advance no further in conversation with it. Maybe this time it'll work better.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Lucky you. She betrays you in the end. She wants all of the precious goodies including the belt. My precious!

[Darque]

You guys must be on something I am not.    The BG dragons were far easier to kill. Even with the Improved Firkraag mod I could beat that easier than this stupid dragon in NWN2.

 

Why the hell isn't Timestop in the game? Bleh! 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Wha?

 

All you have to do is keep hitting it until it drops.

 

And stoneskill gives you more HP (effectively), and the energy immunity spells neutralizes it's breath.

 

I had more problems with orc hordes

[roshan]

I chose the option to attack both the dragon and the giants. I completely butchered them.

 

In fact, my frames dropped to less than 1 in 3 seconds, which severely limited my ability to own the dragon and the giants, but it was still a complete massacre.

[Spider]

The dragon never joined me when I made a deal with it. When I came back to it, it was still talking about going to kill firegiants.

 

I got totally creamed the first time versus the dragon (to the level I was wondering how the hell I was going to beat it), but the second time, it just died. Better buffs and all, but it went down so easily I wondered how the hell it beat me the first time.

 

All in all, there aren't any fights in NWN2 that are particularly difficult if you prepare properly for them. My second playthrough I had to reload once due to party KO and that was more due to me being careless and not paying attention rather than the fight being difficult.

 

(it was the two dragons and I had one on the last sliver of HP which I assumed that my fighter would take care of, so I concentrated on the other one. It's just that my fighter had been knocked down and was no longer targeting the dragon, just standing there getting chewed to pieces and then two dragons made short work of the rest of the party. Had my character kept attacking the dragon after the knockdown, I wouldn't have to releoad a single fight)

 

(oh, and my party was something like Grobnar, Zhjaeve, Bishop and Neeshka at that fight, which is why they got creamed when they had to deal with two dragons)

[Tigranes]

I got totally creamed the first time versus the dragon (to the level I was wondering how the hell I was going to beat it), but the second time, it just died. Better buffs and all, but it went down so easily I wondered how the hell it beat me the first time.

 

Same experience with me. I took Khelgar, Elanee, Neeshka and Qara I think, and I was a wizard myself. As I said, the dragon AI just attacked Khelgar nearly the whole time, so he tanked, Elanee stood right there Healing and Regenerating and Stoneskinning, while Qara and I fired off the spells.

 

The main difference I found compared to BG2 was that in BG2, Dragons could always make a "comeback" - either with a Heal spell (Silver Dragon) or by casting different buffs during the battle, requiring the battle to be set in multiple stages - sometimes yourself regrouping when the Dragon suddenly goes invisible and hides for a bit. With the red dragon I felt it was less epic because unless half your party gets killed, if you dispel the initial enchantments then set a rhythm going, then its just a matter of grinding till somebody wins. It would have been more fun and challenging if the Dragon saved some spells until halfway and cast them, especially buffs, so your spellcasters have to be protected.

 

The black dragons gave me difficulties, but only because my party was Thief, Druid, 2 mages and Khelgar. Summons are really way too weak in this game and the multiple dragons just kept ripping my spellcasters down.

[Darque]

I chose the option to attack both the dragon and the giants. I completely butchered them.

 

In fact, my frames dropped to less than 1 in 3 seconds, which severely limited my ability to own the dragon and the giants, but it was still a complete massacre.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Wait, you can attack them both at the same time?

 

That would be awesome! :joy:

[roshan]

I thought the black dragons would be harder, but the fight was actually quite uneventful. When I went to fight the fire giants, I thought, this is it, now I am going to get my ass kicked. But it was extremely boring, just the same straightforward hack and slash.

 

I dont understand what happened to difficult battles in RPGS. Why dont developers design something that is actually challenging for the players anymore?

[Volourn]

"Summons are really way too weak in this game"

 

Eh? You musta used different summons than me. And, heck, I didn't use any 'debuffing' spells the entire game. Heck, i never bothered with them in any IE game for that matter. Do use them in NWN1 though, and I'm sure I will come various modules/PWs in NWN2.

[roshan]

I chose the option to attack both the dragon and the giants. I completely butchered them.

 

In fact, my frames dropped to less than 1 in 3 seconds, which severely limited my ability to own the dragon and the giants, but it was still a complete massacre.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Wait, you can attack them both at the same time?

 

That would be awesome! :joy:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah, when the dragon comes to help you battle the giants, you can choose to attack both of them - that was an epic battle, but it was way too easy.

[Deraldin]

"Summons are really way too weak in this game"

 

Eh? You musta used different summons than me. And, heck, I didn't use any 'debuffing' spells the entire game. Heck, i never bothered with them in any IE game for that matter. Do use them in NWN1 though, and I'm sure I will come various modules/PWs in NWN2.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I know that I thought summons were pretty pathetic. I don't think I ever had a summon last more than two rounds.

 

I used debuff spells all the time. Stoneskins are really annoying when you don't have adamantine weapons. )

[Volourn]

WOW! M summons seem to last until the duration runs around. Espicially the elementals sicne they're immune to many things and Mord's swords. Even the animals cna keep truckin' at appropriate levels. didn't summon any outsider sor udnead yet though.

 

This is how I deal with stoneskin - hack away through it! I never sued admantine weapons. They seem wussy. 2 extra magical damage? Big whoop.

[Deraldin]

WOW! M summons seem to last until the duration runs around. Espicially the elementals sicne they're immune to many things and Mord's swords. Even the animals cna keep truckin' at appropriate levels. didn't summon any outsider sor udnead yet though.

 

This is how I deal with stoneskin - hack away through it! I never sued admantine weapons. They seem wussy. 2 extra magical damage? Big whoop.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I don't use adamantine weapons either, however I had less trouble with it in my first game where my paladin was averaging around 28 damage per hit. My current fighter/rogue averages around 17. It's tough when the enemy has both stoneskin and DR that seems to always work no matter what you use against them. <_<