Volourn's Wowwy Journey With NWN2:Spoiler Edition

[Dark_Raven]

Betrayers deserve nothing more then a nice slow burning death.

[Darque]

I couldn't agree more.

[Dark_Raven]

Yeah!

[Darque]

Yeah!

[alanschu]

I rolled my eyes at Sand who said he questioned my judgment by siding with Qara, and felt like siding with Garius as a result.

Edited November 28, 2006 by alanschu

[Wistrik]

Finally beat the game for the second time. This time I cheated my influence with those I didn't travel with (as much as possible) just to see possible outcomes.

 

Bishop turned on me even with more than 20 influence, but I was able to reason with him at the end so he abandoned Garius as well and left the scene.

 

Neeshka was still taken when we entered the Vale, but later I convinced her (again with 20+ influence) to stay with us.

 

Qara, with 20+ influence, still sided with Garius, and died quickly thereafter. Perhaps her CN alignment is to blame, but she's got to be the least reasonable character in the game. Oh well, no loss as her body decorated the fortress floor. Such a waste of writing on that character. Because she had two rings and some bracers (I didn't trust her), Garius didn't seem to think she needed better equipment. She now qualifies as my most hated NPC, though Bishop remains a close second.

 

I managed to get the construct working this time. (Nobody told me it had to do with the OTHER pool of water in the goblin caves. Thanks to Spider all the same, you steered me in the right direction.) Fortunately I chanced a third trip to Ember to re-check the goblin caves, and sure enough, found the liquid this time. Got 1000 quick XP and a new buddy. Used my various crafting skills to improve its armor, weapon damage, and overall power. The game said the construct got bigger when I improved its runes, but it didn't actually change size on the screen. Also, Garius didn't try to turn the construct away from me. A scaling glitch causes the construct to render full size in the Character screen, so you can't see his upper body. It should scale him back to fit in the window.

 

Everyone else behaved the same as last game. I also managed to reach (without cheating, as I wanted to see how high I could get legitimately) 35 influence with Elanee. I had 25 by the time the siege started, and our night together scored me another 10 points. I'm not big on gratuitous sex in computer games, and on this matter I preferred Nathyrra's confession of love in HotU. Elanee never quite got to that point, though she sort of inferred it. I guess the devs were trying to give the young boys something to thrill about. I found it slightly amusing, and for a moment wished I was with Nathyrra in Cania once again.

 

The end narration is a tad conflicting. First he says everyone was sealed in the fortress of shadow by all the falling stone. Then he later says "who knows where the Shard Bearer might be" and implies a few times that they got away somehow. Personally I find it hard to believe that a level 20 Sand couldn't have teleported us out of that mess, but that's how it is with forced plots. For that matter, it could also happen that Ammon's 'ties' with the lower planes could have swept us all to that place. As the narrator said though, that's a tale for nother time. I certainly hope there's an expansion that continues the story. It could be like HotU and feature epic levels, which would allow the same characters to advance as the story unfolds. Time will tell.

 

The party got so much XP that our experience reached the point where we would have been level 21, then wrapped the XP bar back to the start and continued showing our accrued XP. That comes from accomplishing more quests than I had the first time through. It doesn't surprise me though, as BG2:ToB is the only CRPG (expansion) I've played where I didn't manage to reach/exceed the experience cap on a single play-through (with a full party). I think I had all history feats there are for playing the good-aligned side of the story.

 

I'm tempted to play a female warlock for a third session, to experience dialogs as a female character and to try out the warlock class to get my own impressions, but I'd like to wait for the final version of the 1.03 patch first. I also want to start making an area with the toolset, and it's hard to do that while playing the game.

 

By the way, I played from Arvahn to the endgame with the beta patch, and had no issues that I didn't already have with patch 1.02. A few things were different, but none of my quests were broken or anything odd like that. Performance was noticeably better in a few areas that had been rather sluggish before. Indoor areas with lots of objects still bog down though, which is probably due to my aging video card. Targeting was a little more picky and based on camera angle, but this is something Obsidian is aware of and plans to fix for the complete 1.03 patch.

[Spider]

In the end they say that the temple comes crashing down around the party, not on them. They also say that the knight-captain and the fortress are nowhere to be found.

 

Qara stays with you if Sand turns (and vice versa). So it's on or the other. The construct is turned by Bishop if your influence with Grobnar is low (ie, he falls for the stuff Bishop tells him in the cutscene and gives the command word to Bishop).

 

I have another issue with the ending, by the way. If Elanee leaves your party after meeting with the circle, there is mention of a lone elven women that walks around in the mere. However I killed Elanee and still got that frame. Felt a bit odd to me.

 

(on another note, I didn't get a tail for Neeshka with 1.03beta)

[Volourn]

The PC and his companions don't die. This is clear as day. Period.

[Wistrik]

In the end they say that the temple comes crashing down around the party, not on them. They also say that the knight-captain and the fortress are nowhere to be found.

I'm aware of the "around" part, but he also says they're trapped by the debris. This would seem to contradict the later statement that they're nowhere to be found, though as I posted there are possible ways they could have escaped. If so this wasn't elaborated on.

 

Qara stays with you if Sand turns (and vice versa). So it's on or the other. The construct is turned by Bishop if your influence with Grobnar is low (ie, he falls for the stuff Bishop tells him in the cutscene and gives the command word to Bishop).

Ah, I've managed to have Sand and Grobnar stick with me the last two games since I get along well with them, so I've missed that experience entirely.

 

I have another issue with the ending, by the way. If Elanee leaves your party after meeting with the circle, there is mention of a lone elven women that walks around in the mere. However I killed Elanee and still got that frame. Felt a bit odd to me.

That is odd indeed. For some reason I don't see her ever leaving me so I'd never notice that bit. Maybe at some point they intended her to leave like Bishop can do, which would prevent you killing her.

 

(on another note, I didn't get a tail for Neeshka with 1.03beta)

I didn't either, but it might be because she was in my savegame from 1.02. Did you try making a new game and meeting her to see if the tail was there? It's certainly visible in the toolset. I made a new game last night but was too tired to leave Daeghun's house so that's where I stopped.

[Spider]

I'm aware of the "around" part, but he also says they're trapped by the debris. This would seem to contradict the later statement that they're nowhere to be found, though as I posted there are possible ways they could have escaped. If so this wasn't elaborated on.

 

Actually, the key to it all in my mind is that the fortress is nowhere to be found either. Ruins of a fortress is still something to be found, but apparently not even that is around. Or maybe they just mean it's hidden too deep in the swamp.

 

That is odd indeed. For some reason I don't see her ever leaving me so I'd never notice that bit. Maybe at some point they intended her to leave like Bishop can do, which would prevent you killing her.

 

She leaves you after meeting the Circle of the Mere, if you don't have enough influence. That's when my character killed her, not in the end fight.

 

I didn't either, but it might be because she was in my savegame from 1.02. Did you try making a new game and meeting her to see if the tail was there? It's certainly visible in the toolset. I made a new game last night but was too tired to leave Daeghun's house so that's where I stopped.

 

I can't recall if my third game was started pre or post 1.03. I'm not going to start another one just to see if she's got a tail, that's for sure. It's not like the lack thereof really bothered me in the first place.

[Tigranes]

No tail unless you restart.

[Darque]

Wait, 1.03 adds a tail to Neeshka? (w00t)

 

What about other Tieflings? (w00t)

[Dark_Raven]

The PC and his companions don't die. This is clear as day. Period.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is? :crazy:

[Darque]

It's Volourn.

[Dark_Raven]

Wait, 1.03 adds a tail to Neeshka?  (w00t)

 

What about other Tieflings?  (w00t)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes. So I heard.

[Volourn]

"It is?"

 

Yes, read my post in this trhead (like 10-15 pages back lol) where I describe my feelings on the end game for further detail. I ain't explaining my reasons for the second time in the same thread.

[Dark_Raven]

Oh? I'll get right on it, if you know what I mean.

[Darque]

Wait, 1.03 adds a tail to Neeshka?  (w00t)

 

What about other Tieflings?  (w00t)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes. So I heard.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

FAN-tastic! (w00t)

[kalimeeri]

In the endgame, there was no mention of the fortress, but iirc it did say that the Knight-Captain's cloak was found. If that's the case, the searchers were looking in the right place, there was just nothing else (bones, bodies) to find. But Dhaegun still seems to be searching, or waiting.

 

There are many explanations for the missing party besides Sand--he's a bit too conventional. On the 'good' side, Aldenon of the flaky memory implies that it might be possible to portal back, he just hadn't really thought about it; Grobnar's repair ability falls into the same mixed-results category. Maybe good, maybe bad. The Githerazai exist on a whole other plane, and they were watching; same for the Githyanki, who still have an interest in the sword. And the Wendersnaven could exist. But right now I'm leaning toward Ammon Jerro's underworld ties, who were powerful enough to snatch him right out of the world in a flash of white light and imprison him after his battle at West Haven. Even with the low to middling influence I had with him, he stayed with the party (maybe a plot device--did anyone have him turn?)--and I doubt his captor would just give up after he escaped.

[Pop]

Has anyone summoned Mephasm to the Keep?

 

Looked like the cloak and the silver sword both stayed in FR. They'll probably both show up as touchstones in future games not featuring the shard-bearer, if they make future games. It makes sense to me that if the shard-bearer returns as a character (PC or otherwise) it will be in a planar setting, at least in part. Hell is a nice place to start a game when you're 20th level.

 

But given that NWN2 didn't strike me as the beginning of a multi-part epic, the legacy (KOTOR, KOTOR2, NWN, IWD, PST) seems to indicate that the shard-bearer won't be seen again. It's a pity.

 

It's darkly humorous that NWN2 is effectively being treated as the first in the series. All things NWN will be completely ignored from here on in.

Edited December 3, 2006 by Pop

[Spider]

I have. You can bargain with him for a few decent items. Maybe more if you've got the appropriate skills. I only got the three items out of him though and they weren't spectacular.

[kalimeeri]

Can also get three +1 increases in whatever stats you choose. But bear in mind that the tokens he gives you must be kept in your inventory to have that effect--IOW, don't put them in a bag of holding, or they won't work.

 

If you're looking to adjust your alignment, he does a great job of that, too. Bargaining x6 = no stat gain, just a big shift down the alignment ladder.