Volourn's Wowwy Journey With NWN2:Spoiler Edition

[Big Bottom]

I don't like Neeshka either, she constantly whines and her squeaky voice gets on my nerves. I think I may trade her in for Qara next time I'm at the pub.

[Missy]

Neeshka's okay - she serves her purpose well enough so far (and is thankfully not as irritating as old Tommy from NWN - "I can pick that open aaaaaasy..." *shudder*).

[taks]

Don't let Taks see this thread! He'll beat me up for slandering THE perfect game!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

you didn't slander the game. i agree with most of what you said.

 

there are a few complaints i have as well... in particular:

 

the AI "feature" where the selected character is targeted by enemies is extremely annoying. if i switch to my mage (which is me), suddenly they all target him. they'll run through fire walls and cloudkills to get to him then chase him around. right by my dwarf who subsequently gets an AOO. moronic. what other game was this a problem with, IWD2? i griped about that then, too.

 

merchant variability sucks. i can no longer buy healing kits. with neeshka pounding CMWounds like they were water, i need healing kits. there are also no more CSWounds available for purchase so it takes the dwarf a few rounds to get healed.

 

oh, and i bankrupted one merchant with all of my characters near the encumbrance limit. that was actually kinda funny, not really a complaint.

 

there are a couple other things, mostly annoyances rather than real problems. as volourn pointed out, this has got to be the most stable game ever. i'm not sure i've even seen any real bugs. i'm sure some C & D gameplay bugs (probably the AI issues) have cropped up, but that's about it.

 

taks

[kumquatq3]

Neeshka is too useful to toss.

[Dark_Raven]

Neeshka is too useful to toss.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That she is. If I find them useful I keep them. Even though her not getting along with the dwarf gets tiresome.

[@\NightandtheShape/@]

Heh Volo, Did you notice the bat called Volo?

[kumquatq3]

Neeshka is too useful to toss.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That she is. If I find them useful I keep them. Even though her not getting along with the dwarf gets tiresome.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

But they have a few funny moments. Especially when that sorceress gets thrown in the mix at the bar.

 

Is it me or does everyone seem to hate everyone else. Are there party members that get along that arn't annoying mini-bards?

Edited November 5, 2006 by kumquatq3

[Volourn]

"Heh Volo, Did you notice the bat called Volo?"

 

Must not be there yet. Have not seen any bats. LOL

 

Only mention of a Volo was from Deekin, and he was obviously I presume referring to the FR Volo.

 

Kum: Yeha, that bar s cene with the Triad tm was absolutely hilarious!

[roshan]

Neeshka rocks, so far. The druid seems cool but she didnt like it when I decided that I wanted to butcher the wolves in the forest. :D

 

One complaint I have about this game is that you cant decide who you want to attack. That just sucks. I dont like it when decisions are taken away from the player and when the player is assumed to be an idiot.

[Volourn]

Stop it with the Neeshka love! It's polluting my precious thread!!!!

[kumquatq3]

Stop it with the Neeshka love! It's polluting my precious thread!!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Neeshka

 

The emphasis on the "Nee" part, apparently

[jaguars4ever]

Stop it with the Neeshka love! It's polluting my precious thread!!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Neeshka

 

The emphasis on the "Nee" part, apparently

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You'd think they'd get it right by now.

[@\NightandtheShape/@]

"Heh Volo, Did you notice the bat called Volo?"

 

Must not be there yet. Have not seen any bats. LOL

 

Only mention of a Volo was from Deekin, and he was obviously I presume referring to the FR Volo.

 

Kum: Yeha, that bar s cene with the Triad tm was absolutely hilarious!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

It's right at the start of the game...

 

Amie's familiar is called Volo, and it's a bat...

[Volourn]

Ah.. Never noticed. Never bothered with familiars thus far. Ah well.

[alanschu]

Just beat the game.

 

Really enjoyed it.

 

Played as a Tiefling Rogue/Assassin.

 

Was a manipulative jerk.

 

Didn't mind Neeshka.

 

Plan on playing through as Human Paladin next, as well as playing with toolset and planning my story.

[jaguars4ever]

Damn Alanschu - if that's the rate you've been playing at no wonder you haven't been posting lately.

[newc0253]

ah, it's been so long, but i felt i should stop by and post a mini-review (okay, maybe not that mini-) of NWN2 for old times sake.

 

yeah, even on Volourn's thread. he deserves the spam.

 

so what do i think?

 

visuals

 

first, NWN2 looks fantastic. it's a shame it came out in the same year as Oblivion, which plainly raised the bar for CRPGs. but it's hard to believe this is still the same engine as NWN1 - the main thing which gives it away is the oddly roomy feel of the tilesets (or whatever they're called now they no longer have tiles): local taverns have the kind of square footage that walmart would envy, and even the most humble home seems to have corridors wider than your local highway.

 

but besides that, the 'tilesets' look great: the lighting, day/night transitions, the level of detail on things like trees, the host of uneven surfaces, etc, all help to redeem the general crappyness of NWN1 graphics, with its washed-out colours and boxey sets.

 

another thing which NWN2 redeems are the character models: helmets which aren't buckets, cloaks which actually show up, robes which aren't clown suits - i know NWN1 fixed most of these things eventually, but NWN2 gets it right from the get go - the character models look good (the animations too). i see some folk complaining about the apparently limited customisation but, quite frankly, it's more than you got with KOTOR, Jade Empire or anything except Oblivion (and who really wants to spend 40 minutes trying to find the right nose ridge and chin jut for their PC?).

 

lastly, props to the overhaul on the spell effects. it took me a while to appreciate (mainly because it took so long to find a joinable magic user) but fights with magic missiles and fireballs look great. even buffing up the party before a fight with shield, etc, looks good.

 

story

 

not gonna say much on this since i'm only part way through. instead, i'll confine myself to saying that it has both strengths and weaknesses. at this point, the main plot looks suitably ominous and twisty. yes, 'farmboy travels to big city to save village' is obviously a generic fantasy plot hook, but so what? all CRPGs have this problem, and NWN2 seems to tackle it head-on.

 

the characterisation is generally excellent, although i kinda wish the joinable NPC range could be greater (see below). the voice-acting isn't especially remarkable - sometimes a little weak, sometimes very good but even at its worst it is competently done.

 

at this point, i have two main complaints. neither are all that major but they do bug me enough to reduce my appreciation of the game.

 

first, it's too linear. you aren't railroaded through the plot like you were in NWN1 and it's very well-written in that there seems to be lots of different ways to solve particular challenges in individual quests. but neither do you get a strong sense of freedom either. obviously NWN2 was never gonna be hopelessly open-ended (c.f Morrowind or Oblivion) or even strong on exploration (c.f. BG1). but it still doesn't feel like it's got the balance right. i appreciate that there's two divergent paths you can follow once you reach Neverwinter which seem to put you on different sides of the law, but even that doesn't amount to the sense of different options that you had even in more plot-driven games as Jade Empire or KOTOR.

 

secondly, your choice of joinable NPCs seems pretty frakking limited, and it doesn't help that the first one is such a stock fantasy type (a gruff, belligerent dwarf - even one who wants to be a monk - is still pretty tired). Neeshka is more fun, a cross between Imoen from BG1&2 and Ana from PS:T. and i like Elanee as well. but, in a game whose challenges rely so much on having different skill sets, it bugs me that - unless your PC is a spell user - you don't get a joinable sorcerer until several hours into the game, and even then she seems a right pain. at an equivalent point in BG1, for instance, you would have met at least 3 different magic users (not to mention the fact that you could always double class Imoen). even NWN1 (pretty much the nadir for joinable NPCs) gave you greater control over how your NPCs levelled up than NWN2.

 

again, these aren't fatal flaws. but they make the game less fun.

 

also, no time-travelling lizards so far, so that's a big plus.

 

gameplay

 

first up, NWN2 has the worst load times of any game i've played in several years. i have a 1.7 Ghz processor with plenty of memory but the load times are ridiculous. even Oblivion loaded faster than this. it gets particularly annoying when completing a simple quest involves going in and out a building or between different parts of town. it's frakking slow to save a game as well. whereas, with other games, there seems to be a difference between major transitions (e.g. travelling across the world map) and minor ones (e.g. entering a house), with NWN2 they all take a frakking. long. time. seriously, i could read a Tolstoy novel in the time it takes to complete some of the loads.

 

to its credit, when NWN2 runs, though, it runs without stuttering or crashing, or - to date - any significant bugs (although, again, it could be smoother but then i'm willing to shoulder some of the blame for having an ATI Radeon 800).

 

the interface is also something of a curate's egg:

 

the good? the spells quickbar; the easy click between party members; the much-expanded quickbar slots; the look of the paper dolls.

 

the not so good? the frustrating party AI; the even-more frustrating lack of party AI; the inability to quickly get my entire party to attack a single target en masse; the inability to make a quickbar link for my dual-wield ranger; the sometimes itty bitty item icons (what the frak is that? a cloak? a pair of boots?).

 

preliminary conclusion

 

the OC of NWN1 was the worst CRPG i ever played all the way through. it was somewhat ameliorated by SOU and then later almost fully redeemed by SOTU. by the very end of NWN1's run, we had professional mods like Darkness over Daggerford that made good on NWN1's potential.

 

NWN2, by contrast, is off to a far more assured start. although i don't think it is shaping up to be BG, it may prove to be KOTOR good or possibly even JE good. it may yet fall short of those standards - being only part way through the game, it's simply too soon to tell. but, even if the OC of NWN2 ultimately falls short, the expansions for this game should be something to behold.

[Dark_Raven]

Neeshka rocks, so far. The druid seems cool but she didnt like it when I decided that I wanted to butcher the wolves in the forest. :D

 

One complaint I have about this game is that you cant decide who you want to attack. That just sucks. I dont like it when decisions are taken away from the player and when the player is assumed to be an idiot.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That does suck, I should be able to attack who ever I wish. Bishop that is at the bar in Neverwinter is at the top of the list.

[Volourn]

Newc!

 

Don't compare NWN2 to that overrated crap KOTOR series!

 

DEATH TO KOTOR SERIES!

 

LIVE TO NWN SERIES!

Edited November 6, 2006 by Volourn

[taks]

newc's post reflects my sentiments pretty well.

 

i can't say i'm a fan of the automap, btw. you really can't tell anything from it other than your general direction except in towns where the roads are well defined. you can zoom in pretty close to see more detail, but then all you can see is your immediate surroundings because it is so small.

 

taks

[Deraldin]

Just beat the game. 

 

Really enjoyed it. 

 

Played as a Tiefling Rogue/Assassin. 

 

Was a manipulative jerk.

 

Didn't mind Neeshka.

 

Plan on playing through as Human Paladin next, as well as playing with toolset and planning my story.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Damnit! I would have beaten it before you if my game hadn't crashed! And I think we seem to be going in opposit directions. Started as a Aasimar paladin, going for a human rogue-ish type next.

[Dark_Raven]

Newc!

 

Don't compare NWN2 to that overrated crap KOTOR series!

 

DEATH TO KOTOR SERIES!

 

LIVE TO NWN SERIES!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Quiet you. Back under your rock.

 

 

So far so good, so much fun.

Edited November 6, 2006 by Dark_Raven

[Volourn]

Still have my complaints about the interface, and camera control; but I'm at leats used to it now so it's no longer much of an issue when it comes to negatively effectly my enjoyment of the game.

 

DEATH TO NEESHKA AND HER STUPID GNOME TOO!!!!

 

LONG LIVE ALL OTHER JOINABLES!!!

[Dark_Raven]

Neeshka rules. Lame gnomes can die.

[Pop]

Neeshka rules. Lame gnomes can die.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I didn't find the gnome to be as grating as I thought he would be. In fact, there wasn't a joinable that I came to hate this time around. But I have to admit, I thought that Khelgar would have dual-classed, instead of completely switching out classes. I suppose it makes more sense from a game perspective, as a fighter12/monk6 would be pretty weak. But it still seems odd. In fact, I don't know how simple training would elevate anybody to 3rd level, let alone 11th or 12th, in the case of Shandra, who had never fought before.

 

I beat the game as a drow monk, all upstanding-like. Started out as LN, ended as LG.