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Volourn's Wowwy Journey With NWN2:Spoiler Edition


Volourn

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! SPOILER ALERT ! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! SPOILER ALERT !

 

 

 

You. have. been. warned. You. have. been. warned.

 

 

 

! SPOILER ALERT! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! SPOILER ALERT!

 

 

 

Now, on to the impressions... This will be long... If too boring, don't read and move on to next NWN2 thread.... Thanks....

 

 

 

 

Part 1 - The Drama Unfolds

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I love NWN1. Everyone knows that. I thought the OC was good (around 75%ish); but everyone steadfastly believes I think it was perfect (ie. 100%, a rating I have given ZERO games). My expectations for NWN2 were really simple. I wanted more of Neverwinter that was updated for 2006. I wanted it to be better. I don't want comaprisons to DEAD games. This impression will have no referrals to DEAD games. Period.

 

Anyways, I originally preorder the LE; but release day game and my EBs didn't have it in stock so I switched to the normal versionthen threw the leftover cash on a preorder GOTHIC 3.

 

I hurry home excited as a kiddie, and that excitement ends up costing me $40.... :huh:

 

 

Part 2 - The Wait Is Almost Over

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I tear the box to shreds (not really; but sounds cool if I say I did ;) ), and eagerly go to install the DVD (yes, DVD). That's when disaster struck. For the first time ever, I decide to use my arms as a baseball bat and swung around and twanked my glass holding pop right onto my keyboard (and, a little bit on my brand new mouse). I hurridly clean it up; but als it was to no avail. Mere hours later, my keyboard craps out and starts being stupid. The space button, for example, has to have the poo pounded out of it in order to work. I can barely play the game due to the lack of the mouse so I am forced to go AI with companions so I don't have to to use the spacebar. This problem is fixed today(on Friday) as I now have a brand new fancy $40 keyboard. Yay for me!

 

The install itself was easy as pie. It was over quick with no problems at all. I download the patch no questions asked.... and wait... and wait... I swear the patch took longer to download and install then it took to install the game even with Broadband. Owwy!

 

Meanwhile, I take a look at the manual and strategy guide for character stuff to pass the time. Many is solidly sized with relevant information. It has its share of errata but ah well. 'Tis is life. The strategy guide is cool. Over time 9while playing the game) I notice there isn't a section solely for joinable npcs. That would have been nice.

 

 

Part 3 - Character Creation

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It's NWN2. It's D&D 3.5. You get what you expect. It's set up pretty much exactly like NWN1 except with new classes, races, skills (and some shockingly removed, booo), feats, and so on. Everything is logially placed with solid detail much like NWN1. Very little complaints here. In fact, only one. Dwarven bears, are by and large horrid. Other than that, this part is absolutely beautifully perfect.

 

I made a dwarven male who is 88 years old. A fighter/cleric (well.. will be) of Berronar Truesilver. He's LG, and weilds a dwarven waraxe (duh!) and shield. feats chosen are Luck of Heroes, and WF. He is Devout as per his background. It kinda hurts his diplomacy and with his average charisma it makes it harder to make him the focused diplomat I want. The stats at start are S14, D12, C16, I10, W15, and C12.

 

 

Part 4 - Stability Issues

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This is perhaps the most stable PC game I have ever played. It has never crashed, and runs smooth overall. There are some bugs like my attack bonus showing up incorrectly on the character sheet. this occured sometimes in NWN1 as well. Not much to complain about here.

 

 

Part 5 - Graphics, Music, & Other Frivilous Things tm.

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Overall, graphics are good and crisp. I'm at max settings and the game still runs rather smoothly. Monsters are usually nice to look at, and character mdoels are cool. Not much clipping either. I'm not a big fan of the iventory icons as they simply don't appear clear enough to always determine exactly what it is. The FVX for spells are solid if not spectacular with some exemptions which look fantastic. Animations - battle or otherwise - are simply not up to par.

 

Music is good to great and a few crappy ones. Tgis is true for both the new and old music. Same with voice overs. Some of the voiceacting is really good; some not so good.

 

 

Part 6 - Control, Control, Control

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For the most part it basically controls like NWN1. Point and click to go where you want. Right click on targets to get more options than the basic one. Key thing to note is make sure to use the option to speed the right click up or else you'll just waste time. Quick menu is like NWN1 but with more slots. It's too bad that unlike NWN1; you cna't put everything in it. I'd rather have spotaneous casting on my radial menu than 'quickspell'. Quick spell kind of annoys me. The mode bar is a very nice feature, and overall it works perfect. Things like power attack don't always seem to stay right. Minor annoyance though since it still is an improvement over NWN1.

 

Now for camera control. *shudder* Even with 4 different view options (two are complete poo); they still irk me. After playing the game as much as I have, I'm a little more used to it; but still.. not cool.

 

Combat control is easy. Basically point and click to target foes or allies for the most part. Combat is exactly like NWN1 except you have an option to control allies, and you should overall use. The AI is bascially at the level of HOTU. Don't expect much more functionality even with the tool 'Puppet Mode' options. LOL Obsidian. I still find that hilarious! :D

 

Another big beef is the inbaility to put duelweapons or weapon + shield pairs in a quick slot forcing you to enter mele to readd the second piece of equipment. Urgh.

 

 

Part 7 - A Mixture Of Stuff

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Inventory is alright. Outside of the item icons that is. Usuually easy to transfer things. I still think 4 inventory screens per character is way too much. One would should suffice. I had the same beef with NWN1. I like the fact that actual D&D encumbrance is now in as you get weighed down ebfore even before max as per the rules. I wonder if you cna't move at all if maxed out. I hope so.

 

Selling is fine, and I'm used to it. I just wish they wouldn't bother asking you if you wanted to sell soemthing. If I right clicked an object while at a store than click on sell; then duh of course it means I wanna sell it. What a wasted question.

 

Things I kinda miss is no discipline (the game handles fine without it though so not too bad). The lack of the called shot feats *is* NOT cool, however. It gives warriors even less options in combat. My biggest shock, hwoever, is the lack of animal empathy skill for druids and rangers. Urgh.

 

Tower shields are even uberer giving +4 ac normally not +3 as in NWN1. However, side thing (not sure if it's a bug or not), only warrior types get it as a feat. Why is the question. Weird. Some cool exotic weapons are gone mostnoteably the double bladed axe and sword. I also think the whip didn't make the cut. Gah.

 

I haven't tried crafting; but I intend to eventually. Heh. More on that later.

 

 

Part 7 - Prologue: It was good. It reminded me a lot of NWN1's. It bascially tests you at various skills you'll need in game (magic, combat, roguish, and archery) in a tournament to be cvowned best in town. You win (I did); you get a cup that lets you cast cure light wounds x2 a day. useful early in game. Not so much later. The townfolk are an interetsing lot. Dialogue skills pop up now and again; but nothing shockingly cool happens with them. Your mentor is a doof. I cna't believe this is the punbk that 'raised' my character. LOL The two prologue companions are pretty fleshed out despite being shorttimers. I'm actually disaapointed they weren't amongst the main joinables. I like them both espicially the girl. You gain 2 levels in this thing. Doesn't bother me; but I'm surprised more aren't whining about it like they did when the NWN OC did it. The thing with the pig was well done. LOL Enlarge spell. Kinda obvious though. I loved your 'archrivals' too. And, the mage (girlfriend's master) had some great lines as well. Overall, it was well done.

 

 

Part 8 - The Story: Nothing special. really, it reminds me of NWN1 (amongst other games). Your village/school/area is attacked; you are called on to play hero by everyone. I though Obsidian wasn't going that route; but you are pretty much chosen as the Supreme One from the start except by maybe a handful of people you are always complimented. In essence, everyone knows the base story. Big past war, mommy died, foster father raised you, shards split up, githyanki and goons attack village, girlfriend dies (sad), foster father tells you to get lost (seek out THA shards, my boy, seek out THA shards), childhood friend stays behind, constantly ambushed, find out the Shadow King is ALIVE (dun dun dun and doah) and still plotting Bad Stuff tm, arrive in NW and collect second shard. It's decently written; but not spectacular.

 

 

Part 9 - Companions: First off, I really loved the two companions who join you in the prologue as mentioned above. I wish they were with you forever.

 

Khelgar the dwarf is awesome, and wants to be a monk. He's all about violence (making him a poor potential monk). I nlove his flat out denials when you sadly inform him that monks aren't usually into wanton violence. Sadly, his alignment is NG so he seems to be out of luck. LOL Totally great character.

 

Neeshka is a whiney two bit slime bugget who I wish i never saved from the scum who wanted to murder her. Her skills as a rogue are sueful; but outside of that all she adds is a whiney attitude who whines about everything even others when they aren't even whining! Her cracked up voice over actress doesn't help neither. I hate her, and not in a good way. She frggin' whined when I agreed to find two missing children nbot that long after I pulled herbutt from the fire. Short term memory or selfish B? You decide. She's an Imoen wannabe but without the freshness, the coolness, or the sweetness. I wish I could give her the boot. For someone who whines about others jduging ehr based on their race; she certainly does it a lot.

 

Elanee is perhaps the best ever Elven druid I ever saw (just as cool as Jaheria but Jaheira was only half druid). She's courteous, cool as a cucumber, and sweet as heck. I loved her reaction when the subject of children came up. The interatcion between her and the PC (male only I guess?) is HYSTERICAL. I LOL just thinking about.

 

I've seen a couple of other joinables but they haven'ty yet offered to join up. Sand the Wizard is a friend of your 'uncle'. I like him thus far. He's an alchemicist by trade. The other, Bishop the Ranger, simply ignored me completely. R00fles! I'll ignore him too when the times comes... if I can...

 

Overall, not a bad lot. Pretty darn good minus the tiefling witch. Not too much to say about the influence system. It's just there like any game that does the same thing but doesn't have a fancy name. No weird quirks of it yet.

 

 

Part 10 - Quests, Choices, and Skill Checks

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Quest ar eoverall cool even though the travel is limited. Even with the world map and optional areas (the lizard cave and bandits I think), the areas seem limited movement wise comapred to NWN1. It seems only a few paths to go on. It's double frustrating because the area seems to continue on even when it doesn't. Areas are also rather small. Smaller than most NWN1 areas to be sure or faster to cover. Hmmm.

 

Quests tend to have different ways to approach them. Usually by some form of diplomact and bluff). My favorite quests involve npcs that continually turn up (a certain couple and a certain merchant - no, not Deekin as I have not seen him. The war between the Rightful Commander of a fort and his replacement was nice too.

 

Skills are used alot, and usually matter. However, a few times, it doesn't seem to matter if you fail since you accomplish your goal anyways - ie. I tried to broker a truce between a lizardfolk tribe and a watertown. I failed both diplomacy checks yet I still managed to convince them to stop attacks on each other. Why bother with checks if it ultimately doesn't matter? Those are rare though, I THINK.

 

 

Part 11 - PhAt Lewt

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WOO HOO for ph@t lewt! At level 7, I have +2 waraxe, fullplate, and a tower shield +1 giving me 25ac. Pretty darn good. My other loot is good too espically the two shard I have found. One gives me +10 hit points, and the other 5 reduction vs two elements (fire and acid IIRC). They need to simply be in the inventory to take effect. My allies are similarily equipped. I got uopwards of 10k gold too. Potions are slightly less rare than NWN1; but still a lot. Not too surprising.

 

 

Part 12 - Combat!

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It works like NWN1 except with companion control if you wish. Go that way if you can (no keyboard problems, heh). Combat is cool. It is rather easy for me. I've only had a TPK occur once, and that's based on my foolishness tossed in with some bad luck. I got murdered by the Bandit Leader (NOT chief), and two bandits because I hadn't rested in like forever and they did something like a half dozen crits. Outside of that, it's been mostly a cakewalk. The stupid rogue ditz has fallen unconcious several times. My characters been close to falling under due to running over traps from time to time and I don't keep up with healing as much as I probably should since most enemies have a hard time even hitting me. Heh. Hopefully, the challenge picks up. The combat *is* fun *if* you like NWN1 + full party control though (even without playing like NWN1 it is fun and less time wasteful too). Good stuff.

 

 

Part 11 - Overall

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Don't read my post as being truly negative. Overall, I REALLY like this game. It's not without its fault. The story while not AWESOME is *still* good, and the character dynamics really make it worthwhile. Atmosphere is really good at times. The overall package is fantastic with great stability. I'd rate the OC (thus far) higher than NWN OC because of enhanced ally interaction, and better than KOTOR2 because of better combat (and possibly even KOTOR1 too). The NWN OC's story is on par (possibkly superior even); but the enhanced companions,and advanced skill useage gives NWN2 OC the edge. Good job Obsidian.

 

 

Part 12 - The Future tm.

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I will continue to play the OC, and update my feelings based on that. I will also be doing crafting so I will finally be able to comment on that. I'll also try out the DMC, released toolset, and MP so I can give my thoughts on those. Hopefully, the toolset guidebook will make it to my EB store. I sure hope so. Expect future updates as well as my opinion on what should/could be added in future expansions, updates, and patches.

 

 

I will NOT apologize for spoilers or even length. I will, however, apologize for boring you with my 100 platinum pieces of my aberrant thoughts and opinions on this game.

 

 

Great game, Obs!

 

 

Volourn.

 

 

 

LONG LIVE NWN1! LONG LIVE NWN SERIES! LONG LIVE NWN2!

Edited by Volourn

DWARVES IN PROJECT ETERNITY = VOLOURN HAS PLEDGED $250.

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Lady Crimson: Eh? Heh?

 

Hurlshot: I try to give my opinion on games in impressions/reviews; while still trying to give factual details of the actual game so people can try to make up their own mind.

 

Yeah, about the cameras. I'm kinda fine with the cameras now though soemtimes trying to get the perfect view takes awhile because of the silly way the stubborn camera 'chooses' the 'right' view as you move.

DWARVES IN PROJECT ETERNITY = VOLOURN HAS PLEDGED $250.

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More! I want MORE spoilers!

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

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He's pretty much spot on in the review. Except that 10k gold is pretty much pocket change when it comes to buying phat loot. The good stuff cost 20k+. Highest I've seen is 50k. Moeny just never seems to be enough.

 

 

Is Deeking the Marchant's Friend merchant btw? The stuff he sells is kinda special so it seems possible.

 

 

Oh, I also disagree about Neeshka. I think the character is much fun and the voice acting really good. It is kinda high pitch so I can see how people would get annoyed by it, but I like it. It's just a bit sad that my main character is a rogue so she's been sidelined.

 

(although the pyromaniac sorcerer who replaced her is good fun as well)

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Good overview, Volourn. NWN2 is the best d20 System based game to date.

Murphy's Law of Computer Gaming: The listed minimum specifications written on the box by the publisher are not the minimum specifications of the game set by the developer.

 

@\NightandtheShape/@ - "Because you're a bizzare strange deranged human?"

Walsingham- "Sand - always rushing around, stirring up apathy."

Joseph Bulock - "Another headache, courtesy of Sand"

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YES!

 

 

I finally threw Neeshka in the trash can!

 

I now have Quara. She tends to be a tad chaotic; but I hope influence actually matters in this game, and you can convince her that chaos does *not* run supreme.

 

Of course, as soon I mentioned that to her I auto lost 3 rep points which means sadly that influence works like KOTOR2 - the npcs influence you; not the other way around...

 

Still, she's a much more fun character than Neeshka!

DWARVES IN PROJECT ETERNITY = VOLOURN HAS PLEDGED $250.

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Ye,s she's a good rogue. Bit, as a character, let's just say: NO!

 

 

Let's put it this way: My LG character prefers the nutcase to the one who seems to have a crush on him.

 

 

R00fles!

DWARVES IN PROJECT ETERNITY = VOLOURN HAS PLEDGED $250.

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