NWN2: Storm of Zehir is out!

[Rosbjerg]

So, what is the general consensus? It SoZ worth buying right away or would I not be missing much if I did not pick it up for awhile (id est a month or three)?

 

Having played and finished it, I can say it's in a playing condition now.. But waiting a few months wouldn't hurt, since there are some annoying bugs.

 

Example: I couldn't get the alarm stones to work (small stones that enable you to sleep inside when enemies are around), which meant that the last few fights my wizard was pretty worthless because he had used all his spells.

[Tigranes]

The game is good, the engine is crap.

 

it's in a playing condition now.. But waiting a few months wouldn't hurt

 

Both true for every NWN product ever... although you could argue NWN2 vanilla was broken out of the box for a few people. But then, so was NWN, when the engine first graced millions' computers.

[poolofpoo]

"in a twisted turn of events, you rescued the hapless chicken adventurers only to murder them shortly thereafter"

 

funny

[Rosbjerg]

I made a thread for SoZ spoilers - here -

 

So we can keep this one spoiler free.

[Llyranor]

I'm going to save myself the bother and uninstall the piece of ****. Obs lost big with this worthless expansion. You guys do actually beta test what you make, right?

 

Why?

Don't you read this thread?

 

You can't switch the SoZ menu music (which sucks, not gloomy enough) back to the MotB one.

 

JE Sawyer was reading this thread, and completely ignored our bug reports for that issue.

 

Also, the game isn't Fallout 3, which makes it a pile of crap!!!!

Edited November 26, 2008 by Llyranor

[Morgoth]

I'm going to save myself the bother and uninstall the piece of ****. Obs lost big with this worthless expansion. You guys do actually beta test what you make, right?

 

Why?

Don't you read this thread?

 

You can't switch the SoZ menu music (which sucks, not gloomy enough) back to the MotB one.

 

JE Sawyer was reading this thread, and completely ignored our bug reports for that issue.

 

Also, the game isn't Fallout 3, which makes it a pile of crap!!!!

Just rename the files and place them into the proper directory, done. But why would I want to replace the great SoZ music in the first place?

[Pop]

I've hit some weird pathfinding on the Overland map - Every once in awhile a monster will spot me, I'll attempt to make a break for it and my party will move towards the encounter, when I told them to move away from the encounter. That's always fun.

 

Also there's a "jumping" issue, where my party will be moving and they'll suddenly "lurch" half a screen or more ahead or behind the point at which they were previously.

[Amentep]

I've had the lurch since the beginning playing NWN2 OC - always figured it was because my comp doesn't actually meet all the specs.

[Rostere]

I'm happy Obsidian decided to support their game after the release with a 300+ MB patch, if you think of it, what would be the alternative? I bought SoZ 2 days after the release (US release) and have played the game with the patches from that date until now and I haven't encountered more bugs than I think is acceptable. If Obsidian want to further enrich the SoZ gaming experience with this patch, I can easily spare the miniscule amount of time required to DL 300 MB. At least for me, the OC was much worse, it actually had bugs which would prevent you from playing it properly (that is to say, most bugs and nuisances in SoZ are inherent in the Aurora engine. We should know what to expect ).

 

On a side note, do you think the ongoing financial crisis makes SoZ more interesting, being a RPG with a focus on economy?

[Llyranor]

I'm going to save myself the bother and uninstall the piece of ****. Obs lost big with this worthless expansion. You guys do actually beta test what you make, right?

 

Why?

Don't you read this thread?

 

You can't switch the SoZ menu music (which sucks, not gloomy enough) back to the MotB one.

 

JE Sawyer was reading this thread, and completely ignored our bug reports for that issue.

 

Also, the game isn't Fallout 3, which makes it a pile of crap!!!!

Just rename the files and place them into the proper directory, done. But why would I want to replace the great SoZ music in the first place?

WHAT? You can do that? I can't believe I've been a PC gamer all these years and haven't realized I could RENAME files. What a freaking revelation!!! I feel kind of silly uninstalling this and spreading the word not to get this game now.

 

BTW, does the new patch make your savefiles unplayable?

Edited November 26, 2008 by Llyranor

[samm]

**** Amazon, I wanna play that game, since when does it take you a week to ship it you ****ing snails

Edited November 26, 2008 by samm

[Lare Kikkeli]

All buffs disappear when you go back to the overland map, which makes buffing pretty much useless. Which in turn makes wizards and clerics kind of useless. Nice going Obsidian.

[Gorgon]

The game is good, the engine is crap.

 

it's in a playing condition now.. But waiting a few months wouldn't hurt

 

Both true for every NWN product ever... although you could argue NWN2 vanilla was broken out of the box for a few people. But then, so was NWN, when the engine first graced millions' computers.

In my experience the NWN engine worked just fine. No half hour waits, no camera battling you for control of the action at every turn.

[Deraldin]

All buffs disappear when you go back to the overland map, which makes buffing pretty much useless. Which in turn makes wizards and clerics kind of useless. Nice going Obsidian.

 

It would be nice if buffs that have 1 hour/round or longer durations would stick around on the overland map, but anything shorter than that should run out.

 

EDIT: I still don't understand the complaints about the camera. I've never had a problem with it, not even in vanilla NWN2 on release. Having it zoomed in when ever I exited a building was a little annoying but honestly it takes like half a second to fix so it wasn't that big a deal.

Edited November 26, 2008 by Deraldin

[Pop]

Combat in actual locations is strenuous enough that buffs are useful, and healing is now vital. Favored Souls are hella useful.

 

It is odd that if you use a haste spell immediately before exiting to the map you'll be hasted on the map for a few seconds. Sort of kind of useful, especially if you've got a warlock with Flee the Scene.

 

I did not plan ahead for group feats, and thus I can only get 2, one simply by chance, as my warlock is a half-elf.

 

There's a new patch? Stupid D2D games.

Edited November 26, 2008 by Pop

[Pope]

All buffs disappear when you go back to the overland map, which makes buffing pretty much useless. Which in turn makes wizards and clerics kind of useless. Nice going Obsidian.

EDIT: I still don't understand the complaints about the camera. I've never had a problem with it, not even in vanilla NWN2 on release. Having it zoomed in when ever I exited a building was a little annoying but honestly it takes like half a second to fix so it wasn't that big a deal.

 

I've just started with NWN2, and I must admit the camera isn't that much of an issue like some people were saying it was, although it would be nice if by default it was set to match the map, i.e. north = north.

[newc0253]

the camera's still not perfect, but at least they have hotkeys to switch views easily enough.

 

the only actual glitch i've encountered so far is some slight jumping on the overland map, but it's pretty minor and infrequent. it certainly doesn't take away from the map, which is great.

 

otherwise bug-free so far, and certainly more stable than FO3 (though, as pool noted, SoZ takes longer to load and delivers less graphically). the game looks pretty though, i really noticed it with the water reflections in the

singing cavern

.

 

so far i like. not heavy with the drama or anything but well-written nonetheless. and fun.

Edited November 26, 2008 by newc0253

[Aristes]

so far i like. not heavy with the drama or anything but well-written nonetheless.

 

This is one of the most useful statements so far. I'd like a more subdued, less dramatic story for a change. If the writing is solid and the drama isn't over the top, I might end up buying the title. Looks like I might end up waiting for the patching to catch up with various issues. Damned NWNx engine games.

[Llyranor]

Brilliant work by Alexander Brandon ^_^

[Matthew Rorie]

The first big-site review is up:

 

http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3171538&p=1

 

B+ from the reviewer, currently rocking an A from the users.

[Nick_i_am]

WHAT? You can do that? I can't believe I've been a PC gamer all these years and haven't realized I could RENAME files. What a freaking revelation!!! I feel kind of silly uninstalling this and spreading the word not to get this game now.

 

I'd feel silly not knowing how to port-forward, personally.

[J.E. Sawyer]

All buffs disappear when you go back to the overland map, which makes buffing pretty much useless. Which in turn makes wizards and clerics kind of useless. Nice going Obsidian.

I used buffs a lot in my playthrough. Didn't seem useless at all.

 

I also could have sworn I cast non-buffs while playing.

[Lare Kikkeli]

All buffs disappear when you go back to the overland map, which makes buffing pretty much useless. Which in turn makes wizards and clerics kind of useless. Nice going Obsidian.

I used buffs a lot in my playthrough. Didn't seem useless at all.

 

I also could have sworn I cast non-buffs while playing.

 

I meant compared to favoured souls and sorcerers. Whats the use of having a wide array of buffs or say persistant haste if they disappear when you go to the overland map? Casting buffs is very cumbersome and can take up to two minutes. Is this a "feature" to make the game harder? Sounds more like sloppy coding to me.

 

Also having the buffs disappear makes you have to rest more than necessary, which in SoZ means going back to an inn or other restable area. Talk about a screw up.

Edited November 27, 2008 by Lare Kikkeli

[Rosbjerg]

Plus I think a cleric is absolutely essential given the new death system.. If I hadn't had a Wizard and a Favoured Soul in my party I probably would've had a much harder time completing the game. If not to say it would've been somewhat impossible.

 

edit: a you were faster than me there.. I have to agree, both the Sorcerer and the Favoured Soul makes the game easier.

[Lare Kikkeli]

haha, apparently the reason why the buffs disappear when you go to the overland map:

 

"Effects are removed on the Overland Map since visual fx don't scale with the character size. Otherwise, giant walking bubbles would be striding across the land."

 

Uh, you have a coder yes?? A person who knows computer code yes???