So. I have it.. never played it. Got the game with expansion stuff for cheap at a local gamestore.

I installed it once... but.. well everyone in my party was invisible.. *cough*

What's the game like? I mean, I loved Dragon Age: Origins. It LOOKS the same, but somehow I doubt it plays the same.

Is it heavily story based, or heavily exploration based, or both?

Shouldn't this be in the http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1177198-unofficial-is-insert-game-here-any-good/page__st__160__p__17733952__hl__unofficial__fromsearch__1#entry17733952 thread?

Shoudn't you not be hijacking threads and turning them into war

and

I won't revive a thread that is long since been posted on in almost a month.

Errr, I was just pointing you in the right direction. Soooorry. <_<

Neverwinter Nights 2...imagine Dragon Age: Origins...with a clunky interface and menus. Idiotic companion AI that's not nearly as customizable, and is an utter pain to do so, AND which shutting down entirely means they won't even follow you automatically. Incredibly sluggish feel. Rules and terminology made for a tabletop setting that just make things more confusing then they have any right to be. Outdated and confusing camera and controls. Horrible dungeon designs. And, from what I saw (I never completed the game, and never will), an uninteresting plot that doesn't seem to go anywhere for the longest time, with an even more uninteresting cast of characters.

The expansion, Mask of the Betrayer, is said to at least improve on that last point, but it does nothing to address the rest, which to me, made the game an utter chore.

I haven′t played the game but as a fan of R.A. Salvatore the prospect of meeting some of his characters in game is reason enough for me to play it.

It′s quite possible it′s a game you′d enjoy more as a D&D lore fan.

Meh


NWN2 over DA all the way, maybe Bioware should watch those old RPGS to remember a little how RPG its done




Developed by Obsidian,...... Heavily story based,

If Bioware's going to be looking at "old RPGs" (2006 is old now?), then I'd rather they go for Fallout, Ultima, or their own Baldur's Gate.

I think DA:O is better, I didn't like NWN2 at all.


Maybe that's why... there isn't an Obsidian game I've liked yet.

Skip NWN, all NWN expansions, and NWN2, but play MoTB for the story.

If you must play NWN2, yeah the gameplay is similar. There's a few control differences and the camera is wonky (Obsidian), and it's DND based.

It's one of the last epic, old-school RPGs there is. To play it, you need some knowledge of DnD 3.5 rules. Most of the technical issues have been patched at this point too. I picked it up on Steam for $10 dollars not to long ago. I had a lot of fun building characters and exploring the world. Storm of Zehir has an open world, non-linear kind of aspect to it, and delves into epic DnD levels/items. I thought it was quite fun. The original campaign was pretty boring for me, but I hear that it picks up after the first 15 hours or so. Mask of the betrayer is epic levels/items DnD with an epic story. It's really a better version of the OC.

Like anything, you have to devote some time and learning to enjoy it. Once you understand the game, you'll enjoy tinkering with different character builds. It has a lot more depth than most games do these days. That's really the thing to love about it. It's a thinking mans game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTVHv7JHNzk

Here's some gameplay footage of Storm of Zehir (Which I really liked).

I disliked NWN2 (never played the expansions). I don't remember a whole lot, I've been trying to purge the whole thing from memory. Yet about once a month someone makes a thread about it, and I dredge up all that I disliked about the game.

Particular parts I did not like:
- game forces you to take certain companions in your party
- game will remove companions unexpectedly
- not possible to solo this game, you need companions in order to win fights
- alignment shifts via dialog choices were sometimes unintuitive (e.g. something I thought was a neutral choice, the game said was chaotic; or, something I thought was "evil" was actually "neutral"; or I pick a dialog line not expecting any alignment shift, and a shift ends up happening). This makes it kind of frustrating to roleplay
- potions don't heal enough HP
- enemies are way too strong; I built a barbarian tank and I got creamed most of the time
- crafting system produces lame items
- long dialog events with unexpected consequences. In other words, bizarre alignment shifts and dialog trees might force you to reload a save game, in which case you have to endure the whole thing over again
- too many sub-genres, like: build a castle and manage its defenses and finances, escort mission/keep this NPC alive during a battle, etc.
- very poor NPC AI, you will want to take control of them during battle so that they don't get themselves killed. This turns battles into endless pause-and-direct-your-troops, which I didn't find very fun at all

Good parts:
- the NPC-companions talked to each other, sometimes it was funny, like when Neeshak and the dwarf were arguing in the tavern, or when the snobby mage girl goes all pyromaniac.
- I kind of liked the system where companions had a "loyalty" to you depending if your actions align with their alignments. Unfortunately, even if you piss off three or four of them, they'll still hang around and be willing to follow you. And you really can't please everyone. Like the alignment system, sometimes party reactions are unexpected and this can be annoying if you were trying to cozy up to a particular NPC or two and instead make them fussy and they won't talk to you about their deep dark secrets.
- the voice acting wasn't too bad. It could be worse, it could be better.

The Ugly:
- memory leaks! And mesh clipping, some odd animation errors, and a few other bugs. Oh, the bugs. So much patching....
- very unforgiving. If you don't plan your character out from the very start, you're going to nerf yourself.

I don't remember the equipment being all that great, it wasn't as remarkable as some of the loot from NWN1.

My choices are always Obsidian RPG rather then Bioware Ones,

Fallout New Vegas, and NW2 being my fav games developed by them



Thats the thing that I personally liked about NW2, its not predictable, you dont know what would happen

It superficially resembles Dragon Age; it has a similar presentation, with the map having areas of interest instead of being free-roam, and those areas consisting of some enclosed medium-sized maps connected to each other. It also plays similarly in many ways. But, it doesn't really feel like DA:O at all, and it's hard to say why. It doesn't help that I haven't played either in a long time. NWN games tend to have a stronger split between love/hate than most games.

More story-based than exploration. It won't hurt you to explore, there are optional sidequests and NPC's and little searchable objects with items in them, but I wouldn't say there's much that could be called "hidden". The game is semi-linear, areas are generally unavailable until the story takes you there, and you have little reason to ever go back once finished, if the spot doesn't vanish from your map afterward.

I just started playing it myself. I have just started Chapter 2 with my Dwarf Barbarian, and am having a blast. Yes, the camera can be frustrating, and yes, the enemies can be a bit difficult at times. But all in all, I am able to overlook these things in favor of the overall game thus far. I like it. I like it a lot.

I got NWN 2 Platinum on Steam a while ago.

The camera is frustrating as hell, and I get performance issues even though my PC is very good.

Are there any mods or tweaks that can be done to improve the camera handling? And which camera modes would you recommend using? I want to play it especially because Mask of the Betrayer is said to be very good, but for that I need to make it through the original campaign first, somehow.

http://nwn2.wikia.com/wiki/Camera are some tweeks you can attempt to fix your camera. I tend to use the middle camera setting, can't remember if it's exploration or not. I don't think it's character mode.

errr, nope. Just get James Oslhen on the project and it'll be epic. Anyone else turn Bioware products into cheesy soup operas.

I'm kinda noticing that love it or hate it you mentioned right now XD.

I suppose i'll give it another go if I can manage to fix the broken.. invisible characters..

If it's got a similar exploration build as DA, or the other way around I should say, then I should like it. I'm not really looking for an Oblivion level of exploration. Just a little to time consuming ^^