44 replies to this topic

[Qwinn]

Safiya was definitely better than Elanee, don't get me wrong. Elanee was just... ugh... shallow. And ugly. I'd have much preferred a Shandra romance, actually, much more attractive as a character, but of course we know how -that- would've ended up. If I coulda thrown Elanee in between Shandra and her, er, ultimate fate, I would've. *evil grin* And yeah, I would've much preferred a romance with Kaelyn instead of Safiya, but I guess they wanted to have the romanceable character be neutral so both good and evil could do it. Oh well.

And I realized my last post makes me sound harsher on MotB than I meant to be. It's a cool game/expansion, absolutely. Had some truly high points (I found that dungeon where the hag is crooning every so often awesomely atmospheric and well done, for example). Definitely better than most of the crap that's been produced in the last few years. I just heard a lot of people saying things like "Best RPG since PS:T/BG2" and I was like, uh, well... -if- that's true, and I guess it may be, that's more to do with how bad the RPG market has been since the old IE games, heh. But I don't think MotB was as good as the old classic IE games, or, say, Fallout or Arcanum. Good, yes. But not -that- good. IMO.

As far as within the context of the NWN/NWN2 franchise, I'd probably rank the expansions in this order:

1. HotU (sorry, I just thought it was awesome... the only thing I can't forgive is that, years later, they never fixed bugs that would've been easily fixed, like the broken Aribeth romance. Gah. It's like they ONLY fix game mechanic bugs, and totally ignore content bugs.)
2. NWN2 OC/MotB (tie)
3. NWN OC / SoU (tie)

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 13 January 2009 - 12:12 AM.

[berelinde]

The Skein? Well, that just goes to show that everybody has different preferences. I had to play through that part with the sound off. It was OK for a while, but it got to be too annoying, with the cackling and the "My son, my son!" and "too salty".

[Yovaneth]

I'm in the Skein now and I'm going to take *great* delight in killing the b!tch when I find her. I hate salt on my meals....

-Y-

[DavidWallace]

The Skein? Well, that just goes to show that everybody has different preferences. I had to play through that part with the sound off. It was OK for a while, but it got to be too annoying, with the cackling and the "My son, my son!" and "too salty".

It's incredibly annoying... but in a way, isn't that the point?

[Yovaneth]

I have to admit I changed my mind about her when the story came out.... I still wasn't sorry to get out of there though.

-Y-

[Jolyth]

I actually liked the Safiya romance. Call me weird. When I get a new game, I always play through the first time with a male PC, then the second time with a female one. I wasn't too thrilled with the OC romances, though. I just couldn't make myself like Elanee, and, while I simply adored Casavir (which makes me even more of a freak, apparently), his romance lacked any kind of depth.

Well you are not alone there berelinde. I am an absolute Casavir nut, and I must say that having the romance pack makes it much more interesting. Could use a bit more kink, but I am happy for anything at this point, so cheers on the release.

In general, though, I liked all of the MotB companions and most of the OC ones. About the only one I actively disliked was Qara, though I was no more than tepid about Elanee, Shandra, and Zhjaeve. I loved Casavir (of course), Bishop, Sand, Neeshka, Grobnar, and Khelgar.

Qara is pretty much the one I do not travel with. There is only 1 queen biotch of the universe in my team and I am it. Believe it or not though, I actually like having Ammon in the pack, but his character could use a bit more of a personality. Sand is fantastic and I pretty much cannot do without Khelgar and Grobnar for the fun factor.

Anyway, to get to the topic, I think it depends on who you talk to. This is my second run through on NWN2 and I have yet to get to MotB, but that is next. (Then I am back to BG as I am having withdrawal symptoms) Personally I like it.

[Nc.Hroft]

If NWN2 is worth playing? Frankly speaking - the main (1st) campaign of the NWN2 is generally NOT worth it. It is okay, but of waaaaaay lower level then KotoR2 or even Morrowind (even a bit lower than screwed Oblivion), no point even in mentioning masterpieces like KotoR1 or BG. It has some interesting moments though, so not totally crap.

BUT the expansion, Mask of the Betrayer, is quite decent. Somewhere between Kotor2 and Kotor1. It's worth it. The story officially continues the one from 1st campaign, but frankly speaking - has nothing in common with it, except the main character. Totally different setting, new and fresh storyline, new party members, new everything (and way better). Though its a bit smaller than 1st campaign. So, if you have plenty of time and no other games - start from beginning, but expect real game start only after transition to MotB. Or just start right from MotB.

The 2nd expansion, Storm of Zehir - is sucky again. It's just another game, nothing in common with MotB. And it sucks.

Edited by Nc.Hroft, 31 March 2009 - 01:45 AM.

[GeN1e]

Safiya was definitely better than Elanee, don't get me wrong. Elanee was just... ugh... shallow. And ugly. I'd have much preferred a Shandra romance, actually, much more attractive as a character, but of course we know how -that- would've ended up. If I coulda thrown Elanee in between Shandra and her, er, ultimate fate, I would've. *evil grin* And yeah, I would've much preferred a romance with Kaelyn instead of Safiya, but I guess they wanted to have the romanceable character be neutral so both good and evil could do it. Oh well.

Same thoughts, except I think Kaelyn would be fine for both alignments. She does fit into the host of manipulative evils, after all.

[Cal Jones]

Right, finally I've managed to get a copy of MotB which wasn't stupidly expensive so I'll be starting my NWN2 journey soon as I finish my current game of FO3.

[Cal Jones]

Right, so taking a break from my long Fallout 3 kick to play this, which has been sat on my shelf for a while.
So far loving the wonky camera and CTDs. Yay. But that aside, it's sort of fun so far. I've just left the village with my standard human male fighter.
Any tips (on party members, bugs to look out for, etc) much appreciated.
Although I know you are all busy with Dragon age.

[GeN1e]

Any tips (on party members, bugs to look out for, etc) much appreciated.

I suggest getting Kealyn no matter what. Apart from being written by Avellone, she easily serves as an offensive caster, tank or damage fighter. The only 'bug' I had with her was that she could cast Divine Power spell at 3rd level due to domain, but that spell couldn't have been cast as persistent. Guess they forgot that some spells, normally too high in level, could become a legal metamagic subject if cast by a different class/domain. Had to fix it manually.

Like Kaelyn, Safiya and a fighter companion (not typing a name, in case you don't know yet) also are more tightly tied to the story than other NPCs.

Myself, I had Safiya, Gann, Kaelyn and PC as Fihgter_2/Sorc_11/Eld_Knight_10/Weapon_Master_7 (gotta to love the arcane weapon master since NWN1). Anything that wouldn't die quickly from PC's 90hp hits and Kaelyn's dual-wielding Divine Might would have been instantly incinerated by three (and later - four, when PC got more levels as sorc) high level spells.

I would also recommend having high Lore and Spellcraft skills, they about as important as CHA-based socail ones.

Although I know you are all busy with Dragon age

Not me, at least. Who'd want to play an unpatched game nowadays, anyway?

Edited by GeN1e, 09 November 2009 - 03:11 AM.

[Yovaneth]

If you do transition to SoZ, do not import anyone higher than level 4 because a high-level import from MotB totally destroys the game. It becomes a solo stroll in the park; I only found this out after I'd been playing for about three hours at level 20-something and totally lost interest because of the complete lack of opposition. I had wondered why I was being offered level 4 NPCs at the start....

-Y-

[Cal Jones]

Gen1e - not me! I'll wait for patches and maybe even a game of the year edition that comes with the DLCs included. Yes indeed. But I might have to wait a while for that...

Yovaneth - not planning on getting SoZ.

[Kulyok]

I just installed NWN2, and... well... it's so UGLY! Compared to Dragon Age - heck, even first Neverwinter Nights! - NWN2 graphics are terrible. Avatars seem to be carved of rock, areas look unnatural, there's no Tab key with highlights, camera doesn't rotate, and the only good thing is music. Sigh. I guess I'll just shelf it then. Pity: I did want to look at Sand and other NPCs. And romance options, naturally.

[berelinde]

In NWN2, you can use the Z key to highlight items/doorways/other places you'd use the TAB key.

[Michael]

Just... don't try to mod the game, and it's workable. I co-admined a NWN2 module for a few months, and it was paaaaaainful. Painful. Painful. Hours and hours of toolseting, crashes, data corruption, baffling just...

Baffleness.

*Stomps away, rambling.*

[berelinde]

Yep, been there, done that. I coded Casavir's portion of the NWN2 OC Romance Pack, and on my first attempt, I had the mod 95% done when data corruption cost me every talk but two. That's when I learned to disable the auto-save feature of the toolset. And yeah, I hear you with toolset crashes. Any file more than about 20K words would crash the toolset even if I wanted to fix a typo.

[berelinde]

I should probably also point out that the camera is movable, but it depends on which mode you're in. By default, the game loads in "strategy mode." When you click the button that looks like the telescope, you enter "exploration mode," and you can move the camera about at will. I found the camera motion so annoying that I set it up as immobile by default, and now I have to depress the X key while I'm moving the camera around.

One of the biggest drawbacks of NWN2 isn't the resource hogging, although it does that, it's the fact that all the info you need to play the game is buried in a manual you can use to crease your trousers. If you don't feel like reading hundreds of pages of bone-dry text, you get stuck like me, and forget how to quick save.

[Kulyok]

I guess it isn't worth another vacation, then.

Thank you, I appreciate the tips. I should try it, I guess - just not right after Dragon Age.

[berelinde]

Yeah, after Dragon Age, it's going to be a bit of a let down.