I beat NWN 2

[Ryan A]

And I'm playing again.

[Lunch of Kong]

If you were truly a fan, you would be far too busy playing NWN2 to post about how many times you've finished the story line and started over. :-)

[Thomas Wilde]

I beat the Internet

The last boss was hard

[Ryan A]

Well I didn't include how many characters I got to around level 8 before deciding to start over with a different class/race/build. :)

[KaoFloppy]

I beat the Internet

The last boss was hard
You shouldn't have grinded a few years at AOL. Waste of time.

[Gendal]

I got screwed by a quest continuation bug with the undead/not dead/spirit/whatever dragon. I will have to go back and replay 2 hours to get back to where I was, most of that a bunch of keep management stuff involving constantly zoning in and out of the keep, so I decided to wait for another patch.

This and Gothic 3 are absolutely torturing me. So close, yet so far.

[Ryan A]

What's the bug, Gendal?

[Bill Dungsroman]

And I'm masturbating again.

[roguefrog]

I beat Lazarus, tomorrow.

[Gendal]

What's the bug, Gendal?

I don't know why it happens, but others have reported it on the NWN2 bioware forums. You basically complete the spirit dragon's last request but the next stage of the quest never activates or shows up in your journal. This was with the 1.0.2 pre 809 patch, so that may have been the problem, though it was supposed to fix these types of errors I thought.

[Ryan A]

The only bug I ran into was at the end of Ammon Jerro's Haven. Apparently havinng familiars out was causing the game to crash every time it tried to change modules to the keep or something. After unsummoning the familiars I had out, the load went just fine.

I had the latest patch when I played through the dragon stuff... no problems.

[Alex Dolce]

So is NWN2 that short, or have you just already played that much? I expected it to be around 50 hours, or at least that's what I was hoping for. Then again, I also expect to find a briefcase full of money sitting on my front porch. Things do not always live up to my expectations.

[Ryan A]

So is NWN2 that short, or have you just already played that much? I expected it to be around 50 hours, or at least that's what I was hoping for. Then again, I also expect to find a briefcase full of money sitting on my front porch. Things do not always live up to my expectations.

insomnia has its uses

I would estimate it's about 30-35 hours if you do all the side quests

[Gendal]

NWN2 is pretty long, and I haven't even finished it yet. I did have all the patches, but that's not the only bug I ran into. I also came across a couple of times where you get stuck if you don't have the main character selected. The latest patch is supposed to fix that, and I haven't seen it since, so I think the dragon bug is something else.

[unbongwah]

I beat the devil at his own game...but I did have to use a cheat code.

I don't see how anyone can reasonably complain about NWN 2's length: I think I spent 12 - 15 hours with it the last four days and I haven't even finished Chapter I yet. Granted, I am a slow player when it comes to RPGs (God only knows how much time I've wasted on inventory management alone) and I did restart with a new character for an hour or two before switching back. Still, unless you're expecting some uber-tricked-out BG2-style 100-hour slog, I can't imagine how one would find it too short.

Of course, anyone who endured the original NWN's campaign knows that length is no guarantee of quality. Fortunately, I am enjoying NWN 2's campaign a lot more than that one.

[ydejin]

I don't see how anyone can reasonably complain about NWN 2's length: I think I spent 12 - 15 hours with it the last four days and I haven't even finished Chapter I yet.

I've easily spent at least 30-35 hours and am still in Chapter 2.

[unbongwah]

I've easily spent at least 30-35 hours and am still in Chapter 2.
Yeah, I'm thinking Ryan must've blitzed through it or something. Maybe I'm just a slow reader.

[Kunikos]

I'm thinking if Xfire wasn't totally boned with NWN2, it would be one of the top ranking games there for this month for hours logged. I spend hours just crafting. :)

[Midnight Son]

Here's a cookie.

[Kunikos]

That cookie has nuts in it. I hate nuts in cookies!

[noun]

Here's my question for those of you who beat it and are playing again: Are there any significant story differences to make it worth playing again? Compare it to Planescape: Torment if you could. Will playing a different class, or having different stats, affect the outcomes of quests, dialogue options, or even open new quests altogether?

[DeepT]

Of course, anyone who endured the original NWN's campaign knows that length is no guarantee of quality. Fortunately, I am enjoying NWN 2's campaign a lot more than that one.

Its better but still has a lot of serious problems. Why can't the hire professional writers for these games?

The campaign fantasy game cliché city. One of my least favorite is the universal blame the place on the hero for bad things happening when it is clearly not his fault and the incredibly narrow-mindedness of every NPCs world view. Or how about all the plot ambushes where a few bad guys decide to try and get you to collect the bounty. You have legendary accomplishments and have defeated veritable armies before, yet bubba and his two thug friends is gonna kill you.

There are lots of plot inconsistencies and holes. IE: You make friends with the goblins, but there is no way to get the glowstone from them without becoming their enemies. How about opening the archive vaults which require you to answer some questions about books. The gith are there obviously clueless as how to get in, yet as soon as you unlock the doors, the gith have already gotten in and have erased the critical information you need.

Then all the plot continuity problems, many of which might be bugs. IE: Not rescuing the diplomat from waterdeep and still getting the ambush for when you should have rescued him. Or that you can get plot lines from both the bad and good guy's side at the same time. Or things that do not go anywhere. What about that damm gollem you are supposed to sell to the merchant. If you rescue the chick, you can't go back and collect him. If you go back to him after you kill the sword stalker lady, you can't collect him.

[Skipper]

Here's my question for those of you who beat it and are playing again: Are there any significant story differences to make it worth playing again? Compare it to Planescape: Torment if you could. Will playing a different class, or having different stats, affect the outcomes of quests, dialogue options, or even open new quests altogether?

I would prefer not to compare it to Planescape: Torment since I appear to be the only person on this planet that didn't enjoy it that much. NWN2 is decent a second time, mostly due to the play mechanic of a different class, combined with choices of different sidekicks. The combination of those two provides the replay enjoyment, and to be honest, it's not too bad even a second time through. That said, the story is linear and will happen regardless of your alignment and class. So if you play through and don't enjoy the first time, there isn't anything that will provide much for you on a replay, save for maybe a few different responses in your dialog.

I enjoyed the story though. I thought it was way to slow to start, but other than that I felt it provided a good background for the module and all of the characters played well in the story itself. At the 3/4 in to Act 1 mark I was thinking of quitting the game. I'm glad I stuck with it. I'm replaying the title already via a multiplayer game in parallel.

[MikeJ]

There are lots of plot inconsistencies and holes. IE: You make friends with the goblins, but there is no way to get the glowstone from them without becoming their enemies.


So every problem is supposed to have a peaceful solution? Just because you did them a favour doesn't mean they will hand their holy artifact over to you.


How about opening the archive vaults which require you to answer some questions about books. The gith are there obviously clueless as how to get in, yet as soon as you unlock the doors, the gith have already gotten in and have erased the critical information you need.

What gives you the impression that the Gith had no way of getting in? These are extra-planar beings after all.


What about that damm gollem you are supposed to sell to the merchant.

You do recover the golem, but it happens off-screen. You don't end up selling him, he just shows up later in your stronghold. They are missing some exposition to tie things together properly.

I do agree that the campaign is a bit sloppy. There are several places where it could use an explanation as to why a door won't work, instead of leaving the player to wonder if it's a bug. Or, as Ryan mentioned, the way they sometimes don't update a person's original location when you recruit them.

It's mostly small things like this that I dislike. I guess cliches don't bother me.

[Alistair]

Given I have no interest in D&D rulesets, can I play NWN2 without the dice & turn -type mechanics being especially visible?

[Greatatlantic]

Given I have no interest in D&D rulesets, can I play NWN2 without the dice & turn -type mechanics being especially visible?

Pretty much. The dice rolling is done in the background so its not like you are calculating odds or anything. For the most part, you just have know that bigger numbers are better. I mean, if your hoping for a FF like experience where rules are totally absent from the player experience, no. But, its not like you have to master them. Just hitting the recommend button appears to be enough to play through.

[Sam Jones]

I enjoyed the story though. I thought it was way to slow to start, but other than that I felt it provided a good background for the module and all of the characters played well in the story itself. At the 3/4 in to Act 1 mark I was thinking of quitting the game. I'm glad I stuck with it.

That's good to hear. I'm trolling round NW city, working for the Watch, and it's a bit dull. A lot of the Watch stuff is just identical fight after fight with "Thugs" and "City Watch". Yawn.

[unbongwah]

Given I have no interest in D&D rulesets, can I play NWN2 without the dice & turn -type mechanics being especially visible?
Depends: what do you like? If you're looking for a plot-heavy RPG a la Planescape Torment, you won't find it here. If you're looking for an original story which defies all the genre cliches and conventions, you won't find it here.

OTOH, if you're looking for a solid, hack-n-slash-heavy RPG with amusing NPC companions, but want to ignore the rule-mongering side of things, you will find that here, though you may have a tougher time of it if you don't understand the rules. [E.g., if you don't know what arcane spell failure is and can't figure out that your fighter / wizard's spells keep fizzling out because of his suit of platemail armor.] Personally, I think half the fun of NWN is figuring out how many cool ways I can customize my characters, but that's just me...and a bunch of other people (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=30800).

[Kunikos]

Reading the manual is key, especially if you aren't familiar with D&D (or 3+E in particular). I would recommend the retail version of the game if you need to reference the manual a lot.

[wolfbane]

Reading the manual is key, especially if you aren't familiar with D&D (or 3+E in particular). I would recommend the retail version of the game if you need to reference the manual a lot.

Just make sure that you buy a version thats include a manual. So you shouldn't buy any euro-version from what I have heard.

[Matt Perkins]

That's good to hear. I'm trolling round NW city, working for the Watch, and it's a bit dull. A lot of the Watch stuff is just identical fight after fight with "Thugs" and "City Watch". Yawn.
Yeah, this is the exact point I'm at... I just got sent out side of the city. I'm not sure I'm going to continue.

[ydejin]

Yeah, this is the exact point I'm at... I just got sent out side of the city. I'm not sure I'm going to continue.

It gets a lot, lot better. But I definitely felt the same way about the dull level design and enemies at that point. Unfortunately you've got one more round of it -- you'll have to fight Orcs for a while. Then the game opens up and the story picks up.

[Kunikos]

Things get more interesting once you have a companion that is actually evil. ;)

[DeepT]

So every problem is supposed to have a peaceful solution? Just because you did them a favour doesn't mean they will hand their holy artifact over to you.

Agreed, however, there could have been a much better explanation or mechanism. For example, you could have the dialog options that told them how the artifact was poisoning the water they drink and causing the local critters to mutate into monsters. Maybe they would not care or would not believe you and attacked you, but at least you had a chance, an option that might have turned out peacefully. Then again, they could have easily provided another mechanism that still lead to a peaceful resolution, such as allowing someone to sneak in and steal the item without the goblins know what happened.

The story of these goblins is that they wanted to live peacefully and not be warlike. They left their other tribe to do this. So their reward for this noble effort is death. As a 'good aligned' character, I have a serious problem with this.

What gives you the impression that the Gith had no way of getting in? These are extra-planar beings after all.

Supposedly this vault was really well protected. What would be the point of having those 4 invisible scrolls with questions when a mage could just teleport in?

I would assume the very next step after making these super-magic locked doors would be absolutely seal that room from any kind of interplanar intrusion.

If they gith could teleport in, why did they attack the archives? They could have snuck in, gotten the info, and snuck out. No one would have been the wiser. Heck, they didn't even need to 'damage' that book. Just grab it, and teleport out. Then Mr. Hero couldn't follow you and might spend weeks looking for a book the lore keepers was sure had to be around somewhere.

No, it was just another contrived plot mechanic that was poorly written. You know, like the ones where you always happen to show up at the nick of time or you can practically here the NPC finish is sentence and then say "Que Bad guys." [/quote]



I do agree that the campaign is a bit sloppy. There are several places where it could use an explanation as to why a door won't work, instead of leaving the player to wonder if it's a bug. Or, as Ryan mentioned, the way they sometimes don't update a person's original location when you recruit them.

It's mostly small things like this that I dislike. I guess cliches don't bother me.

It bothers me. It just strikes me something that is unnecessary, something that can easily be avoided. Just hire a professional writer, maybe even two. If writing a good script was a very difficult thing to do, as in you can't find good writers no matter how hard you look, or the cost of one was prohibitive, then I would be more forgiving.

[unbongwah]

If they gith could teleport in, why did they attack the archives? They could have snuck in, gotten the info, and snuck out.
Well, as long as we're inventing explanations for a story involving magic teleportations: just because the githyanki were looking for this particular book doesn't mean they knew where to find it before they got there. After all, they tore up West Harbor looking for the first silver shard when it wasn't even in town in the first place: their hunting skills leave something to be desired. They probably do what I do when I need to find a book: beat up a few librarians until one of `em tells me where it's at.

[Besides, ever accidentally teleport into a wall? Uncomfortable and embarrassing, let me tell you.]

As for attempting to destroy it rather than steal it, maybe it's magicked so it can't be removed from the Archives. Who knows?

I'm surprised you care at all. Magic is always a deus ex machina plot device in fantasy RPGs. You just learn to roll with it.

[moss_icon]

Yeah, this is the exact point I'm at... I just got sent out side of the city. I'm not sure I'm going to continue.

this is the worst part of the game. the slog through the rogues and orcs is really, really tiresome. luckily not too long after that, the game gets amazing again. so persevere.

[Kunikos]

After all, they tore up West Harbor looking for the first silver shard when it wasn't even in town in the first place: their hunting skills leave something to be desired.

That's what you think... ;)





* * SPOILER * *




The end of Act I reveals that there was a shard in the town. You'll see. :)

[Angie Gallant]

As a good aligned character I let them live.

[Kunikos]

As an aside, if you have high enough speech skills (diplomacy in particular) you can make a lot of fights easier. For example, read the GameSpot guide for NWN2 and you'll see that there are several ways to get past the tanar'i demon that don't involve any fighting.

The only thing that bugs me is that you don't seem to get experience equivalent or higher to actually killing them. They should reward doing these things, in my opinion, just like PS:T did. Sometimes you don't get any experience at all, which is lame.

[Lunch of Kong]

There are a few brain puzzlers in the game. Like the imprisoned imp and the gibberish spellbook, for example. I had to think for a while before coming up with the solution to that. Also the traffic management with the elf/dwarf ghosts. Took me a few minutes of giong around in circls before I slapped my forhead and went "oh, duh!"

[Mehrunes]

Also the traffic management with the elf/dwarf ghosts. Took me a few minutes of giong around in circls before I slapped my forhead and went "oh, duh!"

That's funny. I just religiously turned the lights off in front of them and back on as soon as they passed them because the guy guarding the books at the beginning told me he put the lights there to keep them from escaping. I certainly didn't want them escaping any more than he did.


Supposedly this vault was really well protected. What would be the point of having those 4 invisible scrolls with questions when a mage could just teleport in?

I would assume the very next step after making these super-magic locked doors would be absolutely seal that room from any kind of interplanar intrusion.

If they gith could teleport in, why did they attack the archives? They could have snuck in, gotten the info, and snuck out. No one would have been the wiser. Heck, they didn't even need to 'damage' that book. Just grab it, and teleport out. Then Mr. Hero couldn't follow you and might spend weeks looking for a book the lore keepers was sure had to be around somewhere.


Uhhh, how do you know they didn't figure out how to get in like you did and then just closed the door behind them? After that they apparently spent quite a bit of time searching for the correct records since seemingly every book in the room had apparently been searched and tossed in a pile or something near to that.

[Matt Perkins]

As an aside, if you have high enough speech skills (diplomacy in particular) you can make a lot of fights easier. For example, read the GameSpot guide for NWN2 and you'll see that there are several ways to get past the tanar'i demon that don't involve any fighting.

The only thing that bugs me is that you don't seem to get experience equivalent or higher to actually killing them. They should reward doing these things, in my opinion, just like PS:T did. Sometimes you don't get any experience at all, which is lame. Yeah, this kills me... "Yep, you're good enough to get past this fight without even having to fight. Your reward? JACK SHIT, DUMBASS. If you're afraid to fight, just say it!"

So wrong.

[Ryan A]

My time estimate might have been on the conservative side. If the game had a meter built in and it read out 50-60 hours I wouldn't be surprised. Of course, I did play as a cleric/warpriest. On 'normal' so between the buffs and the free use of AoE spells from the mage and sorcerer, all the fights were really easy.

I'm playing with the Hardcore rules for my second playthrough. I still haven't decided if I want to settle on Aasimar Paladin or a Sorcerer or a Warlock. Probably the paladin since I'm dorky like that.

[Matt Perkins]

Probably the paladin since I'm dorky like that.
You are pretty dorky.


:P

[Skipper]

That's good to hear. I'm trolling round NW city, working for the Watch, and it's a bit dull. A lot of the Watch stuff is just identical fight after fight with "Thugs" and "City Watch". Yawn.


Yeah, this is the exact point I'm at... I just got sent out side of the city. I'm not sure I'm going to continue.

I'd definately hang around until mid ACT2 if you could. From there on out it's been a blast for me. I completely agree the Watch/Thieves Guild section is so boring it hurts.

The dungeons get a lot more interesting after that point and you *gasp* get to leave town.

[noun]

The only thing that bugs me is that you don't seem to get experience equivalent or higher to actually killing them. They should reward doing these things, in my opinion, just like PS:T did. Sometimes you don't get any experience at all, which is lame.

SPOILER SPACE














Yeah, NWN2 is very much geared in general towards having to kill things. Take the Rob the Collector quest, the final quest (I think) in the Neeshka NPC arc. The collector has one of three keys you need to access his treasure room. If you threaten to destroy the painting, you get the key and no XP. If you just pick his pocket, you can get the key, but no items and no XP. But if you kill him outright, you get the key, XP, and THREE magic items off his corpse.

So yeah, I will now go through the rest of the game as a psychopath because clearly, that's the only way to consistently get XP and loot.




















SPOILER SPACE

[Arawen]

I am playing NWN2 as a halfling rogue. I chose a charismatic rogue with high diplomacy skill because reviews mentioned great story options for roleplay oriented characters, but so far I have not seen much. It's pretty much been endless slow hack and slash followed by mostly dull cutscenes. Game play is incredibly laggy, repetitive, tedious and dull.

Playing a rogue was probably a mistake but the starting hours of the game were so dull that I cannot see myself rerolling.

Further, the inventory system is such a mess that I've given up on crafting as incredibly boring, but more and more, it looks like a required game mechanic. (For the record, I never like crafting in any game).

Keep in mind that I am a NWN 1 modder/DM and pen and paper DM, so the D&D 3.5 mechanics are not the issue, but in terms of the interface, camera, and ugly graphics at low-medium settings, this one feels like a dog.

I hope that I am wrong. To those who have finished, how many hours do I have to play before this game becomes fun?

Arawen

[DrDel]

Jeez.. I wish I had time to play this game.

I picked it up at the GameShack today... and then put it back down.

I loved NWN so much.. it was like cocaine.. I had better adventures with NWN online than with WoW if you can believe it. It was 'more funner'!

Anyways, reading the back of the NWN2 box today.. it said that you meet some NPCs and "favourite" places from NWN.

Can someone shed some light on the NPCs and settings the back of the box is referring to?

[Ryan A]

I hope that I am wrong. To those who have finished, how many hours do I have to play before this game becomes fun?


It depends on how far in you are and what's fun for you. My favorite part of the game happened once you ... ah.. this isn't really a spoiler but what the heck...

















Get to start managing the keep. Each mission starts to feel quite different from the last due to a great variety of enemies and the keep management, though honestly really rudimentary, is still a blast




more spoilerish stuff
















and the meeting the red dragon has to be the best crpg experience I've had since Planescape.





















.

[Angie Gallant]

I totally did sex with Casavir. He confessed his love and I accepted. Then I asked him to comfort me in some warm blankets and he surprised me by saying yes instead of demuring for whatever reason. We stared soulfully at one another from 3 feet apart as the camera panned up at the moon. Then we spawned in my bedroom.

Hot.

It was written well enough. He says "I pledge myself to you. My sword and my heart are yours," or something like that and you have three dialog options.

1) I accept and return your feelings.
2) I like and respect you, but I do not love you.
comedy 3) Stab yourself for me. Bleed to see if I care.

Man, my lawful good character had a very, very hard time not going for comedy 3.

[foogla]

Man. A lawful good romanic interest again? Girls can't get no breaks. ;)

Btw I was so bored during the Watch quests I cheated my party big enough to get every NPC in, and now I can't stop playing without them he;lp.

[John Sansker]

I totally did sex with Casavir. He confessed his love and I accepted. Then I asked him to comfort me in some warm blankets and he surprised me by saying yes instead of demuring for whatever reason. We stared soulfully at one another from 3 feet apart as the camera panned up at the moon. Then we spawned in my bedroom.

Hot.

It was written well enough. He says "I pledge myself to you. My sword and my heart are yours," or something like that and you have three dialog options.

1) I accept and return your feelings.
2) I like and respect you, but I do not love you.
comedy 3) Stab yourself for me. Bleed to see if I care.

Man, my lawful good character had a very, very hard time not going for comedy 3.

This is what save games are for. ;)

[Desslock]

I don't know why it happens, but others have reported it on the NWN2 bioware forums. You basically complete the spirit dragon's last request but the next stage of the quest never activates or shows up in your journal..

Did you destroy the gem after defeating the dragons?

[Desslock]

So is NWN2 that short, or have you just already played that much? I expected it to be around 50 hours, or at least that's what I was hoping for. Then again, I also expect to find a briefcase full of money sitting on my front porch. Things do not always live up to my expectations.

It is definitely not short.

[Piemax2]

I just did the trial in Ch. 2, and while I agree that the plot isn't stunningly original, I've been enjoying it. There have also been more cut scenes than I expected, and I'm liking them too. There have been more boring/easy fights than I would like, but that's usually the way I feel. (The hardest fight so far was when I took an party of casters+1 fighter into a cave in a "no spells allowed" zone; it took 3 replays but potions and wands managed to save the day).

[Angie Gallant]

Did you destroy the gem after defeating the dragons?

Yeah, the dragons show up after the dialog option to destroy it but before you actually destroy it. You'll know if this is the case because it'll still be there.
Have your party bash it for a while. Then you get another cutscene.

[DeepT]

I'm surprised you care at all. Magic is always a deus ex machina plot device in fantasy RPGs. You just learn to roll with it.

I think you completely missed the point of my gripe. It has nothing to do with magic or any of that.

You are trying to get into a magically sealed uber vault, and so are the bad guys. The bad guys are obviously are searching the library for the answers to the puzzle like you are.

You clear the area of bad guys, and crack the puzzle. The moment you do, you find the bad guys have beat you to it, again. It makes no sense. Magic is irrelevant here.

If something like this happens once, or even twice it is annoying, but this crap happens constantly.

[DeepT]

I just got my keep. So far doing stuff to get my keep built up has generated more interest in the game then the main story so far.

I saw a 'time passed' stat for my keep. It was at 10%. Is there some time limit until some big event occurs? Also once you run out of the 'free' gold, can you spend your own?

There are also some extra people I think you might want to be able to recruit, but so far they do not seem interested. For example, all the refugees at the fort, I figured I would give them a new home, but they just thank me for saving them. It is strange that fort is still on my world map for some reason, and highcliff as well.

Then were people who took me up on my offer but dissapeared. Like the miners at old owl well, and the blacksmith lady at port llast. I have a blacksmith, but no one is there (none of the doors are highlighted) even though it has been repaired.

Is there a list of NPC romance options anywhere?

[Mehrunes]

Then were people who took me up on my offer but dissapeared. Like the miners at old owl well, and the blacksmith lady at port llast. I have a blacksmith, but no one is there (none of the doors are highlighted) even though it has been repaired.

They didn't disappear, they're standing outside not far from the gate waiting for you to tell them where they can get some ore. By the way, the lady at port llast isn't a blacksmith, she's a prospector.

[Lunch of Kong]

I saw a 'time passed' stat for my keep. It was at 10%. Is there some time limit until some big event occurs?

That percentage is not a timer. It represents how many times you can deploy your militia to accomplish missions. When you reach 100%, your militia has done all that it can do, and cannot improve itself or your environs any more.



Also once you run out of the 'free' gold, can you spend your own?

Yes, but you can hold off from building the high-ticket fortifications and church/tower until later. Realizing you don't have to build those until the very end will save you about 200k right there.


There are also some extra people I think you might want to be able to recruit, but so far they do not seem interested.

Youc an go to the official NWN2 forums and grab a list of all the recuirtable NPCs and their locations. You can get an armorer from highcliff and a blacksmith from fort locke, and you can recruit sergeants from a few places and even a "random" encounter.


Then were people who took me up on my offer but dissapeared. Like the miners at old owl well, and the blacksmith lady at port llast.
They are both miners. They appear at the rock quarry outside your fortress. by the farms.

[Kunikos]

So yeah, I will now go through the rest of the game as a psychopath because clearly, that's the only way to consistently get XP and loot.

This is frustratingly true for the whole game. I think I may start over as an evil monk or something, and just punch anything that moves to death.

[foogla]

Make him a dwarf just to fuck with Kelghar.

Max "Cannonball" Damage, Lawful Evil Dwarf Monk With A Chip On His Shoulder.

[Angie Gallant]

I beat the game last night. I gave myself time to think it over and I still have to say WORST ENDING. Worse than KoTOR2. Taking an RPG.net cliche and putting a question mark on the end is not a real ending!

And goddamnit I still want to roll up a new character and play it again even knowing this!

[DeepT]

Worse then KOTOR2? You have to be joking, right? You would really have to try to make a worse ending then KOTOR2.

So how much is left after the ritual of purification stuff? I am about half way done with that.

[Angie Gallant]

I probably had another 7-10 hours after the ritual. There's significant stuff left.

And yeah, I have to believe that they wanted to make it worse than KoTOR 2 because it is so damn awful.

[Soldats]

That's a total downer to hear.

I'm still in chapter 2 and having lotsa fun with my puncherrific tiefling monk though; maybe I can delay the inevitable.

[Angie Gallant]

The final battle is still a blast, though. Like I said, the poor quality ending isn't stopping my desire to play again.

[Mehrunes]

The content of the ending is ok (it's a bit like a weakish fallout ending), but the voice acting and recording quality are awful to the nth degree. As in an intern recorded it on an antique cassette tape player in the bathroom during his break type awful.

[foogla]

Oh man. The kick-ass intro movie? The one I have watched 20 times now? I thought I was slogging through this to get something like that. :( :( :(

[Mehrunes]

Their next game will involve lifting the Curse of the Black Isle by defeating the evil cabal known as the Corporate Penny-Pinchers of Amn. The ending will invol

[DeepT]

The content of the ending is ok (it's a bit like a weakish fallout ending), but the voice acting and recording quality are awful to the nth degree. As in an intern recorded it on an antique cassette tape player in the bathroom during his break type awful.

It doesn't have some kind of unexplained super-secret droid war does it? I am sure they could simulate this by having some kind of private war going on between the familiars in the party.

[Skipper]

Their next game will involve lifting the Curse of the Black Isle by defeating the evil cabal known as the Corporate Penny-Pinchers of Amn. The ending will invol

I was going to play you're new game but it got a trashy review for being unfinished and buggy. When you guys can get a patch and finish the ending I'll play it.

PS - Why can't you guys use the D&D lore? Pay more for developers that know the game universe. Everyone knows that the Corporate Penny-Pinchers of Amn are known as the Evil Atari's.

[Gendal]

Did you destroy the gem after defeating the dragons?

Yep, banged on it to get the two dragons to show up, killed them, then kept banging on it till it broke. Still have a fux0rd game. Waiting on some more patches then will replay the last couple of hours.

[Ryan A]

I beat the game last night. I gave myself time to think it over and I still have to say WORST ENDING. Worse than KoTOR2. Taking an RPG.net cliche and putting a question mark on the end is not a real ending!

And goddamnit I still want to roll up a new character and play it again even knowing this!

I disagree. I too really dislike the type of ending they used here, but don't think it descends into WORST ENDING EVER territory. For starters, while I would love to have seen more video like the intro, I really liked the painted/narrated parts... they gave the game more of a storybook feel. Although the stuff they did to intro the keep battle was much better done... I guess I didn't care for the Voice talent they used for the ending.

Actually, let me flip-flop a bit. This will become one of the worst endings ever *if* there isn't a kickass expansion.

[scharmers]

There's a thread out there with "101 reasons why NWN2 sucks". I pretty much agree with all of them; and, interestingly enough, the early-90's-quality voice acting wasn't one of the reasons.

This one is on my shelf until it gets patched, stat.

[JAGuarinc]

I beat the game last night. I gave myself time to think it over and I still have to say WORST ENDING. Worse than KoTOR2. Taking an RPG.net cliche and putting a question mark on the end is not a real ending!

And goddamnit I still want to roll up a new character and play it again even knowing this!

The evil ending is much more satisfying. If you like evil that is. Not that I'm implying you'd derive satisfaction from being evil. Or that you're evil. Or even that you like evil. Or like pretending to be evil. Or role-play evil in a fantasy game. Nope, not you. I'd never ever ever think such a thing.


Please don't stab me.

[John Sansker]

I beat the game last night. I gave myself time to think it over and I still have to say WORST ENDING. Worse than KoTOR2. Taking an RPG.net cliche and putting a question mark on the end is not a real ending!

And goddamnit I still want to roll up a new character and play it again even knowing this!

So, lemme get this straight.
Obsidian, makes a sequel to NWN, makes the AI worse, makes the game run slower on newer hardware, and gives it a worse ending than the last game they did?

I have to quote Carl "CJ" Johnson from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas here.
"I've seen some idiots in my time, but you special".

[Angie Gallant]

But they give you full party control and if you aren't playing in puppet-mode, then you aren't playing. I don't even see how the AI is worse. Maybe I am lucky but I didn't have pathfinding problems.

Despite the issues it has I am ranking this one slightly higher than the original NWN. It's not line the original was pristine at release, and the original campaign is so much better than that of the original game, bad ending and all.

[noun]

OK, got another spoiler question. Khelgar is now level 12, and I STILL haven't managed to solve all his monk quests yet. Do I bother at this point? I mean, is gonna level up high enough as a monk to do better damage then he already does with his Ogre Gauntlets, his fire damage axe, and numerous axe mastery feats?

[Skipper]

OK, got another spoiler question. Khelgar is now level 12, and I STILL haven't managed to solve all his monk quests yet. Do I bother at this point? I mean, is gonna level up high enough as a monk to do better damage then he already does with his Ogre Gauntlets, his fire damage axe, and numerous axe mastery feats?

*Spoiler*



You will wrap up all three in a very short period of time. Look for a cave diagram on your map marked as Dwarven somthing-or-other. Do that zone, you will talk to Khelgar about a couple of things. Now go back and see the monk in town. Tell him Khelghar has finished part of his quests. (Actually two parts.)

Now wait for the quest wrap up of you being accused of mass murder. At one point in this, Khelgar will ask that you let him stand in your place for combat. Win it. Go talk to the monk and complete the final quest piece for Khelgar's swith to monk.

At this point you'll get to relevel Khelgar from level 1 back up to his current level which is kind of neat. You can completely change everything about him and his feats/skills.

[MikeJ]

But they give you full party control and if you aren't playing in puppet-mode, then you aren't playing. I don't even see how the AI is worse. Maybe I am lucky but I didn't have pathfinding problems.

Yeah, I don't think the AI is worse than NWN or the KoTORs. It's just not noticeably better and has a harder problem.

In NWN you basically play solo and if the henchman can do something not totally stupid it's gravy. In KoTOR, they were free to design the rules so that acting simple-mindedly isn't that big a deal. Characters in KoTOR don't have to deal with attacks of opportunity or area of effect spells that harm your party. They were just as stupid about running through traps and running off to tackle some distant foe.

[unbongwah]

Yeah, I don't think the AI is worse than NWN or the KoTORs. It's just not noticeably better and has a harder problem.
I think NWN 2's spellcasting AI is worse than what I remember of NWN's AI. Though it could just be 4 1/2 years' worth of patching has significantly improved it. But even so, why can't they make their AI as good as NWN 1?

The trouble with using puppet mode is that if you're not babysitting your henchies, sometimes they'll stand around doing nothing. Of course, that happens sometimes anyway. The problem is exacerbated by all those narrow corridors and doorways, creating bottlenecks that they can't figure out what to do about, so you end up manually unclogging them.

But I prefer to leave leave puppet mode and spellcasting off, so they'll do something on their own, just not burn thru spells. I wish you could specify default modes for each character: i.e., tell Khelgar to always use Flurry of Blows, tell archers to always use Rapid Shot, tell mages to always turn on Defensive Casting, etc.