NWN2 Revisted

[Slainte Mhath]

Decided to make a new thread since this didn't really fit into any of the threads my search turned up...

Anyway, I've been playing NWN2 with the latest patch, and it seems a heck of a lot more stable and fun now. I haven't CTD'd once since the patch, and the graphics issues have subsided to minor annoyances (some artifact flickering in the cutscenes mostly). Even the camera controls seem better, I only rarely get "stuck" in a wall or ceiling blindly clicking to hope my guys move to where I can adjust the camera to see them. In any event, it's now become a game I enjoy playing. My current save is in Neverwinter, post-Old Owl Well and into the Luskan missions.

With that in mind, I've got some questions for the veterans. First off, leveling. I'm at 6 Fighter 3 Cleric right now mostly because healing was so hard to find in the early stages (none of the NPCs were good at it). I've taken my usual dual-weilding feats and some offense/defensive boost feats to make myself pretty handy with the +2 Longsword and +2 Shortsword I'm using. I hit most times and crit a lot. I'm a half-elf, so my favored class does not count against me when multi-classing. Should I look towards a prestige class or just continue on as a fighter, adding a couple more cleric levels in later on? What classes are good and waht classes are a waste? Can the NPCs obtain prestige classes? They only seem to have their preferred class as a choice when they level.

Secondly, magic items. What is with the discrepency between Sand and all the other merchants? He'll give me 10000 gold for high level magic items that the other merchants will only give me 4000 for. Since magic items seem to grow in trees in the campaign, I've been taking them all to him and selling. How can I get other merchants to like me that much?

The campaign is really good, both in plot and pacing. If I have one complaint, it's that some of the areas are so large/populated that it starts to feel like a Monty Haul experience near the end. So many magic items dropping from so many enemies and chests. By the end of the EyeGouger mission all 4 of my characters, 3 of whom have exceptional strength, were encumbered and I was leaving behind suits of +1 chainmail and +1 studded armor along with +1 weapons because I couldn't carry it all and they were the least valuable objects I had.

Also, I find myself never using some of the NPCs. The mage girl and the gnome bard in particular. They just don't seem all that useful when compared to the damage the dwarf deals out or the spell arsenal the druid can equip, and I almost always use the theif because I can't pick locks with my character. The paladin is handy in big fights, but the mage and the bard just seem weak.

[caesarbear]

Whingers in 5... 4... 3...

[Bill Dungsroman]

Hell with that. I am about to do the same. Gimme a good character template complete with feats, stats, etc. EEF YOU PLEASE. I don't want to suck.

[André Costa]

Whingers in 5... 4... 3...

Well, technically you already started whinning about future-to-be whiners :P

@BillDungsroman: go with a cleric, seems to be some time till you get the Cleric NPC(i'm assuming there is one, i didn't play much). Clerics seem to be ridiculously overpowered.

I think i went with something like :

Race: Aasimar
Class: Cleric
Domains: Strength and Healing

Abilities:
Str: 14
Dex: 12
Con: 10
Wis: 18
Int: 14
Cha: 14

Feats
Level 1: Combat Expertise
Level 3: Extend Spell
Level 6:Weapons Proficiency Martial
(Didn't play much before getting the next feat because of some computer problems)

Skill points:
Concentration
Diplomacy
Lore
Spellcraft

[Bill Dungsroman]

Well, technically you already started whinning about future-to-be whiners :P

@BillDungsroman: go with a cleric, seems to be some time till you get the Cleric NPC(i'm assuming there is one, i didn't play much). Clerics seem to be ridiculously overpowered.

I think i went with something like :

Race: Aasimar
Class: Cleric
Domains: Strength and Healing

Abilities:
Str: 14
Dex: 12
Con: 10
Wis: 18
Int: 14
Cha: 14

Feats
Level 1: Combat Expertise
Level 3: Extend Spell
Level 6:Weapons Proficiency Martial
(Didn't play much before getting the next feat because of some computer problems)

Skill points:
Concentration
Diplomacy
Lore
Spellcraft
PERFECT. Thanks, Juan. I mean Paco. I mean Andre ^__^

I was thinking about running an Aasimar Cleric. I had made one (her name is Angie TheEmoAngel in honor of our resident Mrs. Gallant) but went with some fruity Pally. Much obliged.

Any spell ideas, gear, etc.?


EDIT: Sorry about that, Andre. I keep confusing you with Juan Reyo. This is because I am a racist jerkoff!

[MikeJ]

By the end of the EyeGouger mission all 4 of my characters, 3 of whom have exceptional strength, were encumbered and I was leaving behind suits of +1 chainmail and +1 studded armor along with +1 weapons because I couldn't carry it all and they were the least valuable objects I had.


I had Qara basically chain-casting Bull's Strength just so everyone could carry stuff out of there.

The paladin is handy in big fights, but the mage and the bard just seem weak.

Qara did a lot of damage in the game I played. Casting Mirror Image and Stoneskin made her fairly hard to kill. A fireball into an advancing group of Orcs tends to take the fight out of them. I remember having fun with Phantasmal Killer at that stage.

I have no good idea how to continue the Fighter/Cleric build. I tend to plan out builds from level 1. One I was going to use for my second go-through was a human Bard/Fighter/RDD. I think it was 1 Bard, 4 Fighter, 10 RDD, then optional. Basically using a two-handed weapon and getting insane damage and to-hit bonuses, plus lots of hitpoints, reasonable AC and nice fire immunity. Using Able Learner to have 1-point buy for most skills. I think that build could end up doing over 40 damage on a typical, non-crit hit.

[André Costa]

PERFECT. Thanks, Juan. I was thinking about running an Aasimar Cleric. I had made one (her name is Angie TheAngstyAngel in honor of our resident Mrs. Gallant) but went with some fruity Pally. Much obliged.

Any spell ideas, gear, etc.?

Juan, eh? o_O (hay! it's ok to mistake a portuguese for a honduran dude! I do it all the time! :P)

Gear, hmmm ... you WANT Full Plate Armor. That's one the great things about the clerics. We can be fully armored and still cast spells(Unlike the puny mages). For weapons, well you are a bit limited till you get the Martial weapon profiency. After that you can use long swords which is what i usually go with, but a mace also sounds nice for me.

Spells i usually go with lots of buff spells(Bull Strength, Bless, Aid, Cat's grace, etc), and also healing sometimes, of course. However you don't need to specialize in healing. Having the Healing domain means you can use other spells you have memorized as healing spells, i think.

Sorry, i can't help you much more, my experience is kinda limited with the game. Others can help a bit more, i bet :)

[Lazy Shiftless Bastard]

PERFECT. Thanks, Juan. I was thinking about running an Aasimar Cleric. I had made one (her name is Angie TheEmoAngel in honor of our resident Mrs. Gallant) but went with some fruity Pally. Much obliged.

Any spell ideas, gear, etc.?

Since clerics get all their spell choices automatically when levelling you can pretty much just pick whatever sounds cool to memorize before resting and see what you like. No need to worry about picking the wrong spells on level-up. Just throw the heaviest armor you can find on them, cast protection from evil for a little more armor, and then hit stuff with a big mace or whatever you happen to find. They're very forgiving.

Oh, don't bother picking any healing spells to actually memorize, since you can just spontaneously convert anything you have to a healing spell if you need one.

Slainte might want to think about getting a Divine Champion or Warpriest prestige class. Fighters get kinda boring if (when) you run out of feats you want, and Warpriest would let you get a few more Cleric spells. No idea if you'd qualify for it, though.

[Hammet]

For Clerics, if you want to just yawn through most undead threats you take Sun as a Domain, gives you Improved Turning. I'd put more points into Cha as well but that might just be me. Cha is really useful for Clerics and for dialogue though. Strength domain I found to be next-to-useless even before mid-game and I never had any trouble with Healing since all Good or Neutral clerics can convert ANY spell to a healing one. Got through most of Act II with a cleric/warpriest with Sun and Strength. Then I restarted because I'm brain damaged.

Prestige Classes, I guess it's Warpriest you want if you want a Fighter/Cleric kinda pc but then you will not get the high level spell goodies in the end. Which you won't with an Aasimar either I suppose.

My latest restart has been a Human Warlock/Fighter which will tend towards Fighter. Two levels of Warlock gives you a constant +2Dex (Leaps and Bounds, +2AC (Devil's Own Luck) and a magical bolt with infinite charges.

[Matt Perkins]

See, I get bored with a straight Cleric build. It's annoying to have to cast every time I head into any battle.


I'm about 11th and I went 6 rogue (love my backstab), 3 fighter and 2 divine champion (I was bored). I dual wield and do massive damage anytime I'm flanking someone (which is OFTEN). That, and I don't need the annoying rogue in the game and I can use magic items I'm not supposed to be able to.

If you're going Cleric, I'd suggest going at least two levels of fighter for the bonus feats. They are pretty damn helpful.

[deepruntramp]

Still waiting on worthy modules to be released for this one, since the OC just didn't do it for me.

[Greatatlantic]

About Merchants, basically every merchant has a highest buying price. No matter how powerful the item, they won't give you more for it then their highest buying price. I believe it was Obsidian's intention to balance merchants out so those with the highest highest buying price are later in the game. I know Hordes of the Underdark had this same mechanic at work, and I think its suppose to be a balancer, or something like that.

As for character builds, its hard to go wrong with Fighter, they are pretty straight forward and give you a lot of feats. Just keep in my that armor can limit your dexterity bonus. Clerics are a bit more tricky, but with a little knowledge are "better". First off, keep in mind that you'll need 19 Wisdom to cast level 9 cleric spells, and the more wisdom the more spells. Armor does not affect spell casting, fortunately, but you are limited to simple weapons unless you want to use a level of fighter or a feat to get martial. I wouldn't bother and just use maces. Also, keep in mind that Clerics get "spontaneous casting", where they can use any uncast spell to cast a healing spell of the same level... IF they are good or neutral aligned. Otherwise, they can spontaneously cast wound spells. My ultimate advice regarding clerics is don't try to be a powerful fighter and a powerful healer. By virtue of being a cleric you'll be able to do both, just focus on one or the other.

As for healing, you can use your druid for that purpose, though she doesn't get spontaneous cast, you'll have to assigned spell slots. Plus, good old potions work as well. Worst comes to worst, rest after every fight. It'll be a while before you get an official cleric in party, and I don't want you to think you HAVE to be a cleric to get to that point.

As for other builds, there are a ton of good ones. Let me just recommend staying the heck away form large Level Adjusted races for your first play through LA of 1 is fine. Anything greater is like adding a difficulty setting.

[Kunikos]

Also, I find myself never using some of the NPCs. The mage girl and the gnome bard in particular. They just don't seem all that useful when compared to the damage the dwarf deals out or the spell arsenal the druid can equip, and I almost always use the theif because I can't pick locks with my character. The paladin is handy in big fights, but the mage and the bard just seem weak.

Grobnar (the bard) is pretty awesome. Having a free party wide Ironskin or Greater Ironskin makes it so you can focus on memorizing or casting different spells. Alternatively, you can use his +skill buff to give huge increases to your concentration or conversation skills.

While I didn't use Qara (the sorceress) that much, it was more because she's a little sociopath who rubs me the wrong way. In practice though with prudent spell selection during her level-ups and empower/extend/etc feats she can be very nasty on the battlefield. She is best used as a battle-mage in my opinion, firing off four or five of the same spell that is best suited for a particular boss in a row after using assay resistance.

Sand (the mage) is very useful as a utility spellcaster because of the wide range of spells he can memorize (although admittedly not every type of spell because those ass-goblins at Obsidian decided to make him specialize to one school of magic instead of being a generalist). With a little fore-though (ie if you died or have advance knowledge of what enemies to expect or what type of obstacles you may face) you can memorize a spellbook that is extremely useful, far more so than Qara's list of spells.

Do you care if I spoilerize? There is one good reason to have Sand and Grobnar around and friendly with you... (Also Bishop)

[Kunikos]

I wouldn't bother and just use maces. Also, keep in mind that Clerics get "spontaneous casting", where they can use any uncast spell to cast a healing spell of the same level... IF they are good or neutral aligned. Otherwise, they can spontaneously cast wound spells. My ultimate advice regarding clerics is don't try to be a powerful fighter and a powerful healer. By virtue of being a cleric you'll be able to do both, just focus on one or the other.

It's actually called "spontaneous conversion," as "spontaneous casting" is actually what bards and sorcerors do (ie they dont have to memorize in advance and cast a fixed number of spells per level out of a static list of spells, and don't have to memorize metamagic versions of spells).

[Kunikos]

One I was going to use for my second go-through was a human Bard/Fighter/RDD. I think it was 1 Bard, 4 Fighter, 10 RDD, then optional. Basically using a two-handed weapon and getting insane damage and to-hit bonuses, plus lots of hitpoints, reasonable AC and nice fire immunity. Using Able Learner to have 1-point buy for most skills. I think that build could end up doing over 40 damage on a typical, non-crit hit.

If you go 4 levels of fighter, then 1 level of Bard and grab the feat that lets you cast in medium armor, then you can wear mithril full plate armor. :D Then 10 levels of RDD, and then 5 more levels of Fighter. You will be a badass killing machine. :) Alternatively, you can substitute Barbarian for Fighter and play a Half-Orc!

[mystery]

I had fun playing a pure sorcerer through acts one and two (but then the WoW expansion came out, and I haven't been back). By the time I got Qara, I could pretty much decimate any oncoming group with a few well-placed fireballs or ice storms. My fighters rarely got into hand-to-hand if I was careful.

[John Reynolds]

Hit the ~ key and then type (case sensitive) DebugMode 1. After that, type givexp 220000 and level up your character and see how the build works out. I wasn't sure I wanted to play a warlock, but after levelling up a tiefling to 20th level and seeing some of those high level invocations I'm definitely going that route.

[foogla]

Warlocks are badass because of Battle Caster. Well and Mithril Full Plate.

Warlocks are stupid because you will meet a pretty good one later in the game. :/

Human Warlock
STR 14 DEX 14 CON 14 INT 14 WIS 8 CHA 15->20
You can max 5 Skills (Bluff, Intimidate, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device + X)
Warlock1: Medium Armor, Battle Caster, Leaps and Bounds
Warlock2: Draining Blast
Warlock3: Martial Weapons
Warlock4: CHA+1, Dark Owns Luck
Warlock6: Dodge, Flee the Scene (put this in the "1" slot, spam away)
Warlock8: CHA+1, Brimstone Blast
Warlock9: Mobility
Warlock10: Chaining Blast
Warlock12: CHA+1, Spring Attack, Noxious Blast
Warlock14: Vitriolic Blast
Warlock15: Toughness, Exchange Brimstone Blast with Dispelling
Warlock16: CHA+1, Dark Foresight
Warlock18: Improved Initiative, Eldritch Doom
Warlock19: Exchange Eldritch Chain with something you like
Warlock20: CHA+1, Retributive Invisibility

[FIDGAF]

Qara is fun to use if you buff her properly. Nothing like getting off a few blasts to clear the way of the weak and annoying. She's absolutely deadly to hell hounds with one Magic Missile and rips into the Fire Giants with any Electrical spell she uses. If you haven't explored her strong points, I'd suggest giving her a go. She does have her uses even with that snobby, want to smack her upside the head, attitude.

This is my first go around in the game so I went straight Paladin just to get acquainted. So far, aside from the annoyances like the camera and low frame rate I get with my ancient machine, I'm enjoying the game.

I think killing the Red Dragon was the hardest battle yet but still a lot of fun watching my team get the crap beat out of them even with Protection from Energy (Fire). Good times.

[graller]

I made a Druid because I had never played that character type before in a Bioware type RPG. She is now level 12 and I have to say they are tanks. Between Stoneskin and Call Lightning she can hack and slash with the best and clear a room when needed. She has a fancy Katana that does 17-20 crits and a strength of 20 so she deals ridiculous damage too. My party so far has generally been:

Dwarf
Neeksha
Bishop or Paladin

I can heal as needed and deal enough magic damage and the rest just wade in. Currently involved in the trial so I picked up Shadra and Sand and had to leave the dwarf at home.

[DeepT]

I think the warlock class looks good on paper, but doesn't work very well in the implementation Obsidian did.

I think what the warlock is supposed to be:

Advantages:
1. Unlimited spells per day
2. No saves vs damage from his spells
3. Can wear medium armor.

Disadvantages:
1. Very low spell variety.
2. Spells require a 'touch' attack
3. Saves vs Secondary effects of powers.
4. Itemization... there arn't items that really buff a warlocks base powers. +Spells per day feats / talents do nothing, -Saves for spell schools do nothing.
5. Need the Use Magic Device skill, they just can't use magic items and scrolls for 'free' like wizards and sorcerers.

The problems are, the advantages aren't advantages. They are either all negative or 'net zero'.

Unlimited spell casts per day:
When you can rest every 2 seconds, this is not an advantage. Sorcerers and Wizards have unlimited spells per day as well.

No Saves Vs Damage:
Sounds good, right? Oh wait, you only get 1d6 every *other* level. So this actually is equivalent to a normal caster who is guaranteed to have their foes *always* save for half damage. This is a disadvantage folks, not an advantage.

Can wear medium armor:
What is wrong with chainmail? It caps your max dexterity bonus. That is the 'same' bonus, you use to attack with. Remember your spells are a touch attack. If you cap your dex bonus at 4, then you are losing your ability to hit the enemy. If you get your dex to 20, then you are better off wearing cloth armor.


Things I would do to 'fix' the class:

1. Give feats that increase your spell damage that can be taken at any time, IE: Add 4d6 to your base invocation power, this can be taken multiple times.

2. Give feats (to replace extra spells per day, and school specialization) that give you invocations (ie: acid, fire, summon a skeleton, etc..).

3. The base power, that is a touch attack only that can be channeled through weapons, this should be "always on". You should not have to cast it. It would open up a lot of choices for people who want some kind of melee / warlock combos.

4. Remove the 'save' for secondary effects. You already have a 'to hit' roll.

5. Make warlock's eldrich power count as 'divine' instead of arcane. They never suffer from arcane spell failure chances. They still must buy the feats to wear armor, but if they do, they can be in full plate with a shield if they desire.

[Slainte Mhath]

Hmmm...I may have to give Qara another shot given all the advice in this thread. Grobnar though, still seems fairly useless, but then I'm a slash and burn player, not one who uses support NPCs for buffs and such.

That's why I LOVE the druid. She's totally bad-ass. She's got an amazing array of offensive spells that clear out parties of critters quickly. Ice Storm is my favorite by far, and I also love Stoneskin combined with the spell that makes her into a human torch that does mondo damage to all nearby enemies in combat. Soften up a large group with an Ice Storm, then send in the flaming druid to mop up.


Bill (and anyone else starting over) : DO NOT waste skill points on LORE. Too many of the NPCs already have high LORE skills. The Druid and Qara especially, and they get enough skill points per level that you can increment it easily each time they level up. Augment it further with a magic item or some Lore potions and you have an ID Machine. Save your skill points for something else.

I'm probably gimping myself with the dual wield thing, but I just love the way my character looks and fights, and the number of interrupts he dishes out. Spellcasters don't last long against his whirling blades, but the lack of a shield means I take more damage over the course of a fight. Getting my Parry skill up higher hopefully will offset that.

[graller]

Slainte I love Ice Storm as well but there is nothing like having 4 Call Lightnings...only strikes your foes, unleash in the middle of the fight. Just pump the Druid's Concentration thru the roof and it is like a mini Holocaust.

[Kunikos]

I think killing the Red Dragon was the hardest battle yet but still a lot of fun watching my team get the crap beat out of them even with Protection from Energy (Fire). Good times.

You can get the crap kicked out of you even with Energy Immunity. Remember that it has a maximum of a certain amount of damage that it can take before it collapses, and that the dragon mostly likes to sink his HUGE FANGS TEHLOLS into you. ;)

Slainte I love Ice Storm as well but there is nothing like having 4 Call Lightnings...only strikes your foes, unleash in the middle of the fight. Just pump the Druid's Concentration thru the roof and it is like a mini Holocaust.

There are several higher level druid spells that are even cooler, such as Creeping Horror (swarms of locusts and shit!! gonna go biblical on YO AZZ!!) and the 9th level spell that melts peoples bodies like opening the Ark of the Covenant.

[Kunikos]

Bill (and anyone else starting over) : DO NOT waste skill points on LORE. Too many of the NPCs already have high LORE skills. The Druid and Qara especially, and they get enough skill points per level that you can increment it easily each time they level up. Augment it further with a magic item or some Lore potions and you have an ID Machine. Save your skill points for something else.

If you have enough lore skill when you hit the library you can impress Grobnar with your knowledge and get some respect from him by solving the riddles without reading the books. :) Also, you need 8 Lore to qualify for the RDD PrC (along with 1 level of Bard/Sorc).

[Slainte Mhath]

Also, you need 8 Lore to qualify for the RDD PrC (along with 1 level of Bard/Sorc).

What's an RDD?

[unbongwah]

Can the NPCs obtain prestige classes?
By default, no: you can't multiclass your henchies. You do get a chance to turn Khelgar into a monk, but that's it, IIRC. However, this mod (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2Other.Detail&id=73) does let you multiclass your companions. [Usual caveats about it breaking the campaign, eating your HD, etc. - not my fault!]

As for merchants: it depends on the merchant and your Appraise skill as to how much they offer for your lewt. You just have to shop around to find the best prices.

As for character builds: I would stick with Cleric if you want more spells; or go with Divine Champion if you want more thwacking, since they get bonus feats and some nice extras; or maybe Frenzied Berserker if you're non-lawful and already have the necessary feats. Warpriest is also an option, but I think you need to be at least Cleric lvl 8 first IIRC.

Getting my Parry skill up higher hopefully will offset that.
Bear in mind that Parry is an active rather than passive skill: you have to switch to Parry mode to use it; and while parrying you don't attack directly, but try to block incoming attacks and sometimes make a riposte attack if you roll high enough. Also, your Parry skill is reduced by your armor's armor check penalty: the heavier the armor, the worse the penalty. Basically, Parrying works best for high DEX characters in light armor who are trying to fight defensively and sucks for pretty much everyone else.

What's an RDD?
Red Dragon Disciple, i.e., the munchkin's class of choice. :-)

[Kunikos]

By the end of the EyeGouger mission all 4 of my characters, 3 of whom have exceptional strength, were encumbered and I was leaving behind suits of +1 chainmail and +1 studded armor along with +1 weapons because I couldn't carry it all and they were the least valuable objects I had.

Always stock up in the best magic bags you can afford. ;)

Bear in mind that Parry is an active rather than passive skill: you have to switch to Parry mode to use it; and while parrying you don't attack directly, but try to block incoming attacks and sometimes make a riposte attack if you roll high enough. Also, your Parry skill is reduced by your armor's armor check penalty: the heavier the armor, the worse the penalty. Basically, Parrying works best for high DEX characters in light armor who are trying to fight defensively and sucks for pretty much everyone else.

Yes, if there's one bone I'd like to pick with NWN2 combat its that there are FAR too many active mode skills that prevent the others from working. Having to micromanage switching between modes, and the inherent lag due to the turn-based combat system underlying what is going on make it an exercise in dealing with tedious details. I just feel like the whole concept of parrying and riposting would be better handled the way that many MMOs do it in that it's a random chance to occur normally (roll vs your parry skill, ala Concentration) and that you can activate the mode to give yourself a better chance at both parrying and riposting (ala Combat Casting mode).

[unbongwah]

What is wrong with chainmail? It caps your max dexterity bonus. That is the 'same' bonus, you use to attack with.
IIRC, the DEX cap due to armor only affects your AC bonus from DEX, not your to-hit with ranged attacks nor your Reflex save.

The whole point to warlocks is being able to continuously spam eldritch blasts vs the more powerful but limited number of spells of other mages. Your game-balancing complaints stem from the way resting works in NWN 2's campaign: you can either find a mod which disables resting in dangerous areas or choose not to rest in dungeons to make things more challenging / better balanced.

[unbongwah]

The easiest character to play, IMHO, is a tank: go with a fighter for beaucoup feats or a barbarian for rage and extra HPs; human for the extra feat, dwarf for the CON bonus, or half-orc for the STR bonus. I usually go with high STR & CON (14+), average DEX & INT (10 or 12), and ignore CHA & WIS. It helps if you decide beforehand if you intend to get any of the combat feats with DEX or INT pre-reqs: in particular, if you want Whirlwind Attack, you'll need DEX 13+ and INT 13+, plus a bunch of other feats. If you don't have a specific build in mind, Power Attack / Cleave / Great Cleave are obvious no-brainer choices. I also like Knockdown in high-STR melee fighters: particularly useful when taking out spellcasters.

However, the most useful character to play is a cleric: you give up some HP, BAB, and proficiencies; but you gain spellcasting while still being able to wear heavy armor. Go with high WIS (14+); decent STR, CON, and CHA (at least 12, preferably higher); INT and DEX aren't as important. Humans and aasimars make the best clerics, IMHO. Combat Casting and Extra Turning are obvious choices for feats: after that, I usually go with either fighter-ish feats for better melee, spell feats, or the various divine feats, depending on how I want to customize my cleric. You don't have to worry about selecting spells when you level, but you do have to memorize them before resting: when in doubt, go with the long-term buffs.

[McBain]

What's up with the copy protection on this game, BTW?

Makes my DVD-ROM spin up like crazy. Sometimes it sounds like my disc is being DEVOURED by a fucking shark or something. I just looked at my disc and noticed IT'S SCRATCHED in several places. WTF? My discs never get scratched, because I am one of those assholes who gingerly puts them back in the case with extreme care every time I'm done with them. I've never had a game disc scratched to the point of unusability (no, seriously), but I think NWN2 might be the first. What le fuck?

[Incendiary Lemon]

My interest petered out enough that I think I've stopped for good. I'm in the final dungeon.

JE Sawyer posted this on the Obsidian boards, its something he wrote for The Black Hound.

Since Guard Dog gave me the go-ahead, I'll post a sample that I may have posted way back when. I have a tendency to write pretty dry characters, but this guy is a little out of the ordinary. In the campaign, you have the opportunity to meet a lot of Sembians, many of them members of the Silver Ravens. At one location, you can come across a group of Silver Ravens involved in a standoff with a group of Red Wizards. Out of personal pride, neither group wants to break the standoff despite the fact they they are out in the middle of nowhere. One of the Sembians is this intense dude named Guelfa who is seething with rage over the murder of a comrade by the Thayans. If you ask him why he's so worked up, he goes off on a bit of a rant.

QUOTE(Guelfa @ Eleint 12 1375, Highsun)
The Thayans. The Thayans. I will peel the malodorous skin from their blasted frames in due time for killing my kin and countrymen. When I left Saerloon, I was venturing for the trade gold of Archenbridge. I will bring home the coin of vengeance, minted in their defiled, primitive, barbarous, ugly, pig-scrawled, mud-painted, magic-poxed hides!

When a man fights a man, he does it with honor, blade to flesh. The Thayans used eldritch storms to kill my cousin and Ricci's schoolmate. They are not men, but whores of the occult and wretches of dishonor. It is well enough that their women also go bald, since they are no better, simply the mud-brown bitches to the red curs of Thay.

They are lower than dirt, and just a shade lighter. Unsightly, hairless worms that dig their insidious tunnels through the soil of every land to which they spread, uninvited. They bring only iniquity and maledictions, leave only weakness. Spineless, untrue, selfish corruptors, one and all. Had I the hand of Hoar as my own for but a moment, I would drown them in the Sea of Fallen Stars where they could not voice the words that undo nations!


More of a monologue than a dialogue, I suppose, but it's the most colorful thing I have on hand.

[unbongwah]

FYI, the 1.04 patch just came out: you can read the fixlist here (http://nwvault.ign.com/fullstory.php?id=26002).

[Kunikos]

From reading the bug thread for final 1.04 it looks like there are some issues with keybindings. I would hold off for a few more days and see if they hotfix anything.

[Kunikos]

For 1.05, which will be coming out rather soon, in which they also aim to fix custom content/modules will be this awesome gem (http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=2&):

Also going in is Multiselect for the DM Client and in the normal game mode. This will allow you to drag-select any party members not being actively controlled by another player and issue simple commands like move, attack, talk, and even unlock/disarm. The game will pick the character with the highest score for picking and disarming and have them do the action. This is our first pass at multi-select support, there will be more features going in with regards to this over time.

[Luke M]

I'm so glad Obsidian is implementing the Infinity Engine RTS control system in NWN2. This should eliminate the numerous AI irritations by eliminating the need for PCs to be controlled by AI. Now, why didn't they have this in from the start?

[Kunikos]

It probably wasn't working properly and they had to ship the game so they pulled the feature... :P I'm sure they've been working on fixing it since then.

[Jancelot]

Little help here please. I seem to have screwed something up with my character and I'm not familiar enough with the intricacies of D&D to discern where I went wrong.

I started a Wood-Elf Ranger with the intent of taking Arcane Archer levels. I have 6 levels in Ranger (Base Attack +6), a focus on bows with the two requisite feats and 1 level in Sorcerer (1st Arcane magic).

I seem to have all that is required. However, it's odd that when I bring up my quick cast interface my 1st level Sorcerer spells are not available. I have a 10 Charisma so that shouldn't be an issue. What have I done wrong? And ideas?

At this point when I figure it out I'm going to grab a character editor to fix it. This attempt is my third start and I finally found a character I really am enjoying.

On that note it would be extremely useful to include a character plotter in the program. With all of the interdependencies between the classes (regular vs. prestige) it would be nice to be able to make sure the player doesn't make even one little mistake that completely jacks up a plan.

[foogla]

Actually you need 11 CHA (10 + Level of Spell).

[Slainte Mhath]

Yeah, you need 11+ CHA. If you just want to fudge to make it work, there is a way you can edit your stats through the console. If you only bump it up 1 or 2 points it shouldn't break anything.

[Jancelot]

Aha! Ok, thanks for the info guys. I read through the manual a couple times last night but I guess I somehow missed than info.


SetSTR, SetDEX, SetCON, SetINT, SetWIS, SetCHA [Value] - Right-click select a target, and use these commands to alter the relevant attribute to the value you wish. For example, right-click select your own character and use SetSTR 18 to give him/her 18 Strength.

[Aeon221]

Little help here please. I seem to have screwed something up with my character and I'm not familiar enough with the intricacies of D&D to discern where I went wrong.

I started a Wood-Elf Ranger with the intent of taking Arcane Archer levels. I have 6 levels in Ranger (Base Attack +6), a focus on bows with the two requisite feats and 1 level in Sorcerer (1st Arcane magic).

I seem to have all that is required. However, it's odd that when I bring up my quick cast interface my 1st level Sorcerer spells are not available. I have a 10 Charisma so that shouldn't be an issue. What have I done wrong? And ideas?

At this point when I figure it out I'm going to grab a character editor to fix it. This attempt is my third start and I finally found a character I really am enjoying.

On that note it would be extremely useful to include a character plotter in the program. With all of the interdependencies between the classes (regular vs. prestige) it would be nice to be able to make sure the player doesn't make even one little mistake that completely jacks up a plan.

According to a couple of forums I looked at, the better option is to go Ranger 2/Wizard 8/Eldrich Knight 10 and just take bow feats to really munchkin a magical archer, since EK gives you more spells and stuff (This build would count as a lvl17 wizard), as opposed to Arcane Archer, which mostly gives you archer bonuses. In addition, you can pick up the special no arcane failure penalty chain mail from that little Kobold guy.

That said, if you really want to just use a bow, the Arcane Archer is probably easier.

[BDGE]

I've had this continual problem with the hotbar not saving my bound settings to it when I load any new area in the game. Everything I set to it just resets to empty when a load screen braks up the game.

Frustrating to no end as I resorted to just keeping the fast menu up for skill use...until I just decided to not bother at all playing. It's little things like that which really decimate my motivation.

Anyone else have that issue? Is there a fix?

[Marcus]

Gogamer Has NWN2 for 24.90 now.

[caesarbear]

Anyone else have that issue? Is there a fix?
I don't have it, don't know. But FYI the latest version is 1.04.870. There have been a lot of 'in between the patches' hotfixes, so check your version number.

[unbongwah]

FYI, the 1.05 patch (http://nwvault.ign.com/fullstory.php?id=28342) is now out. Multi-Select is now available.

[Kunikos]

Sweet! Finally!

Does anyone know of new/updated good mods?

[Bill Dungsroman]

I've had this continual problem with the hotbar not saving my bound settings to it when I load any new area in the game. Everything I set to it just resets to empty when a load screen braks up the game.

Frustrating to no end as I resorted to just keeping the fast menu up for skill use...until I just decided to not bother at all playing. It's little things like that which really decimate my motivation.

Anyone else have that issue? Is there a fix?


--Certain multiclass characters could lose spells from their hotbar after making area transitions. This will no longer occur.
Looks like 1.05 will fix that for you, BDGE.

And color me retarded, but how exactly do you engage group-select? Mouse 4? Tab+Mouse 4? The game better read my goddamned mouse clicks grumblegrumble

[unbongwah]

Does anyone know of new/updated good mods?
Actually, the first module in Adam Miller's Dark Waters (http://adamandjamie.com/da/) campaign is supposed to be released tomorrow.

[Kunikos]

Oh, isn't that the one that integrates the Pirate Cards game?

Bill:

A beta implementation of Multi-Select is now available as an option in both the DM Client and main game client. By default, Mouse 4 will select the entire party, and Mouse 5 or holding CTRL+Left Click will enable lasso selection of party members. We are planning to continue to revise and improve our Multi-Select functionality in future patches.


Try the ctrl+left click? You should be able to change the default bindings as well if you use a mouse which has the buttons mapped to keyboard buttons or whatnot.

[Shadari]

Are they ever gonna fix the super slow edge-of-screen camera rotation crap? Ugh, that's like the last remaining thing that's holding NWN2 back from being a great game IMHO.

[Kunikos]

Are they ever gonna fix the super slow edge-of-screen camera rotation crap? Ugh, that's like the last remaining thing that's holding NWN2 back from being a great game IMHO.

Do you realize that can be changed by a configuration menu option, and has been there since 1.0?

[Union Carbide]

Hrm, for some reason I can't get the 1.05 patch to download using the "Update" button. It says:

Your game version is: 1.04.870 English

Latest Game Version Available:
You are up to date. No patch file required.
Time taken to patch game 0:00:06

[Shadari]

Do you realize that can be changed by a configuration menu option, and has been there since 1.0?
Of course dude, and at its highest setting it's still slow as molasses.

EDIT: IIRC, NWN1 was the same way for quite a while until one of the patches fixed it.

[John Reynolds]

Hrm, for some reason I can't get the 1.05 patch to download using the "Update" button. It says:

Almost same problem here. Just says I'm up to date and the main window clearly reads v1.04.

[Angie Gallant]

Yeah, their patcher is retarded and can't handle feeding you multiple patches to get you to current if you do not have a version that has a specific patch to current. So you basically have to go on the forums, tell them what version you have, and their userbase will give you the files you need and tell you what order to install them in.

[Lum]

That seems somewhat inefficient!

[Bill Dungsroman]

Yeah, their patcher is retarded and can't handle feeding you multiple patches to get you to current if you do not have a version that has a specific patch to current. So you basically have to go on the forums, tell them what version you have, and their userbase will give you the files you need and tell you what order to install them in.
What does that mean, Angie? It'll work for 1.04->1.05 though, yes? I ask because I updated from 1.01 to 1.04 without incident using the autopatcher awhile back (well, my internet connection was spotty, but it had nothing to do with the autopatcher).

[Bill Dungsroman]

Of course dude, and at its highest setting it's still slow as molasses.

EDIT: IIRC, NWN1 was the same way for quite a while until one of the patches fixed it.
I dunno Shadari, I keep hitting the edge of the screen accidentally and the camera swings too easily as opposed to too slowly.

[Kunikos]

Of course dude, and at its highest setting it's still slow as molasses.

EDIT: IIRC, NWN1 was the same way for quite a while until one of the patches fixed it.

Not to be an ass or anything, but are you sure you're dragging the slider in the proper direction?

[Shadari]

I dunno Shadari, I keep hitting the edge of the screen accidentally and the camera swings too easily as opposed to too slowly.
Is that camera rotation or movement? I'm asking because I have noticed that edge-of-screen movement (not rotation) can be adjusted such that it's very fast, but only in free camera mode.

In top down camera mode, edge-or-screen rotations are slow -- it probably takes a little over a second to do a full rotation.

[Shadari]

Not to be an ass or anything, but are you sure you're dragging the slider in the proper direction?
Yeah, because it is a little bit faster when it's positioned all the way to the right.

FWIW, I've even played with the camera rotation settings in the ini files as well. Alas, that didn't help any more than the in-game slider. :(

[Shadari]

On a tangent note, does anyone use the free camera mode? I was just playing around with it a little and I sorta like it. Kinda makes the game feel all old-school like Baldur's Gate and such....

[Dhruin]

Almost same problem here. Just says I'm up to date and the main window clearly reads v1.04.

I'm guessing that's because the patch was pulled. (http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=558940&forum=109&sp=15)

"There seems to be an issue with the toolset update, so we are pulling the patch for the moment.

We should have it back up shortly"

[Bill Dungsroman]

RRRRRRRR. Just exactly how many hours are in a "shortly?"

[Matt Perkins]

RRRRRRRR. Just exactly how many hours are in a "shortly?"
More than 24 less than 6000.

[unbongwah]

Until either the patch or Dark Waters comes out, you can read the press release (http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/04/neverwinter_nig.html) for the NWN 2 expansion.

"We'll finish the story this time - honest!"

[Bill Dungsroman]

Until either the patch or Dark Waters comes out, you can read the press release (http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/04/neverwinter_nig.html) for the NWN 2 expansion.

"We'll finish the story this time - honest!"
LIKE YOU FINISHED YOUR PATCH JERKS

Also:

Following your fight with the King of Shadows, you wake up alone, stranded underground.
OH HELL I DIDN'T NEED ANY OF MY LOOT NOW DID I?

[routlaw]

OH HELL I DIDN'T NEED ANY OF MY LOOT NOW DID I?

The PR description of the game sort of screams "Hordes of the Underdark 2", though. They very well might let you do level 18-20 to 30 or so in the expansion and let you keep your phat lewt. I would say that this would be a problem due to rampant metagaming /munchkin hackery, but if you think about it, that's one of the appeals of a Bioware-styled D&D RPG. That and decent dialogue/banter.

The companions you had probably won't be around anymore though. I was sort of dissapointed that the game was staying in FR, given the huge ties of the NWN2 OC to the Gith-an extraplanar romp sounds far more interesting, and Obsidian actually has the skills to properly pull it off (the only question is if they had the time to do so, which seems to be the recurrent Obsidian theme).

[Quaro]

Good news for the NWN2 modding community -- the patches will keep coming for awhile at least.

[ydejin]

The PR description of the game sort of screams "Hordes of the Underdark 2", though.

Yes in terms of Epic levels. Less clear on how much is underground. From the press release "Set in harsh, spirit-rich Rashemen, near the powerful nation of Thay". So it clearly starts underground, but it will be interesting to see how long we stay there. Personally a bit of Underdark is okay with me, but I prefer to travel the surface world.

[routlaw]

Yes in terms of Epic levels. Less clear on how much is underground. From the press release "Set in harsh, spirit-rich Rashemen, near the powerful nation of Thay". So it clearly starts underground, but it will be interesting to see how long we stay there. Personally a bit of Underdark is okay with me, but I prefer to travel the surface world.

Yeah, the levels is what I meant. I do want some good mindflayer/beholder fights and a good drow settlement cleansing while playing around in Rashemen.

The game engine actually handles fighting one or two really powerful enemies at a time really well and it's very engaging (see a fight near the Fire Golem area for a good example-not to spoil things, but if you finished the game you know what I'm talking about) and requires some good planning and skill to beat. I hope Obsidian does more of those fights rather than the zerg-of-weenies that most of the dungeon crawling parts of the game consisted of.

[Kunikos]

I would enjoy fighting some Deep Gnomes for a change of pace, instead of Drow. Rasheman sounds awesome; I hope there's a Minsc cameo. ;)

[Bill Dungsroman]

I hope Obsidian does more of those fights rather than the zerg-of-weenies that most of the dungeon crawling parts of the game consisted of.
Heh, zerg-of-weenies. I CHOOSE YOU, AREA EFFECT SPELLS.

[Kunikos]

Heh, zerg-of-weenies. I CHOOSE YOU, AREA EFFECT SPELLS.

Lvl 10 Red Dragon Disciple + Delayed Blast Fireball (on hardcore mode) = awesome. Get them all to magnet to your one melee, then blow them away and RDD takes zero fire dmg.

[jeffd]

I think I'm going to give this game another play.

What's a good RDD build? It sounds stupidly overpowered which should be fun.

[Kunikos]

What's a good RDD build? It sounds stupidly overpowered which should be fun.

9 Fighter / 1 Bard / 10 Red Dragon Disciple is a common build. Get about five or six levels of fighter, then the bard level and dump all the skill points into Lore, and then go up to 10 in RDD, then finish off a few more levels of fighter. Gear your character for a big ass two-handed weapon so you can finish with as many specializations in it. Alternatively you can substitute a level of Sorcerer for Bard, but you won't get to have a passive party +1 damage /+1 to-hit or +1 AC buff all the time from bard song and sorceror is useless without having spellcasting armor.

I ran through the game as a 6 Bard / 10 RDD / 4 Fighter and ended up wishing I had ditched Bard levels for Fighter. I had to use feat slots on getting medium armor spellcasting and make a suit of mithril full-plate (counts as medium armor). I also made the mistake of using dual wielding on a character without enough dexterity, so didn't qualify for the extra combat feats for it.

I really, really hope they add the wings and tail to the player model for RDD in the expansion pack. It adds a lot of "cool" factor to an otherwise passively beneficial prestige class, as it's all stat based bonuses except for the fire breath (which isn't that great).

[Matt Perkins]

Don't do it jeff! It'll suck you in and then smack you for ever liking the game! It's a trap!


Though, if you play with a good melee build, the game is a LOT better. Mainly because you don't have to deal so much with the crappy AI.

[Kunikos]

The party I usually towed around was most of the time just my RDD/Fighter, either the Paladin or Khelgar, Elanee in earth elemental form and her pet buffed like crazy, and Grobnar giving everyone adamantine skin, and Sand throwing big area of effect spells or disintegrates. For the hard fights, like the ancient red dragon, I had my RDD, Khelgar and the Blade Golem, Sand, Elanee, and Qara. Throw up a crapload of buffs prior to the fight, then keep spamming dispells (disjunction, greater dispell, etc) and debuffs (moon bolt), and keeping the damage going with a continuous queue of spells like Isaac's Lesser and Greater Missile Storm, magic missile, and acid bolts. Summoning an elemental prince is also a good distraction.

[Quaro]

I didn't notice the supposed AI improvements in the 1.05 notes -- hope it didn't get pushed back to a later patch.

[jeffd]

Well doing it will require that I find my NWN2 DVD, which is going to take some doing. :D

[John Reynolds]

Best news of the year so far. Despite its failings, NWN2 was easily the best CRPG of the last few years.

[jeffd]

yay I found it.

What are good ability scores for an RDD build? I'm guessing mostly strength and con?

[Kunikos]

yay I found it.

What are good ability scores for an RDD build? I'm guessing mostly strength and con?

You need to make sure to also have enough to satisfy being a bard or sorceror (ie charisma is the primary stat).

[Anaxagoras]

Unless they nerfed this in a patch, you don't actually need the requisite CHA score for a sorc or bard to switch to sorc or bard. You can just switch. You won't be able to cast spells, but a lvl 1 bard can't cast 'em anyways.

Of course, half the fun is having a decent CHA so you can see all the dialogue options, but if your goal is to munchkin the hell out of the game.....

[jeffd]

What's the min CHA for a bard? I don't want to take the chance. :D

[foogla]

What's the min CHA for a bard? I don't want to take the chance. :D

None if you take it at first level (wich I would do because you get sick skill points), I would chose 10 if you want to cast cantrips. Remember to put 3 ranks into Perform.

Wich reminds me, have they fixed the retarded bug where a bard would start to sing a countersong duringa battle on his own? Mine would do that even without ranks in Perform, broke her action for the round without any chance to prevent it. :/

[Anaxagoras]

What's the min CHA for a bard? I don't want to take the chance. :D
You don't need to take a chance. There are several modules out there which allow you to get free XP and/or gold & level up different characters to see how they turn out. Really handy. It's how I found out about the "No minimum scores" thing when switching classes. My test RDD had 1 lvl of sorceror... and a 3 CHA. Gotta love the HP bonus familiar.

[jeffd]

I played for about five minutes last night. I totally forgot about the awful introduction sequence at the fair. It was kind of a neat tutorial the first time I went through out; but someone desperately needs to make a mod to make it skippable (or maybe they have?)

[Angie Gallant]

You don't need a mod, you can choose to skip it in the very first dialog with your foster father.

[jeffd]

Hrm I should probably have paid attention to that.... I was just clicking through as fast as I can.

Thanks Angie!

[Matt Perkins]

Of course, half the fun is having a decent CHA so you can see all the dialogue options, but if your goal is to munchkin the hell out of the game.....
There are more dialogue options if you have a higher CHA? I hadn't heard that... Same goes for INT maybe?

[unbongwah]

There are more dialogue options if you have a higher CHA? I hadn't heard that... Same goes for INT maybe?
Yeah, sometimes a high INT, CHA, or WIS score will give you extra dialog options; so will high scores in certain skills, such as Spot, Lore, and Spellcraft, IIRC. Not really a big deal, though: just maybe you figure something out or tease a bit more info out of someone.

[Quaro]

From the part of the game that I played, and from NWN1, INT seemed to have the most effect on whether a particular option is available, while CHA had more bearing on whether an option was successful. I almost always give myself at least 16 INT even if the class isn't the best fit -- just like to see the choices.

[Kunikos]

* Semi Spoilerage* FYI you get extra option for upgrading the Golem later in the game if you have good armor or weapon craft skill, and since Khelgar loses all those skills when he becomes a monk either 1) get it yourself or manually make two of your companions learn one or the other, 2) forget about upgrading the Blade Golem all the way, or 3) don't change Khelgar to monk (he's better as a fighter anyway, since he can use all his clan epix, give and take a bigger beating).

[Matt Perkins]

Yeah, sometimes a high INT, CHA, or WIS score will give you extra dialog options; so will high scores in certain skills, such as Spot, Lore, and Spellcraft, IIRC. Not really a big deal, though: just maybe you figure something out or tease a bit more info out of someone.
Yeah, you get skill checks all over... I hadn't heard about them using the ability scores as conversation modifiers in NWN2 though. Interesting.

/me runs off to find a character hack.

[Bill Dungsroman]

Yeah, you get skill checks all over... I hadn't heard about them using the ability scores as conversation modifiers in NWN2 though. Interesting.

/me runs off to find a character hack.
Matt Perkins: playing games he hates since 2006.

[unbongwah]

Matt Perkins: playing games he hates since 2006.
Now, now, he never hated NWN 2: it's more like that nice girl one dates, despite her annoying habits like chewing with her mouth open or scratching herself in public in inappropriate places.

Matt Perkins: lowering his standards since 2006.

[Kunikos]

Now, now, he never hated NWN 2: it's more like that nice girl one dates, despite her annoying habits like chewing with her mouth open or scratching herself in public in inappropriate places.

Your memory is bad, you should boot a floppy off your head and check it for errors.

[Jason McCullough]

I've had this damn game sitting on my hard drive since it came out and I'm just now getting around to it.

So tell me about the original campaign: with the exception of converting Khelgar to monk, the couple of other NPCs where you need it to be positive to continue their quest lines, and choosing who does what in the final battle, is there any point at all to the companion influence system? Extra interesting dialogues? Power ups?

[hong]

I think you covered it.

I remember being slightly upset that the tiefling girl whatsername ended up going over to the bad guy, because my influence wasn't high enough. Clearly I can't have been that upset, or I would actually remember her name....

[Sarkus]

NWN2 uses a system similar to the KOTOR games, where you basically have to spend time/use the NPC's to get their full story and sidequests as an option. The added wrinkle is the impact on the ending, where some will switch sides depending on your relationship with them individually or versus another NPC.

[CommunistWalrus]

I've had this damn game sitting on my hard drive since it came out and I'm just now getting around to it.

So tell me about the original campaign: with the exception of converting Khelgar to monk, the couple of other NPCs where you need it to be positive to continue their quest lines, and choosing who does what in the final battle, is there any point at all to the companion influence system? Extra interesting dialogues? Power ups?

There's one NPC who will leave you permanently depending on your influence towards the end, but that's the only other thing I can think of.

Two of the NPCs who can defect to the bad guys at the end will do it only partially based on your influence; basically, if one defects, the other will not, regardless of how much you crapped on his or her feelings during the campaign. Conversely, no matter how good your influence with both of them is, one will always defect.

[unbongwah]

FYI, Obsidian does a much better job with the Influence system in MotB, where sucking up - excuse me, "bonding" - to your companions results in stuff like bonus feats.

[BDGE]

Started playing this since despite having owned it since it practically launched. Going through the original campaign and loving it.

Crazy engine though, even with a fancy new core i7 rig with an HD4850 card and oodles of RAM, the game still doesn't behave well at all with shadows turned on to any halfway respectable level. :(

Also, I adore the low ground character camera, but it needs to control more like WoW and less like...well whatever they are trying to ask me to do with it.

Also, the pathfinding is some of the worst I've ever encountered. The greatest threat to my party's survival is a chair sitting directly in the middle of a room.

Otherwise great!

[Killzig]

Just picked this up on the cheap via ebay and wishing I could return it. Absolutely terrible controls/camera. Holy hell.

[foogla]

guys don't use the camera like in wow, make it an isometric camera and use the mouse to move your guys and suddenly it works again

[Kunikos]

Crazy engine though, even with a fancy new core i7 rig with an HD4850 card and oodles of RAM, the game still doesn't behave well at all with shadows turned on to any halfway respectable level. :(

yep. just as shittily coded as the original.

[roguefrog]

Just picked this up on the cheap via ebay and wishing I could return it. Absolutely terrible controls/camera. Holy hell.


The camera is a real sonofabitch for a good while. Then I figured out the motions to get it working for me. This required switching camera modes depending on where my party was. For the original release, IIRC Outside = Character Mode (Zoomed Out) Inside = Strategy Mode. (might have gone by a different name)

The funny thing is, the camera system has changed a bit with each expansion release. The Original release had 3 camera modes. Mask of Betrayer reduced it to 2 camera modes. Storm of Zehir puts it back up to 3 camera modes with now the camera buttons added to the quick action bar at the bottom of the screen. With that at least I don't have to remember the hotkey to switch the camera or access the option menu.