Neverwinter Nights 2

[Swiftdraw]

Brief overview of this game first. Neverwinter Nights 2 is the sequel to the successful D&D based RPG Neverwinter Nights and it's two exspansion packs (Shadows of Undertide and Hordes of the Underdark.) The original was developed by Bioware, but Obsidian has now picked up this lisence and is creating the sequel. Neverwinter Nights is in the Forgotten Realms setting of D&D and NWN2 uses the new(er) 3.5 edition rules of D&D (which would take to long to explain.)

 

A slew of previews came out recently (IGN, Gamespy, gamespot) and from that the game looks intresting. Graphics wise, I don't think its going to hold a light to Elder Scrolls IV, but to compare NWN2 to ESIV would be faulty beyond that so I'm not going any further down that vien.

 

A few things of intrest to me popped up during the previews. Its been said in at least one of the previews that you can play as a monsterous race in this game, like an orc, gnoll, drow, and whatever else. You won't be stuck with just the base classes like dwarves, humans, elves, ect. But Obsidian (the developer) said no to template races. This means you can't be a vampire, lycanthrope, and that sort of thing. No worries though, even if half of the original NWN mod community shows up for this game, these will most likely be availble through mods.

 

Another thing that appears to be cool is the presence of strongholds. Though the function of these things in game hasn't been detailed, maybe you can lay seige? This gamer can only hope.

 

One thing that has me jumping up and down with joy is a simpified mod set and the removal of tile sets. Translation, you can make things a lot easier and when you place objects like tree, they won't be restricted to a certain area, you can place them where ever allowing for a potentially more organic look to outdoor levels.

 

I suppose there is a fourth thing ya'll might be intrested in, Obsidian is carring over the follower influence system from KOTORII (which I haven't played and can't speak on.) Also the addition of the Law and Chaos axis has been added to the Good and Evil axis make for more dynamic alignments as any D&D player can tell you. Followers in this game won't be the simple mercenary henchmen from the first, but dynamic NPC that will be affected by the decisions you make.

 

If you want a slightly more coherent summary and preview head over to gamespy.com, gamespot.com, and/or IGN.com.

[Garbageben]

This game looks good. I never played the original NWN except for the demo.

[Swiftdraw]

Only thing that kept NWN on my hard-drive as long as it was on there was it's modability. I didn't care for the single player campiagns (I got through the first of 5 chapters of NWN before quitting, half way through SoU, and beat HotU), and the combat got boring after awhile. But you could come up with really intresting mini-games, maps, and abilities even with just the mod tools the game provided. I created a small game where your objective was to steal an object from a fort which was really difficult for even a lvl. 15 rouge to obtain. So I created a potion that polymorphed you into a living archery target so you could sneak through the archery range and get to the objective. The trick was to time it so you were in position before the targets popped up and try to avoid lanes that are occupied and/or have good archers (the trainees would rarely hit the target.) So yeah, NWN was a fun game if you played around with mods.

[Ghostly_Substance]

just wondering, why dont you guys post a link to a picture?

[Swiftdraw]

1) That would require effort on my part.

2) I listed the sites the previews can be found at. Simply type in the game's name in their site search if you can't find it on the front page.

3) Pictures don't tell you much, exspecially whne they are of a alpha build of the game and only show enviromental stuff (like plants, water, furniture, ect.)

[Darkmark]

I played the original Neverwinter on my computer for about a month. I can safely say it's one of the few games I think I will never get back to. Not that it was bad, I just found it lacked any momentum. The battles I fought seemed to last forever and I just grew tired of it and never returned. If I want something like it I now turn to things like Morrowind instead. Still this is just my opinion, I know some people who really liked it.... I figure they're just crazy though

 

I'm really going to neeed a good review from a reputable source to convince me to get NWN2. A good boost in speed and the ability to draw me back to it every couple of months like most games would be a welcome change.

[Swiftdraw]

Don't worry about that Dark, NWN2 is going to very, very similar in gameplay to NWN1. So stay away!!!

 

I never tried any of the Morrowwind series, how is that?

[Darkmark]

I've only played the Eldar scrolls III, but it's pretty good. Truth be told I've modded the hell out of that, so it's better for me now than the original stand alone game by far. I'll try to base what I say on things that are in with the original game.

 

It's similar to neverwinter in some ways, but I find the fight system has more freedom, and is generally much faster. If there was any one thing that drew me away from NW, it was the long roll based fighting. Not my cup of tea.

 

One thing I do like about morrowind that I didn't find in NW, is the sheer amounts of rubbish you can pick up. I claimed a house after I got a mission to kill all the inhabitants, so now I store all my stuff there, weapons, potions, clothing, candles, books, pillows, goblets, paper, buckets... basically all the useless rubbish I find, and I find a lot.

 

I also found NW to be very plot driven with the quests etc. For morrowind you can go into a stupidly large amount of dungeons scattered on the map where there is no point to it other than perhaps to kill enemies and find treasure. It feels more like you're making your own plot rather than following a set one. Still, I'm probably being unfair to NW. It's hard to compare, because it's so long since I last played NW and I only played morrowind yesterday.

 

Yeah, for me it just has more freedom and appeal than NW. I suppose that's just my personal preference though.

[Swiftdraw]

NWN single player was very plot drive, and though there were side quest, there wasn't much to do outside of your quest. You could just raid a cave to loot treasure, because there was no cave that didn't involve a quest objective. Another thing that annoyed me about NWN is that you were basiclly stuck with what you could carry. Carry everything you need, buy more if you need it, or sell it off if you have no use for it. Some multiplayer mods allowed for random duengons and such which made things intresting. A few even allowed "storehouse" of sorts where you could rent something like a locker to store items in. One even had a bank where you coul earn intrest off your money.

[Garbageben]

Well I've been playing this game along with the expansion Mask of the Betrayer.  Other than some technical hitches (poor optimization) the game is superb.  The story is very good (at least I think so).  Also there is coop play.  If anyone is interested or has Neverwinter Nights 2 and wants to play, check out my xfire and pm me.  I'm fairly new to the game.  I know I've bugged Ghostly already about getting NWN 2 Gold.

 

Edit: and of course as I near the end my system corrupts one of the files somehow.  Gonna have to reinstall.  /sigh 

Edited May 16, 2008 by Garbageben

[Controller]

well i got Nw2 with my graphics card, and i think I'm up to Act 3 or something like that(i got bored with my character and cant be bothered starting another)

[Garbageben]

Well after the reinstall I'm going back through the game (again) as my dual wielding ranger.  It's a lot of fun.  (looks at ghostly and waits for him to get it) lol

[Ghostly_Substance]

Blah, one thing at a time damn lol. Managed to get two things done and now for the other 3 or 4 things then we'll see.

[Garbageben]

Now I'm playing Nwn1, Nwn2, and TQ all at once.  =p  They are all mp capable.  *looks at gs*  Anyway I'm not on xfire much because it causes issues with random computer errors.

[Garbageben]

The new Storm of Zehir for Neverwinter Nights 2 is coming out end of the year.

FULL PARTY CUSTOMIZATION!!!!  ;D ;D ;D

 

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/neverwinternights2stormofzehir/index.html