Neverwinter Nights 2 - First Impressions
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2022
- Talking a bit about my initial experiences with Neverwinter Nights 2 after jumping into it for the first time!
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#gaming #neverwinter #neverwinternights #neverwinternights2 #crpg - เกม
Mask of the Betrayer is as close as you'll get to Planescape: Torment without actually playing PST. it's very good.
Was just about to post the same thing. Planar adventuring FTW!
Yeah the story was mindblowing I think!
MotB has less philosophy doctorate dialogue, but it still touches some interesting topics like the fabled and now removed "🧱", rebelling against divine command directly, nurture vs nature etc etc etc. Still think every game needs a Falls from Grace, but the angel companion is a good replacement, specially of you rebel.
I will never forget my ray focused enervation sorceress spamming twinned, empowered and swift spells. It was like 3 to 12 negative levels per round, while having an ABSURD amount spell slots for enervation that could be cast.
Ironically it deals less damage than magic missile spam, but making a boss become useless (remember, it's 3 to 12 lost levels per round, so resistances, AC, to hit, caster level and health all go down) was extremely amusing.
Oh no, an ancient dragon!! Hope he has no issues having the stats of an adult dragon next round 🤡
I haven't played any of these yet, but the vibe I get from discussion is that Mask of the Betrayer is what you play if you want Planescape Torment storytelling but with solid combat gameplay, and Disco Elysium is what you play if you want Planescape Torment storytelling transformed *into* the core gameplay.
Also, who does not like playing epic levels.
NWN2 was my first RPG and have a huge soft spot in my heart for it. Love the game
Neverwinter nights 2 + expansions was probably the game with the most options for character creation PERIOD before Pathfinder came around... and with mods it's even venturing into WOTR insanity territory. It also has a stronghold management part less involved (and less tedious) than Kingmaker but pretty cool as long as you PROTECT YOUR FARMS ! (by building walls for some reason) Once you get enough peasants you're in business.
Also the map in Storm of Zehir is the first draft of the excellent exploration Obsidian made in Pillars 2.
But I have never thought I would hear someone say "Neverwinter night 2" and "stable" in the same sentence without a negative :D
The final build of the game you get on GOG is extremely stable.
Mask of the Betrayer had a great story with some memorable moments.
Storm of Zehir is pretty fun imho. Plus it was the expansion which brought us the dinosaur companion and playable grey orcs. Both favourites of mine in NwN2.
I think the only criticism I'd make about Storm of Zehir is that it kind of just... ends. Whn I fought the final battle, I actually thought I was, like, halfway there, and couldn't quite believe that no, that was it.
Really happy your covering that game!
main campaign is one of my favorites in history
things found in it are so good that every time new gameplay of baldurs gate 3 is revealed i wonder why they don't take some more inspirations from it (all others were a bit hard to play since manual patches were not doing their job and purchased separately not always wanted to be installed together but maybe it was just problem of polish market)
with delicate balancing all companions can stay or go away or betray you (aside for those that are destined to die) and they all add a lot to the story (and they all feel very alive)
one unique companion that is main reason why i cry since baldur's gate 3 adamantine forge was presented
many main and side quest choices can seriously influence entire game
mystery of main quest that keeps on being interesting untill end
simple yet great base management
important diplomacy
phoenix wright
minigames that sometimes required very analytic senses (hated those)
in the end it's a game that once finished remain permanently marked in mind (in a good way)
I really enjoyed the main story...the companions have great stories...even those you will end up disliking...there is a big payoff in the end as well...you have your keep to manage and upgrade....the story really evolves going on, cause it stars with something else, and ends up with something completely different...one of my favorite games , completely underrrated imo
Indeed. I really like the keep managment.
Would you mind explaining why do you keep spamming the Ellipsis throughout your comment.
@@thereseemstobeenanerror1219 What a strange thing to be concerned about.
@@thereseemstobeenanerror1219 It gives an impression on how they would actually say it if you where talking to them. Far worse ways people type. At least you can understand them lol.
@@craigtrish2011
Yes it is truly odd, I will admit that.
My favorite D&D game. Mask of the Betrayer is some of the best video game writing in existence and I loved making solo/duo builds in Storm of Zehir.
I really enjoyed NWN2 and I play it every once in a while, because it aged pretty well in my opinion. Glad to see that you give this gem a run and a little more publicity. Would love a proper enhanced edition in the future.
Keep up the great work 🙏
i am so stoked to see you cover NWN2, i love it to bits and i think it gets way too much criticism. the main campaign IS kind of just a classic sword & sorcery heroes story but i dont think thats a bad thing when theres so many other games that subvert that trope, including its own expansion MOTB. great cast of characters, very cool meaningful decisions at regular intervals throughout the story (low-level spoilers: for example early on in the city of Neverwinter you get a choice between joining the city guard and joining the thieves guild, which sets you on one of two very long questlines that are starkly different from eachother). of course MOTB is better but the base campaign, by virtue of being a base campaign, does a fantastic job of hitting all the bases of what you'd want from a game about Neverwinter (including introducing those unfamiliar with it) before they start subverting those bases in MOTB and SoZ.
Subverting tropes is becoming just as old and tired in it's own right as classic swords and sorcery hero stories. The main campaign in NWN2 has honestly become a breath of fresh air in this era of grimdark, post modernist fantasy. Fantasy use to be an escape from the the world but now fantasy today is a reflection of our world. What kind of crap is that?
@@andrewvincent7299 yeah, both have their place but it feels like subverting a trope has become more of a trope than the tropes themselves, and almost some sort of mandatory thing that you HAVE to do. i don't like that.
I dont see MOTB suberverting a trop but a different take on the Huuuuge D&D universe. Besides the story of the betrayer is quite straigtforward and very touching very akin greek tragedies were greats heros meddle with gods. The epic scoop is also exhalirating, I dont remember a game where you feel so nearly unstoppable. And the love story with saphiya is also quite nice.
If this game ever got an Enhanced Edition...
The best part about the game is how the three parts (OC, MotB, SoZ) are so wildly different from each other but each great in their own right. If only it weren't so clunky.
Mask of the Betrayer was a big step up in narrative, writing and companion dialogues from what I remember, it's not very long but the pacing is great and it just felt like a labor of love much more than the main game. Probably one of the best DLCs ever made for any game.
The companions had way better dialogue and interactions with each other in the main campaign. They barely talk to each other in MOTB. Certainly it had to do with the time and scope but regardless, the companions of the OC felt like a friends group who has been through some shit by the end of the game compared to MOTB companions.
This was the game that forced me to fall in love with Obsidian.
This game has the best dialogue and best companions. There's a cutscene between Khelgar (the best dwarf in fiction), Neeshka, and the angry sorcerer. She'd probably call me a tail-for-brains for forgetting her name..
But she actually calls Neeshka a tail for brains. She doesn't get the joke and Khelgar explains it for her...but since he had to explain the joke he also stated the joke failed.
There is no input from you, the player here. No chance to pick sides, or poke fun. You just watch your companions interact, and I loved it.
But don't worry there are dozens of way to effect the story, and Sandra Jerro is a really cool gameplay mechanic I wish was done more. And you get to maintain a duchy! Complete with your own tax rates and patrol schedules.
Eat your heart out Inquisition
Haha Inquisition and DA:Awakening were cheap imitations of NWN2's Crossroad Keep lol.
Still a good game today. MOTB has one of the best stories I can remember. The main campaign is also lots of fun. Glad this is still being played.
I'm not playing to hear a story?
@@bobsacamano7653 Are you
Before Wrath of the Righteus, NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer was my absolute favorite cRPG.
Awesome!! one of my favorites from back in the day.
you hit on why the beginning works so well (and for me, in stark contrast to why im having trouble getting into pathfinder wotr) making you feel a part of the town (and therefore the world) is so well done, by the time it's getting attacked and you're having interactions in the attack with neighbors, it has quite a bit of weight. People making comments to you at the faire about you and your friends, how long they've known you, just great touches to get you invested.
Storm of Zehir was my favorite, despite the fact that I've never been good at making great builds in 3.5.
Stoked to see more!
Your first impressions made me want to go back to the game and give it another try. Got it when it was published, years ago, and had trouble running it. Also struggled a lot with the camera and the interface. Have it now on Steam (used to be available there), but I have never found a chance to give it another try. I remember that I liked the setting, the characters, and the D&D 3.5 rules a lot when I first played. Can't wait to give this another try.
It's such an amazing game and if you just take it for what it is then you'll love it. In this cynical time we live in, people will roll their eyes at this game because it's not grimdark. But if you can appreciate this fantastic take on classic high fantasy then you'll absolutely LOVE it because it does it better than any other game.
NWN2's companions are endearing, and you can certainly influence their fate with your choices. My heart still aches when thinking about someone's fate in the middle of the story.
You think your heart aches! What about her uncle ;p
@@rustyshackleford3160 I think it's her grandpa lol
I know exactly who you mean. When I first played through that part when the game came out, I thought I did something wrong and went back to see if I could prevent it. Sadly I couldn't. I was heartbroken too. He character growth was amazing and to see that ripped away from her was so sad but her decision was a culmination of that growth. I really admired her character.
@@wuthering20 What's cool is that you can actually make her grandpa see what he had done and he will actually ask for her forgiveness. For like 16 years I had no idea you could do that until I saw a video of it recently lol. Then I went back to do a playthrough and picked a different dialogue and got it. I definitely teared up a bit watching that lol
One of the best things about NWN2 is the fan made full game Baldur's Gate 1 remake in the NWN2 engine. It really is like getting an extra game for free. It has the full BG1 story, plus adventure pack, with the original voice acting in 3rd person mode. Can't recommend this enough for crpg fans
I always found it funny it existed, because why the hell should I want to experience the better Baldur’s Gate game through the worse experience of the NWN2 UI/engine/combat?
My all time favorite game revisited once again! This game is timeless and will always hold a special place in my heart!
The story, the Characters, and the Expansions! All wonderful packages and that added with its toolset to where I could make my own worlds was incredibly engrossing!
It is true that companions are fleshed out in NWN2, most of them, you can totally ignore Casavir as his character development was a part of content that was never finished. Some file digging shows that he supposed to have a connection to Lady Ophala which could have been interesting as he is a Paladin and she.. has a questionable past. But we will never know how it would end as this plotline never got a chance to even start. Just like a Lich at the bottom of the well in your stronghold. A shame.
WHAT??? What Lich? I swear Ive played that game like ten times, but never found any lich. Man... I think ill reinstall it again. lol
@@SadakoSenpai I said there is no Lich. There supposed to be a quest with a stronghold renovation, where you go at the bottom of the well and you find one. This quest had just some initial scripts though.
@@maxmach4361 Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification. Still gonna play that game again tho :-D
@@maxmach4361 Wow, that would have been awesome LOL. The game design in NWN2 is amazing. Once you get past the camera and for some, past the first act(not me, I loved the first act), the game really feels like a grand adventure.
I actually enjoyed Neverwinter Nights 2 significantly more than the original NwN, but I never actually got into the online scene for either game since at the time I was still on like 300kbps internet and that wasn't going to fly.
The game is *really* good once you get into Mask of the Betrayer, and Storm of Zehir is really good for a sort of relaxing 'let's just be adventurers' kind of game.
I really liked the main story. Then I hardlocked myself in the dlc due to a "starving" mechanic introduced that didn't allow me to rest to regain spellslots lol
I never played the NWN games but I've lately been hankering for an experience like this, looking forward to your full review before I decide
About time you got to it, looking forward to your impressions on the DLC we all rave about :)
So glad you're covering this, one of my favorite rpgs ever.
Very good video, bringing back good memories to me :)
Excited to see your full review, as I never got around to playing the full game
Storm of Zehir endups feeling like kind of different game from the main game and Mask of the Betrayer the overland map which allows for alot more exploring and you can also create up to 4 of the characters in your party. Also NWN 2, Mask of the Betrayer, Storm of Zehir and NWN: Diamond the cd-roms do work with computer that has window 11.
Looking forward to what you're thinking about NWN2. I remember it fun to play, but very buggy many years ago. The campaign is fantasy comfort food (and I mean that in a positive way), although Mask of the Betrayer goes much darker places.
This game I'd certainly want to replay one day.
Played it recently with the GOG version and even though it was enjoyable there were so many game breaking bugs that I spent literally hours fixing them at times and it fatigued me to the point that I finally gave up on the game near the ene. Sad
@@codyvandal2860 There's no community mod that fixes the bugs?
@@codyvandal2860 I have the gog version and there is a installer which fix some bugs a makes at least playable. I think i got from the neverwinter community, called NWLauncher , you should try, i finished the main campaign and the MOB DLC using it..
@@codyvandal2860 I've replayed the gog version countless times and I've only had one potential game stopping bug the whole time which was fixed easily with a console command. I don't know what you're talking about with the "so many game breaking bugs".....
@@andrewvincent7299 There were several. The only ones I can remember off the top of my head is the issue with recruiting the gith companion. She doesnt spawn for the cutscene and you cant progress. I had to go into the game files and manually move shit around (following an online guide) to fix it. That sort of thing. It became tedious enough that I stopped playing shortly before the final act
Alternative (evil) ending to main campaign is great :)
Poor Emie, forever in my heart. :(
If you ask me the main campagne of Nwn2 is great and I love the compagnons, peculiarly Neeshka Khelgar and Qara. I'd even say it's one of my favorite campagne ever.
Agreed. However, poor Emie? Poor Shandra!😥😥
@@sevarogue7903 Yeah Shandra too, but he probably doesn't know yet for her, so I didn't mention her in case he read the comments... ^^"
@@Dayard Oopsie.😅
Can't wait for 100%!!
Really looking forward to your review. This was the first CRPG I ever played so I have some very fond memories.
Also the beginning of a pet peeve of mine that has lasted all the way through Wrath of the Righteous. That being the lawful alignment restriction of D&D 3.5 monks.
Yuan-Ti pureblood warlock represent. I love this game and end up playing it every few years.
Glad you’re enjoying it, and good to hear the GoG version runs well, I might buy it there. I tend to agree that Mask of the Betrayer is the strongest story, but I’m interested to hear your thoughts on *that* mechanic that it introduces. For me it makes it harder to get excited about replaying the otherwise excellent module
I love Neverwinter Nights! Looking forward for your review!
man I love NWN2, it starts to feel unpolished around act 2 or so, and in classic 2000s Obsidian fashion just about every party member has cut content lol. That said the ones that shine really shine and yeah Mask of the Betrayer is pretty awesome. I'm wondering how much interaction playing the pureblood has, since it was added into the game with Storm of Zhir.
Right the act 1 companions could be their own game.
I liked the elf that was your defense attorney from act 2, that's it. I'm a paladin so casavir goes unused and I prefer the other magic users.
true about the unpolished part. you will quickly realize it`s replete with bugs and the interface doesn`t help. i remember getting infuriated when they force you out of shape shift in cutscenes
There were so many great player made campaigns out there for NWN2. I spent a lot longer playing those than I ever did playing the actual campaigns (and I spent a fair bit of time playing those).
Oh man, I love Neverwinter Nights 2, actually did 2 full playthroughs of it. It is just a classic RPG done right. Base game's story isn't bad either, I actually like it a lot. A nobody from a village goes on this big journey, gets recognized by his actions more and more and becomes a hero who saves the realm (or not). It is such a classic story, but nothing wrong with it being one imo.
Love you man!!!
This video gives me yet another reason to replay this gem of a video game
Oh man I wanna go back and visit my old Crossroad Keep
I love that game. Eldritch Blast all the way! Also the Mask of the Betrayer made me hate one of the DND gods.
Mask of the Betrayer: An amazing expansion story, A great example of a High-level D&D narrative, and a sorely unsung entry in discussions about RPGs.
Though, the first campaign's story is about as perfectly balanced a 'classic fantasy adventure' as you can get. Still good stuff.
The main stories in the expansions can be fun, but to me the most fun has always been the online private servers/modules that people have made and hosted.
One of my favorite features of NWN2 is the Quickcast menu (hotkey F) which shows all your available spells and allows you to quickly add metamagic for spontaneous casters, spontaneous conversion for clerics and druids, eldritch blast shapes and essences for warlock. It's really great for decluttering the hotbar and I do miss having it in other games that have these spell mechanics.
I always liked NWN 2 a lot more then NWN 1. The main problems I had with it were bugs, bugs and more bugs. It is an Obsidian game after all, so it was very rough and I remember a playthrough that got destroyed by the game deleting companions from your group when you had too many familiars with you and you switched the map. I don't remember, why I didn't reload earlier and instead kept playing but in the very end I couldn't finish the game. There are scenes at the end in which all companions are supposed to show up and I was lacking like 2 of them so the cut scene didn't work anymore and the playthrough was ruined.
I heard most of the bugs have been fixed with the latest version and mods clean up the rest of them
I'm excited for the addition of a Steam Deck "sidebar" for your reviews. I think it will work very well for the format of your reviews!
I liked NWN2 more than NWN1 too, mostly because of how much more intuitive it is to do pretty much anything. Also, NWN2 has a very good Dwarven "Monk" companion.
I absolutely cannot wait for this. Its nay impossible to find even playthroughs of this game anywhere online, let alone a detailed review!
NWN2 was my first PC CRPG game (First one was technically Champions of Norrath on PS2) I still have such incredibly fond memories of this game
Enjoy yourself. I remember having a good time with it even if it was choppy as hell on my old laptop. I installed my GOG version on modern hardware about a year ago to dive back in and for me it did not run. I got into the menu but the game never loaded. Might be worth checking it out again.
Always delightful to see how well this game has aged. I still have my physical copy, in a box shaped like a Tome, and it came with a ring and a Mountain Troll -mini.
By the Way, Mysteries of Westgate isn't an "official" campaign by Obsidian, but was developed by Ossian Studios, who made the Darkness over Daggerford campaign for NwN1. I highly recommend playing it, it's a lot of fun.
Nice!! You got the collector's edition of this game then!! I got mine at target the day it came out in 2006 and still have it with the target sticker logo on the bottom of the box to this day!
I really liked Storm of Zehir, loved the trade routes mechanics. I have always enjoyed seeing quests causing tangible changes in the game world. Things like clearing out a mine alowing for new more proitable trade routes makes me feel so satisfied.
I havent played the expansions but the base game is one of my all time favorites, its been a while. You're in for a treat
I was just considering buying and playing this game yesterday. Apparently it's one of the very few games that lets you (officially) play as a Drow (the other game being IWD 2), though I don't know if it affects dialogue in this one or not.
So far from my experience it does, but nothing hugely significant like in Baldur’s Gate 3 where people tend to lose their shit
Neverwinter Nights 1 was the first PC rpg I've played back when I was in 5-6th grade and yeah it blow my mind, I was hooked and I was able to beat the game.
you should try the mods for NW2 - like Kaedrin - they made the game alive much more longer than the original .
I already suggested Kaedrin packs few times, even tho they weren't finished here and there due to creator personal issues(?) they are still great.
It's a name I haven't heard in a while. Thanks for mentioning it :)
I had this game on CD back as a child, and it has been a good 5 years it sits on my wishlist but I want to bundle it with the complete enhanced of NW1, which is 50 euro out of sale. Which is a little of a overpriced scam at this point in time imo. So when NWN1 finally get those juicy 75% reduction, Ill be happy to bring them back
Yes! i asked you in one of your streams a while ago if you would play nwn2, and you said you would check it out.
Good job! :D
This game doesn’t get its due, it is very good and I’m glad to see you playing it. Enjoy.
The main campaign is good, sometime great even but the game had a troubled developpement and it feel in the campaign, some parts are excellent and some parts are clearly undercooked or even feel rushed. It's a very good game but you can clearly see that Obsidian once again had a great plan for the game but did have the time or the means to fully develop them. Mask is straight up one of the best expansion ever made, some gameplay choice will either fill you with glee or frustrate you but it's great writing. Storm of Zehir is nice, not great nor terrible, it's more of a serie of various enconters loosely connected rather than a fully fledge story but it has some moment. Mysteries of Westgate however was developped by an indepandant studio years afters and left me mostly with memories of a standard rpg fare marred by numerous bugs.
"You must gather your party before venturing forth" really killed the multiplayer/coop for me. I did replay the game as an adult and thought the game was okay. 7/10
Played this one a while back and have fond memories of it - it really felt like a proper D&D CRPG unlike some other games in the genre that have come out recently. Really wish there was a turn based option or mod available for it, though.....
neeshka is the companion once you meet her, you either hate or love her, there's no in-between.
Icewind Dale 2 was dnd 3.0. If I remember correctly the only other 3.5 game was Temple of Elemental Evil
Bought and played this the day it came out. Held me over until the first Dragon Age came out.
NWN2 is definitely like a progenitor to Dragon Age origins. A lot of what DAO gets praised for, NWN 2 did it first. It may be because Ferret Boudin was the original lead designer for NWN2 and then left for Bioware and started working on the DAO team.
I'm glad you've got a steam deck, as I plan to get one at some point and we enjoy similar games. I'll assume in home streaming works pretty good and doesn't require any sort of video review.
I find the story of the base campaign much more memorable then MotB, especially a certain plot twist in the middle of the game, looking forward to watching the review 🙂
NWN2 is actually one of the very few crpg games that I actually played all the way through, the others being Dragon Age Origin and both KoToR games. I love the genre but I always restart in every single game after 5-25 hours without exception. Pathfinder Kingmaker I have made more than 30 characters but have never killed the bandit chief yet, Neverwinter Nights 1 I have cleared 3 zones in the first city at max before restarting over 40 characters and counting. Baldur's Gate 1 I made it to Cloakwood before making a few dozen more characters, BG2 I barely make it out of the tutorial into the city before making another character.
I am just addicted to making characters, but actually planning the later levels and traits out is something that I find incredibly boring. I can't stand walking into any encounter and winning on my first try, but I also hate losing without standing a chance. Ironically enough NWN2 had the absolute perfect balance for me to character creation and actually just playing.
Yeah, I'll agree motb was amazing, fantastic story
I think I’ve replayed this game like 6 or 7 times over the years lol. It was great doing the main campaign, and I loved how Mask matured the story for your character.
My character was a Druid-warrior wood elf, growing up in the marshes it only makes sense he’d be in tune with nature. I actually was surprised how much my character kind of meshed well with the rest of the story.
Love that you are covering it! The main campaign doesn't get much love these days, but I think it's very heartwarming in its tones and the way it embraces genre tropes. Mask of the Betrayer works much better as a continuation of it instead of just standalone. Storm of Zehir introduced many cool concepts although the story is lackluster. However I am finding it increasingly difficult to play RTwP games nowadays since so many full fleshed RPGs were released with turn based mode in recent years. TB is just in another level for me.
Mask of the Betrayer is the 2nd best campaign I ever played, Planescape: Torment being number 1. Interestingly, the stories for both were written mainly by the same guy.
MOTB was written by George Ziets, I believe PST was written by Chris Avellone. Chris worked on MOTB and wrote Gann and Kaelyn but he didn't write the story for the game. Though they both have very similar tastes in fantasy and story telling which is why they are so similar.
I skipped Mask of the Betrayer and went straight for Storm of Zehir and I love that you can create 4 custom characters of your own choosing plus have up to 2 npc recruits in your party
I’ve enjoyed this game. I did have to download an enhanced text mod to be able to read stuff easily. Text was tiny and blurry without it.
I grew up playing NW2, it was quite litterally my first game that I had ever played, for all its faults, I'd still say its criminally underrated compared to other games of the time (cough cough Oblivion Cough cough) in terms of getting more modules/modding it its actually alot simpler then it initally appears, its little different then modding skyrim.
I played this in college. Aasimar Paladin. Absolutely loved it!
Just saw the new movie, and it made me want to replay this.
This is actually in my Playlist once I finish up Wotr. Always wanted to give it another shot, only ever played once on release and never got to check out the expansions.
Ah, my old darling game. Base game story really depends on how much side dialogue one gets, how you RP and some FR knowledge (and if the restoration mod is used).
A bit i do remember from old gaming magazines that initially Bioware did "help" with NWN2 in form of giving a lot of basic outlines for some characters+their intro quests they had in backstore in addition to full access to all the tools, assets and libraries used for not just NWN1, but also for their "we are a year and a half in dev and see how the recent 3.5 could be used well but are going to tweak it" project that would become DAO.
Hey happy to hear you started the game ^^ Just so you know though Yuan-ti weren't released until SoZ expansion so you won't get a lot of comments on your heritage in base campaign.
Tieflings and Drow have the most comments and it is a really cool experience having it referenced.
As for the campaign honestly I found the base campaign to be pretty decent, but most of the good stuff really revolves around companions, but since their progress is also tied to the main campaign in many parts it really makes the whole thing fun.
MotB is definitely going to be something you will like based on your vids, but I'm not so sure about SoZ and MoW since they play a bit differently.
But anyways looking forward to your review. Good luck with the game!
If you have problems with resolution and UI I truly recommended Tchos' HD UI panels and dialogue compilation and expansion from Nexus mods. There is a good chance that you will come across some clipping after some time. To negate this you need to install Client_extension from Neverwinter Vault. Enjoy your time with this rough diamond :D
This is an excellent game. This game was my introduction to this world of games. Make sure you are also doing the DLCs they are even better then the main campaign.
Most of the coolest races were added with the expansions.
I think they gave the base game a surprisingly different feel when I went back with them.
Also I think it was SoZ that first gives you the option of building your whole squad from scratch.
A minor nitpick: IWD2 used a hybrid of AD&D and 3e. The other 3.5 game you were probably thinking of was Troika's Temple of Elemental Evil.
There might be two other 3.5 games, the first was Dungeons and Dragons:Online by Turbine, I think that MMO based itself of 3.5e, but I'm honestly not 100% sure. The second was Dragonshard, which was only 3.5 in the sense that it was based off the Eberron campaign setting, otherwise it was an RTS with (very) light RPG elements.
DDO is 3.5e based, but a lot of changes have been made to make it fit the MMO mold. Knowledge of 3.5e still helps a lot, but stats get a bit ridiculous even for 3.5e levels.
one of my all time fav games.
As a new steam deck owner, I love how you are commenting as to how it runs on it.
Was one of my favs.
I got into this game many years ago. The GOG version works well, and I had no trouble getting it to run on Linux using Wine. GOG is my preferred platform for games anyway since it is DRM-free, offers offline installers, and does not require a launcher. Downloading and backing up an offline installer from GOG is like having a physical copy of the latest updated version of a game.
I've heard various criticisms of the main campaign over the years, but I like it better than many of the critics do. Yes, the characters are loaded up with tired tropes, but most of them are fun despite this. I enjoy the banter between Khelgar and Neeshka, and even Qara's chaotic stupid behavior is entertaining in limited doses. There is some humor here and there, which helps to lighten the mood. The setting and story are adequate, though I must admit that it starts to drag in the later game. It is clear that parts of the development were rushed, so a few things feel incomplete. Combat is acceptable; I get into CRPGs for story, setting, and exploration, while I get bored silly by frequent combat. Most combat resolves quickly when playing at the easiest difficulty level, which works for me. Combat lovers will want to play at a harder difficulty. The various locations are fun to explore, and I like to poke into every nook and cranny to make sure no loot lies undisturbed. Note that some locations will become unavailable after reaching certain points in the game, so I recommend exploring every available place exhaustively before proceeding onward in the main journey if you are the sort who can't stand to miss a single location. Additionally, fully exploring everything in the first act before allowing the game to proceed to the second will make life easier later.
I have one major complaint. If the tiefling race is chosen for the main player character, this tiefling does not have a tail. Neeshka has a tail - why doesn't the player character have one too? This is simply unacceptable. Fortunately, there is a workaround. It is possible to edit the save file with a hex editor and add a tail. Instructions can be found online (or at least they could when I last checked). For those who want a weird-looking character, I think a tail can be added to a character of any race.
You may have to switch to a widescreen resolution in the ini file. It's in the documents folder. I recommend the Divine UI mod which gives the in-game UI a set-up similar to Divinity: OS. It's still janky, but the GOG version is most certainly not the buggy mess it was at launch.
It's already fixed, it just black screens if you try to change the resolution in fullscreen mode
NWN2 is a classic game, both the original and the MotB campaigns. The only blot on the original campaign's copy book is they went nuts on crafting both in terms of complexity and in terms of shoving it the player's face and never shutting up about it - and then went out of their way to make it worthless 'cos lack of ingredients. Only one or two King's Tears in the game etc. For example to craft top tier armour you usually need to cast the Mage Armour spell. For your mage, Sand, Mage Armour in in his opposition school so he can't learn it IIRC. No problemo, thinks you, I'll just mosey down the magic shop and buy some scrolls of it. There is one in Sand's shop, maybe two, I can't remember exactly. The stock is not replenished. Ever. No other shop sells scrolls of Mage Armour. You never find any. So you belatedly find out, after herculean effort and much mind-fuckery, that there will be no legendary armour sets for you like is says in the recipe books. No Sir. Far too OP you understand. Sir. Otherwise the game is a blast. Got one of my favourite barks outside of Minsc's - the tiefling girl, Neeshka, will observe "I think we've had enough of this one" in her preppy high school voice during battle. Somehow it just works.
Thanks! I played NWN1 for so long because of the community creations, I never ended up playing 2.
Still one of my favorite gaming expriences to this day. Persistent world servers were some of the most fun adventures with other players in any game. Sad that no one has tried to recreate that goldmine of an experience in modern day.
I'm playing NWN2 right now on Linux. I have just reached chapter 2 of the original campaign. The mod Companion and Monster AI 2.7 was a must install for me and has massively improved the game!