Neverwinter Nights 2 released

[Xiahou]

Anyone here get it? I'd like to hear from some of the fans of the first game to get an idea of how the sequel stacks up.

[drone]

Was that today? Must have just missed it, I went into BestBuy today at lunchtime and scoped out the games, they only had the pre-order boxes out.

[Lemur]

My local shop says tomorrow. It shipped today.

[Xiahou]

Yup, both Amazon and EBGames list it as available now. I'm awfully tempted to snag it, but I've already got more games than time- and with the Wii coming out in a few weeks, I want to make sure its of the caliber of the first one before I shell out for it.

Edit: It's also available for download purchase from direct2drive- personally, I'd rather have the physical copy.

[Reenk Roink]

Going to get it in store tomorrow.

This is the game I've been waiting for...

[Somebody Else]

Now look what you've gone and made me do... I've only gone and ordered that too. Ah well, that's two games coming in the post in the next fortnight or so. No prizes for guessing what the other one is.

[Martok]

Oh goody. Another game I want to play, but my prehistoric computer won't run. Guess I'll have to keep pinching my pennies.... *sigh*

[doc_bean]

I heard it's rather buggy.

doc_bean's golden rule for game purchases: don't buy anything released between october and christmas before the first major patch is released

[drone]

doc_bean's golden rule for game purchases: don't buy anything released bewtween october and christmas beofre the first major patch is released

Sounds like a very good rule. Rushed games are never fun to play...

[Xiahou]

Well, they've already got a patch out for it... not sure if that's good or bad though.

[Lemur]

I have a soft spot for Obsidian -- a lot of the original Fallout guys went there. So I picked up NWN2 today, and I'll probably have just enough time to install it and create a character tonight. (Gaming is squeezed in between kiddie bedtime and dada sleep time.)

I doubt my first impressions will be worthwhile. But maybe if I get some time to play over the weekend, then I can say something intelligent. But by then there will be plenty of user reviews out. Oh well.

[edit]

Here's a collection of initial impressions of the game ...

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Is This Game Any good I might get it for X-mas if it is..

[Xiahou]

Here's a collection of initial impressions of the game ...

That reminds me of one of my concerns with NWN2- the henchmen. It says they're completely controllable- now maybe I'm alone here, but I dont want that. I prefer to get into the role of my character, not having to totally control my party members. I was happy being able to adjust their equipment and give that tactical orders- I don't want full controls since they're supposed to be your companions, not automatons.

Hopefully, it will be well done and won't create a problem. I thought the first game was great and have high hopes for Obsidian.

[Martok]

That reminds me of one of my concerns with NWN2- the henchmen. It says they're completely controllable- now maybe I'm alone here, but I dont want that. I prefer to get into the role of my character, not having to totally control my party members. I was happy being able to adjust their equipment and give that tactical orders- I don't want full controls since they're supposed to be your companions, not automatons.

I concur. I really don't like to micromanage stuff more than I have to, and I found it was enough just to deal with inventory and whatnot in the original Neverwinter. I wonder if there's an option to automate your henchmen? That would be nice, although I dare not hope for it.

[drone]

I downloaded some NWN2 videos from IGN last night, they have a few that show combat. The vids seemed to show that the gameplay paused every so often to allow you to command all of the party members. Reminded me of a option you could use in a D&D multiplayer game some years back, where the game paused on notifications of damage and detection. It definitely chopped the action up in the videos. Hopefully you can change options to give more autonomy to the party, and let the fights flow.
http://media.pc.ign.com/media/674/674385/vids_1.html

[Xiahou]

Maybe a bit of good news..

According to Gamespot's review, it sounds like your party members do take care of themselves for the most part- allowing you to issue commands if they get screwed up. On the down side, they complain alot about the camera control.

[Kekvit Irae]

I just got it and have been playing it all night. My opinion? If you cant run Oblivion smoothly on High settings (keyword: smoothly), avoid this game like the plague. If you loved NWN, keep playing that, not this heap of junk. Yes, the 3.5 rule additions are great (Monkey Grip + Greatsword + Tower Shield = yum), as are the new PrCs and the new class (Warlock), but it's NOT worth the headache of having to sludge along at 3 fps at minimum settings. As GameSpot said, it's got some pretty hefty requirements for a game that doesnt look all that much better than the original NWN. In fact, it looks worse than the original game at minimum settings.

[Somebody Else]

Installing now. Looking at the system specs, I could be in for a rough ride... Just about meet the requirements, though it is a laptop I'm using...

We shall see.

[Lemur]

It runs smoothly on my new rig, but that's hardly a surprise. I was getting some crazy crashing last night, and I suspect it's the Creative X-fi card's fault. Audigy cards are always my first suspect when I get weird crashes. I'll fiddle with the settings if I get a chance to turn it on tonight.

Looks quite lovely as a game. Sorry to hear it doesn't scale to older videocards.

[GoreBag]

Man, I hate 3rd ed..

[Xiahou]

I was out doing some shopping today and checked around for NWN2... Target, CircuitCity and Bestbuy were all sold out. My wife wants to check it out, so I still may end up getting it- but from what I've heard so far I might be better off buying the official addons for the original. I understand in their latest update Bioware added mounts.

[Bob the Insane]

I got it from D2D on the 31st... Almost a 5GB dowload...

Well I have to say it is pretty sweet and the adventure that comes with the game is pretty cool so far.

There has been some whinging about the graphics but I think it is very good in the looks department but you need a pretty beefy machine to make it look that way. If you have the same machine that ran NWN1 okay, then do not expect miracles...

The party members (and I use that term rather than Henchmen because it has more of a BG feel to it than a NWN1 feel) work really well and on the default AI settings (settings can be altered and configured on a per individual level) they will fight and not get to far from the lead character (the lead being the individual you are controlling at the time and not your central PC character). At any time you can hit pause and select the other characters and stack up to 5 instructions for them. You can let the AI do it's own thing completely, broadcast "orders" or disable their AI and take complete control...

The first portion of the adventure is pretty easy (well at least for my good guy fighter and crew) but it starts getting more interesting and challenging once you get to Neverwinter...

I have not played with the Toolset so can not comment on differences but this is definately NWN2, it looks similar and plays pretty much the same way as before.

The visuals are better, not awe inspiring but with lots on new fangled graphical widgets, but this aspect is prectty demanding on you hardware.

The voices of the characters are very well done, but there is quite a lot of disappointment in the recycling of the music and canned sounds (battles, towns, etc) from NWN1...

If you liked NWN1 (and have a decent machine) you should love this. If you are still pinning for BG2 then this story and party system is much better than NWN1 but still more linear and not quite as epic as BG2...

[Lemur]

I finally got to play a bit. Fixed the crashing (yup, it was EAX's fault). It's pretty great so far, the use of in-game cinematics reminds me of the KOTORs quite a bit. It's astonishing how many dialogues are customized for my character choices. I'm playing a dwarf fighter, and he picked up another dwarf fighter as an NPC. So far I've had three different cinematic dialogues make reference to "a pair of dwarves." Kinda neat.

I've only been able to put an hour and a half into the game; by the time I'm in a position to write a real review, I figure everyone will have played it all the way through.

[Vladimir]

Man, I hate 3rd ed..

Come on, it's not that baLKIj342...My keyboard seems to have malfunctioned. 3rd edition is a bit anime but some of the mods for the first one are great. Even though MTW was more fulfilling the wealth of options for NWN is amazing. I recommend A Dance With Rogues, wow ; AND the rest of the adventure is solid. That and other mods make me wish I had continued to learn how to build a module.

I'm really looking forward to this one once it is smoothed out and after an upgrade. I just saw it at Target today.

[GoreBag]

Come on, it's not that baLKIj342...My keyboard seems to have malfunctioned. 3rd edition is a bit anime but some of the mods for the first one are great. Even though MTW was more fulfilling the wealth of options for NWN is amazing. I recommend A Dance With Rogues, wow ; AND the rest of the adventure is solid. That and other mods make me wish I had continued to learn how to build a module.

I'm really looking forward to this one once it is smoothed out and after an upgrade. I just saw it at Target today.

>:-(

A friend of mine got the original the other day. There mere fact that he was third level by the time the tutorial had finished left me totally disheartened.

[Pindar]

I've never played Neverwinter Nights. I haven't played Oblivian either. What is the difference between the two? Do you who know prefer one over the other, if so why?

[Keba]

Neverwinter Nights is more like the old Balgur's Gate and Icewind Dale series, whereas Oblivion is ... uh, Elder Scrolls, there's no real comparison.

Oblivion is, essentially, complete freedom. Follow the story or not, your choice, it also tends to be more action oriented.

On the other hand, NWN is more limited, linear, one might say, but those parts tend to be more filled. Unlike Oblivion, the story drives the whole thing forward, opening up new areas, closing off others.

I had some dislike for the original NWN (this was later absolved by the modules) because the story had a lot of parallels (to other game stories) and cliches to it, but it nevertheless was a good game.

I dislike the whole one party member only system, but that seems to be gone. It was next to impossible to play a wizard. You need a fighter to guard you, but you also need a cleric to heal you, and, of course, a rogue is useful for opening doors and chests ... and you can only pick one.

I like both, but my loyalty is to NWN and the like over Oblivion. A more immersive plot that drives things forward. Oblivion has everything at the starting point (changing only a little), whereas the other actually alter the enviroment. That, and I can't help feeling that characters are better in NWN.

A good example is Oblivion's Siege of Kvatch. You pass by, a guy tells you the city was overrun last night. You play on for a few weeks in-game, and later nobody knows Kvatch is in trouble, despite it being barely a day's journey from the nearest city. You even get soldiers who run up and say they saw smoke from their patrol.

Whereas NWN and the like will put you in a city, then, when all hell breaks loose will replace the city set with a different one depicting the situation.

That said, the stores here are out-of-touch ... they still haven't gotten NWN 2.

[econ21]

Pindar, I would summarise the differences between NWN and Oblivion as follows:

1) NWN follows the Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) rules pretty faithfully. These are the dominant RPG ruleset and so are pretty sound. Oblivion creates its own idiosyncratic rules, which have some nice features (use a skill more and it develops) but also some quirks (it pays to stand around getting hit, to build up your armour skill). DnD tends to induce you to specialise a character (a fighter-mage is a bad idea) whereas Oblivion shines in allowing you to mix and customise your skills. Personally, I think DnD is made for a party (4+ players) where every member can do their thing; but Oblivion is more suited to a soul protagonist (where one character must do everything).

2). Both games in single play mode revolve around a sole protagonist. In NWN, you have a henchman or two but they never really substitute for a proper party that you can control. In Oblivion, you are largely on your own.

3) NWN has a big multiplayer aspect - you can play online with others if you want and so recreate some of the social feel of pen and paper DnD. Oblivion is SP only.

4) Historically, I would say DnD tends more towards story telling, role playing proper and tactical combat whereas Oblivion is more in the action RPG genre. In NWN, whether you hit an enemy depends on your character's skill not your own; in Oblivion, there is more of a FPS feel where being good at clicking comes into play. Some of the distinction got blurred, as NWN lost most of the tactical combat (when it lost the DnD party) and Oblivion has improved on some of the story/character stuff from Morrowind.

5) The official campaign of NWN is rather bland and unchallenging. Where NWN shines is in the many mods that people create for whole new adventures. Some are absolutely stunning (the Shadowlands/Dreamcatcher series, for example) and rival any commercial CRPG. I get the feeling the Morrowind/Oblivion mods are more to customise the official campaign rather than tell a whole new story but maybe I am wrong.

6) Graphically, Oblivion is pretty drop dead gorgeous, whereas NWN is showing its age and never looked that good (perhaps because it was based around tilesets).

7). NWN has a very powerful editor which allows gamers to make all the great modules that are out. Oblvion/Morrowind shines more in the great world's already created for you - some people called Morrowind a great virtual world simulator rather than a great game and there is some truth to that.

I am hoping NWN2 will keep many of the virtues of NWN (the sound DnD system) but add more of the elements that made its predecessor, Baldur's Gate, so good. That is to say, better plot, characters and more of a party.

To conclude, I would guess that Oblivion appeals more to people who like action RPGs (Diablo?) whereas NWN appeals more to those who like more hardcore RPGs (Baldurs Gate?).

EDIT: Keba beat me to the punch - I largely agree with him. Off-topic: just noticed this is my number 5000 post; glad it is a fairly substantive one!

[Kekvit Irae]

Let's not forget the most important distinctions:
Oblivion is a first-person shooter RPG with an option to go into chase-cam mode.
NWN is a classic real-time third-person RPG with the option to pause and tactically think out your actions.

It's like comparing apples to bananas. They are both fruit, but totally different.

And congrats, econ, on your 5000GET

[Pindar]

Thank you Keba and econ21 for your very detailed replies: never having played either I really had no context to judge.