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Is NWN2 worth playing?

hellbent

Augur
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Messages
322
The original campaign? Oh, hell no.

Mask of the Betrayer / Storm of Zehir are fine if you can live with the UI.

Plus, lots of user-made modules or you can try your hand at making one yourself. Check out the pinned thread for some infos about NWN 2 modules.
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
781
NWN2 base? Sure, once. Mostly for the Crossroads keep and being an asshole to your companions so you can kill them all at the end.

Then play MotB like 10 times.
 

felipepepe

Codex's Heretic
Patron
Joined
Feb 2, 2007
Messages
17,274
Location
Terra da Garoa
The OC is a good 10-15h game stretched to like 60hs of endless trash mobs. Play it only if you have A LOT of patience. Mask of the Betrayer is great and worth a play. Storm of Zehir is... interesting. A very exotic RPG.

There's also a few great mods, like The Maimed God's Saga.
 

Talby

Arcane
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Joined
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Messages
5,507
Codex USB, 2014
Mask of the Betrayer is worth it, Storm of Zehir is OK although I didn't play much of it, and the OC is meh.
 

Delterius

Arcane
Joined
Dec 12, 2012
Messages
15,956
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Entre a serra e o mar.
The Neverwinter Nights series is famous for giving players the ability to insert their own stories and modules in an engine with terribad controls and combat. Mechanically, the fun ends at Character Creation and NwN2 is no exception, even as it added party control to the games. Meaning that people tend to enjoy NwNs for things other than the combat.

Player modules are manyfold (though mostly for NwN1) and tend to entail fairly unique experiences filled with dialogue skill checks and the like. But since you're talking about NwN2, you're mostly looking at official campaigns:

The Original Campaign is fairly shitty. Low level D&D with bad controls and a generic story. Avoid it.

MotB is the better one and cherished for its story. It features the ever present stupidity of high level with the trademark shittiness of the engine, so you might as well enjoy the tale while playing it on easier modes. Nothing higher than Core Rules, IMO. Despite being a continuation of the OC, you don't really need to understand what happened then. Hell, it feels as if Obsidian went out of its way to only sparsely reference the OC.

Storm of Zehir was well appreciated for its time due to featuring full party creation and a general feel of D&D 'adventuring'. Your objectives are mostly open ended and there's a few skill checks here and there to make it more interesting. Personally, I don't think it aged very well.

Mysteries of Westgate has obviously fake C&C and despite being made my modders it feels subpar even when compared to player modules from NwN1.
 

Projas

Information Superhighwayman
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Best Republic
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
If you can stomach the first act, there is a fairly alright campaign hiding there. MotB is a masterpiece. MoW is also pretty good, definitely better than the OC.
 
Self-Ejected

Drog Black Tooth

Self-Ejected
Joined
Feb 20, 2008
Messages
2,636
I remember when MotB was hailed in every other thread on the Codex as one of the best RPGs ever made and a refreshing take on PS:T's formula.

I'm getting old.
 

DramaticPopcorn

Guest
If you can stomach the first act, there is a fairly alright campaign hiding there
That's bullshit, the tedium comes with mid section as nothing you do matters, there's no sense of actual progression and you stare at the same scenarios half the time.
Act 1 is actually way more engaging from a story perspective (gameplay is shit tho, b/c lol! low level DnD with no loot)
 

Carrion

Arcane
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Jun 30, 2011
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Lost in Necropolis
Act 1 is actually way more engaging from a story perspective (gameplay is shit tho, b/c lol! low level DnD with no loot)
What? It's total garbage from the start and only gets worse when you find yourself running errands for some assholes for a dozen hours just to get past a door. Everything that is good about the OC is in the last two acts.

MotB is a must-play. The OC can be skipped unless you really want to play MotB with an imported character.
 

Projas

Information Superhighwayman
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Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
If you can stomach the first act, there is a fairly alright campaign hiding there
That's bullshit, the tedium comes with mid section as nothing you do matters, there's no sense of actual progression and you stare at the same scenarios half the time.
Act 1 is actually way more engaging from a story perspective (gameplay is shit tho, b/c lol! low level DnD with no loot)
Half of act 1 has you doing inane bulshit (including clearing 200 orc caves and warehouses) for people you don't give a shit about so you can get past an incredibliy thin and flimsy gate, it has no redeeming qualities. The later acts get much more interesting compared to that.
 

Morkar Left

Guest
The original campaign is pretty shit. It feels unfinished in everything except maybe the loot. The fact that you can't die and the dumb trashmob ai are is the last nails in the coffin. MotB is praised everywhere as a good story campaign and SoZ I can recommend because it has way better mechanics (you can die, full party creation, good use of party skills) and has interesting overland travel (but lacks in actual dungeons).
 

DramaticPopcorn

Guest
Half of act 1 has you doing inane bulshit (including clearing 200 orc caves and warehouses) for people you don't give a shit about so you can get past an incredibliy thin and flimsy gate, it has no redeeming qualities. The later acts get much more interesting compared to that.
Oh yeah, my bad, I thought act one was you getting from your swamp village to the Neverwinter. I forgot that the 1st act was so dragged out jesus.
 

Projas

Information Superhighwayman
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Joined
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Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Yeah, being so dragged out was a big part of it. The part before you get to Neverwinter actually had some parts that weren't that bad in comparison to the later parts of act 1.
 
Self-Ejected

IncendiaryDevice

Self-Ejected
Village Idiot
Joined
Nov 3, 2014
Messages
7,407
The Neverwinter Nights series is famous for giving players the ability to insert their own stories and modules in an engine with terribad controls and combat. Mechanically, the fun ends at Character Creation and NwN2 is no exception, even as it added party control to the games. Meaning that people tend to enjoy NwNs for things other than the combat.

Good post, but I'm going to have to nitpick this point. The combat in NWN 1 based games is actually very good and enjoyable, the aspect which makes it suck is the lack of party control. The design of the combat and its mechanics is excellent as its it monster variety and design. I have no idea why that particular engine is incapable of permitting party control, but if it did there would be about 90% less complaints about the game, because, mechanically, it's actually very sound.
 

Sizzle

Arcane
Joined
Feb 17, 2012
Messages
2,471
My advice - read through this Let's Play to get you caught up with the story (it has some interesting things to say about heroism, but it's not worth it to play through some really dull areas like the Orc Mines), and then jump into Mask Of The Betrayer.
 

Delterius

Arcane
Joined
Dec 12, 2012
Messages
15,956
Location
Entre a serra e o mar.
The combat in NWN 1 based games is actually very good and enjoyable, the aspect which makes it suck is the lack of party control. The design of the combat and its mechanics is excellent as its it monster variety and design.
Well, I disagree. NwN2 is worse, certainly, but it is because it tried to implement party control and - God Almighty - Attacks of Opportunity in an engine that wasn't designed for party play. Even the way characters move in NwN feels awkward. The whole battle line feels like a castle of cards about to collapse at any moment. Compare it to the much more precise controls you'll find in PoE and the IE games. That said, I guess the combat would be bearable in NwN1, as long as you're ok with the 'party' size and as long as the module has sparse combat. My advice is playing nothing more complex or subtle than a self buffing fighter.
 

Ebonsword

Arcane
Joined
Mar 7, 2008
Messages
2,326
I find I can't stand RTWP games anymore, so my last couple attempts at playing through NWN2 have been aborted.

However, when it first came out, I liked it quite a bit for the character building and the crafting system. But, yeah, I agree that the story in the OC is pretty bland.
 

Iznaliu

Arbiter
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
3,686
The OC is a good 10-15h game stretched to like 60hs of endless trash mobs. Play it only if you have A LOT of patience. Mask of the Betrayer is great and worth a play. Storm of Zehir is... interesting. A very exotic RPG.

I tried playing it and quickly got bored
 

Terpsichore

Arcane
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
Messages
1,789
Location
why
I prefer OC to MotB, it has some nice moments and good pacing. Meanwhile MotB is pretentious and edgy, with the absurd power creep you get from playing at epic levels.

You should just play those Conan custom modules over either though.
 

jaydee2k

Savant
Joined
Nov 3, 2016
Messages
449
The Hud/Camera movement is like playing through VR lenses with 15 fps...
Get dem puke bags ready.
 

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