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NWN Neverwinter Nights (NWN & NWN2) Modules Thread

Lacrymas

Arcane
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Messages
17,948
Pathfinder: Wrath
Right, it's been a while since I've played it, it is indeed the key for the gate.
 

Valtiel

Scholar
Joined
Jun 27, 2017
Messages
116
Yeah i think it's bugged, sometimes I see 3 ghost spawn and sometimes 2... Now i'm exhausted and annoyed, i'll try tomorrow, I keep see the enemy animation which should summon the ghost but nothing comes out, I was wondering if it could also be the case that me spammin devour spirit could be depleting something on the enemy (maybe spirit bar?) that forbid him to cast the spell, I don't know i'm desperate. Some people on the internet says it's resolved by loading, I did load some other saver (not that far because I don't wanna go much back) but still
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,653
While waiting for Tyranny to download, I decided to finally give some of these modules a chance. I hated the OC and the expansion packs on account of the combat crawl, which put me off on the NWN experience.

Kingmaker :2/5:
Didn't like the stock writing, and the romance with the suicidal slut with low self-esteem was just bizarre. Beating the manticore the proper way was extremely irritating, and the final dungeon with its rooms full of mobs was also an exercise in tedium. That being said, the ratio of dialogue to combat was much better than the OC and the x-packs, and the premise of only being able to do x amount of quests to meet your goal before your time's up was sound.

Shadowguard :2/5:
Too much text; this guy's far too much in love with his mostly-banal setting. Hated the tone of the dialogue options given. Combat was an autopilot affair, but at least it was brief. The ration system seemed awfully cargo cult to me given that in addition to swimming in free ones, they only cost 1 GP each. What good is a resource if it costs you practically nothing? Of course I didn't rest at all, since I'm going through all of these with a a 20 strength half-orc barbarian or fighter unless it's a mod specifically meant for another class. I want combat over asap with the minimum amount of management.

Witch's Wake :2/5:
More of a 2.5. I vaguely recall other people saying years ago that this was Torment-esque, and it turns out they were correct. I actually enjoyed the writing and setting of this one, except all the pointless infodump about some magic rock. Too bad unlike Shadowguard, there's not much of a narrative pay-off with the cliffhanger ending; it just stops after delivering an obvious-in-hindsight revelation. The respawning enemies were the worst, and I don't understand the intent in that decision, given that they don't give xp, barely give you anything worth selling, and this is miss-fest level 1-2 D&D. Could have been something, but wasn't.

It'll probably be a while before I can resume going through these. I've heard that Sword Coast Pirates is the best premium mod, so I might as well give that a chance if I can get it working, even though it's been nothing but disappointment so far. I would have been so upset if I actually bought the standalone Kingmaker pack.
 

Lhynn

Arcane
Joined
Aug 28, 2013
Messages
9,824
All the premium modules are fairly shit.

Just go with the best player made modules and call it a day. Also play HotU, combat at high level is fairly good depending on the class.
 

Nerevar

N'wah
Patron
Repressed Homosexual
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Jul 10, 2017
Messages
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Location
Balmora
Make the Codex Great Again! Pathfinder: Wrath
While waiting for Tyranny to download, I decided to finally give some of these modules a chance. I hated the OC and the expansion packs on account of the combat crawl, which put me off on the NWN experience.


Just play Swordflight also if you didn't like these modules you're gonna have a bad time with Tyranny.
 

eXalted

Arcane
Joined
Dec 16, 2014
Messages
1,213
Dial-up modems really give people the opportunity to play so many games before the one they are downloading.

Seriously though, the premium modules are shit. I remember one that you start in a swamp, forgot its name, and the constant frogs/cricked sounds could drive one mad.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,653
Just play Swordflight

Someone I read said that it has absolutely nothing going for it. Of course, her opinions are incredibly idiosyncratic and don't even overlap much with my own, but I'm going to trust her on this because it confirms my preconceived notions. Swordflight is way down the queue.

also if you didn't like these modules you're gonna have a bad time with Tyranny.

I'm rather idiosyncratic myself, we'll see.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
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Messages
35,653
The fuck are you talking about? Swordflight is one of the best RPGs ever.
Her specific criticisms:
  • You're forced to travel with a rude henchman
  • You're railroaded into being a good character
  • The first part is a dungeon crawl with no story
  • The second part is all fetching and boring politics
 

Lacrymas

Arcane
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Messages
17,948
Pathfinder: Wrath
Her specific criticisms:
  • You're forced to travel with a rude henchman
  • You're railroaded into being a good character
  • The first part is a dungeon crawl with no story
  • The second part is all fetching and boring politics

Yes, she's annoying, but that's not the module's fault, it's the retarded AI. You aren't railroaded into being a good character at all, my orc Cleric began as True Neutral and was already Neutral Evil less than a quarter into the second chapter. Not to mention that you can influence the bard to shift to your alignment. Yes, the first part is heavy on the dungeon crawling, how is that a criticism? There is a story in there, either way. The second part is not just boring fetching and politics, quite the contrary. My main criticism for the second chapter is that a lot of the quests don't have a culmination, they start great, but kind of plateau the tension level. For example, there is a quest in an underwater ruin and I was constantly expecting a giant sea monster to pop up as a boss, but it never happened and it was disappointing. It needed that punch in the end or some other kind of punch, like the ruin collapsing on you and you having to frantically look for a way out.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
Oh, more Codex reviews. Thanks Roguey. Good to see more females playing Swordflight, even if they're critical of it.

In regard to Witch's Wake, Beamdog might turn that 2 rating into a 2.5 or even a 2.75. It's on their Trello board! Something to look forward to!

On a related note, I'm seeking reviewers and retrospective/pro-tip writers for my blog (contributing authors).

http://lilura1.blogspot.com/2018/01/Seeking-Contributing-Authors-to-Lilura1.html

Got four people on-board so far.
 

DeepOcean

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Messages
7,394
The fuck are you talking about? Swordflight is one of the best RPGs ever.
Her specific criticisms:
  • You're forced to travel with a rude henchman
  • You're railroaded into being a good character
  • The first part is a dungeon crawl with no story
  • The second part is all fetching and boring politics

About those four points, the first and third ones are really accurate, the second and fourth one are more or less accurate. Yes, you are forced to travel with a particular henchmen and this is a bad game design decision doesn't mattering how someone could explain this and yes, the dungeon lacks context boiling to: "Hey dudes, we are stuck here, please go there clean this dungeon for me, there must be stuff in there right?", it just stops the momentum of the game right when it needed another NPC heavy area as the dungeon comes right after another combat heavy area that also is lacking on context.

About the second and fourth point, Swordflight part 1 main problem is to fail into starting a main quest right away so you are going forward because... reasons? You are an adventurer and adventurers do adventure stuff? It isn't that it tries hard to railroad you into goodness, later you have options to be evil, it is just unfocused and really doesn't have as clear plot with a real motivation to follow for a long time.

The fourth point, depends your definition of fetch quests, I found them quite complex to be classified as a Skyrim fetch quests, their problem is that they don't lead anywhere, so you do quest after quest without a feeling of going somewhere.
 

Popiel

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Jul 15, 2015
Messages
1,499
Location
Commonwealth
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
I almost lost sight in my left eye some time ago. I feel more generous since that time.

Lilura, you do good work. Don't stop educating plebs. Still being a bitch while doing so.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,653
Revenant :2/5:
A Torment knock-off in a more mundane setting. And when I say knock-off I really mean it: you wake up dead with amnesia, your girlfriend's tormented ghost is right there for talking in the first area, your character did bad things in the past, and the cause of your current predicament is a half-orc sorceress. Has a weird xp system where you get nothing for combat (but there's a lot of it, and a good deal of it is obnoxious), but you do for successfully passing skill checks and reading books, even if you've already read them. The writing and level design feel amateurish; with regard to the latter, it makes the novice mistake of erring too much on the side of making places feel more realistic than fun. Inferior to Witch's Wake, but at least it has an ending.

Swordflight :1/5: up until you leave the inn in which case it becomes :2/5: until you're locked in the ruins in which case it becomes :3/5:

The beginning of this mod is utterly terrible. Extremely typical, boring, overly wordy fantasy writing (a bit surprised I haven't seen the usually-persnickety Lacrymas bring this up). If you want to fight rats in a basement and then a lengthy sewer when you're an extremely swingy level one character then this is the mod for you. Then you fight bandits and spiders, all fairly typical, with the only thing setting it apart from the official campaigns is the well-done genuine strategic resource management (though I suppose one can constantly backtrack to rest during the spider cave and the first level of the ruins). Then it locks you in, the resource management becomes more genuine than ever, and it throws some fun undead situations at you. As much as I liked that last part, I'm not going to bother with the other chapters since I trust in my distant pal's assessment that part two is full of boring politics given the writing in this installment. I suppose this does prove that NWN combat can be okay after all, now I just need to see if any of these mods can be reasonably competent in both writing and gameplay. I'm extremely skeptical.

Yes, she's annoying, but that's not the module's fault, it's the retarded AI.

It's her personality. She forces herself on you whether you want her or not, and then she literally kills you. If you make a snarky remark about her having killed you, the game says you're being evil and "holding on to a petty grudge." Then she continues to be a braggart. Total author's pet.


You aren't railroaded into being a good character at all, my orc Cleric began as True Neutral and was already Neutral Evil less than a quarter into the second chapter.

The mod considers stealing things evil, that's pretty much it. It's not much of a role playing experience since the plot demand you protect the author's waifu and wipe out the ruins full of evil undead.

Yes, the first part is heavy on the dungeon crawling, how is that a criticism?

Reasonably certain now that her brain's just not wired to like D&D combat. She hates Baldur's Gate too. Likes Torment though, but only on account of the writing.
 

Lacrymas

Arcane
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Messages
17,948
Pathfinder: Wrath
Both I and Lilura have brought up that the writing is this series' weakest part, but I don't think it's that big of a deal in this case. It's competent, it does its job and it doesn't ruin the whole experience like with Larian games. What I most dislike about it, like I mentioned previously, is the lack of a culmination for many quests. Even chapter one robs you of a culmination when the deus ex machina squad shows up at the end. The one thing I hate most is if the writing doesn't go anywhere and that's why I'm sensitive to these things. The best part is being sealed in, then it gradually become more oppressive as you are nearing the Master, but then it plateaus to nothingness. Anyway, chapter one is indeed a big escort quest and many people have brought that up, but, again, it isn't that big of a deal, especially since you have more than enough resurrection charges. Zerala is simply what she is, a young, inexperienced girl who is in over her head, what do you want her to realistically be?

The inn is a great microcosm of reactivity, you aren't required to fight the rats if you are a Ranger or Druid, not sure what I did with my Cleric. The quest where you have to find out who stole the book requires you to actually read. The sewers is an obvious extension of the inn and the best part is trapping the troll, maybe the only sewer level I have ever liked. You are talking like the entire inn is only the rat killing quest, which takes 2 minutes, and the sewer level, which really isn't that lengthy and takes like 5 minutes.

You can pray at an evil altar for evil points, you can kill babies, you can influence Zerala to be more evil, you can steal, you can sadistically treat the orc slaver and many more such things, I don't think I've stolen once and got my orc to neutral evil. I don't know what you expect, skipping the entire main plot because you are evil and don't want to protect the bard? You can spin it and say you are doing it for the money. Which game in the entire history of gaming has switched dungeons on you depending on whether you are evil or good? I also don't consider most undead evil, even if the lore says otherwise, they are meat puppets with no free will, they aren't capable of a moral action.

It seems to me like you wanted to hate it from the very beginning due to the combat and didn't notice or willfully ignored the good parts, of which there are many. You are losing a lot if you don't continue with this series. No, there is no module better than Swordflight. You might like the story in The Prophet better, even if I think it's overrated, but the gameplay is nowhere near as good.
 
Last edited:

rogueknight333

Arbiter
Joined
Jul 31, 2017
Messages
347
... Reasonably certain now that her brain's just not wired to like D&D combat. She hates Baldur's Gate too...

No surprise she would not like Swordflight then. D&D combat is the main thing in it.

... Which game in the entire history of gaming has switched dungeons on you depending on whether you are evil or good? ...

Swordflight Ch. 3? In that chapter you actually will end up in completely different dungeons in the course of a significant quest depending on whether you take a good or evil path.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,653
The Bitter Taste of Blood :1/5:
Jonas Waever's (The Nameless Mod, Expeditions, Clandestine) first mod was a pratfall unfortunately. It uses an unreadable blue font, the areas are much too large, one of the first characters you meet uses the word "thingy" in a sentence, and for whatever reason, I didn't get my scripted special vampire powers, so I ended up dying from starvation. Can't be bothered to try again or figure out how to fix it because what was there wasn't any good.

Elegia Eternum :3/5:
Finally, something with an interesting premise and decent writing (though it doesn't offer much in terms of role-playing aside from dialogue flavor). It's best to go in blind. It could have done with slightly less speedbump combat, but it wasn't too bad. The frequent backtracking necessary to solve the puzzles was also somewhat annoying.

Excrucio Eternum :4/5:
Neverwinter Nights finally justifies its existence. A bigger and better follow-up with more role-playing options, better pacing, the backtracking problem removed, and a great soundtrack. Quite heavy on the waifus (there's a stoic Asian assassin, a mind-broken elf, a kind fairy from a bottle, a sadistic nurse,
and a pragmatic professor
), but Stefan earned his indulgences. Wish more mods were like this.

The Hex Coda 01 :2/5:
Annnnd he lost me. :( Stefan sold out with this would-be premium mod (which is ironic, given the anti-corporate subject matter). The neat puzzles have been replaced by typical and mindless combat-crawls that go on for too long, and the cast of characters are a bunch of Bioware-esque irritants. The story and setting feel as if Bioware or a Bioware equivalent decided "We want the jrpg audience" so they went about doing that by combining Final Fantasy 7 with Chrono Trigger (though I admit I find this jrpg pastiche entertaining, and I'd like to see it used with a game that's enjoyable to play). It just figures that this nonsense was the one that won the Mod of the Year Award; at least now I have confirmation of what the NWN audience values and know better than to mess with any more of what they like.* I read a synopsis of the canceled second part and it was rather :retarded:, making me question if perhaps I overestimated Gagne's writing abilities. Regardless, I can't blame the guy for abandoning games in favor of visual novels, since it's obvious that writing is where his interests lie.

*For the record, since it appears that no one has actually made a list of Mod of the Year recipients, they are as follows:
2002: Lone Wolf Chapters 1 and 2 by Altaris, the chump who'd go on to make the Shadowguard premium mod, so it's probably as dull as it gets
2003: Shadowlords/Dreamcatcher by Adam Miller; I can't remember what this was about, but my eyes glazed over when I read the description years ago
2004: Demon by Adam Miller; the epilogue to his epic
2005: The Hex Coda by Stefan Gagne; "What if Bioware made a JRPG pastiche?"
2006: A Dance with Rogues parts 1 and 2 by Valine. Seriously. Rape-heavy romance.
2007: The Aielund Saga Act IV part 3 by Savant; more dull fantasy crap that makes my eyes glaze over
2008: Shadewood by Fester Pot; sequel to Almraiven. I hear they're both a pain to navigate and require either extensive note-taking or guide-reading to complete.

After that, they either stopped doing them or they've vanished into nothingness. Pretty impressive length of time even if hardly anyone made anything worthwhile.
 

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