Completed Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark and Aielund Saga

[Dreaad]

The only thing I really couldn't stand and couldn't find a fix for.... is that annoying bug, when/if your allies go invisible (even if they themselves cast invisibility) they stop doing anything at all until revealed.... fucking I must have spent half my time with my paladin using some shitty item to reveal my own companions over and over again so that their ai would stop glitching.

 

[Baron Dupek]

That LP motivated me to reinstall game with addons.
Going with Wizard=>Pale Master path, hope that I won't screw something,
Hope Xanasowhatever is decent bodyguard for pyjama scholar.

 

[abnaxus]

Curious how the archer is going to deal with that epic evil party.

 

[Lilura]

How are you planning to hurt the end boss? IIRC he has like 30/ damage soak as well as elemental soak, immunity to crits and really high spell resistance. I started playing with arcane archer once but thinking of fighting that douche made me stop.

Soak is actually "only" 20/-. I should be able to do 8-16, depending on active buffs. Still, definitely not gonna be a faceroll.

The only thing I really couldn't stand and couldn't find a fix for.... is that annoying bug, when/if your allies go invisible (even if they themselves cast invisibility) they stop doing anything at all until revealed.... fucking I must have spent half my time with my paladin using some shitty item to reveal my own companions over and over again so that their ai would stop glitching.

Haven't actually had that problem in Hordes - not under Improved Invisibility, anyway.

Curious how the archer is going to deal with that epic evil party.

Never an easy battle on D&D Hardcore rules. The lich needs to die first, followed by Grimgnaw or the minotaur (depends on who wreaks the most havoc, changes ), then Maugrim and Crimson last.

 

[abnaxus]

Not sure, can your character use time stop/horrid wilting scrolls?

 

[Lilura]

Nah, but I won't need them. I have no doubt the battle's doable with three ranged characters, I'm just saying it won't be easy.

 

[Grimwulf]

I think chapter 3 has the most long and annoying puzzles in Hordes. Maybe in whole NWN series. But at least Teh Showdown in the end is gonna be epic as hell.

Love the screenshots. Sodalis has such a pussy face on second one. And bone golems actually look pretty damn good, but I suppose it's that visual mod you're using. It's been a long time since you made PC screen tho. I wanna see what you've become by now.

The Endgame is coming! *Grabs another popcorn*

 

[Lilura]

Unbuffed stats, just before invasion:

Spoiler

 

[Grimwulf]

Unbuffed stats, just before invasion:

Spoiler

I see you didn't get your good alignment back. Not that it matters, of course.

Say, what is the story with Longbow+3? Did Mephistopheles take all your stuff, that bastard?

 

[Lilura]

I tried to get my Good alignment back, but the innocents wrongly flagged as hostile in Zorvak'Mur fucked me up, and I just couldn't be assed reloading.

That bow is actually my +10 made from a +3, it's just that, unlike in ToEE, you aren't able to rename your craft. I guess it was too hard for BioWare to add a dialogue option with Rizolvir to ask "What do you wanna call it", but then, that's just role-playing nonsense anyway. All I care about are teh numbaz.

 

[Grimwulf]

I tried to get my Good alignment back, but the innocents wrongly flagged as hostile in Zorvak'Mur fucked me up, and I just couldn't be assed reloading.

That bow is actually my +10 made from a +3, it's just that, unlike in ToEE, you aren't able to rename your craft. I guess it was too hard for BioWare to add a dialogue option with Rizolvir to ask "What do you wanna call it", but then, that's just role-playing nonsense anyway. All I care about are teh numbaz.

Oh, you're right. Didn't notice the "1-8 + 13" in dmg output.

Deekin is like Drizzt among kobolds. I can't really remember any other noticable kobold in any d&d game. And here he is, cladded in epic armour, wielding epic crossbow, singing songs for epic elves. Sigh. This party needs a dwarf.

 

[Lilura]

Oh, you're right. Didn't notice the "1-8 + 13" in dmg output.

The +13 actually comes from AA levels + weapon feats + Mighty property of bow. The +3 doesn't stack with +10, and is only for AB - fucking D&D, how does it work?

Deekin's Bard Song is the single most valuable Henchman ability in all NWN. I'd like to play a dwarven waraxe n shield Dwarven Defender mixed with Palemaster or RDD - I don't think it could die.

 

[abnaxus]

The Cania chapter is where Premonition finally stops working because every enemy wields a +5 weapon. Highly annoying at some points.

 

[Lilura]

Indeed, but what annoyed me were the bugs and design bias against archery. I can sort of see where they're coming from, archery has the RoF and arrows of different kinds. But then, they pale in comparison to melee weapon enchantments. I could list several ways in which archery gets short shrift, and it's even less forgivable when you take into account the innate superiority of melee as compared with ranged. Still, this was for shits n gigs. And I got that out of this run.

 

[Dreaad]

Bravo.

 

[Grimwulf]

He used to be a like us. But then he took a +5 piercing arrow to ALL BODY PARTS multiple times.

RIP, Meph. We will never forget how you (almost) trolled Waterdeep.

 

[Lilura]

So I'm thinking what to recount next, I could do a Tony K's Henchman and AI mod re-run with another build (documenting the many differences), an Undrentide run, a run of another mod (Aielund Saga, Hex Coda) - or a Dragon Age: Origins run with maxed out AI mods... decisions, decisions.

 

[Grimwulf]

Never played any mods for NWN, so my vote goes for them.

Can you provide a link to DA:O mod you're speaking of? Don't believe they would make DA challenging, but still curious.

 

[Lilura]

Links to all the shit I'd use are here.

There doesn't seem to be much interest on the Codex for either NWN (Volourn's probably the most knowledgeable, after me... haha) or for Origins (Codex is just filled with dumbfucks who know nothing about it).

 

[Grimwulf]

Links to all the shit I'd use are here.

There doesn't seem to be much interest on the Codex for either NWN (Volourn's probably the most knowledgeable, after me... haha) or for Origins (Codex is just filled with dumbfucks who know nothing about it).

In that case, you should do Origins. I guess I'm a dumbfuck, coz I completed it a couple of times in vanilla and never knew about any serious modding community (or rather never cared). Can't say it left a big impression on me, but I was really hoping to see improvements in DA2. Hell, I even completed Origins again just to make my kind of "perfect" char to import (the devs promised import back then!). You can imagine my frustration when dat abomination of DA2 came out.

 

[Lilura]

I meant they're dumbfucks because they know nothing but pretend to know (they're the same with BG2, mere regurgitators with no understanding and lots of childish arrogance).

Anyway, you're right about the Origins "community" - it really didn't live up to NWN (but then, neither did NWN2.) You should really try some NWN1 mods, some of them out-class official content.

I never bothered with DA2 - when they took away the tactical view I stopped following development.

 

[Grimwulf]

Well, it can't be hard to outclass NWN1 OC . But you've got a point, gotta go for modded NWN. Right after finishing Realms of Arkania trilogy.

Speaking of which, are you devoted d&d player or maybe you'll consider switching to Dark Eye for a change? Realms of Arkania series, Drakensang series, Blackguards.

 

[Lilura]

I'm mostly AD&D2.0/D&D3.x. Tried Drakensang, couldn't stand the snail's pace. Never tried RoA or Blackguards. What are they like?

 

[Grimwulf]

I'm mostly AD&D2.0/D&D3.x. Tried Drakensang, couldn't stand the snail's pace. Never tried RoA or Blackguards. What are they like?

Drakensang is uber-slow. Can't remember slower-paced game, actually (Wasteland 2?).

RoA is a bit faster than Drakensang, but only if you skip unneccessary time-consuming activities, like alchemy and such. Tricky to find a viable party, and has its somewhat random "ceiling falls, everybody dies" moments, but otherwise near-cakewalk experience. Addicting as fuck tho. You really feel like you play with DM. Also, english translation is a bit meh.

Now, Blackguards is another beast entirely. It is really, REALLY challenging on max difficulty. Turn-based combat with 4 +/- 1 people in your team. Gods be my witness, I still can't believe I finished that game on maxed out dif. Coz that Arena... I swear, I thought I'll give up on it.

Blackguards is a good, balanced, combat-oriented, engaging thing. Be it LP or not, I heartly recommend it. Beating this monster is really satisfying.

 

[Dreaad]

I'm mostly AD&D2.0/D&D3.x. Tried Drakensang, couldn't stand the snail's pace. Never tried RoA or Blackguards. What are they like?

You could always do one of the mega mods for NWN. I know I enjoyed them, 'prophesy' or 'aielund' that is of course if you aren't burnt out on NWN. That was always part of the problem for me. I never uninstalled NWN 1 or 2 but it's easy to play it for a week and then hate it for a month *shrugs* maybe that's just me. Always come back to them though, there was just so much content released it's hard not to be pulled back.