PorkyThePaladin
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2013
- Messages
- 5,183
I couldn't google any thread on this newer than like 10 years ago, so starting a new one, but feel free to append to an existing thread I might have missed. I wanted to finally play through Mask of the Betrayer, but being an OCD completionist 
, decided to play the entire series. I've played these games (NWN, NWN2) before, but a long time ago, so the experience is pretty fresh.
When I started playing NWN, the same thing happened as when it first came out, I was shocked by how much worse it is than the BG series, its predecessor. Relatively interesting storylines got replaced with absolute drivel (Ok, we are all tired of some random farmhand coming along and saving the kingdom, but in NWN's case, facing grave danger, the kingdom starts up an academy for random farmhands! WTF?). The beautiful 2D maps of the Infinity Engine replaced by early generaton bland 3D ugliness along with terrible controls that fight you the entire way, and a soulless interface to boot. Combat became less tactical with the removal of parties, and so on and so forth.
However, as I forced myself to keep playing it, eventually I got used to the downgrades, and realized that some parts of the game improve, while some are actually decent to begin with. While the combat is worse than in the IE games, it's actually still pretty decent compared to the average RPG out there, especially if you go the spellcaster path. You've got tons of spells, abilities, feats, and skills, and a fairly complex overall system. Even melee characters get more love than in IE with the newer rules and getting extra abilities and feats, so they don't have to just auto-attack all the time. Encounter design isn't great, but you got your standard RPG mix of easier trashy mobs and occassional tougher boss-type mobs. If you man up and go solo (which is what I am doing), it's also fairly challenging.
Character development, which is mostly about the combat, is also pretty solid. Gaining each level feel great and there is a lot of stuff to experiment with, like optional feats, skill point distribution, spell selection, and so on. The thing is, so far (I am about midway through the OC), the writing has also picked up from its abysmal beginning. Don't get me wrong, no one will confuse this for PS:T, but after the retarded beginning, the quality of storylines and dialogue is actually average rather than bang-your-head-against-wall-bad that it was in the beginning. Loot itemization is also fairly good, with lots of items available both from adventuring and exploration and from shops, but with high prices and cool lore-based descriptions.
So I am wondering, is NWN OC really that bad, or is it a victim of high expectations that come from following BG2 and its terrible beginning?
, decided to play the entire series. I've played these games (NWN, NWN2) before, but a long time ago, so the experience is pretty fresh. When I started playing NWN, the same thing happened as when it first came out, I was shocked by how much worse it is than the BG series, its predecessor. Relatively interesting storylines got replaced with absolute drivel (Ok, we are all tired of some random farmhand coming along and saving the kingdom, but in NWN's case, facing grave danger, the kingdom starts up an academy for random farmhands! WTF?). The beautiful 2D maps of the Infinity Engine replaced by early generaton bland 3D ugliness along with terrible controls that fight you the entire way, and a soulless interface to boot. Combat became less tactical with the removal of parties, and so on and so forth.
However, as I forced myself to keep playing it, eventually I got used to the downgrades, and realized that some parts of the game improve, while some are actually decent to begin with. While the combat is worse than in the IE games, it's actually still pretty decent compared to the average RPG out there, especially if you go the spellcaster path. You've got tons of spells, abilities, feats, and skills, and a fairly complex overall system. Even melee characters get more love than in IE with the newer rules and getting extra abilities and feats, so they don't have to just auto-attack all the time. Encounter design isn't great, but you got your standard RPG mix of easier trashy mobs and occassional tougher boss-type mobs. If you man up and go solo (which is what I am doing), it's also fairly challenging.
Character development, which is mostly about the combat, is also pretty solid. Gaining each level feel great and there is a lot of stuff to experiment with, like optional feats, skill point distribution, spell selection, and so on. The thing is, so far (I am about midway through the OC), the writing has also picked up from its abysmal beginning. Don't get me wrong, no one will confuse this for PS:T, but after the retarded beginning, the quality of storylines and dialogue is actually average rather than bang-your-head-against-wall-bad that it was in the beginning. Loot itemization is also fairly good, with lots of items available both from adventuring and exploration and from shops, but with high prices and cool lore-based descriptions.
So I am wondering, is NWN OC really that bad, or is it a victim of high expectations that come from following BG2 and its terrible beginning?
/
But I wouldn't for a moment defend it as some great work of genius.
