Neverwinter Nights 2 (May Contain Spoilers!! - Please Use Tags)

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

*grumbles*

 

Im guessing Atari hasnt yet discovered the joys of DVD... whats up with these 7 discs?!?

 

I dont supose anyones managed to rip all 7 discs onto a dvd and have it still be playable? (no this isnt intended to be a pirate post). ;;>_>

NWN2 uses SecuRom7, so no--you'll have to buy the DVD edition or suffer through having to use 7 CDs.

 

Right now i have 12 group members in a mission

 

To jmac7142

 

My guess is that you most kill her then, to get in to the heaven, or that she dies shortly after you get there, right?

 

Shandra uses her Jerro blood to release the demons and devils from their summoning circles. Ammon gets pissed, and because he doesn't know she's his granddaughter he kills her for doing so.

 

[Aash Li]

Ok actually made a chara that I slightly liked the look of. Got her into the game, and everything went sluggishly slow... thats not the point though. I was rather surprised that my chara actually looked better in the game. O.o

[Tysyacha]

ARRRRGGGGHHHH!

 

I can't decide on a character to play that will actually get me through the game.

 

Here are my Top 5 and my Bottom 5. Maybe that will help me decide.

 

MY TOP 5--What I like in NWN2 so far

 

1. Diplomacy/Persuade. I like being able to avoid fights and sway opinions.

2. Decent Hit Point Value. (Hint: This does NOT mean "Sorcerer" or "Wizard".)

3. Healing. Healing rocks, especially since I haven't found an NPC in-game cleric.

4. Animal pets. "Vanya", a black puma, really helped things out in NWN1.

5. Ice Storm and Fireball! Yeahhhh!!!

 

MY BOTTOM 5--What I think SUCKS and could care less about

 

1. Craft Anything. I'd rather spend my time leveling and questing.

2. Tumble. *yawn* Whee, I did a backflip!

3. NOT being able to heal. This frustrates me to no end.

4. Hide/Move Silently. Even with high scores, Stealth Mode doesn't cut it for me.

5. Low Hit Points. I HATE having low hit points!!!

 

About the races...

 

My top 3 are Aasimar (touched by an angel), Wood Elf and Duergar (gray dwarf.)

 

Any suggestions?

 

Sincerely,

Tysyacha

[Lantzen]

I use a wizard, that then use some spells so i can boost my hitpoints up to my double value. Later in-game you found a druid that can heal you, after that a Bard and at last, but this is a long way in the game, you get a cleric. But if you dont want to be a wizard, you can try a druid, they got animal companions, and healing spells. But i dont know about there hitpoint, but i think they got decent when they shapeshift, and you can still cast spells when you are shapeshifted. The druids also get the hitpoint boosting magick i think, dont know if they got fireball and ice storm, but they got some other devastaing magick attacks. And if you want diplomancy you can just pick that as a feat, if it's not standard for druids

[stoffe]

1. Diplomacy/Persuade. I like being able to avoid fights and sway opinions.

2. Decent Hit Point Value. (Hint: This does NOT mean "Sorcerer" or "Wizard".)

3. Healing. Healing rocks, especially since I haven't found an NPC in-game cleric.

4. Animal pets. "Vanya", a black puma, really helped things out in NWN1.

5. Ice Storm and Fireball! Yeahhhh!!!

 

If you play a cleric you can get most of that aside from number 4 (a named animal companion), though you can get animals aiding you for a time with regular summoning spells. If you pick the correct Domains for your cleric you can cast both Ice Storm (Water domain) and Fireball (Fire domain), though I prefer the Air Domain instead which lets me cast Call Lightning and Chain lightning. Those two together also grants both the Uncanny Dodge and Evasion feats which are quite handy and otherwise off-limits to non-rogues/barbarians/monks).

 

Clerics are pretty good both at spellcasting and melee combat, since they can wear armor and cast without problems giving them a decent AC, d8 health per level and decent attack bonus (which can be boosted to fighter level and beyond with spells).

 

I'm currently playing as a female Aasimar cleric of Lathander (started out Neutral Good but has since been shifted to Lawful Good by the game) with the Air (Uncanny Dodge, Call Lightning[3], Chain Lightning[6]) and Water (Evasion, Poison[3], Ice Storm[5]) domains. She focuses on Concentration, Diplomacy, Lore and Heal in the skills department, and uses a bastard sword and a shield in battle when not casting spells.

 

The Aasimar race seems to be as much of a handicap as an asset in the official campaign though, due to its ECL+1 since it won't be long until players of any race will be granted power similar to one of the Aasimar's main racial advantages (elemental resistance) as part of the main plot. But the Wisdom and Charisma bonuses are handy as a cleric (Wisdom for spells, Charisma for turning undead), and darkvision comes in handy (even though there seems to be a bug where you need to switch to control another party member and then switch back in order to turn on the darkvision when entering a new area.)

 

If you play as a cleric, remember that it's pointless to memorize any cure/heal spells other than Heal and Greater Restoration, since you can cast the other cure spells without memorizing them by using up another memorized spell of the same level if you click at the little icon at the top right corner of the Quick Cast panel. More versatile to memorize other spells and then convert those as needed for healing. I usually save the medkits (uses the Healing skill) for when someone gets poisoned or diseased and use spells or potions for other healing.

 

A cleric is also good to play as since any party should have one, and I haven't found a joinable NPC party member cleric so far and I'm in Act 2 (don't know how many acts there are in the game yet ).

[Lantzen]

Except if you play as a evil aligiment, then you will change the spells to harm, instead of heal. But it looks like you going to play a good characther

[Jeremia Skywalk]

I am getting the game right now, but before that i want to ask:

a)How similar is it to KoTOR2 (i loved kotor2, spent somethingl ike 999hours at it )

b)Is it hard to understand if it is your first d&d game except KoTOR

c)Is campaign storyline as boring as Neverwinter nights? (well the beggining is boredome to highest)

d)Isn't graphics TOO good? (i know everything else works for my comp, but i am not sure bout graphics. TSL was ok at max graphics except v-sync(or whatever) which didn't work at all)

e)Is your alignment choosable at the beggining?

[ChAiNz.2da]

I am getting the game right now, but before that i want to ask:

a)How similar is it to KoTOR2 (i loved kotor2, spent somethingl ike 999hours at it )

b)Is it hard to understand if it is your first d&d game except KoTOR

c)Is campaign storyline as boring as Neverwinter nights? (well the beggining is boredome to highest)

d)Isn't graphics TOO good? (i know everything else works for my comp, but i am not sure bout graphics. TSL was ok at max graphics except v-sync(or whatever) which didn't work at all)

e)Is your alignment choosable at the beggining?

 

A) Similar in respects to round based combat, d20 rules.. and a "similar" character build tree where as you progress.. you have to choose skills, feats, spells, etc. Just MUCH more detailed.. or well, just alot more choices

 

B) Not "super" hard.. but I have to admit, I think the devs were thinking their only audience would be D&D players. Some things, it seems to me, are 'assumed'. Because I had played D&D for a number of years I picked up on it, but I don't think it's going to be a reach for any non-D&D players. Don't concern yourself with too many 'numbers' and you'll have a blast playing it.

 

C) Not so much this time around, but the start story is quite bare.. pretty much why it begins in the first place since your mission is to "find out and fill in the blanks". The tutorial was a major drag-its-feet (Harvest Fair), but if you've never played D&D pnp or pc, I'd definitely suggest you bear through it. It'll get you familiar with how things work. After the fair, yeah.. it gets intense. Lots of pretty lights flying around.. some even at your head

 

ALOT of dialogue reading required, so if you're not into reading and paying attention.. this game will not be for you (or anyone else). It doesn't have a hold-your-hand style journal like Oblivion had, and while it's somewhat "linear", there are side quests that are un-documented. You'll need to "remember" what you come across, or pack-rat everything you find .... hehehe

 

D) Graphic settings are almost entirely optional. They've included many settings this time, down to mip-mapping, light numbers & styles, etc. There's even an auto-detect for those who aren't too savvy on what all those neat functions do

 

E) Indeed. several to choose.. anywhere to halo wearing to downright mean old bastard.. plus the "I don't really cares" in the middle

[stoffe]

In response to Jeremia Skywalk (but quoting ChAiNz.2da ):

 

B) Not "super" hard.. but I have to admit, I think the devs were thinking their only audience would be D&D players. Some things, it seems to me, are 'assumed'. Because I had played D&D for a number of years I picked up on it, but I don't think it's going to be a reach for any non-D&D players.

 

If you've never played any D&D games before I'd really recommend at least quickly reading through the (full) manual for the game before getting started, even if you usually don't do it for other games. The d20 D&D game system is rather convoluted and there are many things which are not obvious just by seeing what happens while playing. NWN2 seems to do a lot less in-game explaining of game concepts as well, with less tooltips etc than NWN1 had. In my opinion the game is hard enough even when you know how things work, but that might just be me who's poor at it. It has many similarities to the starwars d20 system the KotOR games used a variant of, but just as many if not more differences. I've played several D&D CRPGs before and I still discover new things in NWN2 I no idea how it worked earlier.

 

C) Not so much this time around, but the start story is quite bare.. pretty much why it begins in the first place since your mission is to "find out and fill in the blanks". The tutorial was a major drag-its-feet (Harvest Fair), but if you've never played D&D pnp or pc, I'd definitely suggest you bear through it.

 

It's also good for adjusting your settings and controls, and getting used to controlling your character(s) in a more relaxed environment. Configuring everything in the heat of combat can be a bit annoying. In particular since the fighting after the tutorial can get pretty heavy. It's also worth keeping in mind that in general you often get bonus XP afterwards for keeping friendly NPCs alive though battles, though I don't remember if that's the case in the Harborwatch battles.

 

ALOT of dialogue reading required, so if you're not into reading and paying attention.. this game will not be for you (or anyone else).

 

Yes, dialog in this game appears to be fairly important so far, so I'd recommend that you focus on at least one of the conversational skills (Diplomacy, Bluff or Intimidate) heavily, since it will make some conversations much easier and/or more rewarding.

 

For dialog, also keep in mind that the game has an "influence" system a bit similar to KotOR2:TSL where what you say or do will affect what your currently present party members will think of you. Dialog choices and actions also affect your Good<-->Evil and Law<-->Chaos alignments.

 

(On a separate note conversation seems to suffer from the gender confusion problem as much as previous games. I've lost count of the number of times my female protagonist has been called "he" or "him" even by party members. There also seems to be some bugs in some conversations where you can access some dialog branches to discuss things with party members that have not yet happened in the plot, and some dead-ends that lead nowhere.)

 

It doesn't have a hold-your-hand style journal like Oblivion had, and while it's somewhat "linear", there are side quests that are un-documented. You'll need to "remember" what you come across, or pack-rat everything you find ...

 

I think it's a bit too hands-off in some cases though, when fairly major quests don't get any mentioning in the journal at all. A bit annoying since you don't play the whole game in one go without any breaks and may not remember everything from when you last played. At least there is the "Notes" section of the journal where you can type in your own entries to keep track of everything.

 

But overall many quests are not of the "go there and do that" variety, but rather leave you vague instructions and you'll have to figure out yourself how to do it.

 

 

D) Graphic settings are almost entirely optional. They've included many settings this time, down to mip-mapping, light numbers & styles, etc. There's even an auto-detect for those who aren't too savvy on what all those neat functions do

 

Unless I'm an unlucky exception the auto-detect is pretty worthless though. I used it first and got on average 8 FPS indoors in the small room you start the game in. If you get terrible performance, try turning off Shadows, Water Refractions and Water Reflections. The game looks a lot worse graphically, but at least that made it playable with FPS in around 25-30 for me, (compared to 10-15 with shadows on). Still a lot worse performance than I get with Oblivion with all the graphical candy turned on there, but at least it's playable.

 

 

E) Indeed. several to choose.. anywhere to halo wearing to downright mean old bastard.. plus the "I don't really cares" in the middle

 

It's probably easier to be a good guy/gal on the first playthrough since I assume things are easier if you are a likable sort, but I'm sure it's playable no matter what alignment you pick (though I always play as good characters personally).

[Jae Onasi]

Jae chiming in....I'm not terribly far into the whole thing yet, but I'd agree with what ChAiNz and stoffe are saying on a lot of things.

 

In response to Jeremia Skywalk (but quoting ChAiNz.2da ):

If you've never played any D&D games before I'd really recommend at least quickly reading through the (full) manual for the game before getting started, even if you usually don't do it for other games.

I'd recommend reading it even if you are familiar with D&D, because I found a couple very useful hints in there. Fighters are fighters are fighters, but knowing what kinds of different things rogues, paladins, and particularly the different spell-casting types can do is very useful.

The d20 D&D game system is rather convoluted and there are many things which are not obvious....It has many similarities to the starwars d20 system the KotOR games used a variant of, but just as many if not more differences. I've played several D&D CRPGs before and I still discover new things in NWN2 I no idea how it worked earlier.

I've not gotten high enough to get to the prestige classes (hey, I only got the game on Thursday, and the family would rebel if I sat on the computer all day. ), but it does help to know the rules, and it does help a lot to know what the prestige classes entail so you can pick feats accordingly. The D&D RPG Official Home Page has a lot of great info--I've found the glossary particularly helpful. Obviously they don't list all the rules because they'd like you to buy the books, but you can learn a lot just by going through the Game Rules and glossary sections.

It's also good for adjusting your settings and controls, and getting used to controlling your character(s) in a more relaxed environment. Configuring everything in the heat of combat can be a bit annoying. In particular since the fighting after the tutorial can get pretty heavy.

I thought the tutorial was helpful, and gave a little background to the character, which I like because I enjoy the story part a lot.

Heh, you're not kidding about the fighting. I got made very dead last night because I didn't quite pay attention fast enough to that wizard fighting with all the other bad guys.

 

I also noticed, interestingly, that some of the loot is set, and some of it's randomly generated. Of course, this meant I had to replay one fight about 6 times (because I are an idiot and forgot to save _after_ the fight, but it was good practice) to get back to some decent loot in 1 crate.

Yes, dialog in this game appears to be fairly important so far, so I'd recommend that you focus on at least one of the conversational skills (Diplomacy, Bluff or Intimidate) heavily, since it will make some conversations much easier and/or more rewarding.

I also put some points into craft alchemy--it's 'cheaper' to make some of the stuff than buy it. I haven't found a benefit to crafting weapons, since you find so darn many of the things.

(On a separate note conversation seems to suffer from the gender confusion problem as much as previous games. I've lost count of the number of times my female protagonist has been called "he" or "him" even by party members. There also seems to be some bugs in some conversations where you can access some dialog branches to discuss things with party members that have not yet happened in the plot, and some dead-ends that lead nowhere.)

I haven't paid enough attention to catch the gender confusion. And I keep clicking on the characters, expecting them to have conversations like in Kotor....

I think it's a bit too hands-off in some cases though, when fairly major quests don't get any mentioning in the journal at all. A bit annoying since you don't play the whole game in one go without any breaks and may not remember everything from when you last played. At least there is the "Notes" section of the journal where you can type in your own entries to keep track of everything.

I noticed that, too. I also noticed one time that closing the journal and reopening it made one of the sidequests pop up after all, but yeah, the notes section is good. I have to start marking down which merchant has which goodies.

 

But overall many quests are not of the "go there and do that" variety, but rather leave you vague instructions and you'll have to figure out yourself how to do it.

I don't mind having to figure out some stuff as long as it's not too vague.

 

Unless I'm an unlucky exception the auto-detect is pretty worthless though. I used it first and got on average 8 FPS indoors in the small room you start the game in.

I used the auto-detect because I was just too darn impatient to get going on the game--I figured I could tinker with it later if I had to. The only thing I don't like is all the camera views except the top-down are so jerky that they give me motion sickness moving around, and I'm not a motion sickness kind of gal. I like the chase view because it's a little more immersive for me, but I prefer not to urp on my keyboard, too.

 

It's probably easier to be a good guy/gal on the first playthrough since I assume things are easier if you are a likable sort, but I'm sure it's playable no matter what alignment you pick (though I always play as good characters personally).

With all the choices, I can see how someone could get hooked on this game for a very long, long time playing all the permutations.

[Jeremia Skywalk]

Hmmm game seems nice, after what you are saying Well i know the absolute basics of d&d, but i have never played paper and pen version though. I also tried playing NWN I for almost until completing those beast part quests, so i know SOME stuff. I know playing lawful good would be easier, but i don't know it is realy for me. I love chaotic neutral, but i found it annoyingly hard to choose right convo choices.

 

Anyways i will follow your advice and try getting some kind of rulebook (pretty sure my patience will run out after 30 minute reading xD) and check the D&D homepage.

[stoffe]

but it does help to know the rules, and it does help a lot to know what the prestige classes entail so you can pick feats accordingly.

 

Seems like prestige classes aren't that useful if you play as a spellcasting class though. While they do give you nifty abilities they also tend to weaken your spellcasting abilities in the process, denying you spell slots and lowering the save DC of your spells.

 

The D&D RPG Official Home Page has a lot of great info--I've found the glossary particularly helpful. Obviously they don't list all the rules because they'd like you to buy the books, but you can learn a lot just by going through the Game Rules and glossary sections.

 

It's worth keeping in mind that the game doesn't slavishly follow the d20 rules though, they have taken some liberties to make the game more enjoyable to play on a computer. While much is the same some skills, feats and spells work differently, and some other rules are changed or unused as well.

 

 

I thought the tutorial was helpful, and gave a little background to the character, which I like because I enjoy the story part a lot.

Heh, you're not kidding about the fighting. I got made very dead last night because I didn't quite pay attention fast enough to that wizard fighting with all the other bad guys.

 

I did enjoy the tutorial as well, it gave you a little background for your character's place in the world and some motivations for what was to come, and let you try out different aspects of the game in a non-threatening environment.

 

Enemy wizards are annoying since they have no reason to hold back, unlike your own party wizards. Usually my whole party gang up on enemy casters and then worry about sorting out the melee grunts once the caster is beaten into submission.

 

Spells with Will saves i particular tend to be annoying since your own melee grunts like Khelgar have atrocious will save bonuses. Khelgar in particular has gotten charmed and nearly killed by our own allies almost every time we have encountered a Succubus so far. Apparently they can sense who their charms are most effective on.

 

 

I also put some points into craft alchemy--it's 'cheaper' to make some of the stuff than buy it. I haven't found a benefit to crafting weapons, since you find so darn many of the things.

 

If you play as a cleric it's even cheaper to use healing spells though, since those are free as long as you don't need the spells for something else. I mostly use potions as backup healing during battle when my cleric is too busy fighting the enemy to tend to injured party members. If you have a good healing skill medkits heal a lot more than both potions and spells though (Heal, Gr. Restoration and the Mass Cure spells excluded).

 

I haven't paid enough attention to catch the gender confusion. And I keep clicking on the characters, expecting them to have conversations like in Kotor....

 

You can talk to your party members, and most likely should since they have things to say and you can gain (or lose) influence with some of them during that dialog. Shandra in particular seems to have lots of dialog accessed this way. To talk to a party member hold down the right mouse button on top of them and pick the "Talk" option in the popup context menu.

 

I don't mind having to figure out some stuff as long as it's not too vague.

 

Neither do I, but some things are a bit too vague for my liking. I haven't managed to figure out what you are supposed to do with Kistrel which you encounter in Duskwood for example, and I've still explored the entire area thoroughly.

[ChAiNz.2da]

Neither do I, but some things are a bit too vague for my liking. I haven't managed to figure out what you are supposed to do with Kistrel which you encounter in Duskwood for example, and I've still explored the entire area thoroughly.

If you have/had Sand in your party, he mentions something about feeding spiders "bugs". Without spoiling too much, explore outside the well cave in the Duskwood worldmap area (not Ember)...

 

Hint: Take healing potions & grunts

[stoffe]

If you have/had Sand in your party, he mentions something about feeding spiders "bugs". Without spoiling too much, explore outside the well cave in the Duskwood worldmap area (not Ember)...

 

Hint: Take healing potions & grunts

 

 

 

Hmm, you mean the little insect medallion or whatever it is you get from the gnome werevolves in the cave further up the mountainside? I had Sand in the group when stumbling upon Kistrel, but I can't remember him saying anything useful other than wanting a giant book to squish the spider with. I even had the druid (Elanee?) in my party at the time but she didn't give any clear hints either.

 

I can imagine Duskwood would be rather frustrating if your main character is a wizard or sorcerer who can't hold their own unbuffed in close combat. Wonder if you encounter any areas where melee combat is useless to compensate?

 

I hope I can return and finish that business even if I've already finished the Ember plotline and have now been sent by Lord Gnasher and that Luskan witch conspiring against the party sorceress to deal with Black Garius at some fort ruin.

 

Haven't gone there yet though, felt like I needed a short breather after the rather combat intense quest where you should protect that shard-bearing noble from the demon and devil hordes invading his home, and later the Moonstone Mask. (I get the feeling the Warlock you encounter at the end there is Ammon Jerro, turned to the "dark side", since he has the same glowing facial tattoos as the wizard in the opening movie where the silver sword is shattered. Shandra didn't seem to recognize him though.)

 

 

[Samuel Dravis]

Ugh. I want this game muchly.

Thankfully some friends and I are going to have a PnP session Saturday (in a friggan swamp!), but regardless I'mma get this one soon. I loved NWN and KotOR, so it seems like a sure bet for me.

[Lantzen]

Wohoo, just finished the game the dark path, there is some nice suprises there... Then i reloaded the game to finish it the good way, and after a 10+ min fight, the game frezzed, and jumped out to windows

 

I most say, the story just get better and better the hole way throgh the game, from a sertent part in the game, where you get a warlock companion, i really loved the game

 

 

And i dont think the begining is that bad, with the fare, you get a insight who evryone is in the village, and how you have lived you life uptil the point where the game starts

[ChAiNz.2da]

@stoffe, Yup.. that one

 

Kristel should still be there, and even though I know you're a spider freak.. don't squish this one.. you'll be happy you didn't (sooner or later)

[Lantzen]

it took around 20 min to defeat the end boss the god way for me, and i most say i got a little disapointment at the good ending. IMO the evil ending was way better, but people wont probaly think the same as me. We will se what you guys think when you finish it

[stoffe]

Gah, NWN2 has just turned into a management game.

 

 

 

I've just gotten to the part where you are assigned Crossroad Keep which you are supposed to get in shape somehow, but the game hasn't given any instructions on how, and I'm rather confused as to what I'm supposed to do with it.

 

Any suggestions on how to best solve that quest? Can you build/fix/repair everything or do you have to prioritize? Can you use your own gold to fund stuff, or does the keep have to supply its own funds for everything? In what particular order should things best be built? Is this quest on a timer when things get done or how far along you go, or is it tied to how far you have advanced in the main plot?

 

I'm very poor at management games and all this quest has succeeded in is to utterly confuse me so far. I'd rather not play along and do lots of other quests only to have misunderstood something earlier and have to reload and re-do hours of playing.

 

 

[Jae Onasi]

Seems like prestige classes aren't that useful if you play as a spellcasting class though. While they do give you nifty abilities they also tend to weaken your spellcasting abilities in the process, denying you spell slots and lowering the save DC of your spells.

I'm doing the ranger route this time, but I'll try out the magic-users next time (I'm hardly into the game and I'm already talking about 'next time'.... )

 

 

It's worth keeping in mind that the game doesn't slavishly follow the d20 rules though, they have taken some liberties to make the game more enjoyable to play on a computer. While much is the same some skills, feats and spells work differently, and some other rules are changed or unused as well.

Some things don't translate well to the computer. When I've played PnP with some friends, we always had a number of 'house rules' because some of the official rules are too cumbersome, e.g. we ignored attacks of opportunity completely--slows things down too much while we figure out who gets what extra attack.

 

Enemy wizards are annoying since they have no reason to hold back, unlike your own party wizards. Usually my whole party gang up on enemy casters and then worry about sorting out the melee grunts once the caster is beaten into submission.

I gave that a whirl today and it works very nicely at whupping up on those obnoxious wizards.

If you play as a cleric it's even cheaper to use healing spells though, since those are free as long as you don't need the spells for something else. I mostly use potions as backup healing during battle when my cleric is too busy fighting the enemy to tend to injured party members. If you have a good healing skill medkits heal a lot more than both potions and spells though (Heal, Gr. Restoration and the Mass Cure spells excluded).

I keep all the healing stuff out of paranoia.

You can talk to your party members,...To talk to a party member hold down the right mouse button on top of them and pick the "Talk" option in the popup context menu.

That was a case of 'Jae neets to follow her own advice and RTFM' . You'd think they wouldn't bury it on page 100 and not even include instructions in the tutorial at least on how to talk to your buddies (unless I missed that). Thanks for the tip, however--if I hadn't found it in the book rather fortuitously, I'd still have been lost on that.

Neither do I, but some things are a bit too vague for my liking. I haven't managed to figure out what you are supposed to do with Kistrel which you encounter in Duskwood for example, and I've still explored the entire area thoroughly.

I haven't made it that far yet. I'm still whomping on the obnoxious creatures in the graveyard. I spend too much time playing on the workbenches.

That made me think of the battle music--which I like better in this game than NWN 1. I noticed some of the background music is the same in both games--not that I'm complaining, because I don't mind decent music being re-used for continuity's sake. I just thought it was interesting to note in the back of my mind while I was tossing holy water on the undead. Of course, now every time I hear that theme I think 'Uh-oh, bad guys around the corner'. It's kind of like when you hear the Jaws theme and know the shark is coming, even though you can't see it.

 

Edit: Did you see the latest Sticky on Extreme Lag 3 in the NWN2 tech support self-help forum? Seems like lagging is a problem for a a number of people.

I don't seem to have too much of a problem unless I turn everything way up.

 

@RedHawke--you online D&D junkie, you.

 

And off-topic a bit....I got to chat on WGN radio (AM 720 out of Chicago) the other night talking to the 'Technology Tailor' about 'Adult Gamers'. Apparently the average age of people buying games is now 38, and about 25% of players are female. Since I was 'over the 38 mark' and 'female', I got to talk with them on the air, which was cool. Of course, I told them Jimbo got me hooked on Kotor. We talked about the new consoles (agreed PS3 was priced too high) and discussed who gamed more--my son or me--"depends if it's a school night or not."

[Jeremia Skywalk]

DAMN! My video card didn't pull it off. Well i wanted to get a new one long time ago, so maybe now i have a reason to do so.

[stoffe]

I haven't made it that far yet. I'm still whomping on the obnoxious creatures in the graveyard. I spend too much time playing on the workbenches.

 

That graveyard and crypts were pretty fun. There is something strangely satisfying about instantly killing handfuls of zombies and skeletons with Turn Undead when playing as a cleric.

 

 

I noticed some of the background music is the same in both games--not that I'm complaining, because I don't mind decent music being re-used for continuity's sake. I just thought it was interesting to note in the back of my mind while I was tossing holy water on the undead.

 

Seems like they've re-used a lot of audio from the first NWN; music, NPC soundsets and sound effects in general. Not that I mind as long as it fits the setting. (Unfortunately that still means you encounter thugs shouting "Your taint shall be cleansed!" with a celestial voice while attacking when the devs have been too lazy to give the NPC a proper soundset, since that's still the default one. Fairly common in the NWN1 campaign, seems to be fairly common in NWN2 as well.)

 

Edit: Did you see the latest Sticky on Extreme Lag 3 in the NWN2 tech support self-help forum? Seems like lagging is a problem for a a number of people.

 

I quickly browsed through some of those threads, but it seems they've not discovered anything new. I got rid of most of the lag by turning off shadows and water reflections/refractions. I still get around 22-25 FPS in some outdoor areas, but at least that's somewhat playable. Still pretty ridiculous since I can run Oblivion with HDR lighting, high-detail shadows and most settings at max and get around 35 FPS while staring at an Oblivion gate in a forrest area.

 

* * *

 

Do anyone who have completed the game have any hints for how best to handle the Crossroad Keep management (mentioned above)? I'd rather not screw up and have to reload an old save and redo hours worth of gameplay later, so I'll have to put the game on hold and play something else until I can get a better idea of how that "quest" is supposed to work. And just when things started to get more interesting with the main plot too.

[Lantzen]

stoffe here some help for you managment problem

 

 

The quest aint on a timelimit, but it can feel like it. You will know what i mean when you get there. On some point at the story, you cant build more until something special have happend, that you will also know when you get there. And you can take money from your own pocket to build the things in there. I recomend that you build the libary quite fast, becuse thats importatnt to the storyline, and the rest of whats inside the keep. Eventuly it good to have build evrything in the keep, but there is no need to hurry.

 

Then you can recruit people to work in your keep, travel around a little, talk to people you have meet before and so on. And as i know nothing can make the game crash becuse you did somehing wrong in the keep, i didnt understand so much either at the begining, but then i learnt what was good and so on. In the begining you should set your units on recruting, and after that on training. Then you send them out to patrol, the land, the roads or both. The roads is most importnt in the begining i think, for they will get trade caravals to go to the keep, and you can earn money on them.

 

[ChAiNz.2da]

Do anyone who have completed the game have any hints for how best to handle the Crossroad Keep management (mentioned above)? I'd rather not screw up and have to reload an old save and redo hours worth of gameplay later, so I'll have to put the game on hold and play something else until I can get a better idea of how that "quest" is supposed to work. And just when things started to get more interesting with the main plot too.

This one is a pain in my arse as well... If I wanted to do that, I'd have bought Age of Empires

 

Not sure about time length, but I noticed if you ask for a report on the Keep.. there's a "time length" followed by a percentage. I don't like the looks of that seeing as I'm already up to 25% and haven't gotten squat done.

 

Here's what I've figured out/done (so far) that may help you stoffe, but methinks we're both in a bind here

 

 

 

= "Recruits" =

-Armorer in Highcliff

-Sergeant in Owl's Well (female warrior thinking of going back to Amn)

-Miner in Owl's Well

-Miner in Port Llast (Inn, Lady that gave you the Bradbury quest)

-Deekin in Neverwinter (after you have Veedle rebuild the interior market)

-Weaponsmith at Fort Locke

-I assume Teela the dancer at Moonstone Mask... but I haven't gotten her to come to the Keep yet (if possible)?

-The Farmer at your old home (can't remember the name of the place of all things.. hehehe)

 

= "Other" =

-You can't use your own money (which sucks) to do upgrades. Everythig depends on your "budget"

-The miners will mine all those ore discoveries you've made during the game

-They supply the ore to the armorer & weaponsmith to upgrade your men's equipment

-Upgrades can't happen unless you rebuild the Keep's interior armor/smithy buildings. I'd suggest doing this as they carry extremely niiiice gear. As does Deekin.

-Better wider roads and outlying area brings in more money

-Guards must patrol or merchants and money come in slowly

-Upgrading the Keep's interior unlocks rooms, decent gear & a visitor do the West Wing first (imo).

 

 

 

 

[stoffe]

Thanks for the hints both of you. I guess I'll give playing SimFort another try. If things seem to go to hell I suppose I'll shelf the game and play some more System Shock 2 until a walkthrough of that part gets done.

 

If they at least had the decency to add hints in the list of choices for a character with high wisdom and/or intelligence to reflect the character's presumed skill it would be more bearable. Just because I'm stupid doesn't mean that my character has to be. You'd think that a character's brain stats would have an impact on more than just combat in D&D, but apparently not.