Prime Junta
RPGCodex' Little BRO
- Joined
- October 19, 2006
- Messages
- 8,540
Nice thing, replayability.
I revisited NWN2 OC, this time doing everything (I could reasonably think of) differently.
I focused on character development instead of story. Specifically, I set myself a challenge, and set out to create the best generalist I could manage... based on a Drow, with its two-level XP handicap.
Belithralylith Ma'for finished the campaign as Rogue/3, Wizard/5, Arcane Trickster/10, Eldritch Knight/1. (In other words, with only a wee bit of grinding in the endgame dungeon, I made it to 21-level equivalent.) The character felt completely playable, and I had no trouble beating the tough solo encounters and missions with him. I passed Light of Heavens's tests easily.
I chose an alignment and tried to stick with it, instead of just doing what I felt the game wanted me to do. Belithralylith chose Chaotic Neutral, and ended up that way, 1/50. I also didn't feel I had to do utterly ridiculous things to keep to that alignment. Also, my keep ended up insanely rich -- I over a half a million GP in the treasury by the time the endgame rolled along.
I didn't suck up to Khelgar and Elanee; instead, I got along better with Neeshka, Qara, and even Bishop. Somewhat to my surprise, the endgame turned out quite different (and easier) from my previous play-through.
Finally, the endgame felt like much less of a grind this time around. Perhaps my party was better equipped or better balanced, or perhaps my choices for the final dungeon-crawl were more successful...
...but I had an overall better time of it. The actual ending is still the most idiotic I've seen in any game, though.
All in all, on this second play-through, NWN2 holds up pretty well. It doesn't quite reach the highest peaks of Baldur's Gate 2, but then it doesn't have many of its worst flaws either.
Going to take on MotB with Belithralylith next. I'll see if I can go with somewhat... darker choices this time around; I went all-around paragon the first time. Ought to be interesting.
I revisited NWN2 OC, this time doing everything (I could reasonably think of) differently.
I focused on character development instead of story. Specifically, I set myself a challenge, and set out to create the best generalist I could manage... based on a Drow, with its two-level XP handicap.
Belithralylith Ma'for finished the campaign as Rogue/3, Wizard/5, Arcane Trickster/10, Eldritch Knight/1. (In other words, with only a wee bit of grinding in the endgame dungeon, I made it to 21-level equivalent.) The character felt completely playable, and I had no trouble beating the tough solo encounters and missions with him. I passed Light of Heavens's tests easily.
I chose an alignment and tried to stick with it, instead of just doing what I felt the game wanted me to do. Belithralylith chose Chaotic Neutral, and ended up that way, 1/50. I also didn't feel I had to do utterly ridiculous things to keep to that alignment. Also, my keep ended up insanely rich -- I over a half a million GP in the treasury by the time the endgame rolled along.
I didn't suck up to Khelgar and Elanee; instead, I got along better with Neeshka, Qara, and even Bishop. Somewhat to my surprise, the endgame turned out quite different (and easier) from my previous play-through.
Bishop unburdened himself to me and walked off, Neeshka stuck to my side, and only Sand went with the King of Shadows, on the pretty implausible excuse that Qara was more dangerous than him. No elven nooky, though. Not that I liked Elanee all that much anyway. Even though I agreed with Ammon Jerro most of the time, I didn't get him to open up (is it even possible?), nor did I manage to get Khelgar "monked" -- he did pass the tests, but had some stuff he needed to think about before converting, and then the endgame started. But he actually kicked more ass as a fighter with the Hammer of Ironfist than in his previous incarnation as a monk.
Finally, the endgame felt like much less of a grind this time around. Perhaps my party was better equipped or better balanced, or perhaps my choices for the final dungeon-crawl were more successful...
Khelgar and Construct
...but I had an overall better time of it. The actual ending is still the most idiotic I've seen in any game, though.
"And then the dungeon collapses and you all die. The End."
All in all, on this second play-through, NWN2 holds up pretty well. It doesn't quite reach the highest peaks of Baldur's Gate 2, but then it doesn't have many of its worst flaws either.
Going to take on MotB with Belithralylith next. I'll see if I can go with somewhat... darker choices this time around; I went all-around paragon the first time. Ought to be interesting.
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2006
- Messages
- 8,540