NWN2 Storm of Zehir

Neverwinter Nights 2

Dasale

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It was a great surprise to find the new NWN2 extension in a shop. I believed it was planned to release it only in english, but nice surprise, it has been translated. It's weird I didn't heard a word about it except few month ago.
 
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Probably :) but quote that the main point is the translation, I read older topics that mentioned no translation and English only expansion module. I haven't see any correction of this in the topic you quote.
 
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Got it, playing it.

There are a lot of innovations in this game but the party AI is just killing me. It's never been very good but Storm seems to have really mangled it. When a battle finishes, my whole party starts running around in circles looking for a target. They initiate combat without being told to do so and, worst of all, my fighter refuses to use his sword for long. He'll switch to whatever weapon I've picked up - putting his shield away if it happens to be two handed. ARGH!!!

Maybe I'm just picking some bad AI options? I have most of them off, looks like I'll have to turn them all off again. <sigh>
 
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Make sure that you have the latest patch. I did read something about the AI for weapon switching was a little buggy, I'm not sure if it's been handled or not. I would definitely go to the official forums and ask for help, though.


~Elrahc
 
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I just switched off weapon switching completely. I can do that myself. Now I'm just yelling at people that can't get through doors. That's par for the NWN2 course. ;)

The game has some great innovations. Being able to use different people in conversations is huge for me. I don't have to make my main character a great talker and I don't have to waste the Sorc's charisma! Also, you actually make your core party. No more "hmm, I wonder what NPC party members the game will hand me" and more attachment to my characters. (The fact that I was able to make two high-charisma blondes while making the third character an ugly half-orc is totally irrelevant, it was the most optimum solution, Iswear! ;))
 
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I've been playing it a bit and have somewhat mixed feelings about it. Made a band of Vikings -- a godi (cleric), skald (bard), berserker, and ranger -- and have been wandering about a bit. It's kinda fun, but at the same time I'm feeling a bit like the primadonna wannabie actor going "But what's my motivation?" But then I often feel that way about sandbox games.

My Vikings are also getting severely stomped in some of the sidequests and optional encounters; presumably I can get back to them later, as the main quest has been quite easy going so far. So that's probably a plus. I very much like the way death is handled -- it's significant enough to make things a bit more believable, but not so severe to really crimp my enjoyment.

But... I'm somehow just not as emotionally engaged as I was with MotB or even OC. This is a spreadsheet gamer's wet dream (dte?) but for a writing junkie like myself perhaps not so much.
 
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You're talking my language, PJ, but I'm really struggling with NWN2. I'm just not maintaining enthusiasm for the game. My cleric made it as far as working on rebuilding the keep before I ran out of gas. My current run, a monk, just got to Fort Locke and I'm already faltering. Part of it is definitely me, as I'm having a hard time getting excited about gaming in general for some reason, but I enjoyed NWN1 (even the OC) far more.
 
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This is a spreadsheet gamer's wet dream (dte?) but for a writing junkie like myself perhaps not so much.

That is my inclination as well ... but I've had so much fun wandering around getting myself in trouble I feel like I have ADHD when it comes to the main quest ...
 
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You're talking my language, PJ, but I'm really struggling with NWN2. I'm just not maintaining enthusiasm for the game. My cleric made it as far as working on rebuilding the keep before I ran out of gas. My current run, a monk, just got to Fort Locke and I'm already faltering. Part of it is definitely me, as I'm having a hard time getting excited about gaming in general for some reason, but I enjoyed NWN1 (even the OC) far more.

Times change, and people change. Perhaps you've just done so much computer D&D that the whole genre feels stale. There aren't any huge surprises in NWN2 OC -- it's very much what you'd expect from a sweeping D&D campaign, dwarves, elves, and a touch of Planescape and all. I really wish someone would do something completely fresh with it -- I'm sure there's scope for that there. A campaign set in Al-Qadim, culminating in visits to deal with the genie princes of the Elemental Planes? I ran a PnP campaign like that once; it ran for about five years and produced about 200 pages of background material entirely for it, and it was probably the most fun campaign I've ever done.
 
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I really wish someone would do something completely fresh with it -- I'm sure there's scope for that there.

ohh gods please yes! I'm getting so sick of the Forgotten Realms - personally I wish they'd dump the tired old D&D system entirely but even a new setting would help.
 
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I finally managed to get my hands on a copy yesterday, so I'll be playing it a lot this weekend. Just managed to create a party last night:
- My main character, a Favored Soul (Tyr). He is not only the main healer, he is also the tank (1H + shield).
- Sir Keldorn Firecam, Paladin - greatest champion of the Order of the Radiant Heart in Athkatla.
- Imoen, Wizard -> Scholar of Candlekeep. Grew up in Candlekeep. Gained great power travelling along the most powerful of all Bhaalspawn (and is his/her half-sister).
- Valygar Corthala, Ranger (Two Weapon Style) - one of the greatest rangers of the north. His family runs deep with powerful magicians, mostly evil ones. Finally managed to rid his family of the curse of Lavok, and travelled the lands with the Bhaalspawn ever since.

I also wanted to add Jaheira, but I was limited to four characters.

I love making characters, parties and their overall history. I suspect I'll be stuck making dozens of characters/parties before I even complete the game for the first time.
 
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Same here. I'm sorta stuck on the character creation screen. Making themed parties is so much more fun than actually playing the game. The Vikings were easy; I've also built a party of Outcasts (a bunch of characters with alignments and classes as far opposed as possible to their racial stereotypes), Planars, Punks (gotta find a use for those mohawks!), Satanists (led by a human Warlock with Infernal Heritage intending to become, of course, a Hellfire Warlock), Yuan-Ti, and Hippies (Wild Elves).
 
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A campaign set in Al-Qadim, culminating in visits to deal with the genie princes of the Elemental Planes?

Yeah, I've been waiting for someone to do something like this for a loonggg time. Al-Qadim is very fertile ground for high-level campaigning... I've actually considered doing an NWN/NWN2 mod in that setting myself, just so I'd have the ability to finally name a character: "Faisal Ibn Fallad Ibn Fassad" and have it make sense within the confines of D&D. :)
 
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Walp, I'm past the party creation screen now. I found one that fits comfortably -- it's effective while being challenging. I just completed the first episode (you know, up to the point where you track down the ___ and the ___ shows up to ____ __ Sa'Sani so you have to ____ ____), with (AFAICT) all of the sidequests, including a couple of fights that were right bastards. And I'm having a lot of fun doing it -- played as a spreadsheet game, SoZ rules.

My party:
* Abu Jihad the Gold Dwarf Fighter/Neverwinter Nine/Dwarven Defender. He tanks, and his Greatsword of Thunder and Lightning works most impressively.
* Dunya the Half-Drow Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer. She spots, searches, listens, heals, survives, makes armor, makes alchemy, and sticks things full of arrows at a pretty impressive rate, using her Mighty Composite Longbow.
* Hussein the Aasimar Cleric. He's old and gray and balding and has Str 8 and Con 8, so he doesn't do any fighting beyond using his sling; instead he and his trust black panther do support work -- buff, de-buff, dispel, heal, raise. He's also the designated diplomat.
* Asif Ali the human Rogue/Swashbuckler/Invisible Blade. He bluffs, taunts, tumbles, parries, opens locks, disarms traps, forges weapons, and strikes like an adder with his Searing (acid/fire) and Freezing (cold/sonic) daggers.

With Umoja (wielding the Thundering Obsidian Spear), and that halfling swashbuckler (now swashbuckler/duelist) wielding a Shocking Dagger of Cold as support, we're having a grand time tearing through the jungles of Chult. Umoja's dinosaur friend is now Awoken, which means he/she/it makes some major mayhem when unleashed against the Enemies of the Faithful (of Kelemvor).
 
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After starting over again and again and again, I've also settled with a party - outcasts from various places in the world, ending up travelling together due to various strange incidents. The party consists of:

+ Main char: Warlock -> Hellfire Warlock. Generally, he's a smug bastard - he's good, and he knows it. Very rarely wrong (maxed lore, spellcraft), and if he is, he uses bluff/intimidate to get out of it. Very high damage output using eldritch chain brimstone blast (basically a chain of fire that hits two targets).

+ Female half drow cleric (earth/time for haste/stoneskin) -> doomguide. Fairly low fighting stats, but does all the healing, buffing and so on.

+ Female Yuan-ti ranger (dualwield), with a few levels of swashbuckler to get various free feats (weapon finesse etc). Leads the party on the overland map.

+ Male Shield dwarf fighter -> dwarven defender. He's the tank, obviously.

The reason I've brought in the warlock and the DD is simple: My first parties all had the same problem - they were getting exhausted too quickly (needed rest all the time). The DD really helps in this regard, since he has so much armor he usually takes very little damage, which means the party overall needs less healing (so the cleric is hardly ever exhausted). The warlock is a non-stop guaranteed damage output, no matter how many times he enters battle.

I haven't spent any time crafting so far, which I probably should. How is the crafting compared to MotB (where you could make incredible items right away, that were far better than anything money could buy).. ?

Edit: I feel I should add that I tried having three of those dino pets (two rangers + Umoja). Very solid tanks, almost too good, considering they're simply an added bonus to already solid classes (druid/ranger).
 
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+ Main char: Warlock -> Hellfire Warlock. Generally, he's a smug bastard - he's good, and he knows it. Very rarely wrong (maxed lore, spellcraft), and if he is, he uses bluff/intimidate to get out of it. Very high damage output using eldritch chain brimstone blast (basically a chain of fire that hits two targets).

Hey, that sounds just like me!

I haven't spent any time crafting so far, which I probably should. How is the crafting compared to MotB (where you could make incredible items right away, that were far better than anything money could buy).. ?

Similarly powerful but very expensive. If you have one guy with Craft Magic Arms and Armor, to start with you can make triple-enchanted weapons, with d6 elemental damage of any type and/or +1 enchantment. (I've gone with 2x elemental damage and +1, on the assumption that the +1 helps beat resistances.) However, it costs mucho dinero -- 1000 gp for the +1, and 4000 gp for each elemental enchantment. The UI has also been streamlined to the max -- you just click on the recipe you want to make while in the neighborhood of the appropriate crafting station; if you have the required items, feats, and money, these will be deducted and the item will be produced.

Edit: if you have a character with good Appraise, you can then sell off your creations at a fairly small loss, so it becomes quite easy to upgrade your stuff too. The game encourages you to produce lots of funky items.

IMO it works rather well -- since trade is such a big part of the game, you need a money sink to motivate your trading, and the crafting system does that job very well indeed. The MotB system worked very well for MotB too, but it was a whole different game.
 
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I will certainly give it a try later on. I tried making a new character for my party, but he ends up being two levels lower than the rest (to make sure people don't pop new people in and out of the party all the time I suppose). The new character I wish to add is a Bard (perhaps -> Red Dragon Disciple). The gameplay in SoZ is perfect for a Bard - lots of almost instant fights, with little time to prepare. Bards can buff up the entire party with some pretty amazing buffs with the click of a button.

I suppose I'll just have to make a new party centered around my Bard, but I'm not sure what else to get. A Ranger seems almost mandatory now (they are amazing on the Overland Map), but I would like to avoid one since I've had one in all my parties so far. A druid can almost replace them, but not quite. Guess I have to start planning this new party while completing the game with the one lead by the warlock.

Planning is half the fun though, so this is all great from my point of view.
 
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Ranger->Wizard(->whatever) with Able Learner will do the job. Having just one level of Ranger removes the cross-class skill cap, Able Learner removes the cross-class skill purchase cost, and with the wizard's Int there will be plenty of skill points to go around. You can make a very effective magic-user of any type you like this way -- Arcane Archer, Arcane Scholar, Eldritch Knight, what have you, and keep those essential ranger skillz.
 
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That's a good idea! It seems to me that the needed skills on the Overland Map are:
- Survival (increases speed)
- Spot and Listen (to detect enemies and secret items/places)
- Move silently and Hide (to avoid enemies)

Five skills in total, which is certainly not impossible, even if it's not one of the skilled classes (bard, rogue, ranger).

I'm thinking either an Eldritch Knight or a Bard at the moment, with two Ranger levels for the free two weapon feat.
 
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