NWN2 - Review @ Uncompressed

Kalia

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Uncompressed has posted a review that is quickly becoming very standard: Love the story, hate some of the technical aspects but can rate the game highly regardless. Scoring NWN 2 with a 3.5/5.00, the reviewer said:
After reading all of this, it’s probably hard to imagine how I could possibly give this game a positive overall rating – but the fact is, it’s fun to play. It makes me sad to think that if Obsidian has just taken another couple of weeks to fine tune things, this could have been a tremendously good game. The built in campaign is entertaining with solid pacing, character customization is deep enough to be engaging, and the toolset allows for limitless multiplayer fun. I am hopeful that after a couple of patches Neverwinter Nights 2 will be what I had envisioned after hearing that a sequel was announced. Even taking the product as it is now, I can hardily recommend it to RPG fans, but the causal RPGer might want to stay clear until some of the bugs get worked out. I mean come on; it’s not as bad as Pool of Radiance…
More information.
 
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"It makes me sad to think that if Obsidian has just taken another couple of weeks"

He doesn't seem understand that +90% of Devs have no say in when a game gets released and Obsidian is currently one that doesn't have a choice.

Why is it that reviewers don't join together to form some standard to in their ratings to name publishers for their poor business practices?
 
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To our benefit: they did criticise POR ...

It says clearly: Pool Of Radiance. <i refuse to click on links, its evil offsprings anyway!>

:)
 
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I think his score for performance is appropriate though. How on earth can that machine have issues?


* Processor: AMD X2 4400+ (overclocked)
* RAM: 2GB Corsair DDR500
* Motherboard: DFI Lanparty NF4 SLI
* Video Card: BFG GeForce 7950GT 512MB
* Hard Drive: 2x Wester Digital 74GB “Raptor” (RAID 0)
 
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He beats me on graphic. I have only a 7800GTX card and i still had to turn off shadows to get performance. But after that it's not a problem.

... but i let my two 250 GB SATA disks be let alone ... :)
 
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I think his score for performance is appropriate though. How on earth can that machine have issues?


* Processor: AMD X2 4400+ (overclocked)
* RAM: 2GB Corsair DDR500
* Motherboard: DFI Lanparty NF4 SLI
* Video Card: BFG GeForce 7950GT 512MB
* Hard Drive: 2x Wester Digital 74GB “Raptor” (RAID 0)

did you modify your SLI profile to work with the game? It is incorrect by default.
 
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Sorry, those are the reviewers specs. I should have mentioned that.

Now that I'm not reading it in a hurry, it's obvious... : ) however I've seen a lot of peopel complaining about poor performance on that series of card and most of the time it's due to the driver not having the right profile(Nvidia's fault).

The game is a bit of a pig, but it's not that bad.
 
After reading though that review, I find it hard to take it seriously. It's not good when a reviewer doesn't know the difference between LAG and low FPS. He also says he's read about other people having bugs and errors, but doesn't say if he had any.

It turns out that's a single core card, so SLI has nothing to do with it.
 
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After reading though that review, I find it hard to take it seriously. It's not good when a reviewer doesn't know the difference between LAG and low FPS. He also says he's read about other people having bugs and errors, but doesn't say if he had any..

And those are important things to differentiate - because it gives our opinions some context: are these widespread bugs, ones you have experienced and troubleshot, or just heresay from a few whiners ...
 
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Hi, im the one that wrote the review, and while im not here to defend it (I think the discussion going on here is great) I did want to make one comment with the Lag vs FPS thing...

I had several instances where I would have lag like symptoms not unlike one would find in a MMORPG. Everything in battle would slow down then move real fast to catch up, or my character would move a couple of steps, then teleport back to where he was and repeat the same action. I was playing single player at the time so I know it wasnt truly "lag" but that was the best way to describe it.

My only thought is since I am running a dual core, it might have something to do with the synchronization of the two cores. Even though NWN2 only uses a single core, AMD has released several patches to resolve timing issues with X2 processors when relating to games.

Oh and the PoR thing, I was refering to PoR2. I was looking forward to it after seeing it at GenCon (when GC was still in Milwaukee) but when I bought it I was disappointed -- it just felt so slow and cumbersome. I appreciate that actual tabletop gaming is a bit slower pace than a video game, but when transitioning to a new medium some adaptations NEED to be made -- else, why not stick with the original form? My imagination is more immersive than any game on a screen... :)

Well thanks to everyone that read it, not trying to flame or get defensive -- just participatory. Cheers.
 
Thanks for joining in; we appreciate reviewers from other places dropping by to share their thoughts. :) That's how we snared Mike!! :biggrin:
 
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Thanks for chiming in - I understand what you are saying better now ... but am not sure how I feel. On the one hand, millions are familiar with WoW and MMO's in general, on the other hand, there seems to be constant and relentless comparisons to WoW for everything, even when it doesn't make sense.
 
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Nice to see a writer not get offended by discussions about his work. He fits right in with the flavor of the watch I would say. ;)
 
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Oh and the PoR thing, I was refering to PoR2 ..... not trying to flame or get defensive -- just participatory. Cheers.

No worries - a prerequisite of being a PoR2 fan is a veeeeerrrrry thick skin. Plus loving the underdog is half the fun ARF!
 
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