NWN:HotU …OC playthrough required?

Originally Posted by Maylander
Actually, the HotU character is always the hero of SoU. No matter who you import, you're always old friends with Deekin and have never seen Aribeth/Grimgnaw etc.

Really? Then I was confusing SoU with HoTU. Funny how I don't remember anything at all about SoU except its ending. And that only because I played a class who couldn't win the final boss fight, such epic mess-ups are usually memorable.

Heh, yeah, SoU is a bit odd in that regard. There's barely a challenge in the whole thing except the final boss which might just pummel you. Luckily, I've played through it a few times so I know what to expect.

Hm, in fact, I now started to doubt whether the ending belonged to SoU. Maybe it was the OC ending? It was definitely not HoTU, the final boss you fight in HoTU is unforgettable.

That ending was about getting into a small room with a boss who was a female (that's all I remember), but before that you had a huge fight, and the level exit was closed and you couldn't go back and resting was suddenly disabled. So basically, a wizard like my character has spent all powerful spells and had nothing to fight with. Was it SoU that disabled resting before the final battle?

Bioware must hate wizards. The thing in HoTU was pretty much the same, with the final boss being immune to magic. To top it off, my companion was none other than Deekin, hahaha, he was not much use.

I found this in google:

http://social.bioware.com/forums/for…7734536-1.html

So it would seem that SoU\HoTU character is different. The OP says that the OC companions didn't recognize him in HoTU, while SoU companions did.

That's what I'm saying. HotU and SoU is the same character, so Deekin will remember you, but the OC companions will not. Aribeth will *not* remember you when you meet her in HotU, no matter who you import. I have verified this many times, so there's no real point in discussing it.

Anyway, yes it sounds like the OC ending. Before you fight Morag, you fight about 5x Morag's Chosen or Old One Chosen or some such thing. This happens in an area where resting is not possible, and there is no way to get back out.

Originally Posted by Maylander
That's what I'm saying. HotU and SoU is the same character, so Deekin will remember you, but the OC companions will not. Aribeth will *not* remember you when you meet her in HotU, no matter who you import.

I haven't played any of the NWN expansions, but, if I'm understanding you correctly, that sounds like a huge oversight by the devs. Either that, or they were simply too lazy to add some additional dialogue for those NPCs to indicate whether or not you imported your character from the OC.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I haven't played any of the NWN expansions, but, if I'm understanding you correctly, that sounds like a huge oversight by the devs. Either that, or they were simply too lazy to add some additional dialogue for those NPCs to indicate whether or not you imported your character from the OC.

It's intended as a follow-up to SoU, which was independent of the OC and designed for a fresh character, so it wouldn't make any narrative sense. You might as well expect them to code in responses for the Mega Man-My Little Pony crossover mod you played through with that character too.

There was also a competition for a linking mod, covering the period in between SoU and HotU, explaining how you got to Waterdeep with a certain artefact in your inventory. I can't remember being very impressed with the winners, though.

Originally Posted by Menigal
It's intended as a follow-up to SoU, which was independent of the OC and designed for a fresh character, so it wouldn't make any narrative sense. You might as well expect them to code in responses for the Mega Man-My Little Pony crossover mod you played through with that character too. .

In that case, I think it's somewhat silly that they included the option to import your character to begin with. Why even allow that if you're not supposed to be the same character?

Originally Posted by JDR13
In that case, I think it's somewhat silly that they included the option to import your character to begin with. Why even allow that if you're not supposed to be the same character?

Because the main selling point of NWN was the ability to make your own adventures, and the ability to import and export characters between them was a big part of that. So you take your PC from level 1 to 3 in one module and then use them in a series of modules that take you from level 3 to 10, never setting foot in an official campaign.

It's like taking your PnP character sheet around to several different friends' houses for a series of short adventures.

I really would have preferred the import to take origin of the character into consideration. It would've made certain scenes so much more interesting (Aribeth, Grimgnaw, Linu etc).

I realize that it would take quite a bit of work. However, given the import system of recent BioWare titles (DA, ME), it's fairly obvious it would've been possible.

Ah well, it's not likely to change anytime soon.

I'm in the same boat as the OP. I hated the OC so much that I never finished it and sadly missed out on all the fun that was the fan made modules. It's back on the list, but it with about a dozen other games in front of it.

The OC is not really *that* bad, although tastes differ. Anyway, there are ways to make it memorable. You can play as a mage without companions and summons on highest difficulty (the game's easy anyway). It's totally amazing! In other games you either don't have invisibility spells, don't have enough of them, or when you cast an offensive spell enemies can reach you before you cast a second invis to hide. Basically other games are designed in a manner that makes such an approach impossible.

The OC has a place in my heart as the only game I've come upon so far where playing a single "wizard-assasin" is possible. Haste + invis + fireball, a deadly combo! Now playing the new Deux Ex, and as strange as it sounds, it reminds me of the OC.

Yeah I didn't think the OC was that bad either, although Neverwinter could have been filled out a little more. The one area I didn't care for was the ending at the Vale of Merdelain. Yeesh.

What it all comes down to was NWN was never intended to be played solo. It was designed to market a toolset to build your modules to play online with others.

The campaign was an afterthought when they realized they couldn't just release the game as it was.

There are many posts and articles on this subject. They had a short development time for the campaign. At least the two expansions were better especially HotU.

NWN is one of my favorite games ever, I played most of the modules from NWN Vault (Eye of the Beholder Mod was great, they are working on EOB2) and I am still playing NWN on a server (see my sig).

I liked SoU quite a bit more than most in this thread it seems. Ok, it wasn't fantastic - but I really enjoyed it.

HotU was good in terms of story, but I found it to be over-the-top - which I tend to do with high level D&D stuff. I'm more into the grounded stories on a smaller scale.

Interesting thread. I was just curious about Watcher opinions on the extra modules from the Diamond edition. I've still got the entire package installed, but have yet to really give any of them a decent shot.

Any strong preferences in favour of any of them, which to play first etc?

I liked Shadows of Unrentide as well actually; mostly for the cold setting and low-level nature of the tale. I recall it was a challenge as I'd chosen to roleplay a particularly diminutive cleric.

Hordes of the Underdark was certainly more challenging and classic AD&D in its tone and unbridled dungeon delving. I'm probably overdue to replay it at some point, but from memory it definitely lacked the subdued humility that I enjoyed in SoU.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
I liked SoU quite a bit more than most in this thread it seems. Ok, it wasn't fantastic - but I really enjoyed it.

HotU was good in terms of story, but I found it to be over-the-top - which I tend to do with high level D&D stuff. I'm more into the grounded stories on a smaller scale.

Actually, I'm with you on this, except for HotU's story being good. SoU had problems, but I still enjoyed it; it's just hard to recommend to someone else. HotU is fun when it's a dungeon crawl, but falls apart after the first chapter. I've always found D&D to be best before about level 14 or so. Anything higher than that and it just gets ridiculous, and HotU did.

Originally Posted by Menigal
Actually, I'm with you on this, except for HotU's story being good. SoU had problems, but I still enjoyed it; it's just hard to recommend to someone else. HotU is fun when it's a dungeon crawl, but falls apart after the first chapter. I've always found D&D to be best before about level 14 or so. Anything higher than that and it just gets ridiculous, and HotU did.

Frankly, I don't remember much about the story. I play so many games that I have a hard time keeping stories in my head.

But, I do remember that it had some excellent puzzles and some really terrific old-school stuff - if you're into stories about gods and demons, and the usual extreme stuff in super high level D&D campaigns. My brother can't get enough of that kind of thing, and consequently he loves HotU like it was a child.

That said, I don't remember much about SoU either, only that it was a reasonably well-told story and a good leveling flow.

I just couldn't finish any of the OC's, however I loved the options they brought to the game especially Tilesets and other building assets. The drow tileset was really unique.

The best single player mod was HeX Coda, which was slated as a DLC but was axed by WotC for not being Forgotten Realms.

If you want to play my SP module, The Girl in Ill Humor, I'll even help you out in it and I'll guarantee you a fun time.

It got a favourable review on it from VPJ too.

It appears I got a couple of more votes on it last year and one of them agrees with VPJ with a handful of exceptions.