NWN2 So... is NWN 2 another n00b RPG...

... like KotOR and KotOR 2?
OK, this might look like a provoking question at first but actually all I want to provoke is some helpful advice before I buy the game and start a new character .

So what I'm wondering about is... do those of you who have gotten further into the game or even finished it and climbed a lot of levels get the impression that you actually need to pay attention to what the hell you are doing when you level up or can you pretty much carelessly spend your skill points/feats etc on whatever looks like fun as you could prefectly well do in the KotORs w/o having to worry about the game becoming too difficult to finish?

I have only played the uhhh... "unofficial demo v1.03" of NWN 2 so far (easy... I will definitely buy the game after X-mas... relax ) and it looks like spellcasters have a lot of potentially fun spells to try out.
Well, do you think that it would be possible to just have fun with your character or does NWN 2 actually require a little more attention to character building than the KotORs? And... are all spells implemented properly (sound/graphical effects, bug-free etc)? Because I've only played a Ranger in the "unofficial demo" so far but spellcasting looks like it could be tons more fun. Opinions?

It's the full implementation -- or nearly so -- of the D&D 3.5 ruleset, so you'll have to choose you feats and skills, etc. If you want to squeeze the best out of your character, you'll need to be careful and plan ahead if you want to take advantage of the prestige classes. Have you played the original NWN or ToEE? If so, you wont have much trouble. And it's nothing like the KotOR games.

Wow, that was quick. Thanks . Haven't played ToEE (as far as I can remember at least) and -yes- I have (unfortunately) played the original NWN . I'm not familiar with the D&D rules at all but what I've seen of NWN 2 so far just seemed very reminiscent of the KotORs where it really didn't matter (in my personal experience) what you did with your character. I just spent my points on all the force powers and feats that I thought sounded like fun and it was still a cakewalk to finish the games. This is something that I actually liked BTW so I'm sort of hoping that NWN 2 is the same and that you can finish the game without having to carefully plan every single level up .

Moriendor, if you dont want to choose yourself your feats etc., there's a Recommended button at character creation and level up, the game will choose for you what's best for your class.

Nah, that's OK. I definitely do want to choose my own feats and spells (for my main character at least) but I want to choose whatever sounds like fun and not necessarily what makes the most sense or what makes the character substantially more powerful.
That's why I was wondering whether you really need to specialize or if the game has a very high tolerance level like the KotOR games which allowed you to screw around as much as you liked basically.

For me it is the same situation as with NWN 1.. I bought it, played it, didn't like it. NWN 1 turned into a good Game for me after the expansions, so once again I wait for the Expansions and the community to make this game fun

Edit: But at least the character-advancement with a lot of choices is already nice...

Moriendor I would say it's a little of both if you are paying attention to your build, any character class can beat the game and you only need to pay very close attention as Cormac said if you want the special/unique class builds.

It's very much like KotOR especially Sith Lords as far a character devekopment (though obvioulsy D&D rules), quests, companions, companion quest and epic story.

And yes I am playing Wizzy currently doing very well with magic and the effects look good.

Like I said in another thread, part of what I like about NWN2 so much is that you can pretty much choose the level of involvement you want.

If you want to break out the rulebooks and spreadsheets and really plan your character to the Nth degree it's possible, or if you want to cadillac it and cruise thru hitting "recommend", or a combination of both, that's cool. It lets you play it how you want to play it. I tend to fall in the middle and plan just enough to not be gimped and also keep in character without having to get too much a headache planning ahead, yet also keep the fights challenging. I'm by no means no D&D scholar (I just got the 3.5 Player's Handbook yesterday), so yeah I see what the recommend will get me, and settle for that sometimes. Most of the time with melee companions I just auto-pilot the config (just as long as the Cleaves get in there!)

It's been overall far more of an authentic-feeling D&D experience for me than NWN I, I'll just put it that way. It feels more like an old-school game like the BG series, and that's a good thing in my book!

I'm with Sammy on this!!

Cool. Thanks for the input, everyone . Looks like I'll grab a copy ASAP after X-mas. The "unofficial demo" was quite promising so I'm definitely looking forward to really getting into the game. Could be the first D&D-based CRPG that I really like .

Unofficial Demo?

Kalia said:

Unofficial Demo?

Click to expand...

*whistles innocently*

Thy rod and thy staff just might be applied to thee!!

I'll add my two cents agreement that this is not a noob rpg. It has recommended buttons for those who want that and it also has let-the-computer-ai-run-your-companions-not-too-well for those who want that but I want full control over my own character and also my companions and that was a great way to go for me as the game felt a lot like BG2 in that way.

I can recommend TOEE. (Jumping in off-topic, as always on certain boards )

Nothing captures D&D as well as ToEE. Its a dungeon crawl but the tactical combat is definately like the combat rounds at the table. The thing about ToEE is that you can simply hack and slash around the story. If you play caotic evil it has alot more dialog!

Sorry for the off topic.