Frustrated w/ NWN2 -- what should I be playing?

Hey all -- new to the forums, but have been reading RPGWatch since the exodus from RPGDot a few months ago.

A comment and a question. Or maybe two questions.

Was I the only one that found the NWN2 campaign to be alternately boring and confusing? Half the time I had to force myself to play it, mostly because I didn't want to feel like I had wasted my money, but it was so damn boring. Yet whenever (okay, most of the time) the cut scenes came on I was totally confused.

More generally, the Dungeons and Dragons rule system is so stale -- I played PnP D&D for many years, and played a lot of CRPG D&D games. The only thing that kept my slightly interested was the Warlock -- new class, new skill progression, etc. It looks like few promising community modules are coming out, but I'm still waiting that out to see what rises to the top.

My favorite game of all time was Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (well, maybe just under the original Eye of the Beholder). I like the NWN2 interface and stop-action combat, but didn't find the story even remotely compelling. Since I got my new computer in May '05, I've also enjoyed KotOR.

Which brings me to my question -- what should I be playing? I've got Silverfall (enjoyed the demo, but waiting for the full reviews after it comes out) and Dungeon Siege II: Deluxe Edition in my Amazon.com wishlist. Also have Fate on my computer, but I'd rather wait until I get my invite into the Mythos alpha.

Thought I'd see if anyone else has had a similar experience. If NWN2 bored or frustrated you, what did you find yourself playing instead? What on the horizon has you intrigued?

Thanks all!

Well, since you do not seem averse to playing action RPGs, and you liked KOTOR, then I'd recommend you pick up Jade Empire for the PC, which just came out actually. The combat seems pretty fun and the story and writing are of a similar quality to KOTOR (perhaps a bit better in parts). I also found the NWN2 OC to have a certain generic "stale" quality at times, and stopped playing myself a fair ways into it.

If you have a PS2, you might want to try renting Final Fantasy XII. I've been having a great time with it. The combat system is superb and the story (especially in the 2nd half) is well done.

I'm "stuck" in NWN2 at an early part of Neverwinter City. I say "stuck" because, yes, I was bored with it but everyone seems to agree the story picks up around NWN2 so perhaps I just need to push on that little bit more. I got distracted by Geneforge 4 and then Jade Empire came out, so I'll try to force onwards after that.

NWN2 didn't thrill me either, I much prefer Gothic 3 despite it's faults. I've been replaying a lot of OLD games recently as I feel so ho hum about many of the current releases!!

If you enjoyed Diablo 2 and the whole Action RPG genre as a whole then you should definitely be playing Titan Quest.

I don't agree with NWN2 being boring or stale and certainly not confusing, but that is irrelevant.

Thanks all for your thoughts and suggestions -- Jade Empire and Titan Quest will definitely be moving up in the queue. On Titan Quest, my strategy has been to wait for the cheaper "combo-deal" with TQ and the expansion together in one, inexpensive box. Haven't found one on Amazon yet; I suspect they're waiting 'til sales of Immortal Throne taper off.

I had heard that Jade Empire was frustrating in its lack of ability to customize your character -- limited inventory, stat management, etc.? For those that have played it, any thoughts on how character development affected your enjoyment of it?

Thanks again.

I second the Titan Quest recommendation(of course, since I am seriously addicted to it ) but I also think that NWN2 gets better(or you get more used to its story logic) as you get into Act 2. It's a good dnd game, if not the greatest, and there just aren't that many out there. Game Banshee has a good not too spoiling walk-thru, also.

But you may not want to trust my recommendations, since I am about to purchase Pool of Radiance2;RoMD. It's obvious my boredom tolerance is pretty high.

Originally Posted by Economizer
I had heard that Jade Empire was frustrating in its lack of ability to customize your character -- limited inventory, stat management, etc.? For those that have played it, any thoughts on how character development affected your enjoyment of it?

I enjoyed the game a lot: I especially loved the dialog and characters. And the story was well-delivered, too.
Character development hardly ever changes my gaming experience at all, unless it's too tedious (which is why I rarely enjoy party-based games where you need to keep track of the stats of 6 or more people at the same time - I'm sort of a book keeper in real life, so I can do very well without juggling numbers in my free time), which wasn't the case here.
In JE you have three attributes and several styles to manage, where most thought at levelling up goes into the styles, and you should spend about roughly the same amount of thought on your jewels (not what you might think now ). That's about all the stat crunching you need to do, which rather enhanced *my* enjoyment of the game.
You do have an inventory, by the way, but there's not much stuff to pick up, anyway.

EDIT
I'm a longtime p'n'p RPGer as well, I liked the Diablos a lot and the only AD&D license CRPG I found to my liking so far was Planescape: Torment. I haven't tried to play NWN2, but I failed twice trying to finish NWN 1 because I was utterly bored, and uninstalled before I reached chapter 3… just as a general overview for comparison.

Diablo 2 doesn't have a whole lot in common with most CRPGs, so if that's what you prefer I'd play games like Sacred and Titan Quest. I wouldn't hold my breath untill I could buy TQs add-on cheap though; it got released just a few days ago, I doubt it's going to drop in price. Also, if you enjoyed KotOR you should try out Jade Empire, as previously mentioned, and KotOR2.

Personally I enjoyed NWN2 a lot, and feel it is a lot better than the original NWN (at least pre-HotU).

Also, I always recommend the Gothic series to all RPG players. Excellent series.

Thanks all again -- especially the info on JE character customization, Jaz. That sounds like enough to tinker with to keep one interested.

I don't know that I'd agree that Diablo 2 doesn't have a lot in common with most CRPGs -- half the genre is action-RPGs these days, with varying degrees of story-depth and character-driven development. I'd love to see something with the strategic character development and elegant action of a Diablo-type game in a more complete package.

As I read your posts it is clear to me that you don't like to plat D&D games. And this is just fine

I for my part don't like to play FPS games or RTS games, and luckily there is enough rpg games out there to satisfy anyone.

Maybe you would like Oblivion or Morrowind ?

Originally Posted by aries100
As I read your posts it is clear to me that you don't like to plat D&D games. And this is just fine

I for my part don't like to play FPS games or RTS games, and luckily there is enough rpg games out there to satisfy anyone.

Maybe you would like Oblivion or Morrowind ?

I liked Morrowind, but the level-scaling in Oblivion killed it for me. I felt like I had a decent character with okay equipment, and everytime I had a hard time with a dungeon or quest I would level up and buy some new armor, go back to the dungeon, and get my ass-kicked again. RPGs are supposed to let you grow your character so you can overcome challenges that used to be difficult. I never tried any of the mods that took off the level-scaling; I had already sold it used on Amazon.

Originally Posted by Economizer
I liked Morrowind, but the level-scaling in Oblivion killed it for me. I felt like I had a decent character with okay equipment, and everytime I had a hard time with a dungeon or quest I would level up and buy some new armor, go back to the dungeon, and get my ass-kicked again. RPGs are supposed to let you grow your character so you can overcome challenges that used to be difficult. I never tried any of the mods that took off the level-scaling; I had already sold it used on Amazon.

Yeah, the level-scaling, in its original un-modified condition, was broken…. almost killed the game for me. However, I eventually reached a level of uber-ness that lifted me above the scaling, at which point the game became too easy.

I really, REALLY hope they fix this in the next Elder Scrolls game.

I don't understand why you just didn't download a mod the level scaling.

At present, there are at least three major mods which fixes this level scaling thing:

OOO
Martigen's
Frans'


But I understand what you mean…

I'm an Oblivion fanboy, but even I agree that the level scaling was terrible in the original game. I played for several levels without it, but once I downloaded one
of the mods there was no going back. For simplicities sake, if you want to try a level-scaling mod think of Oscuro's as more hardcore while Fran's would be a little more character friendly. I'd probably play a game with Fran's and then move up to Oscuro's for a more challenging session, but that's just my opinion. I haven't tried Martigen's.

I played straight through until taking out Bonegnasher area. The fact that the mobs outside of the cavern system seemed tougher than the orcs inside, and the fact that the boss was a pushover really turned me off, so I quit for a while.

I went back and moved up to Chapter 2, again with boss battles be terrifically easy compared to their guard mobs(to me at least, after all I can take the boss down with losing a few hps v. the large mobs who can be threatening at times).

I guess the thing to do may be to take it in small chunks. When you get bored with it, play something else for a while, then go back and play more until bored, rinse, repeat…

(I played a dwarf cleric, who I've decided to leave a pure clerics, so he's got good base combat skills, and is killer with the buffs so that may explain the fairly easy combat, although a dwarf cleric in NWN1 was even more killer as summons lasted almost forever plus all the other above good stuff…)

G3 is by FAR my pick for RPG of 2006, the rest was all action RPGs and a non-RPG(or a first person melee) that got marketed as an RPG. Actually, I've only played a little G1 so far, and have previously played G2NotR and still find myself preferring G3 as far as I've played it so far. (I'm cycling games so that they don't get stale: NWN2, TQ, Half Life 2, TFC, G3)

Originally Posted by cutterjohn
The fact that the mobs outside of the cavern system seemed tougher than the orcs inside, and the fact that the boss was a pushover really turned me off. I went back to Chapter 2, again with boss battles terrifically easy compared to their guard mobs

I think this is an issue with most RPGs released in the last few years - they just lack serious challenge or the difficulty scaling is all over the place.

I'm still not sure how much I like NWN2 yet but it's not bad - aside from the above and being too linear, the writing is pretty good and the characters seem fleshed out. The frequent cut scenes/spoken dialogue also bring the story (which isn't that bad) to life.

It sure beats NWN1 though (the biggest gaming dissapointment of my life, lol).

Originally Posted by Corwin
I've been replaying a lot of OLD games recently as I feel so ho hum about many of the current releases!!

Reading various forums, it appears a lot of RPG gamers feel the same way.

For all the technological leaps made over the last few years making RPGs bigger, and with more seemingly life-like graphics, physics and sound effects - they've become a lot more shallow and "soulless".

I've re-installed Wizardry 8 this week (picked it up 4 years ago, loved it while I played it but then stopped playing it to play some other newer game I can't even remember at the moment).

I've also re-installed Fallout 2 (finished 1, didn't get far in 2) and Arcanum.

Hmmmm…I bought Gothic 2 when it came out and never even installed/played it.

To the OP: If you like action RPGs maybe you should check out Dungeon Siege 2.

I was bored to tears with the first one and have not picked up 2 but I did play a demo and it seemed fun and much improved from the 1st (at least for the duration of the demo).

There's a demo of Titan Quest you can try out as well.

I enjoyed Dungeon Siege 2 but I got bored to tears by both Diablo 2 and Titan Quest.