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Neverwinter Nights, Another Classic RPG series |
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SubRosa |
Aug 16 2014, 07:58 PM
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Ancient
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I dusted off my copy of Neverwinter Nights 2 a few days ago. I installed - or actually reinstalled it - a few months ago along with Neverwinter Nights 1. I played through most of NWN 1 back then with a dual-weaponed Fighter/Rogue named Kestrel. Earlier this week I decided to take a crack at NWN 2. I found that I had never installed the two expansions, so I threw those on too (I have NWN1 Diamond Edition, and NWN2 Platinum). Then I discovered that my NWN2 version was not up to date, even though I had thought the Platinum edition was the final version. So I tried updating it through the built in updater. But Atari's server doesn't work anymore, so I cannot. I went looking online for the manual patches, but could not find them anywhere either. Though I did find a manual patcher program that would work if I had the patches. In the end I found NWN2 on Gog, and just bought it from them again. That gave me the final version of the game, which does not require the cd to be in the drive to play. Thank you Gog, for being reliable after the original publisher of the game refused to support their product. This is what worries me about Steam, not to mention all modern games that require you to log into a server to authenticate before you can play your single player game. Are they still going to support games like Skyrim 10 or 15 years from now? Or are they going to shut those servers down for new games instead? Then we will have to either buy a DRM-free version of the game from Gog, or resort to pirates to make an illegal crack to play the game we legally bought. Anyway, I rolled a new toon to beat the game with (yes, that is just for you Wyrd, in case you ever read this ![wink.gif](style_emoticons/sinders/wink.gif) ). She is a Wood Elf named Antheia. I went with my old standby of a Ranger. Since Kestrel was a dual-wielder, I went the archer's path with Antheia. So far she has slogged her way through the swamp, Fort Locke, the graveyard, and all the side dungeons. A few minutes ago she and her crew stepped onto the docks at Neverwinter itself. I experimented a bit with her Ranger animal companions. First I tried a wolf, because of their knockdown ability. But her Wolf Asena hardy ever knocked anyone down. So then I tried a boar (named Varahi), but that one did not do anything for me either. Finally I went to Artio, the brown bear. She isn't super either, but has managed to live through most of her battles, which is better than the other ones did. Thankfully you can resummon your companion if they die, so they don't really die. Speaking of which, I have been using the NWN2 Character Editor to change her animal companion. It lets you edit most things about your character, but not everything. It doesn't allow you to edit your companions at all though Turns out you can edit all the companions too. When you go to the file open screen, you have to open each character - be it the player or companion - separately. The PC is the playerlist.ifo file, and the companions each have their own *.ros file. It requires installing Java, which did not thrill me. I am using NENs Final Face Head Hair Combination Project, which adds a few heads and bunch of hairs from Oblivion, including our old favorites by Ren and Corean. There are not that many mods for NWN2 on the Nexus though, but I did find links to a bunch of them in this post - just click on Show Spoiler to see them all. I downloaded the Easy Mod Compilation from near the top. I am using the extra heads from that as well, but I am still not really thrilled with what is out there, at least for the elf faces. The Compilation does come with a really handy little mod that allows you to multi-class your companions. It is the three loose .xml files in the zip file. I used it to multi-class Neeshka to a Swashbuckler/Rogue, which seems perfect for her. Speaking of multi-classing, I just multi-classed Antheia as a Sorcerer as well. That will allow her to eventually become an Arcane Archer (a Prestige Class). She just needs a few more Ranger levels to get her Base Attack Bonus higher. Being a Sorcerer gives her a few arcane spells in addition to the few Ranger spells she has. She took one that gives a +20 to her attack rolls, along with a Color Spray - which I have always liked. Since she is usually the first in the party, the latter makes for an excellent opening move when entering a room. Being a Sorcerer also gave her a Familiar. She chose a cat named Sekhmet. So now she has a bear and a cat. Since Elanee is also in the group, she has a badger companion. So now there are four people and three animals, making quite the army tramping around the Sword Coast. This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jul 10 2020, 09:35 PM
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SubRosa |
Mar 31 2015, 02:39 PM
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Ancient
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I am giving Neverwinter Nights 2 another try. Hopefully I can play the main campaign all the way through this time. I was inspired to port Persephone over to play, and had to do a lot of tinkering. Importing a custom portrait was easy. It just has to be in a .tga format, at 128 x 128 pixels. You put it in your Neverwinter Nights 2\Portraits folder (not the Override folder). Then in the game open up your character sheet and double click on the picture, and it will let you change it. I gave her a lot of feats that mimic the powers that undead have in this game: immunity to poison, fear, paralysis, and so on. That was a long list, but worked out fine. Persephone is mostly a fighting type, but she also uses some magic, most notably summoning Darryl. I originally tried going the Fighter/Sorcerer route with her. But she would have to take Sorcerer up to level 8 before she could learn the Animate Dead spell. That was way more than I wanted to put into a magic class. The Wizard was no better. Then I gave dual-classing as a Cleric a try. It turns out that by taking the Undeath Domain, Persephone was able to gain Animate Dead as a feat at 2nd level. And by taking the Death Domain, she got a Shadow she could summon at 1st level. So now she is a 1st Level Fighter/2nd Level Cleric. I will probably be putting most of her levels into Fighter from here on out. Though I might still take a few Cleric ones to improve her summoning later on. She is my first Fighter character, and wow, even at first level in that class she is awesome. Power Attack + Cleave = a swath of dead monsters behind her. Persephone in FaerunShe still has a big swordShe can summon Darryl (on the left)And his other brother Darryl (on the right)It's probably best if he didn't have any children anyway...This post has been edited by SubRosa: Mar 31 2015, 02:41 PM
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mALX |
Apr 12 2015, 04:08 AM
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Ancient
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From: Cyrodiil, the Wastelands, and BFE TN
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QUOTE(SubRosa @ Sep 16 2014, 11:50 AM) ![*](style_images/tower/post_snapback.gif) I have noticed the same thing about Obsidian. It was really glaring in FONV, where they took an open world franchise, and tried to make it as absolutely linear as possible by either blocking areas off with collision boxes (invisible force fields that prevent you from moving through them - if you open up the GECK you will see them all over the place), or by filling them up with super powered monsters that your starting character cannot survive. So no one starts an FONV game and heads straight to Vegas. They always go south along the highway to Primm. To do otherwise is simply suicide.
I learned this the hard way, got stuck with all my saves in a giant radscorpion nesting ground on my virgin exodus from Goodsprings heading north from the cemetary (on the 360, so couldn't console a safe exit). Finally ended up starting a new game, lol. @ SubRosa - these shots are amazing, I never realized how good this game actually looked!
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mirocu |
Apr 16 2015, 11:24 AM
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Spam Meister
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Judging from Rosa´s pixies, Neverwinter seems just like my kind of game! If I only had energy and devotion to delve into a new franchise that is... QUOTE(SubRosa @ Sep 16 2014, 05:50 PM) ![*](style_images/tower/post_snapback.gif) I have noticed the same thing about Obsidian. It was really glaring in FONV, where they took an open world franchise, and tried to make it as absolutely linear as possible by either blocking areas off with collision boxes (invisible force fields that prevent you from moving through them - if you open up the GECK you will see them all over the place), or by filling them up with super powered monsters that your starting character cannot survive. So no one starts an FONV game and heads straight to Vegas. They always go south along the highway to Primm. To do otherwise is simply suicide.
Sweet Jeebus! ![blink.gif](style_emoticons/sinders/blink.gif) What does your brain look like if you take an open world game where the player has basically total freedom to do whatever, and make it more linear than Super Mario Bros?? ![wacko.gif](style_emoticons/sinders/wacko.gif)
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Lol birdIt matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.
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SubRosa |
Apr 16 2015, 05:01 PM
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Ancient
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All of Obsidian's games are basically that way. The truth is, I think most gamers are lost with an open world, because they don't know how to 'beat' the game. So developers like Obsidian and Bioware always make it clear where you have to go and what you have to do next.
I gave up on Neverwinter Nights 2 yesterday, after finishing Act 2 of the main campaign. I don't want to get too spoilery, but at that point you lose one of your companions, and they are replaced by another. It was a very poor trade, IMHO, and just ticked me off. I don't think I will ever give it another go. Where Neverwinter Nights 1 has much poorer graphics, and uses the older D&D 3.0 ruleset vs the 3.5 rules in NWN2, it is a much better game. It is less linear, not at all pushy with companions, and doesn't force a pre-set background upon your character.
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Acadian |
Apr 24 2015, 09:58 PM
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Paladin
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From: Las Vegas
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Neat! I was very thankful for a character editor when playing BG II. It is ever so helpful to modify classes of NPCs that have good personalities into skills/attributes that you need them to have. And combining stuff into your own character is very helpful as well.
Like Persephone, Buffy was a hybrid in BG II. Ranger (archer) with find/disarm traps, unlocking (from the thief class) and a summon critter spell from the druid side of things. In return, she ignored melee and armor.
Thanks, as ever, for sharing some screens from your game. I’m so glad you’re, once again, enjoying NWN I. There are some creepy looking foes there! Sharwyn looks like a good helper, but no one can compare to Darryl and I’m sure Persephone misses him. Although I love the dire wolf helper, It seems most of D&D is sort of designed around a 6-member team – is that the case with NWN?
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SubRosa |
Apr 29 2015, 06:39 PM
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Ancient
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Acadian |
Apr 29 2015, 09:49 PM
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Paladin
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Joined: 14-March 10
From: Las Vegas
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mALX |
Apr 30 2015, 05:50 AM
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Ancient
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QUOTE(SubRosa @ Apr 29 2015, 01:39 PM) ![*](style_images/tower/post_snapback.gif) Oh, I do like the look of those goblins! I think a Player should be able to see them coming before they attack, which always makes me happy, lol. Very much like the look of the lich too, is Persephone talking to him or is this about to turn into a fight? The giant book is AWESOME! Love that screen! The "Demon" one reminded me of a few enemy battles I saw last night watching the ESO vids - they have some big boss fights for each region kind of like some of the old Mario games had - and they are BIG bosses, like that Demon is. Really oversized compared to the player, and with a lot of hit points. Kind of made me wonder if they were overpowered because they are supposed to have groups of 20 attacking at once (because in the vid they were very hard to kill even with many hits) or if they tone it down some for single player mode so it will be more like doing the Gatekeeper at Shivering Isles. Awesome Shots !!!
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SubRosa |
May 2 2015, 02:55 AM
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Ancient
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