What are you playing? Options

[Acadian]

SubRosa - I think NWN is sorta like BG? D&D, by the same maker? I never touched NWN so I hope you'll incorporate some of your NWN play insights into your Baldur's Dale thread.

[SubRosa]

The NWN games are very similar to the BG games in that both are D&D based, and in the same Forgotten Realms setting - just different areas. NWN 1 was also made by Bioware, the same company that did the BG games. NWN 2 was made by Obsidian, with cooperation from Bioware, and it uses the same game engine as NWN 1.

The biggest obvious difference between the NWN and BG games are that NWN uses the D&D 3rd Edition rules, and the BG games the 2nd Edition. The 3rd Edition is a lot more interesting, as it adds feats and a bunch of new skills. Fighters especially excel under 3rd Edition, as they get the most Feats, and there are many special ones that not only allow you to do more damage, but there are ones like Cleave and Great Cleave that give you bonus attacks. But there are also more classes, multiclassing works better, there are prestige classes you can work up to, more races and subraces, crafting, and just more stuff in general.

Another big difference is the number of companions. The BG games give you up to 5 companions. In NWN 1 you can only have 1 active companion, and in NWN 2 you can only have 3. Animal Companions, familiars, and summoned critters do not count toward that limit though. That meant in NWN 1 you had to either play a Rogue, or hire one as your only companion. Otherwise you would be setting off every trap in the game, and never gettting at 3/4 of the loot.

Which brings me to the next thing. Thieves are much more important in NWN. There are traps everywhere, and almost every chest is locked. You cannot get by without a Rogue in the group, where in BG1 at least, they were pretty superfluous in all but a few dungeons. Rogues are also much more potent in NWN. Their sneak attack does more damage, and it is a lot easier to perform. Basically a Rogue just have to be behind someone to get a sneak attack on them. There is also a Feat called Weapon Finesse that allows you to use your Dex bonus to hit instead of Strength with certain 'light' weapons like rapiers. That makes a super-high dex character very powerful as a melee fighter. My last character in NWN 1 was a Fighter/Rogue who went the two-weapon route, and she was a ginsu machine.

What I like best about the NWN games over the Baldur's Gates is the Rest feature. In BG, unless you paid for a room at an inn, when you rested you usually had your rest interrupted by attacking monsters, often 3 or 4 times in a row. It got very frustrating for me, to the point where I used a cheat code to teleport to an inn, and then teleport back after resting. OTOH, in NWN resting takes only a few seconds of real time, and it is never interrupted. The only caveat is that you cannot rest when enemies are near. So you often have to back up a room in the dungeon. But it is still very easy to rest after every fight. Meaning you can save all your healing for those desperate moments during battle. It also means your spellcasters can completely recharge their spell pools between every fight. That makes mages a whole lot more viable as a player class.

What I like better about BG is the open world. The NWN games are much more linear. They have points where you can go off to explore option dungeons, or explore the required ones in whatever order you want, but you still have to go where the game designer wanted you to. Where I found in BG it was a much easier to just wander wherever you wanted, and ignore the main quest for nearly all of the game.

All in all I enjoy the NWN games very much. I have played the heck out of the first one, but never finished the second. Hopefully this time around I'll beat the game.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Aug 15 2014, 04:32 PM

[Acadian]

Thanks for that great review/comparison!

[PhonAntiPhon]

Currently playing The Last Remnant and The Witcher 2.
I'm thinking of reinstalling Morrowind actually...

[mirocu]

Just bought Uninvited to NES!!

The game never came out in my country and this particular one is complete with box and manual, not to mention it´s all in great condition! I bought it from someone I´ve done business with before so I know I won´t be fooled

[PhonAntiPhon]

Morrowind!

[Callidus Thorn]

Currently bouncing around between Borderlands 2, Pokemon Y, and Oblivion

[Lopov]

I'm still having a lot of fun with Fallout, currently New Vegas. I only played three games in 2014, Morrowind from January until April/May, Fallout 3 June/July/August and New Vegas from August. I'll probably again return to Morrowind in autumn/winter.

[Callidus Thorn]

Just fired up a new game of Dragon Age Origins, this time on nightmare difficulty

[McBadgere]

A) The Fool...

2) Minecraft PS4...

III) Oblivion as of tomorrow morning...

[Cardboard Box]

I'm playing a lot of Binding of Isaac, and have pre-ordered, and am waiting in the Ludging Bogle-Clench position, for Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. Is it November yet? Is it November yet? Is it November yet? Is it...

[McBadgere]

Better not be... ...Else I'll have missed McWife's birthday...*Shudders*....

I'm currently alive, so I'm guessing it isn't yet... ...

Now Playing:


OBLIVION!!!...Booyah!!... ...

[SubRosa]

After a brief sojurn back into Skyrim to create Sofie and Lucia as grown-ups, I am back to NWN2.

[mirocu]

Now Playing:


OBLIVION!!!...Booyah!!... ...

Well... what he said!

[McBadgere]

Hey!...What a coincidence!... ...

[King Of Beasts]

I just finished the Thief reboot again.

It's not bad for a reboot in all honestly. Quite a bit has changed, but it's pretty goid and I love it lol

[mirocu]

Chip´s Challenge!!!


Something strange happened yesterday, it has happened before but I didn´t take action then. For some reason, sometimes an extra option pops up in the menu which says Ignore Password or something like that. It´s checked too which means one can use the key command and just go through every level until the end. This option vanishes soon afterwards and then you have to use passwords again, but if you went through it all fast enough then you can have every level accessable without having to beat any of them!

Had only three levels left so I didn´t "win" too much, but since I can´t beat the higher levels due to impatientness I´m happy to finally see that last ones!!

[Kiln]

Playing Xenominer Swarm. It's like a cross between Minecraft and Starship Troopers. Pretty entertaining and it's only a dollar on XBL.

[Callidus Thorn]

Playing a little Borderlands 2 today, Tiny Tina never ceases to amuse

Firing up Oblivion again tomorrow, not sure which character I'll end up playing though; one of the two I've got, or the third that's been skulking around my head for a while...

[mirocu]

Playing a little Borderlands 2 today, Tiny Tina never ceases to amuse

Her name alone suggests I would like her as well...