06-21-2004, 11:37 AM
I just completed Neverwinter Nights' original campaign. A supposedly 60-hour-plus adventure that I completed in just under 22 hours. Makes me wonder where the hell they get those gameplay-time estimates from.
Before playing NWN, I had thought that Black Isle's Planescape: Torment was the best overall game I'd played as far as storyline went. Now, I'm not so certain. Torment's storyline about an immortal amnesiac traversing the planes in search of himself was rather stirring, and the NPC interactions were well done for the most part. NWN's storyline about a nameless (damn, how I hate that "generic hero" crap) hero who saves the city (multiple times) and (can) also save a paladin who fell from grace was also pretty well done, though parts of it were a bit trite.
Both games have pretty good PC-NPC intra-party interactions (woohoo! big words!), with the Nameless One being able to talk at will with anyone in the party, and with the PC in NWN being able to do much the same. NWN has an advantage and a disadvantage here: you're required to do adventuring (i.e. leveling up) in order to further your relationship with your loyal meatshield (a.k.a. henchman), but there's also a disadvantage in that you get to complete yet another FedEx quest (i.e., find the item and bring it back, much like the rest of the game) in order to "complete" the conversation for that chapter, and once the conversation is completed, there's nothing else to talk about.
NWN downright dominates as far as gameplay is concerned, which isn't much of a surprise, given Torment's focus on story-over-slaughter. There are some gripes about the OC, however; Potions of Heal, while necessary, are almost stupidly powerful. My Paladin could be down to about 35 of his maximum of 198 HP, and with a single gulp, he's back to full HP (minus the chunk or two of HP torn out while the not-usually-little nasties got from Attacks of Opportunity), AND cured of poison and other niggling defects. It also seemed that the game has an almost die-hard bend on making people use a few certain types of weapons, which damn near ignoring the others (heavy flails, halberds, spears, and bastard swords, anyone?), and this was furthered by my experiences with the blacksmiths in the game. Bring a magic weapon and a certain component, pay the ornery dwarf, and you have a newer, shinier magic weapon. Unfortunately, not all of them are created equal; a few weapons absolutely shone with brilliance (Drone +4 and Ravager +4, anyone?), while the others were, quite simply, absolute crap (Astral Blade +2, Harbinger Kin +3, and just about everything else) compared to what could be bought and/or found elsewhere.
I was pleased to see that NWN shared the random-treasure aspect of the IWD series, though I think it was a little broken; I was downright elated to find a Golden Circlet in the very first "boss chest" in Chapter Two (the big trapezoidal chests that almost invariably have one of those massive traps that almost kills you, and obliterates your henchman), but after finding the 16th (!) one in a chest in Chapter Four, I was wondering when I'd start finding big, mean swords and such.
It pains me to say this (after a fashion), but I really think that Paladins are overpowered in NWN (or perhaps 3E Rules); while multiclassing to a Fighter for the extra couple of combat Feats and the Weapon Specialization Feat is a viable alternative, I found that going pure Paladin all the way to Level 16 (my final level, after butchering Morag) was so powerful that it bordered on broken. With the ability to cast Bull's Strength (raising my strength to around 20-22, typically), and the ability to cast Eagle's Splendor (raising my charisma to around 25-28, typically), I was able to EASILY mete out 19-28 damage a shot with Drone +4, and my saving throws rivaled those found on Dragons and other such monsters. I easily beat the two-Dragon guard right before Morag (I was disappointed in having to kill a Silver dragon, though) alone (Linu got scared and promptly torn to shreds by the Dragons), and the Baalors were a joke. With a bonus of +7 or +8 from my Charisma, my saving throws were astronomical, I could obliterate or turn all but the most powerful of the undead, and I could skyrocket my damage and AC for a short while with Divine Might and Divine Shield.
Even Morag was pretty damned easy; after annihilating her two "hands" (I scored two criticals totalling to 139 damage on my first two hits on one of the poor bastards), I killed the statue (and we had to do this how many times with other bosses?), killed her protection from maces worshipper, and then beat her (literally) into submission. And they say Premonition is too strong.
Before playing NWN, I had thought that Black Isle's Planescape: Torment was the best overall game I'd played as far as storyline went. Now, I'm not so certain. Torment's storyline about an immortal amnesiac traversing the planes in search of himself was rather stirring, and the NPC interactions were well done for the most part. NWN's storyline about a nameless (damn, how I hate that "generic hero" crap) hero who saves the city (multiple times) and (can) also save a paladin who fell from grace was also pretty well done, though parts of it were a bit trite.
Both games have pretty good PC-NPC intra-party interactions (woohoo! big words!), with the Nameless One being able to talk at will with anyone in the party, and with the PC in NWN being able to do much the same. NWN has an advantage and a disadvantage here: you're required to do adventuring (i.e. leveling up) in order to further your relationship with your loyal meatshield (a.k.a. henchman), but there's also a disadvantage in that you get to complete yet another FedEx quest (i.e., find the item and bring it back, much like the rest of the game) in order to "complete" the conversation for that chapter, and once the conversation is completed, there's nothing else to talk about.
NWN downright dominates as far as gameplay is concerned, which isn't much of a surprise, given Torment's focus on story-over-slaughter. There are some gripes about the OC, however; Potions of Heal, while necessary, are almost stupidly powerful. My Paladin could be down to about 35 of his maximum of 198 HP, and with a single gulp, he's back to full HP (minus the chunk or two of HP torn out while the not-usually-little nasties got from Attacks of Opportunity), AND cured of poison and other niggling defects. It also seemed that the game has an almost die-hard bend on making people use a few certain types of weapons, which damn near ignoring the others (heavy flails, halberds, spears, and bastard swords, anyone?), and this was furthered by my experiences with the blacksmiths in the game. Bring a magic weapon and a certain component, pay the ornery dwarf, and you have a newer, shinier magic weapon. Unfortunately, not all of them are created equal; a few weapons absolutely shone with brilliance (Drone +4 and Ravager +4, anyone?), while the others were, quite simply, absolute crap (Astral Blade +2, Harbinger Kin +3, and just about everything else) compared to what could be bought and/or found elsewhere.
I was pleased to see that NWN shared the random-treasure aspect of the IWD series, though I think it was a little broken; I was downright elated to find a Golden Circlet in the very first "boss chest" in Chapter Two (the big trapezoidal chests that almost invariably have one of those massive traps that almost kills you, and obliterates your henchman), but after finding the 16th (!) one in a chest in Chapter Four, I was wondering when I'd start finding big, mean swords and such.
It pains me to say this (after a fashion), but I really think that Paladins are overpowered in NWN (or perhaps 3E Rules); while multiclassing to a Fighter for the extra couple of combat Feats and the Weapon Specialization Feat is a viable alternative, I found that going pure Paladin all the way to Level 16 (my final level, after butchering Morag) was so powerful that it bordered on broken. With the ability to cast Bull's Strength (raising my strength to around 20-22, typically), and the ability to cast Eagle's Splendor (raising my charisma to around 25-28, typically), I was able to EASILY mete out 19-28 damage a shot with Drone +4, and my saving throws rivaled those found on Dragons and other such monsters. I easily beat the two-Dragon guard right before Morag (I was disappointed in having to kill a Silver dragon, though) alone (Linu got scared and promptly torn to shreds by the Dragons), and the Baalors were a joke. With a bonus of +7 or +8 from my Charisma, my saving throws were astronomical, I could obliterate or turn all but the most powerful of the undead, and I could skyrocket my damage and AC for a short while with Divine Might and Divine Shield.
Even Morag was pretty damned easy; after annihilating her two "hands" (I scored two criticals totalling to 139 damage on my first two hits on one of the poor bastards), I killed the statue (and we had to do this how many times with other bosses?), killed her protection from maces worshipper, and then beat her (literally) into submission. And they say Premonition is too strong.
ArrayPaladins were not meant to sit in the back of the raid staring at health bars all day, spamming heals and listening to eight different classes whine about buffs.[/quote]
The original Heavy Metal Cowâ¢. USDA inspected, FDA approved.
The original Heavy Metal Cowâ¢. USDA inspected, FDA approved.