Archived from groups: alt.games.neverwinter-nights (
More info?)
John Salerno wrote:
> How can one person say this:
> >>>I was more interested in the story.
> >>>The authors were able to get me out of thinking, "I need to kill
more
> >>>monstes, get their stuff, sell their stuff, buy better stuff."
>
> and another say this:
> > it's NOTHING but one big fight from start to where I've got
> > bored with it
(
>
Usenet truism: YMMV
< spoilers again, below, not much spoiler space -- be warned!>
No worries, Manky - just curious, did you get as far as the part where
you are taken by the portal? You are correct; there's a lot of
fighting from the beginning (you have to board the ship that is
attacking yours, follow the avatar to the hidden temple, beat the
guardian dragon (toughest fight so far, IMO) to get to where the story
gets interesting (IMO)
There IS a lot of fighting. The right amount (IMO of course) may be too
much for some and not enough for others.
Often/usually, in this mod, killing your enemies is required to get the
job done. I didn't put any skill points in pick pockets so I don't
know if stealth is a viable alternative for those parts, and I don't
think there were more than one or two situations when you would be able
to persuade/bluff in different situtations so far.
I recall there were a couple of times when I could have selected an
"evil path" in the dialogue (suggesting alliances with an evil one,
betraying allies etc), but I've followed a good path so I'm not sure
how far down an evil path it would take me. I may replay as evil
sometime and see how it goes (definite replay value, at least for me)
I think a part of my reaction is that I just finished (sort of) a
module that there was so little reward, action (despite a fair number
of combats and enemy respawns), or direction that it felt empty and
unreal. I always felt poor and desperate for more/better stuff. Heck,
despite being around 10th level towards the end, I always felt more
like a first level character (not enough potions, needing better
weapons and armor, etc)
In Careena: Krakona Rising, my character is thinking: OK, about to
achieve godhood and immortality here, when Wham! Strange portal whisks
my character away to another planet.
I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed
So I know I need to get back to the hidden temple to stop the evil
avatar from taking the godhood powers (the evil demigod sends an
occasional avatar to plague me) and I know the Krakona (ancient
overlord race) is a Bad Thing I should probably stop. This mod and
storyline has an appropriately epic feel to it and I don't feel like
I'm just in it for getting more gold or better gear (despite once or
twice when my gear was stripped).
Hmmm... that reminds me of something. Let me compare three mods and
how they handled item stripping and subsequent getting more gear:
Careena, Sands of Fate: Shadows over Heliopolis (SoF), and Beggar's
Rattle II: Oto the Newtslayer (BRII). Now, I enjoyed all 3 and in the
order listed (so far - not finished with Careena yet), but how they
handled item stripping sort of shows different approaches. (most mods
that do this just strip you on starting)
<Major Spoilers below>
In SoF, the story takes place after HotU. You are a hero, conqueror,
and you've defeated Mephistopheles. You're bored. So one night, you
dream of a request for help on a distant plane. If you accept, your
gear is stripped because you are doing some kind of spirit/plane/dream
travel, and your gear can't accompany you. Nice explanation of why
your gear is stripped. You can choose to go and get stripped, or not go
(ending the mod, IIRC). I don't remember if you get to keep any gear
at all, but you do keep a chunk of your gold (flat amount set by the
mod), so you can resupply when you get to town (which is where you
start).
In BRII, you start with your ship being attacked (by unseen ship) by an
enemy you made in the previous mod, BRI. You are told by the captain
that the ship's only hope of escaping is if they let you off on a skiff
near an island, as the enemy will follow you instead of the ship. Your
only way off the island is a sphinx, who says he can't carry any of
your gear - not a robe, ring or anything, so your gear is stripped (but
you keep _all_ your gold). You have no real options at all during this
process. You stop over at another island, where you can find a suit of
"charred armor", a dozen scimitars, and now suddenly the sphinx is
willing/able to carry you _and your low end replacement gear_ the rest
of the way.
In Careena, you start with just what you are wearing (equipped gear)
and your gold, but before you get into combat, you speak with your
grandfather who has arranged for you to have access to "ancestral" gear
- powerful custom items the family has accrued. You have several
combats (boarding the enemy ship, defeating the guardian dragon, the
demigod's combat avatar) but end up on the other planet. After
starting out, you encounter another of the demigod's avatars, but not a
combat avatar. It declines combat knowng you can beat it, but afer a
discussion, casts a spell to strip you of your items and gold, and says
something like, "Let's see how long you can survive, naked and
penniless on this planet" before vanishing. Soon after, you encounter a
helpful spirit (or traveler, don't recall offhand) near a monastery who
teleports you to a cave which was the site of an ancient, epic battle
(remains of the dragons and warrior still evident) where you can
scrounge some suitably epic equipment - though still penniless for the
time being, you don't have to suffer with plain chainmail and longsword
at 20th level
I have to say, personally I like Careena's method best, SoF as a close
second, and BRII as a distant 3rd, with other mods (strip on enter) a
very distant 4th (explain why I am x level, but have no gear?). I know
it's done for module balance reasons (I have a character with an AC at
100+ because of some really bizarre uber gear module), but I like to
have at least an explanation.
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