Is it worth getting NWN2 to play online?

[kanoobie]

I am a fan of the first NWN because of the online gameplay and the fun mods people created.

I was wondering if the online gameplay of NWN 2 is actually good. I remember hearing a lot about this game right around its release, but I haven't heard any news about it recently. I remember there were quite a few bugs and the game apparently didn't run smoothly on some fast machines (note: my machine can handle Oblivion on high settings so it should be able to handle this game). Can someone experienced with playing NWN2 tell me if there are any serious bugs while playing NWN2 online? If the online play is smooth, are there any good mods out there right now?
I am considering either purchasing the game now if it runs smoothly online or wait a while until the bugs are fixed and some mods and expansions are released.

So, should I buy NWN2 now or wait?

 

[Assman]

buy it now why wait

 

[mastershorty87]

noob question: what is NWN2?

 

[Assman]

Neverwinter Nights 2 - a game 8)

 

[mastershorty87]

oooooooo.... lol... i kind of assumed it was a game i just didnt know whick one. 8)

 

[Assman]

sometimes i can't remember who i am, after a few beers with vodka in between, it happens 8)

 

[Morton]

I bought NWN 2 right after it was released and played through the official single player campaign, then played it for a month in multiplayer mode and decided to return to NWN 1 until NWN 2 becomes better. In my opinion NWN 2 has a much better single player campaign than NWN 1, so you could buy the game, complete the single player campaign and then wait for more patches for multiplayer. NWN 2 should become decent enough for the multiplayer mode in May or June. By that time there should be patch 1.06 and some persistent worlds should already be quite polished. Until then I prefer NWN 1 because it has extremely developed persistent worlds and my computer is somewhat old for NWN 2.

 

[bfellow]

I can play NWN 1 with the EVGA 7950GT KO SC at 1440x900 with everything maxed out (4x AA, grass full, shiny water, etc.).

NWN 2 meanwhile would need a 8800 GTX to almost come close to those type of settings.

 

[choknuti]

I second Morton. The single player game was great not like the first NWN (what else would you expect from the people who gave us PS: Torment and Fallout). Fantastic !!!

The PW are just coming out now and mostly have a few issues. Also the game requires some ironing out.

Therefore I would recommend you to buy the game today only if you are going to play the single player game. If you plan on playing multiplayer PWs only I suggest that you wait a few months.

 

[kanoobie]

Thanks for the feedback people. It is good to know the single player campaign has improved.

From what I gather, it seems that I would have to wait a while for the release of some good mods. There were no official updates available for NWN2 on the bioware website; therefore the same issues people encountered just after the game was released should still persist. I also looked at some more screenshots which got me excited about the game.

I will buy the game once an official patch is released. I think once the game gets some support for bug issues from developers the community will be more willing to make and play mods for the game.

 

[choknuti]

From what I gather, it seems that I would have to wait a while for the release of some good mods. There were no official updates available for NWN2 on the bioware website;

Regarding the mods you are right. This time around it'll much more effort to make a mod which will result in fewer but better quality ones (I hope). The vault has a couple already that are worth your time.

They are updating it. Already 4 patches released and the beta for the 5th patch was released last week. Useless checking the bioware website because NWN2 was developed by obsidian entertainment (former black isle staff). The games uses the autopatcher from the launch window to patch itself.

As I said earlier your decision to buy now or later should be based on whether you prefer single or multiplayer.

 

[Morton]

It also depends on your expectations towards the multiplayer version of the game. For instance, if you are not concerned at all about any kind of balance in the game and just want to role-play in beautiful environment with other role-players, then you could get NWN 2 right away. There was at least one quite decent persistent world with very high-quality role-play already in December 2006 (called The Frontier). If you care a lot about balance and lack of bugs, then you should wait for a few months for Obsidian to iron most of the nasty bugs and module developers to balance the classes, feats and spells. If you want to play on a versatile persistent world with great game world, craft system, quests, balance, various scripted features etc. and almost no bugs, then you would probably need to wait even longer, at least 6-12 more months.

 

[WhiskeyRuss]

started playing this a couple days ago, i havent done any multiplayer yet, but the single player campaign is shaping up to be VERY long.

 

[Morton]

The single player campaign is somewhat different depending on whether your actions throughout the game are good or evil. The situations you encounter also depend on the NPC companions that you travel with, your character's class and even whether your character is male or female. I completed it with a neutral good male bard and some day I want to play it again with an evil female blackguard travelling with completely different NPC companions.

 

[choknuti]

who was your favourite companion?? Mine was Neeshka even though I was playing a Paladin

 

[Morton]

I liked Elanee, Khelgar, Neeshka and Grobnar most out of all the NPC companions.

 

[choknuti]

I liked Elanee, Khelgar, Neeshka and Grobnar most out of all the NPC companions.

Somehow stuffy elves and crazy gnomes enoy the hell out of me :twisted:

 

[kanoobie]

NWN2 was developed by obsidian entertainment

No wonder there was only a forum for NWN2 on the bioware website :lol:

 

[choknuti]

Yeah it was done by obsidian using bioware technology which they modified. I think part of the deal was the provision of the forum space since both games would have (almost) the same following

Obsidian also did KOTOR II so its not the first time they are continuing a bioware game.

 

[WhiskeyRuss]

managing that castle is pretty damn addicting.

 

[Morton]

Atari has announced the first add-on for NWN 2, The Mask of Betrayer! It'll be released this fall. The story will continue directly from the end of the original campaign and it will unveil what happened to the main hero.

 

[kanoobie]

Will the add-on come with an increase in the level cap?

(btw I couldn't wait, so I just bought the game)

The single player campaign has definitely improved leaps and bounds over the first NWN's excuse for one. :tongue:

 

[Morton]

They mentioned that the add-on will also bring new feats, spells, classes, epic levels (level 21+) and Toolset features.

The single player campaign in NWN 2 is much better than in NWN 1, but the multiplayer side of the game is better in the latter. At the moment, there are some really complex PWs for NWN 1 and none for NWN 2. The complexity of some features of NWN 1 mini-MMORPG worlds goes beyond any existing commercial fantasy MMORPG. For example, standard NWN 1 with all its add-ons doesn't have any types of horses, but there's an online persistent world where players can buy and ride several types of horses. Before being able to ride a horse, player character must undergo rider's training and buy a saddle. Player can feed his horse with different types of foods to give the horse certain types of bonuses. The horse develops gradually, but eventually it starts to get old and it's bonuses start to decrease. In the end, the horse dies of old age. Feeding the horse is necessary because it becomes hungry. Once in a while the horse must also be taken to stables of a town, so that it can rest and regain it's strength. Other players who are rangers or druids can attempt to steal a lonely horse if its master is not riding it. A horse thief can sell the horse to the stables of the nearest town or he can keep it for himself. A horse can also wander away if left alone and then it's owner must visit a stable master and they'll send someone to search for it for a fee. When horse owners rest in the wilderness, they must deploy a small camp consisting of born fire, a tent and a small rack to which they need to tie the horse, so that it doesn't wander away while its owner rests. When riding a horse, you can use only certain types of weapons and when mounted you are slightly more likely to miss, but if you hit, you cause slightly more damage. To crown it all, there was a female player who actually was a horse! :lol: Of course, developers of that PW are professional programmers because otherwise they wouldn't have managed to create such a complex horse system with almost no bugs. There are also some PWs with extremely complex crafting system. I remember spending an hour in one PW just trying to learn how to make bread. It turned out I needed to gather seeds, mill them into flour, mix with water and some other stuff and then fry the whole thing in an oven. Making beer turned out even more complex, but not nearly as complex as creating a weapon or armor with some magical properties. It's actually a standard in many PWs nowadays that you can train and get expirience points in crafting skills like forging, alchemy, cooking, fishing etc.

For now NWN 1 is better for multiplayer because the most skilled and experienced PW developers aren't eager to switch to NWN 2 because of the bugs and limitations. The most truely amazing PWs for NWN 2 will appear only in 2008 or 2009 and only if Obsidian fixes the game a lot, adds Linux support and does something with the PWC files.

 

[Glacier]

Damn, I really want to play this game. I have one question about NWN2, have any of you played it on a computer with Vista? My research on the internet has yielded mixed results. Some websites say NWN2 works well on Vista, other sites say it doesn't work well at all. If anyone is playing this game on Vista, please give me some feedback on it.

 

[Guest]

do you have to pay to play nwn2 online bcuz one storyline isnt enough for me if i do have to pay tell me bcuz i like that game more than my life