Neverwinter Nights 2 Modding Guide Index
Welcome to the cRPG Blog's guide on modding Neverwinter Nights 2. Mods and modules are the reason Neverwinter Nights 2 is ranked highly in cRPG History.
The purpose of this series of posts is to help new players set up and mod their Neverwinter Nights 2 install. For those who don't know, the three official Obsidian campaigns (pictured above) were built upon the versatile and powerful Electron, an engine which has daunted many players over the years due to its bugs, glitches and complexity. But hopefully, this series of posts will go some way to making this monster more accessible to people who would otherwise avoid it. So let's get on with it!
- Best Modules NWN2 Guide
- Part I: NWN2 Installation Guide
- Part II: NWN2 Console Commands Guide
- Part III: NWN2 Modding Guide Introduction
- Part IV: NWN2 User Interface Mods Guide
- Part V: Guide to Graphics Mods NWN2
- Part VI: NWN2 Tony K's AI mod
- Part VII: FRW Character Creator
- Part VIII: NWN2 Fixes
- Part IX: NWN2 Original Campaign mods
- Part X: Mask of the Betrayer mods
- Part XI: Storm of Zehir Mods
- NWN vs. NWN2
- Storm of Zehir Walkthrough Guide
- Mask of the Betrayer Walkthrough Guide
- Frenzied Berserker Build NWN2
- Weapon Master Build NWN2
Thanks for listing my items. I believe the most popular item in the Silverwand Sundries is the Deck of Trumps which allows the party editor to be opened at any time which is handy when you need to add in a character. I also have Silverwand collections for armor, weaponry, and other items that can be added into NWN2. - Kaldor
ReplyDeleteAlso, the MotB Makeover SoZ Edition does add additional content and areas to MotB, not just SoZ features such as the party editor. - Kaldor
ReplyDeleteHi Kaldor, and thanks for the info! I don't have much experience with your mods but I can see how they would appeal to many players, which is why I listed them. Cheers!
DeleteHi Lilura! Just wanted to say how good was to find out your blog. I'm a fan of nwn games for a long time. And right now I'm replaying the Baldur's Gate Series, I found out in Beamdog forums a link to your blog related to the Siege of Dragonspear guide and I have to say was very good written.
ReplyDeleteSince then, I've checking your page and your posts a lot! Since Neverwinter Nights is one of my favorite games, I'm really considering after I saw your post related to the Storm of Zehir expansion mod(with the new areas) in replaying the entire game using the mods you listed here in your site.
Well, thats it! Just a cheer up for your very appreciated work, your guides are well written and immersive I have to say, you write and explain stuff in a way that makes us like the game even more.
Hi there, and thanks for the kind compliment and encouragement! It's really appreciated, and motivates to continue posting my write-ups. NWN and NWN2 can be really hard to get into, but I do think they are some of the most rewarding platforms to play RPGs on (mainly due to the mods), and in the end the time investment pays off and they offer a seemingly limitless amount of enjoyment. So yeah, enjoy!
DeleteThanks for this, Lilura. You've greatly improved my enjoyment of the game.
ReplyDeleteBig fan of your write-ups, by the way... you persuaded me to give Baldur's Gate a shot, and it turns out I find it delightful!
You're welcome, David! I'm glad you found the write-ups useful. Thank you for leaving a comment.
DeleteGreat site...Lots of info......even for an old RPG dog like me.
ReplyDeletethanks
Nial
Thanks, Nial. I'm glad the info is of use to some RPG veterans, too.
DeleteThanks for putting the effort into this helpful guide. Even having played and modded the game for years it's nice to have a reminder of what's available and see things I may have missed.
ReplyDeleteOne other mod that might be worth listing under Storm of Zehir is "SoZ Dialog fixes" by AlanC9, which fixes some broken minor quests and other bugs. It's available on the vault.
Hi, and thank you. Added!
DeleteHi, Lilura.
ReplyDeleteI'm a reader of your blog for a few good months and now I decided to comment because I like it a lot. It's relaxing to read about my favorite games (NWN 1' PS:T and not so much NWN 2) and I thank you for providing me this pleasure.
Also I want to ask you if there is a mod or mods for fixing animations in NWN 2. I'm trying (again) to play NWN 2 but I cannot stand its crappy animations. The characters move like they're permanently under the effect of a Grease spell - this is the best analogy I found for describing how crappy the animations are.
Thanks in advance and I'm sorry if my English is not fluent - it's not my native language.
Yes, NWN2 anims are total garbage compared to NWN and there does not seem to be an ACP for NWN2.
DeleteHere is what I found, but they are minor:
Nens NWN2 Animation Project Part 1 - Walking
Nens NWN2 Animation Project Part 2 - Idle
Let me know if you find any others.
Tried now those mods and I have not seen any difference or if there is one, it's unnoticeable. I guess I have to resign myself to this miserable fate of playing NWN2 as it is (sigh).
DeleteBut thanks anyway.
Hi Lilura,
ReplyDeleteThanks heaps for this post! It was exactly what I was looking for after grabbing NWN2 on sale at GoG recently and realising it could be MOD'd.
Quick question though: All of the MODs you have listed, are they meant to be all downloaded and all installed at one time? Or is this post more of a "best in show" and so not all MODs are to be used at once?
I gather from the UI section that those MODs would be a case of pick-one-not-all, but after that, that line starts to get blurry!
Anyhow, thanks for your time on this post, much appreciated.
Dodgy Bob
It's just an overview rather than an actual mod setup example. Many mods will work in conjunction; and indeed, I've linked to a few compilations that have been put together already, such as Mass PrC Merger and Red Rover's Combo Pack, but some other mods may conflict.
DeleteI've been thinking of writing up a recommended mod setup, but it's time-consuming to test setups out as a whole. Also, everyone has preferences and it's not "one size fits all".
Plus, I'm a minimalist modder myself. I'm not really interested in transforming and bloating out the game, especially because I cover lots of user made adventure modules/campaigns, many of which employ their own custom content, and I'd hate for them to glitch out on me.
So yeah, I guess you'll have to experiment a bit.
Just found this blog. Very nice writings. Thank you for your suggestions to make my NWN 2 playthtough much more enjoyable. Yup, I still play it now and then.
ReplyDeleteI agree, NWN 2 has so much unexplored potentials.
Need to add though, used Mass PRC merger, but this doesn't seem to compatible with the latest version of Kaedrin's PRC mod. I made several adjustments with the files before it can work, but still not perfectly.
Ok, thanks for taking the time to post that incompatibility issue. If you haven't already, you might like to post your efforts on the Vault; maybe someone there can help you get it to 100%. I'm glad you're getting something out of the blog, too.
DeleteK actually not only add classes. It has a plethora of fixes to vanilla stuff also. For example Uncanny dodge is working now, as well as tactician expert. So K pack is aslo a "community partch" of sort
ReplyDeleteAdditionally this extender would be better then dll stutter fixer mentioned in article xD
Deletehttps://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/other/nwn2-client-extension
I actually found this site through r/rpg_gamers, doing a search on NWN2. Thank you so much for the guide. I tried to play the game last night vanilla and it was a mess, but downloaded several mods you listed here and it is now playable. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, wenchwogg.
DeleteHi, I played BG & BG2 (and the Dragon Age: Origins) adventures when they were "new" and miss my D&D fix... Years ago, I did play NWN: OC (on a much slower computer) and never finished due to dissatisfaction with the AI NPC partners (though I infer that AI can be turned off and played 'BG style'). Do you recommend NWN 2 over NWN: Hordes of Underdark? I may only commit to one "massive amount of computer time" D&D game. Is NWN 2 substantially superior to NWN: HoU (story-wise, adventure-wise; I'm sure NWN 2 has stronger graphics)(I'm also a "Gold Box" fan and have been playing Forgotten Tales mods... though they aren't as immersive and their limitations hurt my suspension of disbelief more frequently than BG games).
ReplyDeleteHi Tim H. And thanks for your questions.
DeleteUnlike BG, NWN2 and DA:O, NWN companion AI cannot be disabled.
The only way to avoid its bad companion AI is to ignore the companion pool and "go solo", or just play a module that offers no companions (neither of which are in the spirit of D&D).
Some NWN modules alleviate bad companion AI by employing hacks to give you more control (Aielund Saga/Bone Kenning).
Others manage to make companion AI more useful by just making the main companions capable bards or tanks (Snow Hunt, Swordflight).
Still a far cry from full party control, though.
That said, Swordflight has managed to squeeze almost every drop of tactical juice out of base NWN. It also happens to be the best module series for NWN.
HotU is the best official campaign for NWN, but it's epic lvl/easy. Mask of the Betrayer is the best official campaign for NWN2. You don't need to play the tedious NWN2 OC first.
If you only have time to invest heavily in one game, I recommend going with Swordflight or Mask of the Betrayer. Imo, they are the best single-player D&D experiences that NWN and NWN2 have to offer.
For a warm up to Swordflight, you could crash through HotU or try out Snow Hunt. You won't need a warm up for MotB because it's epic lvl/easy.
Have fun!
Thanks so much, Lilura! I think I'll give Mask of the Betrayer a go (forgoing NWN 1 entirely). Your blog postings are very helpful! (A user link in the GOG review section is how I found your enormously useful blog).
DeleteForgot to answer one of the questions:
DeleteIn terms of writing, characterizations and story, MotB is far superior to HotU. Imo, MotB is even better than PS:T.
To be clear, I consider Swordflight and MotB not only to be the best RPGs on their respective engines, but also two of the best RPGs ever. They would probably be ranked in my Top 5 all-time. But while Swordflight is a thorough-going traditional D&D campaign, MotB is "Planescapey" and contemporary in its design and flavor.
You're welcome, Tim H. For MotB, you might find a couple of bugfixes and mods useful, too (linked to on this page). Also, my starting point for MotB might be useful (in case you'd like some tips).
DeleteTo be fair bioware were never good at a big story writing. Obsidian is just so much better in it. Bioware can create awesome small quests and sceneries with really good writing and cool interaction(cursed village in NWN1 OC act 2, CSI style quest in Kotor 1, Arena in Jade Empire, etc) but when it comes to overall plot they feel if that they just took that quest plot and stretched it to several hours by fulling it with unrelated stuff and inserting giant WHAM moment somewhere in the middle. While Obsidian in general and Avellon in particular prefer writing more personal stories and generally better at pacing long plot
DeleteI think Luke K. was a good BioWare writer (pre-DA:O). He wrote 70% of BG + Durlag's Tower.
DeleteGaider wrote Irenicus but also a lot of BG2, which is awfully-written.
But yes, I do favor Interplay/Black Isle and Obsidian writing as seen in Fallout/2 and Mask of the Betrayer over BioWare writing in general (which is also too binary in its morality).
Planescape: Torment writing is great but it's just too much reading.
I'm really not into lore-heavy stories and deep dialogue, though. At least, I don't like it when lore, dialogue and story take over from tactical combat, strategic considerations and dungeon/wildernesss exploration.
Fallout's pacing was almost perfect, and Avellone has suggested that Fallout > PS:T (it balanced key aspects of RPGs better).
I like concise and clear writing at all times. I don't like wading through mounds of fluff and prefer that NPCs and journal entries get to the point.
Devs and fans that value story and lore far above other considerations are degenerates, imo; enemies to the traditional RPG.
I think I'll need to replay original BG someday since I barely remember it. But after first Kotor bioware fallen into repeating one and the same story pattern:
Delete1)start story
2)pause it for 3-4 unconnected small stories which bare no effect on main plot
3)WHAM point
4)straightforward final
It let them easy create non-linear games, while keeping overall writing quite simple.
Binary morality of Bioware actually resulted in glorious failure in Jade empire, where they wasted a lot of time in beginning to establish that close fist is not evil and open palm is not good... and then continued to constantly turning closed fist way into evil jerk one xD
As for planescape - I feel it would work better as more of PnC adventure game then tactical rpg.
It's odd how the traditional RPG eluded post-Fallout 2 Black Isle: pendulum swung between two extremes instead of just settling in the middle somewhere.
DeleteIWD2 was the closest they got but it's hamstrung by poor pacing and some truly abysmal segments such as the Fell Wood maze and Magma Chamber.
Oh, well.
Again, Lilura1, thanks for all your help!
ReplyDeleteI agree--Planescape Torment ultimately lost my interest (and I'm a guy who digs complicated, talky stories). I also don't like the Planescape "look and feel" (a Gamma World (?) game used a similar engine). All those people standing stock still with the same one-liners (even though BG and DA:O did the same?) hurts my immersion.
As for the writing in the big games, I'm a former software engineer, and though I never worked in gaming, I figure there are a lot of hurdles the writers must navigate to see their vision realized. There are scenes that may be too hard for the coders to orchestrate. There are limitations to the code that don't quite let you do what you want. Plus there is a looming deadline and the writers may have other jobs (even dippy administrative jobs we never hear about). Also there will be a lot of compromises, big bosses who want something changed or don't "get" a really neat idea. The writer likely doesn't have complete freedom. And if he has assistant or partner writers, they may have their own little niche that "to keep them happy" the main writer doesn't stomp on. It's really complicated. Probably, if a "big corporate game" comes across "fantastic" we should be thrilled. There is likely enormous pressure to create an A-B-C unchallenging game that "the whole team buys into".
I don't know. Again I have no inside details and am just thinking back to what designing large software systems was like in my corporate days.
I can see where you're coming from, Tim H.
DeleteTo my mind, current gen RPG dev cycles are too long, their teams are too big, there is too much money involved, and they listen to their fanbase and the suits too much.
When it comes to RPGs, I believe in talented individuals or tight-knit groups working away on something great and pretty much ignoring the fanbase and the suits. That's how the likes of Fallout and Jagged Alliance 2 came to be. These games are still unbeaten.
Maybe I'm just old, but I roll my eyes whenever I see the term "narrative designer" get thrown about. All you need is one great writer. Novels prove it and RPGs of the past have proven it. Swordflight is a current gen example: one person designed and wrote the whole thing. No one else was involved. And guess what? It compares favorably to commercial efforts in breadth, depth and polish.
But yes, modders don't have deadlines to worry about. But there is also no asking price. Are commercial devs professionals or are they not? PS:T dev cycle time management was out of whack. They spend way too much time writing lore and dialogue, and this came at the expense of combat encounter/dungeon design and the final third of the campaign. The writer should have free reign to write but their writing should not dictate to the point of turning what is supposed to be an AD&D game into an interactive novel with stats and godawful combat encounter/dungeon design.
So basically, yes, we can give excuses and even solid reasons for why a game is inadequate in this or that respect, but, at the end of the day, the critic doesn't have to consider any of that when critiquing a game. I mean, at the end of the day, I don't even care what devs think of their own games. Intent is irrevelant. All that matters is the game itself, the final product, and what we as players think of it. If a game claims to be an RPG, it is compared to Fallout. If a game claims to be reactive, it is compared to Arcanum and Mask of the Betrayer. If a game claims to have tactical combat, it is compared to JA2, Silent Storm and ToEE. Those are the yardsticks by which all are measured.
Again, it doesn't matter if the devs ran out of money, it doesn't matter if they ran out of time, it doesn't matter if they failed to consult with each other, and it doesn't matter if the suits intefered in the dev cycle. All that matters is what was offered up for gamers to purchase and play.
Anyway, that's where I come out on this issue. :)
The above isn't supposed to come off unsympathetic to the plight of pro-devs as it pertains to the corporate culture, or as ignoring stark realities. I just wanted to make it clear that, in regards to the criticism (and the praise) found in my retrospectives, I'm not concerned with game development but rather with the games themselves.
DeleteI see what you mean. With respect to reviewing, I don't watch a movie and critique that the movie was as boring as mud, but it's OK, because I figure that the production studio is a disorganized mess. If the movie wasn't entertaining, it wasn't entertaining. I think I personally have grown too disappointed with game makers such that I assume the industry is merely about producing mediocre entertainment structured around the lowest common denominator. The bizarre original ending of Mass Effect 3 and the weird "action arcade" of Dragon Age 2 sapped a lot of my faith in the "system".
DeleteI have also long since wizened to cynicism/pessimism; it's why I don't have current gen games in my treatment range. My blog would go full-polemical if I focused coverage on the shit being shovelled out these days. :P
DeleteThe current gen industry, its devs, and its addled-in-the-head fans can all go and jump into a lake of fire and acid, tbqh. I'm old, and just don't care about RPGs that fall outside of the era I grew up in.
To expand a bit, my faith in the industry broke with the demise of Troika, Sir-Tech, Black Isle, Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios (along with others); and, with the advent of Oblivion and Oblivion With Guns (Fallout "3"). Before that time, my faith was even slightly shaken by BG2 and NWN.
DeleteI may sound jaded, but I'm actually not. Reason? The Renaissance era is seemingly inexhaustible. I have my plate full commentary-wise for the next decade, easily (assuming I bother to blog for that long). :)
Ha! If we want to go really old school, I was disappointed when Ultima VI didn't respect Ultima V's strict adherence to time (in Ultima V, shops and city gates closed at night fall, and most NPC townspeople followed routines that took them to bed after dark. In Ultima V, there were few of those "living statues" (people who stood in one place, rain or shine, day or night) and if you were bored enough you could stalk NPCs from bed to their breakfast table, to their work. The later editions of Ultima were far less concerned with that sort of realism.
DeleteI can see where you're coming from there, too. However, I have never really got into the Ultimas (I played the likes of Dungeon Master, Eye of the Beholder and Hired Guns before dropping RPGs and picking them up again with the advent of Fallout.)
DeleteWhile not blind to how they can enhance immersion, I'm actually not a huge fan of NPC schedules, and scripted NPC movements, unless they are employed meaningfully. I just take lack of schedules as an abstraction.
Reasons are: It can be a pain in the ass hunting down an NPC; there are examples of devs spending too much time scripting them (and neglecting other aspects of design that I consider to be more important); there are examples of them creating overhead and slowing down the game; they can introduce bugs and make navigation a nightmare.
That said, NPC schedules worked well in Arcanum and Gothic, too.
If I may ask another question related to NWN2--I notice that MoB is a high level campaign. I generally don't like to create high-level characters from scratch. Is Storm of Zehir or another campaign worth playing to bring a character up in levels? (I suspect it is simpler just to create from scratch, rather than to play, say, SoZ, yet still only end up with a level 12 character who is too weak for MoB and requires more grinding (and lots more time) to properly level up).
ReplyDeleteSoZ is a bit of a grind because it's more of a sandbox and you create up to four fourth level characters at the beginning; also optionally recruiting one companion (or two if one of your created characters takes the Leadership feat). That gives you a party of six like in BG, IWD and PS:T.
DeleteBut yeah, you could certainly export a SoZ character at 17th and play MotB from there (SoZ cap is 30 but you won't reach it unless you farm XP on the overworld map).
MotB builds are different to and potentially much more powerful than OC and SoZ builds because they start at 17th and you don't have to take into account the viability of the build from low-to-mid levels.
I guess it just comes down to whether you're up for a challenge (subpar OC/SoZ build in MotB) and want to slog through OC/SoZ before MotB. OC feeds into MotB whereas SoZ only contains trivial references to MotB.
Lots of people get burned out on NWN2 due to the OC (and therefore miss out on MotB, which is a pity).
Thanks! Your explanation helps a lot. I think I'll go ahead and play MoB... if SoZ is too much of a grind, it may kill my enthusiasm and I'll never get around to experiencing MoB... Once I grow invested in the character, I'll likely find myself inventing his past (and not feel like he's a pure contrivance, born a super-experienced wunderkind). Yeah, grinding out an 18th level character from his level 1 apprentice years sounds like a day-job unto itself... Thanks again!
DeleteMotB gives initial journal entry called "The Story So Far" (drawn from the OC). Thus, it's easy to get up to speed on what's going on. Other than that, and a few references and dialogues, MotB is a separate, self-contained and highly replayable campaign with good writing, characterizations and aesthetics.
DeleteThe OC is a monumentally tedious campaign that I have attempted to replay, but soon lost interest in, three times since I first played it. I honestly think I would have to be drunk for one week to play through it completely; it is even worse than the NWN OC. Not that both OCs are devoid of merit. It's just that the overall tedium greatly overshadows the good bits.
SoZ is for players who get off on exploration and character building and party composition concerns (and who enjoy its inventive trading and crafting systems along with combat encounter design that is a bit tougher than the average RPG). It is much better than the OC but has issues of its own like small dungeons and trivial waylays (and those are made more annoying by load times that are much longer than they should be).
SoZ was basically the last of the traditional RPGs. It came out one year after Mass Effect, the same year as Fallout 3, and one year before Dragon Age: Origins.
Hi Lilura1, I'm not familiar with a lot of gaming terms. What do you mean by "traditional RPG" (does that mean a mostly "open world" that you wander around, having a largely unstructured experience?)(I played D&D as a kid with paper and dice--to some extent, no computer RPG is "traditional". For example, fighting is severely constrained by the computer game's mechanics (you can't have the thief drop to hands and knees behind a guard your fighter is dueling with, then have the fighter ram the guard such that he trips backward over the thief. Then, once down, you step on the guard's sword-hand wrist and tell him he's going to take you to the castellan's office or you'll chop off that arm. The computer RPG could script an encounter like that, but you don't have the freedom to devise that yourself)(fighting takes so much time with dice and paper that there's far less of it--a fifth level fighter is a big accomplishment, though in most computer RPGs, that you probably can reach 5th level after a few hours. (what the computer games lose with respect to imaginative freedom, they make up for with more frequent fighting).
DeleteBy "traditional RPG", I just mean an RPG like Baldur's Gate: one that draws heavily from tabletop/PnP. A fairly open world is usually a factor along with non-linear questing, resource management, reactivity, and so on.
DeleteAnd yes, I am well aware of the limitations of computer RPGs in comparison to tabletop/PnP (and agree with you entirely on that front).
I understand what you mean--and I have no place to boast about paper D&D (I haven't played the paper version with human beings since college days (over two decades ago) and often forget what I am missing--though yeah it could also be tedious and slow and impossible to organize without the communal imprisonment that a dorm or barracks imposes...). I think I misread you when you mentioned ZoS being the last of the traditional RPG. I'd forgotten that it followed MoB in terms of its release and mistook your statement for meaning MoB wasn't a traditional RPG (more of an action arcade like World of Warhammer and the like).
DeleteI occasionally remind myself and others of the limitations of computer RPGs, so I don't mind you bringing up that comparison at all, Tim.
DeleteAnd yeah, for me, MotB falls into the traditional RPG. Not as thorough-going as some, though (appeals more to modern sensibilities in its themes and presentation).
Just want to add that with MotB, like the unmodded OC campaign, you have a single main PC and then have pre-scripted companions that join up with you. If you prefer to construct multiple people in your party, as is possible in SoZ, then you should consider using my MotB Makeover mod. Also if you role play lawful good you may have some issues with the unmodded MotB story, which is another reason to use my MotB Makeover.
DeleteGood to hear from you again, Kaldor; it's been a while!
Delete(Note that KaldorSilverwand has also enabled SoZ features for the OC.)
I would put DA:O as the last traditional RPG. Heavy on skills, loads of feats, quite open world while still having a reactive plot and world. It gets recast in light of what Dragon Effect (DA2) did to the franchise. But the original was very much in line with their inspirations.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Obsidian/Black Isle writing vs Bioware? *shrug* Fallout was well-written. Placescape, sure. Though it was never my cup of tea. But the NWN2 OC was, as you noted, tedious. And part of what made it so was the horrific writing from the time you reach Neverwinter to when you finally get Crossroads Keep. And frankly, the Gith didn't do anything for me either. And the SOZ "twist" was so obviously telegraphed that I didn't have to leave the city the 1st time to know what was coming. Similarly Kreia in TSL, while an interesting character, her actions were...predictable. Oh so obviously so.
Compare that to the KotOR twist, which actually *did* catch a lot of people off guard, and even when I saw it coming, still thought it well-executed.
And I agree that Obsidian with its current games is living off borrowed glory. Pillars of Eternity was decent. But not nearly as reactive as people make it out to be. And the companion quests all too often were poorly resolved attempts at Grey Goo. They're so in love with being morally ambiguous there's no point in trying. Save for faked urgency that doesn't carry a time limit on it, so you can explore the world.
Neither is what they were. Not even close. The closest thing to a classic RPG these days is Larian's Divinity series, IMHO.
IMO, Dragon Age: Origins sort of blurs the line.
DeleteIts worst features were the combat encounter/itemization level scaling, the triviality of the injury system, list-based inventory (instead of grid-based), console UI in general, and the lack of dungeon strategy due to being able to just "wait out" cooldowns (easier than resting under a Vancian magic system which at least offers up on-rest ambushes or simply bans resting entirely).
Not to mention the ease of its combat encounters (there are barely any difficult battles, no mage duels, and certainly nothing on par with BG2 dragons, illithid, beholders and liches — or even SoZ yuan-ti). To be fair, the game was much harder before the DLC/expansion and patches. But then spells like Cone of Cold were grossly OP pre-patch, too...
As I said in my Renaissance write-up, its reactivity, full party control, marquee selection, isometric-like cam and conditional tactics framework were very welcome.
"Scientific CRPG" is a pet peeve of mine. The way in which, say, MMORPG players will blithely assume a "correct party" consists of the "tank, healer, and damage dealer". Bah! Sometimes my cleric is my toughest guy (guy of either gender!). Sometimes I don't bring a mage. I did once play a few quests in Dragon Age: Origins with a party of mages (my PC, Wynne from the tower, Morrigan, and maybe Nadia for traps). They cleaned house! (Which actually disappointed me a little--though my PC was a battle mage and could fight with a sword... though DA:O, in defiance of "tank/healer/damage dealer", made healing magic a branch of wizardy (Wynne specialized in it by default).
DeleteIn any event, I found blithe formulas about "the tank / healer / damage dealer", even if that probably correctly stereotypes computer RPG, dull.
With Skype and Facebook video IM, I'm disappointed that old fashioned RPG hasn't made a better comeback. As it seems we gamers have plenty of time (somebody is squeezing out the 60 hours to finish BG and BG2!) just an absolute unease with organizing social outings (behind the comfortably anonymous opt-in net-gaming)(that said, in a multi-player game of Mass Effect 3, I was sure that I'd muted my microphone, my wife and I were fussing at each other about something, and suddenly, shocking us both into silence, a "voice from the machine" requested: "Hey, would you mute your mike?"
Sometimes, I just like unplugging from the net and playing a single-player RPG.
DeleteI was never big on multi-player. I did get into Diablo 2 and Dark Souls a bit, though.
Probably the best place online to play PnP/tabletop is EN World. Several years ago, I followed a few of the campaigns religiously; there were some great DMs there.
Looks like it's still going strong, too.
http://www.enworld.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?15-Playing-the-Game
I've been a member for a while now but never posted. Just enjoy lurking.
Another thing I didn't like about Dragon Age: Origins was its employment of staffs (staves?) for mages. They were basically rocket launchers. If you invested in them and specced your other gear for them, they became EZ mode/lazy mode. I prefer 3 ApR darts for mages. :P
As a kid, I assumed D&D darts were the beer hall variety...
DeleteOnly recently did a friend point out they would've been like the 5 inch iron or steel variety that knife-collectors like to practice with. ;)
I also was grossly ignorant about the various polearms (though on reflection, Gygax's meticulous listing of obscure, historically specific polearms might deservedly be called "wonkish"). The Glaive (from Latin "gladius") was a roughly akin to a Japanese naginata or a falx (scimitar with long handle), but we mistook it for the spiked throwing disk from "Beastmaster" (akin to an Indian (subcontinent) chakra). In some ways, I've never quite forgiven Gygax for instilling me with the idea that our monsters from folklore follow a precise taxonomy. ;) (goblins and kobolds are etymologically the same--mischievous spirits that tormented cobalt miners...). Hobgoblins, bogeymen, bugbears, puck (etymologically related to "bug") are all the same idea (Hobgoblin was a sort of "Robby the Goblin"). But yeah, I admit, D&D's "splitting of hairs" has created a lot of fun fantasy races. Trolls ought to be like Hill Giants or bogeymen, but Gygax based them off a fantasy writer named Poul Anderson's books in which they were green and spindly. And then the Rustmonster and Owlbear came directly from those kooky fake dinosaurs that you could buy at Kmart in the 1970s.
Gnolls came from an early 1900s fantasy book, but D&D recreated them over several iterations into the dog-headed race we now associate with the world.
(Most of my info comes from wikipedia. The Rustmonster (and friends) came from a guy's website along with photos of the old toys (I personally never had the Owlbear figure, now a collector's item for its rarity, but I could pave my driveway with those rust monsters!
Dart-throwing is just funny in BG: the animations look ridiculous. A beer at the tavern should bestow +1 to-hit with darts.
DeleteMy "knowledge" of medieval weapons is based on games and movies; I am incurably tainted by pop-culture in this respect.
I hadn't heard of the Glaive until I played ToEE (which - erroneously - has donut reach like Spiked Chains); I hadn't heard of a Naginata until I played an Assassin in Median XL: Ultimative for Diablo 2. Falx and Gladius are in vanilla Diablo 2.
There is an owlbear in ToEE. Swordflight is the only computer RPG I can think of that has Rust Monsters. Are there any others?
And yeah, I guess A/D&D just became too big and bloated over the years. Throw in mythology, fantasy, and the kitchen sink. I'm not sure where the inspiration for the Gelatinous Cube came from (was someone eating jelly for dessert?), but they are pretty cool (and in NWN and ToEE).
I have to wonder if smurfs were the inspiration for xvarts...
Everyone loves the idea of the Gelatinous Cube. Encountering them is another matter.
DeleteLoved Akalabeth, Hellfire Warrior, Wizardry, Bard's Tale, Ultima (1), and Dungeon Master back in the day.
Ha! The Gelatinous cube (which I've spent my life mispronouncing as 'JELL-uh-TAY-nee-us') has a goofy real-life origin story. Gygax created it as an inside joke to hassle a party into doing something that the DM wanted, but the party wasn't cooperating, and the DM needed to force them to take a different direction in the dungeon. I can't remember where I found that (so may not be true... I found a quote from Gygax (below) explaining his idea behind the cube, but it doesn't include the funny anecdote that I thought I'd read.
Deletehttp://rpg.crg4.com/originsN.html
Quote:
"My concept wasthat both [grey oozes and gelatinous cubes] were accidental creations of careless wizard alchemists that dumped various failed magical and alchemical experiments down the drain or into some cess pit. These admixtures affected single-celled life forms, thus eventually engendering the various jellies (and a gelatinous cube is one of those), oozes, puddings. The slimes were generated in similar fashion, the waste affecting normal slime."
Gary Gygax (1938–2008), October 1, 2006, EN World Q&A XII
Also, so many D&D RPGs and yet no Tarrasque!
DeleteYour post ninja'd mine. The self-replicating fission slimes in Durlag's Tower were the deadliest that I've encountered in a cRPG (though the Mustard Jellies and Olive Slimes that choke up one of the levels in IWD2 Dragon's Eye come in a close 2nd). Also, Swordflight's Gelatinous Cube "spam" almost reduced me to tears because I couldn't beat them: they were packed in such that they overlapped each other. :P
DeleteThis is all great but i have one problem. I installed couple of mods and there is one mod that makes mortal kombat sounds when i do critical strikes, like wtf its immersion breaking. Do you know which one is it?
ReplyDeleteIt could be the Simple Fix line of mods.
DeleteAnd how to disable automatic weapon change in "companion and mosnter ai 2.2"?
ReplyDeleteYou should be able to turn off companion Weapon Switching in the Behavior Tab for each companion.
DeleteHi! Thanks for this - very handy. Will try some of it out later this week.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this! I barely played NWN2 when it was first released because I preferred the NWN1 online community and Diablo 2 by far. I was able to update NWN2 and improve the visual effects with the help of this webpage. I look forward to trying out the game again on a much more capable computer.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Lenoen.
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI try to play this game the 1.st time with the max mod as I just can take into it. But... for me it looks the better mods are totally incompatible with each other (or at least I think so as the 2/3 of them needs a patch to be compatible with Tony K AI mod, so all of them should change lots of same thing). So now my head aches like hell thinking out what can I take in to not make the game inplayable.
Tchos' HD UI panels and dialogue compilation and expansion, SOZ Holiday project I think is are must have and thought on NWN2 MotB and OC Makeover SoZ Edition and Mass PrC Merger, but uhhhhh... just thinking on them makes my head ache even more. Can I use them all or just forget them?
And what are the truly must have mods for them?
Thanks in advance if you help and sorry for that head ache what you will get! :)
Yep, I don't like to mod my game much either. I'd rather, you know, actually play the game.
DeleteI especially don't mod games on my first playthroughs (just a rule of mine). I prefer to see how the game plays first, find out what annoys me, and then look for specific modifications.
And when modding, I take the minimalist approach. Tbqh, some of the mods in this post are just useless garbage. I should trim the list down.