Trials of the Luremaster *Spoilers?*

sonny · Post by **sonny** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 3:46 pm

Finished IWD, which I did enjoy, not as much as BG2 or PS:T, but for the most part not bad. Biggest short comings: to short, lack of quest, and bad story line.
Anyway, I am now in Chapter 4 of HOW and before I get to far I need to know:

1. Can I do the same thing with TotL as I did with HOW, that is finish HOW and then start a new game of TotL and import my characters?
If so how do you do this since there is no TotL Icon on the Game screen?

2. Or do I need to start it while still playing HOW?

Thanks
Sonny

PS. I have the IWD Ultimate Collection which includes IWD2. Is IWD2 any better then IWD? Or just more of the same.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 4:39 pm

Hi Sonny,
I vaguely recall you have to talk to a halfling in the HoW inn, and he teleports you to the area. So basically, you need to do TotLM before completing HoW.

I agree with your assessment, (though others here will not

) IMO IWD doesn't hold a candle to PS:T and BG2, not even close. It's solid, and often fun, but it lacks depth.

Some people prefer IWD2... personally I think the first game is actually a bit better, but that is just me.

What I'd suggest if you are looking for more of a BG2/PS:T experience is to download the NPC mods which are stickied in both the IWD and IWD2 forums. Both of these mods provide you with party members who have personalities and lots of dialogue.

sonny · Post by **sonny** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 5:18 pm

dragon wench wrote: What I'd suggest if you are looking for more of a BG2/PS:T experience is to download the NPC mods which are stickied in both the IWD and IWD2 forums. Both of these mods provide you with party members who have personalities and lots of dialogue.

Thanks. Yea I plan on using the NPC mod when I play IWD2. Didn't do it with IWD because when I play a game in a series, I try to play through with the vanilla ver. the 1st. time. I also try to play all games without using a walk-through.
That's why it takes me so long sometimes to finish a game, and why I post so much with questions

Thanks
Sonny

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 1:24 am

Yes, the Halfling in the Inn teleports you to TotLM.
I advice against the NPC mods, since IWD (1 & 2) is entirely meant (and balanced) to be played with selfmade characters. Most NPCs tend to be STR 9, CHA 18 Fighters, or some such nonsens.
It's not fair to compare anything to BG2 & PS:T, that like comparing every aircraft to an F-22.

BTW, be warned when you start IWD2: it uses some crappy interpretation of D&D 3.0 rules, which it did rather badly. It's some weird amalgan of AD&D and D&D 3.0.

kmonster · Post by **kmonster** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 11:31 am

You can play TotL after HoW. Once you've finished HoW the characters are exported. Start a new HoW game and import those characters, immediately go to the Inn and let the halfling teleport you to TotL.

IWD2 is bigger than IWD1, you'll have to fight even more and bigger enemy hordes. What kind of game you play depends on you. If you prefer roleplaying create a powerful party or turn the difficulty down (the difficulty scaling is excellent), so you can win the fights on the first attempt like in a P&P RPG, if you prefer a strategic challenge with many reloads create a weak party or choose the hardest difficulty.

IWD2 uses the superior 3rd edition D&D rules, you have a lot of freedom to develop your party but you also have a lot of freedom to mess up. Unlike in BG2 your choices at character creation and development do really matter.

If you insist on extra entertainment you can install the NPC mod, just turn down the difficulty if you don't want a reload heavy game.

I wouldn't use the mod. The loading times increased a lot when I installed it, but that's not the main reason.
The quality of the party interaction might be better than in BG2, but it's still fake depth, entertainment, you don't play the characters, you babysit creations of someone else who kicks in something more or less fitting now and then, kicking aside the imagination you build up in your mind.

You don't have to babysit, you can create and play a party of 6. You can build, develop and play 6 characters with different strengths and weaknesses who act together as one.
The characters from my self-created party felt far more alive than those flat NPCs from the BG games. Don't try to change IWD2 into a fake copy of something else, it's better than that.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 12:41 pm

See, I knew there'd be different opinions...

Personally, I like games with NPC interaction. and IMO the stories of both IWD 1 and 2 are so utterly lacking that the NPCs mods help to give both games more depth. Had it not been for the NPC mods, chances are I'd have never even finished the games.

Not to say the IWD series is completely bad, it can be very enjoyable if you are in the mood to kill things and employ a bit of strategic planning in the process. But, I prefer games that focus more on story and inter-party banter. Sure, I'm entirely capable of creating backgrounds for any cast of IWD characters I put together, but I find the NPC interjections and agendas relieve the tedium of near constant fighting.

As for the rules... personally, I hate the hashed up third edition rules employed in IWD2, this is partly why I prefer the first game.

But, this is, of course, all subjective..

Anyway Sonny, I hope you enjoy whichever approach you try

sonny · Post by **sonny** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 2:59 pm

dragon wench wrote: Anyway Sonny, I hope you enjoy whichever approach you try

Thanks everyone, you given me a lot to think about.:speech:

One question, if I decided to use the NPC mod, can I still import one of the characters instead of creating a new one.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 5:19 pm

dragon wench wrote:
As for the rules... personally, I hate the hashed up third edition rules employed in IWD2, this is partly why I prefer the first game.

See, that's what bothered me as well. It's not the vastly better 3rd Edition, but it isn't AD&D either.

kmonster · Post by **kmonster** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 7:40 pm

sonny wrote:One question, if I decided to use the NPC mod, can I still import one of the characters instead of creating a new one.

The NPC mods don't change the game mechanics.They only add characters you can use or not.
You cannot import IWD1 characters into IWD2.

sonny · Post by **sonny** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 8:00 pm

kmonster wrote: You cannot import IWD1 characters into IWD2.

Thanks, that answers my question. Wanted to import my IWD Fighter into IWD2. OH well.

sonny · Post by **sonny** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 9:11 pm

Finished everything Good Game. *Spoilers*

Last night I finished IWD, HOW and TotL and as I said above it was a good game that I will play again. Was disappointed at the lack of side quest and the game seemed very short.

It's now on to the IWD2 forums where after spending most of the day reading the game manual, I already have some questions.

Speaking of questions. Anyone here play Neverwinter Nights?
That's another game setting on my desk staring at me that my wife got me for Christmas.

Thanks for all the help here with IWD.
Sonny

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 1:17 am

Yup. Played NWN. Do yourself a favour and ignore its campaign, and play the campaign of its two expansions.

Crenshinibon · Post by **Crenshinibon** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 11:42 am

I personally didn't like those campaigns either, the real fun of NWN is playing around with the toolset and the multiplayer. It's okay for one playthrough, but not more. There aren't enough things that change to warrant for it.

Personally, for the next series, I'd direct you to Fallout.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 12:58 pm

Aye, Fallout is a very, very good series, but a lot grittier and more mature and yet another new system to learn.

sonny · Post by **sonny** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 1:56 pm

GawainBS wrote:Aye, Fallout is a very, very good series, but a lot grittier and more mature and yet another new system to learn.

Tell me a little more about this Fallout game. Is it a RPG game? Don't like FPS's.
Also what does that little thingey in the bottom left corner that says blog this post mean?

One more thing before dragon wench our patient moderator, tells me I'm off topic. Just talked to my grandson and he suggest two other games Morrowind and Oblivion. Any thoughts.

Sonny

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 2:59 pm

Fallout is about as much RPG as they come.
Oblivion isn't a good game. Morrowind is, but it's totally different than the ones you've played. There's very few interaction with the characters.
Fallout is set in a postapocalyptic (nuclear war and all that) wasteland. It is the future like they envisioned it in the fifties. It's also a very harsh game: in the first half hour, you're probably confronted by violence, death, drugs, slavery and prostitution. The game also features a lot of tongue-in-cheek humour.
It's turnbased combat and the system is skillbased: you level up individual skills, not levels in a class. Check out the websites here on GB to get a feel for the system. As long as you stay out of the walkthrough, there's no risk of spoiling anything.

Oh, and don't start with Fallout 3: it's not a good representation of the series.

Loki[D.d.G] · Post by **Loki[D.d.G]** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 3:02 pm

sonny wrote:Just talked to my grandson and he suggest two other games Morrowind and Oblivion. Any thoughts.

I'd definitely recommend giving both Morrowind and Oblivion a go. Because of the sheer number of mods and plug-ins that both games have, it almost never gets old. And if you are not into mods, both games are already quite superb to begin with... and will occupy you for quite some time should you find them to your liking.

The RPG system in the aforementioned games is quite different from almost anything you have played before... and takes some time to master. But once you get the hang of it, the game itself becomes quite fun to play... In no small part due to the sheer freedom afforded to the player.

sonny · Post by **sonny** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 3:20 pm

Thanks everyone. Thanks dw for your patience.
Going to try to play IWD2 and then go to Amazon and start shopping

Sonny

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 3:26 pm

If you're intrested in Fallout, you might want to check [url="www.gog.com"]Good Old Games[/url]: cheap, and configured to run on XP/Vista. It's a download, so no physical copy though...

sonny · Post by **sonny** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 4:48 pm

GawainBS wrote:If you're intrested in Fallout, you might want to check [url="www.gog.com"]Good Old Games[/url]: cheap, and configured to run on XP/Vista. It's a download, so no physical copy though...

Thanks you very much.

That was a question that I forgot to ask. Will this game "Fallout" run on newer PC's. I run XP.
Is this site "Good Old Games" reliable? Dumb question I guess. You would not recommend something that wasn't, I'm sure.
Guess what I mean, are you familiar with their products?
Do they use Paypay?

Thanks again.
Sonny

I get excited when I start thinking about new games.:laugh:

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Trials of the Luremaster Spoilers?

Trials of the Luremaster Spoilers?