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Got my machine back today. Installed NWN2, created a char and took it through the Tutorial and a bit of the next bit.

Then I stopped. And thought "Surely NWN1 wasn't THIS clunky? I don't remember it having cut scenes every other minute. I don't remember the Interface being so abysmal! Was it? Or do I have fond memories edited by distance?"

So. I started again, New char, through the Tutorial and a little way past... It seemed a bit better this time - though not much. Maybe I was getting used to the interface and the menus and the constant cut-scenes...

Tell me... does it do cutscenes every other minute in the rest of the game? Will the controls feel less clunky when I get used to 'em?

Or has the smoothness of Oblivion spoiled me forever for games like this?

It's definately a bit clunky though I'm finally used to the weird camera. What bugs me the most is the "quick"save - I save quite a lot and it takes too long for a quicksave. And reloading is also very slow....Ok the whole game is quite slow but it's very interesting and generally fun so I'm overlooking the clunkiness...

There are cutscenes scattered through the game. I have yet to finish chapter one yet, having just gotten through the first run of Neverwinter in one of my games as the farthest I have gotten. I won't say they dissapear, as everytime you end up with dialogue, about 1/3 of those times there is a short cutscene involved. Still, I wouldn't say it's "clunky". My processor is just above the minimum requirements, and I really only have to be truly patient with loading times for new areas. It could just be you have a slow processor...

My processor plays Oblivion with VERY little trouble (for an ES game, which are ALWAYS cranky), so it should be well capable of dealing with NWN2. In fact, I know I am WELL within the system requirements.
It's the game, not my machine.

*shrugs* I'll say you are spoiled then. I have yet to play Oblivion, and from what I heard, I doubt I will ever bother with the game to be honest. A lot of the frustrations I had with NWN and it's expansions were fixed in NWN 2. Which includes the boring wandering around all over trying to find stuff at a wretchedly slow pace.

It's easy to find places in Oblivion. So easy that that is the biggest complaint about it, LOL! But the interface and char creation are excellent. So are the graphics if your machine is up to 'em - no more of that dull grey Morrowind landscape, I'm glad to say.

Anyway, regarding NWN2: I have blanked out slightly spoilerish bits - highlight to read:

After getting out of the first village, things have improved. Not nearly as many mini-cutscenes - you can just get on with playing the game, most of the time.
The interface is still frightful, and none of the camera positions are very good - I have to keep changing camera viewpoint; can't just choose a viewpoint and leave it there as you could in NWN. I have also decided I just HAVE to move my team BACK, instead of always having them on top of me getting in the way. Maybe I will get used to the flaws and not even notice them by the end...

I spent a lot of time going back to saves

Spoiler

in an effort to stop Amie getting killed

- I'll know better next time through.

And the game is beginning to get interesting, despite the dreadful interface, the the clunky animal and people bodies, and the fact that the women's bodies are designed to look as though they are wearing high heels when in fact they are NOT. And they ALL have the same size (racially) boobs... *Yeah, I know, picky-picky!*

I like

Spoiler

the Dwarf fighter, and I REALLY like Neeshka

(instead of my original intention of playing Rogue, I decided a Cleric would be the easiest option for the first run-through, so I needed her), because she is just the char I planned for myself -

Spoiler

Tiefling Rogue

.
The quests are nice, too.

Spoiler

I liked the graveyard! Lots of skeles and zombies! We have done one crypt but found 2 gates Neeshka couldn't open, and couldn't be bashed; and no sign of a key anywhere. We are just about to enter one of the other two buildings. If we don't find a key, I'm hoping we will have levelled up enough for Neeshka to be able to open one of 'em at least

. Don't tell me anything!

Just a couple of questions:

We tried to do a cave that showed with no quest attached to it, but found the boss in there kept killing my girl and the Dwarf. So we left it. We will go back later, now there are 3 of us. But: Is there a Quest for it or not?

When we went to find the item we were sent to get from ruins in the marshes, we first tried to enter a house, but couldn't get in. Is it later Quest place?
Also - there was a short cutscene

Spoiler

showing an elf - not a drow, but dark skinned, like a Moon Elf

and another similar cutscene when we went onto the Worldmap to (I think) Fort Locke. Without giving me a spoiler, can you tell me who it is? If you can't say without spoiling, don't tell me!

Fljotsdale wrote:We tried to do a cave that showed with no quest attached to it, but found the boss in there kept killing my girl and the Dwarf. So we left it. We will go back later, now there are 3 of us. But: Is there a Quest for it or not?

If this is the Swamp Cave, then no, there isn't a quest associated with it. But the weapon you get from the boss is useful.

When we went to find the item we were sent to get from ruins in the marches, we first tried to enter a house, but couldn't get in. Is it later Quest place?

Yes.

Also - there was a short cutscene

Spoiler

showing an elf - not a drow, but dark skinned, like a Moon Elf

and another similar cutscene when we went onto the Worldmap to (I think) Fort Locke. Without giving me a spoiler, can you tell me who it is? If you can't say without spoiling, don't tell me!

Well, obviously I can't say without spoiling. But you'll find out who it is fairly soon.

SWC

Fljotsdale wrote:Got my machine back today. Installed NWN2, created a char and took it through the Tutorial and a bit of the next bit.

Then I stopped. And thought "Surely NWN1 wasn't THIS clunky? I don't remember it having cut scenes every other minute. I don't remember the Interface being so abysmal! Was it? Or do I have fond memories edited by distance?"

So. I started again, New char, through the Tutorial and a little way past... It seemed a bit better this time - though not much. Maybe I was getting used to the interface and the menus and the constant cut-scenes...

Tell me... does it do cutscenes every other minute in the rest of the game? Will the controls feel less clunky when I get used to 'em?

Or has the smoothness of Oblivion spoiled me forever for games like this?

As others have mentioned, there are more cut-scenes in NwN2 and the interface seems to have taken a step back (I liked the radial of NwN1), but the camera is basically the same as it was in NwN1, so that is just being "spoiled" so to speak.

However, I have not had many problems running NwN 2 machine/graphical wise, like I didn't with Oblivion, but Oblivion was not "smooth". It did still lag some when loading new areas - which it does continuesly and it did have choppy effects as well. NwN 2 does take a load of system power however, so if a system is not "state of the art", then running with high settings etc will result in problems.

However, for your other problems (character creation, Open ended Oblivion vs. closed path NwN et al.) then it is simply preferences of games. Needless to say - but I think Oblivion is a piece of (insert four letter non-positive word), so that adds to my preferences, much as your perception adds to your preferences.

I think the interface is pretty realistic. It is an RPG, and I am searching for enemies, treasure, people to talk to. It makes it part of the challenge forcing me to work the camera angle to find such things. Granted, sometimes I don't want to be bothered and the buildings overlay onto doors, or gates onto the worldmap exits and I become frustrated, but those are rendering issues. I realistically couldn't automatically see whatever is going on around me no matter how I turned. I would need to also lift my head or duck or stand up on my toes sometimes. The camera "problems" kind of reflect that.

Oh, and the screenshots from Oblivion gave me a headache. Not to mention the flawed logic behind a game set in a hellish landscape that looks like it was drawn up by the guy who made Josephs cloak type deal in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat or whatever the hell that thing was. I think the graphics in NWN do their job farely nicely. You can zoom out and see a large area, or zoom right in and see the work done on the models in the game. Plus, they vary the scenery to fit the location. Dark and gloomy for a swamp or graveyard, bright and green for a forest.

Xandax wrote: As others have mentioned, there are more cut-scenes in NwN2 and the interface seems to have taken a step back (I liked the radial of NwN1), but the camera is basically the same as it was in NwN1, so that is just being "spoiled" so to speak.

However, I have not had many problems running NwN 2 machine/graphical wise, like I didn't with Oblivion, but Oblivion was not "smooth". It did still lag some when loading new areas - which it does continuesly and it did have choppy effects as well. NwN 2 does take a load of system power however, so if a system is not "state of the art", then running with high settings etc will result in problems.

It was smooth when running properly, lol! :laugh: And the bodies of people/critters are smoothly rendered in Oblivion and far less puppet-doll than NWN - 1 or 2. Good scenery, too, appropriate for mountainous when in mountain areas, and Temperate zone in the rest. It wouldn't be appropriate to have desert areas or volcanic areas in a Temperate zone - and, in real life, did you ever see a churchyard that was spooky and full of skeletons, as in NWN2? Me neither! Nor in Oblivion - they kept 'em to dungeons and caves!

Xandax wrote:However, for your other problems (character creation, Open ended Oblivion vs. closed path NwN et al.) then it is simply preferences of games. Needless to say - but I think Oblivion is a piece of (insert four letter non-positive word), so that adds to my preferences, much as your perception adds to your preferences.

:mischief: :laugh: