This means that between work, study, obligatory g/f attention time, NWN2, MII, LucasForums there will be only 1 0.5 hours left for sleep each day :( :D
yay for insomnia \o/ :p
mtfbwya
Fixed!
Fixed!
indeedy. I knew 1.5 seemed like far too much ;)
The scary thing is, that estimation is only slightly exaggerated. I'm getting an average of 3-5 hours sleep nowdays - due to aforementioned factors. It has gotten to the point where I will actually be cutting down a day of work(and taking less pay!) to catch up on sleep, study, exercise, NWN2 etc :( :p
mtfbwya
Edit: Jae's had a Moron Moment (tm)!
Darn it, I was on Jimbo's computer and I didn't realize he hadn't logged off, so if you're wondering about a guy commenting on being a mother hen, it's because I forgot to log on under my own name....Honest, I'm not trying to boost his post count. :D
(Jae here) Heh, Astro, if you don't catch up on sleep, it has the nasty habit of catching up on you.
One summer my motto was "I'm going to sleep when I'm 60!" I worked one full time and one part time job and went out with friends nearly every weekend and at least once, if not twice a week. I averaged about as much sleep as you. Then, because I was so worn out, I managed to catch mono. My motto then became "I'm going to sleep until I'm 60!"
It'll be worth the pay cut to get more sleep...and I'll quit playing mother hen now. :D
Anyway, Jimbo asked me what I wanted for my b-day next week, since it's one of those 'special' ones. I told him I thought the kitchen ceiling drywall and new flooring in the upstairs bath would likely be it. (leaking toilet :fist: A meter square piece of wet cementboard ceiling nearly fell on my head a week ago--I got up from my chair literally a moment before it crashed down--divine protection there--whew!). Well, he decided that that was not fun enough, and asked if I wanted NWN2 or Oblivion also. Of course I said NWN2!
Besides, I was planning on getting Oblivion for him for Christmas.... :D
I bought NWN2. My only problem is that I need to upgrade my graphics card. So far, the game is pretty sweet. I am glad the player can customize the characters. I can't say anything for the story, for I have not had a chance to play. After I buy a newer card, I will play it through. I am very impressed with the level of detail they utilized.
Also, the modding tools are slightly compatible with KotOR II files, but I haven't done enough testing yet.
I bought NWN2. My only problem is that I need to upgrade my graphics card. So far, the game is pretty sweet. I am glad the player can customize the characters. I can't say anything for the story, for I have not had a chance to play. After I buy a newer card, I will play it through. I am very impressed with the level of detail they utilized.Me too! I have to get a new graphics card because the game runs SLOWLY for me (just like KotOR I and KotOR II did before we got the graphics card we have now. *sigh*). But other than that it looks wonderful and should be tons of fun to play, once I get to play it, that is... ;)
@chainz: 7 disks!!! My Lord! Thank goodness hubby got us the DVD version. I don't think I could've handled a 7 disk install! :lol:
Me too! I have to get a new graphics card because the game runs SLOWLY for me (just like KotOR I and KotOR II did before we got the graphics card we have now. *sigh*). But other than that it looks wonderful and should be tons of fun to play, once I get to play it, that is... ;)
@chainz: 7 disks!!! My Lord! Thank goodness hubby got us the DVD version. I don't think I could've handled a 7 disk install! :lol:
I ended up getting the DVD version myself. I will probally be buying a 512MB Graphics Card by Nivida.
It was well worth the money, i have arrived to Neverwinter now, and have done some mission there. I love the party members conversations, they are hilarious. So what are you guys playing for race/aligiment/class. Im a lawfulevil drow wizard.
It was well worth the money, i have arrived to Neverwinter now, and have done some mission there. I love the party members conversations, they are hilarious. So what are you guys playing for race/aligiment/class. Im a lawfulevil drow wizard.
If you don't mind me asking, how much system RAM are you running?
It was well worth the money, i have arrived to Neverwinter now, and have done some mission there. I love the party members conversations, they are hilarious. So what are you guys playing for race/aligiment/class. Im a lawfulevil drow wizard.
I'm a chaotic neutral Aasimar warlock.
NWN2 is great so far but I made the mistake of not going to see the lizard chief right away when asked if Iwanted to see him. This got me stuck in Highcliff because I could not talk to Slaa to take me to the chief AAARRRRRGGGHHHH (Glitch? or not enough knowledge?)
I didnt get stuck, i didnt go to him right away either, have you download both patches? But i encounterd a bug in Neverwinter, one of the party members get a personal quest there, and i could ask her about the mission before it trigged and get the location of where the person we should find lived, then maybe 10 mins later, the mission trigged
Hey, I need your advice on NWN2.
I just don't know which race to pick, I'm having a hard time choosing between these races; 1. Shield Dwarf, 2. Half-Orc and 3. Human. Also, which classes whould be best suited for them. I like fighting most so it has to be a warrior or fighting class.
- Ghost Down
Hey, I need your advice on NWN2.
I just don't know which race to pick, I'm having a hard time choosing between these races; 1. Shield Dwarf, 2. Half-Orc and 3. Human. Also, which classes whould be best suited for them. I like fighting most so it has to be a warrior or fighting class.
- Ghost Down
Try Half Orc Barbarion
Any other suggestions? Also, which race whould make the cutscenes the most enjoyable?
- Ghost Down
What do you mean with "cutscenes the most enjoyable", you could try a monk, in BG2 my first characther was a human monk, and that was quite fun, and i have found many items that boost damage on monks attack and so on. Monk are specialist in unarmed attacks, so you dont have to run around and buy wepons for him either.
I have a question about the NWN1 story, who the hell is Garius? I never finished NWN1, and i dont remember so much, but it's clear he was a villian in the first game
And he seems to be the main villian in NWN2 to
I mean that which race will make the cutscene more funny, Like when I first choosed the Orc and encoutered that Dwarf the dialog was pretty funny..
- Ghost Down
I've gotten the game today, and so far I've just gotten out of the door of the house you start in, but so far it's been quite underwhelming from a performance standpoint. :(
With the default graphics settings I got a whopping frame rate of 9 FPS in that first room. Quite unplayable. After messing around a bit with the graphics settings I found that I got a jump from 9 FPS to 52 FPS by disabling the "point light shadows" setting whatever that means. So far so good, until I got outside of the door. There it dropped down to on average 13-15 FPS again. After messing around with the graphics settings some more I found no clear remedy to that problem, nothing I changed did much of a difference to the frame rate.
Do anyone have any idea which graphics settings are particularily resource consuming that could be turned off/down so I could gain a playable framerate in the game? I have an ATI Radeon X1900XT graphics card, if that matters.
(I find it mildly amusing that this game appears to be about 1000% more demanding graphically than Oblivion despite the fact that it certainly doesn't look as good or better than it from what I've seen so far.)
What are your specs compared to the requirements (just curious)?
What are your specs compared to the requirements (just curious)?
Requirements:
OS: Windows XP
Processor: 2.4 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon XP2000 or equivalent
Memory: 512 MB (1 GB recommended)
Hard disk space: 5.5 GB free
DVD-ROM drive: 4X speed or faster
Video: 128 MB Pixel Shader 2.0 (ATI 9700 Pro or nVidia 6600 or better), 256 MB Pixel Shader Model 3.0 (ATI X1600 or nVidia 6800 GT/GS or higher) recommended.
Sound: DirectX version 8.1 compatible sound card
DirectX: DirectX version 9.0c or higher
My computer:
OS: Windows XP Home Edition (SP2)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+
Memory: 2 GB
Hard disk space: 67 GB free
DVD-ROM: X16 speed according to the specs I can find
Video: ATI Radeon X1900 XT, 512 MB (should support shader model 3)
Sound: Think it is DX 8.1 compatible. It's on-board audio on an Asus A8N-E (nVidia nForce 4 Ultra) motherboard. Works fine with other games requiring DX8.1 sound at least.
DirectX: version 9.0c
Rather frustrating to look forward to and wait so long for a game only to find it unplayably slow once I get it. :cry8: (In particular since it's the only game I've tried so far on this machine that averages below 30 FPS.)
Make sure you're running the right executable. AMD users should use the nwn2main_amdxp executable.
Ya, this game performs awful on any system. What resolution are you playing at? At 1650x1080 i'm getting around 20 FPS outside (i have a 7800 GTX 512MB). I found out that turning off the shadows gives you a nice FPS boost. FPS jumped from 20 to 35 by turning them off completely.
Anyway, i'm getting a 8800GTX soon... so hopefully i'll be able to play the game at the highest settings.
Make sure you're running the right executable. AMD users should use the nwn2main_amdxp executable.
Since there was an nwn2.exe, nwloader.exe, nwn2main.exe and nwn2main_amdxp.exe I figured it was safer to just run via the Launcher while testing this, since I was confused as to what the different files were for. I had hoped that the launcher would be smart enough to pick the correct exe file. But it's good to know which one to use so I can properly add it to ATI Tray Tools along with all other game profiles.
But isn't the "_amdxp" one not only for AMD Athlon XP processors, and not Amd Athlon 64? Or does the "XP" in the filename refer to Windows XP? Confusing ambiguous abbreviations. :confused:
Ya, this game performs awful on any system. What resolution are you playing at?
I'm playing at 1280x1024, and most changes to the graphics settings didn't do any noticable difference, maybe 1 or 2 FPS on average in either direction. The one that did a huge change was the "Point light shadow" or whatever it was called, which bumped me up from 8 FPS to 53 FPS in the starting room.
The only setting that did any noticable difference in the outdoors area I managed to find was "Reflective water". Turning that off bumped me up from 13-15 FPS to roughly 28-32 FPS. Way poorer than my average FPS in Oblivion, but at least it's playable so I won't complain as long as it stays there and doesn't get any worse as I get to other places. :)
Time to find out, and see if I can find something better to wear than that awfully ugly starting attire I got that cramps my character's style. :emodanc:
(Odd that the auto-configuration would turn on graphics settings that made my GPU beg for mercy, but at least they could be changed manually once found.)
Anyway, i'm getting a 8800GTX soon... so hopefully i'll be able to play the game at the highest settings.
Unless that card runs in circles around my R X1900 XT I wouldn't get my hopes up. Unless the game handles nVidia cards a lot better than ATI/AMD ones.
Since there was an nwn2.exe, nwloader.exe, nwn2main.exe and nwn2main_amdxp.exe I figured it was safer to just run via the Launcher while testing this, since I was confused as to what the different files were for. I had hoped that the launcher would be smart enough to pick the correct exe file. But it's good to know which one to use so I can properly add it to ATI Tray Tools along with all other game profiles.
But isn't the "_amdxp" one not only for AMD Athlon XP processors, and not Amd Athlon 64? Or does the "XP" in the filename refer to Windows XP? Confusing ambiguous abbreviations. :confused:.
All I know is that I've been playing it at 1920x1200 with nearly all the settings maxed out since I started using the _amdxp executable, whereas before it wasn't playable at all.
All I know is that I've been playing it at 1920x1200 with nearly all the settings maxed out since I started using the _amdxp executable, whereas before it wasn't playable at all.
I tried with the AMDXP variant of the executable, and while it seemed to work overall better (no flickering loadscreens etc) it didn't do any noticably difference for performance.
And it seems I spoke to soon about managing to get a decent framerate. Didn't get any further than the bridge in the village until the framerate was back down at 14-15 FPS on average. :(
I've tried playing with all graphics options, but nothing seems to make a difference for more than 2-3 FPS at highest. This is ridiculous.
Do anyone have any ideas on what can be done, other than admit I have been fooled, uninstall the :swear: game and forget about it? :(
I tried with the AMDXP variant of the executable, and while it seemed to work overall better (no flickering loadscreens etc) it didn't do any noticably difference for performance.
And it seems I spoke to soon about managing to get a decent framerate. Didn't get any further than the bridge in the village until the framerate was back down at 14-15 FPS on average. :(
I've tried playing with all graphics options, but nothing seems to make a difference for more than 2-3 FPS at highest. This is ridiculous.
Do anyone have any ideas on what can be done, other than admit I have been fooled, uninstall the :swear: game and forget about it? :(
Hmm. Have you patched the game? That's the only thing I can think of right now :/
Hmm. Have you patched the game? That's the only thing I can think of right now :/
I have the latest patch (1.02?) available at the auto-updater at least. I finally managed to get a decently playable framerate (24-28) in most areas I've been to so far by turning off point light shadows, water refractions, water reflections, environment bump mapping, soft shadows, setting all the "advanced graphics" panel settings to their lowest possible value, switching to medium res textures and turning off all shadows. The prettiness of the game took a drastic drop for the worse (doesn't look much different from NWN1 aside from model detail), but at least its playable now. Not exactly what I had expected when having a fairly decent graphics card, but hopefully the game is otherwise worth it. :)
* * *
Another, unrelated question. Do anyone know how you put two weapons (when dual-wielding) or a weapon and shield in the same quick-slot so you can switch to them in one click? Doesn't seem like you do it the same way as in NWN1, at least the last dragged item always substitutes the currently quickslotted one when I try. :confused:
Have you tried lowering your mip-map and shadow map settings? 2048 mapping for shadows is serious overkill... kill it down to 512, you'll not see a difference other than performance ;) In fact, if you haven't completely killed shadows in your game, lower all the settings to their lowest value (shadow wise). Other than "softer shadows" you're not going to be seeing a major difference (I tend to keep the soft shadows "on" just for visuals)...
Another, unrelated question. Do anyone know how you put two weapons (when dual-wielding) or a weapon and shield in the same quick-slot so you can switch to them in one click? Doesn't seem like you do it the same way as in NWN1, at least the last dragged item always substitutes the currently quickslotted one when I try. :confused:
You can't :swear:
It seems the deeper I get into this game, the more Obsidian's flaws keeps coming back to bite me in the arse. They've at least stated they're looking into fixing this "quirk" (blaming it on a complex GUI :rolleyes: ) but I can't help to wander what they were doing with all the time it took to complete this game... *sigh*
The character soundset is the same from the original NWN as are the generic npc townsfolk banter.. so they weren't deeply involved in developing sound. The weapons model are like the original NWN... low polygon and mono-tone color (ones without particle effect enchantments).. so no major time making those... >.<
The quickbar is groovy having 10 rows to be able to be filled, however.. and maybe I'm just clueless, but has anyone figured out how to toggle between them other than clicking the arrow keys (not keyboard arrows, scrollbar arrows)? In NWN I could use my ALT & CTRL keys... I can't get anything to work to scroll through 10 of them. If I have to click scroll arrows, I might as well just hit "I" and activate the item from my inventory :rolleyes: ...
I have a feeling I'm going to be depending on the Mod Community (and myself) to help redeem the game... I enjoy playing it, but these issues are becoming irritating despite the fact that Obsidian doesn't appear to have done anything groundbreaking from the original, except make the specs required double :confused:
2 strikes from Obsidian... and a major "I'm pissed" they're @#%$! up my favorite game series.. hehehe. C'mon Obsidian.. wake up in there...
Hmm...
Well, in order to keep my framerate hanging around 30 (In exteriors), I turned off the water effects and the terrain mapping, along with the point light shadows.
I wouldn't say they wrecked it though, ChAiNz. The story is excellent, as are your companions, which is more than enough reason for me to overlook the slightly cumbersome GUI and the steep system requirements for an average looking game. I'm having fun seeing the delayed effects my actions have on the environment.
You can't :swear:
:( Oh well, I guess I'll toss away the crossbow and stick with a weapon and shield. It's too annoying to flip them around in the inventory in every fight as soon as the enemy closes the distance. I just hope nobody cares that you walk around with a big flaming morningstar in your hand all the time. If they've done like in Oblivion where it matters, but still prevent you from "holstering" your weapons effectively, I will be annoyed.
It seems the deeper I get into this game, the more Obsidian's flaws keeps coming back to bite me in the arse. They've at least stated they're looking into fixing this "quirk" (blaming it on a complex GUI :rolleyes: )
From what I've seen so far (which admittedly isn't very far) I have to agree. The NWN2 campaign seems superior to the one in NWN1 thus far, but the engine feels inferior and half-finished. The GUI feels rougher, more awkward to work with with many of the little finesses and tricks that made NWN1 feel polished missing. The GUI design feels like BG2 retro, a step back from the clean, functional GUI in NWN1. Half the console commands seem to have vanished, and of the remaining a conciderable bunch seems not to work. And they've removed the console tab auto-completion. You can't see which memorized spells you've already cast in the spell book any more (they were dimmed in NWN1, not so in NWN2).
Combat seems to mostly consist of standing around in NWN2, making a swing every now and then. They should have either filled it out with feints and movement like NWN1, or shortened a combat round to 3 seconds like KotOR. As it is now just feels unnatural. And aside from that the game feels sluggish in a way, like everything you do happens with a second's delay or something. And overall the combat animations seem cruder, and the combatants don't seem to interact as much like they do in NWN and KotOR.
The female animations overall are annoying as well. The character stands like a humpback and runs like there is something seriously wrong with their legs. Looks a lot more unnatural than the movement in NWN1, which in themselves looked rather unnatural :)
Not the mention the toolset... I've only taken a quick look at it so far, but I have to say it has the most bloated, unintuitive, horrid GUI I have seen since gmax. Horrible functionality overload, weird controls which aren't very obvious what they are for or how they work. The charm with the NWN1 toolset was that, though it was fairly limited, pretty much anyone could understand it and get creative after only a few minutes of tinkering. You probably have to be pretty dedicated not to give up in frustration initially when playing with the NWN2 toolset. :roleyess:
The character soundset is the same from the original NWN as are the generic npc townsfolk banter.. so they weren't deeply involved in developing sound.
I wouldn't mind reusing soundsets too much if the originals were generic and all-around useful. Unfortunately that was not the case, most were quirky or very specialized in what kind of character they would fit with, leaving little or no actual choice in what to pick. New soundsets certainly wouldn't have hurt the game.
The weapons model are like the original NWN... low polygon and mono-tone color (ones without particle effect enchantments).. so no major time making those... >.<
I've only seen some plain longswords, clubs, maces and daggers so far, and haven't really taken notice of them (and a morningstar covered in a blob of fire so it can't be seen properly), so I guess that makes them rather bland. :) I would have guessed it was just that I have to play with ridiculously nerfed graphics settings that removes some realism from them. Since NWNs primary focus isn't flashy graphics I find it rather ridiculous it's the only game I've had any performance problems with so far, and I've been playing some rather graphics intensive games lately. :)
I have a feeling I'm going to be depending on the Mod Community (and myself) to help redeem the game... I enjoy playing it, but these issues are becoming irritating despite the fact that Obsidian doesn't appear to have done anything groundbreaking from the original, except make the specs required double :confused:
The question is just if there will be a long lived and active enough modding community to fix it this time around. Since the engine is nerfed compared to what could be done with NWN1, all new flashy features are undocumented, Obsidian seems to have gone out of their way to make modding more difficult, and the primary saving grace of the game appears to be the campaign, it might be that people get bored with it and move on to something else after they've played through the campaign a couple of times, like most other games. Hopefully there will be some that are more committed, and Obsidian won't abandon the game like they did K2:TSL, or like Bethesda seems to have done with Oblivion, but keep up Bioware's admirable tradition with content rich "upgrade" patches to perfect the game over time.
2 strikes from Obsidian... and a major "I'm pissed" they're @#%$! up my favorite game series.. hehehe. C'mon Obsidian.. wake up in there...
It does start to look a bit bad, indeed. Perhaps they should take a hint from the fate of Troika, another company known for making excellent games but releasing them half-finished and buggy to the point where they were nearly unplayable.
* * *
BTW, is there a way to make the SetDEX and SetINT console commands to work? I messed up during character creation and can't be bothered to start over, and would like to re-arrange my abilities a bit, but those commands seem to do absolutely nothing in NWN2. :(
I don't have the game so I'm just giving a shot in the dark but here are couple things I found while browsing the bioware boards:
Stoffe, concerning your framerate issues, do you have xfire installed? It seems likeit can cause major framerate problems.
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=512193&forum=109)
Another, unrelated question. Do anyone know how you put two weapons (when dual-wielding) or a weapon and shield in the same quick-slot so you can switch to them in one click? Doesn't seem like you do it the same way as in NWN1, at least the last dragged item always substitutes the currently quickslotted one when I try. :confused:
It looks like they will make a patch for this:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=509556&forum=109)
The question is just if there will be a long lived and active enough modding community to fix it this time around. Since the engine is nerfed compared to what could be done with NWN1, all new flashy features are undocumented, Obsidian seems to have gone out of their way to make modding more difficultCan I ask how the engine is nerfed compared to 1?
Combat seems to mostly consist of standing around in NWN2, making a swing every now and then. They should have either filled it out with feints and movement like NWN1, or shortened a combat round to 3 seconds like KotOR. As it is now just feels unnatural. And aside from that the game feels sluggish in a way, like everything you do happens with a second's delay or something. And overall the combat animations seem cruder, and the combatants don't seem to interact as much like they do in NWN and KotOR.
While I do think it would have been a good idea to shorten the combat round, I'm not too bothered by the combat animations *and* I do happen to hate feints. For someone who doesn't obsessively look at the feedback section it is somewhat annoying to be wondering why my character isn't hitting the person. I tend to look at the number bleeding rather than the calculations, unless it is a particularly tough battle.
Can I ask how the engine is nerfed compared to 1?It's basically KotOR 2 + more detailed models and the ability to use more screen resolutions (yay for widescreen support). I think basing the file formats on NWN 1's formats really limited what they could do though, animations, for instance, seem a bit awkward.
I will give Obsidian a pat on the back for the new effects though, they are a hell of a lot better than the NWN1 effects, and they way they used them to make the Silver Sword of Gith was pretty creative. If I'm not mistaken, the item uses a hilt model which has an effect applied to it so that the blade can still break back into the silver shards and be used to form the Shard Storm and Shard Barrier attacks.
Stoffe, concerning your framerate issues, do you have xfire installed? It seems likeit can cause major framerate problems.
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=512193&forum=109)
Hmm, I don't think that should be the cause. I unselected the Xfire option during installation, so it shouldn't be there unless it ignored my choice and installed it anyway. :)
It looks like they will make a patch for this:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=509556&forum=109)
Aha, hopefully the second patch (I assume the 1.02 hotfix doesn't count as a full patch, since I have that installed already) won't be to far away into the future. It's a bit annoying when you can't hotkey your weapons. Fortunately I don't play primarily as a melee/ranged brawler (and I only have the dwarf and the tiefling in the party so far), otherwise I guess it would drive me mad. :)
Can I ask how the engine is nerfed compared to 1?
What I have noticed so far (with reservation for errors since I've only had the game a couple of days): No database support any more, some old script commands no longer work, loads of missing console/DM commands, the Creator/Module object browser windows (don't know what they are called) you could access in DebugMode (to edit/move/create/delete placeables, creatures etc) is nowhere to be found (unless they've concealed it well). Level 20 level cap appears to be hardcoded again, making the spellcaster prestige classes rather pointless since your are much worse off than if you sticked with the original class all the way if you want access to spells of all levels.
While I do think it would have been a good idea to shorten the combat round, I'm not too bothered by the combat animations *and* I do happen to hate feints.
Perhaps it becomes less obvious when you get up a few levels and gain more attacks per round. Currently combat is like you hit the enemy, then stand around staring at them for what feels like an eternity twiddling your thumbs, hit them again, stands staring, etc... It's much more obviously turn-based than either NWN1 or KotOR were, and it breaks the realism (if you can use that word describing a fantasy game :)).
Level 20 level cap appears to be hardcoded again, making the spellcaster prestige classes rather pointless since your are much worse off than if you sticked with the original class all the way.
A max level 20 restriction with Prestiege Classes... WTH were they smoking? :eyeraise:
I guess NWN 2 can be marked off my list...
A max level 20 restriction with Prestiege Classes... WTH were they smoking? :eyeraise:Wow. The KOTOR level 20 cap I kind of understood since the PnP version had it. But why would that be in a DND game?
A max level 20 restriction with Prestiege Classes... WTH were they smoking? :eyeraise:
I guess NWN 2 can be marked off my list...
You could always just remove some of the prerequisites for the prestige classes.
Level 20 level cap appears to be hardcoded again, making the spellcaster prestige classes rather pointless since your are much worse off than if you sticked with the original class all the way if you want access to spells of all levels.
Don't worry, it isn't :) - or at least it doesn't seem to be (I haven't tested this). The toolset sports a campaign editor in which you can set the level cap.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/Pavlos_1/CampaignEditor.jpg)
You can set this to other numbers higher than 20 without error messages but without testing in the game I cannot say for sure.
Don't worry, it isn't :) - or at least it doesn't seem to be (I haven't tested this). The toolset sports a campaign editor in which you can set the level cap.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/Pavlos_1/CampaignEditor.jpg)
You can set this to other numbers higher than 20 without error messages but without testing in the game I cannot say for sure.
I hope you're right and it does work... I haven't gotten this yet but I wouldn't like a level cap of 20 with the prestige class...
Don't worry, it isn't :) - or at least it doesn't seem to be (I haven't tested this). The toolset sports a campaign editor in which you can set the level cap.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/Pavlos_1/CampaignEditor.jpg)
You can set this to other numbers higher than 20 without error messages but without testing in the game I cannot say for sure.
You may be correct, I haven't gotten that far yet (level 6 currently) to test it out personally, but at least the manual (the full PDF manual, not the silly little pamphlet that comes in the DVD box :roleyess:) seems to mention level 20 as a cap everywhere I have read so far. But perhaps the engine is capable of more anyway, they just won't let you get that high in the official campaign. Remains to be seen, but I hope you are right. :)
Don't worry, it isn't :) - or at least it doesn't seem to be (I haven't tested this). The toolset sports a campaign editor in which you can set the level cap.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/Pavlos_1/CampaignEditor.jpg)
You can set this to other numbers higher than 20 without error messages but without testing in the game I cannot say for sure.
It doesn't work ;_;
It doesn't work ;_;NOOOOOOOO!!! :vader3:
NOOOOOOOO!!! :vader3:
I'll see if I can edit a few 2DA's or something to grant more spells, skills, ability points, and feats at earlier levels and remove a few prerequisites from the prestige classes so becoming a prestige class won't be a complete waste of time.
I'll see if I can edit a few 2DA's or something to grant more spells, skills, ability points, and feats at earlier levels and remove a few prerequisites from the prestige classes so becoming a prestige class won't be a complete waste of time.
Help us jmac7142, you're our only hope. :leia:
I've played some more, and while the campaign is fun so far I've come to the conclusion that combat must have been tailor-made by some sadistic designer to be as annoying as possible. It could just be my usual unlucky self, but I did the quest in Neverwinter where you clear out the warehouse and those gang thugs you fight there were going on my nerves (and not just by all of them shouting "Your taint shall be cleansed!" whenever they attacked my halo-wearing Aasimar PC).
Enemy hitpoints seem to have been carefully set so they will always have between 1 and 5 hitpoints left after being hit by a high-damage spell, giving them another round to attack you, never killing them outright.
A common thug with a challenge rating of "Easy" or "Effortless" can sigle-handedly kill both the dwarf and druid party member if you don't focus all you have at them and use doors as choke points so only one of them can attack at a time. And I'm playing at the Easy difficulty setting.
Attack rolls seems to be locked at the lower range. My cleric, buffed up with the spell that gives her Fighter BAB, got 15(!) misses in direct succession against a leather armor wearing thug, who obviously managed to hit her about 90% of the time despite her having an AC of 28, and them dual-wielding a short sword and a dagger. Another notable record is 6 critical misses (1 rolls) in direct succession. I had to use up every single healing potion and medkit I had found so far to get through that area, and that's with a cleric and druid in the party capable of casting healing spells in addition. :(
Perhaps I was just unlucky, or have had poor luck at finding proper gear to equip my group for their current level (lvl 8), but if that warehouse had been a single room longer I'd have quit playing in pure frustration. :roleyess:
Is this just a matter of having found poor equipment for my group? Will there be similar battles upcoming so I have to cheat in better gear to be able to preserve my sanity and enjoy the game, or was that particular quest just made to be annoying?
* * *
Re: The level cap. I suppose prestige classes can still be useful for fighters and rogues, but they seem pretty worthless for all the spellcasting capable classes as it currently stands.
Same here stoffe as far as the real sucky "to-hit" ratio. My Thief/Fighter-Duel Wielding-KillYouWithoutThinkingTwice Drow almost got his rear smeared across the floor if it hadn't been for me (by complete fluke) deciding to take Qara (sorceress NPC) with me rather than the Druid.
She may have a bad attitude, but man she flings blood guts spit and ass like there's no tomorrow... just make sure you give her stoneskin in her spellbook. She goes down quick if anyone closes in on her, but she can wipe out a crowd of thugs in less time it takes for your party to start closing in ;)
If you're running low on defensive gear, talk to the little gnome lady in the Docks area. She carries alot of defensive trinkets (amulets, boots, cloaks, etc.) She's stashed far in the back where it seems alot of NWN citizens tend to gather, just behind the Watch's building. That is of course, if you're not like me and having a horrendous time trying to get gold in this campaign. :fist:
If it hadn't been for pawning off the warehouse booty, and me splurging earlier in the game to get the lesser magic bag which is a 40% weight reduction (Fort Locke Merchant - Garion)... I'd still be sucking down minor health potions.
The temple of Tyr in the Market District also has the best prices for healing potions... it costs about half of what you'll be paying anywhere else so make the effort and walk over to them to buy the cheap stuff if you're a pauper such as myself :lol:
As far as other bitterly over-matched fights.. there is another I can think of if you haven't done it already. It involoves the Temple of Tyr in Market District. I put it in spoilers just in case, but it only really covers "what" you encounter so you can be prepared. Still, it's a spoiler ;)
The priest of Tyr asks you to check on/rescue another priest who's not returned from "crypt duty". Thing is, once you enter the crypt, you can't get out until you find him....
Inside the crypt is your typical zombies/ghouls.. BUT there are also shades and ghasts... be sure to have magic weapons and watch out for the ghasts, they can paralyze!
The Boss for the crypt is another Easter Egg.. so be sure to read the name once you encounter. Oh yeah, take LOTS of heal potions or rest often
SPOILER ALERT! This whole post is probably loaded with spoilers. Don't read it unless you've gotten past the early parts of Neverwinter.
almost got his rear smeared across the floor if it hadn't been for me deciding to take Qara (sorceress NPC) with me rather than the Druid.
She may have a bad attitude, but man she flings blood guts spit and ass like there's no tomorrow... just make sure you give her stoneskin in her spellbook. She goes down quick if anyone closes in on her, but she can wipe out a crowd of thugs in less time it takes for your party to start closing in ;)
Since it seems she gets attacked by loads of suicidal low level mages whenever we set foot outside the tavern it seems difficult to get anything done with her in the group if you too are a spellcaster (Cleric in my case). Go outside, get attacked by like 15 mages. Go inside and rest to re-memorize the lost spells and heal up, go back outside only to get attacked by 25 mages this time, etc. Got tired of it and left her in the tavern instead so I'd be able to get some quests done without having to slaughter the entire casting-capable population of Neverwinter just to get where I need to go.
I contemplated attempting to bring her to the warehouse anyway, but just before that I got some cutscene with some scheming noble who wanted a witch to make her spells backfire on her. Didn't sound like a good idea to bring a melee-worthless spellcaster who kills herself whenever casting a spell to a major fight, so I figured it was better to leave her behind and bring the tiefling instead. At least she could deal some extra damage with a bunch of wands and spell scrolls I had found. Wouldn't want to leave the druid though, her Call Lightning, Ice Storm and Body of the Sun spells probably accounted for at least 50% of the damage caused to those irritating gang thugs.
Adding insult to injury I found mostly crap when looting the containers in the warehouse (and I got a greatsword when I let Neeshka do her looting mini-quest there. Very useful for a Cleric who can't use swords). All those healing kits and cure potions, traps and wands I had to use up were most likely worth more than the loot I found there.
If you're running low on defensive gear, talk to the little gnome lady in the Docks area. She carries alot of defensive trinkets (amulets, boots, cloaks, etc.) She's stashed far in the back where it seems alot of NWN citizens tend to gather, just behind the Watch's building. That is of course, if you're not like me and having a horrendous time trying to get gold in this campaign. :fist:
That's the problem, I am like you. :p Everything of worth you can buy from merchants is hideously expensive and I have at most been able to scrape together roughly 10 000 gold so far (and that includes the wagon load of burglary loot i confiscated for the City Watch in the Docks district but no one seems interested in taking off my hands).
I guess that's the disadvantage of playing a good-aligned halo wearer, she doesn't have the heart to squeeze their life savings off dirt farmers as rewards for saving their kids or some such. I guess you have to play as a ruthless bastard to do well in this game. :roleyess:
If it hadn't been for pawning off the warehouse booty, and me splurging earlier in the game to get the lesser magic bag which is a 40% weight reduction (Fort Locke Merchant - Garion)
I smell random loot stock at the merchants, I can't remember having seen anyone sell any weight reduction bags.
The temple of Tyr in the Market District also has the best prices for healing potions...
Is the Temple of Tyr in the Market District the same as the Hall of Justice, or is that still found in the same district as Lord Nasher's palace like in NWN1? I need to bring the NPC dwarf (Khelgar?) there on some quest, but have been unable to find it so far.
As far as other bitterly over-matched fights.. there is another I can think of if you haven't done it already. It involoves the Temple of Tyr in Market District.
Hmm, perhaps I should wait with that quest then until I've managed to find better gear. Thanks for the warning. :) Are you accosted with this quest whenever you enter the temple, or can you shop potions there unmolested and come back for the quest when the time feels right?
I found another: The very next City Watch quest after the warehouse, the "Escort" mission. I swear every single room in that mansion contains 6 sneak attacking rogues where it took the entire party hitting a single one of them like 10 rounds to kill him (Again challenge rating "Easy". I'd hate to see how Obisidan defined a "Challenging" enemy). And there were a lot of rooms in that manion. Luckily there were a lot more narrow doorways in there so you could at least take one of them at a time, which cut down the need for healing a little (but not much). Always rewarding when you need to use braindead AI behavior to beat the opponents rather than the skill of your characters. Even thugs should know better than to stand in line to have 4 enemies beat on them one at a time.
Spells are mostly useless in such situations as well since you run out of spells after just a handful of rooms, and since you're there to prevent an NPC from getting a head shorter there's no time to rest between fights. If the next quest is more of the same I feel compelled to break my "no cheating on the first playthrough" rule and conjure up some more lethal implements of death for my team.
(Not to mention that no one seems to take notice of the certain "named" NPC you have to kill at the end of that quest, and you have no dialog options to even mention it, even though she supposedly is a major player in what's been going on. :roleyess:)
Since it seems she gets attacked by loads of suicidal low level mages whenever we set foot outside the tavern it seems difficult to get anything done with her in the group if you too are a spellcaster (Cleric in my case). Go outside, get attacked by like 15 mages. Go inside and rest to re-memorize the lost spells and heal up, go back outside only to get attacked by 25 mages this time, etc.
Rest outside in the city streets. Apparently it's not frowned upon in this campaign like it was in the original. I've rested "out in the blue" several times without penalty or random encounter. Same with the warehouse... even though there were enemies "nearby", just a few steps back and the game let me rest without incident. Seems to be the "scapegoat" in this game as the resting timer is only 5 sec. and seemingly can be done 'anywhere' unless it's a special area (eg. the smaller Swamp Graveyard crypt)
Adding insult to injury I found mostly crap when looting the containers in the warehouse (and I got a greatsword when I let Neeshka do her looting mini-quest there. Very useful for a Cleric who can't use swords). All those healing kits and cure potions, traps and wands I had to use up were most likely worth more than the loot I found there.
same here, but the Darksteel Chain Shirts were worth a ton, and because of the bag I had.. I loaded up my 19 strength dwarf with about 10 of them. At around 387gp each (I always raise my appraisal when leveling).. they helped out alot. I also sold that very same Greatsword you're talking about for 10,000gp since I can't seem to find anything better than the Bone Phoenix morningstar that my dwarf npc handles quite masterfully..
I guess that's the disadvantage of playing a good-aligned halo wearer, she doesn't have the heart to squeeze their life savings off dirt farmers as rewards for saving their kids or some such. I guess you have to play as a ruthless bastard to do well in this game. :roleyess:
Seems as such for the most part. However I noticed that accepting rewards, without reverting to Intimidate or certain Diplomacy options, will still grant you a +1 shift to "Good", award XP and give a reward. I got a decent amulet from the kid's parents (Highcliff) and the town gave me a decent set of studded armor when I accepted their reward for taking care of the Lizardmen problems (diplomatically). Most other times when I thought I would get an "evil" penalty.. I wound up going "chaotic" instead :confused: This game is still confusing me.. hehehe
I smell random loot stock at the merchants, I can't remember having seen anyone sell any weight reduction bags.
Double-check the merchant. The bag(s) is normally in the crafting components section and is rather bland looking so it blends all too well with wood planks. There's also a minor magic Bag (20% Weight Reduction) sold at the Weeping Willow Inn ;) So far they've been in all of my games (I've re-started 3 times up to this point.. I'm finally somewhat satisfied.. hehehe)
Is the Temple of Tyr in the Market District the same as the Hall of Justice, or is that still found in the same district as Lord Nasher's palace like in NWN1? I need to bring the NPC dwarf (Khelgar?) there on some quest, but have been unable to find it so far.It's behind a large gate, NE from "Deekin" in the Market District. I think it's marked on the map ("M" key version, not the ball map HUD)
Hmm, perhaps I should wait with that quest then until I've managed to find better gear. Thanks for the warning. :) Are you accosted with this quest whenever you enter the temple, or can you shop potions there unmolested and come back for the quest when the time feels right?
It's tagged with "urgency" but I went ahead and finished Neeshka's "coin" quest and the warehouse before I took the quest. It's not one of those "I accept" then the game automatically teleports you to it types. ;)
SPOILER ALERT! This whole post also likely contains spoilers concerning the early time in Neverwinter City.
Rest outside in the city streets. Apparently it's not frowned upon in this campaign like it was in the original. I've rested "out in the blue" several times without penalty or random encounter. Same with the warehouse...
Aha, perhaps I'm still a bit Morrowind/Oblivion damaged where it's illegal to rest outside in civilized areas. :) But if I had known that earlier I'd probably have missed a bunch of cutscenes with party members that seems to happen on occasion when you enter the tavern. :)
Not that I mind if you can rest often though since I play as a caster class. The "slot-based" magic system tends to make party casters weak and enemy NPC casters overpowered since the latter can burn all their spells in just one encounter, but you have to housekeep with yours in case you run into a nastier fight later. (And I've never ran into an enemy NPC caster who's already spent some of their spells for the day.)
same here, but the Darksteel Chain Shirts were worth a ton, and because of the bag I had.. I loaded up my 19 strength dwarf with about 10 of them. At around 387gp each (I always raise my appraisal when leveling)..
I don't suppose it's possible to go back into the warehouse after going outside and meeting Sir Superior (whatever his name was, the condescending type with the Neverwinter eye on his tabard). I'll have to see if I can go back and pick those up. Desperately need the gold even if I had to make several trips to a merchant to carry them all out. In particular since I have no ranks in appraisal at all since it's a cross class skill for clerics, which certainly doesn't improve the wealth of the party.
I also sold that very same Greatsword you're talking about for 10,000gp since I can't seem to find anything better than the Bone Phoenix morningstar that my dwarf npc handles quite masterfully..
Hmm, don't think my version of the greatsword was worth that much. Perhaps an Appraisal thing. The most valuable things I've found so far have been a few wands worth around 4000 gp, but I had to use them up to get through the warehouse and mansion alive. If it's that expensive to be on the City Watch I'm starting to understand why so many of them accepts bribes. :) Especially since I haven't been paid a single coin for my efforts so far. Monthly salary I guess.
I guess the Bone Phoenix is a fixed drop from the Cave Lizardman Chief east of the Inn? I found that too, and it's been a decent weapon for my main PC. At least until we reached Neverwinter, now it seems like every two-bit thug can take enormous amounts of punishment before going down.
Most other times when I thought I would get an "evil" penalty.. I wound up going "chaotic" instead :confused: This game is still confusing me.. hehehe
Indeed, the alignment system in NWN2 seems to suffer from the same problem as before; being driven entirely by action and not taking intent into the equation. I got somewhat surprised I got one Chaotic point for confiscating stolen goods from a bunch of thieves while working for the City Watch. Huh.
Speaking of which, is there a way to see the numeric value of your Law and Good scores? In NWN1 it was displayed on your character sheet, but that doesn't seem to be the case in NWN2.
Double-check the merchant. The bag(s) is normally in the crafting components section and is rather bland looking so it blends all too well with wood planks.
I suppose I'll backtrack and take a second look, though I'm fairly certain there weren't any since I usually look through the goods list carefully. But mistakes can happen. :)
There's also a minor magic Bag (20% Weight Reduction) sold at the Weeping Willow Inn ;)
Sold by the barkeep? Can't remember seeing that one either when browsing his wares.
That's another disadvantage of being a good guy leading to poverty: not looting containers in "friendly" areas such as the Weeping Willow Inn. I noticed there were a bunch of containers on the second floor but didn't open any of them since I was there to get rid of the gray dwarves and save the missing husband, not rob the place. :)
It's tagged with "urgency" but I went ahead and finished Neeshka's "coin" quest and the warehouse before I took the quest. It's not one of those "I accept" then the game automatically teleports you to it types. ;)
Do you know if any of the quests in the game are time limited, or if they just say it's urgent to make you hurry up and do them? :)
Is sleeping advancing the date/time in the game? Hard to tell since there doesn't seem like there is anywhere to see the current in-game date/time like mousing over the compass in NWN1 did. (Is there even a compass in NWN2? I'm feeling a bit disoriented without it, having to see what direction I'm going on the map instead. :)