I dont like how ridiculously long the wait time is between attacks... its not realtime action with that delay... >_>

Chainz actualy you can use your own money to pay for uppgrades, you maybe dont have that much money, there is quite high sum. I did it with over half the things there. And stoffe i think there is a walkthorgh/tip thread about the keep at NWN2 official forum, try search there if you have to much trouble.

And about the dancer
You find a girl named Joy later in the merchant quarters, she will go to the keep to dance.

I dont like how ridiculously long the wait time is between attacks... its not realtime action with that delay... >_>
Agreed.

It does get better, eventually, once your members start getting extra attacks.. but up until that point, you can definitely tell it's a turn-based system.. hehehe

What's killing me is the sometimes inability to move to a certain point on the ground because some dumbass NPC doesn't get the hint to get out of the way...

Also, I've noticed that you or NPC's can get stuck behind placeables, especially if your NPC's 'bump' you into one because of the quirky pattern movement. The only way to get un-stuck is to have one of the other npc transition to a new area (which may or may not be 'suitable' depending on your situation). It's happened to me twice now. :fist:

@Zat yah, oops forgot about that :o
For the weapons & armor upgrades right? I meant to say for the Keep's upgrades (shops, lands, interiors, etc.) and such.. but my fingers type faster than I think :xp: hehehe

Now if you could (or can?) use your own money for the Keep's & land upgrades, yeah.. that'd be nice.

You can use your money to uppgrade the keep, but most thing cost around 20.000+, so thats why you maybe couldent do it. I found it out, when i had keep founds of 10.000 then tryed to buy a thing for 20.000, and i lost half my money :rolleyes:

Well, it would appear the game still doesn't run perfectly on the 8800 GTX, but it still plays it much smoother than the 7800GTX. I get playable framerates outside (45 average i belive... it runs at around 30 FPS in public places and 50+ FPS indoors and non-public places) with all settings turned on (except water reflections) or set to high (1680x1050 res).

I still find this game to be pretty odd though, because Oblivion runs much better at max settings and HDR + 4xAA, 16xAF turned on. :rolleyes:

You can use your money to uppgrade the keep, but most thing cost around 20.000+, so thats why you maybe couldent do it. I found it out, when i had keep founds of 10.000 then tryed to buy a thing for 20.000, and i lost half my money :rolleyes:
Really? That's kewl.. I guess I've never tried upgrading something when my "budget" was too low for the price he was asking. Thanks for the heads up! If that works... kick arse, I'm going home and spending some money :xp: hehehe...

I'd rather not screw up and have to reload an old save and redo hours worth of gameplay later, so I'll have to put the game on hold and play something else until I can get a better idea of how that "quest" is supposed to work.

Surprise, guess what? Uh huh, I've managed to screw up the stronghold quest before even reaching the 25% mark, and have done a few other quests in between as well. An entire evening of playing down the drain. Why did I know this would happen, but continue playing anyway... :roleyess:

Having pitifully few greycloaks who are poorly trained and only averagely equipped they are not good enough to handle any "special missions" thrown their way. And of course those special missions disappear if you don't accept them right away when offered, which I found out the hard way by missing out the first one entirely since I figured I could come back for it. The troops are not good enough to attract more people, or keep the lands or roads reasonably safe. And I'm playing on easy difficulty (which I suspect only affects combat and nothing else).

This game used to be fun, now I'm seriously contemplating to stop playing. Crap like this is so tiresomely annoying. How I despise management games. I want to continue playing a fun fantasy RPG, not SimFortress. :cry8:

Surprise, guess what? Uh huh, I've managed to screw up the stronghold quest before even reaching the 25% mark, and have done a few other quests in between as well. An entire evening of playing down the drain. Why did I know this would happen, but continue playing anyway... :roleyess:

Having pitifully few greycloaks who are poorly trained and only averagely equipped they are not good enough to handle any "special missions" thrown their way. And of course those special missions disappear if you don't accept them right away when offered, which I found out the hard way by missing out the first one entirely since I figured I could come back for it. The troops are not good enough to attract more people, or keep the lands or roads reasonably safe. And I'm playing on easy difficulty (which I suspect only affects combat and nothing else).

This game used to be fun, now I'm seriously contemplating to stop playing. Crap like this is so tiresomely annoying. How I despise management games. I want to continue playing a fun fantasy RPG, not SimFortress. :(
You could always check to see if there's a variable or something that could be set in order to uhh... train your Greycloaks a little faster.

I suggest waiting until the game is dicked around with more, and people figure out how to make the game less like simfortress, and get rid of the asinine long waits between attacks. *nods*

I suggest waiting...until people figure out how to make the game less like simfortress
Either that or be one of those people who figure it out! Think of this experience as fuel for your modding skills.

Speaking from naivetй, are there still .nss files that you could write? I'm thinking maybe the StartNewModule function a la "Skip the Endar Spire".

Dumb question about levels...

Say I'm a Cleric, and I have the Water Domain. That means I will be able
to cast Poison (3) and Ice Storm (5). Uh...I tried getting to level 3 as a
Cleric, which was really easy, but there was no Poison spell listed in my book.

My guess is that you learn a new "spell level" every TWO levels, not
every ONE level. So the earliest I'd be able to cast Ice Storm would
be level 10, not level 5, if I went Cleric all the way through. Righty?

And if I were a Sorcerer, Ice Storm is a 4th-level spell, so I'd be
able to cast it at level 8, not level 4. Aye?

Say I'm a Cleric, and I have the Water Domain. That means I will be able
to cast Poison (3) and Ice Storm (5). Uh...I tried getting to level 3 as a
Cleric, which was really easy, but there was no Poison spell listed in my book.

My guess is that you learn a new "spell level" every TWO levels, not
every ONE level. So the earliest I'd be able to cast Ice Storm would
be level 10, not level 5, if I went Cleric all the way through. Righty?You are confusing spell level and character level. Ice storm is a level 5 spell. Clerics can't cast those until they reach level 9. In the case of clerics and druids, they gain access to a new spell level at uneven character levels while the other levels "only" allow you to memorize more spells. The best they can cast in this game are level 9 spells. It's a bit different for other spellcaster classes. Take a look at the spell progression tables in the appendix of the manual.

Either that or be one of those people who figure it out! Think of this experience as fuel for your modding skills.

Speaking from naivetй, are there still .nss files that you could write? I'm thinking maybe the StartNewModule function a la "Skip the Endar Spire".

Well, after getting some sleep to let the irritation fade away I'm too stubborn to just give up, so I'll throw my "no cheats/mods on first playthrough" rule out the window and go that route instead. I've been poking around the CK scripts a bit to figure out how things fit together. Hopefully I can do some workaround scripts to compensate for my early screwups so I won't have to replay all that again. :)

"Skip" type mods wouldn't work as easily for this though since it's not a regular linear quest, but rather an on-going project that runs in parallel with everything else you do in the game, and I get the feeling it will continue throughout the remaining game and have significance for the main plot later how well you do it. (You could in essence achieve a "skip" type mod by rigging the scripts to always produce the most favorable outcome possible regardless of your choices, but I'd rather not go that far just yet.)

All NWScript source code is included for NWN2 so it's mostly a matter of figuring out how the code fits together and see what can be tampered with without breaking anything else. Since Obsidian still seems to be patching the game it's probably not a good idea to mess with the campaign modules directly, which would most likely create trouble with the auto-updater, so I'll settle for a "patch" approach with scripts that modify the same globals the keep scripts does. Fortunately there is still a console command that allows you to execute your own scripts in-game so that's a fairly simple solution. :)

Fortunately there is still a console command that allows you to execute your own scripts in-game so that's a fairly simple solution.
How thoughtful. Are there similar commands for recruiting or spawning NPCs? (http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=135519) :p

Thanks for the info Tupac Amaru and stoffe -mkb-.

I dont think you hace screw up, recuit a sergeant and set him/her on patruling the roads when your men is patruling them, training when you men are training and so on. Also set the troops on training, buy them better wepons and shields, then set them on recrutin. And at last to guard the roads, think the roads are easier then the the other area. For you most still be able to train them, right?

I dont think you hace screw up, recuit a sergeant and set him/her on patruling the roads when your men is patruling them, training when you men are training and so on. Also set the troops on training, buy them better wepons and shields, then set them on recrutin. And at last to guard the roads, think the roads are easier then the the other area. For you most still be able to train them, right?

Hmm, how many graycloaks is it possible to have recruited at the 25% time threshold? I currently have 72 Graycloaks and 24 Recruits.

I've burned through estimately 300 000 gp out of my own pocket so far to upgrade weapons, armor, fortifications and other structures in the keep. The 70000 gp Lord Gnasher supplied didn't last for much, and the keep only has a measly 3000 gp income. Still merchants, peasants and graycloaks seems to stay away from the place. Not exactly a rewarding quest where you have to shell out insane amounts of gold and still get meager results.

I've only found one sergeant to recruit so far, who I put on recruitment as well in hopes it would bolster the numbers, but doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

* * *

When you reach the 25% time threshold, will all recruitment, Land/Road security stats etc stop updating until you proceed with the main quest? Will you hear from the novice adventurers (I sent them to investigate the KOSH) or the special mission sent to deal with bandits (mission number 2) again, or will that wait until after you proceed beyond 25% time as well?

Is it possible to have gotten a decent land/road security by this threshold (I have Low for both), or that will take more time?

(Seems like the time updates every time you enter the Fort courtyard so if you enter/leave the inn or the merchants shop often enough the keep time advances at an insane pace.)

Yepp, the time stop at some places, then you most continue with the main quest, thinks it 25%,50% and 82%. Most of the things i payed with my own money, and it wasnt around 50-70% i got good security. And yes, you can walk out to the courtyard then in to speed up. I think you probaly have hitted the time stop, continue with the main quest and the time will start to incease again

Some of the sergeants you can also change, so they dont just need to recuit, i changed my sergeant, so when the men was paruling, the sergeant paruled, when they was recuting the sergeant was recuting and so on. And much of the things in the keep wont become good until later, when you got longer in the main quest

Do anyone know how you switch to a female preview model in the armor set item maker window in the NWN2 Toolset? In Aurora Toolset 1 you could toggle between a male/female view with a set of radio buttons, but I can't seem to find any way to do it in the NWN2 Toolset. Help?

(I believe I've said it before but it's worth repeating: The NWN2 Toolset is a complete and utter disaster from a user interface perspective. It should be used as a warning textbook example for how not to design a user interface.)

(I believe I've said it before but it's worth repeating: The NWN2 Toolset is a complete and utter disaster from a user interface perspective. It should be used as a warning textbook example for how not to design a user interface.)
Amen. Hey, at least you've got to the point where you're looking how to switch a preview.. I can't even get that far :xp: The lack of intuitive interface, and the absence of a detailed right-click content menu (if you're lucky enough to even get a right-click menu) is really a poor, poor design. I still call "bulls---" when the devs say they created the OC with the same Toolset... then again, it could explain some of the errors I've caught ;)

It took me 90 minutes to open a dialogue file the other night. :rolleyes:

It took me 90 minutes to open a dialogue file the other night. :rolleyes:

Pfft. With you and your low end systems (http://www.lucasforums.com/showpost.php?p=2200280&postcount=26) this shouldn't be a surprise. (:p)

Do the .dlg use the same GFF format as TSL? I know the TLK file format changed a bit. I'm just wondering how many modifications it would take to get something like K-GFF or DLGEditor to work with NWN2's files.

Edit: (rereads "90 minutes") that must have been a very important dialog to you! :) I don't think I could wait longer than 90 seconds.

Pfft. With you and your low end systems (http://www.lucasforums.com/showpost.php?p=2200280&postcount=26) this shouldn't be a surprise. (:p)

Do the .dlg use the same GFF format as TSL? I know the TLK file format changed a bit. I'm just wondering how many modifications it would take to get something like K-GFF or DLGEditor to work with NWN2's files.

Edit: (rereads "90 minutes") that must have been a very important dialog to you! :) I don't think I could wait longer than 90 seconds.
:xp:

90 minutes, "including" the the time it took me to search, dismantle, fail horribly, re-try, stop cussing and actually finally getting the right one.. hehehe

The structure is either dead on, or there wasn't anything that looked "out of place". Because of the horrible (with a capital "horrible") GUI layout, I couldn't really tell you what fields were actually still there or not. Half the things I kept trying to do was in an apparent non-related, non-functional side window.. *sigh* I swear I was like a lost child in the forest... analogy: where you get so panicky you start clicking things just to see if something would work :lol:

Sometimes you get lucky and click on something and a field appears.. other times, not so much >.<

Sounds like fun! :D

Well if anyone wants to send me off a .dlg file from the game to peer at, I'm curious. PM me.

(Yes I have the game but I'm saving it for Xmas while I enjoy Oblivion.)

I still call "bulls---" when the devs say they created the OC with the same Toolset... then again, it could explain some of the errors I've caught ;)


I would think so too. If they actually used the Toolset script editor to write all those scripts the Obsidian designers should get a medal for their near-divine patience. That blasted thing constantly seems to be doing what it thinks is best for the moment, rather than what you tell it to do (including changing focus for input fields while you type, move the cursor to where it thinks it should be rather than where you click, save the script where it thinks it should be under a name of its choosing rather than just present a Save dialog box, etc).


Do the .dlg use the same GFF format as TSL?


The DLG format is rather radically different, but the GFF format seems to be mostly the same, at least in part. It's possible they have new field types I haven't run into yet in my still very limited tinkering. I've managed to edit a few UTI files with K-GFF without breaking anything at least (since the toolset seems to enjoy having some fields set as read-only. :roleyess:)


I know the TLK file format changed a bit. I'm just wondering how many modifications it would take to get something like K-GFF or DLGEditor to work with NWN2's files.


K-GFF seems to work, at least with some file types, as it is now. As for the DLGEditor it would likely require quite a bit of rewrites since the handling of conditional/action scripts appears to be rather different, as is the animation handling. I.e. the data fields for each entry/reply are mostly different, but the basic composition of the file (EntryList --> RepliesList --> ReplyList --> EntriesList) is still the same.

Have you looked at the NWN2 Toolset? Seems to be inspired by the worst parts of the Visual Studio GUI. Apparently the concept of using windows didn't appeal to the Obsidian designers. They have one big window where they have crammed in every aspect of modding in a myriad of different panels, tabs and frames in one big mess, where each panel is about the size of a postage stamp in the standard configuration if you don't have a monitor with a resolution higher than 1280x1024. No division of tasks into logical areas in their own windows, few right-click context menus and menu choices pertaining to all those tabs and frames in one big mess in the main menu bar. Lots of "property lists" with few explanations what the fields are for, and some seem to be without range and type checking of the input. Oh, and search features are of course redundant, obviously everyone already knows where all data is located. :roleyess:

K-GFF seems to work, at least with some file types, as it is now. That makes me happy. I guess it shouldn't surprise me, but it does kind of. :) As for the DLGEditor it would likely require quite a bit of rewrites since the handling of conditional/action scripts appears to be rather different, as is the animation handling. I.e. the data fields for each entry/reply are mostly different, but the basic composition of the file (EntryList --> RepliesList --> ReplyList --> EntriesList) is still the same.I see. I imagined the animations, "emotions", soundsets, and all that might be rather different, but I thought the script portions would be relatively the same... they seemed to work rather well in TSL, IMHO.
Have you looked at the NWN2 Toolset? Seems to be inspired by the worst parts of the Visual Studio GUI. Apparently the concept of using windows didn't appeal to the Obsidian designers. They have one big window where they have crammed in every aspect of modding in a myriad of different panels, tabs and frames in one big mess, where each panel is about the size of a postage stamp in the standard configuration if you don't have a monitor with a resolution higher than 1280x1024.
:lol: Sounds a lot like DLGEditor or KSE, but at least I can blame Perl/Tk limitations. :xp: I haven't looked at the toolset much at all considering I don't have the game installed.

Oh, and search features are of course redundant, obviously everyone already knows where all data is located. :roleyess:*sarcasm detected* So there's a niche for a FindRefs, I take it. Does the Toolset provide good savegame editing features? :)

but I thought the script portions would be relatively the same... they seemed to work rather well in TSL, IMHO.

Apparently Obsidian disagrees. You can now have an arbitrary number of Conditional and action scripts, with an arbitrary number of parameters. Parameters are provided as normal function parameters to main() and StartingConditional() rather than having to be fetched out with specific functions. The toolset DLG editor reads the function signature and creates variable value input fields accordingly.


I haven't looked at the toolset much at all considering I don't have the game installed.
*sarcasm detected* So there's a niche for a FindRefs, I take it. Does the Toolset provide good savegame editing features? :)

No Savegame editing functions at all, AFAIK. If you have aspirations in that department though prepare yourself for loads of work. The savegame format is totally different in NWN, they don't appear to use ERF files for it any more. Not too surprising considering the other file type changes (using ZIP files rather than KEY/BIF being the most directly obvious one).

Behold, a toolset screenshot. View at your own risk. (http://www.algonet.se/~stoffe/nwn2toolgui.gif)

Thank goodness they dropped the worthless KEY/BIF format. I'm sure they probably improved the .sav/.res savegame scheme also -- that was a pain to navigate. Sounds like a good change also for dialog scripts.

In K-GFF, have you attempted the "Use TLK file for stringrefs (Ctrl-T)" function with any success? (I'd expect a failure here.)

Behold, a toolset screenshotIs that the OnEnter script for the first module or is that the SimFortress heartbeat? :)


edit: also -- does the arbitrary number of parameters mean that scripts can be overloaded?

Behold, a toolset screenshot. View at your own risk. (http://www.algonet.se/~stoffe/nwn2toolgui.gif)
From what I've been reading in that thread, it looks like this script loop forever :lol:

I don't have the game yet due to lack of time to play it. Maybe I'll wait for the next patch.

Thank goodness they dropped the worthless KEY/BIF format. I'm sure they probably improved the .sav/.res savegame scheme also -- that was a pain to navigate. Sounds like a good change also for dialog scripts.

Indeed, I don't mourn the loss of the KEY/BIF format. Much easier to extract things directly with a normal file compression utility when you need them.

Seems the savegame formats keep the SAV data for the separate areas in zlib-compressed files, where the SAV files within use a newer version of the ERF format (I assume, it has a MOD V1.1 header at least). Aside from that it has a playerinfo.ifo file, a "currentmodule" text file, an XML file containing all set global variables and a number of Roster files for all potential party member NPCs.



In K-GFF, have you attempted the "Use TLK file for stringrefs (Ctrl-T)" function with any success? (I'd expect a failure here.)

Seems to work at a quick glance, provided you select the NWN2 dialog.tlk file when asked. At least it pulls item descriptions from the TLK file and shows them properly.



edit: also -- does the arbitrary number of parameters mean that scripts can be overloaded?

Doubt it since you can only have one main or StartingConditional function in a script file as far as I know, and each script file needs a unique ResRef as usual. You can probably have default values set to parameters as usual with main() and StartingConditional() as well though (haven't tested).

* * *

Have nobody figured out how to switch the armor/clothes designer preview window over to a female model? It's very time consuming to get things right when you can't see what you are doing in the editor directly.

Have nobody figured out how to switch the armor/clothes designer preview window over to a female model? It's very time consuming to get things right when you can't see what you are doing in the editor directly.Yes, apparantly, it's not possible. There's a plugin, though, that's supposed to allow this:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Nwn2plugins.Detail&id=12)
Unfortunately, the part you were looking for doesn't seem to work yet.

(including changing focus for input fields while you type, move the cursor to where it thinks it should be rather than where you clickOh, yes, the filter of the script assistant is just lovely in that regard. :D

Yes, apparantly, it's not possible. There's a plugin, though, that's supposed to allow this:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Nwn2plugins.Detail&id=12)
Unfortunately, the part you were looking for doesn't seem to work yet.

Oh, yes, the filter of the script assistant is just lovely in that regard. :D

Not possible? I should have guessed. I wonder how Obsidian did when they designed the game which contains a fair deal of female and non-human NPCs? Since the PoS Toolset doesn't seem to update the armor appearance to reflect your changes on creatures wearing the armor placed in an area either unless you quit the whole toolset and restart it this is extremely annoying. I'm losing faith in Obsidian "quality" at an accelerating pace the more I'm using their products. :roleyess:

Thanks for the tip about the plugin, I'll have a look at it. I'm attempting to recolor a piece of armor but it's fairly difficult to get right when doing it blind since I have no idea what pieces I'm changing the color for on the female variant of it. I'll either have to restart the toolset or check ingame between each change to see what I've done. Perhaps that plugin is useful for preserving what little is left of my sanity.

I get the feeling that Obsidian has used plugin support as an excuse to deliver a non-finished toolset though. I hope my feeling is wrong and they will fix the sad state it is in in upcoming patches. :)

Behold, a toolset screenshot. View at your own risk. (http://www.algonet.se/~stoffe/nwn2toolgui.gif)

I need to see an eye doctor after that. :D

I need to see an eye doctor after that. :D

It's no wonder the game's so buggy, when the developers are probably spending most of the development time learning how to use their own toolset. :D

I need to see an eye doctor after that. :D

Why not take an eye exam first? :D (http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/EmperorDevon/eyexam.jpg?t=1163746924)

Ugh! What's Obsidian done to my beloved toolset? I'd been looking forward to many happy hours with it. :(

It looks like this game has more than a few flaws. Other than graphics, have there been any significant improvements? :)

lolz...I never had much time to tinker with toolsets and the like...its an achievement enough to get through the standard campaign...

anyway, I FINALLY got it yesterday(release date here). The cutscene style dialogue was a bit different, there was something very classical RPG about the way it was presented in NWN1. I also think that the GUI arent as aesthetically beautiful as NWN1, and not entirely congruent with the Forgotten Realms artistic style...but these arent huge concerns. I love the game so far......The TRUE RPG is back.....

Start>>Control Panel>>Add/Remove Programs>>Oblivion>>Remove

mtfbwya

It looks like this game has more than a few flaws. Other than graphics, have there been any significant improvements?

Significant improvements to the scripting language (which concerns many aspects of the game), improvements to how dialogs and cutscenes are handled, D&D 3.5 rules update, more customizable GUI (from a modder's perspective), more detailed and less boxy area design, support for fully player controlled party member NPCs, less "compartmentalized" game structure with global variables and a quest journal that are campaign-wide and not just module-wide, allowing for less linear campaigns to still be split up in multiple modules. Just to mention a few things off the top of my head that aren't tied to graphics. I'm sure there is more. :)

I just hope they can get the Toolset into a usable shape in a future patch so those new improvements can be put to use. :)

Do anyone know how you finish the last of Khelgar's trial quests, "Trial of the Maimed"? I've completed the other two without problems but I don't know what you are supposed to do to finish that one. It says you need to talk to Khelgar about it, but I can't see any new dialog options when doing so aside from those I've already used earlier.

I'd guess I'm roughly halfway through act 2 by now and about to go explore some old ruins that the new cleric suggested, but I'd rather tie up any loose ends before doing so since I assume that's part of the main quest.

(Anyone special you should bring to the ruins besides the cleric and Shandra? Do anyone have any sub-quests or interactions tied to that place? Hard to pick who to bring along now that the number of party members have increased. :))

I just hope they can get the Toolset into a usable shape in a future patch so those new improvements can be put to use. :)The fact that it is extensible is reassuring given the modding fan base for NWN. Plus there's always (gasp!) other tools that could be used beyond what's in the toolset. Though this it is .NET toolset, I know of ways to encode Perl into that framework for writing plugins... I'm sure Borland has similar solutions. ;)


@Space Alex: :lol:

Do anyone know how you finish the last of Khelgar's trial quests, "Trial of the Maimed"? I've completed the other two without problems but I don't know what you are supposed to do to finish that one. It says you need to talk to Khelgar about it, but I can't see any new dialog options when doing so aside from those I've already used earlier.
Can't remember which one that is, but I think there might be a new 'scout' location on your map. Double-check.. it should be to the SE of your map.

IF you're already past that point (completed) then make a trip to the Temple in the Market of Neverwinter and tell the priest of Khelgar's accomplishments. I think the journal just doesn't 'complete' itself. (must have completed the map area noted above first ;) )

(Anyone special you should bring to the ruins besides the cleric and Shandra? Do anyone have any sub-quests or interactions tied to that place? Hard to pick who to bring along now that the number of party members have increased. :))
Not sure about NPC sidequests, I took Neeshka who didn't say much except 'ouch'.. hehehe. Take a spare "tank" if you can, or a spellcaster that can dispel/cause lots of spite-thine-enemy spells... it's not a walk in the park as I thought it might be (I thought it would be some sort of half-cutscene half-"ceremony fluff" area).

Since you already have 2 clerics and a fighter, might want a spellcaster or a bard. Buffs/Dispels will come in handy and the range attacks will be helpful (in some parts), but things can get cramped real quick either by architecture or the onrush of enemies.

There's plenty of opportunities for resting, so don't worry about micro-managing spells for "long-haul" approaches. It's quite long compared to other areas of the game so stock up on "perishables" (healing stuff, ammo, buff potions) if you don't like transitioning areas alot soley for restocking purposes ;)

lolz...I never had much time to tinker with toolsets and the like...its an achievement enough to get through the standard campaign...

anyway, I FINALLY got it yesterday(release date here). The cutscene style dialogue was a bit different, there was something very classical RPG about the way it was presented in NWN1. I also think that the GUI arent as aesthetically beautiful as NWN1, and not entirely congruent with the Forgotten Realms artistic style...but these arent huge concerns. I love the game so far......The TRUE RPG is back.....

Start>>Control Panel>>Add/Remove Programs>>Oblivion>>Remove

mtfbwya
Quoted for truth. On the whole, I am very pleased with NWN2 - marred as it is by some peculiar bugs and gameplay design.

I just (last night, after some heavy essay writing) got CR Keep under my control and I'm inclined to agree with stoffe on the point of "Sim Fortress". Similarly to the influence system in KotOR II, it is an interesting (certainly original) idea to have this keep under my control but it seems to be lacking in implementation. I don't want to have to cross huge distances, or go through area transitions to speak to my party members; I don't want to have to worry about how much to tax merchants and whether, or not I should hire more Greycloaks. I want to be the hero, I want to save the world with my companions... not sit back on a throne and observe. But I'm sure it will all be ok in the end.

The story, up to this point, seems to be solid (as fun to play as any good book is to read) and well written. Although there are some cases where you think, What?! I have to go into *yet* another cave... looking for more people?, there are also many parts where you are jumping for joy at the excitement of it all. (I found the trial scene highly enjoyable).

In short: There is something strangely “Baldur’s Gate-ish” about this game and I’m not entirely sure why…

Can't remember which one that is, but I think there might be a new 'scout' location on your map. Double-check.. it should be to the SE of your map.


I've been to the "Dwarven scouts" area where I've found the first level of the Ironfist clanhold, containing the Gauntlets/Bracers of Ironfist or whatever they were called. Khelgar hinted that there was more to the place, but it was caved in so we couldn't do anything. I assumed that was just a hook for a later quest or something, due to what his clan-kin said when we returned to them and showed the gauntlets/bracers.

The quest journal says something about talking to Khelgar to make him realize how he's wronged his clan brothers or something like that, but I can't find any dialog options to talk to him about that. :confused: I have estimately around 15 influence with Khelgar so far, is more needed to unlock such dialog options?

I assume this quest leads to Khelgar being multiclassed to a Monk when it's completed, but since the party is at level 15 already we seem to be running out of levels to multiclass if the quest doesn't move on soon. So far none of the party member NPCs have gained any classes other than what they started with.


Not sure about NPC sidequests, I took Neeshka who didn't say much except 'ouch'.. hehehe. Take a spare "tank" if you can, or a spellcaster that can dispel/cause lots of spite-thine-enemy spells... it's not a walk in the park as I thought it might be (I thought it would be some sort of half-cutscene half-"ceremony fluff" area).

Since you already have 2 clerics and a fighter, might want a spellcaster or a bard. Buffs/Dispels will come in handy and the range attacks will be helpful (in some parts), but things can get cramped real quick either by architecture or the onrush of enemies.


I ended up bringing Neeshka (since she's the only one who can deal with traps and locks), the Githzerai cleric (since she gave me the "quest"), Shandra (since I have no choice :)) and Elanee(sp?) since it was an old elven ruin and she's the only elf in the gang aside from Sand and I figured she might have something interesting to say.

Sand and Qara haven't seen much use in the group so far since I have a hard time to squeeze them into the party. One more party member slot would have been very useful for an arcane caster, in particular since I only have two slots to allocate since Neeshka always has to come along to deal with traps and locks. Luckily clerics and druids have a bunch of powerful offensive and buffing spells as well, even though they are not as diverse as those of arcane casters. I give Neeshka all arcane scrolls and wands I find so at least she can help out with some arcane magic even if it's nowhere as powerful as spells cast by a wizard or sorceress.

Aren't bards mostly useless? Jack of all trades, master of none? Besides, the gnome is annoying so he hasn't seen much use yet either. :)

In the keep at the ruins... Will the Ogre mage (whose name escapes me) give you a quest if you tell him the purpose of the statues? I figured it was a bad idea to divulge that information to an evil-aligned ogre mage, and he got angry and attacked when I wouldn't tell him their purpose.

Is the "Master's Sceptre" and "Master's Shield" you find in the keep used for anything in particular? I guessed their purpose was to bypass the ward on the door protecting the statue, but they don't seem to do anything. I get hit by the trap even if I have them equipped when using the door. The sarcophagus on the first floor mentioned something about them, but didn't give any clues as to their use. Is there any other way to open the door except make the ward expire by brute force?


Though this it is .NET toolset, I know of ways to encode Perl into that framework for writing plugins... I'm sure Borland has similar solutions.

I know C# .NET and have Visual Studio 2005 so that part shouldn't be a problem in my case. The problem is rather that I have no idea how to write plugins for the toolset, and no motivation to learn until I get into modding the game rather than playing it. :) Maybe I'll have a look at it in the future, unless the toolset has discouraged me from modding NWN2 entirely by then. :)

Think you maybe run in a bug if Khelgar quest dont work, when you have helped the Dwarfs, you need to find the gauntels, convince him to like Neeskha and hava him to offer to fight for you after the trial, but that he probaly do no mather what. But if you get him to monk, dont worry about you dont have many levels left, you retrain him from level 1 as a monk, so he will become a level 15 monk when you done the quest

And for the other questions
Yes the ogre mage will give you a quest, he will tell you to kill the orc leader, then he help you in to the statue and give you some magic items.

The "Master" thing i also wonderde what to do with, they count as quest items, so you can't sell them i think. I thogh it was something to do with the grave, but i couldent seem a way to open it

To bad you dont have Qara with you so much, she one of my favourite characthers, and she is very powerful at later levels IMO

The quest journal says something about talking to Khelgar to make him realize how he's wronged his clan brothers or something like that, but I can't find any dialog options to talk to him about that. :confused: I have estimately around 15 influence with Khelgar so far, is more needed to unlock such dialog options?
Ahh.. ok then, yeah go ahead and go to the temple.. talk to the priest and the dialogue will happen through it's You-Priest-Khelgar dialogue.

As for multi-classing.. If you choose to have Khelgar go Monk.. he'll start at level "0" and you'll re-level him however you see fit. As far as monks go, if you decide to go that route (I did and happy for it).. stay soley a monk. You'll lose out on too much monk abilities if you nerf it by multi-classing.

Sand and Qara haven't seen much use in the group so far since I have a hard time to squeeze them into the party
Drat, I was about to edit my post to suggest Sand or Qara as their one-liners are kinda funny when you start taking the door hits.. :lol:
For the most however,

yeah.. you gotta take the hits or align with the Ogre as far as I know.

I thought having the Master's Shield, Sword & Sceptre would help.. but it didn't seem to do anything :confused:

Aren't bards mostly useless? Jack of all trades, master of none? Besides, the gnome is annoying so he hasn't seen much use yet either.
Blasphemy! hehehe... true enough about his annoyance (as your other party members will agree ;) ) but his Bard songs are a really sweet benefit when it comes down to the wire, plus he's an identifying machine. Save your spell/skill slots for other useful stuff...

heheh... where has my day gone !! I <3 NWN2. I knew I was truly back in RPG mode when I got a "you must gather your party" message, after I tried to leave an area :D Lovely :) !!

So much fun to be a drow. Any 'Realms and Drow fan should be quite pleased :)

*casts globe of darkness before wasting foes with dual scimiatars*

now I just need a summoned panther !

*gets back to it*

One little thing I would could be modded....the size of the GUIs, overlay map etc. I operate at that weird 1360 x 768 so im stuck between low and hi rez schemes methinks. No biggie though ;)

mtfbwya

Ahh.. ok then, yeah go ahead and go to the temple.. talk to the priest and the dialogue will happen through it's You-Priest-Khelgar dialogue.


That seems to have done the trick, I got him converted to a Monk with no problem when talking to the priest. Odd that the journal says that I should talk to Khelgar, not the priest, like the other two trials of that quest did. :)


As for multi-classing.. If you choose to have Khelgar go Monk.. he'll start at level "0" and you'll re-level him however you see fit. As far as monks go, if you decide to go that route (I did and happy for it).. stay soley a monk.


Those priests of Tyr seems to be pretty good at brainwashing, Khelgar forgot all the feats and skills he once knew when he turned a monk, converted to another deity and another alignment. Still an odd choice of class to convert to for him, since the primary ability of a monk (Wisdom) seems to be his dump-stat. Even though I put all the ability points into wisdom when he re-leveled as a monk it didn't get any higher than 14. Seems to cripple him a fair bit as a monk since most variable monk abilities use wisdom to determine their potency. :)



Drat, I was about to edit my post to suggest Sand or Qara as their one-liners are kinda funny when you start taking the door hits.. :lol:


Speaking of Qara... will you encounter that shadow animus curse (or whatever technobabble they called it) of her, that Sydney Natale created on request from the scheming noble, more than once in act 2? I've encountered it as a travel encounter once so far, but from what the Gith priestess said it sounded like it would be back.. I guess act 2 will end when you are done at Ammon Jerro's Haven, which is where I'm headed next, so I'd rather not botch up her quest by missing out any parts of it before advancing with the main plot.



I thought having the Master's Shield, Sword & Sceptre would help.. but it didn't seem to do anything :confused:


I figured it out eventually. Seems like you must kill both the Ogre Mage and the Bugbear chief if you want to go that route (I had peaceful dealing with the bugbears at first so I missed the sword). With all those three in your possession the door opens. At least it did in my case when I tested. :)

Still, seems like you don't gain anything from solving the puzzle in that way, while you have an opportunity to gain influence with the Gith priestess if you do things the hard way and wear out the ward by brute force.


Turned out it was a waste to bring Elanee to the ruins (not counting the fights of course which she's pretty good at), since she didn't have any special dialog there. Perhaps I should have brought Sand instead.

Speaking of which... ...is there anyone in particular I should bring along in the party to Ammon Jerro's Haven that have special dialog, interjections or sub-quests there? I'm headed there as soon as we've pawned off some loot and restocked supplies.



Blasphemy! hehehe... true enough about his annoyance (as your other party members will agree ;) ) but his Bard songs are a really sweet benefit when it comes down to the wire, plus he's an identifying machine. Save your spell/skill slots for other useful stuff...

Oh. Didn't feel all that necessary when my main char is a Cleric though. Plenty of buffing spells (bless, prayer, battletide etc for the group, divine favor, divine power and holy might for self) already, plus she has Lore as a class skill so it's as high as it can get for her anyway. When party slots are as scarce as they are you have to pick carefully who to bring.

The fact that he's so tiny and have an annoying voice doesn't help his case in that selection, feels like you might accidentally step on him and crush him if you use Divine Might (which makes your character giant-sized for the duration). :) Besides, he seems to trust Bishop, who's as untrustworthy as they come, so maybe those two will backstab me eventually because I don't bring them along anywhere. :)

* * *

Speaking of the mandatory gender confusion in RPGs, this is probably a good candidate to claim the prize so far:
Gender Confusion Deluxe (http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/5924/genderconfusionuy8.jpg)

Speaking of the mandatory gender confusion in RPGs, this is probably a good candidate to claim the prize so far:
Gender Confusion Deluxe (http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/5924/genderconfusionuy8.jpg)

:lol:

My favorite part so far is when all the wizard students come to attack Qara Whew, all those spells flying everywhere, flashing all over the screen--talk about a visual treat. :)

About the Qara thing
I encountered the shadow 2 times at random events, but in chapter 3 you will have a mission that you most bring Qara on, and there you will defeat the shadow

About the party members
I think it's good if you bring Shandra with you :xp: Hmm, dont think my party had any special, just some dialougs but nothing that gave influence or special missions. I had Qara,Bishop and the Gith with me

My favorite part so far is when all the wizard students come to attack Qara Whew, all those spells flying everywhere, flashing all over the screen--talk about a visual treat. :)

Some spell effects are rather flashy, in particular higher level spells. Fortunately those students never cast anything more dangerous than Melf's Acid Arrow by the time I did those encounters. :) They were even kind enough to group up in a tight cluster so Qara could fireball them all at once quite effectively.


About the Qara thing
I encountered the shadow 2 times at random events, but in chapter 3 you will have a mission that you most bring Qara on, and there you will defeat the shadow


You don't need to encounter it more than once for the quest to proceed once you get to act 3 then I hope? Feels a little silly to go touring across the world map just hoping to get ambushed before moving on to AJs Haven.

Are there any other party member quests that have to be finished (or started) in Act 2? I've finished Neeshka's Leldon-quests and Khelgar's Monk quest and started on Grobnar's Blade Golem quest and Qara's shade animus curse quest. Have I missed anything?



About the party members
I think it's good if you bring Shandra with you :xp: Hmm, dont think my party had any special, just some dialougs but nothing that gave influence or special missions. I had Qara,Bishop and the Gith with me


Not like you have much choice with Shandra; she's stuck to you like a magnet since she joined up. Wouldn't be surprised if she even sleeps in the same room as the PC. (Do Aasimar need sleep?) A bit peculiar since she still blames you for the fact that the lizardmen set fire to her barn and the githyanki torched the rest of her farm. It's not like the gith wouldn't have come for her even if the party hadn't been there. AJ would still be her sword-stealing grandfather even if the player had never left Harbor Watch. :roleyess:


I take it you play as an evil player if you have Bishop around? :) He's a complete ******* so I suppose the PC would need to be an equally complete ******* to stand being in his company with without getting the urge to cast Destruction on him every time he opens his mouth. Even though the RPG-notion that evil-aligned characters automatically get along with other evil-aligned characters is rather unrealistic. :) Too bad you can't kill your own party members in NWN2 in some imaginative way that doesn't result in Evil alignment shifts. :)


Does the Githzerai have anything interesting to say while in the Haven? I get the impression she's rather integrally tied to the main plot, but she's much weaker as a cleric than my main character and tends to get hurt most of all party members for some odd unexplainable reason. (Perhaps she's related to Minsc?) If she doesn't have any dialog there I'd rather put someone else in that party slot instead.

Woo. (http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=522998&forum=109)

Woo. (http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=522998&forum=109)

Nice functional bug fixes for the 1.03 update :) Kudos to Obsidian for such prompt responses to community feedback. Ya gotta' love em :)

mtfbwya

I am perhaps the worst player to EVER play this game.

Why? The two characters I've actually stuck with have ended up
getting wholesale-slaughtered at that thug warehouse. It's great
that NWN2 has so many character creation choices, but it's driving
me absolutely crazy! *wails* Please help! Here are my 2 failures:

Tysy 1: Level 7 Aasimar Monk, put way too many points into Hide
and Move Silently (which don't work too well in this game. Deleted.)

Tysy 2: Level 5 Aasimar Bard, Level 2 Dragon Disciple (cool, but she still
got friggin' shredded at that warehouse. Deleted--she was very hard to play.

I'm thinking of making my third character a Human Barbarian or Sorcerer/
Dragon Disciple. Which one will get me past that friggin' warehouse alive?