Hey guys, back with some quick feedback and another question!
I'm currently still playing Neverwinter Nights and LOVE it. This really looks like a min-maxing game and i'm pretty sure i didn't get everything right with my 1st character (sorcerer). Combat was quite awkward in the beginning. I was fumbling forever how to prepare spells like the academy wanted to teach me and thought i had a UI bug, until i figured out that sorcs don't do that. Now that i have a couple more spells everything works much more fluid. I still haven't really figured out what affects the amount of spells that i can cast before i have to rest and which spells share the same "counter".
So much to find out, i like this alot.
To my question...i watched some early parts of two Let's Plays from two NWN veterans just to get an idea how other people approach this game altogether. Both guys suggested to no start with the basic game, but with the Shadows of Undrentide DLC which -according to them- would be a much better experience.
Has any of you played that DLC and can confirm this?
Thanks again!
Depends on what you are after, storywise is the original campaign far better but there have been stuff adding to the gameplay in the expansion. I wish they just made NWN3
You might also want too check out Sword coast: Legends. It have a pretty good but a bit short solocampaign. It would have been an awesome game if their toolset for building multiplayer campaigns didn't suck so much.
We actually did play a little bit of a homemade D&D campaign on it but after a while it got repetitive. Still it is worth the price for it and is the only FR game you can find with modern graphics (DDO and the terrible Daggerdale have not modern graphics whatever anyone might say) besides Neverwinter (the Cryptic MMO).
Neverwinter is certainly worth a try as well, while it is a MMO it is not as fun as some NWN multiplayer server was but it looks pretty good and have it's fun parts. Since it is F2P it is at least worth a try.
So, as someone who still plays Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale at work on a weekly basis, I will say this:
Start with Baldur's Gate II. You don't start off so weak that you hate life, your characters have a good range of spells and abilities. It's a fantastic story, and a very fun game.
Then play Baldur's Gate I. You get the backstory of a lot of the characters from BG II, it's a bit harder of a game, but once you've played through BGII, you'll have a firm grasp of the tactics and it won't make you bash your head against your desk.
Then play Icewind Dale 1&2 in that order. They are great games when you're done with the BG series, although not quite as good in the story department.
Last on the list is Pillars of Eternity. It's a complete departure from the AD&D rules, to the point that some of them don't even make sense, the world is much more grim, dark and evil in general, very few of the characters in the game could be considered "good" people and the weapon balance is atrocious. Do yourself a favor and only put points into any class of weapon that has good DR, because by the end of the game you won't be able to damage shit if you don't.
Play Divinity if you want, although I wouldn't even put it in the same realm as BG, IWD or even PoE. It felt like a totally different genre altogether to me.
Hey guys, back with some quick feedback and another question!
I'm currently still playing Neverwinter Nights and LOVE it. This really looks like a min-maxing game and i'm pretty sure i didn't get everything right with my 1st character (sorcerer). Combat was quite awkward in the beginning. I was fumbling forever how to prepare spells like the academy wanted to teach me and thought i had a UI bug, until i figured out that sorcs don't do that. Now that i have a couple more spells everything works much more fluid. I still haven't really figured out what affects the amount of spells that i can cast before i have to rest and which spells share the same "counter".
So much to find out, i like this alot.
To my question...i watched some early parts of two Let's Plays from two NWN veterans just to get an idea how other people approach this game altogether. Both guys suggested to no start with the basic game, but with the Shadows of Undrentide DLC which -according to them- would be a much better experience.
Has any of you played that DLC and can confirm this?
Thanks again!
You might also want too check out Sword coast: Legends. It have a pretty good but a bit short solocampaign. It would have been an awesome game if their toolset for building multiplayer campaigns didn't suck so much.
My absolute favorite fantasy books ever are the forgotten realms series by R. A. Salvatore, and those should be read in order. The games does not require any pre knowledge.. Some characters from various books appear in various games and they make use of cities and location from various book lore. Baldurs Gate 2 has been awarded best game in history by several reviewers and polls, and that is prohbably not too far off. Anyways .. Go read those Salvatore books they are awesome.
Ah note to reading order: Homeland, Exile, Sojourn The crystal shard, Streams of silver, the halflings gem Then the follow ups to the Drizzt tales
Thank you everyone for the many replies and suggestions, i think you guys made this thread awesome and very helpful! I apologize that i wasn't really able to give a better description of what i was looking for. Being totally new to this genre, i just didn't want to "do it all wrong" and start out with the wrong game if possible.
It's all good now and currently i'm happy with NWN1
Over the past weeks i got hand on 99% of the titles you mentioned in this thread, so this stack will keep me going for a while!
You might also want too check out Sword coast: Legends. It have a pretty good but a bit short solocampaign. It would have been an awesome game if their toolset for building multiplayer campaigns didn't suck so much.
DO NOT buy SCL at any cost. Trust me, it is shit. For the exact reasons he mentioned.
I agree with the LP guys. That was my experience.
It's not that bad. It certainly could have been better but there is nothing wrong with the game in itself, it is the toolset that failed.
What made NWN so popular long term was the Aurora toolset, it was epic and many talented people made great content with it (of course far more people cranked out complete crap as well).
NWN 1 is also a good entry point. A fairly good story(some very memorable things), not that difficult, only one character to really control. I mean, I FULLY understand why DnD afficiniados panned it, but it's like an ultimate entry point. Too bad it arrived when it did and the gfx is...neither artful like earlier games, nor graphically valuable like the later ones. Btw, Pillars is anti NWN 1 in this respect: Fairly playable and enjoyable for any DnD fan, but a HORRIBLE entry point. If I were to suggest three entry points, they'd be: 1. NWN 1 , 2. Tyranny and 3. Baldur's Gate 1. Pillars is at the absolute bottom here. It literally REQUIRES prior experience with such games-it's quite hopeless for most of outsiders(until they become experienced that is) and I believe you felt just that.
NWN worked best when you played it with others and that include the campaign.
Also, a D&D gem no-one have mentioned yet is "Planescape: Torment". There is a project to remake it or create something similar at least. Yeah, it is using the Planescape setting which is a bit weirder then FR but I certainly enjoyed it far more then the Icewind dale games.
You might also want too check out Sword coast: Legends. It have a pretty good but a bit short solocampaign. It would have been an awesome game if their toolset for building multiplayer campaigns didn't suck so much.
DO NOT buy SCL at any cost. Trust me, it is shit. For the exact reasons he mentioned.
I agree with the LP guys. That was my experience.
It's not that bad. It certainly could have been better but there is nothing wrong with the game in itself, it is the toolset that failed.
What made NWN so popular long term was the Aurora toolset, it was epic and many talented people made great content with it (of course far more people cranked out complete crap as well).
I played SC:L for a couple of days and while i didn't find it a bad game, i thought it was too easy. Like i said earlier in this thread, the game literally played on auto-mode and all i had to do was clicking my group on the map from A to B, while the characters fought on their own. Setting the game to a higher difficulty only made the fights take longer, but not harder -if that makes any sense. Also, character-development wasn't what i expected.
But there were also other things that i liked about that game and i will finish it at some point. It just wasn't what i was looking for at that time and how i imagined my start into this genre.
At the moment for me NWN1 has just the right depth to it and at the same time is not too unforgiving.
Comments
You might also want too check out Sword coast: Legends. It have a pretty good but a bit short solocampaign. It would have been an awesome game if their toolset for building multiplayer campaigns didn't suck so much.
We actually did play a little bit of a homemade D&D campaign on it but after a while it got repetitive. Still it is worth the price for it and is the only FR game you can find with modern graphics (DDO and the terrible Daggerdale have not modern graphics whatever anyone might say) besides Neverwinter (the Cryptic MMO).
Neverwinter is certainly worth a try as well, while it is a MMO it is not as fun as some NWN multiplayer server was but it looks pretty good and have it's fun parts. Since it is F2P it is at least worth a try.
Start with Baldur's Gate II. You don't start off so weak that you hate life, your characters have a good range of spells and abilities. It's a fantastic story, and a very fun game.
Then play Baldur's Gate I. You get the backstory of a lot of the characters from BG II, it's a bit harder of a game, but once you've played through BGII, you'll have a firm grasp of the tactics and it won't make you bash your head against your desk.
Then play Icewind Dale 1&2 in that order. They are great games when you're done with the BG series, although not quite as good in the story department.
Last on the list is Pillars of Eternity. It's a complete departure from the AD&D rules, to the point that some of them don't even make sense, the world is much more grim, dark and evil in general, very few of the characters in the game could be considered "good" people and the weapon balance is atrocious. Do yourself a favor and only put points into any class of weapon that has good DR, because by the end of the game you won't be able to damage shit if you don't.
Play Divinity if you want, although I wouldn't even put it in the same realm as BG, IWD or even PoE. It felt like a totally different genre altogether to me.
DO NOT buy SCL at any cost. Trust me, it is shit. For the exact reasons he mentioned.
I agree with the LP guys. That was my experience.
Bartoni's Law definition: As an Internet discussion grows volatile, the probability of a comparison involving Donald Trump approaches 1.
Ah note to reading order:
Homeland, Exile, Sojourn
The crystal shard, Streams of silver, the halflings gem
Then the follow ups to the Drizzt tales
"I am my connectome" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7GwKXfJB0
I apologize that i wasn't really able to give a better description of what i was looking for. Being totally new to this genre, i just didn't want to "do it all wrong" and start out with the wrong game if possible.
It's all good now and currently i'm happy with NWN1
Over the past weeks i got hand on 99% of the titles you mentioned in this thread, so this stack will keep me going for a while!
What made NWN so popular long term was the Aurora toolset, it was epic and many talented people made great content with it (of course far more people cranked out complete crap as well).
Also, a D&D gem no-one have mentioned yet is "Planescape: Torment". There is a project to remake it or create something similar at least. Yeah, it is using the Planescape setting which is a bit weirder then FR but I certainly enjoyed it far more then the Icewind dale games.
Like i said earlier in this thread, the game literally played on auto-mode and all i had to do was clicking my group on the map from A to B, while the characters fought on their own.
Setting the game to a higher difficulty only made the fights take longer, but not harder -if that makes any sense.
Also, character-development wasn't what i expected.
But there were also other things that i liked about that game and i will finish it at some point.
It just wasn't what i was looking for at that time and how i imagined my start into this genre.
At the moment for me NWN1 has just the right depth to it and at the same time is not too unforgiving.