NwN Companions "Detailed and Intriguing Relationships"
I just had the NwN2 manual in my hand to read through the first pages and i came upon this little fact, and couldn't help but laugh for myself.
"One of the great features of Neverwinter Nights was the detailed and intriguing relationships you could develop with your companions. In Neverwinter Nights 2, we've expanded this feature even further. How you act within the game, and how you behave towards your companions, will affect their loyalty to you and how the story unfolds."
Page 12.
"One of the great features of Neverwinter Nights was the detailed and intriguing relationships you could develop with your companions"
I must have played another game than they did.....
"One of the great features of Neverwinter Nights was the detailed and intriguing relationships you could develop with your companions. In Neverwinter Nights 2, we've expanded this feature even further. How you act within the game, and how you behave towards your companions, will affect their loyalty to you and how the story unfolds."
Page 12.
"One of the great features of Neverwinter Nights was the detailed and intriguing relationships you could develop with your companions"
I must have played another game than they did.....
3
Comments
Both technicly true, the plot went into the level 30's (expansions anyway) and some people like Deekin (and most *remember* Aribeth).
It wouldn't do if they just put "We know the character interaction with your lapdop in the previous game was shallow and pathetic, so we upgraded it to shallow and merely dissappointing in our newest installment!"
In NWN1, I liked Tomi because I needed a thief, and I thought he was cute. I enjoyed his tales of adventure in Calimsham, and I always liked it when I gained enough influence with him for him to tell me more of his exploits.
I also like Daelan Red Tiger - I did a run with him once when I needed more "muscle". I was playing my usual good character, and I admired his openness and sense of honor. I was glad when both Daelan and Tomi returned for Hordes of the Underdark, which introduced the ability to carry two henchpeople who would have a lot of fun interaction and banter.
In Shadows of Undrentide, who could forget Deekin? I did a run once as a cleric, where I could use him, and he was so funny and endearing. I usually don't get to use him, though, because thief skills are what I almost always need to hire, and in SoU, that means Dorna.
Dorna is another fun and memorable character. I love her dry wit, her bold outspokenness, and her skill and strength. I usually imagine her to be a gay woman (which is never brought up in game, so don't freak out and go off-topic, please), who is a foil and best friend to my gay man.
I've never played with him much, but Xanos the barbarian sorcerer seems very interesting and enjoyable, from the general dialogues I've played through with him.
In NWN2, the entire cast is just as dear to me as the Baldur's Gate cast. Khelgar, Neeshka (I almost just called her "Imoen"), Elanee, and Sand are my besties. The four of them are a balanced party that can do anything, so you can make your PC anything you want. I can't stand Qara. The disrespect she shows to knowledge and wisdom makes my skin crawl. But that's a complement to the game. I can't use Bishop in his evilness, but, darn, the guy is cute, and another memorable character.
I haven't played MotB enough to get to know the cast. From the one time I played a partial runthrough, I remember "weird alien mage woman", "angel girl", "stuck up druid", and "rainbow bear". They seemed worth getting to know. I really need to go back to MotB one of these days and to spend more time with it.
Aribeth was a great idea, but the voice didn't match and there was too much predicability with her thing. I always meant to do the mod about her post-Underdark, but got tired of the game engine and blockiness.
As for NwN2, I liked some of the NPC's, but not all. I loved Neeshka teasing the party after the boat ride, actually. Some good stuff there.
I wonder whether what you really didn't like in NWN1 was that you could only have one henchman, making it not really a party game? Or the fact that you couldn't really control or manage their inventories, equipment, or actions (which got fixed in Shadows of Undrentide, and the AI got fixed by Tony K, although I guess mods don't count for this discussion).
As for NWN2, the characters in that cast have just as much if not more details, dialogues, personalities, and quests to them as the BG2 cast, as far as I can see.
Could you go into more details and specifics about what you don't like?
As for being just like diablo 2 mercs, I couldn't disagree with you more on that one. Those mercs have no dialogues at all that I remember.
2.) They got one quest per chapter and then they don't do or say anything more that chapter
3.) In the original campaign you can't change their gear
4.) Most of them got very badly written stories that are more like short stories. None of them ever made me think twice about their character except the cleric with her hilariously bad story about miss fortune.
5.) NwN2 did the NPC's MUCH Better, i'm just saying NwN1 didn't have any good companions.
6.) SoU had some interesting companions introduced (Deeking etc).
BTW - maybe the quote in the topic post is taking SoU and HotU into consideration, and not thinking about plain NWN OC?
EDIT: rereading your OP, I see that it was the NWN2 manual that got you to thinking about this, so I would say that they were definitely referring to fully polished HotU - the final, total NWN product to the date of writing.