NWN2's OC isn't as bad as everyone says it is, I think (Spoilers for part of NWN2).
Sooo I'm playing through the OC for the first time as a Gnome Bard going along the Fey Heritage feat line. The Bard is a blast to play since I can switch between sword and shield, archery, two weapon fighting, and spellcasting on a whim. Use Magic Device also has to be the coolest skill ever since I can use other class's unique equipment, hehe.
So the OC isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. After playing the original NWN's campaign and finding it less than stellar and what I heard about this game's OC I wasn't expecting much. But then I was blown away.
The dynamics of your initial party are GREAT! You can't please anyone and that causes conflicts between party members and I love it. If I side with Elanee about something then Khelgar and Neeshka gets upset, if I side with Neeshka then Khelgar and Elanee gets upset, and if I side with Khelgar than the other two get upset! XD No matter who I side with on a matter someone will disapprove and I love it.
Neeshka reminds me of my Bard character as they are both less-than responsible and have a tendency to shirk authority. Elanee is like the mother my poor little Bard girl never had. Khelgar is well. Khelgar. I love his wanting to be a monk but his undisciplined nature and wanting to fight things. I just got Qara, the fire sorceress, so I can't comment on her other than that she's kind of short-tempered.
I love the idea that you can talk bandits out of bandit-ing and go help patrol the roads at Forte Lock if you have high enough diplomacy as opposed to just murdering them. I like these alternate-paths you can take due to your stats, race, or class. Basically this is why I think Obsidian has some of the best writers in the business when it comes to choices in dialogue.
The main plot seems to have a good dash of mystery with the shards (I don't know what they are yet so no spoilers on that please n_n ). I'm currently part of the city watch and climbing through the ranks. As much as Piro hates authority she won't let innocent people be hurt.
I started as CN but soon found myself to be CG which is cool. With this sort of RPing I've been shown to myself where I thought Piro was CN she actually cares for people a great deal and despite some selfish tendencies will avoid fighting and save as many people as possible. She can't stand blood so while she has a sword and shield she mostly stands in the back providing support spells for her party along with her bardic auras.
Maybe the plot gets worse later? I don't know. Atm though I'll actually say I'm enjoying the plot as much as I enjoyed Baldur's Gate 1's plot.
I'll update this post when I can as my internet is currently down so it'll be sparse.
I played through Storms of Zehir already so I get how the game plays mechanically and have a build set for my Bard which is nice.
Also, just as marker for where I am in the story I just killed Moire as she tried to kill the Watch's informant. I'm now to go to Old Owl Well (I think that's the name) and find a missing emissary.
So the OC isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. After playing the original NWN's campaign and finding it less than stellar and what I heard about this game's OC I wasn't expecting much. But then I was blown away.
The dynamics of your initial party are GREAT! You can't please anyone and that causes conflicts between party members and I love it. If I side with Elanee about something then Khelgar and Neeshka gets upset, if I side with Neeshka then Khelgar and Elanee gets upset, and if I side with Khelgar than the other two get upset! XD No matter who I side with on a matter someone will disapprove and I love it.
Neeshka reminds me of my Bard character as they are both less-than responsible and have a tendency to shirk authority. Elanee is like the mother my poor little Bard girl never had. Khelgar is well. Khelgar. I love his wanting to be a monk but his undisciplined nature and wanting to fight things. I just got Qara, the fire sorceress, so I can't comment on her other than that she's kind of short-tempered.
I love the idea that you can talk bandits out of bandit-ing and go help patrol the roads at Forte Lock if you have high enough diplomacy as opposed to just murdering them. I like these alternate-paths you can take due to your stats, race, or class. Basically this is why I think Obsidian has some of the best writers in the business when it comes to choices in dialogue.
The main plot seems to have a good dash of mystery with the shards (I don't know what they are yet so no spoilers on that please n_n ). I'm currently part of the city watch and climbing through the ranks. As much as Piro hates authority she won't let innocent people be hurt.
I started as CN but soon found myself to be CG which is cool. With this sort of RPing I've been shown to myself where I thought Piro was CN she actually cares for people a great deal and despite some selfish tendencies will avoid fighting and save as many people as possible. She can't stand blood so while she has a sword and shield she mostly stands in the back providing support spells for her party along with her bardic auras.
Maybe the plot gets worse later? I don't know. Atm though I'll actually say I'm enjoying the plot as much as I enjoyed Baldur's Gate 1's plot.
I'll update this post when I can as my internet is currently down so it'll be sparse.
I played through Storms of Zehir already so I get how the game plays mechanically and have a build set for my Bard which is nice.
Also, just as marker for where I am in the story I just killed Moire as she tried to kill the Watch's informant. I'm now to go to Old Owl Well (I think that's the name) and find a missing emissary.
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Comments
Since you haven't played it yet, I won't spoil the rest of the story. But I think Act II and Act III are great and Mephasm is a fantastic character.
Mask of the Betrayer on the otthe hand is one of my absolutely favorite RPGs. From story depth only PS:T, KOTOR 2, Morrowind, Ultima Underworld 2 and Ultima 7: Serpent Isle can compete.
MoTB is also really well done if a bit darker. And then Storm of Zehir is just a fun romp/throw back to games like IWD.
I will say that there are better modules out there to play, but that doesn't detract from this campaign being fun and interesting.
Firstly, I dislike ALL of the NPC companions (with the exception of the golem). They simply aren't characters I want to spend time with. Which wouldn't be so much of a problem if you could dump them, but even if you don't have them in your party they hang around being irritating.
Secondly, the story depends too much on a "big twist" that is too obvious. It was like watching The Sixth Sense. I realised {spoiler} was {spoiler} in the opening sequence, and from then on it was a yawnfest.
It was made in half the time NwN1 was made, more or less.
The OC has a cliffhanger and comically cliche ending.
The meat and potatoes of NwN2 is not the OC.
It's the Mask of the Betrayer expansion.
The old school Icewind Dale-like approach of Storm of Zehir.
The very interesting Mysteries of Westgate DLC.
The module-making capabilities.
The roleplaying Persistent Worlds that still thrive today and will continue to do so for a while.
The much more professionally-made and more capable toolset, even if quite unintuitive and complex.
- Lack of choice when it comes to NPCs until you get to Neverwinter. You won't notice this as much the first time but the game does get pretty boring when you are stuck with a choice of I think only 3 different NPC's until you reach neverwinter.
- Of the NPC's the only one I liked was Bishop.
- Its the game that taught me that hearing "know that" at the start of an NPC's every line from an NPC gets old really fast.
- You can't kill playable NPC's (technically this isn't just limited to the OC but it was the first to have this). I really wish this was allowed given the "know that" NPC I mentioned above.
- Personally I feel like the whole shardbearer thing could have been cut. You could very well have had it that a Silver Sword was needed to kill the Shadow King. It would be one heck of a fight to get your hands on one but as stories go I'm totally down with that. I just don't buy the notion that the Githyanki wouldn't have recovered at least most of the shards in the decades it took you to grow up. I felt instead like they were inserting convenient excuses for why the Githyanki wouldn't have, just so they could have a story about a shardbearer.
Instead I think the story would have been better had it better emphasized the events of that lead up to the destruction of Mystryl, which was a fundamental moment for the Shadow Kings transition from the Guardian to the Shadow King (his fall from grace and the basis for the human part of this story where I'm supposed to want to emphasize with what has happened to him). Really make the case for the significance of this moment and its impact on not only the realms but more specifically Illefarn/Netheril.
As far as campaigns go it felt very uninspiring. It basically felt like a campaign that was trying tell two different stories, by merging the two stories into one story, but in the process it never actually ended up telling either one very well.
He's a meanie. As Piro would say.
If he's a party member I imagine he's not the most agreeable of sorts. XD
Also, I do feel this entire orcish segment is dragging on a little much. Though, I met a Paladin guy. I like his kit but his personality screams "Generic Paladin Guy."
Also I met a fellow Gnome Bard, Grobnar Gnomehands.
Surprising even to myself I'm not a fan of him. He's all the whimsical fun and annoyance that Piro is but taken one step too far. I want to like him because I normally love that character type but he's just sooooo. Idk what the word is. Annoying. But I normally like annoying so this is weird.
So far I like the original party the most but I like the Paladin guy's kit more than Kelghar's. I may switch Kelghar out for him once he becomes a monk. Assuming the quest ends with him becoming a monk. We'll see.
Unfortunately, like BG1, the OC has pretty generic and stereotypical characters with a few exceptions.
-Casavir is the generic Paladin.
-Grobnar is the typical crazy and annoying gnome, Quayle style.
-Qara is the typical "I burn stuff" Sorceress.
-Sand is the typical "know-it-all" elf wizard.
-Khelgar is the typical "I like to fight" dwarf.
-Elanee is the typical "I like nature" elf druidess.
-Neeshka is the typical "I am a mischievous bubbly thief" tiefling.
While all of them have their own personality traits that make them more interesting.
Sand can be hilarious for example.
Though Bishop is an atypical badboy evil Ranger.
The rest I didn't mention you meet later and are generally atypical and more interesting, so I won't spoil.
Weren't in the game, that is.
I have actually played through it a couple of times though, so I find some enjoyment in it.
Now, the other characters, meh, maybe not so much. I almost always start and finish the game with those four allies. I'll always remember Grobnar, although I never use him. I like a few of the others, like Casavir, but I still never use them.
To me, the four characters I like and use from NWN2 that I will always remember are the equivalents of Minsc, Imoen, Jaheira, and... I guess, Xan? I don't always use Xan in BG, but I have a really hard time playing BG without Minsc, Imoen, and Jaheira, because they define BG for me.
Khelgar, Neeshka, and Elanee are pretty clearly to me derivative of their BG equivalents (I know Khelgar and Minsc have some stark differences, but I think they both serve the same story role- eccentric, quirky tanks who provide lots of comedy relief), but I'm okay with that.
As I said before though, it isn't so much that they are bad, but that you are stuck with them that is the real problem. If I could have left them all to die and soloed the story it would have been much improved.
Plus with only one rogue and only one divine caster for most of the game, the options for party make-up are severely limited.
Is it better to invest in Maximize lower level spell or choose next level spell?
What I did like was the party dynamic. Even though stereotypical at times, all the characters worked very well with each other. Especially Shandra and the two endgame companions where a very nice addition.
But yeah, I will have to go with the general consensus here, MotB outclassed the OC in pretty much every way. But it's no shame to lose to something as original and memorable as MotB, so you got that
I'd love to see a propper remake of the game plus the expansions at some point (not just an enhanced edition). The main flaw was the horribly clunky engine and I'd love to see what the story would have been like in it's intended vision. Though, to be fair, I felt like Dragon Age: Awakenings recycled a lot of stuff from the OC, or am I the only one?
(and you can manage without one anyway)
MotB actually has a better choice of rogue than the OC.
Hehe.
I thought that was clever.
[Spoiler] One of Many is an optional boss in Storms of Zehir and when I googled it I was like, "Oops. Spoilers." XD [/Spoiler]
Edit: I guess I should say I don't know who that is yet.
The down side of it was that quite a lot of the 'Dungeons' were tiny little one-off affairs with like 2 rooms in them. I suppose that was't a 'Bad' thing but it was kind of a let down in my personal and subjective view. Overall, I still really enjoyed SoZ and highly reccommmend it for anyone who enjoys a game like Icewind Dale.
I agree with that statement. SoZ is wonderful and I plan to play it again eventually.
Update on my progress. Defeated the Orcs at Old Owl Well and got a new shield for Piro. It gives +2 charisma so her Cha is 18 now!
Her versatility is the best. I have bracers that give me the point blank shot feat and a dagger that gives the two weapon fighting feat.
I just got greater invisibility and shadow Conjuration so I can summon SHADOWS! Which is cool.
I can't remember if I stated earlier but I removed all the level adjustments by editing the subrace file. I've never been a fan in LA especially in a single player game. Anyway, so Neeshka just got crippling strike.
I'm debating if I want to use Casavir or Kelghar as my group's fighter-type. Neeshka is my rogue of course, Piro my arcane support, and Elanee as the primary healer. Elanee also has an awakened raptor animal companion now. It has like a +9 modifier in strength and is crazy strong. I named her Diana.
I haven't actually played the OC with the SoZ animal companion boosting feats. makes a couple of the party members a bit more interesting!