bought planescape torment and neverwinter nights 2. finished planescape the other day and man it makes me wish it had the tab highlight all npc feature.
I'm playing KOTOR. and Jade Empire on iOS. I also found a pretty sweet game called Exiled Kingdoms. Very very fun, I recommend it. It sort of has an isometric, open world dungeon-crawler feel. Reminds me of a bunch of old-school RPGs rolled into one.
I'm playing Kotor II with the restored content mod for the first time and holy crap, I enjoyed Mask of the Betrayer a lot as my favorite RPG but this is right up there with it so far.
kotor 2 is really good with every thing restored. it's one of my top 10 favorite rpgs and what got me into obsidians stuff like alot of people even unfinished. and as i am playing neverwinter nights 2 again i'm gonna give motb another chance. i was to harsh to it before.
I'm playing Pillars of Eternity. I'm thinking about trying a four pure class challenge run of Icewind Dale. I've got a bunch of other play ideas on my back burner, too. Who knows what I'll play next.
I suppose you got the games while they were dirt cheap in the last GoG sale. I've also used this opportunity to complete my collection of IE games (and for the record, I was not amused by having to buy IWD:EE for the second time just so I could own a digital copy of the original version).
I'm thinking of doing a big Infinity Engine retrospective early next year, replaying all 5 games (BG1/2 and IWD in their original versions) in the order they were released, so I'll experience the evolution of the engine. Has anyone here ever done that?
no one has gone in depth with the engine so go for it.
to be fair there are not that many reviews for the dnd rpgs. we got some for the ee sure but for stuff like neverwinter nights we only have like 3. and for neverwinter nights 2 we only have ign's and ugh dwterminator's review[ don't watch those reviews they annoy me. mostly the motb one.]
Yeah sort of off-subject but there's not a lot of review material. I tried to find some to get my friends interested in the CRPG D&D games but I couldn't find anything substantial.
@Vallmyr At the risk of taking things even further off-topic, you should check out the podcast called "Watch out for Fireballs." They are currently doing a couple of episodes on NWN2, and have done an episode on PST as well. It's one of my favorite podcasts! http://www.watchoutforfireballs.com
Me too! I tried NWN2, and got bored in the Never Winter City itself. While the start of the campaign was great, it quickly ran out of steam and was just too dull and lifeless to me. After the masterpiece of Athkatla, no big city in any rpg looks big/good/alive when compared.
Started Dragon Age:Origins. And to my surprise, I found it surprisingly good and engaging. I was not a graphics fan but after years of baldurs gate the detailed graphics look amazing to my eyes, I have to say this much. Currently having fun playing it. And with mods you can do some amazing (!) things you can never do in bg. I think I will never get tired of watching a naked Allistair pole-dancing to a Lady Gaga song. Yes there is a mod for that, and much more! Lol.
Still waiting for the SoD and 2.0+ versions to come to tablets. In the mean time I am having fun.
@lunar that's pretty interesting, because almost everyone I've talked to thought NWN2 starts really slow and gets better.
it gets better at act 2. act 1 is the weakest part as the city watch/thieves guild part drags.
Exactly, the city watch-thieves part really bored me to tears. The start was nice, the village fest and friends, the sudden and dramatic attack, etc. Much better than nwn1's 'we are in an academy of heroes (!) and we get attacked by 1 hp goblins', more immersive IMHO.
@Vallmyr At the risk of taking things even further off-topic, you should check out the podcast called "Watch out for Fireballs." They are currently doing a couple of episodes on NWN2, and have done an episode on PST as well. It's one of my favorite podcasts! http://www.watchoutforfireballs.com
Listening to them talk about NWN2. This is great and makes me want to run the game again! Also interesting hearing how other people ran the game and the consequences of certain actions in the game.
Be sure to listen to their episode(s) on PST. I really enjoy listening to their podcast even for games I have no interest in playing. Those guys have a ton of other gaming-related podcasts as well.
Btw, just wanted to say I finish a run of PST. Amazing game. Not for the gameplay by any stretch, but for the dialogue and story. Any game where you can beat the final boss purely through dialogue gets an A+ in my book. Almost seemed like a waste of my mini Holy Avenger though.
Our of curioisty, what alignment did you all end up with? Happy to say my TNO ended up lawful good.
I still have yet to beat PST. The farthest I got was the tower of skulls, and was getting completely wrecked by everything that moves, with no place to rest and heal up. I love that game, but the combat SUCKS! Even on easy. I think I was in the CG column at that point in the game.
I remember seeing people advise against using a thief as their class on a first playthrough, but why exactly? Is there something specific that makes being a thief really bad for a playthrough?
Mage is probably the very best for roleplay no matter what though.
I still have yet to beat PST. The farthest I got was the tower of skulls, and was getting completely wrecked by everything that moves, with no place to rest and heal up. I love that game, but the combat SUCKS! Even on easy. I think I was in the CG column at that point in the game.
I found that to get by...
(1) Start off with 18 Wis. It opens most dialogue and gives you bonus XP. This is especially important for dealing with Morte, as dialogue can push him from Str 12 ->16. (2) Push up Strength next. When you hit fighter (7) you get +1 Strength. This takes you from 18->19 (as opposed to using level up bonuses which give you 18+%. I prefer this to being a mage because resting is so hard in Planescape. (3) Fall from Grace is absolutely essential. She is the only healer in the game, and her auto heal is actually really useful. Don't use her for combat. (4) For tattoos, use +2 Wis and get + strength. (5) For late game, work on Constitution. By the time I got to the end game, I had TNO's constitution in the 20s. The regen let him take everything out without issue. (6) Buy lots and lots of cranium rat charms. They give you intelligence when you need it. (7) Keep Dakkon around. Why? Because he lets you go from Fighter->Mage and back again. Not only is this good for opening the circle of zerthimon (huge stat boost for Dakkon and spells), but it also gives TNO the spell friends. Cast it twice and you have Cha25. More than enough for any dialogue options/buying items. Dakkon is also essential for TNO tanking. He can cast spells like armor which help with your AC problems. (9) You only need one party member to change maps. So Annah stealthing across a map can let you skip the hard fights. Your party never needs to gather before venturing forth. (10) Keep the bronze sphere and follow all dialogue paths at the end of the game. Huge stat boosts. By the time I finished the game, TNO had Str25 Dex9 Con25 Int18 (unbuffed) Wis25 Cha10 (25 with friends).
TL/DR: * Wisdom is king * Fall from Grace is mandatory * Int + Cha come easily from cheap consumables and a lvl 1 spell
it also feels like only fighter gives you a character pointss at level up. so switching back to fighter when you finish everything up with dakkon is a must if you want to max out your stats.
Comments
I'm thinking of doing a big Infinity Engine retrospective early next year, replaying all 5 games (BG1/2 and IWD in their original versions) in the order they were released, so I'll experience the evolution of the engine. Has anyone here ever done that?
to be fair there are not that many reviews for the dnd rpgs. we got some for the ee sure but for stuff like neverwinter nights we only have like 3. and for neverwinter nights 2 we only have ign's and ugh dwterminator's review[ don't watch those reviews they annoy me. mostly the motb one.]
http://www.watchoutforfireballs.com
them calling things "gross" does annoy me.
After the masterpiece of Athkatla, no big city in any rpg looks big/good/alive when compared.
Started Dragon Age:Origins. And to my surprise, I found it surprisingly good and engaging. I was not a graphics fan but after years of baldurs gate the detailed graphics look amazing to my eyes, I have to say this much. Currently having fun playing it. And with mods you can do some amazing (!) things you can never do in bg. I think I will never get tired of watching a naked Allistair pole-dancing to a Lady Gaga song. Yes there is a mod for that, and much more! Lol.
Still waiting for the SoD and 2.0+ versions to come to tablets. In the mean time I am having fun.
The start was nice, the village fest and friends, the sudden and dramatic attack, etc. Much better than nwn1's 'we are in an academy of heroes (!) and we get attacked by 1 hp goblins', more immersive IMHO.
Our of curioisty, what alignment did you all end up with? Happy to say my TNO ended up lawful good.
Mage is probably the very best for roleplay no matter what though.
(1) Start off with 18 Wis. It opens most dialogue and gives you bonus XP. This is especially important for dealing with Morte, as dialogue can push him from Str 12 ->16.
(2) Push up Strength next. When you hit fighter (7) you get +1 Strength. This takes you from 18->19 (as opposed to using level up bonuses which give you 18+%. I prefer this to being a mage because resting is so hard in Planescape.
(3) Fall from Grace is absolutely essential. She is the only healer in the game, and her auto heal is actually really useful. Don't use her for combat.
(4) For tattoos, use +2 Wis and get + strength.
(5) For late game, work on Constitution. By the time I got to the end game, I had TNO's constitution in the 20s. The regen let him take everything out without issue.
(6) Buy lots and lots of cranium rat charms. They give you intelligence when you need it.
(7) Keep Dakkon around. Why? Because he lets you go from Fighter->Mage and back again. Not only is this good for opening the circle of zerthimon (huge stat boost for Dakkon and spells), but it also gives TNO the spell friends. Cast it twice and you have Cha25. More than enough for any dialogue options/buying items. Dakkon is also essential for TNO tanking. He can cast spells like armor which help with your AC problems.
(9) You only need one party member to change maps. So Annah stealthing across a map can let you skip the hard fights. Your party never needs to gather before venturing forth.
(10) Keep the bronze sphere and follow all dialogue paths at the end of the game. Huge stat boosts. By the time I finished the game, TNO had Str25 Dex9 Con25 Int18 (unbuffed) Wis25 Cha10 (25 with friends).
TL/DR:
* Wisdom is king
* Fall from Grace is mandatory
* Int + Cha come easily from cheap consumables and a lvl 1 spell