I was disappointed with the OC but despite that have played it a number of times.
My main disappointment came from the fact that I had expected it to be similar to Baldur's Gate and it was nothing like it. I hated the fact that you could only recruit one henchman (and then couldn't stop them from running off and getting killed all the time). I thought the game was humourless (if there are jokes in NWN I must have missed them) and the plot started out dumb (the Waterdhavian creatures) and then becomes unmemorable (as I said I have played the OC a number of times but I still can't remember who the main bad guy was). I also found my player character seemed incredibly quiet when compared to those in BG and IWD. They just never seem to say anything - which may be just as well because most of the voice sets are really dull.
For me the biggest problem was that NWN is so combat-heavy that it feels more like a first-person shooter than an RPG. But oddly enough this is what makes me go back to the game. I can play NWN to pass the time without ever really needing to engage with the story. I always play solo and I try out new characters to see how far I can get. For example, next time I play I plan to be a Blood Sailor fighter (at least I will be as soon as I manage to acquire a uniform) and I will see how far I can go with a character who can't wear any armour but who is trying to melee their way through the game.
One thing that has always bothered me about the OC is how common it is for characters to reward you with gold for quests. Even druids reward you with money when you complete their quests!
Not to mention that the amount of gold you are given is usually tiny, just a fraction of the gold you can get by selling one of the several magic items you got during the quest. While it makes sense that commoners wouldn't have much gold, I much prefer for quests to reward me with a magic item or some service, rather than just a few hundred gold. Or with more experience. Experience is more valuable than gold.
One thing that has always bothered me about the OC is how common it is for characters to reward you with gold for quests. Even druids reward you with money when you complete their quests!
Not to mention that the amount of gold you are given is usually tiny, just a fraction of the gold you can get by selling one of the several magic items you got during the quest. While it makes sense that commoners wouldn't have much gold, I much prefer for quests to reward me with a magic item or some service, rather than just a few hundred gold. Or with more experience. Experience is more valuable than gold.
That's true, but then the prices for some items need to be adapted. If you don't steal everything that isn't nailed down, it's hard to earn enough money to get things like the Belt of Guiding Light, the Amulet of Health or a Golden Circlet. Or you just have to accept lots of respawns, which costs you even more money and XP.
It doesn't matter if you don't mind reloading all the time, I guess. But if you do, enough gold is hard to come by until very late in the OC.
As DJKajuru said in his post, I didn't find the OC bad, but it was ultimately fairly forgettable. I couldn't build up the same kind of rapport with the henchmen in the OC as I did with the companions from, say, Baldur's Gate or Dragon's Age, and while I did find Aribeth's plot arc to be interesting, I wasn't terribly impressed by the revelation/introduction of the Old Ones. There are already plenty of other interesting "ancient threats" in Faerun; did we really need a new one?
All in all, I did enjoy the OC, but it was, for lack of a better word, unsatisfying. SoU/HotU did a much better job of pulling me in, but for me, the best memories I have of my time with NWN are the hours and hours I spent in custom modules, whether in single or multiplayer.
Comments
My main disappointment came from the fact that I had expected it to be similar to Baldur's Gate and it was nothing like it. I hated the fact that you could only recruit one henchman (and then couldn't stop them from running off and getting killed all the time). I thought the game was humourless (if there are jokes in NWN I must have missed them) and the plot started out dumb (the Waterdhavian creatures) and then becomes unmemorable (as I said I have played the OC a number of times but I still can't remember who the main bad guy was). I also found my player character seemed incredibly quiet when compared to those in BG and IWD. They just never seem to say anything - which may be just as well because most of the voice sets are really dull.
For me the biggest problem was that NWN is so combat-heavy that it feels more like a first-person shooter than an RPG. But oddly enough this is what makes me go back to the game. I can play NWN to pass the time without ever really needing to engage with the story. I always play solo and I try out new characters to see how far I can get. For example, next time I play I plan to be a Blood Sailor fighter (at least I will be as soon as I manage to acquire a uniform) and I will see how far I can go with a character who can't wear any armour but who is trying to melee their way through the game.
Not to mention that the amount of gold you are given is usually tiny, just a fraction of the gold you can get by selling one of the several magic items you got during the quest. While it makes sense that commoners wouldn't have much gold, I much prefer for quests to reward me with a magic item or some service, rather than just a few hundred gold. Or with more experience. Experience is more valuable than gold.
That's true, but then the prices for some items need to be adapted. If you don't steal everything that isn't nailed down, it's hard to earn enough money to get things like the Belt of Guiding Light, the Amulet of Health or a Golden Circlet. Or you just have to accept lots of respawns, which costs you even more money and XP.
It doesn't matter if you don't mind reloading all the time, I guess. But if you do, enough gold is hard to come by until very late in the OC.
All in all, I did enjoy the OC, but it was, for lack of a better word, unsatisfying. SoU/HotU did a much better job of pulling me in, but for me, the best memories I have of my time with NWN are the hours and hours I spent in custom modules, whether in single or multiplayer.