NeverWinter Nights... Boring?

[lucasjb]

Hi All,

I purchased this game a while ago and, although I haven't played an RPG for a while (I used to love them!), I've found it really dull.

Is it just me, have I grown out of single player computer RPGs, or is this game just boring?

For example, I've played through the first chapter both as a warrior and as a mage (normal difficulty). It's been really repetetive and really not challenging. For example, as a warrior, I'm just untouchable. Move the character into the middle of a pack of bad guys and wait until they're all dead. Hire a decent henchmen and it's even easier. If you're a wizard, hire a warrior henchman and it's the same story. Granted the odd battle is challenging, but you have to fight your way through hundreds of underpowered grunts that give you next to no XP to get to the odd decent fight... it's tiresome.

And it's not just the combat that's boring. Exploring areas is so repetetive. You need a henchman or familiar that can open chests for you, then it's run to chest, wait for unlock, open, get something (usually that you already have), put in inventory to sell later, repeat. There are bags and corpses everywhere to search, with one or two gold pieces in them... *sigh* --- and because of the henchmen quests, you need to search everywhere. There don't seem to be any puzzles. Inventory management is not terribly intelligent.

I wanted to like this game and I wanted to support Bioware for releasing a Linux client, but I'm just disappointed. On the positive side, I really like the graphics and sound, the interface is OK (except maybe the inventory management) and I like the AD&D style rules. The story seems pretty good. I want to give this game a good try...

... so, I'm looking for guidance from the Gentoo gaming community. I've downloaded the CEP --- will this help? I also wanted to try playing on-line, but I've only found a couple of nearby servers and they're empty. I did manage to connect to one server, but for some reason I was stuck and couldn't move. There was no one else online so I quit... hmm... The most promising thing I've heard is that there's a Dragonlance module in development --- perhaps that could rekindle my interest.

So, what am I missing? How can I increase my enjoyment of this game? What do people enjoy about it? How do I get into the online NWN scene? I've played a bit of the second chapter and found it similar to the first. Help?

[Mekoryuk]

The game gets better or worse depending on what you like. I guess I haven't really paid attention to the quality of the first campaign because I wasn't alone. It really helps, I think, to find someone to play the SP through with; especially someone who has a character who balances yours (duh).

The expansion packs (Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark) are MUCH better, but you're looking at another $40-50 right there, depending on where you get 'em.

I'm surprised you're not seeing more servers. It might be you don't have the expansion packs installed. My server browser still brings up quite a few servers. It has thinned down a bit since the game was released, but there's still a few quality worlds to run around in.

Fighter is a boring class, yes. It helps to experiment with some of the odd classes, like bard, rogue, or ranger. Rogue and ranger especially, since sneaking around setting up traps, then luring the enemy into them is kinda fun.

CEP won't help out with gameplay, since it's just an addon/replacement pack for game assets, and is mostly for mod builders. However, there are a few mods you might be interested in to boost the challenge in the game.

First, there's Jasperre's AI mod, which basically replaces Bioware's simplistic enemy AI: http://nwvault.ign.com/Files/scripts/data/1045591604074.shtml

And another AI replacement mod, which also lets you manage your henchmen's inventory:
http://nwvault.ign.com/Files/hakpacks/data/1028721482987.shtml

You might need WINE to extract that last one.

Armed with either of those mods, the enemy shouldn't be so stupid. They can "hear" you now, even from a couple of rooms away if you start battles with other enemies, and they can open locked doors to chase you down. They'll try and go for the weakest in your party, and spellcasters should do some intelligent attacks now.

There's always community mods, too. Visit http://nwvault.ign.com and browse through their Hall-of-Fame Modules section to pick up some cool ones. Highly recommended are the Penultima series, Sex & the Singles Adventure (if you aren't easily offended), Witch's Wake (which is downright creepy), The Lone Wolf series...

Hope this helps. =)

[madmango]

I thought i was boring.

The campaign is basically the same stuff over and over and over. Always four things you have to go to.

Stupid. Boring. Waste of my thirty bucks.
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[linuxkrn]

Hordes of the Underdark is by far the best. Don't even bother with Shadows. I found both the story, the quests, and items to be the best of all three.

It's worth $25 I paid for the expansion, you don't nee SoU for HoU but will need the orginal NWN.

Remember that NWN is D&D based game. It's not your typical hack and slash like diablo. 80% of the game is based on YOUR character development. Play through as a good character helping people, then again with a evil one killing everything in sight. The game changes for each type.

Bottom line, if you don't like it EBGames always takes old games for a little store credit. Get something you do enjoy.

[PZoned]

You need to play in a persistant world server... when i was hooked to NWN i played on Aventia untill i had the second best character, but then an expansion came out and everyone voted for a character sweep it was fun as hell though. I really cant stand playing single player, its kinda fun, but boring after a while. but go make a character on a persistant world server and you wont regret it

[linuxkrn]

[nahpets]

I played it for a while and got bored too. The enemies get better/harder later on, but it's still tedious to have to search every nook and cranny.

I had mixed feeelings about the henchman concept. I like the fact that you don't have 100% control over them, but I think you should be able to hire more than one at a time so that you can travel as a party in true RPG/AD&D fashion.

Overall, I liked Baldur's Gate II better...

[Imek]

Original Campaign: Formulaic, boring.. Got sick of it.
First Expansion (Shadows Of Undrentide): Decent. Played through a couple of times.
Second Expansion (Hordes Of The Underdark) Brilliant. Played through 3 or 4 times.

With HoTU, you get 2 henchmen and the ability to manage their inventory, which makes it more like BG2 - still like BG2 a hell of a lot more, though. Also, the prestige classes are good. I tried some player made campaigns, but none grabbed me - apart from Honor Among Thieves, which I recommend for rogue/thief fans.
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[headache]

I never seem to have the patience to play RPG´s. i think they are slow, boring and not giving me anything. Before i get slammed , this is *my* opinion and it´s not worth much!

I did try to play Neverwinter Nights but it´s currently collecting dust over there in the corner....
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[lucasjb]

Thanks for all your replys. I'll try a few community modules and maybe consider buying an expansion pack. I'll also try to get into some online gaming. Thanks for hints and suggestions.

[Slide]

most if not all of the persistent servers tend to require both expansions installed, the one I play a bit, Neversummer only requires Shadows of Undertide, but has a level cap of 40 which means Underark is basically required. There's lots of good worlds out there, just check in the Persistent Action / Story tabs and sort by number of players, filter out local vault ones too.

really, the basic release of NWN was all about the toolset - the single player mission was designed specifically as a demonstration of the capabilities of the engine and as some filler content for those that didn't want to play online. It was really envisaged that one person would be DM and run a campaign for their friends.

the two expansions provide a much more rewarding single player experience, as this was the biggest criticism of the original. SoU is the level 1-15/20 ish campaign, HotU is a direct sequel and takes the player from the end of Undrentide into epic levels, both are fantastic.

[Merlin-TC]

Well, I guess I am the only one who also liked the original campaign eh?

You just have to bring yourself in the right mood

And after all NWN is a role playing game and not hack and slash.

You have to read a lot, get involved in the story and play your "role".

Though I have to admit that it is a lot more fun to play together with friends.
There are really good modules out there which were just really fun to play.
The good modules are like a book, they are telling a story and you just have to immerse yourself in them.

Would love to play it again but I forgot my CDs in Germany and my connection here just plain sucks so I cannot play with friends

[The Mountain Man]

I just never could get into NWN. Knights of the Old Republic is by far a superior RPG, but it unfortunately doesn't come with an editor and Bioware/LucasArts is pretty heavy handed about suppressing any mod work (LucasArts doesn't want folks mucking about with the Star Wars name).

I also don't know if it works in Linux. It uses OpenGL at least, so chances are it'll work as opposed to an exclusively DirectX game, but I've not tried it.
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[rafael]

I'm quite sure its supported by Transgaming for Cedega / WineX.

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[Satyrinox]

I find the second part of the intro boring ..
but otherwise ive been able to play it without any emulation and find its better looking and faster in Linux native mode
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[Gherald2]

NWN singleplayer is extremely boring. There are a few good modules like the dreamcatcher series, but that's about it.

I would suggest Baldur's Gate 2 (and 1 as well with the "bgtutu" conversion), Morrowind, and perhaps Dungeon Siege as being much more enjoyable singleplayer games.

NWN multiplayer can be quite fun.
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[Malek]

Try Hordes of the Underdark if anything...

That had a bit more of an involving storyline and I liked it alot better then the original campaign which I'm honestly struggling to get thru. (Not difficulty, falling asleep and having the enemy kill me while I drool on the space bar.)

Save vs. Boredom : 14 + 10 : DC 40 FAIL!
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[DaMouse]

Heh, I just need to buy a CD Key for NWN (made foolish mistake of having it on my "free games" list cause it was in portage ) and me and my friends are going rambling . I've been listening to them chat on TS atm and it seems to sound cool enough.

-DaMouse
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[Gherald2]

[Niggurath]

if you like heavy roleplaying and you have the 2 expansion packs go to www.worldofcaenyr.com , make a bio, wait for it to get approved (usually next day) and have the time of your life.... the community is great, 28 Dungeon masters, an always expansive world with its own society and rules, worship and internal political and social problems, as well as guilds and really great great people over there.

im addicted to this server , i know the game can be boring sometimes by itself... take a look at that server and i assure you, you wont be dissapointed, i just bought the second expansion just to keep playing over there!

[Duncan Mac Leod]

[appetitus]

[jay]

I never played NWN long enough in solo mode. Connect to an online server, make friends and enter the nasty dungeons - that's real fun.
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[lucasjb]

Hi All,

Wow, I'm glad this has stimulated a bit of discussion. I guess with a few people watching this topic, it might be a good place to ask a question. First some background.

At computer swapmeet on Sunday found both expansion packs for NWN and bought them. Installed them last night and had a quick look --- they look good, I'm kind of excited about the possibilities for recruiting more than one henchman, managing their inventory and giving them more specific instructions about what to do in combat (although I find managing inventory in this game in general a bit of a pain --- does anyone know of a mod or something that makes inventory management a bit nicer? For example, I like to try to keep a certain category of item in each inventory page, special/quest items in one, armour and weapons in another, scrolls, wands and potions in another, gems and treasure in another, and so on, so that they are easier to get at later when you want to sell something or find stuff that you can drop --- a system to help me do this would be cool. Also, the inventory should automatically group items together unless specifically told not to --- it seems to do this with some items but not others. Perhaps I should post this on the Bioware forums --- what do other people think? Sorry for the length of this digression ).

I also thought I'd have a go at online play, but a quick foray into the servers list left me confused. When I clicked Multiplayer and Join a Game (or whatever it is), the client told me that there's a newer version of NWN available. I'm pretty sure I've got 1.62 installed --- would installing the expansions (sotu then hotu, then running /opt/nwn/fixinstall) take me back to an earlier version? I could probably check this myself somehow. Anyway, I couldn't join any servers because they were apparently running a newer version. I know 1.64b is out, but I wouldn't have thought every server in the list would be running it!

Oh well, I'm sure I can get that sorted.

Re: Morrowind, a couple of people have mentioned this game and I've read some pretty positive reviews of it, I received a bundled copy with my graphics card. I once managed to get it running under WineX but found it really laggy. I've heard that it's a bit better now under Cedega, but I can't get it to install. I also can't get Doom 3 to install with Cedega either so it must be something to do with my setup (in fact I'm pretty sure it's a CDROM problem because both those installers fail at the point where you need to insert a new CD, the manual Doom 3 install dies with some error I can't remember). Anyway, I was strongly considering cancelling my subscription to Transgaming because I'm tired of wasting time trying to get games to install and there are enough native Linux games at the moment to take up all my free time, but I'm wondering if I should give Morrowind another try? Also, how does Baldurs Gate II (everyone seems to love this one) fare under Cedega?

Thanks again for all the replies people.