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Tola
2007-03-02, 11:37 AM
So.

I recently picked up the Neverwinter Nights/Shadows of Undrentide/Hordes of the Underdark combo.

I'm basically wondering if there's anything the minds here think I should bear in mind with it all.

Help?

Crazy Owl
2007-03-02, 11:42 AM
Persistent Worlds are far more fun than the Campaigns if you can find a good one.

Roderick_BR
2007-03-02, 12:05 PM
What kind of help you are looking for? Character building? Looking for online games?

talsine
2007-03-02, 01:13 PM
Play a fighter, its the only time a fighter is better than a caster because of the way the game works.

Om
2007-03-02, 02:38 PM
Any specific questions that we can help with? The games are fairly straightforward, certainly if you are already familiar with 3rd edition rules.

purple gelatinous cube o' Doom
2007-03-02, 03:59 PM
The persistent world are fun (and quite frankly, better than any other MMO out there). But I'd suggest playing through the game once. The story is pretty straight forward and plain, but there are some nifty side quests to partake in. My go round through the game, I played a cleric and used one sidekick in particular (the Uuthgard), and it worked out quite well. I also used the cleric for the two expansions as well. The one thing I really found dissappointing were the other modules the game came with. They were all very short, and not all that good. Now I haven't bought any of the others online, so maybe they're better.

Timberwolf
2007-03-02, 04:15 PM
For persistant worlds, the World of Amon is great http://www.worldofamon.com/ dunno if it's still up though. DM Ren, the owner, has created a masterpiece with it though, at least it was when I last played it anyway.

Classes - Cleric is the best for sheer amount of arse kicking, at least as far as I'm concerned. Just something about being able to wheel out the Big Red Spell (Harm) on Klauth the red Dragon and turn a nasty encounter into one that's over inside of 2 hits. Make sure you max out your concentration skill. I can't recommend that highly enough. If you're making a sneak attack based character (like my last one) bear in mind that the undead and BBEG's (like the one at the end of HOTU, most annoyingly) tend to be immune to sneak attack.

Midnight Lurker
2007-03-02, 04:23 PM
Penultima. (http://www.pixelscapes.com/penultima/)


Elegia Eternum. (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=2863)

the HeX Coda. (http://pixelscapes.com/hexcoda/)

The works of Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne are the only reason I bought NWN at all. :)

LoopyZebra
2007-03-02, 06:02 PM
I wouldn't recommend going through the original campaign. It's boring and ridiculously hard. I shouldn't have to rest after fighting 4 fire giants for 12 XP. Maybe I built my character wrong. Maybe not. HotU's campaign, though, is definitely worth the effort, and much funner. Persistent worlds are fun too, although I mainly stuck to single-player.

Om
2007-03-02, 06:32 PM
I wouldn't recommend going through the original campaign. It's boring and ridiculously hard.You've clearly never played the original BG :smallwink:

LoopyZebra
2007-03-02, 06:37 PM
You've clearly never played the original BG :smallwink:

I did. That one was boring and ridiculously hard too, but had a better plot and party interaction that made it fun. Until your party was wiped out by a kobold...

purple gelatinous cube o' Doom
2007-03-02, 07:11 PM
You've clearly never played the original BG :smallwink:

Um, what brought up baldur's Gate. Nobody until you even mentioned it.

LoopyZebra
2007-03-02, 07:24 PM
Um, what brought up baldur's Gate. Nobody until you even mentioned it.

He was comparing it to the original NWN campaign. Both are painful experiences.

Om
2007-03-02, 07:25 PM
Um, what brought up baldur's Gate. Nobody until you even mentioned it.This is where the inability to express :rolleyes: in stick figure form really bites hard.

I found the NWN OC to be, while boring, stupidly easy and player friendly with virtually no real points of difficulty. This is in sharp contrast to some other games in the genre. In particular I referenced BG (which you picked up on) which was notoriously punishing on low level characters.

LoopyZebra
2007-03-02, 07:30 PM
The OC is a silly place, full of drunk teenagers. Don't reference it. :)

NWN's original campaign was really easy, except for the boss fights. I had trouble with all of them, and at the end, I couldn't even make it to the final boss because her lizard people were too tough. I might have screwed up with the build, but I thought the build was alright.

Ronsian
2007-03-02, 09:41 PM
Druids 13 t3h 1337 dud3! No really, animal companion, turning into animal, plus summons, + mercenary= t3h ownage!

DeathQuaker
2007-03-02, 11:36 PM
I didn't hate the OC the way some other folks did, but it is a little lackluster in places.

I recommend first playing Shadows of Undrentide and the Hordes of the Underdark (since the hero of the first is also the hero of the second; there is no sequel to the OC). There's also a free, Bioware approved fan-made "bridge" module that you can download lets you level up your character from Shadows a little before you start Underdark, but frankly I found that the bridge module was boring and overly difficult and stopped playing it halfway through. Underdark is the best of the three but it's nice to play through Undrentide first to get some of the background.

Then if you enjoyed those adventures, play the OC for completion's sake. And download modules, etc. If you want to try premium modules, I recommend Shadowguard (short but well made), Pirates of the Sword Coast (really nifty pirate adventure), and Wyvern Crown of Cormyr (good, well-paced adventure, and if you like flowy cloaks and horses, it's the only NWN game you can find'em). I found Kingmaker to be buggy, too short, and vastly overrated (though the music is lovely) and never bothered to finish Witches' Wake.

If you like Roguelikes/Dungeon Crawls, Infinite Dungeons is kinda neat--but it is JUST a dungeon crawl, not much of a story.

And I haven't played it, but along the lines of free modules, Darkness over Daggerford is supposed to be one of the best.

Can't recommend any PWs as I never play anything online. Purely a single player gamer, and NWN (and NWN2) provides me more than enough entertainment via that alone.

LoopyZebra
2007-03-02, 11:58 PM
Darkness over Daggerford was alright. I liked it. But I didn't. My main problem with it was that they wanted you to go somewhere. Alright, I have an idea where to look. But finding the actual entrance was a pain. I'll give you an example. You have to find some orcs that snuck into town. You know they aren't in any of the buildings, so, knowing that this adventure has been fairly predictable, I guess that they're in the sewers. It takes me 20 minutes to find the entrance to the sewers because it's rather easy to miss. When I do, it takes me about a minute to kill all the orcs. That said, it was fun, as long as you didn't get stuck trying to find the building you had to go to. I had a couple other grumbles about it, but whatever.

The player-made modules are good in some cases, but it's really hit and miss. The site I download NWN stuff from (NWNPlanet, maybe? It's been a while) had a player-rating system. One of them was really good, focusing on roleplaying and challenging fights, not dungeon crawling. If I remember the name, I'll post it. (It's the one with the three brothers who are screwing stuff up in a town... Homebrew campaign world, if anyone knows what I'm talking about.) Another one I played was set in FR. It seemed good until someone started approached me with the following: "Yo, you really saved me from the fuzz back there." I'm sorry, but that breaks the game for me. Both games had similar ratings, so you might not get quality stuff with player-created modules.

Tola
2007-03-02, 11:59 PM
Thank you.

Character-building would be nice. The biggest problem I'm having at the minute is the fact that....I can't focus. I'm looking at all these classes and prestiges and always thinking 'Ooh, I want to try that', and 'Am I building this right?'. Yes, there are pre-mades. But...it's not MINE.

Shadows of Undrentide adds another thing to the mix-multi-classing henchmen, and controlling THEIR development, though they make their choices of feats and things on their own.

On a side note(And an unrelated one, based off something I saw in a topic: 'Fluff that didn't make sense'), I now understand why Elves have the Wizard favoured class-Arcane Archer, simply put. The requirements for it require effectively triple-classing if you want it quickly. Arcane spellcasting, high base attack, and Weapon Focus...

LoopyZebra
2007-03-03, 12:03 AM
Character building is similar to DnD. If you have multiple concepts, I'd recommend playing one of the campaigns multiple times, using a different "persona" and class each time. HotU, for instance, has vastly different endings based on whether you're good or evil, and different romances based on gender. There's quite a bit to explore. I still never investigated the beholder caves. And, it's fun to play multiple times.

purple gelatinous cube o' Doom
2007-03-03, 12:28 AM
Character building is similar to DnD.

Well it is based on 3rd ed, and is basically D&D in PC form, what did you expect.

Varen_Tai
2007-03-03, 12:41 AM
Oh, and though there's only two of them, you really MUST download and play the two Lone Wolf modules. Amazingly good stuff, especially if you're familiar with the source material, but even if you're not, it's still really fantastic.

purple gelatinous cube o' Doom
2007-03-03, 12:45 AM
where can you download the LW stuff from Varen. I'm very well versed in that series. Most people in the US probably aren't, as the books are all out of print and some very hard to come by.

Timberwolf
2007-03-03, 06:20 AM
Rogue, Assassin, Shadowdancer is a beastly combination. As is straight Cleric and Cleric / Champion of Torm. A Sorceror, Red Dragon Disciple also kicks major amounts of backside as well.

LoopyZebra
2007-03-03, 09:20 AM
Well it is based on 3rd ed, and is basically D&D in PC form, what did you expect.

I was implying that any builds that worked in DnD would work in NWN.

Mangangatha
2007-03-03, 09:24 AM
Oh, I would recommend downloading the Rose of Eternity series. It may involve downloading a few more components (haks and music files) but the plot, characterization and music are A+. IMHO it's one of the BEST modules out there. Do consider.

S.ilver
2007-03-03, 09:42 AM
I found the OC to be fairly bland, not because the story was bad, but because how the areas were implemented. There are a huge amount of generic encounters around (it really bugged me that in Neverwinter, prison escapees, pirates, and criminals far outnumber the regular citizens) and it feels far too much like a hack and slash in some places. Otherwise, the story wasn't bad.

SoU... I don't know... I found it to be terrible personally... The henchmen you get would repeatedly get on my nerves (except Deekin, but that means suffering through Chapter 1), and I found myself wanting to kill them at every turn. In fact, I found myself wanting to kill almost every character in SoU, simply because they were supremely irritating and boring. But hey, maybe that's how it was meant to be.

I enjoyed HotU, except for maybe the first chapter (where the annoying NPC syndrome struck again). I think the big thing was that it did feel epic at some points, and the different areas of the game were, in fact, different.

The community stuff is what really shines though. Off the top of my head, I can say the Shadowlords->Dreamcatcher->Demon series was fairly good and kept my attention. I also enjoyed Twilight and Midnight (although Dawn has yet to be made). The Gods Themselves trilogy is also good for those evil aligned epic characters :P.

I play mostly fighter classes (my current build trends focusing on a Fighter/Pally/WeaponMaster) but that's probably because I stick to single player a lot, and I can't seem to get an arcane spellcaster working very well in SP (have done a druid a cleric though, not bad, druid probably overpowered :P).

DeathQuaker
2007-03-03, 10:14 AM
Thank you.

Character-building would be nice. The biggest problem I'm having at the minute is the fact that....I can't focus. I'm looking at all these classes and prestiges and always thinking 'Ooh, I want to try that', and 'Am I building this right?'. Yes, there are pre-mades. But...it's not MINE.


Yeah, I'm not one for the premades, I agree.

As for builds, I'm going to make a suggestion that will make others look at me and go wha-HUH??

Bards.

Bards in NWN are awesome. Not because they do massive damage or anything. But their versatility SHINES in NWN games. If you pump up their perform their buffs rock (they're better than in tabletop D&D), giving them and their henchman a great advantage. Being arcane casters they can use a lot of magic items others can't, and then with Use Magic Device they can use ANYTHING magical. Anything you pick up, with the exception of weapons and armor you're not proficient in, becomes potentially useful. And of course they can identify everything. And if you focus your feats in making them handle combat okay, they will get through encounters fine; a couple levels of fighter doesn't hurt either. They're obviously not ideal for SOLO combat well--give them a cleric or warrior for a henchman. But on the other hand, in areas where you are without a henchman, in someways I'd rather have a bard because they can shift temporarily into different roles as needed. And my Fighter2/Bard Lots/RDD 5 or so at the end of HotU had no problem handling any encounter by herself if she needed to; the only one that gave me trouble was the final boss and that was simply a matter of determining the right tactics (and I can't explain why for fear of spoiling anything, but having an enormously high charisma actually helped me a great deal as I had not obtained "something" I could have earlier on in the game).

Most of their skills come in handy, and having a charismatic character with lots of social skills can be useful, especially in HotU.

My other recommendation would be Rogue or multiclass something with Rogue--Rogues also have Use Magic Device (though Bards at at an advantage here with a higher charisma) and their dungeoneering/thieving skills of course very, very often come in handy, so much so that I would often prefer to have a main character take care of these tasks than have to rely on a henchman to do it (especially since sometimes rogue AI is wonky). The key with those of course is learning how to get off sneak attacks as much as possible; another class that is useful in combat as well as very often out of combat. Lots of skill points too.

Useful skills in general: Appraise, Disable Device, Lore, Open Lock, Persuade, Search, Spot.

I for one don't recommend builds solely focusing on massive damage--usually most of the fights are such that as long as you build any character intelligently, you'll be able to handle the fights. Massive damage builds usually mean giving up on skills and other abilities that are useful/entertaining in the game outside of combat. IMHO of course.


I found the OC to be fairly bland, not because the story was bad, but because how the areas were implemented. There are a huge amount of generic encounters around (it really bugged me that in Neverwinter, prison escapees, pirates, and criminals far outnumber the regular citizens)

That's because the criminals are taking advantage of the chaos while the plague is spreading, while the regular citizens are staying in their homes.


SoU... I don't know... I found it to be terrible personally... The henchmen you get would repeatedly get on my nerves (except Deekin, but that means suffering through Chapter 1),

See... I absolutely loathe Deekin and would like to lance him repeatedly with a glowing-hot poker. The half-orc and the dwarf henchmen, on the other hand, I quite liked and found them quite useful, and likewise was pleased with many of the other henchmen in HotU (though was bummed the ones you get at the beginning you can't take with you to the later part of the game, except for that @#$$%#@! kobold).

So it's probably a matter of preference.

But otherwise, regarding SOU, the main reason why I recommended playing it first simply because it's a prequel to HotU--not that the stories are directly related, but because it's supposed to have the same hero, and you get a better feeling of continuity doing it that way. SOU has some nice features of it, but I do feel it goes slowly in places, especially at the beginning.

Rabiesbunny
2007-03-03, 10:21 AM
Persistant Worlds CAN be fun, I assume some are still up and running- be warned however, that some DMs can be horrible. Seems that when you get to rule a small kingdom on the internet, you usually become irrational and tyrannical. ^^; Don't put too much stock in the online feature, within a year things never seem to stay together...

FYI, the second expansion is the only one with a very intricate plot, and is closest to the depth of the BG games. That one's so fun!

Om
2007-03-03, 12:44 PM
With regards character creation: Monks are insanely powerful at higher levels. Really they're like little one men armies that chew up even the toughest foes and spit them out.

I enjoyed both SoU and HotU but check out the NWN Vault for some excellent fan mods.

Tola
2007-03-03, 12:45 PM
druid probably overpowered :P).

With Natural Spell non-existant?

Though the fact they can have a Dire Wolf right off the bat(Animal companion), combined with Summon Creature and a Henchman...There's not much that can handle a Dire Wolf at level 1 or 2, and it only gets stronger as you progress.

Cleric's about the same, only they don't have the companion, but can empower the summon to be one rank higher. Nasty stuff.

On another note, a fresh character cannot play Hordes. At all. They give you the levels, but you have no gold, and thus cannot get your AC above the needed 30(The hints themselves say 'If you can't get your AC above 30, you will die. Often.'). I'm not complaining, just noting it. Guess it truly IS a 'sequel'-as in, you must beat the first.

Were-Sandwich
2007-03-03, 12:55 PM
But, it strips you of all your items, so how would that matter?

InaVegt
2007-03-03, 01:16 PM
I love the PRC (player resource consortium), I can advise people to get it as it's completely free.

Tola
2007-03-03, 01:38 PM
As I said:Without gold, you can't buy the equip you need to survive.

What, are you saying the drow steal your gold, TOO?

LoopyZebra
2007-03-03, 01:55 PM
Uhh, I played it with a fresh character. Both times. Err... all three times. You can get stuff pretty easy off the dead people in the inn, and there's the storeroom, and the first floor isn't that hard to clear. In fact, you'll get all of your needed items before you get to the bottom of the dungeon.

blackout
2007-03-03, 02:22 PM
One word. DEEEEEEEEEEKIN! :) He's just plain amusing, especially if you stick him with Valen in chapter two of HotU.

Varen_Tai
2007-03-03, 03:45 PM
Lone Wolfy goodness!

Linky! (http://nwvault.ign.com/Files/modules/HallOfFame.shtml?view=modules.HOF&category_show_all=1)

Do a search for the author Altaris. He's brilliant...

And while slightly off-topic, anyone wanting to read the original Lone Wolf archives in HTML format (it's FAN-tastic stuff, I should mention), check out www.projectaon.org (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/www.projectaon.org).

Great stuff!

purple gelatinous cube o' Doom
2007-03-03, 03:50 PM
cool, thanks Varen.

Thexare Blademoon
2007-03-03, 05:22 PM
I love the PRC (player resource consortium), I can advise people to get it as it's completely free. Seconded, with an addition.

Don't get it if you have less than 256 MB RAM. Even on 256 it gets a bit slow. I was able to tolerate it just for the fun of playing with some of the prestige classes, though, and now that I'm on 512 it's fine, even with some stuff in my /override/.

Were-Sandwich
2007-03-04, 05:24 AM
I love the PRC, and the CEP. Its the cool robes. You can get a pimp hat. Or a trenchcoat, or a hakama. All with no craft checks.

EDIT: Anyone else played the DemonCards module? Its a CCG implemented in NWN. Its very good and VERY addictive. Although if anyone can tell me how I'm supposed to construct my own decks, please, tell me.

The Prince of Cats
2007-03-04, 07:37 AM
I am not sure why people think the original campaign was hard. I finished it as a bard...

For anyone curious, bards are not a good idea in SP - I played through as a fighter and then a mage afterward and found that bards seem to suck slightly unless you are playing MP (when the bardsong actually rocks).

There was a series of modules I really enjoyed (download here (http://adamandjamie.com/nwn/)); starts with Shadowlords and ends with a Planescape-type module called Demon. It is worth playing just for the Demon campaign alone...

The Evil Thing
2007-03-04, 08:30 AM
I'd also like to give a mention to the paladin (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=2686) thingy (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=2927) by Rick Burton. He never finished it because he got snaffled by Bioware (I believe) but the first two modules are excellent. Provided you like puzzles that would make a King's Quest veteran cry. He also made a thief module (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=1043) which again is very good quality.

That (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=3382) blackguard (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=3381) trilogy (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=3807) is also excellent. A nice balance of story, combat and evil :smallamused:.

Tom_Violence
2007-03-04, 10:25 PM
See... I absolutely loathe Deekin and would like to lance him repeatedly with a glowing-hot poker. The half-orc and the dwarf henchmen, on the other hand, I quite liked and found them quite useful, and likewise was pleased with many of the other henchmen in HotU (though was bummed the ones you get at the beginning you can't take with you to the later part of the game, except for that @#$$%#@! kobold).

Ah!! A kindred spirit!! I hate Deekin! Why would I want to have a character in my game that just fundamentally annoys me?! And seems designed to do so! He's NWN's Minsc!

The odd thing about the OC for me is that I worked out pretty early on that it wasn't really meant to be some great epic tale that would change your life. It was basically just a way of the makers showing you what you can do with the engine in the toolset, and barely anything more. It was a demonstration, basically, so I never expected anything great from it. And that probably explains why the add-ons were part of a seperate story, since the original was always going to be absolute rubbish.

DeathQuaker
2007-03-04, 11:47 PM
Ah!! A kindred spirit!! I hate Deekin! Why would I want to have a character in my game that just fundamentally annoys me?! And seems designed to do so! He's NWN's Minsc!


I think the difference between Minsc and Deekin in terms of comic relief role is that IF you take Minsc, he CAN become a fundamental part of your story... BUT likewise, neither Baldur's Gate I nor II does their best to force him onto you (you can even leave him behind in the beginning of BGII). If you like Minsc, you can take him along and enjoy him; if you don't like him, you don't miss out on anything (or rather, while you may miss some amusing banters, nearly ALL the characters have some good conversation, so you're trading off).

Deekin on the other hand becomes integral to the dragon quest in SoU and the way it is written, the game seems to be written as if it really, really wants you to take him along whenever possible. Then in HotU you get stuck with him while the other possible henchmen have disappeared, and THEN after you recover all the other henchmen, they ALL get taken away from you EXCEPT for him, if you have him along. And then you're only given the choice of two more henchmen (with the third coming along much, much later). And THEN you meet him in NWN2 and the assumption is that he did, indeed, accompany the hero of SoU and HotU (even though he's technically "optional"). In other words, what's annoying is you can't seem to get rid of the little bugger! Furthermore, there were some wonderfully-written henchmen/companions that ending up being second-string to this guy, if not completely forgotten (compare to Minsc, who is memorable but one among many memorable companions, most of whom get their fair share in the spotlight).

Meta-wise, I think what's annoying is there seems to be an attitude by the devs that they love Deekin, so you must too, and so they shove him down the player's throat at every opportunity. People can love him if they want, but if I leave him behind, I want him to stay there.



The odd thing about the OC for me is that I worked out pretty early on that it wasn't really meant to be some great epic tale that would change your life. It was basically just a way of the makers showing you what you can do with the engine in the toolset, and barely anything more. It was a demonstration, basically, so I never expected anything great from it. And that probably explains why the add-ons were part of a seperate story, since the original was always going to be absolute rubbish.

That's a very good point. The OC really was a "this is what you can do" campaign. It has its merits, but like I said, I'd play through the more indepth campaigns first.

LoopyZebra
2007-03-05, 12:04 AM
Personally, I liked Deekin, although I would have been far happier if there were better written companions to replace him with.

nivek1234
2007-03-05, 12:26 AM
Deekin was ok. He got annoying at times, but in general I didn't mind him. That and he identified EVERYTHING for me...

Which brings me to builds: I did a max damage & health half-orc barbarian with some fighter feats and completely soloed the OC.

Other builds I enjoyed were: pure fighter, monk (I enjoyed the insight options in Act 1 of the OC) and rogues.

Equipment wise, EVERYTHING will drop at some point, and usually when it will be pretty beneficial.

The Prince of Cats
2007-03-05, 05:49 AM
I liked Deekin, but then, I usually play bards. Luckily, after my experiences as a bard in the OC, I went with a ranger/wizard/arcane-archer (I should have just been a ranger, in hindsight) and so he was handy to have around.

SotU got me with the assassin. She is meant to be one of the 'good' drow, though she has a LE alignment to allow her to take the assassin class. I smell munchkin. That said, there is nothing quite like defeating the final boss with a dialogue option...

(and I really got upset at what happens to Aribeth)

DeathQuaker
2007-03-05, 07:42 AM
I liked Deekin, but then, I usually play bards. Luckily, after my experiences as a bard in the OC, I went with a ranger/wizard/arcane-archer (I should have just been a ranger, in hindsight) and so he was handy to have around.

See, in Hordes, my Fighter/Bard (with vast emphasis on Bard) had very little use for Deekin. And I was annoyed that I had to use him through Undermountain until I could find the henchmen useful to me (and the first other henchman I found was Sharwyn :smallfrown: ). And then lose all the henchmen I liked again. (I weep for Linu. *hugs Linu and refuses to let go*)

And I will reiterate, my Bard character kicked butt in HotU.

Just in case, since this thread was for someone who hadn't played the games yet:



SotU got me with the assassin. She is meant to be one of the 'good' drow, though she has a LE alignment to allow her to take the assassin class. I smell munchkin.

I thought the idea was that she had only recently converted to Eilistraee, and thus was early on her path to redemption, hence no alignment shift yet.

I was more annoyed that she was a henchman with rogue levels and yet had absolutely no freaking' Open Lock.



That said, there is nothing quite like defeating the final boss with a dialogue option...

It was an interesting fight no matter how you did it.



(and I really got upset at what happens to Aribeth)

You mean when you find her or how she ends up? The only thing that irked me about finding Aribeth was that it assumes your hero of the OC failed to redeem her--it always annoys me when games have multiple endings, and then the creators make a sequel which force one of the many endings to be "true," totally taking away your feeling of self-determination that you had.

I liked that you could still take her to redemption at the end though. Encouraged by my persuasive words of wisdom, she fought the boss at my side and whupped butt. It was actually kind of fun to have your final henches be Aribeth and Nathyrra because both are sort of on this path of redemption.

Douglas
2007-03-05, 08:14 AM
The OC and expansions are good, but there are free community-made modules that I liked a lot better. My top pick that I simply cannot recommend enough is the pair of modules Tales of Arterra - The Lost (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=4046) and Tales of Arterra - The Awakening (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=4047). You don't strictly have to play the first one before starting the second, but you'll miss some of the backstory if you skip The Lost. I'd rate this pair of modules at 11 out of 10 if the system would let me.

For anyone who wants to keep going with the same character after finishing Hordes of the Underdark, Sands of Fate - Shadows Over Heliopolis (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=3940) and its sequels Sands of Fate - Gem Tower (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=4208) and Sands of Fate - Pyramid of the Ancients (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=4968) pick up right where HotU leaves you and take you all the way to the level 40 cap, and do a good job of keeping it interesting all the way.

For another adventure in epic levels, try Caereena - Krakona Rising (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=4045). It's a bit heavy on the hack and slash, but very well done and with an interesting story line.

If you like sneaky characters, A Dance with Rogues part 1 (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=4869) and part 2 (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=4870) is extremely well done and features such things as XP rewards for *gasp* actually taking advantage of a rogue's strengths - picking locks and disabling traps rather than bashing through or setting them off nets an XP bonus based on the DC. A few spots also give you the opportunity to soften up the opposition by pickpocketing their weapons before the fight starts, but only if they don't notice you're there before you do it. Contains quite a bit of adult content, though, not all of it avoidable, so don't introduce it to your kids.


On another note, a fresh character cannot play Hordes. At all. They give you the levels, but you have no gold, and thus cannot get your AC above the needed 30(The hints themselves say 'If you can't get your AC above 30, you will die. Often.'). I'm not complaining, just noting it. Guess it truly IS a 'sequel'-as in, you must beat the first.
That AC > 30 tip is for later in the campaign, not the very beginning. You should be able to handle most of the inhabitants of the first level of undermountain quite handily with fairly basic equipment, not much better than what you get for free at the inn, and by the time you clear that level you will easily have better equipment than anything available for sale in the available shops. Just be careful about draconic fear auras and the defenders of a certain sword...

Om
2007-03-05, 09:32 AM
If you like sneaky characters, A Dance with Rogues part 1 (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=4869) and part 2 (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=4870) is extremely well doneI was a big fan of the original but the difficulty scaling in the second part is completely out of whack.

The Prince of Cats
2007-03-05, 10:55 AM
Re: the other spoiler...

This is in reference to something from the OC and HotU, so read at your own risk if you haven't completed the trilogy.



The only thing that irked me about finding Aribeth was that it assumes your hero of the OC failed to redeem her--it always annoys me when games have multiple endings, and then the creators make a sequel which force one of the many endings to be "true," totally taking away your feeling of self-determination that you had.
I thought HotU was based on the idea that you did redeem her but Nasher hanged her anyway. It would not be the first time he picked a scapegoat...


I liked that you could still take her to redemption at the end though. Encouraged by my persuasive words of wisdom, she fought the boss at my side and whupped butt. It was actually kind of fun to have your final henches be Aribeth and Nathyrra because both are sort of on this path of redemption.
I wouldn't know, I just had nearly everyone's true name (yeah, I chickened out at the 'If you loved me, you wouldn't ask for my true name' speech) and so I had control over them. Handy...

Saithis Bladewing
2007-03-05, 11:45 AM
Play a fighter, its the only time a fighter is better than a caster because of the way the game works.

Funny, because my Wizard has slaughtered everything in its path almost uncontested...

The Prince of Cats
2007-03-05, 12:37 PM
Funny, because my Wizard has slaughtered everything in its path almost uncontested...
My wizard was also finding the game far too easy. The ability to rest as often as you can means that spells per day are less of a hinderance and more of an inconvenience. And the sheer number of scrolls you will come across... There is no need for a wizard to be without the spell he needs...

purple gelatinous cube o' Doom
2007-03-09, 02:37 AM
I just used one character for the main story and both expansions. It'sa cleric/Champion of Torn. Oh, for those who think the game it too easy, try playing the whole game from start to finish without a henchman. Let me tell you, there are spots that are really hard on normal difficulty.

Douglas
2007-03-09, 03:29 AM
That depends on your build. I had a fighter/weapon master who annihilated everything in his path with no trouble at all. As I recall, Klauth was the only actually difficult fight in the entire original campaign, and the Maker was the only one in HotU that challenged me. SoU had some more tough spots early on, but I think that was partly because I did things in the wrong order and was playing a monk that time, and monks take a while to really get good. I don't think I've ever gone back and taken my WM build through SoU, but I doubt I'd be significantly challenged if I did. All of this was with no henchman and on hardcore difficulty.

purple gelatinous cube o' Doom
2007-03-09, 03:37 AM
ok, but did you start from first level Douglas? When I did it, I went through the game starting at first level. Even at lower difficutly levels it's not terribly easy to get through the first chapter. The whole intellect devourer in the jail being an impossible rating with no henchman sure was fun.

Douglas
2007-03-09, 03:51 AM
Yes. I started the OC at level 1, SoU at level 1, and HotU at level 15.

It was a long time ago so my memory could be off somewhat, but I think the Intellect Devourer was annoying, stunned me a lot, and took a while to get through his DR, but he eventually ran out of uses of his stun and his melee attack was pretty pathetic. I may have had to actually use some of my stockpile of cure potions, but I had plenty more than I needed by then.

Haruspex
2007-03-09, 05:25 AM
One problem I consistently ran into was inventory space/weight. The bags of holding help in this regard.

nivek1234
2007-03-10, 11:50 PM
Bags of holding are amazing, and they can be found aplenty in OC. After enough bags, the only real problem became space. Even with my rogue.

DeathQuaker
2007-03-12, 09:45 AM
Bags of holding are amazing, and they can be found aplenty in OC. After enough bags, the only real problem became space. Even with my rogue.

Well, eventually it becomes pointless to collect all the loot anyway. Towards the end of the game you're well equipped and there's not many places to sell things so it's better to leave behind what you don't want.

The expansion packs are nice in that you can load up your henchmen with stuff you don't want to carry. :)

Douglas
2007-03-12, 02:27 PM
Yeah, near the end of the OC loot becomes mostly meaningless. I kept gathering it all to sell anyway and ended up with almost a million gold left after fully outfitting myself with the best equipment available.

sknymick
2018-07-16, 06:36 PM
the World of Amon is great worldofamon(dot)com dunno if it's still up though.

Call me a Necromancer, but I was doing a search for any mention of World of Amon. Thought I'd let you know, Amon is currently being hosted nwnlist (dot) com (1.69) and nwn (dot) beamdog (dot) net (NWN EE) by a few old players. We can't find DM Ren, but there's been a lot of old folks playing lately.

Maybe we'll see you there.
Sknymick

veti
2018-07-16, 07:12 PM
Play a fighter, its the only time a fighter is better than a caster because of the way the game works.

Nah. For the same reason but more so, play a monk. Monks are invincible in that game. Plus they get the movement bonus, which is a huge plus when you're running to and fro across big levels you've already depopulated.

And you save a bit of encumbrance by not having armour. Though really, weight is the least of your inventory problems in that game.

Winthur
2018-07-17, 07:22 AM
Nah. For the same reason but more so, play a monk. Monks are invincible in that game.
If you mean the original BioWare campaigns, everything is invincible in that game.
And Clerics are still the best class.

LibraryOgre
2018-07-17, 08:21 AM
Call me a Necromancer,

The Mod Wonder: Ok.