Neverwinter Nights 2!!!

[Mycanid]

If anyone is interested, I just saw an advertisement for the nVidia 8800GTX and GTS cards (priced at 660 and 450 respectively - ::cough cough!!:: - that are billed as Direct X 10 technology.

Here's the 8800GTS at tigerdirect, for example: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...145-8002&CMP=EMC-TIGEREMAIL&SRCCODE=WEM1235CV

Anyway ... back to the thread!

 

[trancejeremy]

Well, so far, I mostly like the game. I have to say though, I think I liked the original NWN's story better. At least it had a lot more interesting NPCs. So far it's pretty much class/race stereotypes. The squabbling between them though is funny.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Played it briefly last night on my new system. Essentially every feature on and maxed except water reflect/refract off and shadows one step back from max. Resolution was 1680x1050.

Core system stats: Win XP MCE 2004, E6600, 2gig DDR2800, eVGA 7950gx2 in SLI mode.
Latest nVidia GeForce drivers; NWN2 ver 1.02 Sound is Miles 2D with onboard NForce 590 sound.

Results: DAMNED snappy. Whereas before with a Radeon x1600 Pro I had to reduce resolution greatly, turn down options and move the sliders so the camera was not so laggy, I now had to deliberately increase lag to my camera by a LOT; otherwise, the camera became so twitchy it moved all over the place instantly.

The complaints regarding poor performance on high end hardware do not appear justified in my case - not even close. Not too sure what the reported issues are stemming from. Drivers not updated perhaps lacking SLI settings for NWN2, or perhaps EAX sound issues for those with a Xi-fi? Or, might just be just the water reflect/refract issue. Whatever the case, the game looks very good and the performance is all you will ever need to be able to play at a very comfortable frame rate. I'll take some fps meaurements tonight.

 

[Agamon]

While my PC isn't brand-spankin', out of the box, here's what I have: Win XP MCE 2004, A64 3800+, 2gig DDR2800, eVGA 7800GT, SB X-Fi Audio. Latest drivers for everything. Ver 1.02 NWN2.

Cranked up, I get almost 8 fps. Still playable, but I turned down a couple things to double the fps, which is a lot nicer. Looking forward to Obsidian's fixes.

 

[Turhan]

I've played about 10 hours now. Very Happy, on the whole. I haven't tried Multiplayer yet.

Athlon x2 dual core, 3800+;ASUS A8N-SLI mobo; 1 gig pc3200 ddr400; 2- SLI 6800GS cards; MAG 19" LCD monitor.

Game defaulted to pretty low settings but after the update it ran first try. I nudged a couple settings up a wee bit and did not hurt frame rate- still very smooth and no 'hopping about' of anyone onscreen.

I'm going to turn it all up to high but leave off reflective water and the other Big Hits, just to see what happens....

As things are, I know my machine is pretty decent, but not leading edge, and accordingly I don't expect superlative avatars on screen, nor do I expect long vistas (like Oblivion). In other words, If I pay enough money, I can make it prettier- but, I'm pretty happy where I am. I'm going to play a bit more and see how the story goes and how much I end up liking it. IF it gets a B+ grade or better, then I'll upgrade my older PC to something hot enough to play at home on my LAN (I have a friend who lacks the funds to upgrade all the time but he likes to play dnd, and I enjoyed the multiplayer side of NWN 1 a great deal).

As an end note here, I'd like to thank the many folks who've posted helpful info here and on the Bioware forums. Special Thanks to Steel Wind, Trancejeremy and Takysis as you've been a bit more helpful for my own questions and have maintained very courteous replies here. A general thank you to the rest of you for being polite in the face of some apparently frustrating situations. Having been there with past games, "I feel your pain" with those Error Messages and count myself lucky to get this game running on the first try.

 

[Neo]

Had it for a few days now on the whole quite pleased. Im running it with an ABIT Radeon 9600 Series graphics card which is below the minimum spec according to the box, but runs it without any problems at all, and not even at minimum settings.

The Game has been enjoyable though the Camera control can be pretty horrible, your either too far away in order to see everything in which case you cant make much out or too close (like when you go in dungeons, caverns etc..) in which case you are frequently obscured by terrain.. so tweaking camera position is pretty much done via necessity during every individual encounter ongoing..which is a pain.

All the prestige classes are nice though wish there had been some for ALL the classes.. no druid prestiges at all at the moment (Shifter never made it to NWN 2),

Quickcast menu is a godsend..freeing up your toolbars for items and feats.

On the whole very nice.

 

[LightPhoenix]

All the prestige classes are nice though wish there had been some for ALL the classes.. no druid prestiges at all at the moment (Shifter never made it to NWN 2)

Just to be pedantic a bit, technically Druids can take Warpriest levels pretty easily. Not sure why you'd want to... in fact, I'm not sure I'd take it with a Cleric either, but that's another statement. I think there were technical reasons for not having the Shifter, but I'm not sure. Maybe Steel_Wind can comment.

 

[takyris]

Not Steel, so I'm not privy to the particular internal debate, but my guess would be that Shifter didn't make it because it's a PrC that only one class can take. I know there are others, but most PrCs are takeable by a decent range of classes. You can come into Shadowdancer, for example, as a Rogue, Bard, or Monk very easily, and with a Ranger with a few cross-class points in Tumble.

To be incredibly general and vague , there are two types of PrCs: specialty PrCs (new shtick not specific to one class) and combination PrCs (a PrC that more or less combines two classes). Specialty PrCs (like the Shadowdancer, for example) need to be accessible from several different core classes or class combinations in order to have enough "A lot of players will play this class" potential to be worth the scripting time. Combination classes (like the Eldritch Knight or the Arcane Trickster) can be pretty class-limited (with Arcane Trickster, you need Sneak Attack, so it's Rogue or nothing) as long as the class they're limited to is a popular one.

Shadowdancer: Bard, Monk, Ranger with a few Cross-Class points.
Eldritch Knight: Bard, Wiz/Sorc, or Wiz/Sorc+(Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Barbarian)

The Shifter makes great sense in a pen & paper game -- all the work is on the player's part. In a CRPG, though, the Shifter is an expensive class (programming-wise) with some fairly unique abilities (all the polymorphing), and the only people who ever see it are druids who want to do something beyond straight-class druid. That's a narrow enough niche that I can understand it not being worth it from a design perspective.

Probably more than you wanted to know, but that's how these decisions get made, generally. The Eldritch Knight may or may not have been a pain to code, but the programmers knew that a lot of people might see it, because a lot of wizards and sorcerers (and a few bards, too) would be willing to lose a few caster levels to be a decent combat-badass as well, and they could do so by adding fighter, paladin, ranger, or barbarian as well. That's a lot of potential class combinations that make Eldritch Knight viable.

 

[Neo]

Just to be pedantic a bit, technically Druids can take Warpriest levels pretty easily. Not sure why you'd want to... in fact, I'm not sure I'd take it with a Cleric either, but that's another statement. I think there were technical reasons for not having the Shifter, but I'm not sure. Maybe Steel_Wind can comment.

Warpriest is definitely aimed at clerics though, druids get no love in the prestige selection

I kno2 Shifter caused no end of issues for some folks with NWN 1 but im hooked on any classes that either a) let me turn into a bunch of forms or b) let me summon a bunch of cool critters.. so I missed its absence.

 

[Neo]

Not Steel, so I'm not privy to the particular internal debate, but my guess would be that Shifter didn't make it because it's a PrC that only one class can take. I know there are others, but most PrCs are takeable by a decent range of classes. You can come into Shadowdancer, for example, as a Rogue, Bard, or Monk very easily, and with a Ranger with a few cross-class points in Tumble.

To be incredibly general and vague , there are two types of PrCs: specialty PrCs (new shtick not specific to one class) and combination PrCs (a PrC that more or less combines two classes). Specialty PrCs (like the Shadowdancer, for example) need to be accessible from several different core classes or class combinations in order to have enough "A lot of players will play this class" potential to be worth the scripting time. Combination classes (like the Eldritch Knight or the Arcane Trickster) can be pretty class-limited (with Arcane Trickster, you need Sneak Attack, so it's Rogue or nothing) as long as the class they're limited to is a popular one.

Shadowdancer: Bard, Monk, Ranger with a few Cross-Class points.
Eldritch Knight: Bard, Wiz/Sorc, or Wiz/Sorc+(Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Barbarian)

The Shifter makes great sense in a pen & paper game -- all the work is on the player's part. In a CRPG, though, the Shifter is an expensive class (programming-wise) with some fairly unique abilities (all the polymorphing), and the only people who ever see it are druids who want to do something beyond straight-class druid. That's a narrow enough niche that I can understand it not being worth it from a design perspective.

Probably more than you wanted to know, but that's how these decisions get made, generally. The Eldritch Knight may or may not have been a pain to code, but the programmers knew that a lot of people might see it, because a lot of wizards and sorcerers (and a few bards, too) would be willing to lose a few caster levels to be a decent combat-badass as well, and they could do so by adding fighter, paladin, ranger, or barbarian as well. That's a lot of potential class combinations that make Eldritch Knight viable.

Much of what you say is no doubt valid to some degree but I cant help but feel as a fundamental standard for the game every one of tha basic classes should have had some prestige option that catered to it and all of them do except druid and warlock, which as far as prestig'ing goes leaves characters of those base classes somewhat disadvantaged. Hopefully they will get some prestige love in a future expansion.