I know it was released on GOG, but I am considering purchasing and putting it on the list. Have not gone through Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Icewind Dale 1 & 2, NWN 1 and oh yea Planescape: Torment (holiday sale bundle) :o As you can see, really behind as I have never played any of them before.
PE
Even without adding NWN2 to the list, you've got multiple-hundreds of hours of gaming there that you haven't gotten to...good luck!
I really liked Icewind Dale 1 & 2. The setting was interesting to me. Of course I am from northern Wisconsin and that could explain a lot!!
NWN1 and 2 will give you 100s of hours of RPG enjoyment. Once you finish the games and expansions there are a ton of fan-made modules, many of which are very good.
I much prefer the NWN series, over the older ones, since it's based on the D&D 3 or 3.5 rules. So there are a LOT of character customization options (feats, spells, etc) to choose from - especially if you get the NWN2 Platinum/Complete version. I was sad to see they took a big step backwards with Dragon Age's home-brewed RPG rules, despite having better overall voice-over and general production value regarding DA's fluff. Very spartan in comparison to NWN's system and the old D&D 2 rules in the older series BG/Icewind Dale series of games were quite thin in comparison too.
I just saw GOG is selling this now. I may have to pick it up. [sigh]
I'm considering grabbing this one too. I finished the main game, very good game, and started but never completed the Mask of the Betrayer. Has anyone tried the Mysteries of Westgate out? How is it compared to the main game?
Quote from: Sir Slash on January 28, 2013, 11:58:00 AM
I'm considering grabbing this one too. I finished the main game, very good game, and started but never completed the Mask of the Betrayer. Has anyone tried the Mysteries of Westgate out? How is it compared to the main game?
I have not played it, however I have read several say it is the best part of the package.
PE
To me, it comes down to what you like. The Baldur's Gate series tells a great and epic story. NWN2 and MotB tell a pretty good story, but not as well as BG. NWN2 as mentioned uses newer and more flexible rules. If your into fantasy RPing games, I don't see how you pass up BG. If you only have a passing interest, NWN2 is a good choice, though 3.5 rules can get complicated. If you have the original NWN and Hordes of the Underdark, that is a spectacular game too. The Baldur's Gate and NWN 1 + 2 series are really about as good as it gets for serious CRPGs.
The strength of NWN and NWN2 is the absolute limitless number of gaming hours availible with user made modules and persistant worlds.
Quote from: Bison on January 29, 2013, 06:39:44 PM
The strength of NWN and NWN2 is the absolute limitless number of gaming hours availible with user made modules and persistant worlds.
I definitely agree with this, although I have to say I personally preferred the NWN stuff over NWN2. Can't really explain why but the older version just seemed better to me.
Quote from: Double Deuce on January 29, 2013, 06:50:15 PM
Quote from: Bison on January 29, 2013, 06:39:44 PM
The strength of NWN and NWN2 is the absolute limitless number of gaming hours availible with user made modules and persistant worlds.
I definitely agree with this, although I have to say I personally preferred the NWN stuff over NWN2. Can't really explain why but the older version just seemed better to me.
I think that it's sort of three fold. The length of time the game has been actively supported by the community. The tile set is much easier to use than NWN2 to build modules. The game seems to be more easily modded than NWN; think Community Expansion Pack. http://nwvault.ign.com/cep/ It's a pretty major overhall of the base game.
Quote from: PanzersEast on January 27, 2013, 07:33:48 PM
I know it was released on GOG, but I am considering purchasing and putting it on the list. Have not gone through Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Icewind Dale 1 & 2, NWN 1 and oh yea Planescape: Torment (holiday sale bundle) :o As you can see, really behind as I have never played any of them before.
I also bought the D&D Anthology during the holiday sale. I had not played an RPG in literally years, and thought, "I probably should give Baldur's Gate a shot".
It now has its unholy grasp bigtime -- playing BG2 (BG seems a little twee by comparison -- BG2 is Epic and Awesome).
I also bought NWN Diamond on the sale but have yet to fire it up. I've gotten used to the 2.0/2.5 Ruleset and quite like it (not sure why THAC0 caused such problems ... doesn't seem all that complicated to me). But the NWN 3 Ruleset is a whole different ballgame.
Anyway, if you bought the Anthology... fire it up. Plenty of time to get to NWN / NWN2 in due course!
Quote from: sandman2575 on January 29, 2013, 08:45:02 PM
Quote from: PanzersEast on January 27, 2013, 07:33:48 PM
I know it was released on GOG, but I am considering purchasing and putting it on the list. Have not gone through Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Icewind Dale 1 & 2, NWN 1 and oh yea Planescape: Torment (holiday sale bundle) :o As you can see, really behind as I have never played any of them before.
I also bought the D&D Anthology during the holiday sale. I had not played an RPG in literally years, and thought, "I probably should give Baldur's Gate a shot".
It now has its unholy grasp bigtime -- playing BG2 (BG seems a little twee by comparison -- BG2 is Epic and Awesome).
I also bought NWN Diamond on the sale but have yet to fire it up. I've gotten used to the 2.0/2.5 Ruleset and quite like it (not sure why THAC0 caused such problems ... doesn't seem all that complicated to me). But the NWN 3 Ruleset is a whole different ballgame.
Anyway, if you bought the Anthology... fire it up. Plenty of time to get to NWN / NWN2 in due course!
I have NWN waiting at the end of the rainbow :-) I've been working my way through BG, although you have really peaked my curiosity for BG2 now!
PE
Quote from: Bison on January 29, 2013, 06:39:44 PM
The strength of NWN and NWN2 is the absolute limitless number of gaming hours availible with user made modules and persistant worlds.
Are there persistent worlds available for this online? I had not heard anything of that.
Quote from: Longdan on January 29, 2013, 09:35:11 PM
Quote from: Bison on January 29, 2013, 06:39:44 PM
The strength of NWN and NWN2 is the absolute limitless number of gaming hours availible with user made modules and persistant worlds.
Are there persistent worlds available for this online? I had not heard anything of that.
Yes NWN has presistent worlds. It's been awhile since I've done it. IIRC the public servers were shuttered but there are still games being hosted. Last I check it was done with IP addressing.
oh well there is hundreds of hours without going out of my own machine.
Yup. The MP was cool with friends and the strong RP persistant groups, but the SP material put out by the community is pretty staggering in it's volume.
Quote from: PanzersEast on January 29, 2013, 09:30:20 PM
I have NWN waiting at the end of the rainbow :-) I've been working my way through BG, although you have really peaked my curiosity for BG2 now!
PE
I made the 'mistake' of jumping right into BG2 and skipping BG. Once I figured out all the things I was doing wrong, I thought, "why not restart with the BGT mod and go all the way from BG through Throne of Bhaal?" So I gave that a try -- but the BG world had a hard time holding my interest after I had already gotten a taste of BG2. So I nixed that idea and went back to my BG2 quest.
I probably will at some point try to do the whole BGT thing -- I'm sure there's lots I'm missing in BG by not having the patience to get through the slow beginning. But all I can say is, if you are enjoying BG, you will Love BG2 --
I have forced myself to start with BG.
Quote from: sandman2575 on January 29, 2013, 08:45:02 PM
I've gotten used to the 2.0/2.5 Ruleset and quite like it (not sure why THAC0 caused such problems ... doesn't seem all that complicated to me).
That's because you're used to the computer crunching the numbers for you. If you'd ever played the pen-and-paper version of AD&D (where you have to crunch the numbers yourself), I guarantee you'd understand the frustration. :P
Quote from: sandman2575 on January 29, 2013, 08:45:02 PM
Quote from: PanzersEast on January 27, 2013, 07:33:48 PM
I know it was released on GOG, but I am considering purchasing and putting it on the list. Have not gone through Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Icewind Dale 1 & 2, NWN 1 and oh yea Planescape: Torment (holiday sale bundle) :o As you can see, really behind as I have never played any of them before.
I also bought the D&D Anthology during the holiday sale. I had not played an RPG in literally years, and thought, "I probably should give Baldur's Gate a shot".
It now has its unholy grasp bigtime -- playing BG2 (BG seems a little twee by comparison -- BG2 is Epic and Awesome).
I also bought NWN Diamond on the sale but have yet to fire it up. I've gotten used to the 2.0/2.5 Ruleset and quite like it (not sure why THAC0 caused such problems ... doesn't seem all that complicated to me). But the NWN 3 Ruleset is a whole different ballgame.
Anyway, if you bought the Anthology... fire it up. Plenty of time to get to NWN / NWN2 in due course!
I SO agree! Then again, I started with the Basic and Expert sets back in 1980. ;)
Quote from: Martok on January 30, 2013, 03:07:44 PM
That's because you're used to the computer crunching the numbers for you. If you'd ever played the pen-and-paper version of AD&D (where you have to crunch the numbers yourself), I guarantee you'd understand the frustration. :P
Hmm valid point. The last time I had any involvement with PnP DnD was circa 1983 or so. So I guess I was saved the travails of THAC0.
...I still don't like that AC values go up instead of down in the new rule editions, however... >:(
Nah, 3.5 is integrated, cohesive, and plays alot smoother than 2nd Edition. BG series with 3.5 ruleset would be awesome.
Seconded. I've always had a much easier time wrapping my head around the rules for 3.0/3.5 than AD&D (and I started with the latter).
I deleted NWN2 off my laptop a long time ago, just moved onto other things, but my daughter refuses to let me uninstall NWN. She still plays it about once every 2 weeks or so. Mostly just using the builder and not actually playing though. She plays my copy of Mount and Blade a lot as well.
Quote from: Martok on January 31, 2013, 10:27:05 AM
Seconded. I've always had a much easier time wrapping my head around the rules for 3.0/3.5 than AD&D (and I started with the latter).
I remember AD&D having a lot of weird race/class restrictions at one point, too. Not sad to see that all go.
I thought that Icewind Dale had the best story line of any D&D computer game.
I can't discuss it without going through multiple spoilers - but it was wonderful in many parts.
Balders Gate is much more "everything depends on you for the entire world" with some really dumb direction changes. But some of the characters (especially Minsc & Boo) are priceless.
I am just working into Baldurs on the new enhanced edition. For some reason I stalled on Icewind years ago
but my daughter loved it. I should take another look.
Did anyone ever make a mod so you could kill the annoying gnome NPC they force you to take in NWN2?