Should I play NWN before NWN2?

HangTime

HangTime

HangTime

Man of Honour
Joined
25 Oct 2002
Posts
31,880
Location
Hampshire
Just wanted to check if there are any implications for playing Neverwinter Nights 2 before the original game? I'm talking in terms of, can I import a NWN character(s) into NWN2, are there any major plot spoilers, does the story carry on, has the UI been optimised making it very difficult to play NWN having got used to NWN2 etc etc.

Over the past couple of months I have basically played nothing but Bioware in terms of SP (ME, ME2, DA:O, DA:A, DA2, DA2:L) and I tackled these in order so now looking to address some of their earlier franchises (I've already done KOTOR).

Graphically I am fairly liberal i.e. any game from 2000 onwards usually has good enough graphics for me so I'm not overly concerned about the age of NWN. Main reason for asking is I have NWN2 deluxe on Steam so I can be up and playing in seconds whereas NWN would mean digging around for my sister's old cds and having to install, put expansions on, patch etc.
 
The stories and characters are not related. There's a couple of small references to what happened in the first I think, but that's all.
 
Hordes of the Underdark does however directly follow on from Shadows of Undrentide with the same character so play that first if you do.
 
You probably already know this but combat in the NWN games is pretty sucky, as with most D&D 3rd edition games.

PS: I would recommend starting with Mask of the Betrayer due to its superior writing vs the NWN\2 original content.
 
NWN was amazing fot its online community.

Some servers were basically like a mini MMO, constantly having new content and adventures. They were great.

Also if you're going to play NWN1, play them all although makes sure you do Shadows of Undrentide before Hordes of the Underdark.

I got NWN2 on release, but I never got farther then 2 hours into it. It just didn't want to run on my old system well.

I might reinstall it one of these days as I loved the Old Bioware titles, and Obsidian aparrently did an ok job on NWN2.
 
Yeah, I'd go for NWN first, simply because it's probably better to go from inferior to superior graphics rather than the other way around.

NWN original was okay. I got on quite well with it, but it's not exactly the best CRPG story ever. SOU I got pretty bored of, tbh, but I played through to get my character ready for HOtU, which is far and away the best of the NWN1 series. A really good story and campaign.

NWN2 I enjoyed overall, Mask of the Betrayer was a very solid expansion, but Storm of Zehir kind of sucked IMO.
 
Playing through NWN2 right now, only just got a system it can run on well (badly optimised) and loving it to be honest, even the not so great vanilla campaign (want to play through all 3 content packs in order).

The first was great for extra content / custom campaigns, something that never took off as much for the second but there are some out there.

I would skip NWN1 tbh just because the UI is terribad, play NWN2 through from the start using the same character for a solid RPG.
 
I preferred the first game. The original campaign was dull, but the two expansions were great. Underdark mostly follows on from the Original campaign, but does take some story from the first expansion.
 
I picked the full edition of NWN2 on steam recently, and it's an awful lot better with all the patches and expansions, quite enjoying it this time around.

I have to say though, are the devs deliberately trying to take the mick with my companions?

Grumpy, annoying dwarf
Whiney, annoying tiefling
Spectacularly ******* annoying sorceress, to the extent that I want to hit her over the head repeatedly with a blunt object and dump her in a ditch somewhere

And the latest...a really, really annoying halfing bard.

Please tell me I get to kill them all before the campaign ends :D
 
Ditch NWN series and pick up Planescape:Torment you will not be disappointed and make sure you have someone to check in on you every week or so cos that game can eat up months of your life :D
 
seandog said:
Ditch NWN series and pick up Planescape:Torment you will not be disappointed and make sure you have someone to check in on you every week or so cos that game can eat up months of your life :D
Click to expand...

Ha, all the text\writing would give these graphics whores a brain aneurysm :p
 
seandog said:
Lol, good way to break your brain tho and for it's age the gfx ain't too terrible
Click to expand...

The philosophical discussion and characters are interesting, although it's a shame a lot of the romance subplots were cut. The fact that the succubi's kiss is one of the few things that's permanently lethal to the Nameless One makes for an interesting relationship dynamic...
 
Sleepery said:
I picked the full edition of NWN2 on steam recently, and it's an awful lot better with all the patches and expansions, quite enjoying it this time around.

I have to say though, are the devs deliberately trying to take the mick with my companions?

Grumpy, annoying dwarf
Whiney, annoying tiefling
Spectacularly ******* annoying sorceress, to the extent that I want to hit her over the head repeatedly with a blunt object and dump her in a ditch somewhere

And the latest...a really, really annoying halfing bard.

Please tell me I get to kill them all before the campaign ends :D
Click to expand...

Preach.

I miss the BG2 companions...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom