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The Big "How Is It?" Thread

Discussion in 'Neverwinter Nights 2' started by Death Rabbit, Oct 31, 2006.

  1. catbert

    catbert Midnight Snack Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Nnnnot really, on both counts. Animations are lacking, and while I can somewhat see the point of "Graphics are Unimportant", it's not how that game is advertised. It might have a great storyline and fleshed out NPCs, but it if was built on a premise of being a game with a great storyline and fleshed out NPCs AND utterly misconceived graphics and underdeveloped animations, I'd have never bought it, because that way it's not really worth the $2000 in hardware it takes to run properly (run, not drag on like a wounded pig).

    People would pipe in and say "Hey, but NWN also didn't have ALL THAT right away on release", which in my book is a ridiculous defense, because PacMan hardly had anything but it doesn't mean we have to base new game features on its scarceness.
     
  2. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Great game so far, and I've only reached Forte Locke.

    The graphics are much better than the first one. Trails in the wilderness look like trails, not 15 foot wide roads; on the whole things look more natural. I like the mini-map with the little light cone showing which way your camera is facing, and the tracking ability that shows blips for enemies on the mini-map. I like the lighting effects: As I ran through a dungeon, torchlight was reflecting off my Greatsword as I passed by the torches. Really cool IMO.

    The tutorial is rather simple, but gets the job done to teach you how to use the interface etc.

    As to the story, I like how it's going. I got tired of of a level-1 character suddenly thrown into the middle of powerful forces, yet luckily all he had to do was fight level-1 monsters. This story makes more sense to me: You're a nobody whose adventure starts when your village is invaded and you leave in order to protect it, with those who are looking for what you have hopefully misdirected.

    If it isn't due to performance problems, there are options for changing the camera lag and scroll speeds.
     
  3. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Are there any cool new animations for speciall attacks (like the Duelist's Flourish)?
     
  4. Sarevok• Gems: 23/31
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    Got the chance to play it yesterday, although I didn't buy it. I echo the comments of catbert, it's dreadful, every aspect of it, I can't believe some of the reviews it recieved, that 5/10 review Chev mentioned sounds about right.
     
  5. Spellbound

    Spellbound Fleur de Mystique Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

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    I agree with you BTA -- great game so far. I've just finished the tutorial -- which was very well done I think.

    Character creation was a huge step up from NWN1 -- and while the graphics aren't on par with Oblivion (not much is), it's still quite a bit better than NWN1. I think the interface is seamless -- and thank god the radial menu is gone.

    Cat -- I've got a dual core 3.7 Ghz, 1g RAM and a GeForce 6800XT and am experiencing no problems whatsoever (and didn't with Oblivion either). And the fact that there was a patch immediately upon shipment isn't that usual these days -- it's virtually impossible to ship bug-free, unless a company wants to live with a severely extended development period -- they don't and neither does the public.
     
  6. catbert

    catbert Midnight Snack Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    One person's fifteen frames per second is another person's "no problems whatsoever". I need the least of 30 frames per second to play, and I'd risk saying that it's not the kind of performance most people get. While I finally got it to run at an acceptable speed, I still can't help but complain how ugly it is. GUI panels are painfully blurred and do not clear up until 1280-sized resolutions. Makes me wonder if developers "optimized" it for 1600. Yeah, it looks much worse than Oblivion, and requires twice the processing horsepower to play. Why? No idea, really.

    I don't see how character creation is a huge step from NWN - it's almost exactly the same, but you get to see your doll through all the steps. The creation actually lost the ability to pick a starting outfit (didn't matter so much to me) or tattoos (I liked that one!). And we lost portraits, just to take away from the single-player experience.

    I don't worry about the bugs, or even the game-breaking glitches - those will be tracked down and fixed with any number of patches necessary. But still, we're beta testing the game. I know that every developer does it, so I guess that's alright. There are many things they will not fix with a patch. Low quality animations, "shortcut" game mechanics that were brought over from NWN (like the lack of PrC spellbooks), the obscene interface (where are my voice commands? Nowhere).

    It's my opinion that as a sequel to NWN, this doesn't deliver. As a "game in spirit of BG/BG2", it doesn't deliver as it's so artistically generic. As a no-name low budget product from a start-up developer - it's awesome, commendable, but that is not what NWN2 is supposed to be.
     
  7. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Hmm, there seem to be some very divergent opinions on the game here! I will be interested to see how this discussion pans out.
     
  8. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    Ok, played it for about 30 mins or so. Had great fun creating my character, that's pretty nifty.

    But, gripe number 1 (so far) - the camera movement speed is painfully slow. I've cranked it up to its max level, but it's still annoying me how slow it takes to move the camera around. The guy runs a little bit too slow as well, but I've not looked to fix that yet, so I'm hoping there's an option to speed up movement speed. I hope it's not an annoying slow game all round, I get the feeling it might be...
     
  9. Uytuun Gems: 25/31
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    I feel exactly the same. At first I thought it was my system not being heavy enough, but no, it's that camera...I'll get used to it to a certain extent, but it's really very terrible. :s
     
  10. catbert

    catbert Midnight Snack Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    The camera speed is linked to your framerate. Once you get into the 25+, the camera starts to feel very similar to NWN, if not exactly like it.
     
  11. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    Well I've been playing for about 2 hours now without really realizing it. That's a good sign I suppose!

    Decent game so far. The dialogue is a lot better than the first one.
     
  12. Uytuun Gems: 25/31
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    Sorry for the stupid question, but how do you get there? I've been playing a bit more and it's just too slow to be playable in a pleasant way.
     
  13. catbert

    catbert Midnight Snack Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    A perfectly valid question, which unfortunately has one answer: a fast CPU, a fast batch of memory, a very fast videocard. The game is hungry for videocard horsepower, but once you take it to the top (with a top of the line chip of the current generation), it becomes pleasantly playable, and the camera lag goes to none.
     
  14. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Now we can get to the real question that can only be answered now that real people are playing it for real: what exact graphics card to do you really need in order to play the game at an enjoyable level of perfomance?
     
  15. Uytuun Gems: 25/31
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    A very very very good one, I can tell you that.

    I meet the minimum requirements, and even with a 3.2 GHz CPU, the game is simply too slow.

    Turning off all the nifty effects doesn't do that much good.

    But thanks for your reply, Catbert. ;)

    Bugger, 50 euro down the drain, I feel quite ripped off.

    [ November 07, 2006, 01:31: Message edited by: Uytuun ]
     
  16. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

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    Before the game becomes playable, it's going to cost half its current price, I think. It just sucks, the requirements, from what I've seen while doing the news - there just doesn't seem to be any justification. Just hope they're ever going to optimise it. From what I've heard, it just eats up whatever power you have (e.g. taking 970 megs out of a gig of ram).
     
  17. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    Funnily enough, either I have just got used to the camera speed or it's fixed itself. I can play with it no problem now, and I've pretty much gotten used to how it all works.

    Bu I tell you what, the award for the most annoying voice in a game ever goes to.... Neeshka! It cuts through me like a knife...
     
  18. Cúchulainn Gems: 28/31
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    I still don't have the patch, but I tweaked the performance and its actually quite good. The Warlock is a cool class, but I think he will get boring after a while as he is not as diverse as a Cleric or Mage would be.
     
  19. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    If you just run the update thing then it'll patch it up automatically mate. It takes like 5 mins, well worth doing.
     
  20. Will Gems: 13/31
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    Well, I'm playing the game on a distinctly mid range 1 gig RAM/3ghz p4/geforce 6800 pc and as far as Im concerned it runs fine. I have the texture details on high and the shadows turned off. True its not fast, but everything runs smoothly where it needs to and the game is entirely playable. Perhaps I have lower standards than some of you folks, but as long as the game is playable I'm generally happy. Not too keen on the inclusion of ceilings/rafters and the like, though. They get in the way.

    The party control isnt great, I'll agree. I like to play quite tactically, micromanaging each party member individually (and you certainly need to at certain points) but I also like my npcs to be endowed with sufficient common sense to defend themselves when attacked. I have found that not using puppet mode but turning most of the AI settings down or off completely helps. Its still not perfect, but it'll do for now.

    Excellent game so far, nonetheless.
     
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