Finally got NWN! - but some issues...

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After wanting to get it for so long but never willing to commit the £30 they ask for it (it's not BG is it, I mean come on), my folks finally got it for me at Xmas.

After the disgrace of being named "idiot of the week" a few months back I have returned to wax lyrical about Bioware's "revolutionary" RPG.

When I first played it on the day after Boxing Day (for about an hour) my initial reaction was one of profound disappointment and moderate surprise. I thought the tone was slightly dumbed down from BG but then I'd only played the prelude. I thought the camera was jerky, none of the three angles offering anything like the perfection of BG's engine. I thought controls were fiddly, and, even after refiguring the ridiculous default keyboard commands, I knew this was going to take some getting used to. Incidently my surprise was that the action was still 3rd person, for some reason, I'd always been under the impression that it would be a first person game a la Thief. This is no bad thing of course, and the chase view is not far off BG.

Since then I've played the game one more time (earlier on) and got through the first dungeon. I'm a mage, I went it alone (with my panther) as I couldn't afford any of the henchmen and found the gameplay quite enjoyable and distinct from BG. Though it does seem to lack polish.

Now - a couple of questions: technical and gameplay based ones.

1. My system is a P4, 256MB Ram, Geforce 4 - runs Throne of Bhaal perfectly. However when I get outside into the Citycore in Neverwinter i experience some severe slowdown. Is this common? The graphics don't get glitchy it's just the animtion skips frames and dialogue takes a while to start. Advice would be cool.

2. Can you get Henchmen to open locks and disarm traps? I'm currently a level 4/5 Necromancer and just killed the (spoiler) Mindflayer thing in the Prison Basement (no equiptment by the way!!?) who should I take along with me on my adventures? Seemingly I'd need a tank and just use knock for tough doors - or am I still thinking in BG terms.

3. Is there any advantage in playing in the Drivemode? I've been playing in what I'd call the BG view between battles but once combat starts I'll drop down to that view. Seems cumbersome, any tips?

And that's it folks - this must be my nicest thread in 3 years!

[ January 08, 2004, 22:24: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

1 Upgrade your mem, say 1gig of pc2100, I suppose it’s a gf4 MX card, which sucks, play in low resolution or upgrade, or it won’t go away

2 Yes use Tomi or so, they will automatically open locks and disable traps.

3 Don't know.

 

1) Try changing the advanced sound options. That's what slowed it down on my PC. The fastest I found was using Miles 2D Fast Positional Audio or something like that. This may vary from PC to PC but I don't know for sure. For some obscure reason sound takes alot of processor and memory time. This may not be an issue for a more advanced sound card since I use the one build in my motherboard.

2) If you take a henchmen that is capable of it he/she will do that automatically. A tank could also be a good idea but mostly your summons and familiar take care of that role. Never forget that the Monster Summoning spells in NWN last for 24 hours.

3) Not that I now of. I always use the topdown view (you know, the one looking from slightly above and that doesn't reposition behind the character when he moves).

 

1. I've got a more muscular PC than that (Dual-Athlon FX-51's and a GeForce FX 5950 512MB VRAM) and I still experience occasional slowdowns.

2. I'd take Daelan. The others would be too weak to tank for you.

3. There's no real advantage for any mode. It depends on your preference. If you've got SoU, you actually can play in first person mode (more or less).