Storm of Zehir

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Yup. Bought a swashbuckler hat for my swashbuckler. Doesn`t show at all. Tried buying a helmet for Kelgar as well. Didn`t work either.

 

Could that be because of the graphics settings? Have you (tried with) everything on max? I seem to recall that my PC also had different helmets visible.

 

The NPCs you pick up along the way will not have their helemts on the picture; at least that is what I have seen in the OC. I'm not sure about SoZ or MotB.

As for the graphics; I had to alter the graphics on my system after installing SoZ because the system would constatnly slow down. I removed the 4x AA and the system is now working perfectly once again.

 

Here is a very very wierd thing. The horizon in the game has allways been messed up. Just a white thingy with black dots on it. Doesn`t bother me though. But yesterday I played football manager 2009. After a few hours I decided to play nwn2. I quit the game and fired up nwn2. Guess what. In the horizon, behind Khelgar.....Huge letters. Porsmouth vs Fulham. and something that said 20 PM. Extremely wierd. The other game was completely turned off as well. So I have no idea how that happened.

 

1) What type of monitor are you using and how old is it?
2) What is your video card and are you running the latest drivers?

 

The monitor is about 3 years old. My card is Nvidia ssomething. No new drivers. That "bug" I mentioned was kind of fun though. Didn`t really bother me. But it did look out of place

 

I would update your drivers; Nvidia just release updated drives which increased the performance of most of their video card by 5-10%.

 

And even more if your drivers are even older. Really try it.

On topic. I will wait for it to hit the budget shelf. Reviews on sites made by players made me back off.

 

Recently finished, mixed feelings about it

A few random thoughts:

In my estimation, SOZ has a lot more hack-n-slash than the previous NWN2 titles, especially when you factor in the overland map. At some stages, it's hard to go more than an inch without another random encounter. The story was pretty good in the beginning. Toward the end it just limped along. Very anticlimactic final battle and epilogue. I didn't bother to retire, since I wanted to test out a few things. More on that below.

The joinable NPCs are really bland. There are essentially no special dialogs or storylines related to them. You might as well make your own PCs to take their place, since then you'll get a better fit for your playing style.

Volo is annoying as usual, but the payoff this time is that you can earn feats by giving him reports.

The trading was okay -- it added to the storyline, anyway. It's also the only way to get a hefty amount of cash, since the stores seem to run pretty low on funds. But once you get your cartel up and running well, the payouts are far too big. I think I got upwards of 1 billion trade bars, each of which could be redeemed for 15 gold or so. The maximum gold I could carry was less than a billion, so mostly I carted around an obscene number of trade bars.

The engine permits level squating, and it seems to average your party's level. So, I was able to solo a sorcerer/RDD all the way to 30th level with relative ease merely by carrying around the dead body of a low-level NPC. I also squatted for a while at 25th just to make it easier to hit the max. There's no XP cap, so it keeps counting. But there is a level cap at 30.

The drawback of this experience harvesting strategy is that every random encounter on the overland map attacks you, which gets annoying. After I resurrected and released the NPC, they all ran in fear, allowing me to get around relatively easily. Only the stupid assassins tried to fight me, which was odd considering I had already killed their god's herald.

The adventurer's guild could instantly level any NPC to my level, regardless of their class. The guys running that guild certainly didn't have the knowledge to provide that training. The book says your NPCs don't gain experience when they aren't in the party, which seems like a good idea for role playing. The adventurer's guild lets you bypass that limitation, assuming you've got the gold (again, I had *billions*). Of course, you don't have to use it, so I guess it really just gives you more options. I just don't think the explanation in the story made any sense. Of course, it wasn't any worse than the way any and all NPCs are available anytime you happen to find a guestbook. (Similar to the way they magically appeared at map transitions in the OC.) And I shouldn't take too many shots at the guild given my own willingness to level squat with a dead NPC. ;-)

I was disappointed by the lack of availability of decent items for mages -- especially the lack of robes. I guess they intend for you to craft those things. Not a bad way to go, unless you happen to be a sorcerer with limited spell selections. I ended up using lots of defensive spells.

All in all, it was definitely worth playing, though I'm not sure I'll replay it any time soon. I preferred the OC and MOTB storylines. But the power-gaming possibilities in SOZ give you more options for trying out different PC builds. And sometimes it's fun to get the chance to become essentially invincible.

 

No. I had much more difficult times with earlier fights.

But I had read about the final fight and about the Herald's immunities and weaknesses on the offical forum before I initiated the fight.

So I was well prepared with the right spells and crafted items, and the whole fight took about 2 minutes on Normal.

But I do certainly understand why people think the fight is the hardest. On Normal and upwards, the Herald has immunities out the wazoo, getting better with each difficulty level.

On all levels he is immune to Poison, Knockdown, Mind-affecting spells, Paralysis, Fear, Disease and Death Magic.

On Normal and upwards he has 100% immunity to Fire and Electricity.

Over Normal he gets immunities to all Bigby's spells, except Interposing Hand, and Isaac's Missile Storm spells.

And he has Damage Reduction Cold Iron and Good, that get's better per difficulty level.

One hard mother.

 

I can try. But bear over with me, it's been 4-5 months ago.

I had a party consisting of a Aasimar Paladin, a Tiefling Rogue/Shadowdancer 1 (for HiPS), a general Sun Elf Wizard, and a Human Cleric with the domains Earth and War.

And I took the Druid Umoja as cohort, since his dinosaur animal companion is quite powerful.

My party was level 18 when I faced the Herald, by doing all sidequests, and running into some Deinonychus and Megaraptors, with claws needed for crafting.

I took the Teamwork Benefit Feats Awareness, Camp Routine, Group Trance, Steadfast Resolve, Superior Flank and Team Rush.

As you, I got the Master Infiltrator Feat by letting my Rogue sneak around in the Temple of the World Serpent.

I found all the recipes in the campaign, so I went amok crafting stuff.

I crafted Cold Iron +3 Holy Thundering Weapons for all.

I put AC +4 on Amulets (Natural Armor), Armor, Boots (Dodge), Cloaks (Deflection), and Shields.

I put Resist Acid, Cold, Electrical, Fire and Sonic 10/ and Spell Resistance on various equipped items on all partymembers.

I buffed my party up with Stoneskin (Cleric, Paladin and Rogue), Premonition (Druid and Wizard), Protection from Alignment (Evil), Mass Death Ward, and Persistant Haste.

My Paladin casted Holy Sword on his longsword.

Umoja's dinosaur companion got buffed with Greater Magic Fang also.

Since I knew that the Herald had immunities for Fire and Electricity, I spammed the area with Greater Creeping Cold, Lesser Orbs and Orbs of Sound and Ice, Ice Storm, and Storm of Vengeance.

My Cleric and Paladin attacked with Divine Might and my Paladin attacked with Smite Evil also.

And before I knew it, it was over.

 

I went with a somewhat classic party since I promised a friend to check out his walkthrough by using the same party he had.

I certainly didn't regret to take a wizard. An arcane caster does make things easier in SoZ.

I let my wizard take the Persistant Spell Feat. Persistant Haste last 24 hours.

Unless your Cleric had the domains Travel or Time, you don't have access to Haste, I understand. But there is potions of Speed in the campaign.

And yeah, the fire and lightning based spells is where you went wrong.

I had the advantage that the Orbs of elemental damage from my wizard get's better every level he had.

But your Druid could spam Creeping Cold, Greater Creeping Cold, Hypothermia, Burst of Glacial Wrath, Storm of Vengeance and Ice Storm and he has access to Premonition.

I made Cold Iron weapons because I wanted to cut right through the Herald's DR.

And you're right, sonic is rarely resisted. I have yet to find a single creature in the Toolset that has resistances for sonic.

I also equipped my Cleric and Paladin with Cloaks of Charisma +6 for CHA modifier for Smite Evil and Divine Might.

My Cleric, Druid and Paladin was equipped with Periapt of Wisdom +6, and Belts of Strength +6.

My Wizard had Headband of Intellect +6, and also a Belt of Agility +6 like my Rogue.

My Druid, Rogue and Wizard had Cloaks of Resistance +5.

And everyone had Boots of Striding +6 equipped.

Anyway, my posts was longer than intended, but I hope that might explain a little.

 

Glad you appreciated it.

I hope it works out for you. Good luck!