NWN or NWN 2

[Stiganator]

I haven't had a chance to play NWN 2 yet. But NWN was awesome. The level editor was really sweet too.

Also, where the expansions to one any good? I played hordes and shadows, but what about kingmaker, shadow guard, witch's wake?

 

[Martimus]

NWN2 has a better campaign, but I don't like the interface as much (Although the quick cast menu is great!). Also the NWN2 editor is much more difficult to use than the NWN editor. I still don't know how to do most things.

Obviously NWN has better mods, because it has been out longer and has better development tools, but the newer NWN2 mods are getting to be pretty good too.

 

[legoman666]

I liked nwn1 and the 2 expansions. never played it online, but I did take a class where we used the level editor to create a CTF game. I got nwn2 expecting more of the same fun but I was disappointed. Crappy performance, medicore graphics, boring plot and overall it was just a rehash of nwn1.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: Stiganator
Also, where the expansions to one any good? I played hordes and shadows, but what about kingmaker, shadow guard, witch's wake?

Download and play the Tales of Arterra series for free! Excellent series of modules for NWN1. Do not forget The Hex Coda 01 for your cyberpunk needs as well.

read over the replies in this thread for good freeware single player games that the community has made for NWN1

 

[shortylickens]

NWN 2 is a much better game engine.
Its easier to find your PC's abilities and items and spells and map them to hotkeys.
They also had all the races and classes and Prestige classes in the main game, and added the optional classes & races in the MotB expansion.
If you want all that in NWN1 you have to get the Platinum or Diamond Editions.

After all the patches it has a much better control system. You can make it like NWN1 (but better) or make it somewhat similar to Baldurs Gate, which (for many of us) was the last actual good D&D computer game.

The base campaign is slightly better and the expansions (so far) are much better.


And yet I would still rather play KOTOR 2 over again.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

I think Baldur's Gate II is better since you can control all 6 party members and their inventory, but NWN-1 has a better engine. Now if you could have the NWN engine and be able to control a party of six characters and their inventories, that would rock.

 

[Bateluer]

The OC in NWN2 was much better than the OC in NWN1, hands down, though I don't count the expansions in that statement.

NWN1 has a better engine in the fact that it support OpenGL and has a native linux version, whereas NWN2 has its OGL renderer removed for the possibility of a console port that never materialized, thank goodness.

The inventory and party management is better in NWN2 as well, closest to the BG games that any 3D RPG has come. Visually, NWN2 was mediocre compared to other titles that came out around the same time frame, though people give it a bad rap because it was such a system hog. It wasn't terrible from a graphics standpoint. And the various patches have optimized it substantially.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

I think Baldur's Gate II is better since you can control all 6 party members and their inventory, but NWN-1 has a better engine. Now if you could have the NWN engine and be able to control a party of six characters and their inventories, that would rock.

bg2 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> nwn2 > nwn:hordes expansion >>>> nwn

nwn2's engine isn't bad, although it is rather inefficient it seems.

 

[s44]

NWN1 has better multiplayer options, mostly because it's been around longer.

For single player, NWN2 is far, far better.

 

[nova2]

nwn2 cant easily have huge persistent worlds like nwn1. In NWN2 you would have to run multiple servers to do this.

for example, in nwn1, you can run a module with 530 some areas and the filesize will be around 100mb (http://VampTeam.com 's shadows of the sword coast module is 106mb)

in nwn2, a small ~30 area module can be around 100 megs.
regen has said "Each outdoor area is about 25mb, interior areas are less, maybe only 1-2mb"

 

[skace]

NWN2 comes much closer to BG2 style gameplay and "feel" than NWN1 ever did.

For instance, I'd take Fenixgoons equation and change it a bit:

bg2 >>>>>>>>>> nwn2 >>>>>> nwn:hordes expansion >>>> nwn

NWN2 covered some decent ground.

 

[oddyager]

Between the two NWN2 is world's better than NWN1.., as far as gameplay and story goes. However if you enjoy building mods and dungeons NWN2's editors, for me, was a huge PITA. NWN2 has just one expansion (Mask of the Betrayer) and it was good.