I just bought Morrowind GOTY for the PC (I owned the original on the Xbox, and I own Oblivion for the PC...it just seems like Morrowind is better so I finally got GOTY). But while I was buying it, I saw Neverwinter Nights Diamond, and Neverwinter Nights 2, one for $20 and one for $50.

Now, I've wanted NW for a looooong time, and I just recently got a new computer that can handle intense graphical games. Here in a month or two when I get done with all the Morrowind stuff I didn't do on the Xbox, I want to pick up one of the NW games, I'm just not sure which.

Diamond looks like an -amazing- deal. Tons upon tons of hours of gameplay, three expansions, plus all the modules you can download, for only $20. However, NW2 is probably the new standard that everyone plays.

I'm just wondering, which one would you guys recommend I get? If I buy Diamond, will that leave me with no people to play with? Is having someone to play with even worth it? And is NW2 a huge upgrade to the original? The part of me that likes new shiny things wants to get NW2, just so I'm with the latest version, but another part says that not getting Diamond would be missing out.

Our should I just get both?

Depends on how new your pc is. Mine's an absoloute beast, and it still stutters in some parts of NWN2, plus the camera is TERRIBLE sometimes.

Oh, don't play a warlock. No matter how much fun it is at first, gets really damn boring just hitting your "1" key over and over.

Edit: Somehow I missed the second paragraph *completely*. Never consider playing NWN 1 or 2 online - I found people to be royal bastards. If you're thinking purely from a story perspective, get 1. More gameplay and it was more fun for me to eventually slay a bloody Demon Lord. Especially since I managed it by myself.

Alright, thanks. I was sort of leaning towards getting the first one anyway, not to mention it saves me $30.

Now I can't wait to pick it up.

NWN online: experience can vary. Depends on the server, I believe. Some persistent worlds suck, most should be okay. Most non-persistent servers, I wouldn't hassle with.

Now, here's what we have:
NWN 1 is more imbalanced and has butt-ugly graphics. There are, surprisingly, still many servers for this game.
NWN 2 is as of the time being pretty unstable and there aren't many persistent servers yet. But the game is prettier, there are generally more options (of course, most servers have many options added, for example improved trade skills), more classes and the game is more balanced, although it's DnD so still, casters win. Speaking of which, at least it uses DnD 3.5 edition rules, and not some weird mix of 2, 3 and 3.5.

You really can't even compare the two. NWN2 is better in pretty much every aspect. I don't see how its a competition. I don't think anyone even plays NWN1 anymore. Finding good servers in 2 is hard enough.

I only ever played NWN 1!

Neverwinter Nights 1 with the CEP expansions as well as persistant world mods to the game can make it something completely different to what one would get from just loading up a server using stock Neverwinter Nights. Servers are still heavily populated, which should state something about the game itself and how it's managed to stand the test of time. Pretty graphics can only go so far.. That, and with the mods to scripts and spells and etc in certain servers, the game is completely different.

Neverwinter Nights 2 is fun, pretty, yadda yadda.. More choices.. Basically, it has more special classes you can go, yet it has a hard capped level 20 (I think?) limit, which restricts you if you're making PVP builds. (Neverwinter Nights 1 used to have a quite heavy PVP community).. Also, it still uses a lot of Neverwinter Night 1's music and sound effects and stuff. Sure, it does look better, and yes. It does have a lot more spells, but it still needs to be tweaked around a lot before it can reach the whole customizability that Neverwinter Nights 1 does, and still has. The CEP community (if it hasn't done already, I haven't checked for some time) has to get their hands on this game and make some serious serious stuff for it.

- my 2 cents.

Every time I tried to play NWN2, it would start out okay, then grow slower and slower, then crash. And my computer isn't even THAT crappy.

NWN1 was fun though.

Heh, so basically it's pretty up in the air, and I can't go wrong.

Thanks for all the advice...after hearing it I'll probably pick up the first one, then get the second one a little later when more custom content has been released for it.

You mentioned that it level capped at 20, does that mean there are no epic levels?

(I'm not a DND player, so don't get too descriptive on me, I just know the basics of the game.)

You liked Morrowind better than Oblivion?

Oblivion always seemed a bit dummed down compared to morrowind. They are both great games but I thought morrowind was a bit better. mind you it's comparing a 9.9 to a 10 on a scale of 10

I thought Oblivion fixed a lot of the huge flaws with Morrowind, though I guess I can see the dumbed down comment.

I enjoyed Oblivion. A -lot-. The combat system was about a bajillion times better than Morrowind (it made being a combat oriented character fun), and of course the game was beautiful. I was addicted to it for about a month, but then I lost interest. I ran out of things to do. I played Morrowind for much longer than that, and on the xbox, with no mods or anything.

There are just several things about Oblivion that nag at me. Fewer weapon types. Fewer skillsets (namely, why is there no unarmored skillset? I hate having my mage wear armor to survive). Fewer quests, fewer organizations.

Now I have Morrowind, plus a ton of retexture mods, a better bodies mod, better faces mod, better hairs mod...and it's glorious.

yea, oblivion does have an actual physics system and a good combat system. I always play ranged character usually with a bow which was never bad on morrowind though. It was worth it for me too pull out daggers in oblivion though

So, I found Neverwinter Nights 2 for 30 dollars the other day, and I picked it up.

I was running out of room on my main HD that I have my operating system stored on, so I installed NWN2 on my second hard drive.

I've been having some performance issues, mostly just lag while I'm trying to run around. I'm wondering, would having the game installed on the other harddrive cause this?

Or is the game just like that?

From what I've heard, the game is just like that. That doesn't mean, however, that it couldn't be something caused by your hardware (or lack thereof, I don't know what you have).

Definately not the issue of it being installed on secondary HD.

Make sure you got the newest patch. The game also doesn't like Radeons very well. Or you could simply have too weak of a computer - lower the detail level. Getting the newest drivers for your graphic card can help too.

Generally, NWN 2 is a good game, but whomever was responsible for optimising its engine deserves a swift kick in the nuts.

Hrrmm. My computer surpasses the recommended specs for the game, and I'm running an Nvidea graphics card.

I didn't wait for all the patches to download though, so I'll let those finish up and try again. I'll also check around to see if any new drivers are available for my card.

Thanks for the help, and yeah, I agree. The game is pretty, but not pretty enough to warrant how demanding it is.

I finally got all the patches downloaded and installed, and that seemed to help out greatly. I also turned off some of the water effects, which I never really noticed anyway.

It's helped out a lot, and the only slowdown I get now is during intense fights with a lot of effects and creatures on the screen. But then I remembered that I havn't defraged since I got my computer...so I think that might be a problem too.

Everything should be perfect after I take care of that.