Rajaah's CRPG Blog

Caliane · May 3, 2023

yeah. Friendly fire is always at thing. Various crpgs tackle it differently.

First up was improved evasion. your rogues and high dex chars could just ignore that shit with high reflex saves.
you could also plan for it. Freedom of movement, protection from energy, delay poison. make your allies immune to grease/web/fireball/cloudkill/stinking cloud, and just go ham.

Later versions added selective spell letting you modify spells with metamagic to ignore allies. 3.5e had metamagic, pretty sure selective spell started then.

RtwP and turn based also of course have major differences here. Hell of alot easier to aim with turn based, and spell cast on your turn.

no taunts by attacks of Opportunity and dumb A.I. can be used to set up spells as well. its essential in Pillars of eternity imho. send you tank up, and let them "grab aggro". mostly the same in pathfinder too.

Rajaah · May 3, 2023

Might boot the System Shocks off the initial list cause the release date went from March to May to now not having one. Plus they aren't CRPGs, they're just computer games I missed out on.

Here are some class choices for future CRPGs, subject to change. Had all of these written down from over the months of info-collecting and what people have said was fun. As bland as a Fighter is I kinda want to do that next after not getting a huge amount of use out of my Paladin abilities in BG. They were good, but I'd rather have been adding points to weapon skills beyond 2, and couldn't with my main.

Icewind Dale - Fighter, probably
Planescape Torment - High wisdom stat is the only priority (Int?)
Neverwinter Nights - Rogue
Fallout 2 - A scientist type (high int and adept at all the science type skills)
Pillars of Eternity - Monk (I like their look the most)
KOTOR1 - Jedi Sentinel (Scout first)
KOTOR2 - Jedi Consular
Temple of Elemental Evil - Cleric since it's particularly viable to main a healer in this one

Kajiimagi · May 3, 2023

System shock 2 should be played by everyone regardless of how you classify it. It is amazing.

Burns · May 3, 2023

Rajaah said:
Might boot the System Shocks off the initial list cause the release date went from March to May to now not having one. Plus they aren't CRPGs, they're just computer games I missed out on.

Here are some class choices for future CRPGs, subject to change. Had all of these written down from over the months of info-collecting and what people have said was fun. As bland as a Fighter is I kinda want to do that next after not getting a huge amount of use out of my Paladin abilities in BG. They were good, but I'd rather have been adding points to weapon skills beyond 2, and couldn't with my main.

Icewind Dale - Fighter, probably
Planescape Torment - High wisdom stat is the only priority (Int?)
Neverwinter Nights - Rogue
Fallout 2 - A scientist type (high int and adept at all the science type skills)
Pillars of Eternity - Monk (I like their look the most)
KOTOR1 - Jedi Sentinel (Scout first)
KOTOR2 - Jedi Consular
Temple of Elemental Evil - Cleric since it's particularly viable to main a healer in this one

Below is the recommendations I used, from Steam, for stats in PS:T for maximum dialog. It's mild spoilers, but just about a few pieces of "gear" and two level up bonuses.

The two level up bonuses:

The first class you reach level 7 in, and then level 12 give a 1 time bonus to that class, and only that class. For mage, both levels allow you to cast more spells. Example: Hitting War 6/Rogue 6/Wizard 7 gets you rank 1 wizard bonus, then War 11/Rogue 11/Wizard 12 gets you the rank 2 bonus; BUT if you do War 6/Rogue 6/Wizard 7 for rank 1 wizard bonus, you can then "fuck up" by doing a different class to level 12; War 12/Rogue 11/Wizard 11 would actually get you rank 1 warrior bonus, instead. There is no real need to grind out the other classes, unless you really want to metagame, but your hit points are rolled by the first class to get that level. So, many people recommend going to 6 on warrior, before switching, as that should get you enough hp for the rest of the game.

Of course, since most of the game is reading, more dialog will make the game longer. No point in playing the game if your not going to read it. So no real speed running.

Stat allotment:

2023-05-03 16.10.30 steamcommunity.com a73329041a1b.png

You get 1 stat point for every level, the first time you hit that level, so there are a bunch to go around. There is an important-ish 15 Cha stat check about 1/3 of the way into the game. So be aware that you should put a couple points into it once you get to 23 Wis.

Rajaah · May 3, 2023

Burns said:
Below is the recommendations I used, from Steam, for stats in PS:T for maximum dialog. It's mild spoilers, but just about a few pieces of "gear" and two level up bonuses.

The two level up bonuses:

The first class you reach level 7 in, and then level 12 give a 1 time bonus to that class, and only that class. For mage, both levels allow you to cast more spells. Example: Hitting War 6/Rogue 6/Wizard 7 gets you rank 1 wizard bonus, then War 11/Rogue 11/Wizard 12 gets you the rank 2 bonus; BUT if you do War 6/Rogue 6/Wizard 7 for rank 1 wizard bonus, you can then "fuck up" by doing a different class to level 12; War 12/Rogue 11/Wizard 11 would actually get you rank 1 warrior bonus, instead. There is no real need to grind out the other classes, unless you really want to metagame, but your hit points are rolled by the first class to get that level. So, many people recommend going to 6 on warrior, before switching, as that should get you enough hp for the rest of the game.

Of course, since most of the game is reading, more dialog will make the game longer. No point in playing the game if your not going to read it. So no real speed running.

Stat allotment:
View attachment 471799
You get 1 stat point for every level, the first time you hit that level, so there are a bunch to go around. There is an important-ish 15 Cha stat check about 1/3 of the way into the game. So be aware that you should put a couple points into it once you get to 23 Wis.

What I'm reading from all of that is "get Warrior to level 6 before doing any other classes"

Kajiimagi said:
System shock 2 should be played by everyone regardless of how you classify it. It is amazing.

I agree, tell them to get the SS remake out so I can play it. Gamestop says it has no release date listed in their system internally anymore. RIP?

Kajiimagi · May 3, 2023

Rajaah said:
What I'm reading from all of that is "get Warrior to level 6 before doing any other classes"

I agree, tell them to get the SS remake out so I can play it. Gamestop says it has no release date listed in their system internally anymore. RIP?

SS is ok, SS2 is the one you want. It's on GOG all day long.

Rajaah · May 3, 2023

Kajiimagi said:
SS is ok, SS2 is the one you want. It's on GOG all day long.

Yeah I was planning to play both, but waiting for the PS5 remake obviously. It's too bad SS2 isn't the one getting the remake.

Burns · May 4, 2023

Rajaah said:
What I'm reading from all of that is "get Warrior to level 6 before doing any other classes"

Yarp, not having any exposure to the systems yet probably makes it sound more complicated than it is. Getting levels in warrior is the natural progression in the game as that is the class you start as. It can take some time before you find the Wizard class trainer, unless you look it up. Although, if you hit level 5 or 6 warrior, and still haven't found the trainer, then you might want to look it up.

TJT · May 5, 2023

Rajaah said:
Might boot the System Shocks off the initial list cause the release date went from March to May to now not having one. Plus they aren't CRPGs, they're just computer games I missed out on.

Here are some class choices for future CRPGs, subject to change. Had all of these written down from over the months of info-collecting and what people have said was fun. As bland as a Fighter is I kinda want to do that next after not getting a huge amount of use out of my Paladin abilities in BG. They were good, but I'd rather have been adding points to weapon skills beyond 2, and couldn't with my main.

Icewind Dale - Fighter, probably
Planescape Torment - High wisdom stat is the only priority (Int?)
Neverwinter Nights - Rogue
Fallout 2 - A scientist type (high int and adept at all the science type skills)
Pillars of Eternity - Monk (I like their look the most)
KOTOR1 - Jedi Sentinel (Scout first)
KOTOR2 - Jedi Consular
Temple of Elemental Evil - Cleric since it's particularly viable to main a healer in this one

Planescape has one of the very best and deeply philosophical RPG stories ever.

It's a real treat as even without that there are few games that really capture the kind of wonder it has. Most DND games have jaunts into the Planes or whatever but this entire game is a massive jaunt into Planar madness.

Rajaah · May 9, 2023

Since the FF Pixel Remasters are mercifully pretty much done, I'm gonna get back into this some time in the next few days.

Taking votes on what order I should do the next 3:

Planescape Torment
Icewind Dale
Neverwinter Nights

Caliane · May 9, 2023

I'd do them in chronological order.
planescape 1999, Icewind dale 2000, NWN 2002.

Or did you mean the original Neverwinter Nights?

Neverwinter Nights (1991 video game) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

2002 nwn is a jump to 3d though. so yeah, get those prior games done first.
It possibly might require some research to really appreciate. you can just play it as single player campaign. but to be clear, that was not the intent with Nwn.

Neverwinter Nights (2002 video game) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The game engine was designed around an Internet-based model for running a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), which would allow end users to host game servers. Up to 64 players could connect to a single server.[2] The intent was to create a potentially infinite massively multiplayer game framework. This game was named after the original Neverwinter Nights online game, the first graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG),[3] which operated from 1991 to 1997 on AOL.

NWN had persistent roleplay servers. Online multiplayer. A MASSIVE modding community. Its a very different beast.

An important feature of Neverwinter Nights is the Dungeon Master Client: a tool that allows an individual to take the role of the Dungeon Master, who guides the players through the story and has complete control of the server.

Neverwinter Nights

Click to expand...

ships with the Aurora toolset, which allows players to create custom modules for the game.[17] These modules may take the form of online multiplayer worlds,[18] single player adventures, character trainers or technology demos. Additionally, several third party utilities have further expanded the community's ability to create custom content for the game. By the end of 2002, there were over 1,000 custom adventures available.[19][20]

Custom content creators are known as builders in the Neverwinter Nights community. The Aurora toolset allows builders to create map areas using a tile system; the appearance and surface textures of the area are defined by the area's selected tileset. Builders can overlay placeable objects onto areas, and use the built-in scripting language NWScript, which is based on the C programming language, to run cut scenes, quests, mini-games and conversations.[19] Third party utilities allow builders to create custom content for most aspects of the game, ranging from new playable races and character classes to new tilesets, monsters and equipment. Custom content is added to the game in the form of hakpaks. Builders have used the Aurora toolset in combination with hakpaks to create playing experiences beyond the scope of the original campaign. Additionally, the Aurora toolset has allowed for the creation of a number of ongoing persistent worlds modules.

Despite the game's age, the Neverwinter Nights custom content community remains active. The community, mostly centered on the Neverwinter Vault, has created over 4,000 modules for the game, among them, many award-winning adventures and series such as Dreamcatcher.[21] The Aurora toolset is not available for the Linux and Macintosh versions of Neverwinter Nights. The open source project neveredit aims to port the toolset features to these platforms. The game's module-making legacy was continued by Neverwinter Nights 2.

..its still active it seems.

New Community Content! | The Neverwinter Vault

neverwintervault.org

so, I would try looking into if there are any guides into experiencing NWN properly in 2024 out there.

Burns · May 9, 2023

NWN has a mountain of mods that would take longer to wade through than actually playing the OC. The GFX, specifically, but the game in general has aged terribly, and I would have a hard time forcing myself to play it at all. That said, when it came out, I thought the OC was fine and never touched a mod until many years later (and quit the mod after a few hours).

The MMO part was a failed attempt in development and they switched it to a single player game before release. The fact that it was one of the first games that was developed with modding in mind gave it great longevity though.

If you are in the mood for a novel disguised as a game with a one of a kind setting, then go for PST first. If you would rather play a combat heavy game (BG2 combat), then go with IWD. I would say go with PST first, but if your not in the mood for that, I wouldn't force it.

Rajaah · May 9, 2023

Probably gonna go with Planescape, I'm kind of in the mood for a novel / philosophy lesson / something that makes me actually pay attention.

I had no idea NWN was basically supposed to be a mini-MMO. Sounds like something I would have LOVED back in 2002 if I knew about it. At the time I was playing EQ and also DMing online RP/fanfiction tabletop-type games with friends, and NWN would have been almost like a fusion of the two.

Hopefully the single-player campaign is still decent. I've got the remastered version of NWN for PS4, and the Gold version of original NWN2 on PC.

The next two mini-phases are basically gonna be:

Planescape Torment
Icewind Dale
Neverwinter Nights

then

Fallout 2
Icewind Dale II
Neverwinter Nights II

And after that IDK, Baldur 3 will likely be out by then. It's in 3 and a half months and doing two of these per month isn't really a huge ask, so that'll be the next goal.

Caliane · May 9, 2023

Hopefully the single-player campaign is still decent. I've got the remastered version of NWN for PS4, and the Gold version of original NWN2 on PC.

they are decent. but yeah, its the extra stuff that makes NwN legendary.

gold comes with mask of the betrayer? mask of the betrayer is also known as being one of the best storys in rpg history.

Tuco · May 9, 2023

Would love to see another game that tries to capture the essence of Dungeon Master + party the way NWN did. ChatGPT has kinda primed the pump for that type of game in a singleplayer format too.

Rajaah · May 9, 2023

Caliane said:
Hopefully the single-player campaign is still decent. I've got the remastered version of NWN for PS4, and the Gold version of original NWN2 on PC.

they are decent. but yeah, its the extra stuff that makes NwN legendary.

gold comes with mask of the betrayer? mask of the betrayer is also known as being one of the best storys in rpg history.

Yeah, NWN2 Gold has Mask of the Betrayer, and ID1 Remaster has Heart of Winter. I'll put them both on the list. Really enjoyed both BG expansions even though I don't normally go for 1P game expansions and have a big list to do here.

Kajiimagi · May 9, 2023

Planescape Torment is considered the greatest CRPG ever. Not one of , THE. Yeah it has a lot of reading. I would also recommend finding a good walkthrough as it's really easy to miss a lot of content that is not obvious and as I recall, some companions.

Goddamn it , now I'm going to have to replay it too.

Kajiimagi · May 9, 2023

Just finished BG, now to play SoD. This will be my first time playing this module. I rolled a Pally for the main game as I never play one and by the end I remembered why. Even running away from the flaming fist dudes I took enough reputation hits that I was no longer lawful good and could no longer cast spells, effectively making me a gimped fighter. I do not like classes that lock you into a certain alignment. Rolled a half orc wizard slayer (named Karsa Orlong MBotF represent!) for the SoD expansion and will probably export it for BGII.

Is the black pit module a story or just arena combat? If it's arena do you get to export your levels / loot into BGII?

Rajaah · May 9, 2023

Kajiimagi said:
Just finished BG, now to play SoD. This will be my first time playing this module. I rolled a Pally for the main game as I never play one and by the end I remembered why. Even running away from the flaming fist dudes I took enough reputation hits that I was no longer lawful good and could no longer cast spells, effectively making me a gimped fighter. I do not like classes that lock you into a certain alignment. Rolled a half orc wizard slayer (named Karsa Orlong MBotF represent!) for the SoD expansion and will probably export it for BGII.

Is the black pit module a story or just arena combat? If it's arena do you get to export your levels / loot into BGII?

I think it's just arena combat. I didn't do anything with either of the Black Pit modules (BG2 has a sequel to it). I almost skipped SoD but I'm glad I didn't cause it was pretty cool. That and ToB are basically BG1.5 and 2.5. Like they could have been separate games entirely if they wanted. Far as I'm concerned the two BGs were four games. I actually hope later expansions like Heart of Winter and Mask of the Betrayer aren't quite that big.

Same thing happened to me in BG2, my Paladin got turned evil at some point. I think I mauled a bunch of the Flaming Fist. It was pretty annoying because I couldn't equip that one super-sword (Carsomyr?) anymore due to it being good-alignment. Actually derailed some of my momentum late in BG2, especially cause I wasn't even sure why it happened.

Rabbit_Games · May 9, 2023

Kajiimagi said:
Planescape Torment

Know of any Mods that add better graphics, etc? It's pretty old.

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