First playthrough blind or with guide

[ragen311]

First off. I understand the school of thought when people say to play without a guide/walkthrough/pre made build for the first time(s). I wish I had that type of time, but I do not. I know my first time through the game will likely be my only one (single player campaign w/ expansions) unless I fall in love with the game.

So, I don't want to build a non-playable character, or miss an essential character, or make a seemingly benign decision that has big ramifications for a sub plot or the main plot. I really want to make sure that I get the best/good/intended ending of a game when there are several endings that can happen (if one ending can be considered the true or intended ending). If I don't have the absolute best OP build, or find every single piece of loot...I'm ok with that. I don't need a perfect run that hits every achievment and easter egg.

With that in mind, should I play this game blind and have fun with it, or should I play with some sort of guide/walkthrough for this particular game? If I'm playing blind, is there any advice that may help with my habit of being frozen by indecision for reasons stated above? If some sort of guide/ walkthrough/pre-made character build should accompany me, does anyone know of a good one for the first run through the game (hopefully light on spoilers and the right balance of hand holding)?

Thank you

[-$ilver-]

Maybe I should not speak due to I have not beaten the game, nor played the expansions. But the game is pretty self explanatory. I am not sure how the digital copy is, but the physical gives you a nice instructional booklet that talks about the ins and the outs of the game. Plus I believe the game gives hints along the way and maybe a tutorial first mission. Regardless I am sure the digital also has a downloadable instruction booklet.

There is not much to miss on the way there as, if I recall correctly, your character will do rolling saves and check for hidden things on it's own or with a press of a button from you. I am not going to say there are not secrets, but nothing game breaking if you do not find them. However using a guide you could potentially ruin the experience/story which is a big part of DnD and which would be a waste to play in my opinion. This game truly does deserve at least a play through first before using a guide. But to each their own.

[Smakit]

You should be able to do a blind playthrough just fine. Picking a straight class is probably the least complicated - though you can get some powerful ones if you know what to do in mixing classes for sure. Selecting a class and hitting recommended is going to work fine for the most part.

You can also pick a class build if you want the game to handle those choices for you, but you can get away with picking your own as well. Only thing to worry about there is if there is a very specific build or feat you want, it might require certain stats. Like you need high dexterity (15 iirc) for the better dual-wielding feats.

If you are a caster and not sure what spells to learn, generally it is safe to take a big damage spell (one or two usually stick out pretty far above the others in damage), a defensive one (things that protect you from elemental damage or stuff like stoneskin to block damage), and summon creature if you want to keep things easy (a 24 hour summon that can tank / dps - just keep the highest level one and it will wreck a lot of things).

Skills also aren't going to break you, though some choices are a lot easier to go with due to the classes. Persuade is a good skill to get through conversations, especially as the good guy (intimidate is the more threatening way to also get through conversations, or bluff is lying - but persuade seems most common). Lore lets you identify things, though if you have a bard or caster party member they can often do it, or you can go to a store and pay 100gp to get it done, so no big deal.

Otherwise, fighters get good use out of discipline, casters use concentration / spellcraft, rogues can use trap skills (not a big deal really) or stealth as well as use magic device (can equip stuff or use stuff they wouldn't normally be allowed). Some also give benefits every 5 points added, which is listed in the descriptions of the skills.

You can get henchman (party members you can only give general commands to). You can take any, though fighter types are especially helpful as the casting AI can be a bit dumb, though clerics and bards can be nice for the buffs if you are already a fighter.

Endings for the most part you don't have to worry about struggling for. In the first campaign just make sure to talk to Aribeth often between your missions and the like if you want all her story stuff. Through all the games, speaking with your henchmen as you level up and go through the story also tells more of their own stories if that interests you.

The Hordes of the Underdark expansion has an interesting mechanic that can make the end game a lot easier if you use money. So saving tons of that towards the end isn't at all required, but can be used to make it easier (or even a cakewalk) if you bring enough gold. To do everything is hugely expensive, but you can always make a save there and try different things. I think the biggest single cost one is something like 650-750k? The rest are significantly cheaper, but there are a lot of options so it ends up being a ton if you wanted them all in a single try without reloading / cheating. Again, 0 is required just makes it easier if you want.

That expansion also has the most variance in terms of the ending I think, but it should be pretty self-explanatory as you are playing. Destroy these things, they are dead. Help these people, get a better ending for them. Talk to your party members and ask them about their story and be supportive, they will like you.

If you really get worried about the builds you can either pick one of the classes then let it level up for you after picking a theme/build and it will handle things or you could look up strong builds online and follow them - there are tons out there. Otherwise, picking a base build of any class is pretty safe and the feats aren't going to make the game unbeatable or anything.

The first time I ever played way back when it first game out was a wizard with a bastard sword and some armor. It was awful as he couldn't hit all that often with his weapon, had low hp, and 'wasted' all those feats to be warrior-like vs. buffing all his magic stuff, and I was able to beat it on normal - so you should be fine.

In the original game, grabbing a fighting mercenary (like Daelan) can help a lot. Those early levels are just hard because you'll be either running out of spells or whiffing with your weapon so often and have so little hp. It gets easier as you go though. A few bosses can be tricky, so if you get stuck you might ask for help with those.

Also I tend to keep at least 2 or 3 different saves. Not required, but can help you. That way you have something to reload back into if you need to (ie if you get to a boss place and can't get out of the area but you saved it). I often have one in a safe place before a quest, then a couple to sort of cycle between as I go to new loading zones.

And a note about the campaigns - the original is meant to be played by a new character. Shadows of Undrentide is meant for a new player - not the same one you beat the first campaign with. It is possible to use them, but the game will be ridiculously easy as you'll have a near level 20 guy when you should have a level 1.

Hordes of the Underdark (HotU) is meant to be a direct sequel to Shadows of Undrentide (SoU) and the same hero. This means you can use the same character you just beat SoU and import them into HotU and you'll be the right level to keep going. If you bring the character from the main campaign you'll likely still be stronger than the game is designed for.

If you'd rather have a new character though instead, you can create a fresh level 1 character and the game will give you enough experience right at the start to reach level 15 and you can level up however you want.

Whew. Hopefully that hit most of the main points - if you have more questions feel free. The TL:DR is blind should be fine, especially if you take a fighter henchman and/or summon creature spell as a caster.

[Dreamer]

Edit: Nvm.

[DrLoboto]

A word of warning, you probably won't fall in love with the game just by playing the official campaigns and expansions. Especially the first campaign is considered NWN's weak point by quite a few players. I don't think anything you can do will really have big ramifications, and you wouldn't miss out on that much by skipping the entire campaign, IMO.

The real reason why a lot of people love NWN are the countless community-created adventures and the player-led online multiplayer online worlds. If those don't interest you, your time is probably better spent elsewhere.

Anyway, I think you should be fine if you know and adhere to the basics of D&D and roleplaying games, or maybe even read the in-game descriptions carefully (e.g. don't put your points in abilities that your class doesn't have all that much use for, like charisma for fighters, lockpicking for wizards etc.). If you keep that in mind and try to create a sensible character, I don't think any guide or walkthrough is needed to finish the game (I won't say in a satisfactory way, because I did not find the official campaigns all that satisfactory ;P).

[trahuar]

For guides I used this site for the OC - http://www.mikesrpgcenter.com/nwn/index.html and that for addons - http://www.gamebanshee.com/neverwinternights/souwalkthrough.php
But i think you can be fine without guides if you willing to search every area of the map and speak to every named npc. OC is pretty easy due to recall stone and SoU is pretty small so you hardly be stuck somewhere. For build I used this guide - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1528983364
It's a bit tedious, 'cause you need to buff before fight, but it's fine on max diff. In this guide there is a link to the nwn group where you can search for different builds. And use Tony K better AI mod.

[ragen311]

Thank you for all the replies, especially this smakit for your detailed response. I'll give it a shot on with a straight class to not complicate things.

That's dissapointing that the campaign may be lack luster. Would you recommend starting elsewhere, like with one of the community ones?

[trahuar]

Personally I think that OC and Aribeth's story is a classic so start with the OC then go to Hall of Fame - https://neverwintervault.org/article/reference/neverwinter-nights-hall-fame

[-$ilver-]

Originally posted by ragen311:

Thank you for all the replies, especially this smakit for your detailed response. I'll give it a shot on with a straight class to not complicate things.

That's dissapointing that the campaign may be lack luster. Would you recommend starting elsewhere, like with one of the community ones?

The campaign, at least the base game, is not lack luster. It is a matter of opinion. This is an older game for one, regardless what they remastered. Two, it's DnD which we all know is a bit slower than a fast paced action game. And three, the campaigns are of course going to feel a bit different from online play or future expansions.

I personally love the campaign and have not even bothered with the online component as of yet. That is like saying Halo's single player campaign always falls short of it's online. It depends who you talk to. Both are good in their own right and I suggest you do the single player campaigns first for both it's rich story and to also understand the game mechanics so when you actually do venture forth into the online world, you will have a better grasp of it. But it's totally up to you. I do believe you will be sucked into and absorbed into the full story though.

[Erik]

You don't need any guide whatsoever to play through the game, make the decisions you want, and successfully progress the story to it's end.

You will see benefit from reading through the rule set, planning your character out (not necessarily min/maxing, but determining feats/skills/attributes so as to not screw yourself out of something you would want). The in-game recommended button doesn't always provide you with the best experience. Planning your character out, figuring out the build you want, multi-class/prestige-class stuff, that can be a huge fun factor with this series. For example, playing a stock fighter can be boring compared to have playing through as a Bardic Dragon Disciple that wields swords, breathes fire, and has a complement of spells to aid himself.

So, for figuring a character out, I'd spend some time reading up on the game mechanics and looking through the documentation to plan something out beforehand. There are builds online to follow as well. I wouldn't go for something OP, but I would try to determine something that looks fun and engaging.

[Smakit]

There are plenty who enjoy the mods other people made and it gave the game a lot of sticking power. But there is also a wide array of people who rarely if ever played with those and had a hell of a lot of fun with only the official ones, so don't let that put you off.

That said, the original campaign is usually considered the weakest of the three, with the two expansions each sort of refining things. But like Silver mentioned, some people still love it. It is just rough in some areas.

For instance it makes use of some generic NPCs that say the same things (copied) from one another. The progression of each act is often really similar, with the four cardinal directions where you need to go to get an item, then after going all four you go to the next area.

I personally don't think it is terrible, but did feel a bit repetitive, the henchman revival system was more annoying, the areas often weren't as well crafted and designed, and some other oddities. I think the story was fine, but maybe a bit stretched out where you sort of lose yourself in the side stuff needed to push it forward before finally getting back around to it.

I'd still stay try it out. If you find yourself getting too bored or hating it, you can always drop it and go to the first expansion and start there, coming back later if you feel the desire. It comes with the game obviously, so nothing lost by giving it a shot and seeing how you feel about it for yourself.

[-$ilver-]

I'd also like to point out you might as well start from the very beginning so you do not miss any of the story. Also by starting from the beginning, even if not as good as the rest, you will feel progression going from the most basic starter campaign (which is still pretty snazzy in my opinion) to the better ones. You never want to do the best first and then go to the least as you will feel like it is a chore. ^^! Also read reviews of some of these expansions... not all are positive surprisingly enough.