How long is the OC?

[Sidewinder]

I first played NWN after finishing BG2 back in the day. I got as far as completing Chapter 1 and threw in the towel. It bored me to tears.

Here I am years later after completing BG2 EE looking to give it another shot. I'm still on Chapter 1 and up to the 4th "zone". I'm enjoying the mechanics side of the game more than I remember, but damn....this game is just insipidly tedious.

That's probably not a surprise, but the first time around it also stopped me from playing the other campaigns too. I think I ended up going off to try Planescape instead.

How long is the OC? Is it genuinely required (knowledge of the "story", characters) to play through the other campaigns?

[allenayen96]

Originally posted by SonicSidewinder:

I first played NWN after finishing BG2 back in the day. I got as far as completing Chapter 1 and threw in the towel. It bored me to tears.

How long is the OC? Is it genuinely required (knowledge of the "story", characters) to play through the other campaigns?

Long. SoU needs a 1st lv character. HotU assumes that you character came from SoU. If under lv 12 you can level to 15.

[DrLoboto]

You're not alone in finding it tedious. The good news is, you don't need to have played through the OC before playing SoU, you could even play HotU without having played SoU, even though it is assumed that you're the same character who finished SoU. But they are all mostly independent stories, and the knowledge about little story tidbits or characters from the other campaigns isn't all that important. Aribeth reappears in HotU shortly, so it's good if you know her backstory a bit. But I think after Chapter 1, you already have an idea? In any case, it's not important enough to force yourself through anything you don't enjoy. The even better news though is that in order to enjoy NWN, you don't *have* to play any of the campaigns at all.

Personally, when I started playing NWN, I played very little of the OC, got bored, tried some small community created modules, which were more fun, played through HotU, which was nice enough, and then continued to play community created modules for years, before finally tackling the OC, and then some time later, SoU. I was hoping the OC would at some point be worth it, but compared to the community modules I played, in the end it felt like a waste of time to me. SoU was like an alright adventure, and it wasn't as long - contrary to the OC, I did not regret playing through it, but still, the best you can do with NWN is play community modules. Many of them are much more interesting and fun. You get the same mechanics but with better stories. I know some people only ever want to play "official" stuff, even if it's just a tedious slog, but trust me, if you're one of those people, better move on to another game. Time is too precious for torturing yourself with something you actually find boring, just because someone got paid for creating it. ;)

[Tesseract]

https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=6515

[Shiroi Ren]

OC is pretty long if you want to get everything... However, considering that story is rather bland (in order to accomodate all type of characters and demonstate as many features of the game as possible) you can try to just move through the game on Easy difficulty. Or you can create multiplayer game and run through game without any problems with your friends. Sometimes overpowered friends...

[OrangeTide]

I've loved NWN and played it on and off for over a decade. But the OC is pretty tedious and I've never finished it without cheating out of impatience. NWN in general is a mixed bag, some of the modules I think are pretty good even the rather short premium modules like Pirates of the Sword Coast is heads and shoulders above the original campaign in terms of being memorable.

[Tyvolus]

Originally posted by DrLoboto:

You're not alone in finding it tedious. The good news is, you don't need to have played through the OC before playing SoU, you could even play HotU without having played SoU, even though it is assumed that you're the same character who finished SoU. But they are all mostly independent stories, and the knowledge about little story tidbits or characters from the other campaigns isn't all that important. Aribeth reappears in HotU shortly, so it's good if you know her backstory a bit. But I think after Chapter 1, you already have an idea? In any case, it's not important enough to force yourself through anything you don't enjoy. The even better news though is that in order to enjoy NWN, you don't *have* to play any of the campaigns at all.

Personally, when I started playing NWN, I played very little of the OC, got bored, tried some small community created modules, which were more fun, played through HotU, which was nice enough, and then continued to play community created modules for years, before finally tackling the OC, and then some time later, SoU. I was hoping the OC would at some point be worth it, but compared to the community modules I played, in the end it felt like a waste of time to me. SoU was like an alright adventure, and it wasn't as long - contrary to the OC, I did not regret playing through it, but still, the best you can do with NWN is play community modules. Many of them are much more interesting and fun. You get the same mechanics but with better stories. I know some people only ever want to play "official" stuff, even if it's just a tedious slog, but trust me, if you're one of those people, better move on to another game. Time is too precious for torturing yourself with something you actually find boring, just because someone got paid for creating it. ;)

this game is at it's best because of the community Mod creators. I will never understand how, to this day, there are no officially licensed PnP modules created by any of the game companies who have been or are associated/affiliated with this game. I mean, Ghosts of Saltmarsh conversion...wouldnt that sell well ?

[red255]

Chapter 1 is a slog. you start level 3 out of the tutorial and nothing Drops from the randomized loot tables until you hit level 5 or 6.

after you get thru chapter 1 though you get better items and get momentum and the rest of the OC progresses much faster typically.

honestly Chapter 1 is fixed alot by starting at level 5 or 6 instead of level 3. and this is purely because of the randomized loot tables and you being bored to tears.

its alot less boring when you get rewarded with loot for your adventures instead of absolutely nothing because there is nothing in the table until level 6.

[Sidewinder]

Originally posted by DrLoboto:

I know some people only ever want to play "official" stuff, even if it's just a tedious slog, but trust me, if you're one of those people, better move on to another game. Time is too precious for torturing yourself with something you actually find boring, just because someone got paid for creating it. ;)

It's been a while since posting this, (wow, nearly a year even) and again the game has crept back into mind. I do feel a need to play the "game" as it was created. But then I remember this thread. I might hold-off again. Or try Red's idea of starting at level 5.

But even as i type i remember. This last time i played i got further into the OC than i had before, (second chapter, waltzing around some Caves north of Port Luskan), completed that part, then came back to town, realising i'm in the same gameplay loop of completing "North,South,West" etc, with it feeling mindless.

I dunno, maybe i'll try again this Christmas.

[DrLoboto]

Why would you expect it to be different this time? Clearly, you do not really enjoy the OC, so the only reason to play through the game "as it was created" would be in order to get a historical perspective, and so that you could join discussions about NWN's main campaign afterwards and rightfully say that you, too, hated it and felt it was a waste of time. Is that really worth it? ;)

NWN "as it was created" is the ambitious project to give players the tools to create their own stories and adventures, single player, co-op, multiplayer online etc. The OC is just an example of what you can do with the toolset, and like I said, in the following 20 years module creators have surpassed the quality of this example many, many times. You can slog through the official campaign in order to say you've officially played NWN and know what it's like, but IMO that statement won't ever be convincing unless you've also tried the modding side of it, that what NWN is truly about and the reason why it's still popular and played today.

[Sidewinder]

Originally posted by DrLoboto:

Why would you expect it to be different this time? Clearly, you do not really enjoy the OC, so the only reason to play through the game "as it was created" would be in order to get a historical perspective, and so that you could join discussions about NWN's main campaign afterwards and rightfully say that you, too, hated it and felt it was a waste of time. Is that really worth it? ;)

Doctor...you sure as sh*t just laid the "Lobotomy" on me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVW4fDOgah4&t=9s

[DrLoboto]

Originally posted by SonicSidewinder:

Doctor...you sure as sh*t just laid the "Lobotomy" on me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVW4fDOgah4&t=9s

Lol, that wasn't my intention. I just want you to try and give up the notion that the OC is worth your time more than all the excellent fan-made modules out there that you might actually enjoy instead of just slogging through. ;)