Are DLCs worth buying?

[Shamiko]

As i understood, the game includes all the dlc content but the ones to buy are enhanced versions. So it is really worth it?

[DrLoboto]

It sounds like you might have misunderstood a bit. The DLC are additional story campaigns, independent of the campaigns that come with the main game. They introduced some new tilesets and creatures and such, but by now most or even all of that content has been integrated into the main game for builders to work with.

Two of the DLCs, Darkness over Daggerford and Tyrants of the Moonsea were supposed to be DLC back in the days but official support for them got cancelled, so the authors released them for free on the NW Vault. After the release of the EE, the authors worked with Beamdog and made their campaigns into official DLC, as they were originally supposed to be, and they enhanced them with new music, voiceovers, new quests and other content. These two campaigns can still be downloaded from the Vault for free, but the commercial DLC versions are the ultimate, extended and enhanced versions like the authors originally envisioned.

In general, you only need to buy the DLCs if you are interested in playing through these particular campaigns, they don't offer anything but more stories. There are also countless other high quality campaigns like these, partially even with better stories or gameplay (but lower budget, so e. g. no voiceovers) available for free download on the Vault (or even in-game, for some, under the community tab). That is to say that there is no need to buy the DLCs if it's only about finding more stories to play. There is free content to last you for years. Only buy the DLCs if you are curious about these particular stories or gameplay concepts.

As for Darkness over Daggerford and Tyrants of the Moonsea, IMO these two are the best DLC story campaigns, and personally I do think that it's worth to get the EE versions instead of contenting yourself with the shorter and outdated free versions, even though they are enjoyable as well. Of the other ones, I like Pirates of the Sword Coast well enough. Wyvern Crown of Cormyr to me was an okay but somewhat forgettable story and more interesting from a technical point of view, for its innovative integration of mini games and such, and Infinite Dungeons is another interesting concept without much of a story, purely dungeon crawling. Dark Dreams of Furiae, I thought, was not as bad as people made it out to be, it had its moments, but it was also not on the level of the other DLCs in terms of polish, length, writing and gameplay, not even much better than the average free campaigns. The only thing it has going for it is the setting, which is rare in NWN. The portrait DLC I find rather useless unless you want to give a little extra to BD, since you can easily create your own portraits from every source you like. YMMV, of course.

[Shamiko]

Originally posted by DrLoboto:

It sounds like you might have misunderstood a bit. The DLC are additional story campaigns, independent of the campaigns that come with the main game. They introduced some new tilesets and creatures and such, but by now most or even all of that content has been integrated into the main game for builders to work with.

Two of the DLCs, Darkness over Daggerford and Tyrants of the Moonsea were supposed to be DLC back in the days but official support for them got cancelled, so the authors released them for free on the NW Vault. After the release of the EE, the authors worked with Beamdog and made their campaigns into official DLC, as they were originally supposed to be, and they enhanced them with new music, voiceovers, new quests and other content. These two campaigns can still be downloaded from the Vault for free, but the commercial DLC versions are the ultimate, extended and enhanced versions like the authors originally envisioned.

In general, you only need to buy the DLCs if you are interested in playing through these particular campaigns, they don't offer anything but more stories. There are also countless other high quality campaigns like these, partially even with better stories or gameplay (but lower budget, so e. g. no voiceovers) available for free download on the Vault (or even in-game, for some, under the community tab). That is to say that there is no need to buy the DLCs if it's only about finding more stories to play. There is free content to last you for years. Only buy the DLCs if you are curious about these particular stories or gameplay concepts.

As for Darkness over Daggerford and Tyrants of the Moonsea, IMO these two are the best DLC story campaigns, and personally I do think that it's worth to get the EE versions instead of contenting yourself with the shorter and outdated free versions, even though they are enjoyable as well. Of the other ones, I like Pirates of the Sword Coast well enough. Wyvern Crown of Cormyr to me was an okay but somewhat forgettable story and more interesting from a technical point of view, for its innovative integration of mini games and such, and Infinite Dungeons is another interesting concept without much of a story, purely dungeon crawling. Dark Dreams of Furiae, I thought, was not as bad as people made it out to be, it had its moments, but it was also not on the level of the other DLCs in terms of polish, length, writing and gameplay, not even much better than the average free campaigns. The only thing it has going for it is the setting, which is rare in NWN. The portrait DLC I find rather useless unless you want to give a little extra to BD, since you can easily create your own portraits from every source you like. YMMV, of course.

After i understood this i decided to pick Tyrants of the Moonesa, Darkness over Daggerford, Pirates of the Sword Coast and Infinite Dungeons since these looks like the good expansions and passed on the other 3 since they look bugged/rushed/unfinished

Thanks for your help!! I hope it's gonna be a nice experience since most people encounter bugs in this game. Btw i never tried this game in my life lol