5/2010:
last week i started playing neverwinter nights 1 for the first time. this is the version put out by bioware. forced myself to make it through the tutorial prelude and then after that i was hooked. it’s an addictive game…not so much as kotor1 was, but still very good. i’ve just begun chapter 2 so i can’t give any concluding thoughts yet.

but so far the dialogue isn’t nearly as engrossing as kotor1. in kotor1 once i got into it i wanted to see what every person had to say and not miss a thing. i’m using that same tactic in nwn1, but not necessarily for the same reason. mostly because i don’t want to miss out on any quest opportunities.

2/2013:
i dropped playing NWN back then because i got busy with other things…which always happens. anyways, i’ve started playing it again from the beginning. the prelude portion is tedious and i’d suggest skipping it if possible. the graphics in the game are actually pretty decent, but unfortunately, i’m mostly zoomed out so i can see more of the screen so i don’t get to appreciate the graphics very often. the game is still kind of oddly engrossing even though most of the mysteries are forced and fairly obvious. i think it’s so interesting because they play up the quests with various dialogue about strange incidents and/or missing persons. then it becomes more than just a retrieving a particular quest item. it feels like you’re actually doing something in this game. the amount of flavor text in the game is amazing (which seems to be a specialty of bioware’s). i am looking forward to playing mass effect and dragon age, but at the same time i’m wondering if i’ll feel a been there done that type of feeling because of kotor1. anyways, i guess i’ll find out if this type of game is just as effective the 2nd or 3rd time you’re exposed to it.

this time around i’m playing the game half seriously. i’m using the “~” “DebugMode 1” then using “GiveLevel #” or “GiveXP #” or “dm_givegold #” cheats. although it seems that the enemies auto-adapt to what level your character is so it’s not really that much a cheat. but i’ll continue to call it a cheat for lack of a better phrase. the reason i’m using it because i would like to mess around with a character in every class type and i’m unwilling to play that many characters naturally. right now, i’m playing a wizard/pale master character. the magic users definitely need a lot of assistance in this game. i summon or hire as many henchmen as possible and let them take the brunt of the attacks. i can’t say i’m a fan of the magic system. i know the point of these D&D licensed games is to stay as true to D&D rules as possible, but i don’t think the magic system translates over well to computer games. i think the mana-based system of games like diablo is more practical.

i’ll probably play a fighter character legimately after i’m done messing around with all the class types. so far i’m really disliking aribeth because her voice acting is so over the top. i hope to either find some way to corrupt her or get rid of her.