Hello. I've been playing a little NWN2 lately, and I just can't get into it. I loved the first one, and also the Baldur's Gate series and the first Dragon Age, but something about this game just doesn't do it for me. There's something annoying about the camera, and I feel like the ROUNDS of combat are taking way too long. In the first game, combat was exciting and seemed to happen quickly. Now, there is a few seconds of my characters dancing on screen. Is this how the game really is? should I just give it a bit? I'm in the city of Neverwinter, by the way. I'm cleaning up the Docks district by bribing Watchguards and killing thugs. Anyone have any thoughts?

Rounds take 6 seconds, just like in the first game. That is actually the amount of time a round is supposed to represent in 3.5 D&D rules, and it was their attempt to adapt a turn-based rule set to a real-time-with-pause computer game.

Try different camera settings and modes, and whether or not objects fade.

If you don't like the OC, try the other campaigns, or user-made modules, or PWs.

It's one of my favorite games of all time, so I'd say it's worth it. If you don't like it, though, then you don't like it.

Oh, and I also loved the BG games and Dragon Age: Origins, like you.

It's unchanged from NWN1, so you're probably seeing something else.

One possibility is that you're feeling the increased HP of NWN2. In the first game of the series, you were either alone or had a single henchman helping you out, so the enemies you faced were accordingly weaker and often very easily killed. In NWN2, however, you tend to have an entire party of characters at your disposal so the enemies you face are accordingly stronger, hit points and all.

This changes the feel and flow of combat, even if the underlying rules and pacing are the same. This is, in all honestly, the worst stretch of the original campaign. It's just a chain of unrelated quests made mandatory through some shoddy writing. I won't spoil anything for you, but it gets truly obnoxious how many hoops they make you jump through just to make a housecall to the Blacklake District. However, once you actually get into the Blacklake District you'll hit one of the most awesome story arcs in any CRPG. It's one of the reasons I love to hate NWN2 OC; it forces you through hell to get to nirvana.

As for advice, give Khelgar a good weapon and have a mage cast haste on him every fight (probably Qara at this point, unless you're also a wizard or sorcerer). Since you're fighting against the thieves, do not use stuff like fireball; every enemy and their dog has evasion and there's a very high chance they'll just dodge your blast spells harmlessly. Focus either on buffing your fighters or smacking enemies with stuff that hits their weak fortitude and will saves (cloud of bewilderment and hold person are awesome).

But if you still don't like it at that point, you might be better off just giving up the OC.
Might still enjoy Mask of the Betrayer though, or storm of zehir. Many dislike OC but love MotB.
Can start that with a new character if you like.

Besides the camera, NWN1 had a lot more going during the combat.
There was the so called "dance of death", characters moved around (uncontrollably, leading to problems) and made "fake" attacks, dodged and parried. In NWN2 the characters pretty much just jam about in their place and many moves (like cleave) are not animated at all, you just see a splash of blood and someone falls down. It gets better when characters get more attacks and have better attack skill. In late levels they don't just stand there so much.

The fact that I have a party of four instead of two does make combat feel slower. Thanks for pointing that out. And if this really is the worst part of the campaign, I will give it a few more hours to engulf me. I feel like this game has a lot of room to be one of the greatest RPGs I've ever played, but I just haven't seen it, so far.

Thanks for the replies.

I don't see how you can, by any stretch of the imagination, say that NWN2 is not an RPG, but NWN1 is. In NWN2 you have a party, like you're supposed to in a D&D game. And what is D&D but an RPG?