Neverwinter Nights 2 vs Oblivion

[Computer-Ed]

Okay LOTRO has made my fantasy gaming bug start biting again. I am looking for a good solo option and have narrowed it down to these two.

I would love to hear from the RPG gamers here as to which they feel is better and why. I can only get the budget from the wife for one so the decision is kind of hard.

[garetjax]

Originally Posted by Computer-Ed

Okay LOTRO has made my fantasy gaming bug start biting again.

Ugh. Still hooked on LOTRO? Dude, play a real MMO that isn't an obvious ripoff from EQ2 and WoW. The game was created to make money off the LOTR name, in essence, become a cash cow and nothing else. The game is vapid, has no real imagination, no real... soul to it. It feels just like another WoW clone only with only certain things changed to give it that LOTR flavor.

Originally Posted by Computer-Ed

I would love to hear from the RPG gamers here as to which they feel is better and why. I can only get the budget from the wife for one so the decision is kind of hard.

I haven't played NVN2 so I can't comment on that, but I can comment on Oblivion. It's huge, it's awesome, it's fun. You cannot go wrong with this game. I love it. I have played the original NVN game, and if the sequel to it, NVN2, is similar to it, Oblivion whoops its ass, hands down.

[One4yu2c]

Ack, I haven't played Neverwinter Nights 2, so I can't offer a comparative opinion. I can say, however, that I became completely engrossed with Oblivion after it came out.

[Computer-Ed]

Originally Posted by garetjax

Ugh. Still hooked on LOTRO? Dude, play a real MMO that isn't an obvious ripoff from EQ2 and WoW. The game was created to make money off the LOTR name, in essence, become a cash cow and nothing else. The game is vapid, has no real imagination, no real... soul to it. It feels just like another WoW clone only with only certain things changed to give it that LOTR flavor.

A lot of what you say is true and goes even for the games you mentioned. EQ2 and WoW stole a lot of their ideas from games that came beofre them. WoW lives off the Warcraft franchise just as LOTRO lives off of Tolkien, no real difference.

I do find it interesting that you say it has no soul, of the various MMORPGs I have played in the past, including WOW, I find LOTRO to have some of the most compleeling story play out there. I actually feel drawn into the game not just playing it. Something WoW never did for me.

I will freely admit that they took some of the good stuff from WoW, they would have been stupid not to, it's not like WoW was really original, everything in it comes from other games as well. However they do have some stuff that stands out from WoW. The story line for one and the graphics come to mind quickly. The Deed system is very cool as well. Plus the cutting down on the raw power of magic.

However in the end it is each to his own. When I played pen and paper RPGs I was never into Monty Hall play. As a GM my campaigns where stingy and every small gain was worht the effort. Yet many called my games dull and moved on. My dull game kept a total of 30 different players happy over 5 years and went on to spawn 6 different campaigns from players being forced to move away.

Each player must find his style and enjoy it, WoW has it's place just as LOTRO, just two different styles is basically all.

I haven't played NVN2 so I can't comment on that, but I can comment on Oblivion. It's huge, it's awesome, it's fun. You cannot go wrong with this game. I love it. I have played the original NVN game, and if the sequel to it, NVN2, is similar to it, Oblivion whoops its ass, hands down.

I have heard a lot of people say it is basically NWN with a new story and some other minor changes. I am hoping it is more but Oblivion really looks compelling.

My concern is I love to play Rogue style characters. Think Indiana Jones meets the Grey Mouser. I am just not sure how that will go over in Oblivion.

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by Computer-Ed

My concern is I love to play Rogue style characters. Think Indiana Jones meets the Grey Mouser. I am just not sure how that will go over in Oblivion.

There's a couple of interesting twists in Oblivion you might find of interest. One is having your character turn into a Vampire, in which your strength and speed greatly increases the longer you go without sucking blood from NPCs. The tradeoff is you'll need to feast on NPCs if you wish to travel in the sunlight (otherwise, you continually take damage), as well as to prevent your character from taking on a vampire's appearance, which causes people to refuse to talk to you, and provokes guards to arrest you on sight.

The other twist with Rogue elements are the Dark Brotherhood quests (31 in all) and Thieve's Guild quests, both of which come with a nifty reward at the end for completing them. HERE'S a neat site for reading up on these and seeing if they're what you're looking for.

[Computer-Ed]

Okay that has just about got me decided. I love the open end play style. I wonder how long they will do expansions. I mean THIS is how an RPG should be done. The easy going of solo play and the infinite play style of an MMO. The expansions means the game just keeps going like MMOs as well.

Gonna have to go buy this one.

[gvblake22]

That that vampire crap was crazy! I don't think that is part of the storyline though, I think that was just a result of some cave I went in and the people down there happened to be vampires. There is a cure you can get for it too, but it's pretty hard, you have to get like 4 or 6 giant soul gem things that seem practically impossible to find.

I was playing Oblivion for a while and it was pretty fun. Almost fun just to run around and look at the cool scenery and watch the sun set!

I also liked Dungeon Siege 2 a lot, you should check that out.

[Computer-Ed]

My wife was really into Dungeon Siege I and II. The game was fun and cute but to cute for my play style. Thief was a lot of fun for me, I wonder if they have a true MP FPS for fantasy?

[Phosphorous]

I have both...I would definitely say Oblivion over NWN. I love how open ended Oblivion is. It is mind numbing how HUGE that place is and if you have a good system to run it on the scenery is SEEEXXXXYYYYY. I've just been riding around checking things out and working on side quests. I've closed one Oblivion gate so far.

[Lokie]

Don't they have 2 expansions out for elder scrolls 4? I believe one is free and the other was just released.

The mods for this game are a plentiful. Plan for allot of game time...I love it.

And with a triplehead2go from matrox.......:love: