any good

[jecowa]

Is Nethergate any good?

 

I was ordering Avernum 2 and it asked me if I wanted Nethergate for an extra $15. What should I tell it?

[GIFTCockroach]

Well if you enjoy a1-3 you'll probably like Nethergate.

[Jerakeen]

You should tell it yes. Nethergate is only slighty different from early Avernums engine- and gameplay-wise, but it has a totally unique and engaging storyline (two interwoven storylines, actually).

 

Also, Jeff needs the money.

[jecowa]

Sounds like a good bargain. Thanks for the help!

[Upon Mars.]

Of course it's Good, it's lyrical, it's a corner stone in spiderweb's cultural development, it's high in references, a highly cultural game... Pure literature like Geneforge.

[Curtis]

If you like Nethergate, I think it would be worth the extra $ to pick up Nethergate: Resurrection. My best friend has the former, and I have the latter. I prefer the latter.

[Triumph]

Since it's come up, WHY is it that some like Nethergate more than N:R? What are the differences between them that make one better than the other?

[Ishad Nha]

N:R is based on the Blades of Avernum engine, that might have something to do with it.

[Randomizer]

Original Nethergate had a unique leveless system where you got skill points for a fixed amount of experience with enough random monster encounters that allowed you to raise characters easily. You could make some interesting characters and do things not possible in the remake.

 

The remake has more to do and one quest is switched from the Romans to the Celts.

[Curtis]

One good thing about the original is that it made you eat food while resting in order to get benefit from the rest. Although the remake claims it does, also, in fact I've never consumed a morsel of food in that game, which makes me wonder why they bother including it.

 

Another difference (which I could see being either a plus or a minus) is that in the remake not everything you find — not even everything with a value attached to it — can be 'cashed in'. I believe the breakoff point is $5, so anything you find worth $4 or less you don't have to bother dragging back to your base. That saves you time, but means you end up with less money, and fewer opportunities to encounter random monsters.

[Tyranicus]

Also, the spells in N:R are considerably less powerful than they are in the original game.

[Slawbug]

They are? Huh. I seem to remember Synergy doing ridiculous amounts of damage with his magic-oriented singleton's spells in N:R. I know some of them have been changed or gimped (Hero of Old, HELLO!) but not all of them.

[Tyranicus]

Darts of Ice can be cast on 8 targets with a powerful enough caster in the first game. It's limited to 5 or 6 (I don't recall how many off the top of my head) in N:R.

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Tyranicus

Darts of Ice can be cast on 8 targets with a powerful enough caster in the first game. It's limited to 5 or 6 (I don't recall how many off the top of my head) in N:R.

I can't seem to get it above 3 targets with Druidism and War Circle both at 8. Then again, he's not too high a level, so oh well.

[Randomizer]

Darts of Ice was nerfed in Resurrection to maximum 3. I think Jeff wanted to eliminate some imbalances from the original game that made druids too powerful. I probably shouldn't have sent Jeff that Roman party of all druids running around in druid robes and slaughtering everything with just spells from the original game.

 

Celtic druids were still powerful because they have access to all the spells. The Romans are forced to go with weapons and using spells for buffing in Resurrection. A pure Roman spell game is relatively harder with the nerfed spell selection. I tried it twice during beta testing to see what I could do.

[Slawbug]

Ah yes, I forgot about Darts of Ice. IIRC, the higher level spells were mostly nerfed less, which does make things hard on Roman druids (who never had it easy anyway).

[Metatron]

I'm still waiting for the spiritual sequel to Nethergate: Hu Lao Gate. You would get the super-powerful spell Darts of Rice.

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Metatron

You would get the super-powerful spell Darts of Rice.

I think that was already done by Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

[Tyranicus]

Originally Posted By: Randomizer

Darts of Ice was nerfed in Resurrection to maximum 3. I think Jeff wanted to eliminate some imbalances from the original game that made druids too powerful. I probably shouldn't have sent Jeff that Roman party of all druids running around in druid robes and slaughtering everything with just spells from the original game.

That's a party I've never actually played. I think I'm going to try that.