First Impressions

[Skald Haldi]

I played NWN about six years ago, but I didn't have time to get in very deep. I only played for a few weeks, then I had to stop.

When Beamdog made EE easily available for Linux and Steam, I came running and brought my family with me. Next, I have a friend coming too for the same reasons (Steam on Linux), and I expect more fun in the future. I've read here on the forums how much work it has been for Arelith to switch over. Thank you!

In addition, this seems like a very different and much more polished experience compared to six years ago. I'm really enjoying the "small-town" atmosphere available in Skal. As I recall, that didn't even exist back then. The central fire circle as a traffic point is a great place to meet and RP with the other players. That's excellent design there, focusing the players' attention on each other.

In contrast, when I played before, I spent some time in the Underdark as a kobold. The town was smaller and the player-base was more concentrated. From what I remember, the drow were in their own city, while everybody else was locked outside in the slum town. Humans were ultra-rare. If humans were there, they were slaves - or being escorted by someone big enough to vouch for them.

I tried playing a kobold again and the dynamic of the town is very different. It's very artistic and it looks beautiful, but it's just so big and empty. I saw a couple other players, and even met another kobold who handled his RP better than I did. Apologies to Valthaijer, I'm way out of practice as a kobold!

BTW - that package quest took more than an hour (not counting stopping for RP) because I couldn't find the Sharps district. I finally figured it out, but only by jumping on a gondola to take me there directly. Could be solved if the exit to Sharps district had a map marker. More importantly, once I'd finished the package quest, there wasn't an obvious meeting place to join up with other players or any "quests" pressing on me - it wasn't clear what I was should to do next.

I'm not complaining about anything here. I'm really impressed with all you've done with Arelith. My goal here is to give feedback so the DMs know what is working well - and what a new player needs to get stuck in.

[Fionn]

Welcome back - I liked the fire circle in Skal a lot. Work's got me busy, but maybe I'll bring fat Elf back sometime.