Line #50 NeverwinterNights2/TropesSToZ


1	[[NeverwinterNights2/Tropes0ToF Tropes 0-F]] \| [[NeverwinterNights2/TropesGToL Tropes G-L]] \| [[NeverwinterNights2/TropesMToR Tropes M-R]] \| '''Tropes S-Z''' \| ''NeverwinterNights2/{{Mask of the Betrayer}}'' \| ''NeverwinterNights2/{{Storm of Zehir}}'' \| ''NeverwinterNights2/{{Mysteries of Westgate}}''
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3	!!!''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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5	* SealedEvilInACan: Unusual in that the Evil Sealed ''Itself'' In The Can. [[spoiler:The King of Shadows was injured badly enough by Nolaloth's attack that it retreated to the Astral Plane for roughly a thousand years.]]
6	* SequenceBreaking: The game intend you to have killed the cleric in the graveyard before going to Highcliff. There are also others here and there, including in the form of ScriptBreaking.
7	* SlidingScaleOfLawEnforcement: Neverwinter's Watch runs the gamut from honest and just fighters of corruption (mainly the upper echelon, including Captain Cormick) to guards who ''want'' to fight corruption and the Shadow Thieves but are too scared, to guards who are outright on the Shadow Thieves' payroll.
8	* ShoutOut:
9	** Apparently Tarmas was part of the wagon train in ''[[VideoGame/NeverwinterNights Shadows of Undrentide]]'', because he's met Deekin.
10	--> '''Tarmas:''' ''(referring to a piece of doggerel he had to put together for the Harvest Festival)'' Count yourself fortunate for that. I once shared a wagon with a kobold bard. He rhymed "sadder" with "bladder" and sang fondly of his navel.
11	** Zhjaeve counts [[VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment Dak'kon]] among the great heroes of the Githzerai in one optional conversation.
12	* SkewedPriorities: Turning against the player because you think Qara is a bigger threat to the world than the army of shadow-infused undead currently in the process of destroying it? Not your brightest moment, Sand.
13	* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: It's a CRPG with levels, so that's a given. But the beginning of the game particular;y stands out; it really makes no sense for the githyanki to send such low-level minions and only a single githyanki spellcaster to West Harbor.
14	* SoulEating: In the expansion pack ''Mask of the Betrayer'', your character is inflicted with a curse called 'the Spirit-eater', [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin which requires them to periodically nourish themselves by devouring spirits.]] Initially it only works on [[ElementalEmbodiment elementals]], [[TheFairFolk fey]] and [[OurGhostsAreDifferent incorporeal undead]], but you can learn how to direct the hunger at souls and corporeal undead.
15	* SpaceFillingPath
16	* StalkerWithACrush: Elanee for a male Harborman.
17	* TheStarscream: [[spoiler:Garius tries to be this towards the King of Shadows halfway through the game. It doesn't exactly work out.]]
18	* StockScream: The sound file is even named Wilhelm.
19	* StoryBranching: The game offers you a choice when you get to Neverwinter. You can either side with [[CityGuards the Watch]] or with the [[ThievesGuild Shadow Thieves]]. Either choice eventually gets you into the nobles' section of the city to advance the plot, and gives you different defense options during your murder trial in Act II.
20	* {{Stripperiffic}}: Parodied. Your more human looking female party members can never be stripped below rather bulky clothing and even the tavern dancers wear long full frilly dresses. But you get one female teammate late in the game who is dressed in something resembling the Princess Leia slave outfit, and she's an old githzerai, [[FanDisservice meaning she looks like an elderly humanoid salamander.]]
21	* SuicidalOverconfidence: Of course! In one notable late-game encounter, you run into a group of bandits who intend to kill you for your magic items and the Luskan bounty on your head. You can remind them that you've already left thousands of bodies behind you. If you pass your Intimidate roll, some of them run off, while the rest charge into pointy death at the Knight Captain's hands.
22	* SwordOfPlotAdvancement: The Silver Sword of Gith, full stop.
23	* TakeYourTime
24	* OneTrueSequence: Although, unlike the ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' series, the sequence in which the player finds the many shards is strictly defined by the plot. The various enemies are ''always'' after the same shards at the same time. This is usually justified either by you following them or them following you.
25	* TokenEvilTeammate: Bishop, and [[spoiler:Ammon Jerro]]. Qara could also qualify for her ChaoticStupid nature.
26	* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler:Bevil]].
27	* TradingBarsForStripes: You can choose to recruit criminals to your military unit during the Crossroad Keep construction/equipment phase.
28	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5dq7x6AoUE cinematic trailer]], which doubles as the intro movie, gives away that [[spoiler: the "mysterious tattooed mage" (Ammon Jerro) isn't the real villain. This destroys a RedHerring running through the second act where several characters think the warlock you're fighting with demonic minions is the King of Shadows. It also makes the origin of the silver shards pretty obvious, since the full sword is prominently shown and explodes at the end.]]
29	* TragicHero: [[spoiler:Ammon Jerro]].
30	* {{Troperiffic}}: Some may call it a ClicheStorm, but it's clear that the designers largely [[InvokedTrope invoked]] these tropes intentionally and, as the main page quote shows, [[LampshadeHanging often with a fair bit of their tongues in cheek]].
31	* UnevenHybrid: Planetouched.
32	** Tieflings (humans with fiendish blood) and aasimar (human/celestial) are playable races in the original campaign. ''Mask of the Betrayer'' adds genasi, humans with elemental blood.
33	** Recurring NPC Light of Heavens and her twin Joy are a pair of aasimar (humans with celestial blood) serving Lathander. Light of Heavens is a [[ChurchMilitant Divine Champion of Lathander]], while Joy is a dancer.
34	* UnexpectedGameplayChange: Crossroad Keep. The game, however, mostly counts on you to continue adventuring, only returning to manage the keep from time to time.
35	* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: It is possible to break the wash basin and vase of water in the Collector's Mansion with an [=AoE=] attack, preventing you from completing that side quest. Thankfully, you're only going to see combat in the kitchen if you decide to kill the servants ForTheEvulz.
36	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight:
37	** You can walk the streets with a half-demon, a robot, and a ''velociraptor'' in tow, and virtually nobody bats an eye. [[RefugeInAudacity Then again, this is D&D.]]
38	** Averted once:
39	---> '''Grishnak:''' You're a strange lookin' group. What'dya want?\
40	'''Knight-Captain:''' ... says the half-orc pirate.
41	* UselessUsefulStealth: You might be a stealthy Rogue and take all the feats and all the invisibility potions you want, but you cannot slip through forced dialogue triggers. Which is problematic because after these, a fight tends to break out, and now your party members have teleported in the middle of it. You ''might'' remain undetected afterwards, as illogic as that sounds. Also, every enemy in the area that has ever seen you, even if just once, will do nothing but [[TheAllSeeingAI follow you]] and prance around your general location until they roll a lucky 20 on their Spot check, or you decloak. Roughly a third of the enemies in the game are undead, which makes sneak attacks moot. And in any case there are so many enemies in every encounter it makes almost no difference to single out one of them beforehand.
42	* VideoGameDelegationPenalty: Letting Sand speak on your behalf during the trial sequence will always work out worse than speaking for yourself; his InsufferableGenius tendencies will almost always result in a guilty verdict (technically it depends on when you ask him to do it since it freezes your trial score and you start in the red, but handing it over to Sand when you're already winning would be an odd choice), and you'll miss the chance to earn the "Master Orator" character trait.
43	* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon:
44	** In the Original Campaign, [[spoiler:the Vale of Merdelain.]]
45	** In ''Mask of the Betrayer'', [[spoiler:literally battling for your soul inside your head on the Fugue Plane.]]
46	** In ''Storm of Zehir'', the comparatively much shorter [[spoiler:Temple of the World Serpent.]]
47	* VillainBeatingArtifact: The Silver Sword of Gith is the only weapon capable of harming the King of Shadows. Unfortunately, it was broken into several shards the last time it was used, and your character isn't the only person interested in collecting them.
48	* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: The trial. It takes up most of the second act and it doesn't matter one whit how well you do in court; the verdict will still be decided in TrialByCombat.
49	* VisibleSilence: Extremely rare, though, and mostly for comedic effect.
50	* VisionQuest: Khelgar has one to become a monk. [[spoiler: Which is a possible subversion. While there's nothing stopping the player from going through the motions, Khelgar's stats are suboptimal for a monk. He's one of the best tanks of the game as a fighter but as a monk he loses most of his power. Also, a late-game ancestral Ironfist weapon that he should be able to equip can no longer be done, due to the class change. If you pick the right dialogue options when completing his quest, you can convince him that he can remain a fighter and still retain the CharacterDevelopment he's gone through, avoiding this issue.]]
51	* VisualPun: The garrison of Fort Locke is prevented by red tape from doing just about anything to help the surrounding lands. One of the [=NPCs=] at the fort is a priest of [[http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Ilmater Ilmater]], whose symbol is [[https://tagn.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/nwfl_fortlocke.jpg a pair of tied hands]].
52	* WarpWhistle: Exit points on exterior maps take you to a PointAndClickMap in the OC and ''Mask of the Betrayer''. In ''Storm of Zehir'' the exit took you to an overworld map instead.
53	* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Some of the antagonists, such as the Githyanki and [[spoiler:Ammon Jerro]] want the King of Shadows defeated as badly as you do; they're just not interested in working alongside you or anyone else.
54	* WeBuyAnything: Except items worth 0 gold, which you're forced to drop. Also, vendors have a limited amount of cash on hand, and they stop buying when it runs out. There are a few items in act one that need to be held onto to sell for full value since none of the Act 1 merchants have enough money to pay what it's worth.
55	* WeWait
56	* WhatTheHellHero:
57	** Siding with the city watch and killing your fellow watchmen for accepting bribes from the thieves guild will result in Captain Brelaina chewing you out over your "foul" and "uncompromising" approach to justice.
58	** One quest involves a feud between a tribe of orcs, and a goblin tribe led by an ogre mage. If you take the OmnicidalNeutral route by killing the orcs, then start a fight with the ogre mage by telling him there'll be more loot for you if you kill him and his goblins, he'll respond "How typical of your kind, you treat us in such a way then wonder why we hate you."
59	* WhereItAllBegan:
60	** The [[spoiler:sealed ruins just outside of West Harbor for the final bit of the ritual.]] Perhaps more literally, [[spoiler:the final dungeon, which is implied to be directly ''beneath'' West Harbor.]]
61	** Plus the [[spoiler:dream sequence that houses the final boss fight in Mask of the Betrayer takes place in West Harbor]].
62	* WildCard: Bishop. In his first interactions with the player, he makes it perfectly clear that no matter what, he is ''always'' on the winning side, loyalties and morals be damned. [[spoiler:This comes back to bite you when the King of Shadows gains the upper hand near the end.]]
63	** [[spoiler:You can optionally [[RelationshipValues make him desert the King of Shadows]], but you can't make him fight alongside you again. Unless you play an Evil PC and choose to side with the King of Shadows yourself.]]
64	* WitchWithACapitalB: {{Pun}}ned by Neeshka when Qara calls her "tail-for-brains" in a cutscene.[[labelnote:Explanation]]As a sorceress, Qara is a ''literal'' witch. She's also the other kind.[[/labelnote]]
65	-->'''Neeshka:''' Okay, explain that one to me.\
66	'''Khelgar Ironfist:''' Well, she said your brains are next to your tail... which would imply that your brains are in your rear end. And that means you breathe through your--\
67	'''Neeshka:''' Okay, okay, I get it, all right? Little witch.
68	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:The King of Shadows started out as one of the greatest heroes of ancient Illefarn. He voluntarily underwent a horrifically painful ritual that transformed him into a construct of pure magic so as to make an effective deterrent to [[TheEmpire Netheril]]. When the Netherese wizard Karsus tried to usurp Mystryl's place as god of magic, the Weave was interrupted and the Guardian faced destruction. So he drew power from the Shadow Weave to continue his vigil and became the King of Shadows.]]
69	* WorldOfHam: The pattern for Creator/BioWare [=IPs=] seems to be for the characters to be {{Large Ham}}s or {{Deadpan Snarker}}s. Sometimes both at the same time. [=NWN2=] is no exception; the majority of the PC voices seem to channel '''Creator/BrianBlessed''', never mind all the {{NPC}}s hamming it up.
70	* YouAreTheTranslatedForeignWord: You are the ''[[spoiler:Kalach-cha]]''!
71	** This is subverted in that the Translated Foreign Word isn't translated right away by the people who call you by it. The first attempt to translate it doesn't go so well, though it does count as a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment\|s}} for Grobnar Gnomehands:
72	---> '''Grobnar:''' Well, it's not Gnomish, Elvish, Dwarvish, Orcish, Goblin, or Draconic -- well, unless the 'k' is silent, but that would make it "gizzard stone" or the equivalent.
73	** When you finally meet somebody who speaks Gith, it turns out that [[spoiler:''kalach-cha'' directly translates as "shard-bearer".]] With full nuance applied, it means [[spoiler:"one who stole a silver sword and destroyed it to hide their crime".]] Which ironically makes the term more applicable to [[spoiler:Ammon Jerro]] rather than the PlayerCharacter.
74	** The best part? [[spoiler:Such an event has never happened before and they created the Translated Foreign Word specifically to describe ''you''.]]
75	** Well, there was a broken "standard" Silver Sword in Baldur's Gate II. Wouldn't that have made Saemon and CHARNAME both "kalach-cha"?
76	* YouHaveFailedMe: [[spoiler:Garius to Lorne]].
77	** So obviously telegraphed that [[spoiler:Garius was amazed Lorne came back at all.]]
78	* YouKnowWhatTheySayAboutX: Khelgar protests the Tyrran monks' accusations of him being [[FantasticRacism racist]] by saying he travels with a tiefling, "and you know what they're like!"
79	* YouNoTakeCandle:
80	** Deekin, in his cameo as a shopkeeper.
81	---> '''Deekin:''' Yes, Deekin very kobold, last Deekin look in mirror. Deekin not do that much; mirrors usually too high for Deekin.
82	** Some of the orcs also use this.

Context NeverwinterNights2 / TropesSToZ