Preview PC Gamer reveals first NWN 2 details

[Astromarine]

Tags: Neverwinter Nights 2; Obsidian Entertainment

<a href="http://www.nwn2news.net/">NWN 2 News</a> has put up a <A href="http://www.nwn2news.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=386">summary</a> of a PC Gamer article detailing some juicy information about <a href="http://www.atari.com/nwn2/">Neverwinter Nights 2</a>.
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The details are pretty interesting, including a good deal about the storyline and how the PC starts out. These look especially promising:
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<blockquote>- You start out as a typical commoner. No one really pays much attention to you; you are no more or less special then anyone else in the village and the NPCs react as such.
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- You need to build your reputation to become/be considered a 'hero'. They do not give any real specifics in the article on how you do so but they state it will not be due to repetitive 'rescue the cat' or 'fed-ex' type quests.
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- As we were already told Strongholds are in, but they are more then "window dressing". They will serve as the PCs base of operations and will be important to the main story.
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- You can hire NPCs to staff your stronghold and gain benefits from such. The example given is you can hire a Scholar to research new spells while you are away on a quest.
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- Companions who join you will you have their own motivation, interests and depending on your actions may open up side quests for you... or tick them off and have them up and leave. They will work similar to KotOR2 and it's influence system.</blockquote>I wonder if they can actually pull off an engaging and interesting NWN game.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.rpgdot.com">RPGDot</A>

 

[Borys]

That "hero status" part sounds like Fable, otherwise like your typical Bio game. Count me in!

 

[Jora]

That "hero status" part sounds like Fable, otherwise like your typical Bio game. Count me in!

NWN2 is being developed by Obsidian Entertaiment. Aside from making the Aurora engine, Bioware's not really involved.

The "hero status" thing is something they planned for BG3 so I don't think they're getting their ideas from Fable if that's what you're implying.

 

[sparrowtm]

- Companions who join you will you have their own motivation, interests and depending on your actions may open up side quests for you... or tick them off and have them up and leave. They will work similar to KotOR2 and it's influence system.

No more lifeless NPC-bots? What next. An interesting plot? :shock:

 

[Borys]

NWN2 is being developed by Obsidian Entertaiment. Aside from making the Aurora engine, Bioware's not really involved.

That's common knowledge. Doesn't make the game any less BIO-like, don't you think?

The "hero status" thing is something they planned for BG3 so I don't think they're getting their ideas from Fable if that's what you're implying.

I didn't know about that BG3 idea. It wasn't in BG2 or earlier games but was in Fable that's where I'm coming from.

I'm not implying anything just thinking loud.

 

[DemonKing]

So where are the links to screenie scans???

Someone must have posted them somewhere by now.

 

[Jora]

That's common knowledge. Doesn't make the game any less BIO-like, don't you think?

I'm not sure what you think makes this seem like a Bioware game as opposed to a Black Isle/Obsidian game. Companions? Torment had a lot of companion dialogue too and even a basic influence system. Strongholds? The kind of stronghold Ferret wanted to implement in Fallout 3 sounded much more interesting than the strongholds in BG2.

 

[Elwro]

I'm looking forward to the game. The toolset news are encouraging, too.
As for the plot:

Several years ago West Harbor was caught in the middle of a massive battle between a entity known as the "King of Shadows" and an unknown opposing force. Your hamlet was almost decimated and would have been if not for a third player in the battle who seemed to come from no where and destroyed both the King of Shadows and his attackers.

They only came to the rescue because you're teh CHOSEN ONE!1!11 (but you'd better not know it just yet).

Since this third entity did not leave any survivors no one really knows many of the details about the whole event.

No survivors, eh? They just teleported back to the Secret Quarters of the "Keeping Things Neutral" Organisation, which strives to keep the world balanced from the dawn of time1!1!!

Story starts when several strangers come to your village looking for something. It is implied it may have something to do with the defeated King of Shadows.

Let's face it - they're looking for you, because you're teh CHOSEN ONE11!!!. It's just that they don't know how do you look like as a grown man.

Jokes aside, is Chris Avellone behind the plot? Maybe he'll actually develop something more interesting :D

Dialog is now handled via a close-up with dialog choices. But a option exists to use the classic 'word bubble' style.

What the hell is "word bubble" style? And how is it "classic"?

 

[aboyd]

What the hell is "word bubble" style? And how is it "classic"?

I believe they simply mean the word boxes that were used in things like BG, BG2, NWN, and PS:T. You know, a rectangle that takes up half the screen, and contains a sentence or two, with a few numbered response options.

It sounds like the new system looks more like the Witcher dialogue system, if you've seen any of their videos of dialogue.

 

[Elwro]

I believe they simply mean the word boxes that were used in things like BG, BG2, NWN, and PS:T. You know, a rectangle that takes up half the screen, and contains a sentence or two, with a few numbered response options.

But they mention the "word bubble" system as opposed to "a close-up with dialog choices.", which iirc was precisely like the dialogue worked in all of the games you mentioned. (If close-up can mean just that the screen centers on the guy who's speaking.)
Frankly, "word bubble" sounds to me like a topic based system (Morrowind wiki-style)...

I'll have to see the Witcher videos, I somehow missed the ones that feature dialogue.

 

[Jora]

Jokes aside, is Chris Avellone behind the plot?

He's "just" an area designer and, IIRC, the one responsible for companion dialogue. Ferret Baudoin is the lead designer.

 

[jeansberg]

I think the "word bubble system" is referring to the system used in the Fallout games, when some npcs only had short comments and no real dialogue. (The text would appear over the npc's head)

 

[Kamaz]

I have high hopes for this one. Please, do not spoil that "you are an ordinary commoner" thing with annother terrifying "but YOU HAVE AMEneZSSIA ACtuallY YOU ArE SpeCIaL OMG! OMG! OMG!"

I would like to be at least just villages that trains up to heights of mastery.

 

[Greatatlantic]

They do not give any real specifics in the article on how you do so but they state it will not be due to repetitive 'rescue the cat' or 'fed-ex' type quests.

Is it just me, or does every single RPG released claim this? In practice every single RPG is going to rely on them to fill the cotent void inbetween the original and more interesting quests.

EDIT: If they have original and more interesting questsm that is... though I have enough respect for Obsidian to expect such from them.

 

[obediah]

Sounds like they are at least pretending to address complaints about the previous game - that puts them one cookie above Bethesda. Of course unless the slashed/rushed/buggy mess thing with KoToRII was all on lucas, we stall have that to look forward to.

 

[LlamaGod]

I figured the word bubble thingy, the NPC's dialog appears in a speech bubble above their head, and then after they finish talking a speech bubble appears over yours with dialog choices, then the NPC responds.

So its pretty much the same as it usually is, just not taking up the entire screen.

 

[Elwro]

Or they could make a FUN!1! minigame out of it - the bubbles with dialogue choices would float around the NPC and you'd have to shoot the bubble containing the line you want to choose.
Innovation!

 

[Naked_Lunch]

Holy shit, this acutally sounds somewhat decent. Much better than what I've hoped for.

 

[One Wolf]

Holy shit, this acutally sounds somewhat decent. Much better than what I've hoped for.

this was my exact response. i'm still recovering from the shock.

 

[Pr()ZaC]

...that's impossible... there MUST be the part that's designed for consoles there, or RPG Codex will cease to exist!

 

[Drakron]

Dont worry, the publisher is ATARI and Obsidien lacks a spine to stand up to their demands.

Expect something like KotOR II, half baked implementation of ideas, impossible to complete quests due to script errors as the game is rushed to meet the release date.

Not to say about ATARI support ... enjoy your 3 months wait for the first patch.

 

[Sammael]

Interest... rising...

Looks like not everything from FR6/TBH/BG3 was scrapped, after all.

 

[Balor]

Well, so far, it looks surprisingly "clisheless".
Time will show, I guess.

 

[NeutralMilkHotel]

Sounds good on paper. My interest is now much higher as well. Hopefully they can also do something about that god-fucking-awful combat of the first one.

 

[Avin]

NWN2 is something to follow up. i don't expect nothing exceptional, but it will be a very playable game.

i like the reputation system and the fact you are a simple commoner at the start of the game.