NWN2: Storm of Zehir expansion (now confirmed)

[Talon Tremor]

Kaerlyn (sp?) the dove is HAWT in the picture, yet the 3d Kaerlyn looks like a god damn man/boy/penis bearer. MOTB is sweet but fix up yo hotties before they get alll Oblivionugly BRAP.
PS, MOTB is outstanding!

 

[Xor]

Kaerlyn (sp?) the dove is HAWT in the picture, yet the 3d Kaerlyn looks like a god damn man/boy/penis bearer. MOTB is sweet but fix up yo hotties before they get alll Oblivionugly BRAP.
PS, MOTB is outstanding!

I had to read this three times to get it. Actually, I'm still a little confused.

 

[Lurkar]

Right now I'm most amused by the people whining about the level thirty level cap. Someone actually stated they needed level SIXTY to make their character. This blows my mind. I'm honestly having troubles trying to comprehend this.

 

[Sodomy]

How is the level cap even an issue? I just finished MotB yesterday, and it was the final fight that made me hit level 30... and that was using an import character who was already at level 20. Using a new character who starts at level 18, I can't imagine getting enough XP that I could hit level 31 without the cap.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Right now I'm most amused by the people whining about the level thirty level cap. Someone actually stated they needed level SIXTY to make their character. This blows my mind. I'm honestly having troubles trying to comprehend this.

What. The. Fuck.

Seriously, D&D mechanics will butcher themselves after levels 30-40, and they're not doing well at those either.

 

[Volrath]

I wouldn't say that any of the MOTB endings are works of beauty, the slides and voice acting still aren't great. But they end the story, no cliffhangers and they have consequences for your actions in game, which is all an RPG ending really needs. Comparing them to the OC endings is silly.

Naturally any comments by that Merlinda chick are completely batshit insane. She mentioned being unable to play IWD II due to it's 'insane difficulty' (no she wasn't talking about HOF) and she clogs up the modding board with useless crap about modding the IE games and stupid questions (Apparently she can't read faqs either). Since I spend a lot of time on the modules/toolset/scripting boards, this annoys me.

Chaotic Evil ending is the shit, it really is.

 

[Lurkar]

I've done everything I can on the level cap issue, but I'm calling it done. This is the twentieth time I've seen "BUT...BUT...MY PERFECT BUILD DOESN'T FIT IN LEVEL THIRTY! HOW ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO DO EVERYTHING IN THE GAME BY MYSELF?!" Jesus fuck, this is sapping the life out of me.

 

[Aegeri]

Right now I'm most amused by the people whining about the level thirty level cap. Someone actually stated they needed level SIXTY to make their character. This blows my mind. I'm honestly having troubles trying to comprehend this.

What. The. Fuck.

Seriously, D&D mechanics will butcher themselves after levels 30-40, and they're not doing well at those either.

3rd edition mechanics are broken after 10th level and the horse has already well and truly bolted by 15th.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Right now I'm most amused by the people whining about the level thirty level cap. Someone actually stated they needed level SIXTY to make their character. This blows my mind. I'm honestly having troubles trying to comprehend this.

What. The. Fuck.

Seriously, D&D mechanics will butcher themselves after levels 30-40, and they're not doing well at those either.

3rd edition mechanics are broken after 10th level and the horse has already well and truly bolted by 15th.

It's more about that by that time the horse has ran off a cliff, gotten eaten by a random Hasselhoff, remnants drifted ashore and then turned into a Bethesda product.

 

[Lumpy]

There could be a way to create custom companions and still allow them to have personality.
Take MotB. Safiya is a Red Wizard, there's not much to change. But Gann's character is simply "a free spirit and a dreamwalker", neither of which require a particular class. So, when he joins your party, a character creation screen could come up where you have to design his character from scratch, having to choose, however, among a certain pool of classes. For Gann, that could be "Spirit Shaman, Rogue, Bard, Warlock, Sorcerer", plus the available Prestige Classes. For Kaelyn, "Cleric, Favoured Soul, Paladin", for Okku "Fighter and Barbarian", etc.
This would allow for a customized party without sacrificing party interaction.

 

[Volourn]

"Take MotB. Safiya is a Red Wizard,"

yeah... if only you think MOTB's writing is so shitty that you think Safiya's personality comes down to 'Red Wizard'. Which is funny since Safiya is far from your typical Red Wizard.

R00fles!

 

[Lyric Suite]

So this is just like Icewind Dale all over again? They would need an engine over-haul for something like that.

 

[Lumpy]

"Take MotB. Safiya is a Red Wizard,"

yeah... if only you think MOTB's writing is so shitty that you think Safiya's personality comes down to 'Red Wizard'. Which is funny since Safiya is far from your typical Red Wizard.

R00fles!

No, I meant that her class has to be Red Wizard.

 

[Aegeri]

There could be a way to create custom companions and still allow them to have personality.
Take MotB. Safiya is a Red Wizard, there's not much to change. But Gann's character is simply "a free spirit and a dreamwalker", neither of which require a particular class. So, when he joins your party, a character creation screen could come up where you have to design his character from scratch, having to choose, however, among a certain pool of classes. For Gann, that could be "Spirit Shaman, Rogue, Bard, Warlock, Sorcerer", plus the available Prestige Classes. For Kaelyn, "Cleric, Favoured Soul, Paladin", for Okku "Fighter and Barbarian", etc.
This would allow for a customized party without sacrificing party interaction.

This is quite an intelligent idea.

 

[Crichton]

This is quite an intelligent idea.

I agree. I implemented it in my NWN2 mod. The beta's up on the vault; final release maybe in a month or so.

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NW ... ail&id=244

A lot has changed since I posted that build, but the companion system is pretty much the same if you want to see how it plays out.

 

[deuxhero]

except for ganns fequesnt talks about spirts and the fact that he was raised by them...

The only other option I could see allowing for him is a a fey pact warlock (I am pretty sure offical rules for such a thing exist)


But yeah, otherwise your idea would work.

 

[Lumpy]

except for ganns fequesnt talks about spirts and the fact that he was raised by them...

The only other option I could see allowing for him is a a fey pact warlock (I am pretty sure offical rules for such a thing exist)


But yeah, otherwise your idea would work.

Well obviously I'm not talking about implementing this in MotB. I was just using it as an example as to how complex characters don't necessarily need a fixed class.

 

[Shannow]

Well obviously I'm not talking about implementing this in MotB. I was just using it as an example as to how complex characters don't necessarily need a fixed class.

So basically something like the system Wizardry 8 uses...
How innovative...

 

[Jasede]

Tried and true > innovative

 

[Texas Red]

In the end it boils down to having shitty semicompanions for the purpose of combat instead of character interaction and personalities. This is a major failure move from Obsidian, though taken in to account their recent choices not surprising.

You have to ask if Obsidian even knows its fanbase. The huge femme population on the boards is only because of companions and dialogs. BG is universally hailed as superior to IWD because of interaction. Goddamn, how dumb is this choice? NWN 2 was never about the (crappy) combat.

 

[Jasede]

What are you even talking about? Finally they make a real, old-school, Codex-proof RPG with a party you make yourself and now you guys still complain! Now you suddenly -want- Bioware-style companions with a story and a romance.

Besides, nobody said this game won't have that. All that was said is that you create a lot of your party - there's likely still joinable NPCs.

What I just wish, though, is that you can assign your PCs a "personality" on creation, like in Wizardry 8. That's really fun.

 

[Lumpy]

What are you even talking about? Finally they make a real, old-school, Codex-proof RPG with a party you make yourself and now you guys still complain! Now you suddenly -want- Bioware-style companions with a story and a romance.

Yeah, it's really strange. Not long ago everybody was whining about how much PS:T, K2 and MotB suck because of premade companions, and now it appears that people actually do want party members with personalities and deep backstories.

Besides, nobody said this game won't have that. All that was said is that you create a lot of your party - there's likely still joinable NPCs.

No, I interpreted it more like there are joinable NPCs just like before, but you can create as many party members as you want yourself. Like BG2.
I don't see how it is bad, but I hope they still pay attention to the premade characters.

What I just wish, though, is that you can assign your PCs a "personality" on creation, like in Wizardry 8. That's really fun.

That would be ideal, yes. Although I'd prefer it the other way around.

 

[Jasede]

Well, of course you have good point, Lumpy. But I see this add-on as a return to some really old dungeon-crawl playstyle - but coupled with Obsidian's writing.

I think everyone needs to chill out a little and hope that there'll be a nice balance between well-written NPCs (and I don't care if they're able to join or not) and your self-created party. Obsidian has shown they can do good stuff half the time, so let's see what becomes of this.

 

[Wyrmlord]

You know, putting in both custom companions and premade ones, it's another indicator of the fact that Obsidian wants to please everybody.

It's not necessarilly a bad thing (in fact it's good that they are), but this tendency of theirs hasn't always worked well.

Firstly, there's the NWN2 camera. They wanted to make it both behind-the-character and isometric. The end result is a really wierd camera. And then, they wanted it to the game to have both KotOR style dialogue mode and the typical dialogue mode. When it switches to the KotOR style cinematic dialogue mode, the camera closes in on the rudimentary faces and you get to see all the clipping problems up close. Of course, they worked the cinematic dialogue mode beautifully in MotB.

All I want to say is, these people should simply just decide for whom they are making their games, and stick to that one style. Instead of trying to do everything.

 

[Texas Red]

Agree with Wyrmlord here +1. And its not as if though Storms of Zehir, being a second expansion, will draw in hordes of new players. Alpha Protocol is the prime example of Obsidian trying to please everyone without pleasing anyone.