roshan

That was a pretty nuts-and-bolts interview. What's "hypey" about it? I read it again and youre right. It was just the last line which left a bad impression in my mind.

Its just ridiculous that were expected to buy whats being said.

Hes trying too hard to hype the expansion. Its blatantly obvious.

Opera behaves in an absolutely retarded manner when it comes to handling images. Images that are linked to from other sites (such as those embedded in forums) are not loaded by the browser unless they are supposed to be on the screen at that time. That means I can open 20 tabs of forum threads, but almost none of the pictures are loaded by the browser- which means I need to wait for each picture to load one by one after clicking on a tab. Ive tried increasing the memory and also the disk cache of the browser to get it to load up the images in advance but it still doesnt.

Although I was really disappointed when Bethesda acquired Fallout 3, I do not think that the license would be better off with Obsidian. Unfortunately, Black Isle died long ago and people need to accept that.

My standards for "decent" are quite different in the game and out of it. But yes, NWNs score was at least decent, since I dont remember ever wanting to turn it off. But it must have also been quite forgettable, since I cant remember a single track from the game or its expansions. Thats why I am asking about it. I plan to download the tracks or reinstall the games and rip them if Obsidianites give the soundtrack good reviews.

I think that should go to Icewind Dale. Played with Heart of Winters higher resolutions, the scenery is breathtaking.

Other favourite soundtracks of mine include BG1, BG2, IWD, IWD2, FO, FO2 and PST. I was wondering, has Jeremy Soule produced anything decent since Icewind Dale?

For 2D games I pretty much never remember graphics - only atmosphere/art style matters. The best art Ive seen in a 2D game has to be the original IWD. There have only been two 2D games Ive played where the art was bad enough for the time they were released to detract from my experience, they were Arcanum and Lionheart. As for 3D games, I pretty much dont care - its all quite forgettable. I only play isometric RPGs, and amongst them the best one in graphics is NWN2, since its also the latest.

What are your favourite game soundtracks? Ive just been listening to the Warcraft 2 soundtrack again, and its really great. Unlike the crappy epic music of Warcraft 3, Warcraft 2's music has a very militaristic sound to it. Another one Ive been listening to recently is Castlevania Symphony of the Night - its really wondersul the way theyve combined vampiric sounding classical music with rock influences such as drums.

Yes, but I never had my entire party die on me - the game simply was too easy. Thats why I mentioned realistic chance. Then you haven't been playing on the hardcore difficulty setting with a better AI mod. I have had plenty of total party wipeouts with the new AI mod I placed in the game. Use the tools that is out there to make the game more fun. If you don't, well that is your own damn fault. There were no AI mods at release. If a mod makes defeat possible, then its a game. But I dont think that nwn2 as released by Obsidian was a game. "Playing" it to me was much like flipping the pages of a book. I might try it in the future though - who knows, I might get something out of it yet.

Yes, but I never had my entire party die on me - the game simply was too easy. Thats why I mentioned realistic chance.

One thing to think about was whether NWN2 was even a game at all. I think what distinguishes games from other media is that games have victory and defeat. The way I see it, victory exists when defeat exists. You cant "win" watching a movie, neither can you "win" by reading a book. On the other hand, pretty much any game I can think of has defeat in some form or the other - whether kiddie games like tag or hide and seek, board games like chess, scrabble and monopoly, card games(even solitaire), first person shooters, RTS, choose your own adventure books, CRPGS and so on and so forth. So, if I never had any sort of realistic chance of losing NWN2, was I even playing a game?

It was this http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/maskofthebetrayer1.php How can the expansion be more focused when main game was almost completely linear?

I do not see what is wrong with people reloading if one of their characters has died in a battle. Winning a hard battle with everyone still standing is obviously more difficult than winning with half of your party dead. Keeping everyone alive - if a player decides to make it his/her goal - becomes a part of the challenge and requires additional skill from the player. Players reload when they have failed to achieve their objectives. Through reloading players are able to try new strategies and develop their skills to succeed at their goal. If you eliminate reloading, you eliminate the possibility of failure. If you create a game where there is no chance of failure, you end up with a "dumb" game like NWN2 which requires absolutely nothing from players in terms of mental or physical capability.

Actually Feargus' method for making death matter is really just about making time matter which is not the same thing. I am curious as to why you think time-sensitive gaming is so unworkable. Certainly making it significantly more difficult to play if you rest into the night will have a dramatic effect on the game, even if it isn't permadeath ... and I wonder just how many people would be complaining if Obsidian implemented permadeath (in comparison to those that complain that the game isn't permadeath). I think time sensitive gaming is great and workable but i dont see how it addresses some of the main problems I have with permadeath such as: - trivializing death and thus taking tension out of combat. - since death is the main penalty for failing at combat, combat itself is also trivialized, since there is no chance of failing - making combat really easy At best I see time sensitive gameplay as leading to people stocking a few more potions or bringing a cleric along so that they can heal instead of resting - and even that depends on how likely combat is to lead to death in the first place, and that also depends on how much time sensitive gameplay there actually is and whether there actually are consequences to missing out on this sort of gameplay. Im not sure why Obsidian would choose to implement forced resurrection. At least I dont think its because of the demands of players. Thinking as a casual gamer, I dont see myself buying expansions packs. Why buy an expansion pack when you can just buy a new game with better graphics? NWN2 isnt exactly the sort of game that casual players would be attracted to anyway - theres just too much complexity in terms of the ruleset etc that would most likely turn off any casual gamers. There are many commercial releases out there much better suited to the casual gamer. I think most people buying Mask would be veterans or who are already familiar with earlier games and thus used to the idea of dying or modders who are "hardcore" enough to create modules and thus not casual gamers at all. I guess Im just too far off from Obsidians target market to understand!

Im not whining, I am protesting. Some things can be constructively criticized because they can be improved (such as the combat in Icewind Dale 2 - I liked the difficulty but there were times when it felt kind of hollow or pointless - and I provided some ideas for how it could be better, as there was actually potential for improvement). With other features though there is no scope for any constructive criticism. How in the world can I offer suggestions to improve forced resurrection when I simply do not like it and do not see any way for it to be tweaked that would make any sort of meaningful difference to me?

Thats why I am disappointed - combat in the main game was already easy enough, clearly geared towards newbies. If a dragon and a giant king and his army can be defeated with absolutely no player input or a dragon can be killed within two rounds then there is something seriously wrong with the game. I want something that will require something from me other than performing mindless tedious actions. It seems that all of the design decisions regarding the campaign also seem to be newbie geared and that Obsidian went to great lenghts to make absolutely sure that even the worlds biggest idiot would win the game. The game was pretty much mistake proof to the point that you can hardly even turn in the wrong direction. I probably didnt buy the greatsword in Targos because it cost too much. Winged Blight was what I was referring to - it just didnt seem like enough of a reward after going through so much of the game. Reward doesnt necessarily have to be phat lewt though - for example, in Icewind Dale 1 after clearing Kresselacks tomb there was a cool black armor to be found. It was just a normal item (although still better than anything until that point) but it still felt like quite a reward. When I found a better armor it was actually sad selling away Kresselacks one. The last time I played Icewind Dale 2 though I had a good time, but I knew what to expect and was in it purely for the combat. Thats a good point. Where was Cleaver anyway? I thought that was the one that Sherincal dropped(wasnt she the boss at the ice temple?).

Each of the games I mentioned had something special in it that made the experience memorable. Icewind Dale was poor in terms of roleplaying but it had good combat and atmosphere produced by incredible art, voiceacting and music. Thats what I got out of the game. On the other hand I didnt get anything out of NWN2. The music wasnt anything special, combat was tediously easy, the artistic aspect was quite bad(such as for inventory icons or the interface) and so on. There was a trial in the game that was almost awesome but I couldnt experience most of it due to bugged dialogue, and there was that tedious "fight" with the berserker before it. Some NPCS were great like Sand and Khelgar but then again I was forced to roam around with characters I really disliked such as Shandra and Zhjaeve. In the end of it all the enjoyable aspects of NWN2 were far outweighted by the things I didnt like. Im not criticizing NWN2 for being about combat - im criticizing it because its about combat that has been dumbed down. (see title) It was stated in a previous interview that the expansion will be more linear than the original game. Actually Feargus' method for making death matter is really just about making time matter which is not the same thing. I would enjoy IWD style combat. Damn those bloody instincts. I dont find combat so easy that it basically wins itself fun at all. I dont even powergame any of my characters except the PC and didnt use item crafting until the end of the game right before quitting. Why in the world should I believe Obsidians hype about its battles when last time it turned out to be false?

Since discovering the Royale Noir theme my desktop experience has improved significantly.

I dont think Obsidian has any credibility. Their hype about epic battles in the original game turned out to be completely false. Not only that, they never informed gamers about gameplay decisions they had made such as forced resurrection. I was basically conned into purchasing NWN2.

Icewind Dale 2's combat became tedious because there just werent any rewards for going through the trouble. It sucked fighting through a tough battle and then getting 0 XP and yet another bloody returning frost dart. One of my characters was stuck with a normal greatsword until 2/3rds of the way throuh the game and it was just some crappy weapon that ignored armor(or something similar - as if she had trouble hitting the enemies) and then that turned out to be the best weapon in the entire game. Not to mention the story wasnt compelling enough to drive one through the game. Only if you promise to drown yourself in it. This is just the same hype they created before the original game. I can see through it like a window. They hyped up the dragon battles in the original NWN2 and talked about how it was going to be so tough - yet I won the battles without even knowing what the hell was going on(I played those battles at about 1 FPS struggling with the horrid interface). I remember clicking on Khelgar and then clicking on the giant king and few seconds later I noticed the king was dead. I wasnt even to micromanage Sand and Elanee, I just set them to autocast mode and they killed the dragon without me knowing about it(I was trying to send my main character to attack the dragon but he just stood in the same place like an idiot).

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?artic...6840&page=1 I just read Feargus' new interview and what Ive read sounds very disappointing. It really seems that Obsidian is targetting the LCD with the games that it is making. So we have confirmation that the game will be even more linear than the NWN2 campaign(I didnt even think that was possible until they said it), that characters will still be forced to resurrect after combat, that it will be focused on combat and not characters and that combat is going to be ridiculously easy. So it will be just like the original game - a forced linear march through areas filled with boringly easy combat - except worse. Very disappointing. And of all the bad decisions in the original campaign(forced npcs, forced resurrection, linear marches through areas, linear area progression, lack of interaction with npcs, no freedom of choice), the one Feargus regrets the most is the lighting? That Obsidian was ever involved in rpgs like PST, FO and IWD boggles the mind.

Whatever you do stay far away from McAfee and Norton. Theyre pretty much viruses already as they slow down the system a lot and take hours to remove properly.