Radwar

I'm sorry, I did not mean to imply any shortchanging of Bioware. If nothing else, then Bioware has provided the Infinity Engine, which has been the basis of so much of my enjoyment in CRPGs for the past --what, 7 years? 8 years? And they have done much more besides providing the Infinity Engine. Neverwinter Nights is a love-letter to the entire roleplaying community. Bioware is a great company, and they deserve our support. The point I was trying to make was in response to the poster who was uncertain as to whether Obsidian were up to the task of following Bioware. I will repeat that I have no doubt they will do even better than Bioware. Why? Because they have the advantage of working with Bioware's technology, i.e. the engine from KOTOR 1. This should free up a great deal of Obsidian's time to work on what I consider to be their special strength, which is story. Fallout is brilliant. Planescape: Torment is in a class by itself, in terms of story and development. Perhaps a better way of phrasing it is this: Obsidian will work wonders with KOTOR 2, but this is no slight to Bioware, because they did so many things right with KOTOR 1. Does that make sense to anyone else? Of course, I could turn out to be wrong, and the game might suck. But it's not going to suck. MadMalachi <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Now, that I fully agree with. Though it was not very clear to begin with. That said, yes I feel fully confident that Obsidian's NWN2 OC will highly surpass the original NWN OC, and they should. All the mechanics (The base if you will) are in place, I'm talking about an RPG Maker engine that handles an editor, dungeon master, single and multi player, and everything that makes it hold together, plus over two years of improvements by Bioware (alot from ALL the feedback from gamers). Now that they're building a new game, Obsidian will be able to add alot more complicated and time consuming features that people have been asking about. What also helps about the feedback, is now they have over 2 years of gamers feedback over at the Bioware boards. Also like I said, the fact that Obsidian doesn't have to build a new RPG Maker with NWN2, only improve upon it, thus allocating alot more zots to the offical OC. And knowing Obsidian's track record, I'm not worried. What's great about this is now that companies now have a new basis for these types of RPG's, we should see alot more of them coming out in the future (I hope). We're already fortunate to have two of them being created at this moment, NWN 2 and Dragon Age. I feel it's a great time to be an RPG fan indeed. Sadly it was not always the case.

What other Obsidian games have you played then? Tell me, I'd love to know. ^_^ <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Obsidian=Black Isle Studios reincarnated. BIS games included Planescape Torment, the Fallout series, the Icewind Dale series, etc. All in all, some of what are said to be the greatest RPG games of all time. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Agreed. About the IWD series, I know it's considered an RPG lite compared to Torment, Fallout, the BG series, ect... But I liked it anyway. Maybe it's because I played IWD after completing BG2: SOA, and I though it was a nice little break after the insane amount of side quests BG2 brings you all at once, lol. Also I thought the story was great, though not as complex as some others, but I expect that in an RPG lite. I've come to expect great stories from those 2 companies and I know that they can come up with a rare jewel once in a while. But I don't expect like some few gamers I saw here and there on messageboards to release the mother of all RPG's (storywise) every single time they release a game. That's plaine ridiculous and reastically an impossible feat. That said, all in all I prefer more complex RPG's, I did find IWD alot of fun to play and would gladly play a third installement if one ever comes out.

The folks at Obsidian are the same people responsible for some of the best RPGs in recent memory. Bioware did a great job with KOTOR, but I have every confidence that Obsidian's version will outshine the original in every way. If you haven't already done so, pick up a copy of Planescape: Torment on E-bay. It should set you back all of $5 - $10. Play it, and you will understand. MadMalachi <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I think your shortchanging Bioware here, you're probably forgetting the BG series maybe. I'm not saying that Bioware is better here, but your talking like Obsidian is way better than Bioware storywise. Sorry but having played all of both companies RPG's, I consider them pretty much on par talentwise. Only the origianl OC from Neverwinter Nights wasn't great from BW but that wasn't the main reason I bought the game, and I understand that they had to develop a new game system at the same time. But people wanted bioware to concentrate more on the OC's for the add-ons and in my opinion they're great, Hordes is awesome. My stance is, I feel pretty much blessed to have not one but two great companies working on RPG's for the PC. I was sad then I heard what happened to Black Isle and am quite happy they've returned. I'm pretty much hyped by both companies future projects, Kotor II, NWN 2, Dragon Age, Jade Empire (will have to get an XBOX for this, sigh), ect.

Well, I've read in a magazine (can't remember if it's PC Gamer or another.) That the story will revolve around what happened before Baldur's Gate 1. So since it has nothing to do with your main character in the original BG series, I expect we will start at level one. I can't say I'm really surprised since It would be impossible to continue with your player after BG2: TOB. Either you end up being a GOD, (Can't make an RPG about that I would think.) or You wander the earth with a few battles here and there which has nothing to do with your Bhaal heritage (Which of course is the center piece of the BG series.) So you can't take that route either. So what's left? Well there's taking the approach of making a Star Wars type of thing by telling the end of the story first and then the beginning afterwards, lol. The advantage is that the already great BG fanbase would be excited about learning in more detail what happened in the past, much more than what you learn in BG2: TOB. (So you keep the spirit of the BG stories by making the main theme relevent to the rest of the story). Only drawback of course is the fact that your main character in the series won't be a part of the story (or very little, when he's born and Gorion takes him and leaves Sarevok behind, maybe), and you probably won't see any of your memorable companions. (Except maybe Jaheira and Khalid which were friends of Gorion before Baldur's Gate 1). But that can be easily remedied if they can come up with some new memorable ones.