Diogo Ribeiro

It's Chtulhu at a rave.

Well, not getting out much should be a prerequisite for watching Family Guy since it's on TV and all. I like the show, or at least what I could see from it. I don't get the Fox channel on my cable, because the supplier fought it would be nice to only add the channel to the list only recently and at an additional cost. No thanks. Instead, I relied on seeing the ocasional sample they gave off as an appetizer for people willing to purchase the option. EDIT: Great stuff.

Pretty spot on, Llyranor. I see we share some ideas and views. For combat in particular, I had some plans regarding situations which would rely more on the player's use of his surroundings and tactics rather than focusing strictly on firepower.

Everything you've said just turns me on.

They're all better looking than little green stick men.

Let me rid you of the burden of having an ugly av! On-topic, even after tweaking it several times, when I played the PC version of Halo I felt the controls and overall movement gave the impression that gravity was lacking. Is there any console FPS which has a tighter feel?

It just seems weird

Hey alanschu, what's up with the fugly av? o_O

I can never get accostumed to console shooter controls. Too imprecise for me, and for some reason they always seem a bit wobbly.

..............

Your avatar is fine. ShadowPaladin's dancing nurse, now that was... Weird and confusing.

While I can see some virtues in a storytelling model that leads players trough a narrow path, trying to make a story revolve around the player; I can also see several downfalls in this. That's why we're going for a middle ground. We plan on developing a story that has a definite beggining and a definite end, from which the PC cannot escape; but to give enough expression to the players so the PC's advancement and destiny is ultimately up to them. We're also playing around with the concept of making the PC both important and secondary to the story. The PC will be alien to the gameworld, easilly abusable and exploitable by some, feared and disliked by others. He'll be a pawn for several entities, but this does not preclude him making himself relevant in the world. Again, this will be up to the player, and we plan on making it so depending on his attitude troughout the game, the PC can fall under the shadows of greater beings or outright match them in power. There will be an overaching plot from which the player cannot escape, and while there are common story elements such as what one would call a hero and a villain, we hope to make it less standard than what it seems at first glance. The story will focus more on the feud between the so-called hero and the so-called villain, and while the PC's accidental involvement between their dispute will gradually become more important, it still won't be about the "chosen one who must save the world". Rather, we want to make the player be shown both sides so he can make his own mind about who is right - and who he'd like to support. If he wants to support either, that is. There'll be enough reasons for either scenario. I think it's safe to say the larger part of the story will be a guideline; it will only become the driving force of the game into its later stages. As for roleplaying, we want to make the player experience the gameworld, we want to put the world back into gameworld. Not just seeing the sights and greeting the locals: we want to do our best in creating a place where the player can interact with everything (that is humanly possible to allow for), learning and questioning what he comes upon. I think nearly everything will have its own story which the player can learn about, and even influence to a degree, be it something as simple as an NPC or as complex as a city. Wheter you're talking to a dwarf, orc or dragonkin, or are just plane hopping, we want to make the player experience it in several ways. Through some of this we plan on including situation which will enable the player to form the PC's own identity, be it trough actions or inactions. Deciding on wheter one should slay an innocent in order to save hundreds can have consequences as dramatic as just standing and watching an old man being robbed. But ultimately none of these will ever be negative to the point of making progression a pain in the butt. While some decisions will make it harder on the PC, advancing will still very much be possible. In short, we want to make a module that's fun to play, and roleplay. Also, shrimp.

There is no spoon... Yet. That is to say, the basic goal which we have set up - and I think Volourn would agree here - is that we will do our best in creating a module which we like. For the record, my admitedly ambitious plan is to combine the uniqueness of Torment's gameworld, and Arcanum's take on technology. And a fair bit of their storytelling and roleplaying. I could go on about the plans we have and the ideas I've been developing but we would be discussing just that: ideas. I wouldn't mind presenting them but they are still at their infancy, and if there's one thing I would like to avoid is to hype this before development has even begun (not that I'd hype it after it's begun, though). Then again, with Volourn on board that might be hard - his name alone will propel this module's fame into great heights.

YES

I always liked systems where failure does not necessarily mean a scenario, or the game itself are over. Failure doesn't need to be the end of everything, and may at times be a requirement to pursue some other path. In that example, it would be great to know that the Paladin may retry the test, that failing it isn't the end (though he should still suffer some slight penalites to failure, ie, geting worse items on a retry that he would on a first time).

Thanks. I'm looking forward to starting work on the module, but it's anybody's guess when me and Volourn will ever start, let alone finish making it. Add to it that I suck at coding and it gets tricky. I'm currently tasked with just expanding on the story outline I presented to him, coming up with the gameworld and its inhabitants, locales, etc. I could always whip Vol into place and have him be the code monkey, but we'll be looking out for community content that might help us. The reason I mentioned a first person view on that post is because this was made long before I ever entertained the notion of working with NWN2's editor. It was meant to be a tutorial of sorts for a full game, possibly even a firstperson shooter in the vein of Deus Ex or Vampire, or even a console RPG. Moving it into Aurora toolset territory might limit or complicate some of the things I planned. Some people have been telling me I can do pretty much what I envisioned with the Aurora toolset in the first NWN, so it may still be all good in the sequel's improved version. When I was pointed out the issues with replayability, I looked at my concept and its similarity to the Elder Scrolls and pretty much saw that equally similar elements could be added. Playing trough the scenario itself is good and can be immersive during the first playtroughs, but afterwards it will likely become a chore, though I suppose it depends on the actual lenght of the tutorial. I found NWN's inital scenario to be boring after a couple of playtroughs, especially because you had to go trough the same motions. Skipping it would be an option. One thing I like about this kind of scenario is that it can be adapted to character classes. A character can go trough the same motions, but depending on class it can vary, litte or considerably. That's an idea I've been tinkering with as well, a situation where depening on what class the PC is, he'll have different obstacles (ie, Rogues might need to steal or move steathily, Paladins may need to purge evil, etc... The kicker is coming up with multiclassed characters, but that's a discussion for some other day). This could also be used for initial scenarios, where all character classes may go trough the 'academy syndrome' but in different ways. I assume this would lessen the boredom and repetition of it. In any case, I like your idea. Note: not sure I actually answered what you wanted me to answer... I haven't had a good night's sleep in a week and find myself losing focus in conversations. Sorry.

lollerskates.

Well, not that it matters much but... Basically the similarity is that you are the sole survivor of the crash (at least at first glance) and you are also greeted by someone who happened to be there. He's not Virgil 2.0., though... The character will never join your party, for instance. But wheter that someone will be important or not, who's to say?

After jotting down the idea for the first time, I noticed it's actually somewhere between the Elder Scrolls and Arcanum... Though it won't be obvious where Arcanum comes into the above because I snipped out that part.

Some of that reminds me of a concept I posted once at RPG Codex, and that will for the most part be the basis of my attempt at a NWN2 module:

While the engine was new, wasn't it built on Aurora tech, much like Knights of the Old Republic? I was under the assumption that they've stated they used Aurora, or aspects of it, as bases for both Knights and Jade Empire.

Ouch. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It fixed several bugs but lacked the essential fix, the memory leak fix.

And a liberal guy, too cool for the macho ache, with a secret tooth for the cherry on the cake. With a pious smile, a smile that changes what I say. Yadda yadda yadda. OH NOES ROELPLAYA IS TEH FUN DESTRUKTOR!!! As I said, I agree with the principle of what Harada was saying. I'm just suspicious of the result of that particular mindset, or similar ones. I reserve the right to pass up on excellent extra content such as secret costumes, card games, mini-DDR sessions to get virtual kisses, or an Elvis karaoke/bukakke combo. The absence of such elements make a game more enjoyable to me - and as he says, everyone has their own way of enjoying a game. My way of enjoying it is ignoring the fluff and sticking with the meat of the game, thank you very much.

I did. I still feel most of it is fluff. It's my way of "enjoying" the game.

Never underestimate the power of sex robots made out of alcoholic beverage boxes.