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Although I personally prefer Gothic1 to its sequel, I still think that both of them are among the best games I've ever played. The Gothic games had many great aspects which made me appreciate them more than some of nowdays so called 'hardcore' cRPGs. For starters, the world of Gothic actually felt real. All of the characters had their daily routines and often it was fun just to watch them do their jobs. For example, watching a smith forge a piece of steel into a sword, step by step, and then learning to do it yourself in the exact same manner was a very satisfying experiance (in Gothic1). However, the thing that I liked the most in the world of Gothic was its very distinctive survival-themed atmosphere. This was especially evident in Gothic1 but it was also present in a somewhat different form in the sequel. Your character started off as a nobody in a harsh and hostile world, but as the game progressed you gradually gained fame and respect and for the most part this was reflected by the way people treated you. The guild you joined also determined thy way people looked on you, so a while a Chosen of Innos (Mage) was treated with respect and admiration a Mercenary OTOH was viewed with disgust and contempt. While the PB developers honestly admit that their games are actually action adventures with some RPG elements, there is a lot more to Gothic than combat. Interacting with NPCs can often vary depending on your class. For example, some people who were seemingly simple commoners on my first playthrough as a Mercenary actually served a much greater purpose on my second playthrough as a Mage while I gradually discovered the secret origin of the Seekers. Exploring the huge world is also a great experiance (at least for the first time). Getting nearly killed by a Shadowbeast can teach you not to delve too deep into those dark forest recluses, but running away, returning later when you get stronger and taking the beast's horn and hide as a trophy feels very satisfying. The thing is, Gothic's combat system, while largely stat based, is still somewhat dependant on the player's skill. This can present a problem when you start encountering powerful enemies who can block and parry your blows. I've noticed that a lot of people simply can't get the hang of the basic combat moves and give up on the game at that point. IMO, this is largely the fault of the poorly implemented G2 default controls, the alternate G1 setup always worked perfectly for me. Picking a different class can also remedy the problem. Bottom line, the Gothic games are fun in their own way. I think you can't really compare them to the 'hardcore' cRPGs like Fallout and BG2 or more recently KotOR2, as they have a vastly different approach to gameplay. However, it would also be very unfair to treat them as mindless hack&slash games like Diablo. I think that Gothic games are actually some kind of a middle-ground between those two genres, and they are probably most deserving of the title 'Action RPG'. People who like that kind of gameplay can simply acknowledge the games for what they are and enjoy them. Others who come to the world of Gothic expecting something else are likely to be disappointed.

The PR guy said that they temporarily took it down in order to fix some errors, it should be up again later today. He also confirmed that yesterday was indeed the official site launch date.

I like the Iron Golem, it looks quite menacing. I just hope that its in-game avatar is huge and towering when compared to the humanoid races, it would add to the flavor. BTW, shouldn't its description say "Large Construct" instead of "Medium Undead"? Just a little nitpick.

I think you completely misunderstood my post, or perhaps I didn't express myself clearly enough. Either way, I'm quite aware of the 3.5E rules and their use in NWN2, and that is precisely why I was confused by this statement: AFAIK, domain spells are supposed to be memorized in their own separate slots, and not alongside regular cleric spells. However, this was not the case in NWN1, i.e. domain and regular spells were both memorized in regular cleric spell slots, plus many of the granted domain powers didn't follow the rules. So, a 16 WIS Cleric with the Magic domain could cast his (incorrectly placed) level 1 domain spell Mage Armor three times per day instead of just once at character level 1. And that's why I was wondering if they plan on re-using this approach which I consider poorly designed.

Yes, it is not a small undertaking. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hmm, I'm no programming expert, but couldn't this be done similarly to the Infinity Engine games' implementation? For example, by creating a new class, specifically intended for a paladin that has fallen. A script could automatically replace a paladin's levels with "fallen paladin" levels when he violates his code of conduct. This new class would function identically to the regular paladin class in terms of hit points, BAB, skill and feat selection, but without the class features (i.e. smite evil, lay on hands...) of a true paladin. Such a fallen paladin could either regain his normal paladin class levels by atoning for his transgressions, or he could permanently exchange his fallen paladin levels for Blackguard levels if he decides to become a Blackguard at level 11 or higher. Does this sound feasible?

Hmm, I suppose they ran into some kind of animation problems. With all the class/race/armor model variations there's bound to be a lot of issues. Personally, I wasn't really that interested in mounts, but these statements here surprised me a lot more: I don't understand, is this really that hard to code? I mean, isn't it kind of weird that they are already announcing things to be patched, and the game isn't even out yet? <_<

I have a Rumblepad2 and the game automatically detected and configured it, but it sort of messed up the button layout. So, I went to my friend's place, wrote down his PS2 control scheme and just reassigned the buttons that way. That worked perfectly. BTW, the rumble function is supported as well, for example you can feel when Lucas' hartbeat suddenly accelerates during the restaurant scene.

That's about my score as well, and incidentally, it also describes the percentage of the game that I found truly enjoyable. Although the rest was not quite on pair, I am tempted to raise the score a little bit just because of the excellent music score and the perfect VO selection. Nowdays, it's pretty rare that a game has such a fitting soundtrack and so appropriately selected voice actors. For example, "Santa Monica" is a damn fine song, especially if you hear it and I think that Lucas' voice actor did a particularly good job throughout the game. Somehow, he always managed to hit the exact mood that the character was currently experiencing. Huh? Contrary to Eldar, I did play Fahrenheit and I don't recall that, unless you mean

I don't seem to recall that, do you per chance mean I guess I misinterpreted that sequence then. Hmm, in my playthrough There are three endings, and which one you get depends entirely on how you handle the last chapter. It doesn't really matter what you did up to that point, Heh, just

Hmm, truth be told, I didn't really pay that much attention to the exact date, but from the in-game presentation it seemed to me that only a day had passed between the two events. I stand corrected then, but still, even if a week or two had passed instead of a day, Carla's line still came out of the blue i.e. there were no indications of up to that point.

Nonetheless, it doesn't really matter what decision you make, as the end result is always the same Not a fitting fate for one of the main characters IMO.

Heh, the controls never bothered me simply because my Logitech gamepad is pretty much an identical copy of the PS2 controller, so I just had to reassign a few buttons to fit the PS2 scheme and it was smooth sailing from then on. However, I did try playing it on the keyboard at a friend's place while introducing him to the game and it was much, much worse. My thought exactly, but I suppose Eldar hasn't gotten that far up the story yet. My real beef with the last third of the game was that the main characters started acting inconsistently with their previously established morals. For example I was like WTF? Also, I couldn't understand why they've simply Do the designers seriously expect me to believe that He sure didn't seem like that kind of guy to me. Anyway, what I found even more annoying than the dominance of the "Button mashing 4 t3h win!!!11" approach at that point of the game, were the absurdly annoying flashback missions which take you to a part of a character's childhood. Without spoiling anything, these sequences feature some sort of 'stealth oriented' gameplay which is very poorly executed, with the craptastic camera angles hindering you more than anything else. Even worse, you can't afford a single mistake in a sequence between two save points or it's back to the start. Still, all that aside, I thought Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy was a pretty good game for the most part. If the designers had taken a little more time to correct some of the issues mentioned here and tighten up the plot, it could have been a truly great game and an instant classic.

First, raise the in-game resolution, then try raising Anti Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering to their maximum values in your video card driver control panel. That should slow the game down at least a little bit.

Huh? I thought they were going to make a fairly PnP accurate implementation of the familiars, unless I missed something? *Tries hard to repress images of J.E. and Chris doing a silly looking dance, sharing a pair of earrings and then fusing into some kind of an

The Radiant AI stuff sounds impressive, but I'm still not a big fan of Morrowind's Wikipedia-style 'dialogue' system which is apparently getting reused in Oblivion. Also, after reading a bunch of those RPGCodex rants I got the idea that the gameplay mechanics are going to be simplified when compared to Morrowind. Just to name a few of my irks: less skills overall, a huge quest pointing compass, no levitation, no mark and recall, no spears or crossbows oh and, apparently, axes are now blunt weapons. Nonetheless, Oblivion might still be fun despite such little irritations, but I'd rather choose Gothic 3 for my non-linear RPG fix.

It was still a fine game and I had a lot of fun playing and even re-playing it a few times. I clearly remember having much more fun with IWD2 than with the NWN1 OC back in 2002. Party tactics + well designed combat encounters >>> moronic AI + a bunch of randomly placed enemies. I found the 'party vs. party' battle for the holy avenger sword particularly challenging and very well designed. Hopefully, we'll see something similar in NWN2.

Heh, after playing through the Shalebridge Cradle in Thief 3, that haunted mansion in Bloodlines felt like taking a stroll in the park for me. To this date, I don't think any level in any game has kept me on my toes as much as T3's Cradle. BTW, did anyone notice that you can get bonus XP points for not killing anyone at certain locations, like the Sabbat warehouse or the museum. It's pretty hard to accomplish, but with high stealth and obfuscate it can be done.

A lot. For example, all those nifty skill/stat/class/race/alignment...etc. checks are done by scripts. In essence, they are fairly simple scripts but their results add up, and you can easily lose the oversight unless you are careful. FYI, I'm talking about stuff like setting GLOBAL and LOCAL quest and dialogue variables in the infinity engine games. Also, it takes some pretty complex AI scripts to create proper NPC (companion) interactions like those seen in BG2 and PST. Granted, I'm not that familiar with the NWN system, but it should be quite similar from what I've heard. On topic, personally I think that a game length of 30-40 hours might be ok because, for me, enjoying a cRPG primarily depends on the quality of its gameplay. As someone already mentioned, Fallout(1) was pretty short, but to this date it remains one of my favorite games of all times.

If you don't mind playing slightly older games then you might want to take a look into the Heroes of Might and Magic series and Jagged Alliance 2. They are usually heralded as the top dogs of the TBS genre. Indeed, the first two Master of Orion games are excellent, if you can get them to work under a modern OS that is. Just don't bother with the third instalment of the series, it's a very, very different kind of game.

Some random suggestions off the top of my head: Super Mario World - one of the first and best platform games for the SNES Zelda: A link to the past - a fun and challenging adventure game Gods - another fun platform/adventure game ported from the PC Super Castlevania 4 - vampire hunting at its best on the SNES Donkey Kong Country 1/2/3 - barrels o' fun (pun intended) Super Metroid - possibly the ultimate SNES platform/adventure game, certainly worth a try. Final Fantasy 6 - a.k.a. FF3 in the US. It has a decent story and some very memorable music. Chrono Trigger - undoubtedly the best JRPG I've every played, a definitive must. In summary, my tip would definitively be Chrono Trigger. It's quite an amazing game, featuring an engaging plot focused on time travel with several unexpected turns and multiple endings based on your decisions throughout the game, interesting joinable characters with well developed personalities and cool backstories, wonderful hand painted art combined with a superb music score and best of all NO FREAKING RANDOM COMBAT ENCOUNTERS! Personally, I found it much more enjoyable than any of the Final Fantasy games I've played. :cool: Hell yeah, and the situation wasn't much better with some of the PSX releases either. Whenever I'm replaying Final Fantasy Tactics I get a few chuckles from the occasional dialogue misconceptions.

^Same here. BTW, it might just be me popping up at the wrong time, but somehow I get the impression that the overall maturity of the topics discussed there has reduced from the time when the NWN2 forums were here at Obsidian. Whenever I go there I see topics like "NWN2 could learn a lot from <insert favorite MMORPG here> don't you think?" and "Make the <insert favorite class here> more balanced for PvP!". Sure, I've seen some quality topics as well i.e. some discussions on resting and stealth implementation but overall, I'd say that the majority of the people posting there have a radically different view of NWN2 when compared to my own expectations, and that's the main reason why don't post there. Oh, and also because their weird "bioboards" are way to slow for my pathetic 56k modem connection.

BTW, there is a Win32 port of Duke3D which utilizes OpenGL graphics and allows the game to run on Windows, complete with a fully functional multiplayer mode. You still need the original game files for the port to work though.

Oh come on, his ingenious use of vents and shafts for "role-playing purposes" in DX:IW almost rivals the fabled application of crates and barrels in NWN. Now, if someone were to combine those two ideas we could finally get the ultimate RPG!

Well, I remember back when DX:IW was about to see the light of day for the first time, Spector kept on harping about 'the glory streamlining' in most of his interviews, and I think he definitively shares a part of the blame. Some of the games on that list rank among my absolute favorites, and as I've already said, I'd love to see Spector make such a game again. :cool:

Hmm, after the DX:IW "streamlining = tEh fu7Ur3!" fiasco, I'm not exactly holding my breath. Nonetheless, I'd love to see Spector surprise me, and make a great game once again.