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I just saw Bale in Equilibrium. IMO, he did a great job portraying the cleric Preston and I think he could make a good Bruce/Batman. Anyway, I'm looking forward to this movie. :cool:

Heh, I'm glad you're enjoying it, but be careful, I've been getting some reports that the basement level of the improved ST guild can be too hard for low level parties, so try taking it on at about 1.5 million XP per character. Sigh, I wish I could have implemented my original idea for that particular component. You see, I actually wanted to make it a completely stealth-based, sneaksy type mission with fully optional combat, patrolling guards, disguises, silent kills, many skill checks for bluff/intimidate and even a few alternative plot solutions which, among other things, included kidnapping Aran Linvail and replacing him with a doppelgenger. In short, it was supposed to be a homage to the Thief games where the accent would have been put on stealth and wits, rather than solving everything through combat. Unfortunately, at some point I got so tired of fighting the Infinity Engine and creating clunky workarounds for some very basic things (for example scripting guards to hear and detect movement) that I scrapped the whole thing, salvaged some of the better AI scripts, and retrofited everything into a simple combat oriented encounter. In any case, I marvel at Echon's patience and perseverance for what he managed to accomplish with the BG1 version of the IE, it must have taken a lot of time and effort. Great job!

Yeah, it had a nice ring to it... so I stole it

Heh, sorry I didn't notice. I had the avatars display set to off for faster loading... I'm still on dial-up

Thanks. It's Garrett from this Thief 3 poster though I've edited the image a bit.

Here you go: BTW, in case anyone's wondering, German censorship laws are less strict about nudity, but extreme violence is always a big NO.

Yes, it did. :cool: BTW, there is a way to restore that feature to the US version.

Great work guys. This is going straight to my "must download when I finally get the damn ADSL" list.

Gothic 1 was rated 'T' (teen), Gothic 2 was rated 'M'(mature) in the US, while both games were rated '12+' (teen) in Germany.

That translation is somewhat misleading. It should be: "In the beginning of the game you find out that Magic has mysteriously disappeared from the world, though you can reacquire it later on through quests." Anyway, here's my own translation of the whole feature summary: The world is about 3 times larger than in Gothic 2 Riding animals could possibly be included There are desert, forest and snow terrain types You will encounter location specific monsters based on climate and terrain type Animals have their own daily cycle, they actively search for prey and hunt in packs When you kill Orcs around a besieged town, the townsfolk may start a rebellion (i.e. support you) There are 20 towns The Hero's actions will affect his reputation Even more freedom of choice There will be no more Chapters The plot offers multiple paths to victory and possibly multiple endings You can meet some old friends (from the previous games) who will have an agenda of their own You can hire Mercenaries to fight for you You can trade with just about anyone There are 6 ruling races (factions?) spread around the continent One chooses a Faction much later in the game There are 6 jobs classes like Smith or Gladiator You can participate in Gladiator fights Shields are in Magic staffs/wands are in The UI is much more intuitive (mouse based) and the controls are fully customizable The world is not build from tiles and blocks. Each location is uniquely designed. Ragdoll effects are in Real time lighting effects are in The Orcs have won the war, enslaved the population and now control the majority of the continent The Orcs are no longer simple monsters. They are an intelligent race with their own culture and goals The magic has mysteriously 'disappeared' from the world (but only in the beginning of the game, you can reacquire it later on) You start the game as an experienced warrior There are 3 Magic schools Summoning powerful creatures (i.e. Demons) is now only possible in certain places No multiplayer mode Hi-quality screenshot scans: http://xardas.sohosted.com/screenshots.html

Hmm... Star Citadel 2 perhaps? "

In the world of Gothic Orcs are actually supposed to be formidable foes, unlike D&D where they are mere CR 1/2 monsters. That said, it is entirely possible to take down singled out Orcs (one at a time) by level 10 if you carefully time your swings in order to exploit their reckless combat style.

Check the Ascension Readme for more detailed information.

Just occasionally... I used to visit more while the NWN2 forums were here. Back on topic, Ascension is an interesting mod and I would recommend it at least for the sake of seeing how Gaider envisioned the ending sequence. It makes a bit more sense from the RP point of view and it's certainly more fun than the whole 'kill Melissan 4 times in a row' deal.

Here you go Ellester:

Yes, this only happens if you have the 'Ascension' mod installed. It's a semi-official mod created by the lead designer of ToB David Gaider which, among other things, alters the ending of the game and increases the difficulty of some major battles. You can find it here.

How far did you train your weapon skill? IIRC, you need at least 30% for the weapon movements to feel fluid and smooth. The damage is based on your weapon, your Strength and your skill rating combined, so wielding a slow two hander with 10% skill and 15 STR is not going to produce a great effect. Also, keep in mind that blunt weapons are better against undead and constructs than bladed weapons. Final advice: pick a weapon skill, max it out and regularly raise your Strength. If you have high STR, the difference between 100% and 30% is incredible due to the 'critical hit' system.

My thoughts exactly. While I'm not particularly interested in the game itself, the idea of integrating such dynamic content into RPGs is simply amazing. Imagine creating your own custom weapons, magic, creatures etc. and have the world realistically adjust and react to them. Also, having a dynamic character generator could adjust the player's avatar according to his physical stats and even react to various in-game events. For example, you could get hit by a fireball and suffer burn marks or get slashed by a sword and retain the scars. Good stuff. :cool:

Heh, that was my general strategy as well, but IMO, obfuscate gets kind of overpowered by level 5, when you get the ability to execute stealth kills without breaking the invisibility mode. Also, it appeared to me that the enemies didn

I disagree with you here. Wheather the game is difficult or not doesn't solely depend on the quality of the henchmen AI, it is a matter of proper game/level design and balance. For example, if an encounter is balanced for a 4 player party and you only have 1 henchmen it will naturally be more difficult, no matter how good the henchmen AI is. Wrong. There was nothing special in the NWN henchmen AI, especially not in the fighter scripts. They were simple 'attack nearest' variations. However, the OC henchmen had illegal feats and much better stats than the PC could get at the same level, thus they were superior in combat early on. IMO, as long as the AI does not cheat by employing illegal operations which a human player couldn't use it doesn't make the game easier. Likewise, poor henchmen AI does not neceserrily make a game harder... just more frustrating.

Actually, the protagonist of Gothic2 is not really that predefined... he is just your PC from Gothic1, and so his history is naturally based on the events which you have experianced in the prequel. There is nothing strictly predetermined beyond that.

Well, in the beginning combat will most likely feel pretty awkward. But if you persevere beyond the first impression, and actually manage to understand the basic concept of the player skill + character skill system, you can become fairly good at it. IMO, it was the most engaging combat implementation I ever experienced in a RPG. As for the story, I think it's decent, as long as you don't expect a Torment style epic. Also, it makes more sense if you've played the prequel. And lastly, a small warning. No matter what kind of character you build, you DO NOT want to join the Mage Guild on your first playthrough. Trust me! <_<

While I generally agree with you here, I still believe that the AI implementations we've seen so far have only showed a small part of their true capabilities. This especially stands true for the NWN1 henchmen AI. I remember, way back when NWN first came out, people immediately started noticing gaping flaws in the henchmen AI (i.e. casting Sleep at Undead creatures, steeping over traps instead of disarming them etc.), but then one of the community members actually decided to do something about it, and within a few months, he created and implemented a set of much more advanced AI scripts. Now, my question is, if this was already possible from the start, then why on earth didn't the developers do it themselves right away instead of waiting for the expansions? The answer is probably the same one which we get when considering the shortcomings of many recent day games - inadequate development time. This is a very good point. While the AI can be substantially improved in many areas, it could never react to a given tactical situation in a way a human would. Sure, one can script multiple approaches to many events, but the trouble is coordinating all those scripts into something meaningful. For example, even a simple thing like pulling off a spell combo (i.e. free action + web + spider spawn) can be extremely difficult to program and execute properly with multiple AI controlled characters. To summarize, while I think that the AI can never truly replace full human control in terms of tactics, I strongly believe that even the current AI capabilities have not been exploited to their fullest potential. Hopefully, upcoming games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and TES4:Oblivion will actually deliver what they promise, and finally bring us some actual Artificial Intelligence. :cool:

Initially, she doesn't, but you can raise it to 17 by making her read the Tomes of Understanding.