aVENGER

Despite being an IE veteran at the time I acquired it, IWD2 still managed to offer me a fairly challenging experiance. IMO, the early levels were pretty difficult (Shaegarne Bridge, Horde Fortress) with the later ones becoming progressively easier as your party was gaining more XP. There were a few harder fights later on (i.e. the Guardian, the Holy Avenger battle and the Fields of Slaughter fights) but it was mostly a cakewalk after reaching party level 6. The end battle was kind of annoying as well, but that was more due to the various bugs than because of the actual difficulty of the encounter. Yeah, even though the enemy AI constantly cheated with illegal spell triggers/contingencies, it didn't really matter. It was pretty much True Sight -> Ruby Ray -> Breach -> hack to pieces -> repeat ad infinitum.

Here you go: Specialist School Opposition School(s) Abjurer Abjuration Alteration Conjurer Conjuration/Summoning Divination Diviner Divination Conjuration/Summoning Enchanter Enchantment/Charm Evocation Illusionist Illusion Necromancy Invoker Invocation/Evocation Enchantment/Charm, Conjuration Necromancer Necromancy Illusion Transmuter Alteration Abjuration, Necromancy

I don't think Josh Sawyer would really appreciate that, as the story you request was actually his creation.

Unfortunately, the VB/FO3 engine is now a property of Bethesda. They acquired it alongside the Fallout license.

Turn-based combat isn't outdated, it's just rarely implemented properly. Games that implement TB combat in a tedious mind-numbing ways (i.e. Cops 2170) give the general system a bad rep. OTOH, there are some games (JA2, ToEE, HoMM3) that have a complex but still fun TB system which adds more of depth to combat than most of the new age twitch fest RT systems can ever hope to achieve.

Damn shame BIS' BG3 and FO3 were canceled, they would have set some new standards in the genre. Somehow, I doubt we'll be able to say the same for their upcoming incarnations.

Agreed. This interview sounds pretty good, but than again Morrowind also seemed like an incredible genre-revolutionizing RPG on paper before it was released. I remember reading about some of its highly praised features in the FAQ and feeling really astonished. But after I've bought and played it, I felt that it was not such a great experience for me. Although most of the features were there, their execution wasn't so good, and ultimately, I was disappointed with the game. Still, the implications of using SPECIAL and the possiblity of Bethesda hiring developers who worked of the previous Fallout games do give me some hope for FO3.

Duck and Cover (a Fallout/RPG fansite) has done an interview with Bethesda's executive producer - Todd Howard regarding the upcoming Fallout 3 sequel: The interview Some interesting quotes: Hmm, the interview does sound promising, and it raises some of my hopes for FO3 again. Sure, it won't be BIS' Van Buren but it might turn out to be a decent game after all, and not merely 'Morrowind with guns'. BTW, that last part kind of intrigued me. Wouldn't it be somewhat ironic that, due to the recent events, the Troika developers who worked on the original FO1, get hired by Bethesda's and finally get a chance of making the sequel as a result of their own company going down? This is pure speculation, of course, but it would be great to see the creators of the series work on the long awaited sequel.

Plus, if J.E. Sawyer joined Obsidian and the Troika devs served as creative consultants, the game would be absolutely perfect. Sigh, too bad it's so unlikely to happen though.

According to RPGCodex Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart bought all of the art and texture assets created by Black Isle Studious for the Fallout games (minus FBOS) and perhaps even the artwork of the other BIS games as well. Hmm... shear nostalgia or a profound business plan? In any case, let's get the new forums started with some good old speculation. "

Hello, I noticed that the all of the NWN2 forums were moved to Bioware's website today. In my humble opinion, this is a pretty bad PR move. Obsidian was just starting to form a NWN2 community and Bioware seemingly 'stole' it from them. Many Obsidian community members are getting very upset with this, even up to the point that they don't intend to follow the development of NWN2 anymore. As I understand it, the decision for moving the forums did not come from Obsidian, but from the publisher - Atari, so I would like to propose a solution which could possibly satisfy both parties. My suggestion is as follows: how about restoring the Obsidian NWN2 forums AND keeping the new ones at Bioware as well? Nowdays, it is not uncommon for developers and publishers to have two separate official forums for the same game (i.e. Ion Storm and Eidos for Thief 3, Lucas Arts for KotOR1/2... etc). Why not attempt a compromise and do the same here? Create one set of forums at Bioware but retain the NWN2 boards here on Obsidian as well. That way, Bioware can keep their large NWN1 fanbase involved in the NWN2 project, and Obsidian can still build a community of its very own. IMO, such an approach would benefit both companies much more than the current situation. Note: I've already sent this as a PM to the forum administrator (Guildmaster) but I was wondering what other people thought about it. Would you like Obsidian's NWN2 forum restored or do you prefer the new Bioware hosted forums? Vote, and post your thoughts.

I personally liked Boromir's departure from Osgiliath in the TTT extended edition: "Remember today little brother...". That whole flashback added a lot to both his and Faramir's characters, and even tried to explain the very awkward portrayal of Denethor and Faramir in the movies. Some other favorite scenes of mine would be Frodo finally succumbing to the ring at Mount Doom and the intercuts with the battle before the Black Gate. Also, Gandalf fighting the Balrog in the beginning of TTT really gave me the shivers the first time I saw it, especially the perfectly coordinated music score.

How about using a Fatigue gauge instead of Mana, like in Arcanum for example? Fighters would eventually grow tired from swinging their weapons and mages would get exhausted after casting spells. It's pretty even in the end.

So? It seems wrong to me from a basic balance perspective. No, not all magic, but the majority of spells are used offensively.

In don't really see why this bothers you so much. Dragon Age is not using D&D rules, it's BIO's custom franchise, and they are making the rules system for it. Personally, I'm for the mana system. As much as I like D&D, I always thought its spellcasting system was a bit clunky. At level 1, a fighter can swing his sword for the whole day without suffering fatigue yet a wizard may cast only two magic missiles and that's it? Bah!

8. Quallity Assurance Lead I firmly believe that a well organized QA department is vital to the success of complex games, which most cRPGs tend to be of course. People often underestimate the importance of that position. A good QA team should not merely track bugs, but also offer active suggestions and feedback to the developers about various game aspects, i.e. which features are fun and which are not. Some ideas might seem fine on paper, but OTOH, their actual in-game implementation may not be that great. The QA team should recognize this early in the design process and make suggestions on how to improve such things or replace them entirely. A good QA Lead should coordinate the exchange of ideas between the devs and the testers and accordingly organize the play testing process, saving the company much valuable time and money. He should also have (at the very lest) some basic understanding of game design, programming/scripting, art design and general computer knowledge, so that he could easier identify the problems and relate to the solutions. He should also keep in touch with the game's fanbase and occasionally query them on some game aspects and note their opinions. Hmm, makes you kind of wonder how VTM:Bloodlines, the NWN OC, and ToEE might have turned out had somebody pointed out just a few simple things to their developers, i.e. fighting infinitely respawning enemies is not fun, finding magical items in random barrels of Beggar's Nest is odd, my character has no motivation to follow the main plot... etc. :cool:

Well, as long as Chris Avellone is involved, I'll buy the game just to get more of his incredible writing style. B) Somehow, I find that most of the recent day cRPGs lack in this department, or perhaps Torment simply spoiled me...

Hmm, wasn't Blackamoor the unconfirmed name for BIS' canceled project Jefferson (aka BG3)? IHMO, the ex-BIS and now Obsidian developers should be the least to blame for that unfortunate event...