Brian D. Lawson interview about NWN 2 and stuff

[Kaftan Barlast]

Excellent idea.  I know one of the designers at Bioware had to create a NWN module as part of his hiring process.  It's probably standard practice to do things like that.  Of course, being at the university, it occurs to me that you know more about that than I do. :D

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Yeah, the problem with the games we will be doing at Uni is that we dont have enough time for the actual story and character design. Its basicly 95% tech and 5% story because there simply isnt enough time for anything else.

 

Doing a story with the NWN2 toolset would allow me to concetrate on the story and characters. Of course, Id need to send a copy of NWN2 to go with my portfolio so potential employers could play it (if that is legal)

Edited November 15, 2005 by Kaftan Barlast

[Atreides]

I want NWN2 to give the player the option on either ending the game as the valiant savior/destroyer of worlds or ending as a local drunk in the gutter.

 

Possible scenario: The end-boss is sitting in his floating castle, having the world at its grip. The main character can choose between:

 

<snip>

 

4) Ignore everything, get drunk and see some other guy get crowned as king/emperor. You puke on your own pants in the gutter and laugh at yourself and your party-members leave you. The End.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't think you need to wait till the end to do that. You could have the "drunk ending" button available in the interface the whole game. Well, maybe there might be a "It is too dangerous to become a drunk hobo here" warning depending on the situation but yeah.

Edited November 15, 2005 by Atreides

[metadigital]

Let me enter Ramza mode.  *Shrug*  You really can't stop me anyhow.

 

I really tire of the way developers treat the stories.  There were two ideas in the Black Hound that I found particularly noteworthy.  One was a truly sliding scale of reputation that the design team translated into an extensive library of epithets.  The second was that the story wasn't all about saving the world.  It was about the main character.  Under that guideline, the team had the opporunity to fashion an appealing story for more player types.

 

I guess the fact is, either the players don't want anything new or the publishers don't want to take a chance that the players don't want anything new.  In either case, we're denied a setting that transcends the age old formula of a single character (or party) saving the kingdom (or the world or the  Universe).

 

I plan on purchasing NWN2.  It's shaping up quite nicely.  ...But I really can't help but think that the developers have played the "savior" card too often.  It's not that saving the universe is bad.  It's that it requires so much saving.  How about I save myself?  How about I take over the city for my own evil ends?  How about I decide it's time to clean up my own little area of the world?  We don't need a character who starts as a farmer and saves the kingdom.  We need a character who starts as a farmer and needs to fight like hell to save his farm.

 

Sure, provide an opportunity for a little fame and celebrity.  Give the players who need to be the golden haired savior in every game their due.  ...But have a thought for those of us who might be willing to shell out some cash just to save our wife.  Maybe something for those folks who just want to run a crime syndicate in one of the cities of the realm.  The sky is the limit when we can rise above the need to save the whole enchilada.  Maybe we don't need saving at all.  Maybe someone else needs saving from us.

 

I agree that there should be a cogent story, but that story need not be the same story told over and over again.

 

Meanwhile, it was the novel approach that the Black Hound promised more than anything else that appealed to me. We'll never see that game.  That ship has sailed, been caught in a storm, and sunk already.  Nevertheless, one ship does not make the whole fleet.  We can still look for something more from our games.  Saving the world is a great idea.  Sometimes I want to turn on my computer and save the world.  It might be nice, however, to expect a little more variety from our computer games.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah. Outlaw Josey Wales.

[mkreku]

4) Ignore everything, get drunk and see some other guy get crowned as king/emperor. You puke on your own pants in the gutter and laugh at yourself and your party-members leave you. The End.

This sounds a lot like the new Matrix game: you actually get to choose between the red and the blue pill, and if you take the pill that returns you to the fake world, the game just ends. I thought that was pretty funny.

[Reveilled]

4) Ignore everything, get drunk and see some other guy get crowned as king/emperor. You puke on your own pants in the gutter and laugh at yourself and your party-members leave you. The End.

This sounds a lot like the new Matrix game: you actually get to choose between the red and the blue pill, and if you take the pill that returns you to the fake world, the game just ends. I thought that was pretty funny.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

See, they could have made a whole game about accountancy instead. Now that would be hard-core roleplaying. "

[metadigital]

http://pc.ign.com/articles/666/666403p1.html

 

New preview

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

...

Alignment and morality in general are going to play very important roles in this sequel thanks to the relative fluidity of character alignment. Any paladin seeking to slaughter a helpless old woman might find themselves in a bit of a pickle. As it is in real life, it's much easier to fall down into the cellar than it is to climb your way back out.

...

Very good. I like this.

...

Much of these consequences will be visible thanks to the companion system. Players will be able to take three of these characters (with more than 10 total choices) with them to help with combat (they can be directly controlled or AI controlled) or interact with. In fact, lots of story will be focused around these extra characters. Where Neverwinter Nights used "henchmen" as battle partners most of the time, these new "companions" will be much more than walking meat with weapons in the eyes of a gamer. Much like those in Knights of the Old Republic 2, these characters will have their own motivations and needs. How you talk to them and treat them will not only change your relationships but also alter the story and even the companion alignments.

...

Worrying. I hope the issues we experienced in K2 have all been addressed adequately (e.g. shallow companions and backstories).

...

Also shown were day/night cycles which bring the sun around to cast correct shadows during the day and cast a blanket of stars over the world at night.

...

Does this mean there will be a more accurate representation of the passage of time in the game?

...

But while Obsidian is hard at work trying to finish up Neverwinter Nights 2 for a summer release, they're also hard at work on another unannounced project. All we have at the moment is speculation based off of some concept art of dwarves resembling those popularized by Snow White but we do know is that this new game will use Unreal Engine 3. Urquhart also mentioned their desire to do a Knights of the Old Republic 3 should LucasArts desire it in the future. I'd be surprised if they didn't.

...

ZOMG! KotOR3 CONFIRMED USING THE NEW ELECTRON ENGINE!

[Cantousent]

I got a kick out of the movie link, meta.

 

I also like some of the things from NWN2, but I would still like something even more robust. Still, let's see how this one works.

[metadigital]

"Dying ain't much of a living, boy."

[Gabrielle]

"Dying ain't much of a living, boy."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Eastwood.

[Gabrielle]

ZOMG! KotOR3 CONFIRMED USING THE NEW ELECTRON ENGINE!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's a step up from the steam engine.

[Reveilled]

A Party of four is good news, I think. Five would have been better, but I remember one of the moments I most enjoyed in Neverwinter Nights was when thanks to a bug I ended up with three henchmen, and for the first time since purchasing the game I truly felt like I was playing D&D. It wasn't quite the same with just one or two henchmen.

[Lyric Suite]

The whole henchemen system never made sense to me, it's one of the reasons i found NWN to be so hideous...

Edited November 15, 2005 by Lyric Suite

[alanschu]

I've been told flat out that the world is flat. I'm not going accept that is fact either. Sorry.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Doesn't stop you when the statement is something you agree with.

 

 

Why on Earth would the developers state that it is built from scratch if it isn't?

[alanschu]

Popular Opinion Does Not = Fact

 

All that proves is the 9 other people are actually using their brains.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Actually when you're discussing subjective interpretation it's about the only thing to go on.

[Judge Hades]

The Challenge Rating system in DnD/d20 is optimized for a party of four so that four should be an adequate number. It sure beats a party of 2 or 3. I just hope the difficulty value for this game, especially on the hard core DnD setting is actually hard unlike NWN 1, SoU, HotU, KotOR, and KotOR 2.

 

I don't see why Obsidian would want to do business with LA after they screwed them over with KotOR 2. Just let the series die. If Obsidian wants to do another Star Wars CRPG, plan it as a trilogy from the start. Let the player be able to use the same set of characters throughout all three games. Make the games long enough that the player can actually get attached to his or her character, then do the cliffhanger endings. It will have a far more dramatic effect.

 

The only real reason, at least for me, why the cliffhanger ending failed in KotOR 2 because in the end I felt nothing for my character. I didn't grow attach to him at all. Now if Bioware designed KotOR 1 that max level was 10th and KotOR 2 takes you to 15th to 18th, and you use Revan throughout both games the cliffhanger would have more effect.

 

Just my 2 scents worth on that.

[Kaftan Barlast]

I hope they have something of KoTOR party system so that youll have access to other party members if you want without having to walk all the way to Village X to fetch them or worse, lose them for the rest of the game if you dont take them in your party a la Baldurs Gate.

 

 

The reason why K2s ending failed was that it was anticlimactic. It failed to deliver that which it had built you up to believe it would. Instead you killed Kreiah, saw a 2s cutscene of the Ebon hawk leaving and that was it.

 

 

If Obsidian wants to do another Star Wars CRPG, plan it as a trilogy from the start. Let the player be able to use the same set of characters throughout all three games. Make the games long enough that the player can actually get attached to his or her character

 

Id rather see them do a non-fantasy IP but if theyre going SW again, thats the way to do it.

[Judge Hades]

Yeah, an original non-fantasy IP series would be great but I don't see that happening any time soon.

[Musopticon?]

Really, post-apoc which is not Fallout-like, would rock on so many levels. I mean, does it always have to be mutants and deserts? How about a flooded world? Frozen jungles? Underwater? Post-NotLD? Hand of God?

 

And while I'm at it: Why does the end of the world have to result as just a rotten/torn down form of our old world, government, society and all? There was some tribe culture in FO 2, why not use it more?

Edited November 15, 2005 by Musopticon?

[Judge Hades]

I rather have a solidly built Cyberpunk CRPG or a hard sci fi space opera.

Edited November 15, 2005 by Hades_One

[Volourn]

"The whole henchemen system never made sense to me, "

 

Another person brainwashed by Bioware, and Obsidian.

 

In DnD, henchmen are supposed to be NPC friends/allies that choose to travel with you. What the joinable npcs were in the OC were Expert Hirelings. SOU, HOTU, BG series, and PST had henchmen. KOTOR, and KOTOR had (mostly) forced companions where they stole the player's option to role-play.

 

P.S. This is NOT bashing BIO, or Obsidian other than to state the fact that they have the whole idea behind henchmen wrong and are now brainwashing players on the actual DnD definitions. <>

[Judge Hades]

We should just use the term party members instead of henchmen or hirelings.

[Musopticon?]

Wasn't it said before by Obs that the ones traveling with you were to be called companions, not henchmen; as in "hired-men". I think there's a clear difference between those.

Edited November 15, 2005 by Musopticon?

[Volourn]

Henchmen are NOT hirelings. Henchmen are friends, companions,a nd allies who choose to travel with you. Expert Hirelings are hirelings who get paid because because they are epxerts in their field and can include adventurers or any NPC with an important, useful, and specially trained skill that the PC(s) might need.

 

Again, the OC had Expert Hirelings - adventurers with specialized skills that you paid to adventure with you. SOU, and HOTU had henchmen. So did BG, PST, and FO.

 

Don't get tricked by BIo and Obsidian's false D&D terminology.

 

Again, henchmen are NOT 'hirelings'.

 

Imoen was a henchmen. Err Henchwoman.

 

Linu in the OC was a Expert Hireling.

 

Linu in HOTU was a Henchman. Err.. Henchwoman.

[Musopticon?]

Ermm...how does that matter if they're going to be called companions?

[Volourn]

Because. They're henchmen. That's why. That's D&D terminology for a D&D game.