BREAKING NEWS: NEW BATCH OF NWN2 SCREENIES

[Darque]

nifty

[Volourn]

Looks great! Better than brown poo at least!!! Anyone who thinks brown poo looked good 4 years in a certain game are someone's opinion who doesn't wash now.

 

The buildings look cool. The characters look nice. Except the ogre. Not impressed much with him.

[alanschu]

I imagine they are still trying to be somewhat conservative in places for polygon counts.

[karka]

The good:

 

 

the bad:

 

 

and the ugly:

 

[alanschu]

I don't mind that interior shot personally.

[Dark_Raven]

Beautiful I say.

[mr insomniac]

The ogre's not bad for a screenshot. Animation might look even better, depending on how complex the model is.

[Jast]

Graphics look good, but I want to know more about gameplay. Oblivon for example focused too much on pretty pictures then good deep gameplay.

Edited May 1, 2006 by Jast

[Kaftan Barlast]

Graphics look good, but I want to know more about gameplay. Oblivon for example focused too much on pretty pictures then good deep gameplay.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Since the actual game mechanics is the only part of Aurora that remains, its a safe bet that the gameplay of NWN2 will be pretty much the same as in NWN1. From what Ive heard, theyre recycling animations and whatnot for it too.

 

 

Well ok, the interface will be different, youll have control of the entire party, therell be tweaks and youll be able to stack up to three actions per party member when paused.

[Volourn]

As Kafatn mentioned, it should play pretty much like NWN with of cours esome twinks. Remember, I don't think you are *forced* to control the npcs. I *think* they have AI options too.

 

 

"youll be able to stack up to three actions per party member when paused."

 

This sin't that impressive. Afterall, in NWN1, you could stack unlimited actions for your PC for all eternity if you so wished...

[Llyranor]

AI overall is apparently quite improved too.

[alanschu]

I thought NWN capped at 4 actions in the action queue.

[Volourn]

"AI overall is apparently quite improved too."

 

Lets' hope. I think NWN's AI is underrated (espicially in comapring to other games *cough* BG and cloudkill *cough*).

 

 

 

"thought NWN capped at 4 actions in the action queue."

 

Nope. Unlimited. Virtually anyways. I can stack so many actions in a row that they don't even show on the screen in the queue. Best way to test this is grab tons of potions and start drinking them real quick... Or spam spells or magic items...

[Jast]

Graphics look good, but I want to know more about gameplay. Oblivon for example focused too much on pretty pictures then good deep gameplay.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Since the actual game mechanics is the only part of Aurora that remains, its a safe bet that the gameplay of NWN2 will be pretty much the same as in NWN1. From what Ive heard, theyre recycling animations and whatnot for it too.

 

 

Well ok, the interface will be different, youll have control of the entire party, therell be tweaks and youll be able to stack up to three actions per party member when paused.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Makes me wonder what the interface will look like.

[StillLife]

Screens look adequate enough.

 

This sin't that impressive. Afterall, in NWN1, you could stack unlimited actions for your PC for all eternity if you so wished...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I hate queuing actions in RPGs to begin with. What a horrible, horrible way to suck players right out of the game and make them feel like they're watching battles rather than engaging in them. <_< I understand pause is a necessary side effect of trying to have controllable party members in real-time, but there's no excuse for the queue crap to begin with. Unlimited queues are asinine.

[Gromnir]

nwn2 sucks. you know how we know? 'cause we saw a child in a screenshot. children will continue to be unkillable 'cause certain euro countries has some laws 'bout such things, and 'cause atari probably don't want a MA rating here in the States even if they could release such a game in europe. and as we all know from having followed the codexians, a game with unkillable children is NOT a real crpg. therefore, as is proved by means o' simple logic, nwn2 must suck.

 

is a shame really, 'cause we actually prefer many of the nwn2 screenies to stuff we seen from oblivion. no nightmarish faces alone is a vast improvement over bethesda

Edited May 2, 2006 by Gromnir

[Volourn]

Nonsense. They're absolutely awesome. And, i never felt out of the game. In fact, I felt in the game, and didn't have the need to be a rush. I could plan future actions much like a full fledge tb games and still have time to abored qeued actions if the situation changed...

 

No killable children in NWN2? Weird... Espicially since it was/is possible to kill children in NWN1...

Edited May 2, 2006 by Volourn

[Jumjalum]

The outdoor scenes are magnificent, the indoor ones remind me of NWN1 though. I agree with StillLife about the action queues, they take all the immediacy out of combat.

[Volourn]

And, tb doesn't? Weird... Besdies, no one is forcing you to use them if you don't want to so what's the beef?

Edited May 2, 2006 by Volourn

[StillLife]

Nonsense. They're absolutely awesome. And, i never felt out of the game. In fact, I felt in the game, and didn't have the need to be a rush. I could plan future actions much like a full fledge tb games and still have time to abored qeued actions if the situation changed...

 

No killable children in NWN2? Weird... Espicially since it was/is possible to kill children in NWN1...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Pre-planning actions more than two in advance, when in the thick of combat shouldn't even be feasible if the game is appropriately complex and challenging. It's a mechanic for people who don't really like to think and react on the fly when it comes to combat, and games shouldn't be based around those people.

 

And, tb doesn't? Weird... Besdies, no one is forcing you to use them if you don't want to so what's the beef?

 

Volourn, that's like saying no one is forcing you to use some Uber Sword of Unbalancing you find in the game, decent character builds, or health potions if they make the game too easy. Outside of difficulty setting choices, it's the developers job to keep things from being too easy for the player.

[Volourn]

"Volourn, that's like saying no one is forcing you to use some Uber Sword of Unbalancing you find in the game, decent character builds, or health potions if they make the game too easy. Outside of difficulty setting choices, it's the developers job to keep things from being too easy for the player."

 

Queue doesn't really make the game any easier unlike an overpowered weapon or too many heal potions. There's no need (and no reason) to queue 2-3 rounds ahead. Afterall, if you are say catsing magic missle at a fellow wizard and you notice the first magic missle is blcoked harmlessly (ie. enemy has shield up) you'll have to cancel your queue anyways (or waste your spells to no avail). So, like I said, it gives no advantage in the game. It just makes the gameplay smoother so you don't have to wait until the next round to choose your next move - you are alreayd ready. In fact, it makes it closer to tb combat this way.

 

It's no different than in tb combat when you already have an idea what spell/skill you will use in the enxt round.

 

Example: You see a dragon. As a caster what would you do? Buff yourself (short term one(s) since you should alreayd have long term ones than your best offensive ones.

 

As a wizard: You'll liekly go this:

 

1. Haste

 

2. Fire shield

 

2. Best offensive spells

 

Unless you get injured and need to heal (or run), you alreayd know what your character is going to do. This is ture no matter the game style. An exmaple of this is TOEE or Fo (both tb games) where I mostly knew what i was gonna do 3 turns away (if not further). it doesn't take genius to figure this out.

 

Of course, don't qeue too far or you simply have to cancel it and start anew. No big worries. Thinsg change in combat all the time.

[Tigranes]

It's a mechanic for people who don't really like to think and react on the fly

 

Actually, it's for people that don't like real time combat.

[Judge Hades]

I like turn base combat.

 

Also, I don't mind unkillable children. I rarely go out in start killing children for fun but I can use the toolset to make them killable.

[Hurlshort]

I'm happily impressed. I think it looks top-notch, and I can definitely see how a modder will be able to manipulate things. It's dreamy.

[Atreides]

Looks simply awesome. I'll be playing NWN2 for a very long time, factoring in mods. Hopefully I'll eventually get a gfx card worthy of maxing out its settings.

 

I hope I can program scripts for my NPC mages to follow when in certain situations.

 

Say I can go to my companion mage and hotkey initiate Script Defense1, which makes him go

 

1. Spell shield

2. Improved invisibility

 

while I switch to managing my other NPCs etc.