IGN's NWN2 impression

[Tigranes]

Volourn: The thing I didn't like about NWN1 was how it was very noticable that everyone was sort of gliding around, as if you had those little plastic figurines which are placed in a little slot, and you slide them left and right by about 2cm. It was clear that each character had his 'private space' in nwn1 and it was as if each figure was surrounded by a globe, and everyone's globes were bouncing / sliding off each other.

 

However, NWN2 in some of the recent vids I've seen looks even worse on this account. I hold animations to be more important than graphics, so if this is the final version I will be disappointed in that account.

 

(and really, the blood thing is stupid as well. You'd think the sword-point would upon impact release tiny bombs into the blood vessels, then explode.)

[Kaftan Barlast]

The only thing which concerns me is that they still dont seem to have gotten the "clunkiness" out of whats left of Aurora. I suppose its due to the realtime-turnbased mechanics behind it but every animation seems to be really jerk and start-stop. Not even walking or even scrolling the camera is flowing smoothly.

[Volourn]

Aurora has no clunkiness combat wise. You guys are on crack.

 

I couls see, and udnerstand complaints about the OC's story and joinable npcs, as well as all the D&D rules changes. But, combat wise, NWN1 was as close to perfect that real time w/pause (or pseudo turn abse) can be. It curshed the IE, and even the KOTOR series versions (despite the fact that the Odessy engine is a 'pumped up' Aurora - at least graphically but not gameplay wise.

 

As for NWN2, the combat animations look very dissapointing thus far. Still, with 2 months (or so) of quality control, there's still hope to smooth all those rough edges out.

Edited August 17, 2006 by Volourn

[Pidesco]

Aurora has a lot of clunkiness combat wise. Volo is on crack.

 

Single player combat in NWN is dreadful. Things may be different in multiplayer, but I haven't tried it.

[kirottu]

Aurora has a lot of clunkiness combat wise.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I think it

[Calax]

yup this reminds me of Suikoden only with a heck of alot more player control over the castle itself.

 

Suikoden, take a ruined castle or whatever and over the course of the storyline things happen that make it look better.

 

NWN2 (from what I can tell) take a ruined castle and rebuild it make an army of the size of your choosing.

 

albeit the npc recruitment sounds like it's STRAIT from Suikoden.

[Arkan]

Aurora has a lot of clunkiness combat wise. Volo is on crack.

 

Single player combat in NWN is dreadful. Things may be different in multiplayer, but I haven't tried it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I'm going to go ahead and agree with this.

[metadigital]

Watching the Avellone interview makes me wonder what people are complaining about. Sure, there are games out there with better graphics, but not by much. And this game will allow multiplayer (four people, three AI companions and whatever conjured creatures they can produce) in scaled battles. And people recruited to staff the player's stronghold have a direct effect on the final chapter, not to mention they will be led into battle by the player's character.

 

Seems to me some people just don't realise how much fun that will be, or are just enjoying making a fuss. "

Story-driven adventure doesn't rule out the possibility of an open-ended world. Heck, Oblivion was exactly that, only they completely screwed up the main storyline part. It was very possible to make a good story, with good branching multilinearity and actually compelling writing/characters, Bethesda just didn't pull it off.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oblivion comes close but no cigar. It is within the realm of possibility and if anyone can do it it is the Obsidian peeps.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well at least they have kept Special and turn-based for Fallout 3.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Well at least they have kept Special and turn-based for Fallout 3.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Lies. I mean, seriously where did you hear that? From my end of the rumourmill, Bethesda's FO3 will be an FPS/RPG hybrid thatll run on a slightly modified Oblivion engine.

[metadigital]

An unimpeachable source.

 

It is turn-based and real-time (player-selectable, in the options screen). And it uses Special.

[mkreku]

..and then meta woke up from soiling his pants in the sleep. The front of his pants.

[Kaftan Barlast]

I guess we'll just have to get Silvershadow... no uhm.. Silverstrider.. something.. and beat it out of him.

[Dark_Raven]

Aurora? They're still using that old thing? That means crappy looking characters. :angry:

[Kaftan Barlast]

Aurora? They're still using that old thing? That means crappy looking characters.  :angry:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Wakey pakey, Gabs! Youve been here too long not to know this

 

 

Theyre using Electron, which is completely new to about 90%. Unfortunantly, what it does retain from Aurora is the combat mechanics and animations which seem to give it that same jerky, ultra-low-fps feeling.

 

One thing I notice is that the PC has no in-between animations for going from standing completely still to walking or running. It looks a bit strange, it just hops from one animation straight to another

[Volourn]

"Theyre using Electron, which is completely new to about 90%. Unfortunantly, what it does retain from Aurora is the combat mechanics and animations which seem to give it that same jerky, ultra-low-fps feeling."

 

Graphics engine, and toolset are new. Everything else is Aurora but updated.

 

 

"Aurora is the combat mechanics and animations which seem to give it that same jerky, ultra-low-fps feeling."

 

How cna that be when NWN2's combat animations are much worse than NWN1's? The combat mechanics are the same because its the same mechanics (outside of the chnzage of D&D rules) that are used in the KOTOR series, and the IE games.

 

 

"One thing I notice is that the PC has no in-between animations for going from standing completely still to walking or running. It looks a bit strange, it just hops from one animation straight to another"

 

Yeah; but Obsidian promises that's an ancient video, and the newer versions are the best animations of all time fit for games released in 3000.

 

 

 

"That means crappy looking characters."

 

A. Aurora had good looking characters for the most part.

 

B. The graphics engine is BRAND NEW (though, imo, it has the same style that NWN1 has).

Edited August 17, 2006 by Volourn

[Kaftan Barlast]

How cna that be when NWN2's combat animations are much worse than NWN1's?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

They're not worse, theyre just as bad as NWN1 and the KoTORs. I know its easy to forget it if you play alot or Aurora games, I didnt realise until a friend of mine asked me if his GFX was broken because KoTOR stuttered so much. Theres ws nothing wrong with the hardware, just the way the engine handles switching between animations.

[Arkan]

How cna that be when NWN2's combat animations are much worse than NWN1's?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

They're not worse, theyre just as bad as NWN1 and the KoTORs. I know its easy to forget it if you play alot or Aurora games, I didnt realise until a friend of mine asked me if his GFX was broken because KoTOR stuttered so much. Theres ws nothing wrong with the hardware, just the way the engine handles switching between animations.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

No, NWN's combat animations (sidestep of death or whatever notwithstanding) were very fluid, as were KotOR's (both of them).

[Arkan]

A. Aurora had good looking characters for the most part.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah, well, that will be your little secret, Voly.

[Tigranes]

Volourn, I described exactly why and where I felt (in my opinion, of course) that NWN1 looked clunky, and NWN2 as well (somewhat differently). Especially since, at least in MCA interview's version, the 'waiting / on guard' animations are extremely static and the flow between them and action are not fluid enough, it does not look like a real battle.

 

To me, I would be happy with 2D sprites as long as it looked realistic. Animations are much more important for that purpose than model / texture quality and whatnot, IMO, and that's where I lodge my criticism, not on the latter.

 

Volourn, if you want to disagree (about nwn1, since it seems you agree on nwn2) and put out a counter-argument, kindly do so by addressing my argument then telling me what you think is wrong. If not, feel free to disagree in your private space instead of contributing to the international illogic factor.

 

edit: the key point is that i felt both games were clunky, but for different reasons. I outlined the nwn1 reasons on page 6.

Edited August 18, 2006 by Tigranes

[kirottu]

A. Aurora had good looking characters for the most part.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Fanboy moment! :D

[Blank]

^

The basics of the game are largely covered by Feargus Urquhart's video walkthroughs posted a few months back. Since then, the game has finished in terms of content and features. According to Chris, the team is now in the process of polishing graphics, squashing bugs and various other chores, readying the title for its October release.

This is good news to me. It sounds like Kotor 2 was realeased without that extra buffer period of a few months, and people were mangstxious after seeing the unfinishedness. And yes, I know those words were maded-upped.

Edited August 18, 2006 by Blank

[metadigital]

Good (novel) made-up words are excellent and essential to the robust health of any prospering language, especially English.

[Hassat Hunter]

Hopefully OE's QA-testers are WAY better than the monkeys (including some three-headed ones!) from LA...

 

RPG's of the recent times are SO buggy

[Judge Hades]

Good (novel) made-up words are excellent and essential to the robust health of any prospering language, especially English.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

So is redefining words.

[Arkan]

Volourn, I described exactly why and where I felt (in my opinion, of course) that NWN1 looked clunky, and NWN2 as well (somewhat differently). Especially since, at least in MCA interview's version, the 'waiting / on guard' animations are extremely static and the flow between them and action are not fluid enough, it does not look like a real battle.

 

To me, I would be happy with 2D sprites as long as it looked realistic. Animations are much more important for that purpose than model / texture quality and whatnot, IMO, and that's where I lodge my criticism, not on the latter.

 

Volourn, if you want to disagree (about nwn1, since it seems you agree on nwn2) and put out a counter-argument, kindly do so by addressing my argument then telling me what you think is wrong. If not, feel free to disagree in your private space instead of contributing to the international illogic factor.

 

edit: the key point is that i felt both games were clunky, but for different reasons. I outlined the nwn1 reasons on page 6.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

While I agree that there seemed an inherent "clunkyness" to NWN, the combat animations themselves were not part of it. They were very fluid, albeit limited in number, but still looked good...not KotOR2 good, but still.