Real Breaking News: Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer

[Xard]

Well, Odyssey Engine is not too bad (you know, that modified Aurora which was used in kotors and JE)

[taks]

Soon I shall have my Intel 6600 Core 2 Duo. Soooon!

big-time improvement with the 6600.

 

taks

[funcroc]

FiringSquad's new interview

[Aegeri]

The only thing I hope for is no orc cave or warehouse like massacreathons. I almost couldn't take it the first time, doing it again would be almost too much for me to actually handle.

[roshan]

FiringSquad's new interview

 

Hes trying too hard to hype the expansion. Its blatantly obvious.

[Volourn]

Why do people take hype so personally? Geez.. People try to mkae it an international incident. Big deal. He's hyping the expansion. It's not the end of the world.

[roshan]

Its just ridiculous that were expected to buy whats being said.

[Volourn]

It's just ridiculous that you take it so personally.

[J.E. Sawyer]

Hes trying too hard to hype the expansion. Its blatantly obvious.

That was a pretty nuts-and-bolts interview. What's "hypey" about it?

[Xard]

The fact he said NWN2 was good game

[Meshugger]

It's Roshan, he or she has an unhealthy relationship when it comes to NWN2. But i understand it, i've experienced the Unreal 2 and Deus Ex 2-syndrome as well.

[Morgoth]

Just playing the second time now through the OC with a warlock. While I think it was a bad idea afterwards to play with a warlock because I suck so much at it, I think the trees look now much better. YES!

 

Looking forward to the Expansion though. When was the release scheduled? September this year? I lost track...

[Xard]

Difference here is, Roshan didn't like original NWN either

Edited June 8, 2007 by Xard

[roshan]

Hes trying too hard to hype the expansion. Its blatantly obvious.

That was a pretty nuts-and-bolts interview. What's "hypey" about it?

 

I read it again and youre right. It was just the last line which left a bad impression in my mind.

 

When you're considering games for awards at the end of 2007, please don't group Mask of the Betrayer into the "expansion" category. =) Yeah, I'm pretty sure it will be priced as one and you do need the original game to play. But with both the quality and quantity of the new content, we can contend with the "full" titles for best RPG of 2007.

[Volourn]

I have a different tact. there is lots of hype in that interview - words like epic, more impressive, etc., etc. litter the article; but know what? Big deal. It shouldn't matter, and it shouldn't be taken personally.

Edited June 8, 2007 by Volourn

[Cantousent]

The producer hypes the game? Good Lord, they should have fired him if he hadn't. He's the producer. What did you expect him to say? "Well, when you're looking at giving out game awards, remember this is just an expansion."

 

Now, I have yet a different outlook on this. The producer is not, at this time, trying to manage our expectations. That's a good sign, right? I dunno. Just an errant thought.

[Amentep]

Hes trying too hard to hype the expansion. Its blatantly obvious.

That was a pretty nuts-and-bolts interview. What's "hypey" about it?

 

I read it again and youre right. It was just the last line which left a bad impression in my mind.

 

When you're considering games for awards at the end of 2007, please don't group Mask of the Betrayer into the "expansion" category. =) Yeah, I'm pretty sure it will be priced as one and you do need the original game to play. But with both the quality and quantity of the new content, we can contend with the "full" titles for best RPG of 2007.

 

Sounds to me like he's saying its not going to be a "short" or "minor" expansion, like some have called, oh say Shadow of Undrinetide or Heart of Winter. Which - if it turns out to be a fully rounded game in its own right - will be a fair comment I think.

[taks]

The producer hypes the game? Good Lord, they should have fired him if he hadn't. He's the producer. What did you expect him to say? "Well, when you're looking at giving out game awards, remember this is just an expansion."

someone in here once posted that developer comments are journalism, and that both sides of the story should be told by the developer. i.e., bioware (which was the example at the time) should post "equal time" links to all the problems with their games on their website. hehe... i recall saying something along the lines of "moron" in reply.

 

really my reply should be to remember a couple things:

 

advertising is not equal to news.

it is the responsibility of the buyer to research a product before purchasing it.

simply knowing where the source of the information originates, namely the developer/producer/publisher/related entity, should allow reasonable folks to draw reasonable conclusions as to the bias inherent in subjective matters such as advertising.

 

taks

Edited June 8, 2007 by taks

[Atreides]

Could we get characters that try to cheat us and [Wisdom] checks to see if we can spot lies?

 

+ [Wisdom] checks to estimate whether we can pull off some bluffs of our own etc.

Edited June 11, 2007 by Atreides

[Gorth]

It sounds like one of the new npcs is going to be a monk polymorphed into a chicken.

 

What else would they need martial art chickens for?

[Cantousent]

Hahaha

 

That's one drumstick I'd like to see. Can you imagine the dinner you'd have?

 

Seriously, though, I thought charisma governed bluff. Now I'm not sure. I pretty much thought Charisma governed all of the discussion skills. (Diplomacy, Intimidate, and bluff). I usually create a smooth talking mage in my games, which is tough in DnD since Diplomacy is cross classed. On the other hand, Mages have tons of extra skill points and so you can have a decent diplomacy even if you can't ever peg it.

 

As far as wisdom goes, I think a lot of us would like to see the return of PS:T dialogue where all of our stats have somes sort of play. A lot of games have been doing more of this lately, it seems to me. The NWN franchise has been pretty good in this respect, even if imperfect.

[Atreides]

Was thinking more of a Wisdom check to see if someone's pulling a fast one against us, or estimating (not trying yet) how successful we'd be in something. More Intel checks would make my mage feel smarter too.

[Atreides]

Plus I'm kinda wondering what's player and dev feelings on saturation of these checks, whether used in dialogue and in-game situations (say pushing boulders off cliffs onto giants). Where's the point where players get fed up or take the checks for granted because there's "too many"?

[Cantousent]

For my part, I like a lot of skill checks, and I don't just mean in dialogue. 3.5 has a lot built into skill checks. In fact, I think they should be as important as feats during gameplay. So, for that reason, I don't think I'd get fed up with a lot of skill checks. What would irk me is if the skill check didn't make sense. Even worse, I would grow tired of checks that were thrown into dialogue just to use the skill and not because it adds to the game. I say have tons of checks, but include those checks where they would make sense. Since "meaningful" is the word of the day, I'd also make those checks meaningful in terms of the story and circumstances. DnD already has a skill check built into every merchant transaction. That's meaningful on a variety of levels. It not only grants a benefit to folks who invest in appraise, but is certainly appropriate in each use. It's not just thrown into the dialogue just as an opportunity to use some obscure skill.

 

Something that's easier for me to do in my PnP campaigns is to make all these skills meaningful. In a computer game, the design team must go out of their way to accomodate folks who want to spike their Diplomacy, Bluff, or Intimidate. They have to find some sensible way to include checks for tracking and survival. Since the roleplay side of the equation is simply never going to compete with a good PnP group, the design team has to find ways that make use of roleplaying skills and feats while making the experience seem natural.

 

so, I guess it all depends, ultimately, on how seamlessly the design team can incorporate the use of these skills in to the game world. If they seem natural, then I don't think we'll reach "too many" any time soon. If the skill checks appear artificial, then even a small number will jump out during gameplay.

[funcroc]

C&VG's new interview