The second Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion pack coming?

[Gorgon]

Too bad the only fantasy game i'm interested in is going to come out on a POS engine.

[GreasyDogMeat]

Too bad the only fantasy game i'm interested in is going to come out on a POS engine.

 

Know exactly what you mean. I think it speaks volumes about how good Obsidian's writers are and how impressive the toolset is that I cope with one of the crappiest engines I've ever seen. Even if I disable every single detail and turn textures to low, there are a few areas that lower my framerate down into the high teens. I'd blame it on my computer but I run tons of impressive games/ engines that are as advanced and far more impressive than NwN 2 at medium to high settings with nowhere near the poor framerates I get in NwN 2.

 

The one good thing I'll say about the NwN 2 engine is that it has been extremly stable for me. Think I've crashed to the desktop maybe once. I also think I've been one of the lucky ones with the toolset. Despite numerous complaints on the boards about crashing I think it has crashed maybe two or three times in many hours of work.

Edited February 14, 2008 by GreasyDogMeat

[Pop]

You people have either been living under rocks for a number of months and have never played MOTB or you have ****ty computers. Or both

[GreasyDogMeat]

You people have either been living under rocks for a number of months and have never played MOTB or you have ****ty computers. Or both

 

Again, considering what my comp can run that looks FAR better than NwN 2, I wouldn't call my comp ****ty... especially not for the games that came out at the same time as NwN 2.

 

I will absolutly agree that Obsidian drastically improved their area design in MotB, but they haven't really improved the engine performance all that much... atleast not enough. MotB may run MUCH better than many of the NwN 2 areas but standard NwN 2 still runs horribly in areas like the Docks, to West Harbor and on and on.

 

I even tried Standard NwN 2, patched to the latest, on an absolutly killer Alienware laptop from mid-2007 and while it ran much better than my comp, shadows, even at their lowest setting STILL brought this machine down to the low 20s, sometimes even the teens. This is a machine running demos of BioShock, Crysis and numerous other games at MAX settings.

 

Maybe there is some magic trick or setting to get Neverwinter Nights 2 running smooth in all spots, but I certainly haven't found it yet.

[Xard]

I really, really hope this is true. MotB was awesome.

[Nick_i_am]

Actually, it's a point, i've always been curious as to why NWN2 raises the temperature of my CPU significantly more than most other games.

[Pidesco]

Because it is a hawt game.

 

Duh!

[Starwars]

My card keeps pretty cool when playing NWN2 when compared to most other games. I think the game that has raised its temperature the most was STALKER for some reason.

 

I do think NWN2 could get away with not having as smooth performance as many FPS games for example, since it doesn't rely as much on the players skills so to speak. But it is a shame that certain areas really slow the game down. I can run the game quite well for the most part and get satisfactory performance with medium shadows (Athlon 64 3200+, 2Gb and X1950PRO card), but it *really* slows down in certain areas.

If it gets really bad, then usually it's in areas with water where I can only switch off Water reflections to up the performance again quite a bit. But it would be really nice to have a smoother performance overall for the game.

[Zoma]

Crysis at max settings?

 

My 8800GTS is suffering from heart attack running that game.

 

 

 

Regardless, if it is even possible at all, it will be great if Obsidian is able to find a way to multi-core in any areas of game. On the multiplayer side for instance, the server dedicates one core for calculating individual PC's walking path, the other for calculating any dice rolls needed ect. The end result would be favourable for servers packed with players in one map I think.

[Dakar]

I wonder if this is gonna be a "reboot" expansion or if it will continue on (I didn't finish MOTB yet so not sure if that is possible or not).?

[sesobebo]

After a full level range and an epic level campaign, a well written low-level one is what I'd like to see.

[Big Bottom]

Given that this expansion will doubtless be adding uber-epic levels I doubt they're going to give us a low level campaign..........fiddlesticks!

[Tigranes]

Fair enough though. This RL friend I was recommending NWN2 to for his new computer basically came out with, "it sounds much better than NWN, but why only 30 levels? NWN1 had 40."

 

After a while he said that's fine, and he expected the second xpack to take him up to level 40 anyway. This coming from a 27 year old who's played Fallout, may get on Torment, played BG, etc (so not a Halo/Half-Life/whatever tradition). I too enjoy high levels, though I'd take a low level campaign as well, and I wish epic gameplay would be more differentiated, so I think it's sort of inevitable and acceptable that Obsids would go for it.

 

Wouldn't Mysteries of Westgate and such premier modules fill the gap for low-level campaigns though? Or at least low-to-med/high?

[Azarkon]

A level 40 campaign done right could be awesome. Done wrong, it'll just accentuate the flaws of the D&D system.

[Magister Lajciak]

If it is due to be released in 2008/2009 fiscal year, than we can probably expect first real info to start arriving relatively soon.

[newc0253]

A level 40 campaign done right could be awesome.

you mean, a continuation of the storyline of NWN2 and MOTB?

 

maybe you could find that you're the inadvertant possessor of a <relic of the planes/dark cosmic curse/evil fluffy pet>.

 

you gradually learn that your <relic/curse/pet> is of great interest to many powerful factions, some who seek to own it for themselves, others to destroy it.

 

you also learn that, by possessing it, you pose great risk to <your companion/those you hold most dear/your other pets>.

 

through the course of your adventures, you discover that the <relic/curse/pet> is actually tied to the fate of <a lost elven empire/countless lost souls across the many planes/a small pet store> and that the only way to prevent great evil is to return to the site of that ancient <battle/eternal plane war/kitten fight> and <destroy the shadow king/confront the soul eater/get fluffy fixed>.

[Tale]

A level 40 campaign done right could be awesome.

you mean, a continuation of the storyline of NWN2 and MOTB?

I don't believe he said that.

[Magister Lajciak]

A level 40 campaign done right could be awesome.

you mean, a continuation of the storyline of NWN2 and MOTB?

 

maybe you could find that you're the inadvertant possessor of a <relic of the planes/dark cosmic curse/evil fluffy pet>.

 

you gradually learn that your <relic/curse/pet> is of great interest to many powerful factions, some who seek to own it for themselves, others to destroy it.

 

you also learn that, by possessing it, you pose great risk to <your companion/those you hold most dear/your other pets>.

 

through the course of your adventures, you discover that the <relic/curse/pet> is actually tied to the fate of <a lost elven empire/countless lost souls across the many planes/a small pet store> and that the only way to prevent great evil is to return to the site of that ancient <battle/eternal plane war/kitten fight> and <destroy the shadow king/confront the soul eater/get fluffy fixed>.

 

It's possible to trivialize all RPG storylines into several platitudonal formulae if one abstracts enough. That does not change the fact that MotB was an awesome game and I am hungry for more!

[Tale]

A level 40 campaign done right could be awesome.

you mean, a continuation of the storyline of NWN2 and MOTB?

 

maybe you could find that you're the inadvertant possessor of a .

 

you gradually learn that your is of great interest to many powerful factions, some who seek to own it for themselves, others to destroy it.

 

you also learn that, by possessing it, you pose great risk to .

 

through the course of your adventures, you discover that the is actually tied to the fate of and that the only way to prevent great evil is to return to the site of that ancient and .

 

It's possible to trivialize all RPG storylines into several platitudonal formulae if one abstracts enough. That does not change the fact that MotB was an awesome game and I am hungry for more!

 

I learned a new phrase today. "Greedy reductionism."

[Kissamies]

I don't think that there's much doubt that there would be even more epic levels and probably continuation to KC story both thanks to popular demand. Personally I'd prefer resources being used for something more worthwhile, but I'm sure they'll make a good story even with munchkin levels. I just hope that attention will pe paid to things that will ensure the longevity of the game also. I'm not in the habit of playing OCs through very many times. I need my custom content and better support for it means more of it.

[Zoma]

Would be nice if the XP2 is an enhanced edition similar to the upcoming The Witcher patch.

 

-New animations.

 

-Prettier bloom.

 

-Better performance.

 

-Sharper textures instead of some fugly looking ones on the armor.

 

-Fix the clipping problems.

 

-Official Portrait packs.

 

-More models.

 

 

Le sigh.

[GreasyDogMeat]

Would be nice if the XP2 is an enhanced edition similar to the upcoming The Witcher patch.

 

-New animations.

 

-Prettier bloom.

 

-Better performance.

 

-Sharper textures instead of some fugly looking ones on the armor.

 

-Fix the clipping problems.

 

-Official Portrait packs.

 

-More models.

 

 

Le sigh.

 

Deffinitely agree. NwN 2 has some extremly cool spell effects, but it is lacking a lot of animation for different actions and missing a lot of 'modern features' like ragdolls etc.

 

I miss a lot of the effects from NwN 1 like heads that would look at what you put the cursor on, or would actually glance up and down when talking to a character of a different height (Halflings talking at a Half-Orc's crotch etc.), water pools that splashed as you walk through them, arrows that would actually stick to the environment or the enemy. How cool was it to use a bow and shoot a goblin right through the noggin in NwN 1?

[Gorth]

I miss a lot of the effects from NwN 1 like heads that would look at what you put the cursor on, or would actually glance up and down when talking to a character of a different height (Halflings talking at a Half-Orc's crotch etc.), water pools that splashed as you walk through them, arrows that would actually stick to the environment or the enemy. How cool was it to use a bow and shoot a goblin right through the noggin in NwN 1?

I don't remember those effects, but they do sound nice. It might be wishful thinking though, depending on what changes were made to the engine since the build that Obsidian/Atari obtained from Bioware. Some real physics would be nice. Ragdolls are fun enough that even wading through hordes of orcs, swinging a big mace might become entertaining. The opening prologue of Fellowship of the Ring spring to mind

[@\NightandtheShape/@]

Prettier Bloom??? There is nothing wrong with the bloom, heck MOTB shadow plane is there because of the BLOOM.

 

Bloom != HDR, they're 2 seperate effects that can infact generate some similar effects... HDR tends to look alot better in lighting situations, but you can do cool things with bloom, like totally desaturate an entire scene of all its colour... Ala Shadow plane.

[Zoma]

But but but!

 

There is no such thing as perfection!

 

So it can be prettier!