Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir

[Tale]

I'm now incredible curious. According to http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11109 Zehir is not in the FR pantheon. So what role will he play in this game?

 

Did Obsidian goof or will this game feature gods trying to cross settings or perhaps our characters stopping Zehir from establishing himself in FR?

[Zoma]

Don't think Obsidian goofed since the story and idea of Zehir must had gone through intensive QA phase with WotC beforehand in order to maintain consistency in the setting.

Seeing that WotC gave the green light, I don't think its a mistake though I share everyone's curiosity what WotC's intention?

 

Zehir apparently is a new deity in the 4.0 rule edition. I can't comment further than that since I remain ignorance of PnP stuffs.

Edited June 17, 2008 by Zoma

[Tale]

Zehir is a 4e deity, yes. But he's part of the base setting, Points of Light (I believe that's right) and, apparently, not Forgotten Realms.

Edited June 17, 2008 by Tale

[Nightblade]

Not a problem at all. Onyx is very responsive.

Is Onyx a party-based or a 1'st person viewer engine? If it turns out that OE develops a new and much smoother engine than NWN2's KotOR-core engine, an engine you'd much rather work with over a period of time, would you consider creating a new D&D crpg or a series of "upgraded" NWN2 modules with such an engine? Or is that outside the.. realms of possibility?

 

N.

Edited June 18, 2008 by Nightblade

[Xard]

It's party based

[Zoma]

Not a problem at all. Onyx is very responsive.

Is Onyx a party-based or a 1'st person viewer engine? If it turns out that OE develops a new and much smoother engine than NWN2's KotOR-core engine, an engine you'd much rather work with over a period of time, would you consider creating a new D&D crpg or a series of "upgraded" NWN2 modules with such an engine? Or is that outside the.. realms of possibility?

 

N.

 

Its not possible to simply 'change' the graphic engine from Electron to Onyx without involving major rework as both graphic engines are a completely different beasts. Furthermore, with Onyx engine comprising of other third party functions (Like Physics and Unreal 3 engine), it is not seen profitable for all the work made just for a NWN2 series as that would mean licensing those parts as well. It would be much more ideal for a new series perhaps.

 

Furthermore the issue is not the graphics engine I believe that affects the 'smoothness', but rather how the core engine where it processes the functions and data is outdated and by today's standards, unresponsive.

 

Like you, I love to see Obsidian work on a new D&D RPG with Obsidian's new engine. This time Obsidian could afford to discard the unresponsive 3.5 NWN engine and rebuild on their own pace the 4.0 rule edition engine. Maybe once Obsidian proves to be successful under Sega's belt (Aliens and Alpha Protocol RPG), we can consider hoping Sega to purchase the license from WotC to make D&D games.

 

Personally, I hope Sega would buy a WH40K license for Obsidian to work on instead. D&D franchise needs to cool down a bit until the 4th edition ruleset is completely fleshed out.

[Tale]

Personally, I hope Sega would buy a WH40K license for Obsidian to work on instead. D&D franchise needs to cool down a bit until the 4th edition ruleset is completely fleshed out.

 

THQ has the 40k license in the way that Atari has the D&D license. Why would you want Sega to be involved?

[@\NightandtheShape/@]

It's not really a "3D" issue, but how the game state is updated relative to input being given.

 

heh... Probably a result of initial code design screw ups, most likely linked to how objects are moved, thanks to multiplayer considerations.

 

Thats' my guess anyways.

[Zoma]

Because I personally feel so far Sega has a good track record for being a reliable publisher in the west? Games like the Total War series, the Condemn series, Universe at War. Furthermore, I thought Sega is being generous with Obsidian in production values of AP and Aliens RPG which is IMO, a rarity to do so with a first time collaboration for an RPG game which is yet to be proven.

 

In addition, I recalled reading an article some time ago that the developers in the west rated Sega highly as a publisher. I'll paste the link if I can ever find it since it was a year ago article.

 

Is the WH40K license exclusive to only THQ? A pity if that is since the only RPG we are getting from them is an MMO.

 

As for Atari, eh, I'm not sure how is the company functioning anymore to be honest. Isn't it zombified by now? Even the licensing of D&D sounds more of a loan to me.

Edited June 18, 2008 by Zoma

[Tale]

Because I personally feel so far Sega has a good track record for being a reliable publisher in the west? Games like the Total War series, the Condemn series, Universe at War. Furthermore, I thought Sega is being generous with Obsidian in production values of AP and Aliens RPG which is IMO, a rarity to do so with a first time collaboration for an RPG game which is yet to be proven.

 

In addition, I recalled reading an article some time ago that the developers in the west rated Sega highly as a publisher. I'll paste the link if I can ever find it since it was a year ago article.

 

Is the WH40K license exclusive to only THQ? A pity if that is since the only RPG we are getting from them is an MMO.

 

As for Atari, eh, I'm not sure how is the company functioning anymore to be honest. Isn't it zombified by now? Even the licensing of D&D sounds more of a loan to me.

My point was, why not want THQ to contract Obsidian for it? They've a longer record of being a reliable publisher than Sega.

 

As for Atari, they're hemorrhaging money, but I don't believe they're zombies yet.

[Zoma]

Well, here's hoping Feargie has awesome PR skills to convince THQ as he has manged to convinced Sega to let Obs make an entirely new IP.

 

On a furthernote, any idea what happened with the Warhammer IP? Last I'm aware of, Mark of Chaos was co-published together by Namco and Deep Silver though there is no telling which company owned the IP though.

Edited June 18, 2008 by Zoma

[Jaesun]

I'm now incredible curious. According to http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11109 Zehir is not in the FR pantheon. So what role will he play in this game?

 

Did Obsidian goof or will this game feature gods trying to cross settings or perhaps our characters stopping Zehir from establishing himself in FR?

 

Well, perhaps the game will involve Zehir attempting to enter the Forgotten Realms, and the players will somehow stop it?

[funcroc]

Actiontrip interview with Kevin Saunders

Strategy Informer interview with Kevin Saunders

 

AT: Who is writing the story for Storm of Zehir?

 

KS: Tony Evans is the Lead Designer for Storm of Zehir and is the keeper of its story. Tony led the design of Neverwinter Nights 2's Act 3 and designed the Mulsantir and Slumbering Coven modules in Mask of the Betrayer. Designer Annie Carlson has been heavily involved in the story and character aspects of SoZ. She wrote for Alpha Protocol and also did some creative work on both Neverwinter Nights 2 and Mask of the Betrayer.

 

Strategy Informer: How long do you plan to keep supporting Neverwinter Nights 2 with additional expansion packs?

 

Kevin Saunders: There are many people at each Atari and Obsidian who love D&D and love Neverwinter Nights 2. Continuing to support NWN2 is definitely of interest to us. But regardless of what one might personally want to create, we also have to consider financial realities - like everyone else, game developers have families to feed. Mask of the Betrayer exceeded sales projections; if Storm of Zehir is also well received, that would create a strong argument for a third expansion.

Edited June 19, 2008 by funcroc

[H]

Good news. The Coven is the location I enjoyed the most in MotB.

[Zoma]

I really like what I'm reading.

 

Some key points:

 

-Focus on low level party of 4 adventurers

 

-Factions

 

-Trading system of buy low, sell high

 

-Overland map and free exploration gameplay

 

-Teamwork benefit system feats must be earned(?) Not sure how does this works.

 

Last of all, I feel the <3 for Obsidian in this quote:

 

Mask of the Betrayer exceeded sales projections; if Storm of Zehir is also well received, that would create a strong argument for a third expansion.

 

Keep up the good work!

[Xard]

Yes, you will come across some familiar characters. One new, yet familiar character, is Volo, the famous Forgotten Realms explorer and chronologer.

 

What was that noise? Oh right, it was Volourn creaming his pants!

 

 

edit: I never undestood from where the "MotB sold poorly" myth came from. I saw it in Top Ten lists in many European countries, in Finland it was third in sales at one point IIRC

Edited June 19, 2008 by Xard

[Xard]

Yet another interview!

[Xard]

RPS: On a racial question, what attracted you to the Yuan-Ti as an adversary?

 

Kevin: We felt that the southern jungles would be a great area to explore in a second NWN2 expansion - this choice of a future setting was one we made long before we even knew if there’d be a Storm of Zehir (the astute noted references to Chult in Mask of the Betrayer). Jungles would open up a new terrain for the mod community and would give us an excuse to add dinosaurs to NWN2. =) The yuan-ti are a key player in that part of the world and are also an interesting and classic (if slightly exotic) D&D opponent.

 

Looks like we were right with their intention to include those Chult references in MotB

 

Oh, and WE GET DINOSAURS?

Edited June 19, 2008 by Xard

[Zoma]

RAGGGH! TYREX MARCHING IN!

[Monte Carlo]

Who needs romances when you've got dinosaurs? Unless you want dinosaur romances. Which would be wrong on so many levels.

[Annie C. VanderMeer]

Oh yeah. We gots dinosaurs. They are SO COOL. You will not be disappointed. :D

[Tale]

Who needs romances when you've got dinosaurs? Unless you want dinosaur romances. Which would be wrong on so many levels.

How can love be wrong!?

[Magister Lajciak]

Great interviews - thanks for posting them!

[Magister Lajciak]

edit: I never undestood from where the "MotB sold poorly" myth came from. I saw it in Top Ten lists in many European countries, in Finland it was third in sales at one point IIRC

 

I don't know where it came from, but it always made me rather sad, since I thought MotB was a stellar expansion. I guess I rationalized the allegedly poor sales by the supposedly 'unfun' Spirit Meter mechanic (which I actually liked a lot) that appeared to receive a number of complaints.

[Pidesco]

One very important thing I'm wondering about, especially because of the overland map, is how large will each area be and whether loading times are being improved.

 

Will the overland map be akin to BG where each area will be fixed and huge, or more like Fallout where you can wonder around and stop anywhere in locations of varying size?