Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir

[funcroc]

E3 2008 screenshots

 

 

 

 

 

[samm]

Compare dragon, carpet, chainmail textures with Yuan-Ti textures --> Yuan-Ti = win

[Xard]

Where's Yuan-Ti?

[Xard]

oh right, the first pic

 

Looks great

[Morgoth]

Sweet. Will this be a standalone expansion, or does it still require NWN2 vanilla?

[Jaesun]

Sweet. Will this be a standalone expansion, or does it still require NWN2 vanilla?

 

Are you joking?

[Gfted1]

^I never got an answer on that either. Will vanilla NWN2 (I own) work or do you need to have MotB (Dont own) have to be in there too. Im figuring the latter since you can theoretically reach epic level in SoZ you have to have all that data from MotB, right?

[Xard]

Well, stand alone exp packs are anything but norm

 

I guess you can figure the answer out

[Morgoth]

I'm asking because I sold my NWN2 vanilla, and because these days there get more and more standalone expansions released, so maybe SoZ is following that route?

[Moatilliatta]

I'm asking because I sold my NWN2 vanilla, and because these days there get more and more standalone expansions released, so maybe SoZ is following that route?

I hope that Obs is at least giving that direction some thought as I love the idea of standalone expansions.

[GhostofAnakin]

I think I'm the only person who doesn't play zoomed in. I prefer to see a wide-expanse of the playing field.

[Jaesun]

As an expansion to NWN2... I an *assume* all you would need is the Vanilla NWN2. MotB should not be needed.

[Gfted1]

As an expansion to NWN2... I an *assume* all you would need is the Vanilla NWN2. MotB should not be needed.

 

But then you wouldnt have the new races and fixes MotB provided, unless they are in SoZ I suppose.

[Jaesun]

As an expansion to NWN2... I an *assume* all you would need is the Vanilla NWN2. MotB should not be needed.

 

But then you wouldnt have the new races and fixes MotB provided, unless they are in SoZ I suppose.

 

Hmm good point. How did Bioware handle their 2 expansions? (I never bought them). Did the last one require the first?

 

EDIT: Apparently the 2nd NWN1 expansion did NOT require the 1st expansion to play. SO I'll *assume* you wont need MotB. I then will *assume* you can play SoZ with classes from MotB... if you want too.

Edited July 16, 2008 by Jaesun

[taks]

HotU had some content that was otherwise only available from SoU, but the latter was not required for the former. they simply included the required stuff in HotU, leaving out anything that was otherwise SoU only. same would likely apply here.

 

i think morgoth was referring more to "will the original NWN2 be required to run zehir" to which i think the answer is unequivocally "yes," simply because these are expansion modules (or campaigns) that run on the original NWN2 engine.

 

taks

[Pidesco]

Stick figure art by Annie Carlson, not MCA.

 

I'd like to remind everyone that Annie Carlson has a totally awesome webcomic that is no longer updated which everyone should read.

 

 

The new Zehir info sounds nice, by the way.

[Spider]

I think I'm the only person who doesn't play zoomed in. I prefer to see a wide-expanse of the playing field.

 

You're certainly not.

[Xard]

It's just screenshots will be prettier that way

[Volourn]

"You're certainly not."

 

Same. I'd much rather see more of the battlefield clearly.

[GhostofAnakin]

Apologies to my fellow zoomed-out friends.

[Meshugger]

I think I'm the only person who doesn't play zoomed in. I prefer to see a wide-expanse of the playing field.

 

Relax. Zoomed-in makes great screenshots for PR-purposes though. The last one reminded me a lot about a certain crypt in MoTB

[Meshugger]

Double post

Edited July 17, 2008 by Meshugger

[funcroc]

IGN E3 Preview Edited July 17, 2008 by funcroc

[Kelverin]

"July 16, 2008 - E3 2008 has already offered up plenty of RPG goodness for the PC gamer so it was just icing on the cake that Obsidian was on hand to show off the upcoming Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion, Storm of the Zehir. They recently walked us through a number of the game's new features during our visit to the Atari booth.

 

First up for the new expansion is an entirely new party system. Now instead of just recruiting pre-set hirelings to help you through the adventure, you'll be able to make an entirely original party of up to four members. You can create each character, set the name and motto of your party and even include some cool biographical information if you like. Then the real fun starts.

 

The game begins with the party taking a sea voyage to the land of Samarach. While sailing on the ship The Vigilant, the party has the opportunity to chat with Volo, an author and eventual chronicler of the party's adventures. Before you can find out too much about your situation, a storm breaks and the party is asked to get below decks. One act of mysterious sabotage later, the ship is wrecked on a nearby beach and the party is scrambling to survive alongside the ship's other still-living passengers. The biggest immediate threat comes from the Batiri, a group of jungle goblins who have kidnapped the captain and a few members of the crew.

 

While Volo heads off to negotiate with them, the party has an opportunity to explore some of the new conversation options. Since you're in charge of a four-person party now, you can use each member to access different dialogues. The fighter in our party, for instance, intimidated a soldier into giving up his sword, while our rogue used diplomacy to convince another survivor to hand over her bow. This is all part of the developers' efforts to make your characters' skills more meaningful throughout the game. Another extension of that thinking is the ability of craft-trained characters to create weapons out of the wreckage that has washed ashore.

 

Given the way that Volo's negotiations are going with the Batiri, you'll want to have as many weapons ready as possible. Within a few seconds of heading over, a fight breaks out and Volo runs off just as the Batiri launch an attack on the shipwreck victims. After winning this first battle, the players will have to set off to uncover the rest of the story behind this latest expansion.

 

We don't want to give too much away but we can tell you that the rest of the story involves Zehir, god of snakes, poison and darkness, and an uncomfortably militaristic faction of snake-like Yuan-Ti. We saw a bit of the Yuan-Ti action in a sort of jungle temple ruins that has some great new tiles for modders. (Modders can also use the new shipwreck elements, which should allow for some amazing environments.)

 

Overland travel has also been changed substantially. It now takes place in a full 3D environment that lets players roam in real time through a sort of miniaturized version of the world. Cities, forests, roaming monsters, merchant caravans and all the other expected elements will be present on the overland map, giving players the chance to explore a variety of options. The spot skill will also work on the overland map, so if an innkeeper tells you that a number of adventurers have gone missing in a nearby forest, you can roam around, hoping to spot some clues to their whereabouts. The team also tells us there's a new trading system with some interesting tie-ins with the story, but they weren't willing to share any specific details.

 

You'll be able to import your old characters into Storm of the Zehir, but it's designed to be a standalone adventure balanced for brand new characters and carrying them through to the mid- to high-teens in terms of levels. You'll want to make new characters anyway to take full advantage of two new classes and a new race. The first new class is the swashbuckler, a dexterity-focused fighter. The swashbuckler is more than just a regular fighter with weapon finesse however. He or she also comes equipped with some new abilities like Insightful Strike that lets them add their intelligence bonus to damage rolls. There's also a new prestige class, the Doomguide, that is a sort of anti-undead cleric class, accessible from either the cleric or paladin main classes. "

[funcroc]

Gamespot E3 first look