Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir

[Kelverin]

And it puts to bed the question of do you need MotB. Knowing I dont need to drop money on that raises my interest immensely.

 

You haven't played Mask of the Betrayer?

I tried telling him to, but he won't listen, Maybe you will have better luck

[Tale]

He's from Illinois. That explains it.

[Jaesun]

And it puts to bed the question of do you need MotB. Knowing I dont need to drop money on that raises my interest immensely.

 

You haven't played Mask of the Betrayer?

I tried telling him to, but he won't listen, Maybe you will have better luck

 

So... Gfted1 has no interest in what one could (arguably) call one of the best RPG experiences in the past 5 years? Granted, some people don't like NWN2 combat, but that aside Mask of the Betrayer is a masterpiece.

[Lare Kikkeli]

The Swashbuckler class sounds completely unnecessary. Why couldn't they just have added feats for regular fighters to use, or a prestige class? It can't be that different from a dex based fighter or a fighter/rogue.

[taks]

i finally finished MotB the other night and i must say i was quite impressed with the whole darned thing. definitely one of the better RPG endings i've seen a long while, too, albeit fairly easy to complete with a level 30 fighter and the spirit meter turned off (sorry to the fanbois, but i hated the thing and thought it was nothing but an aggravation that detracted from my overall experience).

 

i'm now looking forward to SoZ and MoW and i've started playing through mods (moonshadows, actually).

 

taks

[Gfted1]

And it puts to bed the question of do you need MotB. Knowing I dont need to drop money on that raises my interest immensely.

 

You haven't played Mask of the Betrayer?

I tried telling him to, but he won't listen, Maybe you will have better luck

 

So... Gfted1 has no interest in what one could (arguably) call one of the best RPG experiences in the past 5 years? Granted, some people don't like NWN2 combat, but that aside Mask of the Betrayer is a masterpiece.

 

To be honest, I just really hate 3.5E. I cut my teeth on 2/2.5 and just cant seem to get my head around 3.5 rules. It just seems so stupid how you can be epic at EVERYTHING if you only take a smidgen of this and a bit of that. But dont do it on the wrong level or you just gimped your guy to pieces! Then, I go and try to give it a legitimate go and NWN2 turns out to be a flaming POS whose only redeeming quality is it didnt uninstall my OS while it was busy sucking my soul out. But I digress, Im willing to try again with SoZ. Maybe Ill D/L some powerbuild guide that will save me from myself. Hopefully 4E will pull me back in.

[Jaesun]

To be honest, I just really hate 3.5E. I cut my teeth on 2/2.5 and just cant seem to get my head around 3.5 rules. It just seems so stupid how you can be epic at EVERYTHING if you only take a smidgen of this and a bit of that. But dont do it on the wrong level or you just gimped your guy to pieces! Then, I go and try to give it a legitimate go and NWN2 turns out to be a flaming POS whose only redeeming quality is it didnt uninstall my OS while it was busy sucking my soul out. But I digress, Im willing to try again with SoZ. Maybe Ill D/L some powerbuild guide that will save me from myself. Hopefully 4E will pull me back in.

 

So... you are dislike that characters are too epic? Or that 1 wrong feat choice and you are a gimp?

 

Honestly, even if you make a Epic or Gimp character, it ultimately makes no difference really in NWN2.

 

I CAN understand the confusion on coming from 2nd ed to 3.5 (I did as well). Though, IWD II was the game that finally got me educated in the ways of 3rd ED. So learning 3.5 in NWN2 was easier to me. And I think every character I have played so far in NWN2 has been a gimp, as I'm still not too sure how to make a EPIC character. I just choose what feats I like.

[Gfted1]

So... you are dislike that characters are too epic? Or that 1 wrong feat choice and you are a gimp?

 

 

I suppose a little of both with a liberal dash of self pity at my ignorance of that versions mechanics.

[Jaesun]

So... you are dislike that characters are too epic? Or that 1 wrong feat choice and you are a gimp?

 

 

I suppose a little of both with a liberal dash of self pity at my ignorance of that versions mechanics.

 

heh you are not alone dude. Like, just last week.... I learned that Divine Spellcasters (Cleric/Druid/Spirit Shaman) do NO have Arcane Spell failure when wearing armor or shields.

 

I never knew this. I feel really dumb. :/

Edited July 18, 2008 by Jaesun

[Jaesun]

Trailer here:

 

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/37138.html

 

You can finally see the overland map (After a few minutes).

 

S E X Y!

[Gorth]

Trailer here:

 

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/37138.html

 

You can finally see the overland map (After a few minutes).

 

S E X Y!

Ooohh... Shiny!

 

That wasn't how I imagined the overland map, but who cares, this does the job just as well, if not better.

[Pop]

That does look like a Final Fantasy overland map. Or... Axe Battler.

[Tigranes]

*shrug* Does it matter if it looks like FF? It is quite cartoony, but those floating texts and the kind of things you find do look interesting. If they can integrate the skills into play in a coherent manner (e.g. Spot gives you further LOS, Listen warns you similarly, Survival and/or Stealth allows you to avoid enemies), then it will function great.

 

Also really looking forward to special, non-combat and easter egg encounters - those will be great. And with trade mechanics, how about intercepting wagons? Hell, you could even put in wagon runs a la Fallout if ou wanted.

[Atreides]

I think it really does need to be a start-of-conv thing. In terms of realism switching every node *does* work, yes (i.e. Gimli intimidates the guy, before Gandalf speaks up with wise persuasion) - but in terms of gameplay it really is very munchkiny, as I say, unless this means that party members interject a lot more as well (i.e. it's a lot harder than before to bluff that you will agree to kill the dwarves with a dwarf in the party). If that's happening, all good: but I think with usermade NPCs in the mix as well that might not be the case, and there really has to be a provisional concern about dialogue just being a switch-switch game, until we know more.

Or the party we're speaking to may be able to switch around too. Say we're about to tempt the greed of their low wisdom wizard and then THEIR cleric interjects to stop the deal or something. Basically although our own party's collective conversation skills get better theirs does too. So in a way it's not unbalanced because we just got better while they're static. They get better too.

 

Seems like an entertaining minigame in itself where we need to use all our available resources to outsmart the other party. Would be superb for the trading component too.

[Atreides]

Oh yeah and I'm still hoping we can play succubus for my succubus, tiefling, aasimar party

[Monte Carlo]

The overland map is strangely reminiscent of Warriors of the Eternal Sun, y'now the ancient D&D console game (I had it for the PS1).

 

Not that it's a bad thing, Warrior's of the Eternal Sun was cool (not least the medieval synthisizer musak).

[GreasyDogMeat]

The overland map is strangely reminiscent of Warriors of the Eternal Sun, y'now the ancient D&D console game (I had it for the PS1).

 

Not that it's a bad thing, Warrior's of the Eternal Sun was cool (not least the medieval synthisizer musak).

 

Warriors of the Eternal Sun only came out on Genesis, as far as I know. Didn't really have an overland map, more of simply allowing you to walk about the wilderness, but not zoomed out. Neat game set in Mystara: Hollow World. One similarity it DOES have with SoZ is it had dinosaurs.

 

I think the closest comparison of the SoZ overland map is to Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross (a colorful overland map with enemies visible, no Final Fantasy/Pool of Radiance style instant random encounters) combined with classic D&D video game overland maps (Pool of Radiance, Pools of Darkness where skills were used. I.E. a Ranger could lead the party around the encounter).

 

I personally REALLY like how the overland map has turned out in SoZ.

[Monte Carlo]

^ Yes, my mistake, I had it on the Sega Megadrive (which was what it was called in the UK). I had X-com on the PS1, believe it or not.

 

The view was scrolled-out, top down isometric - you could see monsters from a distance and avoid them, which is what reminded me of that map on the demo.

 

Am particularly looking forward to see what modders do with it.

[J.E. Sawyer]

Has our gaming culture really lost so much of its (short) historical perspective that Final Fantasy is considered to be the original franchise to feature an overland map?

[tripleRRR]

In this generation yes. Thats what I thought of when I first saw the demo.

 

Of course I only started playing games in the mid 90s.

[Monte Carlo]

I think we need another exposition on Darklands, Sawyer.

 

Jagged Alliance is my own personal favourite when it comes to maps. Not beautiful by any stretch of the imagination, but fit for purpose.

[J.E. Sawyer]

Even Darklands really was a late-comer to the overland map scene, so to speak. I think that's where a lot of us at Obsidian draw most of our inspiration from when thinking about it, but overland maps go back to earlier games like Phantasie and (more importantly) Ultima.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/89/Ultima1-3.gif

 

1980. Booya.

[Musopticon?]

I...well damn, now I'm really hooked.

[Moatilliatta]

Am I the only one who sees the overland map and thinks Heroes of Might and Magic?

 

I personally think it looks really awesome.

[Musopticon?]

That's it!

 

It immediately reminded me of something, but I didn't realize that it was HoMM I was thinking.

 

And yes, it looks awesome.