No. Possibly better than BG1 and parts of BG2 and the music and some voices of IWD2, but not the IE games in general.

BG 1 had some excellent tracks and I considerate it better than BG2. The combat music and the chapter/dream sequences cuts are just AWESOME! IWD and PS:T battle for first place and are in every way superior to any NWN, NWN2 music. Mask of the Betrayer had some good tracks though....

I like the PS:T music very much as well. It's sort of exotic with the rhythmic drums which fits the unusual character of the setting. You listen to something like "Deionarra's Theme" and it's haunting, mystical, and fricking cool.

 

The BG and BG2 themes I had no memory of what they sounded like. I listen to them just now and they are bland... no wonder I had no melody lodged in my mind somewhere... they are not memorable at all.

 

The sound tracks for all of these are on youtube btw.

I just noticed that there are quite some tracks of BG2 that I like, e.g. Escape Dungeon, Pirate Isle, Trademeet and Druid Grove. They're memorable and BG-ish enough imho. In BG1 there was the main theme, a fight theme, one quiet cello piece that played at night, and one track in Baldur's Gate City, that struck as memorable. So I take back what I said above and extend my statement to BG and BG2 (excluding TOB).

Edited August 20, 200817 yr by samm

The ToB music of BG2 I liked. It had a dark quality to it.

As much as music is neat and all PLEASE, PLEASE just include the simple NPC AI that is in Tony K's AI into NWN2.

 

I was playing Dark Waters 1/2 mod (out of curiosity) and having to deal with the default NWN2 NPC AI makes me want to jab forks into my eyes.

 

kekekkeke

^ What on earth is the guy on the right armed with? The Shovel of Dinosaur-Smiting +1? Is he going to hit that 'raptor or dig a hole to hide in?

 

NWN2 also has some of the silliest helmets / masks. My epic-level Frenzied Berserker put on the Mask of Persuasion and it looked so.... wrong.

 

Cheers

MC

I noticed that too

 

Anyway, the pics:

click

Apart of not liking dinosaurs in a DnD game I think its leg is damn clunky when compared to the high poly rest of it.

Wow, thanks for the screens

Edited August 21, 200817 yr by samm

Dinosaurs in D&D games is stupid. Absolutely stupid.

 

But that screen shot is kinda cool.

Dinosaur mounts please.

Dinosaur mounts please.

 

Yoshi?

Gamespot GC08 Preview

 

Other new features that we got to see during today's demo included the 3D overland map, on which you can interact with other characters and encounter monsters, and the new death system, which forces you to resurrect your fallen party members or have them healed in a town rather than simply bringing them back to life at the end of the current combat. We didn't get to see it, but we're told that The Storm of Zehir will also introduce a new crafting system that will let you create many items simply by using your inventory screen (whereas you might previously have had to visit a blacksmith).

 

IGN GC08 Preview

Hahhhahah, that should sell it to even the most ardent whiners.

 

It's also nice to come out of the death system closet and admit that I like the early DnD crpg system much better. Thanks a lot Obsidian.

and the new death system, which forces you to resurrect your fallen party members or have them healed in a town rather than simply bringing them back to life at the end of the current combat.

 

 

 

Whaaaaaaaaat? Proper death rules? *grin*

Edited August 22, 200817 yr by Xard

a new crafting system that will let you create many items simply by using your inventory screen

Please tell me they've improved the inventory screen. Please?

what's to be improved?

Potions in the potions section, scrolls in a book - even Oblivion did it better. It's just a great big disorganised mess, that's what it is.

Oh yeah, that's true.

 

Same problem as in NWN1

Maybe I am in the minority, I would just prefer to get less (useless?) dropped items.

There could be fewer no-value gems in the world, I agree. Or the no-value gems could just default to a no-value gem bag and be sold en-masse. It's also the fact that everything on the inventory screen is so small, especially on high-resolution settings.

I don't like crafting at all per se

I don't like crafting at all per se

Sorry but crafting sucks!

lolwut

Crafting isn't as simple as that.

 

The crafting in NWN2 sucked because it wasn't supported by the interface and as such was more frustrating than anything. An example of an interface that supports crafting is Oblivion whose specific inventory and interface mechanics should be the minimum of support.

 

Besides interface streamlining there is the question of balance, this is possibly the hardest one with any kind of extensive crafting. Crafting needs to be usefull in some capacity compared to other skill choices while not being overpowered.

 

Interestingly I can't remember a single game where crafting wasn't either under/overpowered or badly supported bordering on the annoying.