Mask of the Betrayer @ RPG Vault

[fastpunk]

The RPG Vault posted part 2 of their article on NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer. Go <a href="http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/812/812667p1.html">HERE</a> to read all about it. Its got some nice info on the campaign setting, the new henchmen and many more.

Also, for those who haven't read part 1, go <a href="http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/811/811996p1.html">HERE</a> to see it.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Counted about six uses of the word "epic" in one and a half pages. I think Bioware did a great job with moving to the "EXTREME!" buzzword, because "epic" is a little stale.

The new companions are very distinctive and unique characters - each has an obvious "hook". Safiya is a Red Wizard of Thay, and perhaps the companion most integral to the story. Kaelyn the Dove is a half-celestial cleric of Ilmater who also has pretty deep ties with the story, depending upon your choices. Gann is an unusually charismatic hagspawn spirit shaman whose specific talents complement what's going on in spirit-rich Rashemen.

This always makes me wonder...why do characters need to be "special"? Not saying special characters can't be good, look at Torment, but often times it's less about their personality and more about "Hey....I'm a special subrace/class combination!". Hopefully this won't be so.

Then there are solars, which we worked into the story because we thought the community would enjoy them and because they're epic

All that talent....

And, though not actually in the campaign, we created a bronze dragon after our quality assurance tester / production assistant Homer Parker observed how easily we could adapt the red dragon model we already had.

At least they're honest.....

We took a slightly different approach to loot distribution in Mask. Items are a bit less common, but more memorable and certainly more powerful; many of the new items are well into the epic level power scale.

Just what every good RPG needs...+16 Keen, Level Draining, Foozle-Killing, Superswords.

Some of the most interesting equipment is available only through side quests or to players who make certain decisions at key points in the game.

What would a monty haul artifact be without a big monster killing quest to get it, or being given it for maxing out the good/evil meter?

We've made enchanting items easier. We took out the middleman, and you'll find essences for enchanting directly from appropriate enemies you kill.

With the whole spirit theme...this actually kind of makes sense and fits. And reducing tedium is never a bad thing.

We favored high-level spells, including six epic ones, since Mask is an epic-level campaign

You don't say?

One cool improvement we made was to the spell chant system. By spell chant, I mean the incantation the characters speak when casting a spell. In NWN2, we had a series of spell chants that varied by school of magic and by power grade. For Mask, we greatly expanded on this. First, we made separate chants for each arcane and divine spell so that you can tell them apart. We also made it possible for different creatures in the game to use different voices. So, each spell-casting companion speaks the chant in its own voice, and enemies also sound different from the PC voices. This system can easily be expanded upon by the community, so people can make up their own spell chants.

So amazing....who needs a diplomatic path through the game when you can kill monsters with unique casting sounds!

Kevin Saunders: It's the game we all wanted NWN2 to be. It's simply an incredible role-playing game for anyone into story- or character- driven gameplay. If you liked any of the Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, etc. games, then Mask of the Betrayer will not disappoint.

What? Also Torment isn't being used in this interview....

Jonric: To conclude this appropriately epic interview,

Either they're on the same wavelength as us....or...damn....

 

[sabishii]

Just what every good RPG needs...+16 Keen, Level Draining, Foozle-Killing, Superswords.

Much better one of those than five +5 silver swords.

What? Also Torment isn't being used in this interview....

I noticed that as well. =(

Quote:
Jonric: To conclude this appropriately epic interview,


Either they're on the same wavelength as us....or...damn....

=/

 

[Keldorn]

Quotes from the RPGVault Interview :



"Jonric: Are you prepared to provide some details as to what we can expect in these various areas? For instance, what are some of the graphical improvements?

Kevin Saunders: Yes, that's enough vague rambling when you undoubtedly want specifics.

The new genasi appearances look awesome, with great use of specularity and special effects to make them stand out.

In our environments, we specifically designed in vistas that make the most of what our engine and our artists can really do. Wait until you see what Ed Lacabanne and Justin Cherry created for the Astral Plane; we've intentionally kept screenshots of it under wraps. Or the Thayan Academy of Shapers and Binders modeled by Roger Chang.

The new spell effects, many created by animators Jay Bakke and Andrea Bobick, are even more impressive than those from NWN2... what else would you expect from epic level spells?"


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But of course, those eye candy obsessions don't hog any Money/Time/Resources, right ?

And remember, the folks behind NWN2 are *supposedly* less fixated on graphical whoredom being an irremovable #1 priority in the Rpg concept. What does this say about the companies who discard nearly all of the genuine Rpg elements in favor of delivering ORGASMIC levels of visual processing ? Are we to believe that since cutting edge graphics / visual resources & refinement are really not expensive, and they have thrown many of the traditional Rpg elements in the trash for the most part, and the game features a wholloping 35 hours of gameplay, that their Action-FPS-MMORPG clickfests are basically cost free ?

I'll say it again.

Cutting edge graphics and impressive visual effects costs bucks, and depending to what degree they are developed, refined & implemented, they can cost BIG bucks. And usually, genuine *traditional* Rpg elements and GAME LENGTH are subsequently sacrificed to the required degree, to make room (in manpower, time, funds & resources) to develop and deliver top end eye candy.

What they are Oblivious to, is the basic axiom that *Good Rpg's Don't Require Cutting Edge Visuals To Be Good Rpg's*. What good Rpg's require are predominantly in the realm of concepts, complexity, massivity, depth, difficulty, artistry, uniqueness, unpredictability and open-ended imagination (on the part of the writers, designers, developers and players).

 

[Pegultagol]

Often graphics are the easiest way of defining 'improvement'. Improving graphics in NWN2 in its expansion is probably more akin to putting a lipstick on a pig. They probably would just want people to recognize the graphics to be more indicative of 'epicness' of the expansion that probable entailing gameplay modifications and enhancements.

But realistically speaking, if it is to be a more polished product, then by all means it may present a more focused experience not only rooted in graphical improvements, as those of you who actually read the articles may notice.

 

[fastpunk]

I must admit that all the epic talk is making me a bit uncomfortable. The good thing is Obsidian said they added a lot more instances where you will need to use your speech skills. And the new companions seem to be quite unique, in both appearance and personality.

Can't wait to see that Astral Plane!

What? Also Torment isn't being used in this interview....

It would be a blasphemy to use Torment and Neverwinter Nights in the same phrase.

 

[Elhoim]

I wouldn't blame them too much for the use of the word epic since the higher levels of D&D are called Epic Levels...

 

[aweigh]

i can't wait til mask of the betrayer! it's going to rule

 

[fastpunk]

I wouldn't blame them too much for the use of the word epic since the higher levels of D&D are called Epic Levels...

Point taken.

I wouldn't want it to be too epic though; sure, it's nice to see your character grow so powerful but it's not fun to shred through tons of enemies with ease. Obsidian promised to add enemies that match the player's epic skills so lets hope it's gonna be that way.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

In the first Neverwinter Nights you fought two freaking dragons at once....alone. How the hell do you get more epic than that without being a demi-god and fighting other ones (Throne of Bhaal I'm looking at you)?

 

[Texas Red]

i can't wait til mask of the betrayer! it's going to rule

Aweigh wins the thread.

 

[Jora]

http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=47793

A brief summary of a talk with George Ziets, the creative lead:

Kevin and George wanted to come up with a story that followed from NWN2, but relocated the player character. Both men were “sick of medieval fantasy,” and so the wilds of Rasheman it was. Surprisingly, George had “never been start to finish [on a project] before MotB.” To craft the story and have such control over companions is a chance “even lead level designers don’t always get.” For instance, George came up with One of Many, which is going to be one of the favorite NPCs for many players.

Nothing earthshattering. The interviewer was a tester on the project and said he really liked what he played.

 

[ricolikesrice]

...

mhhh.... i think getting difficulty right is really a bitch in a game with a DnD ruleset.

it just depends soooo much on your character build.

for example the red dragon in the oc i had very little problems with in 3 walkthroughs.
little problems = reloading once and adjusting spell / buff set up.

now however in a 4th walkthrough i played a class/group setup which gave me a really epic fight with said dragon, despite me beeing prepared (i.e. using stuff like fire immunity spells etc). lots of reloads and the attempt where i got him was a truly epic, challenging fight that i d love to see more of.

and its not like i simply played a shitty character this time, actually in many other encounters my PC/party went even easier through content than in the other walkthroughs.

or the Mod "Nighthowls in Nestlehaven" (check this out, its the best available currently imho, hardly perfect but gave me quite a good time and isnt as short as all the other modules so far).

in my first walkthrough the first dungeon was really, really hard (well i self enforced "no resting", would ve been a cakewalk otherwise). in my second one, it was a cakewalk - not because i knew what happens where, but because of how my party/pc was built up.

its kind of a lose/lose situation for OE/module makers. either you make the game so challenging that its flatout unbeatable for half the party/pc builds. or you try a middleway and end up with a game thats far too easy for half the party/pc builds.

and i m pretty sure the later is whats gonna happen in MOTB as well.

DnD simply aint balanced (nor could it be with that many options it offers) and someone who knows every advantage is miles ahead of the average player.... and some builds are vastly differently effective depending on the encounter.


my hopes are simply that OE will cut down the mindless combat (orc caves, warehouse) and quantity of combat encounters in general. i d rather have far less combat but when it hapens, its those "epic" encounters. sure, given the above mentioned obstacles, some of these epic encounters might be walkovers to my PC/Party.... but thats still better than 10 times as many pointless walkover fights.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

I could never understand this: powergamers do their best to maximize destructive abilities of their munchkin builds and then moan that the game is too easy for them. WTF?

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Oh yeah, I should make my character intentionally crappy just to get a harder challenge.
Great idea.
I'm no powergamer, I don't nalyze my characterbuild for hours just to get the last maximum damage point out of my char. I would, if the game was challenging enough so that I HAVE to think about my character build in order to be able to beat the game (like in Wizardy or ROA games).

When leveling up in NWN 2, I used my common sense to level up thats it. I didn't make my character intentionally sucky, nor did I optimize him. The game was easy and unchallenging as hell, even with a sucky character build.

I *would* love to play some kind of anti-hero, a great warrior with 6 points in strenght for example. But the game would need to give me some kind of feedback on that.
PC: I am a great warrior, fear my wrath
NPC: *Burst of laughter* Come back after you have grown some muscles, weakling.

That would be cool

 

[RK47]

well, even dialogue skills are not worth much I didn't miss it that much on my current play through with a 18 STR & 18 CON gray dwarf fighter.

I can't recall any part of the OC where I really appreciate having points invested on Diplomacy. Except for the courtroom. Zzzz

 

[sabishii]

Oh yeah, I should make my character intentionally crappy just to get a harder challenge.
Great idea.
I'm no powergamer, I don't nalyze my characterbuild for hours just to get the last maximum damage point out of my char. I would, if the game was challenging enough so that I HAVE to think about my character build in order to be able to beat the game (like in Wizardy or ROA games).

When leveling up in NWN 2, I used my common sense to level up thats it. I didn't make my character intentionally sucky, nor did I optimize him. The game was easy and unchallenging as hell, even with a sucky character build.

I *would* love to play some kind of anti-hero, a great warrior with 6 points in strenght for example. But the game would need to give me some kind of feedback on that.
PC: I am a great warrior, fear my wrath
NPC: *Burst of laughter* Come back after you have grown some muscles, weakling.

That would be cool

I played a Halfling Barbarian in NWN2. Two-handing a longsword :D.

...Maybe that's why I didn't understand all those comments about NWN2 being so easy.

 

[OSK]

I thought I'd be fun to play through as a silver-tongued, swashbuckling duelist. The power of the duelist lies in its ability to easily get criticals and do massive damage with them. Unfortunately for me, most of the enemies in the game are immune to critical hits and there aren't any epic rapiers like there are longswords so I'm stuck doing piddly 1d6+2 damage every round on mobs of creatures with HP over 100.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Uh, just craft your own weapon. I crafted a +5 rapier with two additional kinds of elemental damage.
That's actually why I like the crafting system, it makes using different weapon types more balanced. Don't find anything nice, craft it yourself.

 

[OSK]

I don't have any skill points in crafting. Can you use party members to craft things? Or is is it like conversation skills where it's only useful on the main character?

 

[Starwars]

Can you use party members to craft things?

I'm not 100% on this, but I'm pretty sure you can use party members crafting skills.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

You char doesn't need any crafting skills.
Every skill needed is at least mastered by one of the party members, just check them out. I believe Shandra and Khelgar were good in crafting weapons.

Make sure though that Sand or Quara get the craft magic items feat at the next level up if they haven't already.

 

[OSK]

Ok, thanks. Maybe now those undead mobs won't be such a pain in the ass.

 

[stm177]

I don't think I'll buy this expansion. I reinstalled NWN2 to play it again, to sort of prepare for the expansion. It just hasn't been very fun.

Six months ago, I played through once as a good character, and the 2nd time through as an evil character.

On the 3rd time through, I can't get through the dungeon grinds. I send my character in to fight, and watch them as they take down mob after mob. I don't know how I got through the game the first two times unless I was drunk for a week.

 

[sabishii]

I don't see your point. Obviously the only reason any of us would play the expansion is if it's much better than the original. So your comment that you won't buy the expansion because you don't like the original is.. irrelevant.