SoZ Dev Diary about the World map

burrie · Oct 21, 2008

Nathaniel Chapman speaks about the Overland map

I'm genuinely looking forward to this. Sounds bloody good.

Mic Turner · Oct 21, 2008

Fallout wouldn't have been Fallout if it was three blocks of Downtown LA; you wouldn't have had the opportunity to see how all of those different communities responded to the post-nuclear world if the game didn't provide the sense of scale and travel that it did. Or, at least, it wouldn't have been believable.

Hmmmm... is he trying to tell us something? :lol:

That said, the article is pretty interesting on its own.

Spectacle · Oct 21, 2008

The overland map sounds a lot like the one in Mount&Blade.

Warden · Oct 21, 2008

A little thought.. what's the point of all the skill checks - you can switch between your party members at will and willy-nilly go up and down around every spot to trigger everything there is to trigger.
If those checks were a one time thing and if you fail them there's no trying again; it would be a different story.

denizsi · Oct 21, 2008

That's something I don't like about parties. When you have a party member for everything, what difference is left between a single PC becoming good at everything in games like TES series and party-based games?

Party concept is still quite primitive. It's as if party members are ass-brothers, ever together. Anyway, there are good threads dealing with that, here at the Codex, and over there at ITSF.

Darth Roxor · Oct 21, 2008

denizsi said:
When you have a party member for everything, what difference is left between a single PC becoming good at everything in games like TES series and party-based games?

Well, the difference is that when one of the party members goes down in a moment he would be needed the most, you are a lot closer to being screwed. It also encourages thinking and planning, whether you should have a party full of supersoldiers that have 498759867459 combat skills and 0 anything else, or should it be well balanced.

Raapys · Oct 21, 2008

Which is why there should also be some incentive to make, for example, some of the optional combat encounters so tough that they're impossible to beat with a party whose primary focus isn't combat.

Saxon1974 · Oct 21, 2008

Very excited about this, I hope it pushes more games to go this route.

Im not sure I like the scale of the map, but it stills looks like it will make exploration fun again, which Is one of my favorite things in an RPG.

But when the heck is Atari gonna finish messing with DRM and release the dam game?!@#!@

I think they have delayed the Westgate mod almost a year now and no word on release date.

Spectacle · Oct 21, 2008

Raapys said:
Which is why there should also be some incentive to make, for example, some of the optional combat encounters so tough that they're impossible to beat with a party whose primary focus isn't combat.

The way the D&D character system works, you can easily make a 4 person party that covers all or nearly all the useful skills without sacrificing any combat ability.

Anyway, I believe SoZ isn't level scaled, so even a party full of gomped builds should be able to handle the tougher encounters just by leveling up a bit more first.

Jaime Lannister · Oct 21, 2008

"Fallout wouldn't have been Fallout if it was three blocks of Downtown LA"

ICE BURN

TAKE THAT, BLOODLINES

Solohk · Oct 21, 2008

Spectacle said:
Anyway, I believe SoZ isn't level scaled, so even a party full of gomped builds should be able to handle the tougher encounters just by leveling up a bit more first.

Which is why I might make an Air, Water, Fire, and Earth Genasi party. I wouldn't bother with level adjusted races otherwise. Not that NWN has ever been hard, I normally make power builds so I can rip through the combat as fast as possible so I can get back to the story. If I can find some Heart though, I'll be in business.

Rhombus · Oct 21, 2008

Jaime Lannister said:
"Fallout wouldn't have been Fallout if it was three blocks of Downtown LA"

ICE BURN

TAKE THAT, BLOODLINES

I thought that one was pretty funny too.. heh

Xor · Oct 22, 2008

Bloodlines isn't Fallout, but it's still fun...

fastpunk · Oct 22, 2008

Good read. Hope the Overland map lives up to the promise.

deuxhero · Oct 24, 2008

Solohk said:
Spectacle said:

Anyway, I believe SoZ isn't level scaled, so even a party full of gomped builds should be able to handle the tougher encounters just by leveling up a bit more first.

Click to expand...

Which is why I might make an Air, Water, Fire, and Earth Genasi party. I wouldn't bother with level adjusted races otherwise. Not that NWN has ever been hard, I normally make power builds so I can rip through the combat as fast as possible so I can get back to the story. If I can find some Heart though, I'll be in business.

A Bard? A Cleric of Sharess or Sune?

Kogorn · Oct 24, 2008

deuxhero said:
Solohk said:

Spectacle said:

Anyway, I believe SoZ isn't level scaled, so even a party full of gomped builds should be able to handle the tougher encounters just by leveling up a bit more first.

Click to expand...

Which is why I might make an Air, Water, Fire, and Earth Genasi party. I wouldn't bother with level adjusted races otherwise. Not that NWN has ever been hard, I normally make power builds so I can rip through the combat as fast as possible so I can get back to the story. If I can find some Heart though, I'll be in business.

Click to expand...

bard? Cleric of Sharess?