Interview Feargus talks about NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Feargus Urquhart; Neverwinter Nights 2; Obsidian Entertainment

<a href=http://www.computerandvideogames.com>CVG</a> has posted a Mask of the Betrayer <a href=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=165715>interview</a> with our old buddy Feargus Urquhart.
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<blockquote><b>You're introducing several new features, but what's the pick of the crop in your opinion?</b>
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I really wish that I could pick just one, but I think in the case of Mask of the Betrayer, it really is the sum of everything that we are doing that will make it a great expansion to NWN2. Epic levels will really push characters to new heights of powers, the new races and classes will let players play the game in new ways, and the effort were putting into the look of areas is really going to make players feel like they are in the Forgotten Realms.
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<b>There's been mixed reactions from both gamers and developers to cross-platform play between PC and Xbox 360 - what's Obsidian's thoughts on that? Is that something you'd like to explore?</b>
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I actually think it's a great idea. I think there are some challenges to it when it comes to PvP type games. But, if I could run around with friends of mine in a game like Oblivion whether we were playing the PC or the Xbox 360 version and hack monsters together, I think it would be great.
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<b>Finally, looking forward, in what areas would you like to see the RPG genre in general develop, or do you think it needs to develop?</b>
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I'd like to see RPG focus more on the world that they take place in with particular focus on making the player a real part of that world. Many RPGs, including some that I've made, allow the player to just stomp around and not really have to worry about the world that they are playing in.
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I think that really limits the feeling of you being in that world, which is what I certainly want when I'm playing a great RPG.</blockquote>I thought that you wanted to "hack monsters together" with your Xbox buddies.
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[Elhoim]

It would be great to have a sandbox game set in the Forgotten Realms, don´t you think?

 

[MountainWest]

I read it as if he wanted more choices and consequences. Guess my cynical side is taking a nap at the moment...

But the fact that keeps repeating this in the interviews must mean something. That they're working on a game where you impact the world and the world impacts you. Or that they truly want to make one and are now trying to plant seeds of interest.

As for MotB: Meh. I don't care for any of the things he mentioned. Better designed areas would be nice, but since he held lighting as the worst offender I'm guessing they won't be good this time around either.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

I really wish that I could pick just one, but I think in the case of Mask of the Betrayer, it really is the sum of everything that we are doing that will make it a great expansion to NWN2.

Alright....

Epic levels will really push characters to new heights of powers

Yay....powergaming!

But, if I could run around with friends of mine in a game like Oblivion whether we were playing the PC or the Xbox 360 version and hack monsters together, I think it would be great.

I just love to hack monsters with my chums....yessir!

the new races and classes will let players play the game in new ways

Oh yeah! New ways to kill stuff! Yeah!

and the effort were putting into the look of areas is really going to make players feel like they are in the Forgotten Realms.

Next-gen graphics equals immurshun!

I'd like to see RPG focus more on the world that they take place in with particular focus on making the player a real part of that world. Many RPGs, including some that I've made, allow the player to just stomp around and not really have to worry about the world that they are playing in.

I think that really limits the feeling of you being in that world, which is what I certainly want when I'm playing a great RPG.

I don't know about Obsidian. They have the skillls, the people, and the desire to make good RPGs....but they never do. What's up with that?

 

[Ander Vinz]

The more I read codex news the more I get convinced that rpg genre needs some fresh blood. I hope something good will happen on thursday.

I don't know about Obsidian. They have the skillls, the people, and the desire to make good RPGs....but they never do. What's up with that?

Hard question. Anyone?

But the fact that keeps repeating this in the interviews must mean something. That they're working on a game where you impact the world and the world impacts you. Or that they truly want to make one and are now trying to plant seeds of interest.

They have 3 projects running: Mask of the betrayer, Aliens, and Project Georgia (new IP). Maybe they'll come up with something decent.

 

[JoeDirt]

I think Feargus is just shilling what he thinks the magazines/websites want to hear, not stuff he really believes in. For example, he probably didn't even like Oblivion all that much, but just used it as something of a buzz word. It's like he tries to pander as much to the console crowd but then at the very end throws a bone to the "real" fans, just to let us know he isn't really brainwashed.

Everything he said was perfectly logical anyway, especially the part about power levels. It's one of the things that ~Underdark players liked most about the expansion and one of the main selling points. He would be a fool not to hype it now. Same with the lighting; it's part of the graphics engine, another of NWN2's main features and one they put quite a lot of work into. It's not customary in "normal" interviews for developers to admit their game has faults, so if they admit to anything it's usually to superficial bugs, glitches or things like "the lighting", so I choose to believe he's just using it as a metaphor.

 

[mister lamat]

the lighting also raped fps. it was probably one of the more severe technical faults of the game.

 

[thesheeep]

Have to agree with Mr. lamat.

Even on my PC, which is really a good one, it stocks quite regularly. On highest settings, of course.. ahem..

Anyway, I really hope they can get NWN2 a bit better with this AddOn. It was no bad game, but it somehow lacked... choices. And running around from the beginning with all the same persons got annoying when I played it for the second time. Why don't they just make Baldur's Gate 3?....

 

[ricolikesrice]

I think its no surprise that Buldar's Gate 2 and its expansions ranks high with almost everyone who has played the game. Its not just the great story, and to be fair at times BG2 can feel repetitive because it was rather combat heavy.
I personally think that it was the only RPG epic to date, in the true sense of the word "epic", that you can literally spend months playing the game, and that it was because of its NPCs.

No other game to date comes close to the amount of detail BG2 gave to its NPCs, well maybe KOTOR, but that's another legend in its own right.
Npcs like Minsc, Viconia, Jaheira, Imoen, Yoshimo, ...the list goes on and on...they are all so memorable that a good many of today's RPG party able characters will no doubt be compared to them to a great extent. And the romance possibilities...oh..my..god...for anyone who had romanced Viconia right to the end, with Throne of Bhaal, having seen *your* actions changed the one you cared about and have her change for you....PURE MAGIC.

All that and Minsc.
If any one character in BG2 holds the light for all NPC quirkiness and pure out there fun, it has to be Minsc.
Much like the "Leeeeeeeerrrrroooooyyyyy Jeeeeeennnnnkiinnnnss!" battle cry, any CRPG player can't truly call himself or herself one without knowing the origins of "Go for the eyes Boo! Go for the eyes!! Yeaarrgggghh!!"

No other game to date, has the scope that BG2 had. None.
Think about it, Baldur's gate is almost 10 years old now. In tech years, that's like older then the dinosaurs, absolutely ancient. But we still talk about it because it had such an influence and impact that even till today, games are still judged against it.

The only other "RPG" game that I have played over and over would be KOTOR, much its charm comes from the BG series precedent of having living, breathing, believable NPCs whom you call friends and companions. That and good story telling, oddly enough, when I first played the game NOT knowing the story at the time, My character's name was Raven. Oh the Irony.

So, bottom line, any moron or company can make a CRPG, package it and put it on shelves, look at what happened to the Might and Magic series. But what really makes a CRPG great is not just combat and a story. Its the NPCs you interact with that will make or break the game.

So far most of Bioware's titles have a good record, and hence I own almost everyone of them. Obsidian has a tough job stepping up to the plate to fill in rather large shoes and so far its hit and miss.

I don't know about Obsidian. They have the skillls, the people, and the desire to make good RPGs....but they never do. What's up with that?

People like the one i quoted above are whats up with that. Thats the fanbase you have to cater to when making Bioware sequels. Obviously the idiot never even heard of PS:T or is just utterly retarded. Not that BG2 is a bad game, i enjoyed it too, but certainly not because i could fuck some dark elf bitch and have party members as deep as having a miniature space hamster. NWN2 isnt a bad game either, afaik its pretty much the same as BG2 in both strong and weak points.

I have some faith left that Obsidian will get into their own with their unannounced project ( i pray for a steampunk setting ... ) and maybe even the aliens cRPG.

For MotB *shrug* i dunno yet, some things about it sound really great , others dont ("traditional dungeon crawl", "romance", "15-20hours gameplay"). i wont get my expectations up too much since afterall its NWN and thus mostly aimed at DnD nazis and bioware fanboys. so i bet making as many pointless classes/prestige classes/feats/spells as possible and romances must be somewhere among the priorities with choices and consequences at best beeing secondary.

 

[roshan]

NWN2 was a pretty bad game - in fact it was almost garbage, RPG wise. Completely linear(both in terms of area design and progression), almost no interaction at all except with plot characters, easiest combat ever(my characters killed a dragon without me knowing about it), repetitive combat, no choices and sidequests, forced resurrection etc etc.

I have lost all faith in Obsidian after this piece of shit they have released.

 

[Ryuken]

People like the one i quoted above are whats up with that. Thats the fanbase you have to cater to when making Bioware sequels. Obviously the idiot never even heard of PS:T or is just utterly retarded. Not that BG2 is a bad game, i enjoyed it too, but certainly not because i could fuck some dark elf bitch and have party members as deep as having a miniature space hamster. NWN2 isnt a bad game either, afaik its pretty much the same as BG2 in both strong and weak points.

NWN2 was a step towards the BG-concept but it's still miles away from that in certain aspects. Devs should idd start to think to outclass BG by looking at better RPG's, not to mimick it. But hell, any BG-type of thing is better than the short NWN/KotOR/JE junk anyway so that's at least one positive thing to note. Hopefully the Dragon Age devs understand that too and add something to that.

 

[Suicidal]

I think its no surprise that Buldar's Gate 2 and its expansions ranks high with almost everyone who has played the game. Its not just the great story, and to be fair at times BG2 can feel repetitive because it was rather combat heavy.
I personally think that it was the only RPG epic to date, in the true sense of the word "epic", that you can literally spend months playing the game, and that it was because of its NPCs.

No other game to date comes close to the amount of detail BG2 gave to its NPCs, well maybe KOTOR, but that's another legend in its own right.
Npcs like Minsc, Viconia, Jaheira, Imoen, Yoshimo, ...the list goes on and on...they are all so memorable that a good many of today's RPG party able characters will no doubt be compared to them to a great extent. And the romance possibilities...oh..my..god...for anyone who had romanced Viconia right to the end, with Throne of Bhaal, having seen *your* actions changed the one you cared about and have her change for you....PURE MAGIC.

All that and Minsc.
If any one character in BG2 holds the light for all NPC quirkiness and pure out there fun, it has to be Minsc.
Much like the "Leeeeeeeerrrrroooooyyyyy Jeeeeeennnnnkiinnnnss!" battle cry, any CRPG player can't truly call himself or herself one without knowing the origins of "Go for the eyes Boo! Go for the eyes!! Yeaarrgggghh!!"

No other game to date, has the scope that BG2 had. None.
Think about it, Baldur's gate is almost 10 years old now. In tech years, that's like older then the dinosaurs, absolutely ancient. But we still talk about it because it had such an influence and impact that even till today, games are still judged against it.

The only other "RPG" game that I have played over and over would be KOTOR, much its charm comes from the BG series precedent of having living, breathing, believable NPCs whom you call friends and companions. That and good story telling, oddly enough, when I first played the game NOT knowing the story at the time, My character's name was Raven. Oh the Irony.

So, bottom line, any moron or company can make a CRPG, package it and put it on shelves, look at what happened to the Might and Magic series. But what really makes a CRPG great is not just combat and a story. Its the NPCs you interact with that will make or break the game.

So far most of Bioware's titles have a good record, and hence I own almost everyone of them. Obsidian has a tough job stepping up to the plate to fill in rather large shoes and so far its hit and miss.

This guy kind of reminds me of the Oblivion fanboys. Seems any game's fanbase has it's fair share of morons. BTW, he even misspelled the name of the game, some fan he is

 

[Shannow]

I don't really have any problems with epic levels, IF I face a challenge and actually NEED those levels to overcome said challenge. I'm playing NWN2 at the moment and I think it's ok. Not much in the roleplaying department, but I don't expect that anymore.
In the beginning the combat was ok, but then got easier and easier instead of more difficult.
"OK folks, we're facing a Shadow Reaver and 5 elemental blade golems...
Man, that sure was a tough fight. Anybody hurt? Even a scratch?
What about you Ammon? You're AI constantly fucked up and I had to take over your mind to actually finish the reading the True Name. Were you hurt and interrupted? No?
So the only reason the fight lasted for more than 20 seconds was that you couldn't read?
Maybe it wasn't so tough after all..."
I really wonder, why I bother leveling up. The loot overkill is also more than any power-gamer could ever dream of.
Sadly ToEE is still the only D&D game that had fun combat although I didn't like much of the rest of the game.

 

[Spectacle]

Reading posts like the one quoted above, it's not hard to understand why current RPG designers think that reading is too hard for their fanbase

 

[Selenti]

I really can't agree with the "POWERGAMING IS BAD!" standpoint here. If we're going to be playing shitty-ass monty haul adventures, give me epic levels. At least that way the focus (killing lots of shit) will be more interesting.