Preview GameSpy gawks at Hordes of Underdark

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: BioWare; Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark

The nice guys at <A href="http://www.gamespy.com/">GameSpy</a> have made a <A href="http://www.gamespy.com/previews/august03/atari/hordesofunderdarkpc/">preview</a> of <a href="http://nwn.bioware.com/underdark/">Hordes of the Underdark</a>, which is the upcoming and second expansion to <a href="http://nwn.bioware.com">Neverwinter Nights</a>. Here's their spoilery stuff:
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<blockquote> In the game's intro, you see the primary villain, Valsharess, hosting a ceremony that reveals your character as the one being that can stop her. In a preemptive strike, she sends soldiers to Waterdeep to kill you before you get too close. You wake up from a dream and immediately notice a drow thief stealing your weapons and armor. The rogue disappears, but more drow attackers arrive. Thankfully, several of your companions from the original NWN and one from Shadows (Deekin, yay!) are there to assist you. After stopping the initial attackers, you must head to the Underdark and face your destiny. </blockquote>
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Yeah, because you're <i>so special</i> or something. No one else could ever stand a chance in defeating the villian of this story, just you. Not even those really powerful blokes in the books that <a href="http://www.bioware.com">BioWare</a> litters throughout their games can stop what's her face. You're just that cool. No, seriously. You are!
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Thanks to <b>Taoreich</b> for the head's up!

 

[triCritical]

Its too bad how they have now taken two cities which could have looked so pretty and poisoned them with one of the ugliest looking engines I have ever seen. Heck I think Waterdeep would have looked much better using the old Shattered Lands engine by SSI.

 

[Flink]

Isn't it kind of funny that the last 3 games (counting expansions) that bioware has made has had a female villan? And now we get the 4th? Now, I'm all for equality. But a little variation would be nice...

 

[dipdipdip]

Ooh. Another go at the "you're (as in your character is) so special" and the very likely "you have a dark past" angles from the folks at Bioware.

 

[Psilon]

Don't forget their inability to count, as mentioned in an earlier thread.

 

[Volourn]

Dark past? That's interesting since the PC is the same one from SOU... Also, the PC from the OC didn't have a "dark, and mysterious past" either.

Besides, BIO is not the only company that likes games where PCs are "The Chosen". *cough* Troika *cough*


Flink, I do agree with your female villain comment. However, I haven't played KOTOR yet. That villain is supposed to be male..

Tri, you must be mistaking the the Aurora for the MW engine. Talk about the ugliness. And the SSI engine was really ugly. Then again, it should be ugly compared to the newer games. Then agin, not surprsied you would say that. It's expected.

 

[dipdipdip]

Dark past? That's interesting since the PC is the same one from SOU... Also, the PC from the OC didn't have a "dark, and mysterious past" either.

Ah. My apologies. I can't say I've been following along.

 

[Volourn]

Don't apoligize. Mistakes happen. Just ask my parents.

 

[Jora]

Besides, BIO is not the only company that likes games where PCs are "The Chosen". *cough* Troika *cough*

The main character in Arcanum was not "The Chosen One". Kerghan the Terrible just fooled everyone with that prophecy.

 

[Volourn]

You were still the Chosen One in essence. The story was about your great deeds. It involved you. You were it, and only it. Everyone else was secondary. You were just as much the "Chosen One" in Arcanum as you were in NWN OC, and SOU.

 

[Seven]

You were still the Chosen One in essence. The story was about your great deeds. It involved you. You were it, and only it. Everyone else was secondary. You were just as much the "Chosen One" in Arcanum as you were in NWN OC, and SOU.

No there's a difference. In SOU *you* are the one. There are no others, do noy pass go, do not collect $200.00, etc... Of course (playimg devil's advocate here) the story in Arcanum was about your great deeds, but which RPG doesn't have this. The thing about SOU (and other Bio games) is that your character is given supreme focus (ie. the world and other characters who inhabit it are in essense marginalized by your character because they cannot make a difference and do they not matter as result). BTW, have you come with a way to prove that infinity engine games are TB yet?

 

[Volourn]

I never said they were fully turn base. I said at their essence they have a turn base combat sytem run in RT.

As for SOU, youa re wrong. Characters do make a difference. Last I checked, your teacher made a difference. The one who saved you from your stoning made a difference. In Arcanu, the PC is THE one who made the main difference one wya, or the other. You can't really dispute that as that's pretty much accurate for ALL crpgs.

 

[Spazmo]

Volourn is right. You're not a "great one" or prophecized or anything in NWN or SOU. IN NWN and SOU, you have no past and are just a monster-killin', loot-collectin' puppet with no character or story anyways.

 

[Volourn]

Thumbs up.

 

[Jed]

Volourn is right. You're not a "great one" or prophecized or anything in NWN or SOU. IN NWN and SOU, you have no past and are just a monster-killin', loot-collectin' puppet with no character or story anyways.

Zaaaa-iiinngg!!

 

[Rayt]

Its too bad how they have now taken two cities which could have looked so pretty and poisoned them with one of the ugliest looking engines I have ever seen. Heck I think Waterdeep would have looked much better using the old Shattered Lands engine by SSI.

Or the IE engine. Baldurs Gate and Sigil looked fantastic and had a great atmosphere.

 

[Voss]

You know, just once, just once, I want to see a villain look at this whole prophecy thing, with generic Chosen One hero, and stop and think. 'Maybe, if I pay attention to stories and legends, and ALL the other villains that have attacked a supposed Chosen One because of prophecy, there could be another solution. Like leaving the heroic smuck alone in the first place, never getting him involved in an epic quest that will ultimately lead to my defeat. So screw prophecy.'

Never mind its the the Forgotten Realms, and its hard to swing a cat and not hit a dozen or so heroes all set to stop any sort of evil.

And why the hell doesn't the initial drow thief just slit your fucking throat rather than stealing a few items? I think the Deus ex Machina is going to be very sore by the time this comes out.

 

[Voss]

Or the IE engine. Baldurs Gate and Sigil looked fantastic and had a great atmosphere.

Eh. I think Sigil should have looked far more impressive than it did. That one 10 second cinematic did not do it justice, and neither did the maps. (All this is ignoring time/money considerations of course, but it was something I did find disappointing in PS:T)

 

[Volourn]

Because the thief is not the assassin. He's just a thief. While he is doing his thing; the actual assassin(s) are in the process of killing you (or trying to, anyways).

 

[Crazy Tuvok]

Makes no diiference to me that the "Chosen One" has been used before - it still sucks ass as a plot device (tho I disaggree with Vol - Arcanum was a different take on this). Anachronox did this nicely too I thought.

Baldur's Gate in BG1 was a far more engaging and real seeming city to me than anything in any other IE game.

With the exception of Trademeet, the cities in BG2 suffered from the same syndrome as PS:T static maps that just didn't feel living. I can't pinpoint what BG1 did differently but Baldur's Gate felt much more like a living city to me.

 

[Voss]

Because it would be horribly difficult to sink a poisoned dagger in your eye rather than gather up all your gear? Come on. This is generically bad expansion intro (IIRC, #17- a thief steals all your loot from previous game) the likes of which I haven't seen since Curse of the Azure Bonds (the CRPG, not the book, or module, or harem girl chain mail...).

 

[Volourn]

Athkatla felt "static" to you? Hmm... It seemed alive. Just try casting magic without a lience; and se how alive it is. Or bad talk to the various adventurer groups in the inns - biggest example here is the one led by Super Dwarf. The fact that vampires would come at night and you could either engage them or avoid thema s per their quest. Not to mention the Guild War. And, on, and on. Athkata was far from ststaic.

I do agree that the city of Neverwinter was kinda static in comparison to the IE games. I thought the small village in SOU was done pretty good. It surely wasn't static - just small.

Also of note, BIO won't really have a chance to ruin Waterdeep as the player will barely be there.


Voss, once again, the thief is NOT the assassin. The two things are occurring pretty mucha t the same time. To be honest, I think the eprson whos ent the 'assassins" actually expects them to fail; but sent them as a "diversion" to distract you from the thief. Not to mention, you will have the oppurtunity to get most of your equipment back.

And, yes, I figure that all, and all you losing equipment is just a story mechanic. It's also one I can personally live with to get rid of the silly uber equipment you recieve in ch2 SOU.

 

[triCritical]

With the exception of Trademeet, the cities in BG2 suffered from the same syndrome as PS:T static maps that just didn't feel living. I can't pinpoint what BG1 did differently but Baldur's Gate felt much more like a living city to me.

I can! There was variation in BG, where as in all other IE games it was just dungeon and city. Baldur's Gate did a pretty amazing thing in creating almost every aspect of the sword coast, hence there was strong contrast from the map right below and above Beregost and Beregost. In one area there is wilderness with occasional scripted NPC's and a couple of monsters, and the next of all of a sudden its a busy town. Furthermore the music helped capture the differences in the locales too.

BG2 on the other hand, was a straight linear romp, IN THE NAME OF BALANCE (blasphemy). Everthything was a city or the top level to the lower dungeons. So basically every map was virtually identical with the only difference being the background painting. And to debunk the attempt of analogous argument against the wilderness areas on BG would be to point out the different and sometimes surprising encounters you would find in the wilderness. For instance, A xvart colony, those caves with the dog people (can't think of their name), the halfling village, the red wizards, the carrion crawler l00t dungeon, the mages tower, the carnival and countless other neat things that were IMO quite k3wl completely removed from the second game. BG2 was just a straightfoward linear hack and slash with pissy dialogue.

 

[Voss]

My point is, there isn't any reason for him NOT to BE an assassin. You want someone dead, in a stealthy fashion, you don't send a pack. The assassin can fail, sure, but adding in more people adds to the people who know, people who can be spotted, people who can talk, and people who can screw up. And why would the real goal be the character's stuff, if the character was the big deal in the prophecy? That doesn't make any sense what so ever.

And there isn't any reason to send assassins you expect to fail. (at least, not if actually want the person dead, and even then there isn't any way to be sure they won't kill the target)

The real point is that this is a stupid and poorly thought out intro. Putting in some extra effort to make it convincing would really help the game as a whole. Not just an oh, sorry, we gave you too much phat loot last time, so we're going to take it from you, temporarily or not.

 

[Volourn]

Do you know the full prophecy? I sure don't. Perhaps, the drow doesn't want you dead yet. Perhaps she wants you for some lame ritual; but needs you alive; but needs to test your worth which is why she sent the "assassins'? Perhaps, she wants you not to have your stuff because it'll make you motivated to hunt for them which would lead you to her... There's a whole possible number of plausible reasons for the drow's motivation. The only problem with the plot is that it's BIo's plot which makes it free game to be attacked; not the plot itself. It's kinda ironic that you say that the plot is not well thought out when you are basing your not so ell thought out disagreement with it over a poorly written not well thought out preview by Gamespy/Gamespot.

I agree the mod is NOT the most original sounding. It's not even the best; but if people actually thought a 15-20 hour expansion would have a %* story; and espicially the intro; they are sadly mistaken. Quick frankly, I expect an okay story; not some legendary epic. Once again, BIo is being overrated by the masses who expect something that just won't exist.