Interview Mysteries of Westgate interview

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Neverwinter Nights 2

We were given an opportunity to ask Alan Miranda and Luke Scull <a href=http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=162>a few questions</a> about upcoming <a href=http://www.ossianstudios.com/>Mysteries of Westgate</a>:
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<blockquote>7) The game promises choices and "huge consequences." An actual example would go a long way to back up these claims and fill the hearts of unbelievers with faith.
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Luke: I’m sure it would, but I wouldn’t want to spoil too much of the experience for players. Let’s just say that I know the depths of loathing loyal Codex readers reserve for developers that talk the talk but fail to meet expectations when it comes to choice and consequences. I’m not only walking but swaggering, and not just because I’m drunk.
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Alan: I will echo Luke on this one, in that we definitely do provide some big choices with significant consequences to the player. We made a conscious decision when writing the core story during pre-production to allow for branches in the story instead of a single linear path. The challenge was to make the different branches as polished as if we had just made one route, since polishing a single linear path would take only half the time. Revealing what these choices are would ruin the story, so you’ll just have to keep the faith.</blockquote><a href=http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=162>Click here to read the rest</a>.

 

[Ladonna]

Nice.

Is this a 'start at first level' mod?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Lvl 8-14.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

yes, there’s a very interesting evil/chaotic path.

It would be very nice to have separate evil and chaotic paths.

 

[Bluebottle]

This does indeed sound very interesting. I'm hoping their promise of a similar frequency of RPing opportunity to MoTB ends up ringing true. It's certainly heartening to see more teams espousing the Codex position.

 

[galsiah]

Interesting stuff.

yes, there’s a very interesting evil/chaotic path.

It would be very nice to have separate evil and chaotic paths.

I don't think the D&D alignment system is at all helpful here [I'm playing MotB at the moment, and it just seems to get in the way]. It's a load of nonsense at the best of times, and particularly unhelpful when it creates a mindset of "the evil path", "the good path", "the chaotic path" etc. Sadly the gameplay significance of alignment requires that the paths be fit to the alignment system to some extent.

In a setting with multiple gods, plains, powers etc. there really ought not to be any need to track alignment abstractly. It'd be perfectly reasonable to give those gods/powers that took an interest knowledge of your actions - and an appropriate response to them. On the faction/personal level, relationships/influence/loyalty can easily be handled without alignment.
A system based directly around the reactions/favour of gods could be considerably more nuanced than the trivially flawed D&D system. It'd also be coherent within the setting, rather than a daft abstract layer plastered over the top. (since when an abstract system wrongly interprets a calculated, selfish action as "good", the game is flawed; when a god/power makes that mistake, only the god/power is flawed)


Clearly Ossian can't be blamed for this, but I can't see the D&D alignment system as anything other than a kick in the teeth for potential subtlety/novelty/imagination in choices+consequences.

 

[OccupatedVoid]

I hope Moonshadows' endless hak & slash isn't a sign of what MOW will be like.