Interview NWN2: Storm of Zehir interview at Actiontrip

[Calis]

Tags: Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir

Whaddayaknow, the second Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion got itself a name, and an interview to boot. The e-mail bringing the interview to my attention dropped the F-bomb:<blockquote>AT: Mask of the Betrayer introduced a cool gameplay element (balancing dark powers and so forth). In terms of gameplay, what's the biggest innovation in SoZ?
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KS: Mask of the Betrayer colored within the lines set by Neverwinter Nights 2. Storm of Zehir does not. The Overland Map is one of the game's most defining features. It provides a sense of exploration that makes it feel more like a Fallout game than a Neverwinter Nights game. The Overland Map also makes Skills (Survival, Spot, etc.) more important and useful.</blockquote>
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<A HREF="http://www.actiontrip.com/previews/neverwinternights2stormofzehir_i.phtml" target="_blank">Read all about it</A>
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[crakkie]

I hadn't heard about the trading system:

Some quests tie directly into the trading system, but how much you want to partake in it is up to you. The core of the trading system in Storm of Zehir is to buy low, sell high, and pay attention to trends and events that impact the economy. There are different trading factions whose goals you can choose to support (or oppose). Ultimately, SoZ is a role-playing game, not an economic sim. The trading system's role in that regard is to add to the world's reactivity, with your trading endeavors potentially opening up new options and impacting story events. It also felt like a natural extension of the Overland Map gameplay.

I hope they at least put townspeople banter to good use.

"What is the local rumor, good lady?"
"I hear the Trader's Guild in Amn is trying to corner the market."
"THEN SOY IS GOING TO SKYROCKET! I'M RICH!!"

 

[Hamster]

First, the game will be more of a light-hearted adventure than a dark, forbidding tale. A more "fun"-oriented story is generally easier to make less linear. Storm of Zehir has a lot of minor plots and events, not all of which directly support the main storyline.

The story is still very important to Storm of Zehir, but the game is more about exploring an interesting and reactive world than it is about living out an epic storyline.

Very promising.

 

[Xor]

I'm starting to get really excited about SoZ, everything I've heard about it so far sounds good.

Obsidian may not be perfect, but at least they're willing to try different things.

 

[Joff1981]

There's another interview with Kevin Saunders about SoZ over at RPS.

 

[Ismaul]

Obsidian may not be perfect, but at least they're willing to try different things.

They better be. Expansions are a good excuse to try new things, see what works and what doesn't. Hopefully they'll use the feedback to make their other games better.

 

[Starwars]

And yet another one at StrategyInformer: http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/neve ... rview.html

It's quite nice to hear Fallout mentioned in these interviews, I'll try to keep my hype down though.
I'm convinced that Obsidian will take a lot of flak for ditching the more deeper characters in favour for a more open type of gameplay. If they ditch the romances, then the circle will truly be complete. :twisted:

But yeah, it looks really promising.

 

[fastpunk]

Not much new info in here. I guess we'll have to wait a while longer. But so far, this expansion sounds great.

 

[Warden]

Please, please. Let us start at level 1!
And I hope I don't have to create more than 1 character at start - I want to create just me! If I let someone adventure with me it'll certainly be only pregenerated NPCs I find on my adventures. :shock:

 

[thesheeep]

Please, please. Let us start at level 1!

Dear god, no.
Killing dogs and goblins is just boring...

Level 3 would be okay.. or like it was in the NWN2 OC... start at level 1 in the tutorial which brings you to level 3.

 

[Warden]

Dear god, no.
Killing dogs and goblins is just boring...

Level 3 would be okay.. or like it was in the NWN2 OC... start at level 1 in the tutorial which brings you to level 3.

To feel the char as mine I need to build him up from lvl 1 earning all levels myself. It feels weird when you get bumped to lvl xy in a new story - what's your past, how did you get those levels? I want to do it, it's my character!
God, why do people want to be served with all the benefits of (a few even) additional levels from the first second. Sweat your way to higher levels!

 

[Texas Red]

Please, please. Let us start at level 1!

Dear god, no.
Killing dogs and goblins is just boring...

Level 3 would be okay.. or like it was in the NWN2 OC... start at level 1 in the tutorial which brings you to level 3.

*shrugs* You started out killing gray dwarves and other humanoids in the OC.

Still don't understand why they had to kill off the companions. Don't they themselves understand that its the prime feature of NWN 2? The established fanbase wants the same goodness and I don't believe they're going to get a whole load of new buyers with a 2nd expansions.

 

[thesheeep]

I'm not very fond of this "full own party" idea myself.
It was one of the reasons why I never really liked the Icewind Dale games.

On the other hand, it offers more replayability. At least to me, it does.
And replayability is one of the most important things to me.

 

[Saxon1974]

I love the sound of this mod.

Create your own party, starting at level one

A wide open world to explore via a world map

I think im sold on this one

if it does well i really hope it means we get a full length game made in the same style.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

All this Fallout mentioning is definitely capitalizing on nerdrage over Fallout 3.

 

[Thrasher]

I just hope other elements aren't cut off at the knees to enable this. No Oblivion shallowness please.

 

[Baldr]

I seriously think this might come before Mysteries of Westgate.

Atari buying the DnD license for CRPGs seems to have really made things miserable for those of us who like playing the games. Bugs, delays, Dragonshard...

 

[Relayer71]

I just wished those ActionTrip's Babes Of The Day were naked and in more sensuous poses - aside from that SoZ sounds good.

 

[aboyd]

Please, please. Let us start at level 1!

Dear god, no.
Killing dogs and goblins is just boring...

Level 3 would be okay..

It looks like thesheep wins. From one of the articles:

Storm of Zehir is intended to be played with a new party of low level characters.

That sounds to me like not first level (or they would have just said that) and not high levels either.

 

[Spectacle]

They say in the interview that the game will not beyond 30th level, but I really hope your characthers won't get anywhere near level 30 in this game. They've said it will be about 15 hours, so you're meant to reach 30 during a normal playthrough, then you'll level up every 30 minutes...

 

[Balor]

From RPS:

"RPS: And I suspect that’s more than enough. Before I go - flipping it around, a previous question - what sort of things have you lost which you kind of miss?

Kevin Saunders: Insightful question. Perhaps the biggest thing we “lost” was the involved companions we’ve had in previous Obsidian titles. Storm of Zehir will have Cohorts, each of whom has their own background and personality. But they are much more optional and are not integral story components. They also do not have the expansive dialogues that some Knights of the Old Republic 2, NWN2, and MotB companions have. There will be quite a few to choose from and they’ll comment on what’s going on in the game (as the Mask of the Betrayer companions did) and bolster your custom-created party. This approach with Cohorts felt like it fit the Storm of Zehir gameplay better and allowed us to expend more creative energy on creating a reactive and interesting world to explore."

Bah. Well, perhaps story will stay complex and interesting enough.

 

[Lurkar]

Having trudged through OC's companions, seriously, I would've been more then happy to make my own goddamn group of people over dealing with their shit again.

MotB was better, and even at times, dare I say it, good. But if I had to choose between the OC companions or my own created ones, I'll take ones I make.

 

[Lumpy]

MotB was better, and even at times, dare I say it, good. But if I had to choose between the OC companions or my own created ones, I'll take ones I make.

Eh? What was wrong with MotB's companions?

 

[Shannow]

MotB was better, and even at times, dare I say it, good. But if I had to choose between the OC companions or my own created ones, I'll take ones I make.

Eh? What was wrong with MotB's companions?

Safiya has NO HAIR!

 

[Lumpy]

MotB was better, and even at times, dare I say it, good. But if I had to choose between the OC companions or my own created ones, I'll take ones I make.

Eh? What was wrong with MotB's companions?

Safiya has NO HAIR!

OMG! A female party member I can't fap over. :declineoftherpgs: