Preview NWN2 Storm of Zehir overland map fun

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir

I know nothing of this as I haven't been following it <a href="http://au.pc.gamespy.com/pc/neverwinter-nights-2-storm-of-zehir/891925p1.html">but here's a preview of Storm of Zehir at GameSpy</a>. It's a mod for NWN2 I think:
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<blockquote>The party's struggle for survival in the jungle gave the Atari demonstrator the opportunity to show off the game's new overland map. This new "living map" stands in stark contrast to the standard static map that merely offered a representation of the land available to explore and static "teleport" buttons that would jump a character between set pieces. Now the map shows off tiny moving representations of the party as well as any friendly or enemy NPC s in sensory range of the party moving about in real-time. By steering the party around the map, the adventurers can hit or avoid a number of randomly generated monster encounters. Depending on which character is in the lead, the map can also use seldom-utilized skills like survival to reveal treasure caches, hidden ruins or even little side-quests that the party can explore. While these won't be terribly extensive in the official campaign that accompanies Storm of Zehir, the developers expect this to be one of the big new features for adventure creators and modders in the Neverwinter Nights 2 community.</blockquote>
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... <a href="http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/891/891207p1.html">and another one at IGN</a>:
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<blockquote>While Volo heads off to negotiate with them, the party has an opportunity to explore some of the new conversation options. Since you're in charge of a four-person party now, you can use each member to access different dialogues. The fighter in our party, for instance, intimidated a soldier into giving up his sword, while our rogue used diplomacy to convince another survivor to hand over her bow. This is all part of the developers' efforts to make your characters' skills more meaningful throughout the game. Another extension of that thinking is the ability of craft-trained characters to create weapons out of the wreckage that has washed ashore.</blockquote>
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Min-maxing a game with party members is always fun.
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Spotted @ <a href="http://www.rpgdot.com">RPGDot</a>

 

[Hamster]

It's a mod for NWN2 I think

Fail. It's a second expansion.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

mod for NWN2

Are you serious?

 

[SpaceKungFuMan]

mod for NWN2

Are you serious?

Its just DU not being funny with a news post again. Are you really not used to this yet? There's really no point in criticizing, cause it will just keep being like this. Then DU gets defensive and starts posting a million articles about a game to try and prove he's "right" and the game does suck. Who would think a game called "Dungeon Hero" would ever get so much front page coverage on the codex. . .

 

[Shoelip]

I chuckled. A little.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

It's the small moments like these that make my job worth it.

 

[Lumpy]

With Storm of Zehir, the team's latest expansion pack

Redding is teh hard, eh?

 

[Jasede]

It's a mod for NWN2

HEY DU, it's not a mod, it's an expansion, fyi. Hope there's some more posts about this ITT so you notice your mistake.

 

[Lumpy]

It's a mod for NWN2

HEY DU, it's not a mod, it's an expansion, fyi. Hope there's some more posts about this ITT so you notice your mistake.

That's not the point. It says quite clearly in the preview that the newspost is about that SoZ is an expansion.

 

[Jasede]

Yus, that's the joke. DU is having some fun.

 

[Saxon1974]

Sounds interesting to me.

Im curious as to whether I will like the real-time style world map. I kind of like the mystery of the static map that allows you to use your imagination.

If you can see monsters moving around and just avoid them, won't that kill some of the suspense of exploration? We will see I guess.

 

[themadhatter114]

Having party members with conversation skills that you can't utilize, and having skills that are never actually used in the game is way better. I love recruiting NPCs with a high diplomacy skill yet they never seem to want to help me out when I'm trying to talk my way out of something.

 

[Texas Red]

Yus, that's the joke. DU is having some fun.

Or is he? He admitted only slightly playing PS:T. Hes quite a heretic.

My party will be: druid, ranger, sorcerer, warlock. Notice how there is only one fighter and the rest are casters. I'm going to toughen up the game because it will inevitably be easy.

 

[themadhatter114]

Sounds interesting to me.

Im curious as to whether I will like the real-time style world map. I kind of like the mystery of the static map that allows you to use your imagination.

If you can see monsters moving around and just avoid them, won't that kill some of the suspense of exploration? We will see I guess.

There are no random encounters on the map. However, there are hidden items that will require a high spot skill to find.

Also the enemies that you see on the map move around on the map and also can see you. Supposedly lower level enemies will run away from you on the world map while stronger enemies will chase you.

 

[Truth]

The dynamic map sounds interesting. If they tied its accuracy somehow to the wilderness survival skill (whatever the hell it's called) it would have been a nice bonus.

Iffy

Game still operates off the old 3.5 rule set.

How is this a potentially bad thing?

 

[inwoker]

3.5 is outdated, next-gen 4.0 is for pro

 

[Korgan]

Can't wait to rob me some corovans...

 

[MetalCraze]

My party will be: druid, ranger, sorcerer, warlock. Notice how there is only one fighter and the rest are casters. I'm going to toughen up the game because it will inevitably be easy.

lulz what? Actually 1 fighter + 3 orbital bombardment casters is the easiest party build in NWN2. While everyone attacking that fat on hp fighter - 3 casters just stand behind and nuke everything to pieces.

 

[Volrath]

Sounds interesting to me.

Im curious as to whether I will like the real-time style world map. I kind of like the mystery of the static map that allows you to use your imagination.

If you can see monsters moving around and just avoid them, won't that kill some of the suspense of exploration? We will see I guess.

Those monsters are based on your spot skill though, I think that if you have a low spot skill you'll see them too late or perhaps not at all.

 

[Truth]

Those monsters are based on your spot skill though, I think that if you have a low spot skill you'll see them too late or perhaps not at all.

I missed reading that somehow. Sounds cool. Definitely better than "You have been waylaid by enemies and must defend yourself" and battle popping out of nowhere because you failed some dice roll you don't even know about.

 

[themadhatter114]

Sounds interesting to me.

Im curious as to whether I will like the real-time style world map. I kind of like the mystery of the static map that allows you to use your imagination.

If you can see monsters moving around and just avoid them, won't that kill some of the suspense of exploration? We will see I guess.

Those monsters are based on your spot skill though, I think that if you have a low spot skill you'll see them too late or perhaps not at all.

It will be the survival skill, and spot will reveal hidden items. I think that basically survival is going to work the same way on the overland map as it does on the mini-map.

From J.E. Sawyer:

"Survival is used more for avoiding attention than attracting it. Spot is used to locate hidden locations on the map, which is sort of similar to what you're describing; it's just not used to spawn/create random encounters/locations. But to answer another question, yes there are effectively random encounters with neutrals/friendlies, but you see them actually moving around on the map instead of just getting a pop-up."

 

[Saxon1974]

Sounds interesting to me.

Im curious as to whether I will like the real-time style world map. I kind of like the mystery of the static map that allows you to use your imagination.

If you can see monsters moving around and just avoid them, won't that kill some of the suspense of exploration? We will see I guess.

Those monsters are based on your spot skill though, I think that if you have a low spot skill you'll see them too late or perhaps not at all.

It will be the survival skill, and spot will reveal hidden items. I think that basically survival is going to work the same way on the overland map as it does on the mini-map.

From J.E. Sawyer:

"Survival is used more for avoiding attention than attracting it. Spot is used to locate hidden locations on the map, which is sort of similar to what you're describing; it's just not used to spawn/create random encounters/locations. But to answer another question, yes there are effectively random encounters with neutrals/friendlies, but you see them actually moving around on the map instead of just getting a pop-up."

Well this definitely sounds interesting, hope it turns out well.

Not many games coming out how much of a survival\exploration aspect anymore which I have been missing.

 

[Ismaul]

The overland map looks better than I thought, it seems dynamic and interactive, more than Fallout's.

I hope they add the Scout class. It would fit perfectly with their exploration-focused expansion.

 

[Crichton]

lulz what? Actually 1 fighter + 3 orbital bombardment casters is the easiest party build in NWN2. While everyone attacking that fat on hp fighter - 3 casters just stand behind and nuke everything to pieces.

That'll kill your fighter pretty quickly due to crummy reflex saves unless you're playing on pussy mode.

 

[Murk]

^ plenty of AOE spells that don't harm party members (you'll be spamming Isaac's Greater Missile Storm anyway) and the warlock can easily just blast chain-shaped essences.

fireball is a thing of the past