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Interview Ferret Baudoin continues his NWN2 PR campaign

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
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Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,044
Tags: Neverwinter Nights 2; Obsidian Entertainment

Ferret Baudoin, <a href=http://www.obsidianent.com/>Obsidian</a>'s #1 PR guy, has <a href=http://www.shacknews.com/extras/2006/020806_nwn2_1.x>answered some more NWN2 questions</a> at <a href=http://www.shacknews.com>Shacknews</a>
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<blockquote><b>Tell us more about the companions: do they have different reasons for fighting alongside the player; will traveling w/ different henchmen affect the path the player takes through the game; etc.</b>
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All of the companions have their own personality, stories, and motivations. And which companions you take with you can definitely impact the way the game goes, and potentially open up some options. Sometimes a companion is required for certain sections of the game. The whole goal is to make sure that they are deep and involved characters that sometimes interact with the story similar to the way you do.
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<b>Seems the conversation system has been affected by the winds of change. Tell us about this completely revamped system.</b>
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Yes and no. We still use the original conversation style for some things. But we do make extensive use of our cinematic dialog system – similar to what people saw in the Knights of the Old Republic series. It allows us designers to craft scenes and convey emotion similar to a director in a movie. It gives us plenty of opportunity to make for a more involved story.</blockquote>I like the name: a cinematic dialogue system. Reading is definitely a dying art these days.
 

Elwro

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Krakow, Poland
Divinity: Original Sin Wasteland 2
Ferret said:
But we do make extensive use of our cinematic dialog system – similar to what people saw in the Knights of the Old Republic series. It allows us designers to craft scenes and convey emotion similar to a director in a movie. It gives us plenty of opportunity to make for a more involved story.
I wonder why I'm pretty sure this means the game's dialogue will be crap.
Uh, maybe it's because I don't think anyone, including Mr. Ferret, can sincerily believe that switching from old-style dialogue to KotOR-like cinematic style can be of any benefit to the story. And cinematic style means less meaningfully different dialogue paths, obviously.
 

AlanC9

Liturgist
Joined
Aug 12, 2003
Messages
505
Elwro said:
Uh, maybe it's because I don't think anyone, including Mr. Ferret, can sincerily believe that switching from old-style dialogue to KotOR-like cinematic style can be of any benefit to the story. And cinematic style means less meaningfully different dialogue paths, obviously.

He said "more involved story," but I think what he actually meant was "more involving story." Ferret probably believes that players find it easier to relate to characters when they're not reading subtitles. For most players, he's probably right.

But you're right that there's a tradeoff. Without playing the game I don't know if Obsidian's trading off the length or the breadth. Or both.
 

S4ur0n27

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Messages
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Outremont
I rather think reading dialogues let you imagine your character's voice, which lets you get attached to it. Don't you just hate games in which the character you're supposed to be has a shitty fag voice?
 

aweigh

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If this was an original IP I might jump on the bandwagon, but however NWN2 turns out it can only be better than the first game. Of course... an Etch-A-Sketch was better than the first game.
 

Section8

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He said "more involved story," but I think what he actually meant was "more involving story." Ferret probably believes that players find it easier to relate to characters when they're not reading subtitles. For most players, he's probably right.

No, I think he meant "involved," as in "Just to get this tiny bit of story across, we had to involve a shitload more people and resources than just a single writer tapping away at keys for 5 minutes."

I gotta say, I'm very ambivalent toward NWN2. Some interviews are pretty positive, some are inane. Where do I draw the line?
 

oherror

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my own worst nightmare
kingcomrade said:
Dialogue in NWN2? Of course it's going to suck ass. It's top-down Doom in a fantasy setting.
Hey, fuck you, guy. Doom was an awesome game. IS an awesome game.

DOOM is god....it was fun back then and scary too....not so much anymore but back then damn....

as far as nwn 2 i'll hold my opinion on it the first wasn't my kind of game and i cheated at the end just to see where the story was going. Maybe nwn2 will hold my attention longer.
 

FrancoTAU

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NWN2 and Dragon Age are weird in that i don't know whether or not to be excited about them. For every really nifty thing they mention, there is something equally bad mentioned.
 

kris

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I would say you are both unfair and more or less making up much out of nothing. there is nothing to say the dialouge will be poor, all may not like their writers, but I would say they rise over the average. I couldn't care less about voiceovers, but I don't see the hostility towards having conversations as in KOTOR. Really I find it funny that many here complain about that as it looks more or less like in Fallout for example.
 

kingcomrade

Kingcomrade
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IAMMIGHTYKINGCOMRADE.jpg
 

Higher Game

Arcane
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Apr 14, 2005
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Female Vagina
Good voice acting definitely helps a game. Think of Planescape Torment without the voice acting. It wouldn't be the same.
 

Diogo Ribeiro

Erudite
Joined
Jun 23, 2003
Messages
5,706
Location
Lisboa, Portugal
Done.

I'm gone.

Alright.

Failed.
Failed.
Failed.
Failed.
Failed.
Forced it.

Updated my journal.
Updated my journal.
Updated my journal.
Updated my journal.
Updated my journal.
Updated my journal.

I feel stronger.
 

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