Interview Ferret Baudoin continues his NWN2 PR campaign

[SanguinePenguin]

Isn't Chris Avellone a part of the NWN2 team? He was the lead designer and writer of Planescape... so why are things looking so grim?

 

[Spazmo]

Maybe because he was also the lead designer and writer of KOTOR2.

 

[Volourn]

Oh. Ping.

Anyways, KOTOR2 was a good game. Not great, and definitely overrated. Much like KOTOR1.

As for NWN2, outside of the rather tradition story set up (omg, protect your village from evil monsters!) and some other crappy stuff (lameass familiars, 3.5E instead of 3.0 as examples); NWN2 should be rtaher good.

Certainly beats the dissapointing Hammer & Sickle which I really want to like....

 

[Levski 1912]

NWN is one of a few games that actually seem interesting to me this year, so I'm still hopeful towards its quality.

 

[aweigh]

Oh. Ping.

Anyways, KOTOR2 was a good game. Not great, and definitely overrated. Much like KOTOR1.

As for NWN2, outside of the rather tradition story set up (omg, protect your village from evil monsters!) and some other crappy stuff (lameass familiars, 3.5E instead of 3.0 as examples); NWN2 should be rtaher good.

Certainly beats the dissapointing Hammer & Sickle which I really want to like....

How does a few rules changed here and there affect NWN2 as a whole? 3.0E and 3.5E aren't all that different.

 

[Volourn]

You know nothing. LOTS of rules have been changes. Some for the better. Many for the worse.

 

[Kthan75]

Maybe because he was also the lead designer and writer of KOTOR2.

That's a bit harsh. KOTOR 2 was far from a perfect game, but I liked the dialog.

Also, I disagree with the fact that cinematic dialog automatically implies shitty dialog. Yes, it is harder to have a cinematic dialog with the complexity of Fallout's, for example, but it is not impossible.

Personally, I have no problem with spending half an hour reading the text in a single conversation, but for some people this really kills the game. I have a friend who didn't like rpgs simply because he didn't have the patience to read everything. I finally managed to convince him to play Bloodlines thanks to the voice acting and he liked it a lot. After that, he played KOTOR 1 & 2 as well.

 

[Nutcracker]

He sounds like a dispshit. Then again, a lot of people are.

 

[S4ur0n27]

Bloodlines was shit.

 

[Elwro]

One of the best shits I've played in years, then.

 

[SanguinePenguin]

One of the best shits I've played in years, then.

Agreed. Bloodlines despite its technical problems is one of my favorite RPGs.

 

[bryce777]

Full voiceacting has to be the bane of rpgs. It ensures simplicity and low amounts of dialog.

 

[aweigh]

You know nothing. LOTS of rules have been changes. Some for the better. Many for the worse.

Why do you have to act like a big meanie? I've played lots of 3.0 and 3.5 and know the rules much better than you, and while the amount of rules changed is significant it would never affect NWN2's gameplay all that much, as neither NWN1 nor NWN2 will be in any way, shape or form accurate representations of a D&D ruleset. In fact, going with NWN1's gameplay there wouldn't've been much fundamental difference if it had used 2E or 3E.

 

[aweigh]

Full voiceacting has to be the bane of rpgs. It ensures simplicity and low amounts of dialog.

It didn't for Bloodlines.

 

[Volourn]

"Why do you have to act like a big meanie?"

I'm a conformist, and this is how we act on the Codex specifically, and the interent generally.

" I've played lots of 3.0 and 3.5 and know the rules much better than you,"

Oh really? I'm glad you think you do. Maybe it's true; maybe it's not.

"and while the amount of rules changed is significant it would never affect NWN2's gameplay all that much, as neither NWN1 nor NWN2 will be in any way, shape or form accurate representations of a D&D ruleset. In fact, going with NWN1's gameplay there wouldn't've been much fundamental difference if it had used 2E or 3E."

This all depends on what you mean by 'significant'. 3.5 has HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of rules chnages between 3.0 and 3.5. If they won't alter the rules significantly, I say uuhuh.

Of course, the underlying game system will remain mostly the same; but it will be different rules wise. Signifciantly. A lot.


"It didn't for Bloodlines."

Or KOTOR. Or KOTOR2. Or JE.

 

[aweigh]

"Why do you have to act like a big meanie?"

I'm a conformist, and this is how we act on the Codex specifically, and the interent generally.

" I've played lots of 3.0 and 3.5 and know the rules much better than you,"

Oh really? I'm glad you think you do. Maybe it's true; maybe it's not.

"and while the amount of rules changed is significant it would never affect NWN2's gameplay all that much, as neither NWN1 nor NWN2 will be in any way, shape or form accurate representations of a D&D ruleset. In fact, going with NWN1's gameplay there wouldn't've been much fundamental difference if it had used 2E or 3E."

This all depends on what you mean by 'significant'. 3.5 has HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of rules chnages between 3.0 and 3.5. If they won't alter the rules significantly, I say uuhuh.

Of course, the underlying game system will remain mostly the same; but it will be different rules wise. Signifciantly. A lot.


"It didn't for Bloodlines."

Or KOTOR. Or KOTOR2. Or JE.

Sure, hundreds of rules were changed from 3.0 to 3.5 but fundamentally, they're still very similar experiences. You could have an extra +2 here, or one less +2 there, but you'll still be playing the same game you were in 3.0. I was just trying to point out that the same wouldn't be true when going from 2E to 3E. I agree with you wholeheartedly NWN2 will be different rules-wise from NWN1, that's a given, but since the first game wasn't exactly the most accurate adaptation of the rules system ever, I don't consider it that a big a deal if even more rules are changed. In fact, NWN2 could end up being even MORE faithful to 3.5 than NWN1 was to 3.0E! But anyway, none of that means that it will be good (or bad). I didn't enjoy the OC, like many other people, but I thoroughly enjoyed Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark, and I'm fairly excited about NWN2 since I think KOTOR2 was pretty spiffy. Now, as for voice acting and the amount of dialogue... I agree that it didn't limit Bloodlines or the KOTOR's in any way. There's no reason having tons of voice-acting will necessarily limit the quality of the dialogue, though a small arguement could be made it would limit the quantity (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).

P.S. Off the top of my head one of the things 3.5E brought me was the chance to exploit Improved Trip and the Spiked Chain. In 3.5E the Improved Trip feat gives you +4 to your STR check when tripping an opponent, as opposed to +2 in 3.0E. I also receive a free attack after tripping the opponent, now with +4 to my strike because the enemy is prone. If the enemy tries to get up, boom, he incurs an AoO and I get to hit him again. Now couple all of this with the Spiked Chain. I can do this from 10 feet away! Now I take a level of Exotic Weapon Master and choose the Exotic Stunt: Trip. I am so exotic that now when handling an exotic weapon (such as my Spiked Chain) I get another +2 to my STR check to trip the opponent, so that means now I have a +6. Now I take Monkey Grip and ask the local weaponsmith to craft me a Large Spiked Chain. With Monkey Grip I can use a weapon 1 size category larger than what I would normally be able to use, or use a weapon that I would normally have to use with 2 hands (like a Greatsword) with 1 hand. That means now I'm walking around with a Large Spiked Chain that gives me 15 foot of reach, and allows me to make adjacent attacks (regular reach weapons like the spear don't allow this). I trip an opponent from 15 feet away, he falls prone to the ground, I bash his head with my free attack (with +4 bonus because he was prone), he tries to get up, boom, AoO for me, I hit him again and so does everyone else standing around him.

I got another build that is only possible with 3.5E, a Monk build. I'll post about it later if you want.

 

[kris]

Also, I disagree with the fact that cinematic dialog automatically implies shitty dialog. Yes, it is harder to have a cinematic dialog with the complexity of Fallout's, for example, but it is not impossible.

Only if cinematic is the same as "voiceover". Otherwise the Fallout talking head conversations look the same as the ones in KOTOR, with the exception that several talking heads was present in the same conversation in KOTOR. Which only is a improvement. The only "harder part" is the possible constraint in dialouge.