Interview NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer interviews

[Azarkon]

Wow, they certainly pull no stops this time capitalizing on PST. Here's to hoping MoTB will be worthy of the reference.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

Torment mentioned in press release? There is something odd about this fact. Anyway, I'm interested in planewalking and harvesting souls.

 

[Volrath]

Epic storyline provides the most riveting RPG experience since Planescape: Torment, with the compelling characters and plotlines for which Obsidian Entertainment is renowned. Play the official campaign either alone or online with your friends.

That's a bold statement which, let's be fair here, can only lead to disappointment.

 

[Jasede]

I don't -completely- think so. MCA is still a good writer, say what you want. Kotor 2 is full of great characters (G0-T0!) and compelling dialogues (First meeting with Atris), both things that were, I daresay, absolutely equal to PS:T. I am as pessimistic as you are, but hey- maybe... just maybe...

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

You should -REALLY- stop that...

 

[Jasede]

What? Am I wrong? I remember that one reason of Koki hating me was because I am not 100% pessimistic at all times. I have savoured PS:T and I can competently say that Kotor 2 has a lot of good things in common with it.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Uh no you got me wrong, I kinda agree with you on that. I meant something -entirely- different.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Well, don't speak in -fucking- riddles then, Tales. What could you -possibly- mean?

 

[Jasede]

Well, if you -insist- on not telling me -clearly- I'll -never- know.

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

*Know* that I -think- this sort of thing is just *no* good in the -long- run.

 

[Ladonna]

To be -Sure-....

I take it there is nothing new being added to the MQ of NWN2 itself? If that is correct I will have to start a new NWN2 campaign and make my way through the orc caves...I have -Really- missed that place...

Just have to decide on a character type now. Well, when RL gets out of the way.

 

[aboyd]

Who is the lead Producer on Mask? Chris..? JE?

I believe JE is working on Aliens, and Chris is the creative lead for that game, so he's just doing some companion writing here. George Ziets, if you read the interview for Gameshark, is the creative lead for MoTB. I'm not familiar with his work, but I'm willing to give Obsidian the benefit of the doubt here since they seem to be saying all the right things with MoTB.

George Ziets profile on Moby Games is a bit of a let-down. He hasn't done much.

 

[ricolikesrice]

• Epic storyline provides the most riveting RPG experience since Baldurs Gate , with the compelling characters and plotlines for which Bioware is renowned - and we here at Obsidian are doing our best to learn from the godfather of roleplaying games. Play the official campaign either alone or online with your friends.

• Explore an amazingly reactive world, where you can even have breath taking romantic experiences with one or multiple NPCs you come across.

fixed these 2 points for OE for a better impact on the target audience. none of them knows or enjoys PS:T nor could they stand no mention of bioware s greatness.
and NOT mentioning romances in a fact sheet for a bioware sequel is big NO NO.

....


i like what i seen so far, if the hype is at least partially true my fears of HOTU 2.0 are a little calmed. really looking forward to october (the witcher too).

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

fixed these 2 points for OE for a better impact on the target audience.

1. The fact sheet was written by Atari.
2. Who said that Bioware fanboys are the target audience?

none of them knows or enjoys PS:T nor could they stand no mention of bioware s greatness.

And PS:T, unlike Bioware, still was mentioned. Kinda strange, don't you think?

 

[Xerxos]

Oh, come on!

Yes they made errors. Plenty. But NWN2 had its moments (I think we all agree on this?).

I personally think many errors came from a tight time table, but who knows...

Let's hope they learned from their mistakes and make a great game.

Many expansions are better then the original because the developer know their tools and 100% of their time can be spend developing instead of learning the new tools.

There is hope.

 

[Starwars]

To be -Sure-....

I take it there is nothing new being added to the MQ of NWN2 itself? If that is correct I will have to start a new NWN2 campaign and make my way through the orc caves...I have -Really- missed that place...

Just have to decide on a character type now. Well, when RL gets out of the way.

As I understand, the only thing 'added' to the main campaign will be that you will be able to play through it using the new races/classes from MotB.

Anyways, you can just start a new character for MotB and it will level you up to the appropiate level. Though I suppose a lot of things in the expansion will make more sense if you have seen the story.

Act 1 (and especially the Orc caves) if fucking terrible. You can always do what I did when I replayed it. I turned on God mode for all the characters in my party for those parts, and found out that enemies won't actually attack you when you're in God mode. It's cheap, but those two caves in particular are so horrendously boring that I found cheating worth it.

 

[Saxon1974]

Am I the only one that thinks the worst part of NWN2 was the linear campaign and the buildings that you couldnt enter? Sure seems like there is not much discussion on this topic. But, maybe they is not going to change in the expansion so there is not much to discuss.

I found the companions to be annoying and the story average, but what really got me to stop playing was the linearity of the game's quests.

 

[Texas Red]

I was OK with not having the oppurtunity to enter buildings. I always thought that it was a bit silly that you could break in to other peoples homes and start asking for quests.

The BG-like map was advertised but its not being used. Why couldnt they give the player a few side quests that would have him travel around the Neverwinter city? Unfortunetly it is impossible to understand the dumbfuckery of the developers.

Also what should have been implented are the boss fights. Instead of throwing a horde of effortless orcs, why not place a single powerful one that would require all of the party members to bring down?

If I choose the hardest difficulty level then I damn well expect some problems. We will never learn just fucking WHY the games from Bioware and Obsidian are so easy. Are there really suits worrying that if some player accidentally selects a hard difficulty and will be crushed in combat, this would somehow affect sales?

There is much idiocy going on with NWN 2, I agree. Personally I blame the engine, it sucks.

 

[Elwro]

I think quite a few buildings in Neverwinter change their placeholder/real building status depending on whether you join the Watch, or the Thieve's Guild.

 

[Starwars]

RPGVault has a (rather large) two part interview about MotB. The first part has been out for a while, and the second part was uploaded today.

Part 1: http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/811/811996p1.html

Part 2: http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/812/812667p1.html

What can I say? I think it looks really promising, and I'm actually getting hyped about this against my will. The "groundwork" seems to be there, and if Obsidian can pull it off then it looks like it will be a good experience.

I am oh so happy to move away from the Sword Coast. It will be interesting to see Rashemen in a cRPG form. Look like we will have at least two non-standard fantasy fares in NWN2 this autumn, that being Mask of the Betrayer and Purgatorio.