Preview NWN2 pregawkings at EuroGamer

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Neverwinter Nights 2

<A href="http://www.eurogamer.net/">Eurogamer</a> has a <A href="http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=61457">preview</a> of <A href="http://www.obsidianent.com">Obsidian</a>'s up coming <A href="http://www.atari.com/nwn2/">Neverwinter Nights 2</a>. It's one of those nifty ones that starts off with the author explaining why he shouldn't be the one writing the thing. Anyway:
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<blockquote>Before I kick on with that though, let's cover some basics. NWN2 is built on the D&D 3.5 rules, and players will be able to bring along up to three NPC companions, and switch to them to queue up actions - Baudoin tells me these are the basic changes to the dynamic. This being more of a toolset tour, I didn't get to explore that side of it fully - but what was apparent was the detail of the environment, through worlds of trolls, bone spiders, demonic, normal-mapped pit fiends and, more importantly, a next generation vision of Neverwinter. The player's character is finely detailed, caught by dynamic lights and shadow as he stalks, branches clawing the air as they sway, mist churning over the surface of a stream bridged by creaking timber; where NWN's tilesets were largely pre-set, NWN2 will allow you to place individual objects on the tiles - as have the designers, and then some.</blockquote>
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<i>Neverwinter Knights of the Old Republic</i>?
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Thanks, <b>Exitium</b> of <A href="http://www.hellgateguru.com">Hellgate London Guru</a>.
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[Avé]

Ahem

 

[Greatatlantic]

I have never been a fan of Bioware's "TB" combat system that Obsidian has inherited, and I'm not certain direct henchman control improves it any for me. Though the ability to have multiple henchman to diversify your party is a big plus. I just don't look forward to constantly shifting from Character to Character in combat.

That being said, I'll forgive a disappointing combat scheme if they de-emphasize it and make combat a lot less prevalent then it was in the original. How about 15 zombies instead of 70 or 100 guarding the tomb like the OC? And then give me the option to bypass 10 of them and I'll be happy. Just because a tool kit makes it real easy to place enemies doesn't mean its good to place a lot of enemies.

 

[Ellester]

Even though I could care less about modding aspects of the game, it’s finally nice to start to see some information about this game coming out. One thing of note, at least it looks like all the mods won't look the same like they did when the first wave of NWN modules came out.

 

[jiujitsu]

<i>Neverwinter Knights of the Old Republic</i>?

 

[geminito]

KOTOR Constuction Set isn't far behind then.

The people love the KOTOR, don't they?

 

[Volourn]

"How about 15 zombies instead of 70 or 100 guarding the tomb like the OC?"

Liar.

" And then give me the option to bypass 10 of them and I'll be happy."

Zombies are easy to avoid. You should be able to avoid ALL of them. If you can't; you suck.

Moron.

 

[AlanC9]

You saying NWN OC combat wasn't repetitive, Volourn? I though it was almost as bad as ToEE, though at least it didn't take you 15 minutes to defeat a group of trivial mosnters.

The preview looks pretty good, though it's too vague to tell much. I like that the toolset isn't modal anymore.

 

[RGE]

The problem isn't that zombies can't be avoided, because they can. The problem is that they're little walking bags of XP, so there is no incentive to avoid them.

 

[Greatatlantic]

While some of NWN's combat could be avoided simply by taking another hallway, but not all. For some combat the only way to avoid it was a Rogue with Stealth. The problem with this is you'd have to leave behind your henchman who didn't have stealth, while the PC was only good in a fight if he could backstab, which is impossible with out some one else to engage the enemy. And even a stealth specialist could be caught rather often on harder dungeons, hence a lot of reloading. So no, sneaking bypassing the dead gaurding the tomb was not a viable option in NWN. Not unless you like quicksaving and loading every 40 seconds.

 

[Volourn]

"You saying NWN OC combat wasn't repetitive, Volourn? I though it was almost as bad as ToEE, though at least it didn't take you 15 minutes to defeat a group of trivial mosnters."

No more repetive than other games.

Let me see, FO had areas where you had to face dozens of the same enmies with no semblance of tatics. Rats, and mutants anyone? Let's not forget Bg series with their millions of xvarts, and ooldes of ebholders, and vampires.

Comparitively speaking, NWN was definitely no worse than those games.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Let me see, FO had areas where you had to face dozens of the same enmies with no semblance of tatics. Rats, and mutants anyone?

The nice thing about Fallout is that combat affected most every critter on the map instead of walking to each lone critter and killing it in that spot and moving to the next lone critter.

 

[Volourn]

"The nice thing about Fallout is that combat affected most every critter on the map instead of walking to each lone critter and killing it in that spot and moving to the next lone critter."

False. Not every critter. Every critter in a certain range. Afterall, I remember distinctly that as soon as you killed all hostiles within a certain view you'd be out of battle.

Still, your sceneraio just makes Fo worse in this aspect because you have to wait for the turn of everything within range including non hostiles or those who are far away.

Uhuh.

In your lame attempt to defend Fo (which does LOTS of things better than the OC); you just weaken it.

What a maroon.

 

[sabishii]

How's about in FO I get an over 75% chance of htiting a rat, whereas in NWN I have a 75% chance of MISSING a zombie. Making those little "critter" battles much less bothersome in FO than in NWN.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

I liked punching rats in the eyes. That was one of my favorite parts about the FO series. I always aimed for the eyes or crotch. Great stuff! :D

 

[Drakron]

... I always aimed for the eyes or crotch. Great stuff! :D

You are a girl?

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

... I always aimed for the eyes or crotch. Great stuff! :D

You are a girl?

LOL!

No. Just a fan of Three Stooges. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!

 

[Atrokkus]

What I really enjoyed doing in Fallout were two things:
1. Healing other characters to death with stimpacks.
2. Planting dynomite in other people's pockets.

Absurd, blasphemy, a defilement of realism, but FUN AS HELL!

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

2. Planting dynomite in other people's pockets.

I especially enjoy doing that to the slaver leader in FO2. Fun stuff!

 

[Section8]

Or the thieving kids. It's easy enough to rationalise that act as "Kid steals dynamite, not knowing it's active. Dumbass."