NWN2: Storm of Zehir expansion (now confirmed)

[MetalCraze]

Are there any rpgs where NPCs drag you off to revive you like you can do to them?

Arcanum.
they don't drag you off though and must revive you quickly before the 3 seconds will pass after the death. but they are still reviving you.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I really hope this has as good roleplaying and story as MotB had. If it's just dungeon crawling and fighting all the time, I'm going to be disappointed.

 

[Shannow]

And it is an improvement: everyone here and elsewhere talks about BG2's combat being superior to NWN2's, and it's the only substantial difference between the two systems.

I'll assume you are trying to troll...


/Offtopic:
And in PS:T you wake up in strange places after dying all the time...

 

[Trash]

Damn, I missed that part about the map. Sounds absolutely great, and I'm very happy that he mentioned Darklands as an influence. Shit, I'm actually getting excited again about a game....that's been awhile. :D

 

[Relayer71]

Late to this party but...

I don't understand the concerns over game length. First, it's an expansion not a full game (and will likely be priced as such). Second, content is what matters.

ESPECIALLY in RPGs where game time is usually "padded" with monotonous back tracking, inventory management (in the case of games with poor inventory management systems combined with excessive loot), unwelcome grinding (not optional battles where one can build up ones character levels, gain cash or loot IF one chooses but constant dull, tedious unchallenging combat), long boring dialogue or tons of silly fetch quests.

I'd rather play a short game that is well balanced and has an interesting and well-paced story. But the main thing though is to keep the game challenging from beginning to end.

I think if a game is short but challenging (and entertaining, not frustratingly difficult due to poor design or mechanics) it makes it all the more worth playing through. If you feel like you've come close to breaking a sweat a few times it will make finishing it all the more sweeter and may even invite a second play through especially if it's deep enough to give you a different experience the second time.

I haven't played MoTB unfortunately (will soon though) but I would have enjoyed NWN2 OC a lot more if it had more difficult combat but less of it (would have helped greatly with the pacing).

Kotor 2's length felt just right but again a lot of that was spent in what I thought was very easy combat (and this on the "Difficult" setting) that sucked some of the enjoyment out of a game that had great dialogue and characters, a good story and some entertaining quests.

So from what I've read this new expansion will be nothing like MoTB which has gotten a lot of praise. Whatever you do, just make sure you keep the pacing and difficulty in mind. I want a 15 hour rollercoaster ride, where every battle counts and isn't there just to give me the necessary xp to fight the main nemesis, where the story twists and turns and leaves me wondering what will happen next, where the dialgoue crackles with life and energy, where the end credits bring a smile of satisfaction to my face not the feeling of "oh, finally finished now I can play XXXXX".

 

[-Pavlos-]

I think MotB was marketed as 15 hours as well? Or 15-20 hours or something.

25 hrs from what I remember. It took me about 30 though, but I always take things slow these days.

15 hrs for this new exp sounds a tad too short though. Still, if its brimming with quality content then it'll be worth it I guess.

I remember it being marketed as 15, then the developers bumping that up to around 20 in an interview. Took me around 30 as well... maybe I'm just a slow reader. : /

On the aesthetics: I enjoyed MotB's new music tracks (it gave each of the areas something uinque; I especially like the stuff played in Shadow Mulsantir, it gave the place an incredibly oppressive feeling), do you have any idea if NX2 will sport a soundtrack?

 

[Starwars]

I really hope we'll see a new soundtrack by the guys who did the MotB one.

 

[MetalCraze]

I really hope we'll see a new soundtrack by the guys who did the MotB one.

that was Alexander Brandon - Unreal series, Deus Ex, Thief 3

 

[Anthony Davis]

I really hope we'll see a new soundtrack by the guys who did the MotB one.

He is Obsidian's Audio Director, so yeah, he is in charge of it.

 

[Starwars]

Great news!

 

[Jasede]

ALEXANDER BRANDON?

Argh why won't MotB run on a Radeon 9600 .

 

[Kingston]

I really hope we'll see a new soundtrack by the guys who did the MotB one.

He is Obsidian's Audio Director, so yeah, he is in charge of it.

Awesome

 

[MetalCraze]

that's why I hope AP will get his branded style UT1999/DeusEx soundtrack. that alone will be a good argument for me to buy the game.
I'm so fucking tired of all this epic-orchestra-Zimmerman generic bullshit you can hear in almost every modern game about the modern day world

 

[Saxon1974]

Ok, Im excited about this.

I have been wanting an openly explorable world RPG game for a long time now. Can't think of much that has not already been asked.

I hope that if this expansion does well that this might be a sign that we will see more games in this fashion created in the future, but Im getting ahead of myself.

I hope this starts at a level 1 character (As someone else said).

 

[MetalCraze]

I would've wished Obsidian make an option to have a turn-based combat in this expansion. considering that Aurora Engine already works in a "turn-based with auto acting" mode I doubt it will be hard to make (like turning on an auto-pause every time it's one of your character's turn - and then turning it off when your character does some action, giving the turn to the next character - only make it much more comfortable. AE already does it as I take it but without pauses)

 

[nomask7]

And it is an improvement: everyone here and elsewhere talks about BG2's combat being superior to NWN2's, and it's the only substantial difference between the two systems.

I'll assume you are trying to troll...

No. I've never heard anyone say he preferred NWN2's combat to BG's. Or is that not what you meant? Maybe you can think of other substantial differences between the two combat systems besides the "companion can die in combat"/"can't really die in combat because that would irritate the average player" thing. I can't.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

And it is an improvement: everyone here and elsewhere talks about BG2's combat being superior to NWN2's, and it's the only substantial difference between the two systems.

I'll assume you are trying to troll...

No. I've never heard anyone say he preferred NWN2's combat to BG's. Or is that not what you meant? Maybe you can think of other substantial differences between the two combat systems besides the "companion can die in combat"/"can't really die in combat because that would irritate the average player" thing. I can't.

The difference is in the challenge of the combat. BG2 has harder enemies. NWN2's combat is too easy and thus monotonous chore.

 

[Aditya]

I really hope we'll see a new soundtrack by the guys who did the MotB one.

that was Alexander Brandon - Unreal series, Deus Ex, Thief 3

Alex Brandon on Thief 3?? Dont be such misinforemd. Eric Brosius has done music for all thief games.

On the topic: Splendid news! :D

 

[Texas Red]

And it is an improvement: everyone here and elsewhere talks about BG2's combat being superior to NWN2's, and it's the only substantial difference between the two systems.

I'll assume you are trying to troll...

No. I've never heard anyone say he preferred NWN2's combat to BG's. Or is that not what you meant? Maybe you can think of other substantial differences between the two combat systems besides the "companion can die in combat"/"can't really die in combat because that would irritate the average player" thing. I can't.

The difference is in the challenge of the combat. BG2 has harder enemies. NWN2's combat is too easy and thus monotonous chore.

NWN 2 combat just feels clunky and annoying to handle. Not the developers mistake, they had to rework an existing engine.

 

[MetalCraze]

I really hope we'll see a new soundtrack by the guys who did the MotB one.

that was Alexander Brandon - Unreal series, Deus Ex, Thief 3

Alex Brandon on Thief 3?? Dont be such misinforemd. Eric Brosius has done music for all thief games.

On the topic: Splendid news! :D

Alexander Brandon even did a voice-over for some very secondary character in Thief 3.
also I've never said that he was solely responsible for Thief 3 soundtrack, but it's quite common for such soundtracks to have multiple musicians working on them. UT1999 soundtrack is credited to 7 people.

 

[deuxhero]

"· Create your own full party of adventurers. Devastate your foes with a squad of fireball-flinging Sorcerers, form a solid wall of steel with a party of Fighters, or strike the perfect balance in your party by spreading out the classes you choose for your characters."

Reading between the lines I can assume this will not be an epic campagin? (the 3rd level spell "fire ball" would be vastly outdated at that point)

"a new Teamwork Benefit System, and powerful party feats. "

Question, I could never tell, but did flanking work in NWN2? I could never tell what exactly activated sneak attacks there (aside from stealth mode)



And what is all this rambleing about companions being nerfed, as far as I could stomache the OC when I played it (hopefully I will get further this try), all the NPCs that joined me were sterotyped all the way, dwarf who likes to fight and drink, and a nature freak elf, Neeska also makes herself out too be completely in line with the apparent tiefling sterotype (MotB had some good companions though) Qara was better, but not great.


And they still set it on the sword coast? can anyone with knowolge of the campagin seting PLEASE tell me that it isn't as boring/generic as NWN2 made it out to be?

Also, something tells me this will be like MotB, good, but held back heavily by the base games flaws (crapy combat)

 

[Shannow]

You mean apart from core rule system, camera control, 3d, system requirements, fixed/not fixed pov, fixed/not fixed distance of pov, companion ai, enemy ai, available spells, did I mention the core rule system, completely different "feel" of combat, auto pause, combat options (because of the different rule system), UI, the way you direct the characters, difficulty, movement of characters, spell area of effect placement, fog of war...and yes, also the possibility of death.

While I'm definitely in favour of death in a game with great turn based combat (e.g. ToEE) where I can control every action I wouldn't want it in NWN2 where I have little control over all the character's actions and constant pausing grinds on my nerves. I don't want to babysit everyone just because the AI is too dumb to use a healing potion.

 

[deuxhero]

The core rules (d20) aren't the issue, the fact that they were meant for a proper turnbased game IS.

And it is an improvement: everyone here and elsewhere talks about BG2's combat being superior to NWN2's, and it's the only substantial difference between the two systems.

I'll assume you are trying to troll...

No. I've never heard anyone say he preferred NWN2's combat to BG's. Or is that not what you meant? Maybe you can think of other substantial differences between the two combat systems besides the "companion can die in combat"/"can't really die in combat because that would irritate the average player" thing. I can't.

The difference is in the challenge of the combat. BG2 has harder enemies. NWN2's combat is too easy and thus monotonous chore.

Proper dififcutly is lacking, fake difificutly sure as hell isn't.

First of all, I am all for party interaction.

But I'm not sure how we can create the kind of party interaction you and I are looking for that can keep up with a human imagination.

What I mean is, in NX2 I can create a completely random party of adventurers that are completely different from any other party stereotype.

The sole feature that exists, outside of the character itself, that determines personality, is the assigned dialog file. How would it be humanely possible to create an unknown number of dialog files that can all interact with each other and still not seem shallow?

We have talked about many options, for example like maybe assigning a dialog file based on the characters background feat, but what if the player doesn't choose one?


Does that make sense?

if that is done, I'd love to see a Genki girl love freak option for Paladins, too bad that will never happen.

 

[Shannow]

Question, I could never tell, but did flanking work in NWN2? I could never tell what exactly activated sneak attacks there (aside from stealth mode)

Flanking works. Too good even, IMHO. Every attack from the side/back will have the sneak attack dmg added. Neeshka could dish out more dmg than my greataxe wielding warrior/half dragon with over 30 str. The problem is that without mods most enemies will go at the main char, thus no flanking is possible for him. It is more viable with tony_k's ai mod.

More regions were mentioned, Chult for example. The loading screen tips mention Rashemen, Chult and Anauroch, so I assume some action will take place there too.

And Quara sucks donkey dick.

 

[nomask7]

And it is an improvement: everyone here and elsewhere talks about BG2's combat being superior to NWN2's, and it's the only substantial difference between the two systems.

I'll assume you are trying to troll...

No. I've never heard anyone say he preferred NWN2's combat to BG's. Or is that not what you meant? Maybe you can think of other substantial differences between the two combat systems besides the "companion can die in combat"/"can't really die in combat because that would irritate the average player" thing. I can't.

The difference is in the challenge of the combat. BG2 has harder enemies. NWN2's combat is too easy and thus monotonous chore.

It's easy to make encounters more difficult through modding, but that doesn't solve the non-graded nature of NWN2 combat, where you can't suffer losses, because either your whole party gets wiped out or none of it does. Are you aware of this difference between the two games? Have you ever considered what sort of difference it really makes in actual and perceived difficulty, because, for example, you have to protect your wizard unless you want to travel back to town and visit the temple? Of course, in something like MotB you already have spells like resurrection, if you have a cleric, but using them would take possible uses away from other spells (and at least resurrection is pretty high level). Then only remains that resting should be made more difficult (in BG2 there was a pretty good chance of a challenging hostile encounter if you slept in a dungeon). HotU had the problem that right from the beginning you were hit in the face with a wand of raise dead, and you could keep it and use it if you noticed it. Stuff like this should of course be avoided when you can create a party with a cleric in it. The player shouldn't be handwalked through any part of an add-on.