NWN The Blades of Netheril - unofficial sequel to NWN1 OC from Ossian's Luke Scull

[Roguey]

Would Lilura-sama approve?

It uses NWN EE so I'm leaning towards a no on that alone.

 

[Sandor]

Yeah NWN indeed has no tactical options. Re: kiting. If you want more tactics on your fighter, just splash some rogue or bard; UMD and tumble are worth it alone.
I can't deal with RTwP and FPC, I like IWD, but no, just no. However, single character RTwP like NWN works for me. I also don't care much for FPControl without FPCreation or FPCreation with gather your party. We all have our preferences I suppose.

I'll get around to playing this sometime after release, but I should probably play AL2 first.
P.S. Shadow Sun is pretty good.

Those options are barely tactical for melee characters in NWN compared to 50-100 options magic using classes have. If one doesn't get bored with 5 or so melee or ranged tactical options after 50-100 plus hours of gaming, then they have been sleeping through the adventure! And playing a multiclassed character is somewhat better, but a fighter/thief still barely gets even near 9 or so tactical options that are not passive, but active tactics, unlike magic using PCs again with dozens upon dozens including combos. But this is similar for almost all Real time melee-archer combat classes in any game. NWN is not much worse for it since it's a standard design. It's only extensive combat design like in Age of Decadence that really give some long lasting interesting options in melee and ranged mundane combat classes-builds.

 

[cyborgboy95]

On am unrelated note, promising news indeed!

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Infinitron]

Major update from last month: https://www.patreon.com/posts/public-update-of-59829845

A Public Update - and Announcing Doom of Icewind Dale!

Hello to all! So, in the six months since I originally announced this project, I've had the opportunity to re-think a few things. For a while it looked like there may be an opportunity to develop another Premium Module for Beamdog and WotC. Unfortunately, that didn't work out. Then I convinced myself that trying to produce 60 hours of gameplay for a story in which the PC began at level 17 would be an exercise in pain and frustration, and that naturally led to worries about whether reducing the starting level would anger fans. This led to some brief consideration that perhaps NWN2 would be a better platform for this campaign. Finally, I flirted with the idea of adapting the 5th edition adventure Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus as a way of producing more frequent content, which would helpfully grow my subscriber base while I worked out exactly which direction I wanted to go in.

In the end, a couple of things made my mind up for me. Firstly, Beamdog recently released the HD Models & Texture Pack, which really does give the game a much-needed shot in the arm. Secondly, I received permission from Alan Miranda at Ossian Studios to use the story we developed for our Premium Module proposal as part of The Blades of Netheril campaign. It is with great pleasure that I can now confirm the first chapter of the campaign will be entitled Doom of Icewind Dale. The second chapter, Secrets of Skullport, will follow, and the initial three chapters will be closed out with Hunt of the Heralds.

What's that, you say? "Initial" three chapters? The original announcement only mentioned three!

Well... yes, that was the plan. However, I've realised that in order to maintain momentum, secure a higher level of donations, and make the project as a whole more manageable, it would be better to release a larger number of smaller chapters. Each of the newly revised seven chapters will be 5-10 hours in length and will follow a schedule of two releases per year. This means Doom of Icewind Dale will release in June 2022, and Secrets of Skullport will follow in December 2022. Hunt of the Heralds will release in June 2023. The remaining four chapters will land in December 2023, June 2024, December 2024, and finally June 2025.

The entire campaign will be developed for Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition. I've put all thoughts of NWN2 and Descent into Avernus to the side; it's all systems go for a seven-part NWN1EE epic.

Since they don't seem to have generated a huge amount of interest, I'll be revising the tiers and their respective rewards shortly. In the meantime, if you'd like to donate but don't want to sign up for repeated monthly charges, you can do so here:

Donate to The Blades of Netheril

All donations go towards paying for new art, music, and feature content. I'm willing to give freely of my time and expertise and my blood, tears and sweat to make this the best NWN campaign ever - but I have financial responsibilities which mean I can only pay for new content with the income I receive from donations. To do otherwise would be crazy, even for a self-confessed NWN addict.

To my Patrons: thank you so much your support, faith and patience! It will all be worth it, I promise you.

Edit: The Tier rewards have now been adjusted! I've removed the fifth and sixth tiers, which had no current subscribers. If you would like to suggest a specific reward (designing a sidequest, for example) in return for a donation, we can discuss on an ad hoc basis.

 

[Gargaune]

So this is still carrying on with the AL/Blades of Netheril saga? Only instead of having three twenty-hour chapters, there'll be seven smaller chapters? I suppose it makes sense to keep yourself motivated on a massive passion project like this. Though, yeah, developing 50-70 hours of epic-level content following TotM's gonna be a challenge. Either way, a couple of years of new, quality content for NWN sounds good to me!

(But I'm still worried about the impact of that HD Art Pack.)

 

[Luke Scull]

So this is still carrying on with the AL/Blades of Netheril saga? Only instead of having three twenty-hour chapters, there'll be seven smaller chapters? I suppose it makes sense to keep yourself motivated on a massive passion project like this. Though, yeah, developing 50-70 hours of epic-level content following TotM's gonna be a challenge. Either way, a couple of years of new, quality content for NWN sounds good to me!

(But I'm still worried about the impact of that HD Art Pack.)

It's a sequel to the OC that continues the Hero of Neverwinter's story, but which also incorporates the AL saga storyline and the expansions across all seven chapters. Doom of Icewind Dale will be a little larger than 10 hours.

 

[Anonymous Wife Scholar]

Give me cute Blades of Netheril wifes!

 

[razvedchiki]

will it be possible to have a party with 4-6 members in the new adventures?

 

[Infinitron]

Ooh:

Check out the official trailer for Doom of Icewind Dale - the first chapter in an epic, 60+ hour sequel to the NWN original campaign! Doom of Icewind Dale is scheduled for a summer 2022 release and features 10-15 hours of gameplay, new art and music, and a stunning world map to explore.

You can follow the development of The Blades of Netheril here:

https://www.patreon.com/lukescull

Supporters gain perks including frequent updates, exclusive looks at the new art and music as it is created, and access to The Blades of Netheril Discord channel where I am usually available to discuss the project. Higher-tier subscribers can even design NPCs or items to be included in the campaign!

Your interest and support are greatly appreciated and will help ensure the popularity of this classic RPG for years to come. Cheers!

 

[Gargaune]

Ooh:

Between this and Monomyth, looks like I'm good for the summer. Not gonna go in for Patreon but I might consider a Codex Quest fundraiser if I got the cash on hand, just sayin'.

 

[Roguey]

- the first chapter in an epic, 60+ hour sequel to the NWN original campaign! Doom of Icewind Dale is scheduled for a summer 2022 release and features 10-15 hours of gameplay,

I have doubts this will ever be finished.

Trailer didn't sell me but I'm not exactly enthused about NWN combat.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Sharwyn hit a wall too, I see.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Yeah it’s pretty hard to get excited about NWN’s single character combat or its ugly 3D that prohibits any decent model or environmental art.
I’ll try this out when it releases, but it’s the writing that will make or break this (which it seems like Luke is well aware of).

 

[notpl]

The ugly minimalistic 3d is a pro, not a con.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

The ugly minimalistic 3d is a pro, not a con.

Minimalism is fine. Ugly is not. This is not a difficult concept.

 

[Luke Scull]

To address a few points made in this thread:

The PC can have two companions at any one time. This is down on three from Tyrants of the Moonsea, but in my opinion lends itself to more challenging and manageable combat given the poor state of the AI.

The area and character designs used in the trailer are not final, but rather give an impression of the final game. In any event, though it'll look solid by the standards of NWN, the graphics are what they are. Hopefully Beamdog will have fixed the issues with the HD graphics pack by the time of release.

It isn't showcased in the trailer, but I'm attempting to mitigate the generally inferior combat of NWN with careful companion design, loot progression and encounter placement. It'll never be Pathfinder: Kingmaker, but hopefully it'll complement the story and writing well enough to keep the campaign engaging.

One cool thing I haven't spoken about is the respawn mechanic, which is justified in the narrative. The PC can respawn x number of times during the course of the entire campaign, and if they run out of respawns, that's it - they'll need to reload their save game. Carelessly respawning thirty times in Doom of Icewind Dale might mean they've used up all their respawns by the third chapter, with four more yet to go.

 

[notpl]

The ugly minimalistic 3d is a pro, not a con.

Minimalism is fine. Ugly is not. This is not a difficult concept.

Both are great. Gatekeeping people who care about graphics is vital to making a good game in 2022.

 

[Ramnozack]

I always liked the way NWN looked. It has this kind of stylized early-3d-realistic look that I find charming. It looks much better than NWN2 did in my opinion.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

The ugly minimalistic 3d is a pro, not a con.

Minimalism is fine. Ugly is not. This is not a difficult concept.

Both are great. Gatekeeping people who care about graphics is vital to making a good game in 2022.

Ugly has to do with art design, not graphics, and ugly is not the same thing as grotesque. There are plenty of low-res early 3D games that remain aesthetically charming today. NWN is not one of them. It was ugly when it came out, and it remains ugly today. If you want to continue to insist otherwise I’m happy to leave you alone to make bad-faith or delusional arguments to yourself.

 

[notpl]

The ugly minimalistic 3d is a pro, not a con.

Minimalism is fine. Ugly is not. This is not a difficult concept.

Both are great. Gatekeeping people who care about graphics is vital to making a good game in 2022.

Ugly has to do with art design, not graphics, and ugly is not the same thing as grotesque. There are plenty of low-res early 3D games that remain aesthetically charming today. NWN is not one of them. It was ugly when it came out, and it remains ugly today. If you want to continue to insist otherwise I’m happy to leave you alone to make bad-faith or delusional arguments to yourself.

How wonderfully convenient for you that anyone who disagrees with you is delusional or acting in bad faith.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

ugly 3D that prohibits any decent model or environmental art.

Takes some effort and maybe some custom models but people can make it work.

 

[DeepOcean]

The ugly minimalistic 3d is a pro, not a con.

Minimalism is fine. Ugly is not. This is not a difficult concept.

Man, I like NWN graphics, things didnt look too shinny, the textures had a "realist", clear, old age and rustic appearence to them, the lighting was moody and the low poligon models were easy to abstract and fitted with the rest of the art style. Compare it with NWN 2 that supposedly has better graphics but looks generic fantasy as fuck. NWN graphics were more dark, down to earth fantasy look to them than the high fantasy look of NWN 2 that is just worse with way too many graphical effects.

 

[Gargaune]

Never liked respawn mechanics in single player games, thinning the herd and then poofing back in to wipe the rest breaks my sense of engagement. Only used it once in Swordflight 'cause I kept wiping on that last fort encounter in Ch.2, otherwise the Load Game button is my respawn.

Not that I mind that it's there, I just don't like it so I don't use it. Which reminds me... HEY RUSTY_CHUCKLEFUCK, DO YOU SEE HOW THAT WORKS?!

 

[d1nolore]

I never had a problem with nwn graphics, I always thought they were pleasing. Umm if you’re a graphics whore maybe don’t play a 20 year old game. If you didn’t like the graphics back then either then ok, but why try to convince people who are ok with the graphics that they are bad..?