Game News The official NWN2 screens are finally here

[Sammael]

Looks a lot like Gothic One. I had Swamp Camp flashbacks after seeing those screens.

 

[Kuato]

Please suck some more Troika cock on the way, you are unbalancing the universe right now.

Odd thing to tell me to do considering I never mention Troika once, or even refer to them in my reply. All I did was point out NWN2 was being made by Obsidian, not Bioware. This was to tell people who have had bad opinions of Bioware games shouldn't immediately dismiss this title because it wasn't be developed by Bioware. Where the heck did you get Troika from? They left Interplay before Black Isle ever released a game(I think).

he could be referring to the good size chunk of Obsidian staff who used to be Troika employees?

 

[kris]

I like the screenshots and that is all I have to say about that. I am more interested in other parts of the game and these screenshots show nothing of that. They have intentionally put out screenshots with no UI, or anything gameplay related.

 

[Anoik]

They have intentionally put out screenshots with no UI, or anything gameplay related.

Like many companies, it is marketing. You can sell many copies showing only graphics.

 

[Shagnak]

Like many companies, it is marketing. You can sell many copies showing only graphics.

Ain't that the truth.

But, for what it is worth, the screenies look pretty good. Certainly better than a tileset game should. In NWN they were very obvious after a while.

[just read dgaider's post]
Okay. Whether they are or not, my supa-gfx-detector-scope didn't find them.
It looks good. Great in fact.

 

[wesleyclark]

I like the screenshots and that is all I have to say about that. I am more interested in other parts of the game and these screenshots show nothing of that. They have intentionally put out screenshots with no UI, or anything gameplay related.

The UI is supposed to be skinnable (via XML) and - to some unknown extent - customizable.

The screenshots look better than I expected. While not up to level of Oblivion and Witcher, it's certainly light-years beyond NwN.

 

[Jed]

MarFish is an "angsty" moron. Pay him no mind. Black Isle didn't make Lionheart.

 

[Ellester]

Oooh, pretty. Nice & moody, I like it.

I agree, it’s not Oblivion graphics, but so what? But one thing these screenies show is Obsidian captured the mood and atmosphere real well with their graphics. I’m very impressed with that part.

 

[bryce777]

BioWare made a error, they tried to make what is a party based system into a single character game and halfway they realized it was not going to work and so we got henchman.

NwN because a "action" RPG due to the silly amount of enemies, the INCREDIBLE STUPID IDIOTIC DECISION TO MAKE THEN GIVE 10% OF THE XP THEY SOULD UNDER THE D&D 3rd EDITION RULES made things even wost since we getting screwed out of your deserved XP awards.

I have little confidence in OE, after all KotOR2 managed to fuck up combat EVEN MORE that KotOR ...

Yea, I'm sure they are trembling and crying all over the error that caused them to sell somewhat 2.5 million copies of a game. I'm sure they'll avoid doing such horrible mistakes in the future.

Yeah, it was brilliant of them to invent something called star wars and slap that on the box so that they could sell millions.

 

[crpgnut]

I missed this yesterday but have to agree with the consensus. These are very nice looking screenshots. I haven't been keeping up with this one. Is it party-based, crosses fingers, or single character only?

 

[bryce777]

You can't see the motion, but like the other shots, I like the models and they seem rather languid.

The quality looks extremely good to me - I can't imagine ever demanding more from a game though of course gothic 3 is pretty amazing looking.

 

[Drakron]

BIO fucked up? Really? All the sales, and the existence of a sequel proves that theory wrong.

I usually dont respond to Volourn since he is a retarded moron with rabies but this I have to take a shoot at.

BioWare TRIED to make a game without a party or henchman, they failed and so made the hechman as a way to solve the issue that D&D is a party based system.

NwN OC henchman were a issue, there was no control over then and they continue to prove what Fallout already shown, AI controled "party members" are a liability, BioWare then tried to inprove henchman control in the other expansions but the lack of control that was the flaw was there and could never be fixed.

Obsidian already stated they are going to use "party members" and likely are going to allow the player full control over then.

Of course I expect the usual Volourn rely, about me being a "dumbfuck" and a "stalker" or whatever.

 

[Volourn]

"Obsidian already stated they are going to use "party members" and likely are going to allow the player full control over then."

Henchmen are party members, dumbass. Do you know ANYTHING about D&D. In fact, the npcs that joined you in the OC were NOT henchmen but expert hirings. The npcs found in SOU, HOTU, BG series, and FO series were henchmen.

Dumbass. Youa re as stupid as BIO, Obsidian, and other folls on this particluar issue.

Much of goombas. All of you.

You fuckin' Codex Stalker.

 

[Twinfalls]

Jack Woltz: Now you listen to me, you smooth talking son-of-a-bitch. Let me lay it on the line for you and your boss, whoever he is. Johnny Fontane will never get that movie. I don't care how many dago guinea wop greaseball goombahs come out of the woodwork.

Sonny: I want someone good, I mean very good, to plant that gun. I don't want my brother coming out of the bathroom with just his dick in his hands.

Michael Corleone: My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator.
Kay Adams: Do you know how naive you sound, Michael? Presidents and senators don't have men killed!
Michael Corleone: Oh. Who's being naive, Kay?

 

[Sol Invictus]

NWN2 looks very impressive. These screenshots are far better than the leaked ones from some alpha that came out awhile back.

 

[HardCode]

They have intentionally put out screenshots with no UI, or anything gameplay related.

Like many companies, it is marketing. You can sell many copies showing only graphics.

So true, and such a moronic marketing tactic. You don't know how many times I've gone to BestBuy or CompUSA ready to spend money, and I've put so many games back on the shelf because there are only screen renders/UI-less screenshots on the box. I couldn't tell if the game was first-person or third person, and with no UI, it is hard to get a sense of what is going to be going on in the game. The UI definitely gives clues to the gameplay. Sure, I could always go to the Internet when I get home and research the game, but from a marketing point of view, they just lost the spontaneous sale - which, by the way, is how the majority of products are sold. Maybe the game companies should take this as a clue.

 

[Crichton]

Obsidian already stated they are going to use "party members" and likely are going to allow the player full control over then.

If it's the same sort of "full control" I got in the KOTOR series, I'm none too thrilled. I really hate to say it, but party-based games seem to be dead. I like party based games and I buy them, but in general, they don't sell. So I can only come to the conclusion that the rest of you don't love party-based games the way I do and so I HATE YOU ALL!

 

[Anoik]

Obsidian already stated they are going to use "party members" and likely are going to allow the player full control over then.

If it's the same sort of "full control" I got in the KOTOR series, I'm none too thrilled. I really hate to say it, but party-based games seem to be dead. I like party based games and I buy them, but in general, they don't sell. So I can only come to the conclusion that the rest of you don't love party-based games the way I do and so I HATE YOU ALL!

Party based games don't sell a lot because it is difficult and hard for pc players to take control of more than one char. So, devs try to dumb down games for the pc players, making games where you only have to control one char, hehe.

 

[AlanC9]

NwN OC henchman were a issue, there was no control over then and they continue to prove what Fallout already shown, AI controled "party members" are a liability, BioWare then tried to inprove henchman control in the other expansions but the lack of control that was the flaw was there and could never be fixed.

Was that what Fallout showed? I though Fallout showed that independent companions worked just fine. FO1 showed that not being able to change their inventory was a bad thing, but that's not quite the same.

I think we're going to see convergence between RPGs and FPSs in terms of party members, or whatever you call them. Band of Brothers had a pretty good command system.

 

[Atrokkus]

Was that what Fallout showed? I though Fallout showed that independent companions worked just fine. FO1 showed that not being able to change their inventory was a bad thing, but that's not quite the same.

THe FUKCING problem is that DnD is essentially a *PARTY-BASED* system, that is you either play with friends and all characters are human-controlled (multiplayer is not an issue here, of course), or you control all the characters yourself, like in IE games. Well, Bioware surely tried to save resources here and decided to leave the singleplayers with dumb npc-bots and totally terminate the party-tactical combat that took place in IE games. I really hope Obsidian does something about that... or at least make it easier to simulate that using a toolset...

 

[TheGreatGodPan]

I haven't played Fallout 2, so I don't know how they did it, but I woud like a system where you can try tinkering with your companion's inventory but they can disagree and stop you, which apparently Wasteland had.

 

[Balor]

P:T had it too.

 

[Spazmo]

NWN2 is probably the least depressing of the big deal upcoming RPGs, which is inherently a depressing notion. I will nevertheless not bother with it.

 

[Avin]

I'm seriously disappointed with NWN2 graphics, but I'll buy it anyway, because of persistent worlds.

edit: seen some others, if are really nwn2, and they look better.

 

[RGE]

Halloween screen, in case anyone is interested.