| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Brian R. James |
Posted - 15 Jun 2008 : 17:12:14
Obsidian Entertainment is working on a second expansion to Neverwinter Nights 2, titled Storm of Zehir. You can read more about it on their press release [http://www.obsidianent.com/nx2_announced.html] and on their message boards [http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewforum.html?forum=128].
Unfortunately, the developers decided to center the expansion around the snake god Zehir, who is a core 4E god and *not* in the 4E Realms pantheon.  |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Brian R. James |
Posted - 26 Aug 2008 : 03:43:50
Yeah, my wife and I spent quite a bit of time over there on Sunday morning. In fact, after answering some trivia questions about NWN, my wife (Verity) won an autographed copy of NWN 2 Gold signed by the development team!
The expansion itself looks pretty cool, particuarly the new overland map of Samarach. Though I didn't see him myself, the rep reaffirmed that Volo is in the game. |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 26 Aug 2008 : 03:08:18
quote:
Originally posted by Kuje
BTW, I dunno if any one else was over at the electric section at the Con but I spent a lot of time over there and the demo for the expansion looks really interesting. I didn't play it but I stood back a bit and watched others play with the char generator and the actual game.
Thanks for the heads-up. |
| Kuje |
Posted - 18 Aug 2008 : 05:10:15
BTW, I dunno if any one else was over at the electric section at the Con but I spent a lot of time over there and the demo for the expansion looks really interesting. I didn't play it but I stood back a bit and watched others play with the char generator and the actual game. |
| Karzak |
Posted - 16 Aug 2008 : 14:55:26
quote:
Originally posted by Sonny
Also, if you want to get a good idea the quality of game you can look forward to in Mysteries of Westgate, download Darkness Over Daggerford for NWN1.
I hope not, because DoD was pretty terrible writing-wise, though at least it was free. MoW, now, you'll have to pay for. Not to mention it'll come with Atari's new copy protection scheme, and I'm not willing to pay money to have my computer infected with malware. |
| Sonny |
Posted - 16 Aug 2008 : 12:37:16
I actually adore both NWN2 and MotB. Though NWN2 is pretty generic as far as plot goes, it does it well, and it excels at creating memorable and fun npcs. MotB has an awesome plot, in fact it's one of the best Forgotten Realms stories to be written for a computer game.
I'm greatly looking forward to both Storm of Zehir and Mysteries of Westgate, to say the least. Also, if you want to get a good idea the quality of game you can look forward to in Mysteries of Westgate, download Darkness Over Daggerford for NWN1. It was originally gonna be a premium mod, but when Atari canceled the premium mod program for NWN1, Ossian released it for free, so people could enjoy it. |
| GoCeraf |
Posted - 11 Aug 2008 : 18:03:57
Karzak, I'm glad there's someone who enjoyed MotB as much as I did. I couldn't get enough of it. I had already played Neverwinter Nights and its expansions, and I had gone through Neverwinter Nights 2 and played both Knights of the Old Republic games, but Mask of the Betrayer just has a special place in my heart. It's gotten so into BioWare games that I actually ordered the Baldur's Gate series recently, since I haven't played those.
I'm hoping that Storm of Zehir has more of the religious philosophy that was brought up in Mask of the Betrayer. For instance, there's the matter that a great deal of novels coming out right now in the FR setting have something to do with deicide. I know SoZ has to do with economic fallout, but it would be interesting to see the affects on faith from recent events. |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 11 Aug 2008 : 17:13:37
quote:
Originally posted by Purple Dragon Knight
I still like it despite its linearity... 
Oh, I quite enjoyed it myself, overall (though I agree with many criticisms about it). I'm just confirming, as someone who has played the game and read numerous walkthroughs for it, that there is very little variability in terms of the way you can play through the story. |
| Hawkins |
Posted - 11 Aug 2008 : 06:37:55
quote:
Originally posted by Purple Dragon Knight
I still like it despite its linearity...
Don't worry, you are not the only one.  |
| Purple Dragon Knight |
Posted - 11 Aug 2008 : 05:29:02
I still like it despite its linearity... |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 11 Aug 2008 : 01:21:55
quote:
Originally posted by Karzak
No, doesn't have anything to do with the PC's class.
Seconded. The game is linear to a fault. |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 11 Aug 2008 : 01:18:47
quote:
Originally posted by Uzzy
And as I said before, Obsidian are being far more respectful of the source material in their games then the current crop of FR designers are.
Maybe, but I'm not exactly happy with this talk about the game "foreshadowing the coming changes". I don't want to immerse myself in that nonsense. |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 11 Aug 2008 : 01:17:06
quote:
Originally posted by Karzak
Yes, there'll be recruitable NPCs with personalities.
Good to hear. I honestly don't have an interest in a party created entirely by me, because that would mean no personalities or dialogue (one of the reasons I play the game in the first place). |
| Karzak |
Posted - 10 Aug 2008 : 22:00:37
No, doesn't have anything to do with the PC's class. I found the characters to be lacklustre and little more than walking cliches: gruff dwarf (oh god, no more), thieving sassy tiefling (hi, Annah - oh wait), tree-hugging elven druid (does she have a personality? Outside of being a creepy stalker who had romantic/sexual designs on a little boy, I mean), Lawful Rigid paladin, and so on. And the story just plodded, and the combat is terrible beyond belief. When it was first released, the camera control was atrocious too, though MotB has fixed that. |
| Purple Dragon Knight |
Posted - 10 Aug 2008 : 08:20:51
quote:
Originally posted by Karzak
You should. NWN2's campaign is a miserable plod that goes at the speed of snail through molasses, but Mask of the Betrayer is way better than KotOR2 and approaches the old glory that was Planescape: Torment. Superior to anything Bioware's put out after BG2, and better written, more thoughtful, more original, more emotionally powerful than pretty much nearly all the Realms fiction available. Chris Avellone's writing leaves most Realms favourites eating dust.
I'm currently running through NWN2's campaign and I find it pretty good. I play a rogue/paladin halfling though, so your experience may vary depending on which paths you have taken... |
| Karzak |
Posted - 09 Aug 2008 : 23:48:28
You should. NWN2's campaign is a miserable plod that goes at the speed of snail through molasses, but Mask of the Betrayer is way better than KotOR2 and approaches the old glory that was Planescape: Torment. Superior to anything Bioware's put out after BG2, and better written, more thoughtful, more original, more emotionally powerful than pretty much nearly all the Realms fiction available. Chris Avellone's writing leaves most Realms favourites eating dust. |
| Uzzy |
Posted - 09 Aug 2008 : 21:59:02
KoTOR2 is one of my favourite games ever.
And as I said before, Obsidian are being far more respectful of the source material in their games then the current crop of FR designers are. Obsidian also have better story tellers. Want to know who else is a Core 4E god yet not in the 4E Realms Pantheon? Sehanine.
Storm of Zehir looks good. I should probably play through the NWN2 campaign and Mask of the Betrayer sometime, given that I bought both! |
| The Sage |
Posted - 09 Aug 2008 : 09:06:56
Let's get back to discussing this Storm of Zehir, eh? |
| Karzak |
Posted - 09 Aug 2008 : 08:55:50
Yes, there'll be recruitable NPCs with personalities.
As for MMOs, well, you can hardly blame them for that. All MMOs are fundamentally the same, with varying levels of polish. You can't make an MMO with a great story and writing and hope that'll keep people. You can fool people for a while, like Age of Conan does for the first twenty levels or so, but ultimately people will want to get to the max level, and raid or PvP. Most of all MMOs need to keep people grinding so they'll continue their subscriptions; there's no profit to be made if you can get to the highest level and gain the best gear within a month or two. |
| GoCeraf |
Posted - 09 Aug 2008 : 00:41:52
quote:
Originally posted by Karzak
Maybe it'll attempt something "different" and go the way of EVE Online/LOTRO, neither of which even remotely competes with Blizzard's gigantic player-base. But most likely it'll try to ape WoW, but due to a lack of polish, fail miserably and fall by the wayside.
This is the primary reason I hate MMOs in general, because they are almost always designed with the intent of killing whatever popular game is running the market. Right now, that's WoW, so every development teams is trying to cut into that market. This, unfortunately, results in a ton of recycling of old concepts (Star Wars Galaxies NGE comes to mind). I, for one, hope that the development team for KotOR Online just tries to make a great game, instead of a game killer.
On the topic of Storm of Zehir, I know that total party customization is, as in Baldur's Gate, entirely possible. However, is there any word on whether there will be recruitable NPCs as well? |
| Karzak |
Posted - 08 Aug 2008 : 23:33:12
quote:
Originally posted by Jorkens
quote:
Originally posted by Karzak
Obsidian can trash FR canon and leave the corpse bleeding in a ditch for all I care, as long as they keep up the quality of writing and storytelling of MotB. Plus, Obsidian/Black Isle has always played fast and loose with source material, as evidenced in both PS:T, MotB and KotOR2 (particularly KotOR2, where they trod roughshod all over the tone and feel of Star Wars. Hah!).
I have a feeling that I am one of the few persons that actually liked KotOR2.
I didn't dislike it. If anything, I adored Kreia: she's a far better antagonist than the godawful Malak from the first game, and pretty much anything Lucas has been able to cobble together in his movies. But Chris Avellone/Obsidian wasn't really doing a Star Wars game. It's this weird bastard melange gray with dystopia, a misplaced Bene Gesserit/Ravel incarnation, and any number of things that make KotOR2 desperately misfitted. Not to mention it was severely incomplete, and let's not get started on some of the things it did to characters from the first game.
As for the MMO, it's bound to be a niche game, nothing more. You people do know it's not developed either by Obsidian or Bioware, but by Bioware Austin? As in, the people nobody's heard of before because they've produced... no game, ever? Maybe it'll attempt something "different" and go the way of EVE Online/LOTRO, neither of which even remotely competes with Blizzard's gigantic player-base. But most likely it'll try to ape WoW, but due to a lack of polish, fail miserably and fall by the wayside. |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 08 Aug 2008 : 18:09:54
quote:
Originally posted by Karzak
Plus, Obsidian/Black Isle has always played fast and loose with source material...
True enough. |
| Hawkins |
Posted - 08 Aug 2008 : 16:02:41
I quite enjoyed KotoR2, I felt it built nicely upon the first game. The announcement of the MMO made me giddy, and I will most likely drop WoW for good when it comes out (I am currently taking a break off WoW for rush season at work and to play games that I never play because I am paying for WoW. |
| Brian R. James |
Posted - 08 Aug 2008 : 14:44:28
You're not alone Jorkens. I thoroughly enjoyed both KotOR1 and 2 and am eagerly awaiting the KotOR MMO which was recently announced. |
| Jorkens |
Posted - 08 Aug 2008 : 09:56:13
quote:
Originally posted by Karzak
Obsidian can trash FR canon and leave the corpse bleeding in a ditch for all I care, as long as they keep up the quality of writing and storytelling of MotB. Plus, Obsidian/Black Isle has always played fast and loose with source material, as evidenced in both PS:T, MotB and KotOR2 (particularly KotOR2, where they trod roughshod all over the tone and feel of Star Wars. Hah!).
I have a feeling that I am one of the few persons that actually liked KotOR2. |
| Karzak |
Posted - 08 Aug 2008 : 09:53:34
Obsidian can trash FR canon and leave the corpse bleeding in a ditch for all I care, as long as they keep up the quality of writing and storytelling of MotB. Plus, Obsidian/Black Isle has always played fast and loose with source material, as evidenced in both PS:T, MotB and KotOR2 (particularly KotOR2, where they trod roughshod all over the tone and feel of Star Wars. Hah!). |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 06 Aug 2008 : 18:30:08
quote:
Originally posted by Ladejarl
A preview on Gamespot tells of the party travelling with Volo.
Yeah, I don't know what to think about that. I can only hope that they do the character justice.
I enjoyed Volo's portrayal in the BG games. |
| Hawkins |
Posted - 06 Aug 2008 : 17:28:51
Interesting... |
| Ladejarl |
Posted - 06 Aug 2008 : 17:06:40
A preview on Gamespot tells of the party travelling with Volo. |
| jlf2n |
Posted - 19 Jun 2008 : 15:32:35
Looks pretty awesome, especially the custom parties. |
| BARDOBARBAROS |
Posted - 18 Jun 2008 : 08:22:28
It sounds good to me |
