Neverwinter Nights 2

[Nick]

Another rapid blog post...

I spent the afternon with Obsidian looking at Neverwinter Nights 2 with CEO Feargus Urquhart...

Besides having a fiendishly difficult to spell name, he's a great bloke who walked me through the early part of the game and covered character creation and modding in depth... oh, and I also now know the story for the game too, so we'll have a preview up for that very soon!

[Big Leon]

As a big fan of the Baldur's Gate series, the Icewind Dale Series and Neverwinter Nights, I am very much looking forward to this game.

In my opinion, BG2 was superior to Neverwinter Nights and so I hope this new one is better than them both put together!

yeah - BG2 was, for me, the perfect blend of keeping you interested in the main plot while still giving you enough options to make you feel like you were in control. came the closest to the real pen and paper experience of any game i played. NWN's control system just wasn't as good - seemed to take much longer to get anything done than with bg2. still - BG2 was had a number of refinements over the original, so here's hoping the NWN2 will do the same over the 1st in the series...

[directhex]

NWN really missed out on the two key points as to why BG2 was greater than its peers and successors:

* NPC party - much of the immersion in the game came from your party members being "real" - they had families, histories, desires, etc. Bickering between party members, romantic advances, sudden summons for important family matters, etc - it seems minor and annoying, but it added to the sense that these were more than just extra "you"'s (IWD failed miserably on this count)

* Immediate story - ever noticed that when you start a good book, you can't put it down? the same applies for a game. you need immediacy to pull you into the story before you get bored - otherwise you end up wandering aimlessly about. consider... fahrenheit. that game has an enormously immediate beginning. so does BG2 (being tortured by a bad man? gives you an urge to **** that guy up!). IWD, NWN, BG1, Morrowind, etc, all fail on this point.

unless NWN2 can address these two points, i won't bother with it

[Nick]

Oh you guys are in for SUCH a treat!

I'll now say no more until the preview is up...

[menthel]

Hex is right, I really hated the you and your pathetic hireling in NWN. I like to do the whole party or play over the tinternet as a group. Much better.

[TiG]

when is the preview due up?

TiG

[Moby-Dick]

Enjoyed many an hour playing co-op NWN with TiG