Topic: NWN2 -- The HUGE, HUGE Thread

[MysterD]

Sorry MyD, I had a typo in there.. I meant to say "Thanks to that [Examine item window] you cannot compare items side by side."

Bummer.

I agree that DS2 did a great job with their interface all-round.

Yeah, now they need to make a DS3 w/ lots of improvements to make it more of an RPG/action game rather than an action/RPG.

I thought DS2 took too long to really got going, but it still was good. Like the original DS, I felt the game just drags along. Broken World felt right, not being too long -- w/ a more interesting story; a very dark one.

DS2: Broken World might lack really any "new" content, but what's new's all quality. And BW's story is the best of the bunch, as far as I'm concerned; by far.

The journal in NWN2 is not bad, but the remainder of the UI is ~meh. I also realized that most of the windows will require a bit of scrolling.

Is the journal a lot like NWN1's Journal???

The way Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age are turning out is exactly why I wish Bioware did NWN2! They would have done an exemplary job!

Now I understand what you mean.

Yeah, maybe Bioware should've just handled the game engine and interface, while Obsidian made the game w/ the story and whatnot.

Many of Obsidian are the former-Black Isle Studios squad, those who worked on Fallout series and Planescape: Torment. They do have a few who worked at Troika also, who worked on Vampire: Bloodlines. Personally, if you count those games, PS:T is probably the best thing some of those now-Obsidian guys have done -- the prose of that game is astonishing for a video game; it's akin to that or a quality-written book by some masterful writer.

But as "Obsidian", they ain't done too much together -- since they got a bunch of non ex-BIS guys, too. I dunno, but I have KOTOR 2, but I need to finish KOTOR 1 first. So, can't judge that. I ain't got NWN2 yet, can't judge that. So, I'll wait on my decision, to be fair and all....

Like I mentioned in the review thread, it just feels like Obsidian were trying to imitate Bioware's effort in NWN1, rather than actually making NWN2 unique and innovative. I have to agree that it is nice to see Bioware coming up with their own amazing creations.

I think Obsidian/ex-BIS's expertise has always relied on the storytelling and role-playing side of things. See Planescape: Torment and Fallout, as my example. Also, I think what helped w/ Planescape was that even though it was on Bioware's Infinity engine (which powered the BG games), the game was something different entirely from the rest of Bioware's stuff, graphically and roleplaying-wise.

Like Bethesda Softworks (well, Bethesda before Oblivion), they never seemed to have the technical side downpath -- again, see Fallout 2, since it was quite buggy. Planescape: Torment version 1.00 had a nasty memory leak bug, as well. And it looks like NWN2 fell in that department, unfortuntely....

Considering the only two games I've played for Obsidian are KotOR II and NWN2, I'm not impressed. KotOR II was basically KotOR (exactly the same graphics too) with a slightly different story, and a bit of an influence system. Granted it was a good game (though not GREAT like the original), it was not 'unique' and didn't step further away from the original KotOR. The least they could have done was give it a graphical facelift.

About graphics, eh -- not the most important thing, to me.

Gameplay is very important to me. Did you feel the gameplay of KOTOR 2 much of an improvement over KOTOR 1?

Okay, how was the story of KOTOR 2? Any improvement over the original? Or worse??? Was the story Much different and much better??? Or not???

(I know many others felt KOTOR 2 was botched w/ the storyline b/c L.A. forced Obsidian to cut out content, hence why the Restoration project for KOTOR 2 is in progress by modders....)

Now that I see how NWN2 turned out, I don't really care to see any more titles from Obsidian. They're just going to plagiarize off Bioware again. I'd rather wait for Bioware titles.

Also, I think Obsidian needs to take a break from doing sequels to ex-Bioware game. First KOTOR 2 and then NWN 2. I would like to see an Obsidian original game.

What if Obsidian did their own IP??

[MysterD]

GameSpy's review added to top of the thread -- 4 stars (out of 5 stars) from GameSpy

Pros
Exhaustive character options; well-written, engrossing story; sprawling original campaign.

Sounds good to me.

Cons
Some significant technical issues; performance isn't quite up to par.

Meh...

If you're the kind of person that pines for the sort of dialog-rich, statistically-sprawling computer RPGs that are all but extinct in the modern gaming landscape, then Neverwinter Nights 2 is exactly kind of game that will get your blood pumping. Don't mind its name -- apart from the DIY ethos encouraged by the packaged toolset, the game has much more in common with Baldur's Gate than it does with the original Neverwinter.

Oooooh....I loved BG.

The options for character development are staggering, and the game's adherence to the D&D 3.5 Edition ruleset is impressive (as are the liberties that were taken to make certain rules and mechanics fit better in the context of a CRPG). Only a handful of technical issues ranging from serious (some yet-to-be fixed potentially show-stopping bugs) to chronically annoying (a clunky interface and an overall low level of performance) serve as blemishes marring the countenance of an otherwise stellar game.

Bleh @ technical issues and some nasty bugs.

The one key way in which Neverwinter Nights 2 deviates from its predecessor is in the level of control you have over your NPC companions. Instead of giving you full control of your main character and relegating the rest to the AI, you now have complete say as to what they do in every round of combat. You can also guide their progression as you see fit, to a certain point -- unlike your main character, your companions' multi-classing options are limited by the nature of their backstories. On the plus side, most of the characters that join up with you have cool stories of their own, and if you work towards nurturing your relationships with them, you can open up a bunch of cool side-quests, which sometimes lead to greater options in regards to their development.

Sweet @ the sound controlling some of the party members' direction and them having their own side quests.

If you prefer to not worry too much about what they're doing, you can set your companions' combat behaviors to very precise levels, dictating, for instance, how frugal they are with spells and consumable items. Conversely, if you want total control, you can set your party members to "puppet mode," which prevents them from doing anything unless you command them to. Either way you approach it, combat in Neverwinter Nights 2 is strategic, deep and satisfying, and acquiring new, powerful abilities with which to dispatch large numbers of enemies is always exciting.

"Puppet mode" sounds cool -- and probably like in BG when you can turn the "Party AI off."

Probably does help at times, since the AI is said to not be great in NWN2....again....

As you'd expect, the more seasoned of an adventurer you become, the more treasure you'll amass. But Neverwinter Nights 2 takes this Monty Hall sensibility to a whole other level. Frequently, you'll come out of an adventure with your bags literally bursting at the seams with treasure that is actually good, but due to the game's lack of an effective item-management system, most of it goes unused. Invariably, you end up selling a majority of the stuff you acquire, and as a result, you usually have more gold than you know what to do with.

Sounds like DS2 and its expansion -- I found lots & lots of loot, but sold most of it b/c it was useless to me.

Oh, and b/c it made me good $$$$!

Later in the game, your character acquires a keep, and though the process of refurbishing and fortifying it acts as an effective money sink, chances are you'll already be filthy rich at that point. You'll occasionally run across a vendor with some really cool stuff, but most often they'll serve simply as a means to clean out your inventory. Perversely enough, the nature of the game's crafting system actually scares you into keeping a lot of stuff that you never end up using. While the system is deep, it's incredibly unwieldy and requires you to cross-reference recipes and reagents to a degree that is ultimately discouraging. A system that sorts your party's inventory in a convenient way would go a long way towards remedying this. But as it stands, Neverwinter Nights 2 forces you to play quartermaster just a tad too much.

I like how Oblivion sorted Inventory, myself.

But, for click-and-point RPG's, Divine Divinity did a good job -- sorting by what type it was; Armor, Weapon, Magic, etc etc.

Much of Neverwinter Nights 2's long-term appeal hinges on just how enthusiastically the community will ultimately embrace the toolset. As you might expect, the scene is a little barren at this point; a few groups are hard at work developing persistent-world servers for the game, but most are in their nascent forms. Given the nature of the work involved, it's probably safe to assume that it will be a couple of months before the community is truly thriving.

Probably my guess, too.

Among the many concerns facing prospective world builders and Dungeon Masters is the lack of out-of-the-box functionality for downloading the files needed to run this aftermarket content. Right now, players wishing to jump into a custom module will have to download it directly from the web, which usually ends up preventing the less savvy from even experiencing this aspect of the game. In the end, for all intents and purposes, most of the multiplayer action going on now is comprised of groups of players playing the packaged campaign cooperatively.

Okay.

Unfortunately, it's impossible to talk about Neverwinter Nights 2 without mentioning the performance issues that marred it at launch, and are as of yet unresolved. During our review, we encountered a fairly serious bug that we described at length last week in our updated Out of the Box piece. At press time, Obsidian is yet to release an update that addresses this issue, though they have offered a workaround that seems to remedy it in most cases.

Ok.

A more pervasive issue, however, is the game's shaky performance. Currently, it's hard to make the game run at an acceptable clip unless you tone down some of the more flashy graphics options. Even with everything turned on, the game doesn't look particularly astounding; it's serviceable enough, though you're not likely to be very impressed, especially if you run it at a level that will grant decent performance.

Meh.

Finally, the game's camera takes a good deal of getting used to, and even once you're fully acclimated, you'll find yourself wishing a simple mouselook feature had been implemented.

Maybe it's something a patch can change....

It says something that, despite these technical issues, we found it very hard to tear ourselves away from Neverwinter Nights 2 long enough to actually write this review. Just like its acclaimed spiritual predecessors, the game is wholly engrossing and begs to be explored. Rare is a game with such meaningful and varied character development, and the plethora of options available will guarantee that many players will want to indulge in its experience from the point of view of several different types of characters. Neverwinter Nights 2 is one of the best RPGs we've played in a long time -- bugs and performance issues be damned.

Sweet.

[MysterD]

Xessive, has NWN2 got any better for you....??

[Xessive]

Oh yeah man. The game is great, and here's a weird little bug I discovered which actually enhanced my gameplay For some reason when I switched the graphic quality level to high (high res textures, normal map terrain, soft shadows, etc.) the game performance improved noticeably! I don't know what it is exactly, but after playing with the resolution and detail options I got it to run better. The high res textures are definitely nicer too (very crisp).

I don't get all the complaints about the camera. It's fine. It's like the original NWN + the camera hack. The 3rd party camera hack that people loved so much, and ultimately revealed that there was no sky in NWN, which lead Bioware to add a sky for the expansions. I don't understand why they're complaining about it "no mouse look" there is one! Just hold the middle-mouse button just like most other games with similar perspective. The only complaint I'd make about the "mouse look" is in the Driving mode camera; even though you can use the mouse to look around your character you can't use it to set your direction, instead you have to use the keyboard keys to rotate you character's direction.

Obsidian did a great job of bringing everything people loved from the original NWN + expansions. The capes and cloaks look great too, and they react to your movement.

There is one little weird thing: for some reason helmets/hats/masks don't appear on my party members, only my character. It is being argued in the Bioware NWN2 forum (the official forum, Bioware is very supportive of Obsidian:)); some people say it's a bug, and others say it was deliberate in order to always show the faces of your companions (which doesn't make sense to me). Personally, I think it's a bug that needs to be resolved.

I'm really enjoying it either way. The only thing is that I hate the way my character looks.. Ok "hate" might be a little strong, but I'm not happy with the character design options. I checked the females as well, and man, they're most fairly ugly wenches.. I thought I was unimpressed with the character design until I saw how completely PISSED OFF other people were about it (especially with the female characters). I think that's the only thing Obsidian totally fudged up.. The visual side of the game ~meh, but the character design really got a lot of miffed. I expect the community will eventually pump in some great character mods. When that happens, I'll eventually create a new character (unless I can find a way to modify the appearance of my current one).

[MysterD]

Oh yeah man. The game is great, and here's a weird little bug I discovered which actually enhanced my gameplay For some reason when I switched the graphic quality level to high (high res textures, normal map terrain, soft shadows, etc.) the game performance improved noticeably! I don't know what it is exactly, but after playing with the resolution and detail options I got it to run better. The high res textures are definitely nicer too (very crisp).

Sweet.

I don't get all the complaints about the camera. It's fine. It's like the original NWN + the camera hack. The 3rd party camera hack that people loved so much, and ultimately revealed that there was no sky in NWN, which lead Bioware to add a sky for the expansions. I don't understand why they're complaining about it "no mouse look" there is one! Just hold the middle-mouse button just like most other games with similar perspective.

Many isometric games use "middle mouse" for manipulating the camera, like Black & White 2, Dungeon Siege 2, and even The Movies....

That's no big deal to me. I've used middle mouse for those games on moving the cam.

The only complaint I'd make about the "mouse look" is in the Driving mode camera; even though you can use the mouse to look around your character you can't use it to set your direction, instead you have to use the keyboard keys to rotate you character's direction.

Obsidian did a great job of bringing everything people loved from the original NWN + expansions. The capes and cloaks look great too, and they react to your movement.

Sweet.

There is one little weird thing: for some reason helmets/hats/masks don't appear on my party members, only my character. It is being argued in the Bioware NWN2 forum (the official forum, Bioware is very supportive of Obsidian:)); some people say it's a bug, and others say it was deliberate in order to always show the faces of your companions (which doesn't make sense to me). Personally, I think it's a bug that needs to be resolved.

Maybe there should be an option in the game options -- a "Show Head" Armor" On and Off switch.

Personally, I want to SHOW IT. I love getting new equipment and whatnot -- and seeing what it looks like on my characters.

I'm really enjoying it either way. The only thing is that I hate the way my character looks.. Ok "hate" might be a little strong, but I'm not happy with the character design options. I checked the females as well, and man, they're most fairly ugly wenches.. I thought I was unimpressed with the character design until I saw how completely PISSED OFF other people were about it (especially with the female characters). I think that's the only thing Obsidian totally fudged up.. The visual side of the game ~meh, but the character design really got a lot of miffed. I expect the community will eventually pump in some great character mods. When that happens, I'll eventually create a new character (unless I can find a way to modify the appearance of my current one).

Sweet.

I'm looking forward to Black Friday, which is when I'll get this for $25. I bet you'd think it's worth that kind of $$, eh?

[Xessive]

Hehe, a lot of people have suggested the 'switch headgear on/off' as an option rather than forcing one way or the other. Although it looks like the majority agree that if they had to be forced they'd rather have the headgear visible.

Well, I paid $45 (Canadian) and it was well worth it! Especially considering the full price is $60 CDN So $25 USD is a pretty sweet deal.

[MysterD]

Hehe, a lot of people have suggested the 'switch headgear on/off' as an option rather than forcing one way or the other. Although it looks like the majority agree that if they had to be forced they'd rather have the headgear visible.

Well, I paid $45 (Canadian) and it was well worth it! Especially considering the full price is $60 CDN So $25 USD is a pretty sweet deal.

I see they got patch 1.03 coming soon, too.
Obsidian seems to be banking patches out for it left and right....which is a good thing.

[Xessive]

I see they got patch 1.03 coming soon, too.
Obsidian seems to be banking patches out for it left and right....which is a good thing.

Oh yeah, and it's a great thing indeed! Apparently patch 1.03 will also include some new features.

[MysterD]

Oh yeah, and it's a great thing indeed! Apparently patch 1.03 will also include some new features.

Sweet.

So, how hard/easy is the game itself? What diffuculty setting you got it on?

[Xessive]

Oh it can get pretty hard.. I was playing on Normal, and it was a challenge to actually hit anything! For some reason it was miraculous to actually land a hit, and when I did it only did like 1-2 points of damage. Keep in mind that my character is a rogue with high dexterity and great detection skills (spot, listen, detect trap, etc.). I was dying quite often, I'm a little surprised I managed to finish the first chapter. In the second chapter it became even more difficult considering some new monsters (ones with stealth and invisibility). It became frustrating when almost every fight was 10 minutes of hit & miss action. I switched to easy, and now it plays a little more like original NWN on Normal.

NWN2 is more of a party effort, in contrast with NWN where it was more about your individual skill and the support of your one henchman.

[MysterD]

GamerNode.com sited that there really ain't too many side quests in the game, in their review. That's the first real review I heard that even mentioned that.

Xessive, you'd know -- you play the game. Have you come across some? A handful?? A decent amount worth??? A good amount worth??? Or have you seen a lot of them???

[Xessive]

There are definitely quite a few side quests. Not quite as varied or numerous as Oblivion's collection of side quests, but there's a fair amount. The main difference being that the side quests in NWN2 will often have some effect on your main quest. If you come across a side quest and choose to aid someone, they may come to your aid later; adversely if you choose not to help (or to actively obstruct) it may come back to bite you. I'd give specific examples but they could be major spoilers

[MysterD]

There are definitely quite a few side quests. Not quite as varied or numerous as Oblivion's collection of side quests, but there's a fair amount.

That's still good. A fair amount sounds good to me.

The main difference being that the side quests in NWN2 will often have some effect on your main quest.

Ooooh...interesting....

If you come across a side quest and choose to aid someone, they may come to your aid later; adversely if you choose not to help (or to actively obstruct) it may come back to bite you. I'd give specific examples but they could be major spoilers

That sounds pretty damn sweet, to me.

Are there any just plain ole side quests that have just nothing to do w/ the main quest???

[Xessive]

Are there any just plain ole side quests that have just nothing to do w/ the main quest???

Oh yeah, definitely. Just the interesting ones are those that can have some interesting effects much later

[MysterD]

1Up has re-reviewed NWN2. Much better review than Matt Peckham's, if you ask me....
Jeff Green of 1Up has put his review up for NWN2, BTW.....
He does like the game a lot, but can't handle all of the technical issues.

Neverwinter Nights 2

Your next quest: finish designing the game!
Platform: PC

Publisher: Atari   
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
ESRB Rating: N/A   
Genre: RPG
by Jeff Green 11/13/2006    

Neverwinter Nights 2 is about two patches away from being a good game. Obsidian Entertainment crafts a fine single-player campaign in this sequel to BioWare's groundbreaking 2002 Dungeons & Dragons RPG, but due to a host of annoying performance issues and bewildering design decisions, you're going to need a lot of patience and good hardware karma before you can fully appreciate it.

The first NWN was hailed mostly for its toolset that let gamers create their own D&D campaigns. BioWare's own campaign, on the other hand, kind of blew. This time around, BioWare enlisted the aid of Obsidian, longtime collaborators and D&D veterans (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, Icewind Dale 2, and Planescape: Torment, among others), and the result -- in terms of story telling, characters, and quests -- is a much more engaging single-player experience.

Sounds good.

Obsidian's campaign doesn't break new ground (Uh oh! Something evil is happening in the Forgotten Realms!), but it's done with much humor, intelligence, and love and respect for the wonky fantasy geekfest that is D&D.

Sweet.

This is an old-fashioned RPG, where brains take precedence over twitch skills, and success is largely determined by the understanding of a rule set that only a genius or a 13-year-old could fully comprehend. Not that the game's inaccessible -- in fact, Obsidian did a nice job of demystifying D&D for newbies (a friendly 175-page manual helps), while the relatively linear plot and simple side quests keep you moving along and leveling up at a good, strong pace.

Okay.

Obsidian wisely increased the first game's one-companion limit up to four, giving you a full, controllable party...as it always should be in D&D. The NPCs that join you are the usual assortment of fantasy clichιs (the dwarf is grumpy!), but again, the strong writing makes it work -- even if none of the characters quite rise to Minsc-level greatness. Your actions and decision-making influence your party's loyalty to you and affect elements of the plot, and a healthy injection of moral ambiguity ensures that not all of those decisions are easy to make.

Sounds pretty good to me.

Dummies and laggin'
All of this is great -- and if the review ended here, we could all sing "Kumbaya" together in happy harmony.

Uh oh....

But the sad truth is that NWN2 shipped in a pretty messy state, and even after a couple patches (as of this writing), the biggest problems remain. In general, and depending on your system and your tolerance, you're going to spend a lot of time upfront basically doing the job the developers should have done before shipping the game: fixing the weak A.I., futzing around with the graphics options and camera controls, and resetting basic gameplay options until the thing is playable. And good luck with all of that, because not all of it is easily done (or even possible).

He makes it sound like Beta-in-a-box.

Obsidian's touting an updated graphics engine, but what exactly is new about it is hard to discern...other than that it runs like crap, even on high-end systems. I played the game on two different gaming PCs, and in both cases had to suffer, at times, through slideshow speed and terrible stuttering even with almost all the graphics options turned off and running in a ludicrous 800x600 resolution -- simply unacceptable performance, especially for an RPG that still looks about two years old no matter what supposed "enhancements" were made. Comparing the uninspired and featureless character models and environments here to a game like Company of Heroes, it's impossible to see (literally!) what the heck's bogging this game down.

Memory leak maybe?
Bad programming?
Some other issues, too??

Who knows....

Matters are made worse by the camera, which you can configure four ways...all of which suck, as no matter what you choose, you'll find your view obstructed by walls (which can't be made transparent) and other characters. Half of my combat experience in NWN2 was marred by fighting the camera when I should have been fighting the enemy.

Ick.

And actually, when I wasn't fighting the camera, I often fought my own party members' A.I. If they weren't being thrown off by bad pathfinding, then they were blundering ahead and casting inappropriate spells, targeting the wrong enemies, or just generally getting in the way. The solution is there: Turn off the A.I. entirely and micromanage every character.

Yay @ BG style micromanaging! I always liked controlling my entire party.

The solution is there: Turn off the A.I. entirely and micromanage every character. But why doesn't it default to that?

Good question.

Hey, Xessive -- is there a hotkey to turn the AI Off while in-game, or do you have to jump to an Options menu and turn it off there somewhere???

Other bizarre design choices abound. Where's the ability to pause combat automatically after every round?

I dunno if that's a big deal, myself....

Why's it so hard to target yourself or friendly party members? Why are so many of the interface components -- for spellcasting, item crafting, merchant selling, among others -- so cumbersome and non-intuitive?

I wonder if Obsidian is working on changing the Interfaces.

A lot of NWN UI mods are popping up to change the Interface.

The net result of all of this -- performance, camera, A.I., interface -- severely sours the experience and tests the patience of those who simply want to boot the game and play. Who wants to work this hard to have fun?

I guess Jeff Green doesn't, hehe.

Wait awhile
The future success of Neverwinter Nights 2 will depend, in the short term, on Obsidian and Atari patching the game...and then, as with the first game, on the fan community to provide modules of their own. In the latter, at least, we have faith. But in its current state, and for those who just want a single-player RPG, this is recommended to D&D diehards only, who are probably the only ones with enough goodwill to slog through the problems. Everyone else -- wait awhile. A great RPG is in here somewhere; it's just not ready yet.

We've seen Gothic 3 and NWN 2 have issues upon rtheir elease; both are some of the biggest RPG's to hit this year on the PC. It really makes me kind of sad b/c from what reviewers have said on both, technical issues are what have hurt these games; nothing else. It sounds like that these games should've been given more time from the developer, instead of kicking them out the door too early....

[Xessive]

Well, the technical issues of NWN2 are not quite as bad as those of Gothic 3. G3 was a "beta-in-a-box" (I'd even consider alpha-in-a-box) but NWN2 is just a game with a some bugs which will hopefully be addressed with the patches. There are some issues which are the result of bad choices on the developer's behalf.

The biggest complaints are primarily about the look of the game. For some reason (no one knows why exactly as of yet) the devs decided to make separate model types for the PC and all the NPC's. That means the NPC's cannot wear headgear, some (two unique ones) can't be shown wearing body armour, and the player ends up with a terrible collection of ugly character heads to choose from. It's apparent that the PC character head was designed by a completely different artist/designer tan everyone else in the game, and it begins to stand out. For some reason the "Elf" head options for the PC are all pathetic and they look ugly and sickly, but all the other elves in the game look fine and sharp (like elves should). I still think Obsidian did a terrible job with the graphics, technically and artistically.

The A.I. has its issues, and I finally see that some companions are retarded and can't catch up with while you run around. I've found that sometimes my party won't help me in a fight until I broadcast the command to "guard me" or "attack nearest." Eitehr way you can switch off the A.I. by switching your companions to "Puppet Mode," to do that you have to go into the character sheet, the behaviour tab, scroll down to puppet mode and switch it on. I'd use it but it would considerably slow down the pace of every fight.

Now I'm not a big fan of magic in games, I'm not the guy who seeks out to build a might sorcerer or wizard. I don't enjoy it, and I'd much rather have a character who can kick ass the old fashioned way. Although having a magic-using companion can always be helpful, especially when dealing with mobs of monsters. NWN2 makes me hate even having a companion who uses magic because the magic effects are frickin' blinding! Most of the magic special effects emit so much light, or some many effects that it becomes impossible for me to even target any enemies because I can't see them! The highlighter in the game uses a glow effects, so it's completely useless in the excessively lit situations.

Here's an example of a common fight involving magic:


I also realized that the game has a level cap.. You can't go beyond level 20. Something which was resolved with the expansions (which let you go to level 40), but apparently the d20 system of D&D is all about the journey from level 1 to level 20, so the level cap is a D&D thing.

I'm just waiting anxiously for patch v1.03.

[MysterD]

New interview w/ Obsidian on NWN2 from KillerBetties.com

8. What are all the user interface changes have been made to the game? And can you talk more about the new control scheme that allows for a more RTS approach and how it is incorporated into the game and used?

[Anthony Davis] First of all, the GUI is modifiable and skinnable. The community has already released several modified versions of the GUI, including bigger hotbars and vertical hotbars.

More games should make the GUI that modifiable and skinnable.

[Davis] The radial menu was replaced with a context sensitive menu. This is very similar to a regular Windows™ context sensitive menu. In other words, when I bring up the context menu on a game object, my only options that are allowed are the ones that are actually applicable for that object.

The Quickcast Screen is a new GUI screen we added that allows spellcasters to *VERY* quickly access all their prepared spells and cast them. This even works with the new prestige class, the Warlock, and allows for combining of essences and shapes very quickly.

Okay.

The hotbar system was revamped to bring it in line with modern games. Every party member now has their own hotbar with up to 120 buttons. The buttons are accessible both with a mouse click and with a key press (1 through ‘=’). Players can rapidly change the hotbar they are on by pressing ‘shift’ plus the corresponding number.

Well....that's pretty sweet!

Xessive, how do you like the hotbar system?!?!?!?

I'd probably have one hotbar full of potions, another full of defensive/healing spells, another full of attack spells, and another w/ special techniques or something.

We added a fourth camera to the game, the free camera, which allows the player to move their camera around freely without being attached to their controlled character. Most players will recognize this as the same type of camera from many RTS games and the Infinity engine games.

Xessive, how is the free camera mode....? ??

5. Are there any new prestige classes and if so what are they and their traits/how they'll be used in the game? The Warlock seems particular interesting. What kind of spells and such will he wield?

[Jeff Husges] The warlock is a new base class where the character is born of a supernatural bloodline. Unlike a wizard or cleric who can only cast a limited number of spells per day, the warlock can use his powers at will. His primary power is the eldritch blast, a ray of raw magical energy which increases in strength as the warlock gains levels. Warlocks also have access to a small number of other powers which he can use to shape his eldritch blast (turning it into a cone instead of a ray, for example) or surround himself with an energy shield which deflects ranged attacks. A warlock is only allowed to learn a few of these supernatural powers so he must choose them carefully.

Very nice.

Seven new prestige classes have been added to Neverwinter Nights 2 - Arcane Trickster, Duelist, Neverwinter Nine, Shadow Thief of Amn, Eldritch Knight, Frenzied Berserker, and Warpriest. The Arcane Trickster is a mix of wizard and rogue, using his magical powers for larceny or mischief.

Ooooh...I like the sound of a magical thief....

[Xessive]

The hotbar is handy, but I just barely use it. It's definitely an improvement over NWN1, and I can see how functional it can be.

The new free cam is just as they described, makes the game feel more like a RTS. The camera movement is limited to a certain distance from your character though, so you can't move the camera too much farther than your character can see, it's not bad and the range is pretty good.

I generally stick to the Top-down camera which is the same as NWN1. It's just like every other 3D action RPG camera, and I like it.

[MysterD]

I'm just waiting anxiously for patch v1.03.

GREAT NEWS, Xessive!!!
Expect Patch 1.03 sometime BEFORE Thanksgiving weekend!!!

(Sometime next week!)

[Xessive]

GREAT NEWS, Xessive!!!
Expect Patch 1.03 sometime BEFORE Thanksgiving weekend!!!

(Sometime next week!)

Oooh You Sexy Muthafukka! That is great news! I'm glad Urquhart is taking on the task first-hand! It's always reassuring to the fans when the CEO gets down and dirty, and it looks like there may be some pleasant surprises in the near future as well!

[MysterD]

I wonder what will be changed, fixed, and added w/ Patch 1.03.....

[Xessive]

I wonder what will be changed, fixed, and added w/ Patch 1.03.....

Obsidian are being a little secretive about it. All they've said on the forums so far is that it "includes a lot of bug fixes, improvements and even some new features (particularly on the DM Client side... database support, anyone?"

[MysterD]

Hopefully they got some new interface options for the set-up and add more SIDE QUESTS!

[Xessive]

Here's a preview of what's expected in the upcoming patch v1.03:

New Features

General
• Weapon combos in hotbar: Added the ability to set up dual weapon, weapon & shield, or weapon & torch combos in the hotbar. Clicking the hotbar button for a weapon you already have equipped will unequip it.

• Camera Changes: We’ve made a series of camera changes to this version:
o New options for adjusting sensitivity for controlling the camera by keyboard, mouse, and edge of screen.
o Chase Cam adjusted to work more like NWN1.
o In free cam mode, the arrow keys now pan the camera, and holding down CTRL will zoom and yaw the camera.
o Added bindable keyboard key for mouse look / camera control. This mimics functionality of pressing down the middle mouse button for those without a middle mouse button.

• Graphics Optimizations: A number of new graphics optimizations have been added:
o Anti-Aliasing Support: Anti-aliasing is now supported and can be enabled in the Options Menu. Please note: This could significantly affect frame rate, depending on your hardware.
o Shadow Rendering: Shadow rendering speed has been improved.
o Tree Rendering: Speed improvements to the rendering of trees.
o Water Rendering: Speed improvements to how water is rendered by the engine.

• New Options:
o Buy/Sell Confirmation: You can now turn off the buy/sell confirmation dialog.
o Options menu has been reorganized to support many new camera control options.
o You can now change keybindings in game.

• Database Support:
o The database script functions from NWN1 have been re-enabled. They are now significantly faster in many cases.

Multiplayer
• Improved /t style chat.

DM Client
• Added initial support for hotbar buttons and context menus.
• Added in party bar. It will only list the connected players in the game and not who is in your faction.
• You can now hover over menu items in the Chooser instead of having to click on them first.
• “Very Easy” difficulty option has been restored.
• The DM chat channel is once again available via the /dm prefix.

Scripting
• EffectWildshape() – New function for Wildshape effect.
• GetEncumbranceState () - Added script function to get the encumbrance state of a given player
• GetPlayerCreatureExamineTarget() - Added script function to get the current creature examine target for a player
• PackCampaignDatabase() – A new database feature to NWN2, this will pack the campaign database and purge deleted records from a database.
• GetPlayerTargetObject() – New script function to get the current selected target object for a given player.
• UnlinkDoor() – New script command to turn an area transition door into a normal door.
• Database support has been added, including new PackCampaignDatabase() function.

Toolset
• Added a load screen image previewer.
• Added item icon previewer.
• Area names and tags now default to the area’s file name for new areas.
• The spell tab now shows multiple instances of spells, so creatures can have multiple instances of a spell with different metamagic types.
• Right-clicking while placing tiles now rotates the tile.
• The first column and row of the 2DA viewer are now pinned, making it easier to use.
• Changes on item blueprints will now be propagated to items in creature or placeable inventories, or that are equipped on creatures.
• Added new option to the File menu that allows the user to compile only currently open scripts.
• There is a new panel in the script editor that allows the user to insert scripts from the NWN2Toolset\Templates folder into the current script.
• Script search functionality changed to bring up all results in one result window and the user can double-click to open up that search result.
• Item cost calculations added to the item properties.
• New visual style.
• Doors now have a flag that allows them to render an invisible area transition (aka an invisible "black door.") This is adjustable in the toolset. This is to address concerns with the “black area” behind open doors and how silly it looked on open gates in the middle of Neverwinter, etc.
• When users enter a string ref, they can also check a box to say that the string ref is from the custom file and the string returned will be from that file instead of the main .tlk table.
• Feminine versions of strings are now editable.
• Hex values can now be used as string references within 2DAs. This makes it easier to use custom TLK files with 2DAs.
• The script editor runs faster and uses less memory.

Some pretty good fixes in there, especially the much-needed performance fixes.

EDIT:
They just added this right after I posted

General
• Animal Companions, Familiars, and Summoned Creatures are now unsummoned when a roster member is being despawned. This will address problems where companions can become familiars on transitions.
• Some minor adjustments to the pathing system to prevent characters from being put into illegal areas.
• Split out Armored Caster feat into class specific feats for Bards and Warlocks to properly apply spell failure percentages. This will allow users who add new classes to give them specific armored casting ability easily.
• Some minor fixes to drop shadow rendering.
• The debug DirectX check has been removed – some users had problems running the game, even without the DirectX SDK being installed.
• The game would crash when a module with more than 16,000 objects was loaded.
• Fixed a memory leak related to grass that would occur in certain areas.

Multiplayer
• Fixed issue when a player was resurrected by another player, the “respawn” button would stay up on their screen, and could be used to restore life and remove effects.

DM Client
• Added larger “+” buttons for the Chooser and Creator to make them easier to click on.
• Fixed some issues with keymapping.
• Player list is used instead of the party list when displaying party members on the minimap and areamap.
• DM’s can now area transition while possessing something and the entire faction doesn’t come with them.
• Fixed issue with trying to possess a creature in a different area than the one the DM is currently standing in.
• Fixed mouse action target for Dungeon Masters, so they don't start conversations with everyone. Also fixed highlight, so they can't always highlight themselves.
• DM can now move around while game is paused.
• Moved feats granted to a DM character from being hard-coded to a new flag in the feat.2da, "DMFeat". If it's marked as 0, the DM doesn't get it; as 1, he does.
• NWN database bug: Variables names are now properly truncated to 32 characters in all cases.

Effects/Spells
• If weapon trails are disabled in the options menu, hit and parry visuals are disabled as well.
• Character validation was not taking Spellcasting Prodigy into account for a number of spells wizards learn at first level.
• You no longer get max spells after unequipping an ability boost item, then an extra spell slot item. Also, changed extra spell slot items so that they only grant extra spell slots if you are capable of casting spells of that level.
• Neutralize Poison should not remove Disease and Ability Decrease effects.
• Lowered Frenzy damage to 6 per round.
• You can no longer recover traps with DC 20 or higher if you do not have the Trapfinding feat. If you try to disarm or recover a DC 20+ trap without Trapfinding, you will receive feedback that success is never possible; it is still possible to suffer a critical failure and have the trap go off on you. You can still flag, examine, and set a trap of any DC without Trapfinding; you can also always disarm or recover a trap you set yourself.
• EffectShareDamage() was not actually applying damage to the caster.
• Some fixes to global scripts on how spells affect NPCs, etc., in Hardcore mode.
• Finger of Death affects players in multiplayer mode now.
• Heal spells no longer call a touch attack when cast on undead.
• The Mass Inflict Line of spells now properly call a will save instead of a Fort save.
• The Mass Inflict Line of spells have now been updated to have the same behavior as Mass Inflict Light Wounds in regards to target discrimination and undead.
• Mass Inflict Light Wounds no longer harms hostile undead. Neither will it heal them. The healing effect is only applied to friendly undead.
• Casting Mage Armor on a character who already has Improved Mage Armor applied will no longer remove the stronger spell.
• Improved Mage Armor now correctly provides +6 AC rather than +8.
• The duration on Tymora’s Smile has been corrected.
• The spells Foundation of Stone, Body of Sun, Jagged Tooth, Tortoise Shell, Swamp Lung, Storm Avatar, and Nature's Avatar now properly apply their metamagic abilities.
• Tymora's Smile is now self-cast only.
• Crafting wands, potions, and scrolls was not working for many spells. All spells should now craft properly.
• Soothing Light will now auto-cast when selected.
• Guarding the Lord will now only target other creatures.
• Warlock Darkness now has the same targeting UI as arcane Darkness.
• Mass Heal now has a range of "close."
• The Mass Cure line of spells now uniformly have a range of "close."
• Old behavior for Bigby's 3 was causing some creatures to become paralyzed rather than immobilized in order to simulate grappling. This allowed them a chance to break out on a will save. The paralysis effect has been replaced with an immobilization effect.
• Prismatic Spray was always petrifying, rather than applying a random effect. This is fixed.
• Web and Greater Shadow Conjuration/Web now have the same targeting UI.
• Greater Fireburst will no longer damage the caster on hardcore difficulty.
• Fireburst will no longer harm the caster.
• Iron Horn now properly uses a cone shape instead of a sphere.
• Foundation of stone was calculating its duration in seconds rather than rounds. This has been fixed.
• Magic Fang and Greater Magic Fang now can be applied to any animal, beast, or vermin. This includes wildshaped druids.
• Missile Storm will no longer target friendlies on hardcore mode.
• Bombardment now knocks down targets on a failed save.
• Blade Barrier now plays a species specific blood spray when it damages a target.
• Destruction now checks the target for death immunity.

Items
• Changed Holy Avenger bonus damage from 1d6 to 2d6 vs. evil.

Scripting
• AttemptToDisarmTrap() - Returns FALSE if character cannot path to trap instead of assuming they don't have the skill points to do so.
• GetArmorRank - Returns whether an equipped item is ARMOR_RANK_NONE, _LIGHT, _MEDIUM, or _HEAVY
• GetSpellLevel() wasn’t taking cleric domains into account. This has been fixed.
• GetWeaponType() – Lets Keen Edge spell also affect piercing weapons.
• TalentSpellFilter() – This has been standardized in regards to Keen Edge and Weapon of Impact.
• Added script command gr_character_xml run from console that will export character data in XML format to the log.
• Fixed X2_inc_switches constant that was causing the override spellscript and the tagbased script prefix to overwrite each other.
• NPC casters can no longer affect themselves with AOE spells in Hardcore+ difficulty
• NPCs of non-opposed factions can no longer affect each other with AOE spells in Hardcore+ difficulty
• Added additional effects and fixed parameter listing for ga_effect.
Crafting
• 'Medalion of Thought' recipe now gives that item instead of the 'Talisman of Pure Evil'
• The 'Armor of Arrow Deflection' recipe now gives the correct effect and not 'Spell Specialization: Abjuration' on the Armor enchanted
• 'Invulnerable Armor' recipe now give Damage Reduction Effect
• 'Posion Weapon' recipe now give poison effect
• The 'Armor of Spell Resistance' recipes now gives spell resistance effect.
• Crafted wands, and scrolls now give the correct class restrictions based on class spell lists.
• Wands and potions now take into account the class and level of the caster for determining if the max spell level is surpasses instead of using the innate level of a spell.
• removed item cast at item restriction for spell storing devices (wands, potions, scrolls)
• Reduced cost of 0 level spells for wands, potions, and scrolls by half
• Added warlock darkness crafting recipes for Gold Filigree Charm and Infernal Focus
• Number of charges for newly crafted wand now defaults to 50.

Interface
• Fixed a bug where screen edge turning was frame rate dependent, making the camera behave differently based on graphics settings or area.
• Fixed a few minor bugs with mouse selection.
• Save game name will now show up properly when overwriting savegames.
• Fixed issue where gaining bonus feats from items were not causing a refresh of the character sheet.
• The character ‘ψ’ has been added to our fonts.
• Context Menu Delay slider and Weapon trail Option are now properly saved and read in correctly.
• You can no longer resize on of the multiplayer chat windows offscreen.
• You can now click past feat selection if you have no feats to select. You lose that feat pick permanently. This was added so characters with low stats in core abilities could process through level up.

Toolset
• Turning off fog along with the “use area far plane” option now works correctly, and will render the area up to the far plane specified in the Graphics section of the Options screen.
• Oriented billboards in visual effects will now render correctly in the toolset.
• Weapon scaling now looks correct in the toolset.
• Fixed a bug with the script and conversation search windows stealing focus.
• Fixed a bug with changes to spells not getting saved if the active tab was changed before changes were applied.
• Level 9 spells are now saved correctly for creatures.
• Font preferences are now saved correctly.
• Fixed a bug where docking windows would snap closed if a drop-down box was used while they were shown.
• Reduction in memory pre-allocation by half. This should address some customer reported issues with the toolset crashing on load.
• Some improvements to script editor speed and reductions in memory usage.
• Fixed a bug where placed instances of stores weren't copying the "infinite" flag for items.
• Fixed memory leak when erasing grass.
• Fixed issue for non-English versions where some required toolset preferences were not being loaded.
• Module variables are now displayed under the “Scripts” category.
• Fixed bug where turning off light spheres would turn off sound spheres.
• Focus wouldn’t change properly when clicking on the propertygrid or the blueprint view. Fixed.
• Fixed crash when trying to modify prefabs in the universal blueprint changer.
• Fix for an exception that could be thrown if a journal was modified from code (like a plugin.)
• Fixed inability to modify camera orientation, Orientation has been re-enabled.
• Some fixes to toolset memory management to improve stability.
• Floating windows that are offscreen will be moved back onscreen on startup.
• Newly-created blueprints will have their template property set to the same name as the blueprint.
• Fixed a bug where creating new item blueprints, assigning them to a creature or placeable, and then immediately placing the creature or placeable would result in the item having incorrect properties.
• Fixed a bug in the script editor where certain NWN-specific data types would confuse the parameter info display.
• Using the “Find All” button in the script search window now displays all results in a popup window. Users can select the matching script/line they want to view.
• An estimated value for the cost of an item (before appraise rolls etc) has been added to the properties of items.
• Updated look and feel of the tab controls.
• Fixed a bug with the “Save” button in the world map editor. It will no longer corrupt map images

[MysterD]

Wow....that's A LOT of things they are addressing w/ the next patch! Very nice!!!

[Pugnate]

Any interface fixes?

[Xessive]

Any interface fixes?

A few, the most notable being the double-wielding on the hotbar.

After messing with the video options it became clear to me that the game was made for higher resolutions. The interface looks so bulky and lacks a lot of sharpness when I'm using 1024x768 (or less), but it's crisp and comfortable at 1280x1024. I've had to lower the graphic quality in order to run the game at that resolution without any hic-ups, but it's no major loss as it still looks decent without bloom, soft shadows, and terrain normal maps. Oddly enough the game performs better with high texture quality than medium, so at least everything looks sharp. Hopefully with the upcoming fixes and improvements I'll be able to beef it up a little more.

[Pugnate]

What about graphical changes? The fact that weapons and items aren't properly represented on party members?

[Xessive]

What about graphical changes? The fact that weapons and items aren't properly represented on party members?

Oh, they haven't mentioned anything about that except the notorious "headgear issue." I've been on the forefront of that thread on the official forum, and here's a basic summary:

-Most fans not impressed with headgear not showing up on their companions.
-Devs admit it was the result of poor planning on their part. PC and NPC heads were build completely differently.
-Some fans now saying they prefer it like this and they want a way to switch off headgear from the PC! [WTF??!!]
-Majority agrees that it is a flaw.
-A few work-arounds were presented, followed by morons saying stuff like "everyone complaining are idiots."

The appearance of weapons and armour is fine, but I noticed the flaw there is in their inventory icons. A lot of them are recycled and often have nothing to do with the appearance of the actual item. Compared to other RPG's NWN2 has a very limited amount of items, so you'd expect them to be refined and have unique icons!

The good news is the UI is customizable, so as soon as I figure out how to modify the icons I'm making my own set! The problem is that most items refer to the same icon, so changing the icon wouldn't affect the items individually. I'll figure it out.

[MysterD]

Oh, they haven't mentioned anything about that except the notorious "headgear issue." I've been on the forefront of that thread on the official forum, and here's a basic summary:

-Most fans not impressed with headgear not showing up on their companions.
-Devs admit it was the result of poor planning on their part. PC and NPC heads were build completely differently.
-Some fans now saying they prefer it like this and they want a way to switch off headgear from the PC! [WTF??!!]

Really, the only way to please both:
--Give us an option to turn on and off the headgear.

Me, I'd rather SEE the headgear.

Are there any plans to change and fix this in a patch, in the future???

The appearance of weapons and armour is fine, but I noticed the flaw there is in their inventory icons. A lot of them are recycled and often have nothing to do with the appearance of the actual item. Compared to other RPG's NWN2 has a very limited amount of items, so you'd expect them to be refined and have unique icons!

That's odd.

The good news is the UI is customizable, so as soon as I figure out how to modify the icons I'm making my own set! The problem is that most items refer to the same icon, so changing the icon wouldn't affect the items individually. I'll figure it out.

Okay -- why did they do this, in the first place....?

[Xessive]

Obsidian readily admits that a lot of the visual flaws of the game are a result of bad decision-making and poor planning. It had something to do with switching a few of the devs half-way during development. The guys who walked away were the ones who anticipated the visual problems, and warned of them, but were ignored or something (at least that's what I could make out of the forum posts).

In regards to the character creation, I can understand that adding a FaceGen like Oblivion or The Sims 2 would have been difficult or expensive, but considering that the least they could have done was give a lot more options and good looking ones too! The females are mostly butt-ugly too, and that was before I looked at the Half-orcs! Apparently in the world of Faerϋn you'd have to really lower your standards if you wanna get laid.

[MysterD]

Obsidian readily admits that a lot of the visual flaws of the game are a result of bad decision-making and poor planning. It had something to do with switching a few of the devs half-way during development. The guys who walked away were the ones who anticipated the visual problems, and warned of them, but were ignored or something (at least that's what I could make out of the forum posts).

Bleh!

In regards to the character creation, I can understand that adding a FaceGen like Oblivion or The Sims 2 would have been difficult or expensive, but considering that the least they could have done was give a lot more options and good looking ones too! The females are mostly butt-ugly too, and that was before I looked at the Half-orcs! Apparently in the world of Faerϋn you'd have to really lower your standards if you wanna get laid.

Oblivion had great character generation, for the looks department. For that matter, oddly enough, so does The Godfather -- funny how a game like The Godfather has great character generation for the looks department, yet an RPG which you'd figure would more likely have such a thing like NWN2 just doesn't.

Obsidian could make me happy by adding in patches all kinds of new heads and stuff. That would be sweet.

I'm sure fans are probably working on throwing in their own heads, as well....

Regardless, I want NWN2. Getting closer to that Black Friday sale....wo0t!!!

[Xessive]

Awesome! I haven't played multiplayer yet, but from what I'm hearing it's awesome!

Let us know what your first impressions are as soon as you play the game

[Pugnate]

So how far along are you in the SP campaign?

[Xessive]

So how far along are you in the SP campaign?

Oh I've finished it I'm on my second run

It's only 3 acts. I can't recall how much time I spent playing but I think it's close to ~60 hours. I did most of the side quests.

It was fun, but I didn't wanna ruin anything for anyone who hasn't played it All I'll say is the influence you have on your companions can make a difference.

[MysterD]

Oh I've finished it I'm on my second run

It's only 3 acts. I can't recall how much time I spent playing but I think it's close to ~60 hours. I did most of the side quests.

That's some long-ass acts, if that's the case!

It was fun, but I didn't wanna ruin anything for anyone who hasn't played it All I'll say is the influence you have on your companions can make a difference.

We have "spoiler tags" nowadays, in case you like to spill the beans -- and the milk, too!!

I love the "spoiler tags"!

[Xessive]

We have "spoiler tags" nowadays, in case you like to spill the beans -- and the milk, too!!

I love the "spoiler tags"!

Yeah I know, but it would be a spoiler button that expands to a heck of a lotta scrolling to do Plus I'd rather wait to see you guys' reactions

[MysterD]

Yeah I know, but it would be a spoiler button that expands to a heck of a lotta scrolling to do Plus I'd rather wait to see you guys' reactions

I probably wouldn't even read what you put in those tags 'til probably I beat the game.

Now Puggy, he probably would....

[Pugnate]

No I am really anal about spoilers... really really.

[Xessive]

No I am really anal about spoilers... really really.

Eww! Having the word anal and spoil in the same sentence is just eww.