New Neverwinter Nights Game Probably On Its Way

[Sunseeker]

Urrrhhh???

See this chart:

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Motb also has perhaps the only RPG romances that aren't hysterically and unhealthily based on codependency and emotional control.

Seriously, Bioware romances are just one very small step from being Twilight-esque.

 

[Kzach]

Atari don't develop games, they just distribute and produce. And IMO, they constantly push out product that isn't ready and as a consequence, does poorly and cops a lot of criticism for being buggy. The latest example being Star Trek Online.

The original NWN was a decent game mainly because the story was fun and easy to get into and had interesting party NPC's. But the second one had an extremely lame story, incredibly annoying party NPC's, and rail-roaded you into doing things that few people with any sense whatsoever would ever do.

The only good thing about it was that the scenario builder had advanced significantly, making it easier to make custom games. Unfortunately, few people took advantage of it.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

ToEE rocked (well, minus the bugs, which I didn't have many problems with personally, but for which there can be no excuse). I would love to see another single-player turn-based game based on 4E rules and a classic adventure series ... but only if they take the time to do it right.

Which means it won't happen. Sigh. It'll end up being an MMO, since all the money is in MMOs.

 

[Aristotle]

I'd like it to be an amalgam of ToEE and NWN1. I want a great turn based RPG with a rulset that allows for the creation of modules to be run solo or co-op, with the ability for a GM to sit in and actively control the scenario. Let it import data from DDI, or just release an expansion every 6 months or so and milk me for the cash because if the toolset is good, and it gives me the virtual tabletop environment I desire, you'll own my heart again (after stopping my D&D involvement completely about 9 months after the release of 4e).

 

[Banshee16]

This is nonesense.

Bioware's entire credo is to release the same game with the same characters and virtually no depth, ambition, or meaning every single time. And hey, they succeed at it.

Obsidian is the opposite. Fantastic storytelling, incredible characterization, and sublime depth and meanings in their games bar one. They have, however, Troika Syndrome - what they lack is mechanical expertise.

NWN2 is, agreed, not a good game or a good story - but how can it be when it's being forced into yet another terrible stock cliche fantasy story? Mask of the Betrayer, on the other hand, is flat out better then anything Bioware has made. It's easily one of the best games made in recent times. It's Planescape: Torment levels of good.

Woah.....maybe I have to go back into that one, because I'm not feeling it with Mask of the Betrayer. Given the only NPC I've been able to find so far is a Transmuter, and I'm playing a fighter/wizard, it's really difficult to do important things like get healing.

Maybe the Planescape: Torment style story is still to come. I'm not seeing it so far though.

Banshee

 

[Keldryn]

Atari is just a publisher, and IMHO, a bad one at that (maybe it's improved, I'll give 'em benefit of the doubt)
check what "atari" actually is, Interplay rebranded is all
they forced Troika into pushing out unfinished games, ruining them
Arcanium, Temple of Elemental Evil and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines are threee of the BEST games ever made for the PC. They jsut needed 3+ months more bug testing. When patched, they rule.
Atai forced 'em out ealry
then see the mess with Pool of Radiance 2...same thing.

Sorry, most of this is incorrect:

Atari is Infogrammes (a French game publisher) rebranded, not Interplay.

Arcanum was published by Sierra Entertainment.

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines was published by Activision.

Pool of Radiance 2 (Ruins of Myth Drannor) was published by Ubisoft.

Not speaking up in defense of Atari (which bares no resemblance to the Atari of the 80s other than the name and logo), as they've mishandled a lot of games which they have published.

However, Troika released buggy and unfinished games with three different publishers (Atari, Sierra, Activision), so while the publishers do likely share some of the blame for the condition of the final product, the studio itself obviously had its own difficulties with managing their projects.

 

[Festivus]

Atari don't develop games, they just distribute and produce. And IMO, they constantly push out product that isn't ready and as a consequence, does poorly and cops a lot of criticism for being buggy. The latest example being Star Trek Online.

The original NWN was a decent game mainly because the story was fun and easy to get into and had interesting party NPC's. But the second one had an extremely lame story, incredibly annoying party NPC's, and rail-roaded you into doing things that few people with any sense whatsoever would ever do.

The only good thing about it was that the scenario builder had advanced significantly, making it easier to make custom games. Unfortunately, few people took advantage of it.

I'll only speak for myself... I did a LOT with NWN1 and multiplayer. I coded, I ran a campaign for a couple years, I ran one off adventures thanks to Neverwinterconnections.com. I didn't really get into NWN2 because there was no GM client and the module building tools were a measure of magnitude more complex than NWN1.

What I would drool all over is a simple toolset like NWN1, a GM client where I can control the action, and TURN BASED. Something I don't think the world has ever seen... but I would buy in a heartbeat.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Woah.....maybe I have to go back into that one, because I'm not feeling it with Mask of the Betrayer. Given the only NPC I've been able to find so far is a Transmuter, and I'm playing a fighter/wizard, it's really difficult to do important things like get healing.

Maybe the Planescape: Torment style story is still to come. I'm not seeing it so far though.

Banshee

If that's your only other partner, then you're in the first ten minutes of the game

Also, I will recommend getting a mod or console command or something similar to allow for five NPCs rather then just four, seeing as how there's four other characters that join you, and lacking even just one is pretty bad - the MotB NPCs are incredibly well detailed and, well, characterized. They're starkly three dimensional, especially in comparison to the cardboard characters Bioware prints out.

As for the storyline, allow me to quote from an absolutely brilliant LP:

Mask is a story about truth, and the differences between what is obvious and what is actually real. It's a story about learning and knowledge, and also about ignorance and falsehoods. It's a story about self-discovery.

Mask is a story about death, and the dead. It's a story about God, the gods, and the godless. It's a story about what happens to you after you die, and why bad things happen to good people (and the other way around).

Mask is a story about love. Not a love story, mind, but a story about capital-L Love. Love of family, love of friends, religious love, love for your country and, yes, romantic love.

For those of us that have played, I'd honestly say there are some very good comparisons to be made to PS:T. The

Spoiler

talk with Myrkul

especially.

 

[Neuroglyph]

Personally, I am not sure if it will be a new NWN Game or not.

Having just gotten back from GenCon 2010 -which was awesome! - it feels like Dark Sun is the HUGE NEW THING, with not only a massive product line, but a comic book and novel series coming out to support it.

Admittedly, they did announce a Neverwinter Nights Boxed setting to be out in 2011, which will be a mini-campaign in that region, but one wonders if they would put out a computer game and a boxed set of the same area in the same year.

Personally, I am hoping for a Dark Sun electronic product - an MMO would be amazing, but I don't know how likely that is.

BTW, here's a link to my blog of the D&D Preview and Q&A if anyone is interested.