Neverwinter Nights 2 first details revealed.

[Frostmarrow]

I hope that the tool for making your own modules is improved. The last one isn't bad but it is a bit too complicated. I'm looking forward to the promised wizards.

The great thing about NWN is that you can use it to make experiments of all sorts of kinds. Normally I use Excel to simulate stuff I'm thinking about but NWN can be used just as well, with 3D graphics to boot!

 

[Ranger REG]

I found NWN to be at least playable. I couldn't handle the BG engine games - things happened too fast for me to react.

Anyway, what I hope for NWN2, is that we don't see the non-stop, constant patching. I have a dial-up, and I simply gave up on NWN in frustration and sold it, because it seemed like very week, there was a new patch, another big download. And if I didn't patch, then I couldn't use newer modules. I realize, they added a lot of content that way, but it was still annoying. (I'm looking forward to the Platinum edition, which hopefully will mean no more patches.)

Personally, I'd like to see more dial-up internet support.

 

[Dark Jezter]

Gamespot has posted an interview with Feargus Urquhart, the founder of Obsidian Entertainment. In the interview, they discuss Neverwinter Nights 2, Knights of the Old Republic 2, Fallout 3, and PC RPGs versus Console RPGs.

Here are the NWN2-related parts of the interview:

GS: In what direction do you plan on taking NWN2, story- and gameplay-wise?

FU: It's hard to say exactly at this point, since we still need to get our story approved by Wizards of the Coast. What I can say is that we are focusing a great deal on Neverwinter. We want the city to be a place that you really "play" around in and return to for almost the whole game. To do that we need to have it feel like the city evolves and that the people you meet in it are interesting and remain interesting.

GS: What elements of the first Neverwinter Nights are you retaining?

FU: The best way I can say this is that we are keeping the spirit of the game. The focus of Neverwinter was to provide a single-player experience, a great multiplayer experience, and a toolset that allowed people to make D&D modules themselves. We want to keep all of those goals as priorities as we make the sequel.

GS: What were your favorite aspects of the original NWN?

FU: I really enjoyed the fact that the toolset opened up the making of professional-looking RPGs to everyone. While it wasn't officially endorsed, I think it was really cool that people could go back and re-create the old D&D modules like Keep on the Borderlands in the engine.

GS: You mentioned NWN2 will have "a massive single-player campaign." How massive are we talking?

FU: We haven't really set on how "massive" the single-player campaign is going to be, but it will definitely keep people busy for a while. If I had to pick a goal at this point, I would say that the campaign should take between 40 and 60 hours; 40 hours if the player is just trying to crush their way through it, and more than 60 if they are stopping to smell the flowers. We have a lot of experience here at Obsidian at making rich single-player RPGs, and we are going to apply every ounce of that to NWN2.

GS: The official release date for NWN2 is 2006--why the long wait? Is it just because you're too busy with KOTOR II?

FU: Actually, there is an entirely different team at Obsidian working on NWN2 right now. It probably wouldn't help to add more people to that team; they are still figuring out what they are going to do and how they are going to do it. The long wait is because we really want to take the time to do this project right and upgrade as much of the engine as possible.

GS: You mentioned that you are planning to make "many new upgrades and enhancements" to the BioWare-developed NWN engine and the Aurora Toolset. I assume that means NWN will run on the same engine--is that true?

FU: Actually, no. We are going to be changing a lot of how the art assets work in the engine, so this will break the usage of the original NWN's art assets. However, we are going to be retaining a lot of how other things work, so things like scripts and dialogs (and many other types of content) will most likely run in the engine after an import process in the toolset.

GS: What upgrades and enhancements are you planning?

FU: A lot. We are going over almost every inch of the engine to add new features and refine things that are going to stay the same. From a graphics standpoint, we are updating most of the graphics engine to support new graphical features like normal mapping.​

 

[Dark Jezter]

Quick update:

On the Obsidian Boards, one of the developers commented that all the main classes and races from D&D will be in the game. They also commented that the Forgotten Realms subraces will probably be included as well.

So it's possible that races like gold dwarves, strongheart halflings, wild elves, and the like will be included in NWN2. Whether or not LA races like drow and duergar are also included remains to be seen.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

Whether or not LA races like drow and duergar are also included remains to be seen.

[rant]I just hope they get away from the need to edit the dialog.tlk files... :shutters: That's just an evil way to do business.

small tlk files like the race file, yeah no problem, but for the love of my sanity don't rally so much on a file that no one is suppose to edit to get a patch update! [/rant]

Anyhow, I hope they find a way to make inserting new races, PrCs, and classes, that would just be freaking awesome!

 

[Dark Jezter]

Not a whole lot of news coming from the official forums the last few days, except for just a couple of tidbits:

• Prestige classes are planned for NWN2, so you won't have to wait until the expansion packs like you did with NWN1.
• Since NWN2 will have a HotU-like multiple-henchman system, Obsidion is looking at ways to improve henchman AI and make them more team-oriented. In addition, you'll have more control over what your henchmen are doing during combat.
• There will be more variety in character models than there was in NWN1, meaning that you'll have even more options when it comes to customizing your character's apperance.
• The graphics engine is being totally rebuilt from the ground up. When NWN2 is released in 2006, expect it to look just as good as other games coming out at the time.

I'll keep watching for other interesting NWN2 news items.

 

[Dark Jezter]

This just in! The latest issue of PC Gamer has an inview with Feargus Urquhart regarding Neverwinter Nights 2. Here's a snippet from the interview...

PC GAMER: How will NWN 2 compare to the first one? (Question 1)

FEARGUS URQUHART: We're still talking about the options, but if I had to guess, I'd say that we're going for a less linear story then NWN's and it won't be a continuation. One aspect of [NWN 2's] linearity is that we're going to introduce a stronghold that the player will build and control. It'll be a central part of the story for a period of time, and will also be something the player can return to from time to time.

PC GAMER: Bioware is developing NWN 2's graphic engine. How will it differ from the one used in NWN? (Question 3)

FEARGUS URQUHART: The display engine is going to be largely rewriteten to support a lot of the latest technologies, like normal mapping and per-pixel lighting. We want to have things like flowing cloaks, armour that appears frosted in cold enviroments, mounts for players to ride, and as much character customization as posible. We've had the good fortune to hire Marc Holmes, who was the art director on NWN. He's going to help us immensely in figuring out the direction in which to evolve the graphics engine.

PC GAMER: What can you tell us about classes, races, and the party system? (Question 5)

FEARGUS URQUHART: We plan to support all the major classes and races, plus the Forgotten Realms subraces. And for parties, we're planning to do something similar to the first Neverwinter Nights [where your main character is paired with henchmen]. However, there will be up to three henchmen this time around - and yes, we'll be working on henchmen AI from day one.​

Let's see, so it looks like they want to include...

• A less linear story than NWN's.
• Player strongholds a la BG2.
• Mounts.
• Flowing cloaks and armor that looks frosted in cold environments.
• Forgotten Realms subraces.
• Up to three henchman at a time (with improved AI).

I'm getting more excited for this game the more I hear about it.

 

[trancejeremy]

Heh. With all that, sounds like it will show up in 2007. (Hopefully I'll have broadband by then).