Atari Adds Baldur's Gate Style to Neverwinter Nights Expansion

[Andy Chalk]

Atari Adds Baldur's Gate Style to Neverwinter Nights Expansion

Icewind Dale [http://www.atari.com/]flavor to the Neverwinter Nights franchise.

Set on the Forgotten Realms [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_Coast], a new power moves behind the scenes to exert their own control on the future of Faerun: The Yuan-Ti.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir hearkens back to the days of the Infinity Engine [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_Engine]by letting gamers assemble a full party of characters customized to their particular tastes, who can then freely roam the Sword Coast and the lands of the Chultan Peninsula via the new Overland Map. Spot and Survival skills will gain new importance as parties work to avoid ambushes while discovering hidden locations and even lost artifacts. Party gameplay options have been increased, featuring a new "teamwork benefit" system and party feats, while the new trading system lets gamer establish a massive trading empire that can impact the entire economy of Faerun.

The new campaign will add roughly 15 hours of gameplay across the Chultan Peninsula and Sword Coast, ranging from the familiar settings of Neverwinter and Crossroads Keep to the exotic nation of Samarach. New classes, spells, creatures and playable races will feature prominently, while multiplayer and modding abilities have also been increased to take advantage of the expansion's new enhancements.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir is being developed by Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer [http://www.obsidianent.com/]. The game is currently slated for worldwide released in the final quarter of 2008.


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[Vaynes]

I've bought all of the NWN games and expansions. They have ended up on the shelf while I re-install BG or ID for the umpteenth time.

Hopefully they can bring back some of the old style D&D gameplay to the series.

Better yet, remake Pools of Radiance/Eye of the beholder with this engine.

 

[nightfish]

Indeed; they should never have moved away from the BG style of gameplay

Why fix something thats not broken.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I haven't yet picked up Mask of the Betrayer but it just got a major bump in priority. When this new expansion lands, I want to be ready.

It's not a complete remake, but there's at least one module (for the original NWN I think) based on Eye of the Beholder. I gave it a try some time ago and it looked pretty solid, but without the first-person view, party control, etc., it didn't have the EOB feel I was after. But I also found out not too long ago that EOB2, at least, runs just fine under XP with a little help from VDM Sound. (It's also incredibly hardcore. I beat the game back in the day, but this time around it kicked my ass all over the room. Still a great experience, though.)

 

[Virgil]

I've been very impressed with NWN2 - even from first launch it had a much closer gameplay feel to the old Infinity Engine D&D games than NWN. I also enjoyed Mask of the Betrayer, though I didn't care as much for the story or the 'spirit eater' mechanic. I'll definitely pick up the next expansion.

 

[cainx10a]

I haven't yet picked up Mask of the Betrayer but it just got a major bump in priority. When this new expansion lands, I want to be ready.

It's not a complete remake, but there's at least one module (for the original NWN I think) based on Eye of the Beholder. I gave it a try some time ago and it looked pretty solid, but without the first-person view, party control, etc., it didn't have the EOB feel I was after. But I also found out not too long ago that EOB2, at least, runs just fine under XP with a little help from VDM Sound. (It's also incredibly hardcore. I beat the game back in the day, but this time around it kicked my ass all over the room. Still a great experience, though.)

Please, go out to the nearest store and get yourself a copy of MotB, it's rather cheap for the best NWN expansion I have ever played in my short life. From the characters to the plot, it is just epic. The only downside of this game is of course the dreaded Spirit Meter, I pretty much played the entire game with a crippled PC who had major attribute points stolen from my stats.

While I am not really a fan of Baldur's Gate, I will certainly get this expansion as soon as it's available simply because Obsidian knows how to create a wonderful D&D gaming experience.

 

[Widell]

While this certainly can be a good thing for the game I hope the pre-created cohorts will not be completely lackluster and just dull.

I understand that a lot of old D&D fans like to create their parties by themselves a la Icewind Dale, I personally prefer playing one character by myself which the story centers around. When I think of my previous NWN2 experience I tend to remember the companions the most.

Dungeons and Dragons is a party focused game but I feel that if you want to have an immense RPG experience in a video game you have to compromise at some level, controlling four characters in battle is one thing, roleplaying their personas simultaneously is another.

Obsidian have ensured that there will be intriguing characters in the game, but it clashes somewhat with their other statement about you not forming the same kind of bonds (I am not only talking about that there will no be no romance included in this expansion pack) with your cohorts as you have seen in previous games.

I suppose I will keep an eye on the game when the release date is getting close, but so far I am not sure I will be there picking it up at the release date as I have done with many previous Dungeons and Dragons titles.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Even to this day, Baldur's Gate is both a boon and a curse to the computer RPG genre: A boon, because it demonstrated that well-realized and deeply meaningful NPCs could be implemented in a standalone, single-player game, and a curse because it set the bar for such characters so high. The game is so memorable in large part because while it centered around you, the lives of the other major players in your party were a big part of your own. They weren't there just to help you kill stuff.

I'm working my way through Mask of the Betrayer now and it's pretty solid, NPCs included, but it still lacks the depth and elegance of Baldur's Gate. For one thing, the characters are too passive; they will respond in sometimes interesting ways when prompted, but they don't initiate interactions on their own, at least not that I've seen. They also don't appear to interact with one another, as they did in Baldur's Gate. Everything is solely between the player and the individual NPC, and conflicting agendas between NPCs (if there were any) are never expressed. I'm left feeling like I'm reading the very short chapters of an interesting novel, rather than traipsing across the Planes with fellow adventurers.

The fact that it chose to forgo those interactions in favour of an entirely player-created party is one of Icewind Dale's major failings. Roleplaying an entire party, as you pointed out, is both extremely difficult and entirely pointless, and without that aspect of the game you're left with little more than a tactical combat simulator. Icewind Dale is like the Fallout Tactics of the Infinity Engine games: It's good, and it does what it does very well, but what it does ain't what I'm here for. (Although I enjoyed Fallout Tactics very much, far more than Icewind Dale.) If that's what Obsidian comes up with, I will instinctively unleash a deep, powerful psionic "meh" that will be felt for thousands of kilometers. On the other hand, if Baldur's Gate is the key ingredient, you guys probably won't hear from me for about a solid week.

 

[CounterRetort]

Ah Sweet!
I played the baldurs Gate games + expansions and the same with NWN. I cant wait for this!

 

[dukeh016]

No. You shut up! You just shut up. This is all a lie, isn't it? Some little trick to get me excited about a game that is so awesome it could never actually come out. To quote N'sync; "Quit playing games with my heart."

 

[social_outcast]

truthully the statment given sounds (with the exception of party feats and trading) exactly like the corrent system for NWN2 characters - I found the NPCs had quite a good bit of depth, but if I had to be honest I preferred the NWN henchman system more - it always felt more like you were a single player, much like you would in actual d@d, rather than a dm going through a pre-scripted system with all the PCs himself

 

[Andy Chalk]

It's funny, but the way you wrote that, you almost make it sound like you think Icewind Dale was better than Neverwinter Nights.

 

[Lt. Sera]

The original Neverwinter Nights campaign wasn't all that special, imo. I have yet to finish NWN2 and it's current expansion(s), so i can't judge that yet.

 

[trueusmarine]

FYI Baldur's Gate III is in the works btw but from a different company, you wont see anything classic though from original BG because it's being developed by a company who believes in pushing technology foward.

 

[Blayze]

FYI Baldur's Gate III is in the works btw but from a different company,

Assuming that's even remotely true - which I doubt - prove it. You made a claim, now here's the part where you provide evidence to back it up.

because it's being developed by a company who believes in pushing technology foward.

Translation: "Fuck isometric, nothing less than full 3D."