ChAiNz.2da Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 So, not just a rip off (I hope). Although, the idea of absorbing souls is hardly a new idea, or one exclusive to Oblivion/NWN2. Oh Indeed! I agree But the entire TES series pretty much "relies" on it as a mainstay for it's magical enchantment system for many, MANY years. It's definitely at the top of the list Guess I should've said that sounds "TES-ish" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoffe Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 • Epic storyline provides the most riveting RPG experience since Planescape: Torment, with the compelling characters and plotlines for which Obsidian Entertainment is renowned. Play the official campaign either alone or online with your friends. Quite a claim to make indeed. If they fall flat of those raised expectations they will be torn apart by rabid, game-hungry RPG fans for befouling their fond memories of that venerable game. • Stunning new environments include the Astral Plane, sunken Imaskari ruins, a Thayan wizard academy, and the Shadow Plane. Immerse yourself in the Forgotten Realms as you’ve never seen it before. Seems like the Plane of Shadows is a popular destination in the NWN games. You visited that place during the main plot of the first NWN1 Expansion as well. Wonder what you're supposed to do there... either the KOSH isn't entirely done with you, or Shar is annoyed that you have destroyed one of her favourite pets, I'd guess? • Explore an amazingly reactive world, where your decisions affect those around you and the passage of time realistically impacts gameplay. Uh oh, that doesn't sound good. I tend to strongly dislike the "timer quests" in games that have them. There is enough stress and time keeping in real life, I'd rather not have to keep an eye on the clock while playing CRPGs as well. Realistic perhaps, but fun and realism aren't always the same thing. • Switch seamlessly between exploration and tactical combat with the immersive, over the shoulder view of Character Mode and the top down perspective of Strategy Mode with its RTS-like controls. I just hope they don't dumb down the camera controls. One of the things I like in NWN2 (and Oblivion) is the extensive camera control you have where you can tilt, zoom and rotate the camera around to view a scene from all different angles. If they remove that in the name of streamlining I will be quite annoyed. • Collect souls from defeated foes to create mighty artefacts using an expanded item enchantment system. Wonder if that is optional or something you have to do as part of the quest. Sounds like a quite evil activity to trap someone's soul and bind it to an item. I don't recall this type of system introduced into AD&D (unless it's been recent). Well, there are the Trap the Soul (lvl 8 arcane spell) that allows the caster to trap the soul of the victim in a gem, and Soul Bind (lvl 9 arcane/divine spell) that draws the soul from a recently killed body and traps it in a gem. Don't know if there are any D&D rules for using those soul trap gems to make artifacts, or give them another use than as a rather evil prison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pavlos Posted July 31, 2007 Author Share Posted July 31, 2007 Uh oh, that doesn't sound good. I tend to strongly dislike the "timer quests" in games that have them. There is enough stress and time keeping in real life, I'd rather not have to keep an eye on the clock while playing CRPGs as well. Realistic perhaps, but fun and realism aren't always the same thing. From what I can gather, I think it just means that areas change in day and night and there's an Oblivion styled "you can only do this quest at twelve midnight" etc. - I hope it doesn't mean timed quests, anyway. Though, perhaps it would be nice for a change to have the evil genius attack you if you're too slow - rather than sitting in his evil castle and waiting for you to thwart his plans. I just hope they don't dumb down the camera controls. One of the things I like in NWN2 (and Oblivion) is the extensive camera control you have where you can tilt, zoom and rotate the camera around to view a scene from all different angles. If they remove that in the name of streamlining I will be quite annoyed. Watch the video I posted a few of weeks ago. That gives you an idea of how the camera works now. Also, the E3 video with Fergles has some examples of the flexibility. I think one developer put it as: you can do all the things you can now - only more easily and with less annoyance. And on the topic of comparing it to Torment; let's look at it this way: if they are bold enough to compare MotB to that game then the game's plot must be pretty good, even if it doesn't come close to Torment the fact that they would dare to make the comparison means they're pretty fond of the story they've crafted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lantzen Posted August 2, 2007 Share Posted August 2, 2007 This expansion just sound better and better the moer info they release ^^ And they also changed the playtime from around 15h that they first annouced to 20+, thats pretty good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pavlos Posted August 10, 2007 Author Share Posted August 10, 2007 Source. Granny plugin is out, guys. Woo for that! As well as the dedicated server. Funness - I don't care that it isn't a word. Also in the community update (linked above) is the MotB theme tune. According to Alexander Brandon - the "Audio Director" - the theme is meant to signify the darker edge the expansion has. The piece was written by Rik Schaffer of Womb Music, and I provided some additional instrumentation. It's intent was to communicate a darker more tribal feeling than the original Neverwinter Nights 2 theme. Rik combined percussion with strong thematic elements signifying the struggle between the player and [some of the darker themes in the game], and afterwards I mixed in the Neverwinter Nights 2 theme for a strong link to its predecessor. I do like the way they mixed in the NWN2 theme, too . Edit: IGN's RPG vault has posted a new interview. The level of hype for this game's plot is... beyond what I would normally expect; they... well, they seem to genuinely believe that this is going to be a brilliant game. Here's hoping they're right - geez... it's a nice change to see the plot getting so much attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balderdash Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 The music sounds pretty good. It'll be interesting to see how it's implemented in the story and how it adds to the drama. The Hagspawn race would've been pretty good too... I'm not that impressed by the Half-Drow; if I'm not mistaken they're not that different statistically from the regular Half-Elves which were already in the original game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gargoyle King Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Hmmmm, i hope the developers of K3 make the game as mod friendly and more importantly, mod supported as the NWN series is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pavlos Posted August 14, 2007 Author Share Posted August 14, 2007 Part two is up. Although, pages two and three don't seem to work yet... Edit: Seems to be fine now . Edit to the edit: Of interest is the following: It's the game we all wanted NWN2 to be. It's simply an incredible role-playing game for anyone into story- or character- driven gameplay. If you liked any of the Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, etc. games, then Mask of the Betrayer will not disappoint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pavlos Posted August 27, 2007 Author Share Posted August 27, 2007 New pictures. If I didn't know better I'd say they scrapped the old engine - they've really improved their usage of the toolset, it seems. My favourite is currently this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lantzen Posted August 27, 2007 Share Posted August 27, 2007 Looks good, they really seem to take a diffrent approach with the game, and i love it And Pavlos, why did you change avatar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pavlos Posted August 29, 2007 Author Share Posted August 29, 2007 It's refreshing to read a review that isn't full of hype. While vague, it points out some of the flaws and highs of the game. MotB is not a perfect game. In all my years of gaming, I have not found such a game. However, it is a breath of fresh air. It’s not enough to have a lot of choices to make in the game world. In fact, choice without consequence amounts to no choice at all. MotB crafts a beautiful story for the player, and the player completes that story by decisions. Those decisions are meaningful ... this is the best I can offer at the moment: this is a game worth owning. A game that respects you decisions? Impossible... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pavlos Posted September 13, 2007 Author Share Posted September 13, 2007 NWN2.com has been redesigned to hype MotB. Rather boring but perhaps worth bookmarking; if it's kept up-to-date, it could come in handy for finding out about interviews and the like. Right now there's nothing new but it's a fairly nice site . Just thought I'd update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoffe Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 NWN2.com has been redesigned to hype MotB. Rather boring but perhaps worth bookmarking; if it's kept up-to-date, it could come in handy for finding out about interviews and the like. Right now there's nothing new but it's a fairly nice site . Thanks for the heads-up. Nice that they are starting to get the official sources updated as well about the game. Hopefully that means we'll get some more info and teasers about the game soon. But... ugh... extreme visual overload on that layout... all... those... lines... and... boxes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pavlos Posted September 14, 2007 Author Share Posted September 14, 2007 Gone Gold? No official confirmation as yet but it seems the game has gone gold - for shipping in Europe in late September and America in October. I have to doubt the validity of the claim; firstly because this suggests Europe gets it before America... which would be a bizarre twist; secondly because NWN2.com hasn't got this information and neither has Obsidian's site - though neither Atari or Obsidian seem that great so far as keeping a webpage up-to-date is concerned. Then again... I can't imagine a reputable site like NWVault having this as a news article unless they were fairly certain of it. Take it with a grain of salt but I thought it update worthy if it is true: I spent the day at the Obsidian offices getting a presentation of the NWN2 expansion pack, Mask of the Betrayer, and one of the best pieces of news is that it's GONE GOLD both in Europe and the US! The ship date for the game will be late September for Europe and Oct. 9th for North America. The game is looking really polished and frankly with over 25 hours of gameplay and all the content they're delivering, it's going way above the standard of what expansions usually deliver. The storyline with its twists of "eating souls" really should be a great gameplay experience. I got a chance to also meet with the team from Rogue Dao Studios who are doing The Planescape Trilogy, a NWN2 custom mod, which was really incredible in scope and quality. Also at the event were the Hall of Fame creators from The Robinson Workshop, who have a great knowledge about everything in the toolset. It was also great to meet Kalia from NWN2 Warcry in person who was also covering the event with some of the more mainstream gaming sites. I know I owe you guys a writeup from E3 so I'll make sure I do my best to cover the event properly but I wanted to share the news about MotB going gold before I head back home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balderdash Posted September 15, 2007 Share Posted September 15, 2007 Awesome! If it's true. Thanks for this news... I'd better get to finishing my current game then, I guess. My first character's gonna be a Wizard 15 / Harper Agent 5 / Arcane Scholar 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arátoeldar Posted September 16, 2007 Share Posted September 16, 2007 Gone Gold? No official confirmation as yet but it seems the game has gone gold - for shipping in Europe in late September and America in October. I have to doubt the validity of the claim; firstly because this suggests Europe gets it before America... which would be a bizarre twist; secondly because NWN2.com hasn't got this information and neither has Obsidian's site - though neither Atari or Obsidian seem that great so far as keeping a webpage up-to-date is concerned. Then again... I can't imagine a reputable site like NWVault having this as a news article unless they were fairly certain of it. Take it with a grain of salt but I thought it update worthy if it is true: I am not so sure about the European date. However the American date looks good from what I have seen Josh Sawyer post on SomethingAweful forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balderdash Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 From what I've seen, the actual date in Europe seems like it might be the 11th. Atari's UK site just says October, but the German site says 11th October. I don't think either date has been confirmed or denied yet by Obsidian, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pavlos Posted September 19, 2007 Author Share Posted September 19, 2007 IGN did have a nice video of some of the epic spells but it's been taken down for some reason. Thankfully, some kindly BioBoard member arrived with this. As over-the-top as epic spells should be . I'm currently a fan of "Mass Fowl" (the one where the enemies get turned into chickens) oh the fun I'm going to have with that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lantzen Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 Bring it bitches, i have a demon ^^ Well, me like, maybe should play a mage or sorcerer in the expansion, never felt the need to be one since Qara is good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pavlos Posted September 20, 2007 Author Share Posted September 20, 2007 Previews: Gamespot IGN - a half-hearted attempted if ever there was one Gamespy Nice new screen shots, too. I must say, the main city looks lovely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoffe Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 Previews: Nice new screen shots, too. I must say, the main city looks lovely. Looks more like a village than a town, but I think I read Rashemen is fairly sparsely populated so that might make sense. Looks like they haven't fixed the character walking animations though, still looks like "walk like a robot" style from what I can tell of that screenshot. :/ Overall it seems interesting and fun, though I'm a bit worried about the "must harvest souls!" part with the accompanying gauge on screen. I strongly dislike the timed missions in pretty much all the games I've played so far, and in this case it seems like you have to "play by timer" for the whole game. I like to be able to take my time and look around. There's enough of stress in real life, I don't need that when playing games as well. (I guess that's where the toolset comes in though...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emperor Devon Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 Huzzah, more articles from NWN Vault! I must say those buildings Rogue Dao is working on look lovely. I strongly dislike the timed missions in pretty much all the games I've played so far, and in this case it seems like you have to "play by timer" for the whole game. There doesn't look to be an actual limit on how long you can explore an area, it's how long you can go without eating souls before dying. How well that'll work out I can't guess; if it's something as simple as selecting a 'Devour Soul' special ability when fighting monsters it shouldn't be anything to worry about. (Ideally, anyway...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arátoeldar Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 Huzzah, more articles from NWN Vault! I must say those buildings Rogue Dao is working on look lovely. There doesn't look to be an actual limit on how long you can explore an area, it's how long you can go without eating souls before dying. How well that'll work out I can't guess; if it's something as simple as selecting a 'Devour Soul' special ability when fighting monsters it shouldn't be anything to worry about. (Ideally, anyway...) I am not a big fan of the spirit meter idea. However if it forces players to use all the levels of their arcane/divine spells. Instead of just use the higher level nuke spells and then resting. Then I am some what for the idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoffe Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 There doesn't look to be an actual limit on how long you can explore an area, it's how long you can go without eating souls before dying. How well that'll work out I can't guess; if it's something as simple as selecting a 'Devour Soul' special ability when fighting monsters it shouldn't be anything to worry about. (Ideally, anyway...) I doubt it's that easy, since then it would be pretty meaningless to have it there. It would just add another mandatory step you have to do in combat. Adding a nuisance if it isn't really that important doesn't seem very meaningful. But, hopefully you can deactivate the countdown timer with the toolset if it becomes too disrupting of the gameplay flow to have something like that hanging over you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tk102 Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 I doubt it's that easy, since then it would be pretty meaningless to have it there. It would just add another mandatory step you have to do in combat. Adding a nuisance if it isn't really that important doesn't seem very meaningful. It could be something like the way the original campaign handled the Crossroads Keep "time passed"... but will probably also include the passage of time when you rest. That is, if you want to rest you're going to get hungry for some souls. However, if it's a like a slow poison that you can't cure, I doubt I'll enjoy its addition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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