Neverwinter Nights 2 Forum News (Dec. 21, 04)

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Here are today's Neverwinter Nights 2 forum highlights, collected by NWVault from Obsidian Forums. Please take into account that these are only single parts of various threads and should not be taken out of context. Bear in mind also that the posts presented here are copied as-is, and that any bad spelling and grammar does not get corrected on our end.

Brian Lawson, Graphics Programming

First Screenshot
I think it's worth pointing out that both of those games (The Witcher and Oblivion) have been in development for quite some time now. Just remember that when you see our screen shots (when ever it happens to be), that our graphics engine has been completely rewritten from the ground up in the last 5 months. For today's standards that's not a lot of time. While it's already starting to look killer in my opinion, it's also worth noting that as good as it already does look, we've still got another year plus to refine it. It really is quite exciting.

More : Actually, I believe the 6600GT is based off the 6800 architecture...and if that's the case, then no it shouldn't suck wind. Although, there will likely be two generations of video cards released by the time the game actually ships...which will be a good thing though, since that will hopefully mean that the average user by then is using something equivalent to the 6800 architecture.

More : Well, all I can say is that we're certainly giving it an honest effort. In some ways, it's unfortunate that we don't have 4+ years to do this like so many of these other "great" games have had. But, I think that's just a testiment to the true talent that we have on board for this project...and that applies to all aspects of the game...not just the graphics.

Ferret, Developer

Familiars
Fun story on the PnP side, a player once told me he made a he made a fortified box for his toad familiar in another campaign. Just a few breathing holes and his wizard character would lock him in there every day. It was so wrong, yet so funny.

Great thread with some interesting points. Just to let you know my mindset - I liked being a Sorcerer or Wizard and seeing my familiar flying around with me. It was just fun - but in PnP they were never meant to be that powerful. I think the max damage a familiar can do goes to the hawk with an amazing 1d4-2 attack. Also some familiar skills in NWN1 were great - the pixie could obviated the need for a thief in the party.

So I figured getting back to the PnP roots of the familiar would be a good move, especially since our party size is 2 more than the original NWN1 and wizards don't need as big a crutch to make it through the earlier levels. I still want the familiar out there, except for critters like toads (unless the toad has road runner blood it would never be able to keep up with the party). If we go with scouting for familiars, we may investigate some of the suggestions here (that they become vulnerable in scout mode).

A Note on Polls
Just wanted to let you folks know that I like polls, I think they're a good way to gauge people's interest in certain subjects of controversy. I put far more stock in polls that present the issue in a neutral manner, though. It's easy to be funny with the choices, but it tends to invalidate the whole exercise. Polls whose choices are bland but informative with no obvious bias are much more useful. I certainly pay more attention to those. If you don't care what I pay attention to (and I'm guessing some other devs, though I haven't asked), then please disregard this advice.

Odd Henchmen
There are definitely a couple of companions which are odd ducks (not literally). I loved Minsc and Boo in the BG series, and I think it's a fine tradition to have some elements like that in a game.

More : More with their personality. We're going to try and keep it plausible. In real life you can meet some delightfully strange people, no reason a game can't have some of that.