This thread needs moar screenshots. (Or at least a link to screenies of the toolkit in action.) Is it done downloading? How does it look compared to the old Aurora toolkit?

Quote:Original post by coldacid
This thread needs moar screenshots. (Or at least a link to screenies of the toolkit in action.) Is it done downloading? How does it look compared to the old Aurora toolkit?

Review coming tonight. Stay tuned.

Quote:Original post by Kwizatz
I am weary about Obsidian screwing the story up, I'll wait for the reviews before buying it.

Weary or worried ? I must admit I didn't follow the development process very much but I haven't heard many complaints on how they screwed the story yet. Care to explain ?

OK. I've played with the toolkit as well as gleaned some information on the game; here are my toughts:

Toolset

It's nicer than I first mentionned. There are definately some interesting things going on. The complexity of the game, however, really makes doing cool stuff harder. Exteriors, for example, are fully heightmapped instead of being tile-based. That means creating environments is both more rewarding and time-consuming. Interiors are still tile-based but feel wrong in some places. The smallest corridor I could make for a small inn is large enough for like 5 people walking side by side. It feels kind of awkward in places.

There are definitely some bugs right now, and I've received more than my share of 'unhandled exceptions', altough they seem to have SOME handlers since they don't make the program stop and/or bork. It still work fine after you click 'Continue.' The bugs are reproducible and in interesting spots, leading people to believe that they gimped the pre-release toolset to prevent spoilers. Might or might not be true. Keep that in mind when I complain about the items later.

Game

Here is some stuff that could be gleaned both from reading on the game and peaking in the toolkit:

Character abilities

- Extensive crafting abilities that are wortwhile for the spell casting classes.

- Severely nerfed familiars for spellcasting classes (Non-fighting familiars as far as I can tell.)

- A lot of interesting prestige classes that make for very non-generic and interesting characters. Even a duelist for you rapier fighting pirates wanna-be.

- Interesting new feats

Gameplay mechanics

- Late game emphasis on managing a 'stronghold', including hiring engineers and training soldiers as well as contracting merchants and all that jazz. The stronghold needs an upkeep and attracting useful allies might require a sweet tongue/good appraisal skills. I think this has a lot of potential since it makes classes like the bard or the rogue incredibly worthwhile in their own special way. powerbuilt characters like the ultra strong Barbarian/Fighters that can barely talk might still be able to rule the battlefield, but at least they won't have a clear-cut edge on everyone else like they did in NWN.

- Big insistance on teamwork. No XP penalties for bringing companions like in the original. 1 to 5 party size. Going solo trough the whole game looks like it won't be an option, further increasing the use of characters like bards, clerics and palladins. Some Prestige classes, like the warpriest (a cleric trained in war leading the charge and inspiring people) and the Neverwinter Nine (a bodyguard type character that grants bonus to the character it protects) are even entirely geared toward teamwork.

- Less linearity, altough the focus still seems to be on story. Won't be an Oblivion-like open-ended game but it won't be set on rails like NWN.

- Introduction of 'powerful races' with drawbacks. Races like the tieflings, Aasimar and Drow are introduced, albeit with an 'Effective Class Level penalty. What that means is that a Drow, for example, will be considered two-level higher than a human, but without the bonus. IE, at the same exerience amount, the human will be level 20 while the Drow will be level 18.

- A lot of content re-use. A lot of the monsters and items are ripped directly from NWN. This can mean a lot of things. The weapon variety seems especially weak to me, and I recognize most of them from NWN.

Preliminary conclusions

So far, I'm really interested in seeing the final product. It seems to me like they really tried to innovate despite their tried-and-true origins. It remains to be seen if the risk was a good one to take or not.

Sorry for the poor editing and spelling, I've got other stuff to do right now and intensive spell-checking isn't one of them. [smile]

Edit: Poorly taken screenshots:




[Edited by - jfclavette on October 21, 2006 4:24:51 PM]