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Neverwinter Nights 2 - First Look Preview
Jon Wilcox
12/04/2006
TVG gets a first look at Obsidian's sequel to Bioware's original 2002 RPG...
The first graphical MMO when it launched in 1991, AOL's Neverwinter Nights ran for six years before developer Bioware bought the title and set about their own RPG of the same name. That initial game, also called Neverwinter Nights, eventually launched in 2002 and erupted into a title strongly supported by a mod-loving community. Two official expansion packs, Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark, followed in 2003 before a third (the Community Expansion Pack) was released in 2004, and featured the best from the Neverwinter Nights community.
With Bioware snowed under with a number of new productions, including Mass Effect on Xbox 360, responsibility for developing a true Neverwinter Nights follow-up shifted over to Feargus Urquhart's Obsidian Entertainment who coincidentally had already worked with the Canadian developer on Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Urquhart's previous studio, the defunct Black Isle, had originally worked on the development of the first Neverwinter Nights, where they tried to create a game that amalgamated a strong storyline like Baldur's Gate with a mod community, so perhaps it was always inevitable that Obsidian would have a hand in crafting the sequel.
Recently TVG got the chance to look at what fans of the series can expect from the game when it arrives on PCs in the third quarter of 2006 courtesy of Obsidian CEO, Feargus Urquhart, who mainly focused on two aspects during the presentation, namely character creation and the all-important mod toolset.
For those unfamiliar with the world of Neverwinter Nights, the game forms part of the Forgotten Realms within Dungeons & Dragons lore, along with the likes of Baldur's Gate. This sequel is, in terms of narrative, unrelated to the original title of four years ago however, although there are several characters including Lord Nasher (the ruler of Neverwinter city), in the game. Players take control of a character in the Forgotten Realms town of West Harbour, years after the events of the original game. As a baby, the player's avatar was struck with a piece of an artefact during one of the last great battles of the age, and now as an adult experiences an invading horde coming to claim that remaining piece. Obsidian explained that the reason why Neverwinter Nights 2 doesn't continue on from the original title is because taking into account the two expansion packs, the player's character could already be at a maximum level 30, which would pose a number of difficulties when it came to developing a successor.
Character creation plays an increasingly important part in Role-Playing Games, and Neverwinter Nights 2 is no exception with gamers able to create their avatar from an astonishing amount of variables and choices on offer. Up to seventeen races and sub-races are available in the game, with the seven full races (Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Halfling, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, and Human) breaking down further into smaller constituent sub-races that each have their own advantages over the other. During the course of the presentation, Urquhart explained that one sub-race was intentionally left out because of their perceived suitability in a combat-based RPG: the Ghostwise Halfling. For non-Dungeons & Dragons players, the sub-race has developed psychic powers, which for the developers didn't sit well compared to the more physical skills of the other sub-races, and therefore Obsidian decided to leave them out of Neverwinter Nights 2.
Beyond that, character customisation extends into several other areas that D&D veterans will recognise: Alignment, Reputations, and Prestige Classes. Broken up into four main areas of Good, Evil, Chaotic, and Lawful, Alignment is personal to that character and is reflected in conversations with NPCs. As well as deciding up a certain alignment at the start of the game however, the attribute also changes according to the decisions and actions chosen by the player during the course of the game. Accurately described as a character's social alignment, Reputation is the population of Neverwinter Nights' knowledge of who your character is within the game world.
The more recognisable Prestige Class of character attribute allows players to decide upon whether their avatar will be one of eight types including Paladin, Monk, Fighter, Druid, Cleric, Barbarian, and new for Neverwinter Nights 2, a Warlock or Bard (the latter currently being work in progress with Wizards of the Coast.) For newcomers of the franchise or the D&D ruleset however, Obsidian is also adding a 'Recommended' button so they won't find themselves picking a relatively incompatible or challenging series of attributes that will leave them feeling frustrated.
With such close links to that most iconic of fantasy RPG brands, and its owners Witches of the Coast, it's worth noting that Neverwinter Nights 2 follows the revised version 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons rule-set. That said, the general philosophy for using the rules in Neverwinter Nights 2 is to ensure that it's fun to play in the context of real-time play, and with the blessing of Witches of the Coast, Obsidian has streamlined some of the complex rules.
Players can also choose whether their avatar is male or female, with the game noticeably missing the slider-based customisation that's been seen in the likes of Bethesda's Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Finally, Obsidian has added a random name generator for those left scratching their heads as they struggle to find a suitable name for their 'creation'.
Urquhart actually describes Neverwinter Nights 2 as 'three different games' with deliberate borders; there's the solid and engaging single-player campaign, the multiplayer modes, and of course the tool set and modding abilities.
Despite the game's name, Neverwinter Nights 2 actually begins in the coastal town of Westharbour, and it was there that some of the new changes were introduced. Ripping out the graphics engine of the original game, Obsidian has written from scratch a whole new proprietary engine called 'Electron' to bring the game up to date so it can include techniques such as bloom lighting. One of the key changes made to the visuals of Neverwinter Nights 2 however is something much more fundamental, which deals with the creation of the actual gameworld itself. In a departure from the original title, the exterior locations are now created from rolling textures enabling the land to feel more organic than its predecessor, though the interiors of buildings remain tile-based.
The single-player campaign during the West Harbour Harvest Competition, where the populace (including the player) can take part in a series of melee, spell casting, and thief skill events. In short, the event acts as a tutorial for newcomers, though Obsidian insists that the competition will also prove to be fun for veterans of Neverwinter. The game will feature the perspective from two cameras, the more traditional at-distance third-person, and a third-person over the shoulder cam. Conversations in the game will also be handled in two distinct ways; the first will aim to be more cinematic and will feature voice-overs and lip-synch (these will be used in the main narrative threads), whilst the second will use the typical RPG text boxes.
Obsidian has also worked on several areas identified as needing further development in the original game, including players enjoying more control over the avatar's henchmen; something that was utilised in their previous Bioware sequel, KOTOR2, so that gamers don't feel like their just taking the companions along for the ride. Urquhart also recognised that one of Obsidian's failing in the past was the creation of solid enough pathfinding, though he insists that the aspect has been improved during the development of Neverwinter Nights 2.
By far the most stressed elements throughout the demonstration of Neverwinter Nights 2 however, was the tool set, which will enable the NVN community to quite frankly go berserk over. Everything, bar characters and buildings, can be created from scratch but even those can be amended to suit the needs of the modder. Throughout the development of the game it seems, every decision made by Obsidian has rested upon whether that aspect can then be easily modded by the community, which has left a lot for that community to get creative over.
Key to creating a strong atmosphere, the lighting in Neverwinter Nights 2 is dynamic, allowing modders to change the atmosphere of the gameworld. Day/night cycles are available too, from dawn through to dusk and everything in between, with the toolset featuring three different light to help create a realistic lighting system: the sun, the sky, and the ground itself. The colours of the lights can of course be changed by the modders too, which was cue for Urquhart to produce some of the most trippily lit environments this side of a 1950s 3D-movie without the silly glasses. Cloud and fog densities can also be changed and amended via the toolset, so there's a lot of scope for gamers to create a very moody environment.
Moving on from lighting to water, Obsidian once again recognised that modders had to be able to, well, modify the water to suit their own visions, and to that end the team developed a multiplayer water system. Such a system means that gamers can actually anything from flowing water through to molten lava (if the lighting and the colours were changed appropriately.) As with the lighting system, the water system so far seems to be very versatile, and something that many within the Neverwinter Nights community are sure to go a little crazy over. Together with the three layers, water in the game also features reflection and refraction techniques that further bring the effect to life. The tool set includes an 'eye-dropper' that enables gamers to designate the water level, together with the ability to change the flow of the water itself.
Colour tinting and scaling can be attributed to pretty much everything in the game including the palette of buildings and other assets from within Neverwinter Nights thanks to the addition of a so-called 'Tint Map' texture. Besides giving the community the ability to change the colour of buildings to a sickly shade of green, it also means that they can create the tallest, thinnest structures (or characters for that matter).
Of course gamers will also be able create their own gameworld thanks to the toolset's Terrain Editor, with the ability to sculpt mountain ranges and grassy plains just two examples given during the course of the presentation. In addition, Neverwinter Nights 2 utilises the SpeedTree middleware technology in order to create a more organic and natural experience; based on number values, the variety in the shape of the trees is something worth pointing out - especially since that too is available to make use of in the toolset.
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