Maybe one day: NWN2:EE
Buttercheese
Member Posts: 3,766
Now that NWN:EE is about to be released, lot's of us are of course getting our hopes up for a Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition.
This thread shall serve the purpose of giving you guys at Beamdog some ideas of what we'd like to see if a project like that ever came to fruition.
First of all, here are some things that I feel absolutely must be included in such a release:
- Higher Resoltutions with appropriately adjusted interface (duh)
- Less cluttered and also more customisable interface (free scalable text size!)
- Reduced (or if possible completely removed) loading times
- STABLE MULTIPLAYER (even with mods and tools, multiplayer is broken to the point of unplayability at this date)
- Better controls
- Fixed bugs, duh :P
Things that I think would be nice if included and believe are in the realm of possibility to be included
- Custom character portrait support, including adding illustrated portraits for characters for companions that don't yet have portraits (for minor/temporary companions and summons, portraits from NWN1 could easily be reused). Basically: Replace the ugly 3D character model portraits.
- Better facial textures and hair. Also more options for those in general.
- Some visual enhancements on armor and similar gear.
- More hats.
- Similar to what some MMORPGs have, allow the option to use visuals from other gear, so that a character's looks can be preserved when equipping gear with better stats.
Things that would be nice if included but I wouldn't be suprised about if they couldn't be, due to contract and/or budget/time restraints:
- Reworking certain aspects of the Original Campaign
-- Restore Neeshka's and Bishop's romances, including proper love triangles with Elanee and Casavir respectively
-- Give Casavir (and maybe also Elanee and Grobnar) more in-depth personality.
-- Rework the last part of the story to make the King of Shadows more interesting and threatening.
-- More interactions between the Kalach-Cha and their companions. Doesn't have to be of any consequence, some extra banter would be nice already.
-- Maybe some additional side quests here and there, where it's appropriate.
-- Rework the ending to something more satisfying than "Rocks fall, everyone dies" :P (But without compromising the story of MotB in the process.
- MotB btw can and should stay mostly untouched. At most give Ammon Jerro a more prominent role, if it serves the story. Also add some additional dialogues that addess the Neeshka and Bishop's romance, should those be re-included in the OC.
If indeed my ludicrous dream of a reworked OC would come true, it would probably make sense to include both the vanilla OC and the enhanced OC in the game. Since NWN2 is module based, I don't believe that would be an issue to incorporate. That way purists have no good reason to complain and everyone else can play a better version of the OC ;P
If NWN2:EE should indeed at some point happen, I am assuming that chances are Beamdog would get to make an additional campaign for it. I personally don't feel too hot about the idea, since NWN2's engine is really lackluster, but on the flipside it would mean we would get some more D&D 3.5 goodness, so here are some ideas and wishes for that:
- Same main character as in the OC and MotB
- Show what happened to the companions who's fates where not revealed at the end that whole story line.
- More Sand. I love Sand. Give us Sand.
- Move the setting to somewhere the FR based games have not really been before. So away from the Sword Coast :P I wouldn't mind some plane-hopping either.
- Story > combat/dungeon crawling
- If any romancable companions should make a return, have there be dialogues adressing if the player decided to romance Safiya or Gann in MotB.
- Cameos and/or allussions from/to the other D&D based PC games. Kinda like how you linked BG and IWD's stories with Siege of Dragonspear and how previously IWD and PS:T where linked through Ravel. Doesn't have to be anything huge, just a little something. Here are some more concrete ideas of what could be done:
-- Being able to discover Xan's grave/corpse (since - if I remember correctly - all Greycloaks died before NWN2 takes place).
-- Meeting a citizen of Suldanesselar or Saradush, who can tell the player about how the city is being rebuild or something.
-- Have one of the companions/NPCs from the other games either make a brief cameo or even let them become a (temporary) companion
-- In reference to Muder in Baldur's Gate and Legends of Baldur's Gate: Show what happened to Minsc. It is never made clear if the statue actually was Minsc or if Delina actually gave the statue itself life. Or show Coran taking his first steps in becoming a politician.
Well, those are all the thoughts I am currently having, feel free to add your own.
Also, I don't wanna see any arguments about unrealistic demands here. This is meant to be a constructive thread :P
This thread shall serve the purpose of giving you guys at Beamdog some ideas of what we'd like to see if a project like that ever came to fruition.
First of all, here are some things that I feel absolutely must be included in such a release:
- Higher Resoltutions with appropriately adjusted interface (duh)
- Less cluttered and also more customisable interface (free scalable text size!)
- Reduced (or if possible completely removed) loading times
- STABLE MULTIPLAYER (even with mods and tools, multiplayer is broken to the point of unplayability at this date)
- Better controls
- Fixed bugs, duh :P
Things that I think would be nice if included and believe are in the realm of possibility to be included
- Custom character portrait support, including adding illustrated portraits for characters for companions that don't yet have portraits (for minor/temporary companions and summons, portraits from NWN1 could easily be reused). Basically: Replace the ugly 3D character model portraits.
- Better facial textures and hair. Also more options for those in general.
- Some visual enhancements on armor and similar gear.
- More hats.
- Similar to what some MMORPGs have, allow the option to use visuals from other gear, so that a character's looks can be preserved when equipping gear with better stats.
Things that would be nice if included but I wouldn't be suprised about if they couldn't be, due to contract and/or budget/time restraints:
- Reworking certain aspects of the Original Campaign
-- Restore Neeshka's and Bishop's romances, including proper love triangles with Elanee and Casavir respectively
-- Give Casavir (and maybe also Elanee and Grobnar) more in-depth personality.
-- Rework the last part of the story to make the King of Shadows more interesting and threatening.
-- More interactions between the Kalach-Cha and their companions. Doesn't have to be of any consequence, some extra banter would be nice already.
-- Maybe some additional side quests here and there, where it's appropriate.
-- Rework the ending to something more satisfying than "Rocks fall, everyone dies" :P (But without compromising the story of MotB in the process.
- MotB btw can and should stay mostly untouched. At most give Ammon Jerro a more prominent role, if it serves the story. Also add some additional dialogues that addess the Neeshka and Bishop's romance, should those be re-included in the OC.
If indeed my ludicrous dream of a reworked OC would come true, it would probably make sense to include both the vanilla OC and the enhanced OC in the game. Since NWN2 is module based, I don't believe that would be an issue to incorporate. That way purists have no good reason to complain and everyone else can play a better version of the OC ;P
If NWN2:EE should indeed at some point happen, I am assuming that chances are Beamdog would get to make an additional campaign for it. I personally don't feel too hot about the idea, since NWN2's engine is really lackluster, but on the flipside it would mean we would get some more D&D 3.5 goodness, so here are some ideas and wishes for that:
- Same main character as in the OC and MotB
- Show what happened to the companions who's fates where not revealed at the end that whole story line.
- More Sand. I love Sand. Give us Sand.
- Move the setting to somewhere the FR based games have not really been before. So away from the Sword Coast :P I wouldn't mind some plane-hopping either.
- Story > combat/dungeon crawling
- If any romancable companions should make a return, have there be dialogues adressing if the player decided to romance Safiya or Gann in MotB.
- Cameos and/or allussions from/to the other D&D based PC games. Kinda like how you linked BG and IWD's stories with Siege of Dragonspear and how previously IWD and PS:T where linked through Ravel. Doesn't have to be anything huge, just a little something. Here are some more concrete ideas of what could be done:
-- Being able to discover Xan's grave/corpse (since - if I remember correctly - all Greycloaks died before NWN2 takes place).
-- Meeting a citizen of Suldanesselar or Saradush, who can tell the player about how the city is being rebuild or something.
-- Have one of the companions/NPCs from the other games either make a brief cameo or even let them become a (temporary) companion
-- In reference to Muder in Baldur's Gate and Legends of Baldur's Gate: Show what happened to Minsc. It is never made clear if the statue actually was Minsc or if Delina actually gave the statue itself life. Or show Coran taking his first steps in becoming a politician.
Well, those are all the thoughts I am currently having, feel free to add your own.
Also, I don't wanna see any arguments about unrealistic demands here. This is meant to be a constructive thread :P
Post edited by Buttercheese on
5
Comments
This would be my number one content request.
PS: I stand corrected. There is a UI mod that allows for custom portraits. There is another seperate mod that ads in the companion portraits, and those are all stolen.
- Make Sand romancable, by both male and female protagonists. The fandom with thank you, trust me :B
PS: For tthings that could and should be in the EE:
- Keep the hairstyle when putting on a hat. So far the hair always defaults to the same short style as soon as a character dones a hat.
For me MotB is about as perfect a closing segment as I could want for a high level D&D story though.
Set a campaign in Luskan?:P That might be fun^^
Re. new content, I always thought the MoW module released by Ossian was actually really good. So, new small high-quality modules like MoW being released on a regular basis would be awesome.
if i could actually figure out how to use the tool set i would love to make adventures with the NWN2 toolset, but it's a pretty steep learning curve on using the tool set
But seriously it wouldn't make sense. What you're thinking of is that in 1372 DR Phaerimm attacked and destroyed Evereska, and all Greycloaks who were in the city at the time died attempting to protect the city from the attack, because their ranks formed the front lines. So if Xan was there and did die, his grave/corpse would be in the ruins of Evereska, which we don't visit in NWN2, and honestly, would be far from my first choice of setting for an additional campaign. However, it's just as likely he was out on a mission at the time and returned only to find his home destroyed. It's possible he did not die. But if you find his grave or corpse, then like. The second something like that shows up in a canon FR game is the second I can no longer headcanon he was out on a mission at the time and thus survived.
Ahem, aside from that, here are my additions to the list of Unrealistic Demands:
please make it at least possible (you can still make it difficult) to please everyone and not have anyone betray you. I don't wanna have to choose between Qara and Sand every time! Every betrayal hurt me greatly especially Neeshka's. I left you back at the keep because you kept dying in the field Neeshka. I couldn't stand to see you hurt Neeshka. I hung out with you at the keep all the time and took you on the less dangerous missions. Why would you think I don't care Neeshka? Why!? Speaking of Neeshka's betrayal, make some of these betrayals maybe based on your interactions with the characters and not the completion of quests? I played a paladin who couldn't complete Neeshka's quests because at some point she wanted me to break into some guy's mansion and steal things just because, and i could not I was lawful good. Please dont act like I dont care about you and only used you just because I made an in character decision about my alignment. I still helped you against the bad thieves. I still was a friend to you Neeshkaaaaaaaa
oh yes and how could I forget.
ahem.
(banging pots and pans together) GIVE. ZHJAEVE. MORE. LINES.
Wat. I don't think my brain is letting me process this statement properly.
-Some more continuity between nwn1 and nwn 2. Including conversations about Aribeth, the hero of neverwinter etc.. Not too much focus, but a little bit more. The tomb of the betrayers seems like the ideal place for this. Since you could just make Fenthick an undead npc with dialogue. As it is The tomb of the betrayers quest is pretty open to adding more content, without hurting the base game.
-More dialogue with Lord Nasher about well *insert suggestions*
-Bigger long-term consequences for the verdict of the Luskan trial. This would be really huge, since it's already a pretty decent quest, it just needs to mean a little more for CHARNAME.
(banging even more pots and pans together) GIVE. ZHJAEVE. BETTER. CHARACTER. DEVELOPMENT.
(banging an impossible number of pots and pans together) LET! ME! ROMANCE! ZHJAEVE!
Don't get me wrong, NWN2:ee would be the project Beamdog could release that would interest me the most, I just don't see it happening anytime soon
But what I think we all want is Neverwinternights 3.
With Sand returning as a romanceable char, especially, plus Bishop and Neeshka too, for some real earnest fan service.
Right? Right!
To me- NWN2 is one of the three perpetual replay RPGs ever, thus far, with BG series and Morrowind.
It's the writing and the class-system that just never exhausts of interest.
NWN3 I say! ;-)
Just go in and fix the issues with NWN2 and then move on to new shores.
I think the writing around the characters is the reason why I still re-play NWN2.
But: the class-system of NWN2 is something alike Hawke personality of Dragon Age II - why is it not dome more? I hope this is that "more."
I'd love to see a new game follow up on NWN's legacy, whether it's called NWN3 or not.
I love the characters. And I love the story. But I am also very willing to admit that NWN2's writing has some very deep flaws, especially when compared to BG2. Many of the main characters are way too flat and stereotypical, the main villain of the OC is just laughably lazy. The setting (medieval fantasy europe) is also hopelessly overdone at this point.
I don't want a NWN3, I want something new that carries on the legacy.
That said, I agree that it would be nice if there were more variety in fantasy settings.
That's incorrect. The middle ages and the Renaissance are two distinct historical periods. Any member of the SCA could tell you that, as they specialize in medieval history and culture and not the Renaissance. I'm a member and I've seen some of them get REALLY WORKED UP ABOUT IT. Seriously, this info has been drilled into me, and I've confirmed it through my own research.
@BelleSorciere is right - The medieval period, also known as the middle ages or the dark ages, was the period during which Europe was composed of largely a feudalistic society. It ended with the Black Plague and the Crusades, lasting from the 5th century to the 14th or 15th. It was an era of stagnation and extremely slow progress, mostly due to the influence of the church. The Renaissance followed the medieval period, and was marked by an explosion of new art, science and culture. Of course there was some overlap, but that is true of any two historical periods that are adjacent to each other. That does not make them any less distinct, even if the beginning of the Renaissance was happening in some places while the end of the medieval period was still happening in others. Calling the renaissance part of the Middle Ages in European history would be the same as calling the Kamakura Period part of the Heian era in Japanese history.