(Dragon+) An interview with Trent Oster and Jonathan Hill

JuliusBorisov

Dragon+'s new issue is out.

Mark Bonnington chat with Jonathan Hill and Trent Oster about vibrant communities and modern-day mods.

Don't miss it here.

Balanor

EDIT: Nevermind. I forgot about the trolls.

Staran

It doesnt say anything new and it doesn’t say anything about “no fpc”

MrDamage

Grrr,
Trying to check this out on my phone but keep getting nagged/ blotted by annoying app download request. Will have to wait till I get home *sob*

Staran

MrDamage said:

Grrr,
Trying to check this out on my phone but keep getting nagged/ blotted by annoying app download request. Will have to wait till I get home *sob*

Worst site I have ever seen for mobile. You need a pc

voidofopinion

Staran said:

It doesnt say anything new and it doesn’t say anything about “no fpc”

But it says the same thing we have heard but to a new audience.

They already have our money and our interest.

JFK

Always cool to hear about my favorite game! Nice to see the project getting good exposure with interviews like this. Thanks for sharing!

-JFK

MrDamage

voidofopinion said:

Staran said:

It doesnt say anything new and it doesn’t say anything about “no fpc”

But it says the same thing we have heard but to a new audience.

They already have our money and our interest.

Yeah it does guys kinda as @Balanor I think picked up on too.

Quote:
"Neverwinter Nights was always about the philosophy of 'When I play D&D I don't run the party, I run my character,'" agrees Oster.

To me that is infact kinda sayin no FPC

Staran

MrDamage said:

voidofopinion said:

Staran said:

It doesnt say anything new and it doesn’t say anything about “no fpc”

But it says the same thing we have heard but to a new audience.

They already have our money and our interest.

Yeah it does guys kinda as @Balanor I think picked up on too.

Quote:
"Neverwinter Nights was always about the philosophy of 'When I play D&D I don't run the party, I run my character,'" agrees Oster.

To me that is infact kinda sayin no FPC

My philosophy was always to drink eat and play as much video games as I could. Then I hit my 40’s and all of a sudden I needed to change my philosophy to accommodate the change in the enviroment.

No amount of AI in the world will get the henchmen to work the way you want so you need to allow them to be controlled in some way. Either by creating an entire new power command interface or allow character switching.
If not, I can’t see this product flying in this gaming environment.

MrDamage

Staran said:

MrDamage said:

voidofopinion said:

Staran said:

It doesnt say anything new and it doesn’t say anything about “no fpc”

But it says the same thing we have heard but to a new audience.

They already have our money and our interest.

Yeah it does guys kinda as @Balanor I think picked up on too.

Quote:
"Neverwinter Nights was always about the philosophy of 'When I play D&D I don't run the party, I run my character,'" agrees Oster.

To me that is infact kinda sayin no FPC

My philosophy was always to drink eat and play as much video games as I could. Then I hit my 40’s and all of a sudden I needed to change my philosophy to accommodate the change in the enviroment.

No amount of AI in the world will get the henchmen to work the way you want so you need to allow them to be controlled in some way. Either by creating an entire new power command interface or allow character switching.
If not, I can’t see this product flying in this gaming environment.

Hmmm yeah, my mid 40’s is around about the time my social filters started to go. You start to see things differently once you’ve been around the merry go round enough times I reckon. Not the kind of person I want to be so
I keep an eye on it but I still slip up sometimes.

The FPC debate has got to be the biggest one on this forum since ‘add 4th multiclass’ died down. I’m sure the other thread for it is longer then a toilet roll. Your view is shared by many more Who’s gameplay style is more impacted by it then others who preside more in the multiplayer side of it I guess. It doesn’t look good for it at the moment but you never know.

JuliusBorisov

There's still https://trello.com/c/lmXsvl13/112-allow-full-control-of-ai-party-summons-henchman-companions-and-familiars with 86 votes currently.

BelgarathMTH

Unfortunately I can't read the article on my PC. It appears to link to some kind of phone app, and there are no scroll controls on my browser window. Clicking on the article header does nothing. So I can't even find the text.

TarotRedhand

@BelgarathMTH use your mouse's scroll wheel. I just used my browser (Opera) without any extra app and was able to read it perfectly. As to the interview... All about pws and multi-player again. Being a dyed in the sp guy I am getting fed up of this lack of acknowledgement for that side of things.

TR

smeagolheart

Sorry I missed it. What is this fpc you speak of?

Staran

Full player control.
Basically since AI will never be able to be effective, the ability to switch to the other characters in your party to “right” them.
Like in bg, nwn2, iwd....

JFK

I actually believe NWN will get FPC after a while. But you can't really fault people for wanting a focus on the stuff they personally like best. Trent says he likes the DM-ed party (so do I) best. However, that doesn't mean he won't be for implementing party control at some point. Everyone's tastes vary. I play a lot of SP, but I never really care to have henchman with me when I do. Personal preference. I don't want to concentrate on them, I want to concentrate on ME (my single PC). Others love full party control.

The article isn't about excluding party control, I don't think. It's an excitement the devs feel about the DM Client and replicating traditional D&D on NWN. This excitement happens to match mine.

Cheers all,

-JFK

jonesr65

I have never played a persistent world or a multiplayer game, these are not my thing and no matter what improvements are made I won't play them. So for me Full Party Control is a feature that will make my game playing more enjoyable. But I won't begrudge any improvements that make multiplayer games better for other players.

SkipBittman

I thought they weren't my thing, I was so wrong. It's what NWN was made for.

Atrophiederic

I certainly think that persistent worlds are a backbone of the vibrancy and longevity of NwN. Many of the "big names" of the custom content scene are associated in some way with persistent worlds (Lord of Worms, The Amethyst Dragon, to name a few). It's just the particular road that the game has gone down. Certainly we will see all sorts of QoL improvements, some that we cheer and some that we boo. I think there's room enough for all of us in Neverwinter, yes?

cherryzero

SkipBittman said:

I thought they weren't my thing, I was so wrong. It's what NWN was made for.

I loved both back in the day... but let’s be honest, both DMed games and any meaningful interactions in PWs are significantly more time consuming than single player, where you can play whenever you want and put it down for a week or two if you find yourself short on time.

To me, the resistance to FPC is a resistance to the single player experience. And like TarotRedHand I too find it somewhat disenheartening to be told I’m plsying the game wrong.

I imagine the same can be said not only for more players like me, but for builders who spent time crafting story driven modules with fleshed out companions.

voidofopinion

cherryzero said:

To me, the resistance to FPC is a resistance to the single player experience. And like TarotRedHand I too find it somewhat disenheartening to be told I’m playing the game wrong.

I can appreciate and respect that.

No one wants to be edged out of a game they very much enjoy, especially when they are playing it in the traditional way.

However, on stream Trent asked for help from the community in backporting the SoU/HotU companion system to the OC.

If just getting the party control in the OC up to the same level as SoU/HotU is an effort Beamdog wont assign time or resources to then my hope is not high for getting FPC any time soon.

Ask about it on Fridays in the Stream, keep the post bumped on the forum and get people to vote for it on Trello. Continue to make noise. Eventually it may he heard and assigned the importance you want because development seems fairly fluid right now.

cherryzero

All good advice Voidofopinion. I keep oscillating between ramping up my enthusiasm and just letting it go.

Maybe the game’s development focus takes it in a direction that’s not for me. Doesn’t mean it’s not a good game, and doesn’t mean I won’t support beamdog in general.

voidofopinion

@cherryzero

I have had to do the same about a number of features.

However, I find solace for now in the knowledge Beamdog seem determined to keep as much of the original game as is. The only thing I really wanted was 4K support and I got it. So I can't complain too much about everything else so long as it seems to be opt in.

For what it's worth I hope that you and others get the full party support you want, or the show of interest convinces some inventive content creator to take on the project.

cherryzero

Thanks!