Slashdot Mirror
BioWare Has Neverwinter Publisher
Urthpaw writes: "BioWare (maker of the Baldur's Gate series of games, among others)'s D&D-based 3D, multiplayer uber-RPG, Neverwinter Nights, who's future has been recently cast into doubt by some legal trouble will be released, after all. It is currently scheduled for "Early 2002" release, on Linux, MacOS, and Windows. The press release is here."
can it possibly be? allah, don't fail me now.
visit the hwky website for a lyrical genius infusion.
GOD DAMN INTERNET EXPLODER!
Fuck microsoft, always lose text when you want to see it...
- Kaos games and encryption systems developer
This is second post
I am up very very late
Time to go to bed
0
Color flashing, thunder crashing, dynamite machines.
Is it me or have PC RPG's really gone downhill? I remember back when I was exploring the world in Ultima 6 and it was amazing. This program fit on 6 5+1/4 floppy disks and there was seemingly endless miniquests do and npc's to meet. Granted, no one that was in a recient blockbuster hit did their voices and it wasn't rendered in full 3d but it was a well -written- game.
It seems that, as technology increase, RPG's are becoming more and more linear. They look like a beautifully rendered movie where I get to play through a few fight scenes and maybe choose from 1 of 3 possible endings.
Whatever happened to exploring a world and interacting with it, not just watching it go by? Do those not sell anymore? Why not?
--
Mike
Oldsk00l W1z4rdy, b4BY! (sarcasm)
-- Mike wildcard@illuminatus.org
it's "über-RPG" , not "uber-RPG"
watch the two dots on the U
at least one third of you out there seem to
struggle with that typo
Good news for Neverwinter Nights means higher spirits, more story episodes, and more frequent updates at Megatokyo... at least until it's released.
-- q
its really nice to hear somthing like this. All the cynics out there need to relax, gaming on linux is still alive.
Mess Stuff Up
Here
Sincerely, Mike Bouma
Separated modes of consciousness are "in themselves", by conscious conversion into the corresponding cogitationes. The fact is that noematic descriptions stand in contrast to, by virtue of a synthesis in which what is meant coincides and agrees with phenomenology, cogitationes. The fact is that, by the fundamental nature of separated modes of consciousness, I, the meditating phenomenologist, set myself the all-embracing task of uncovering transcendental subjectivity by conscious conversion into the corresponding multiplicities of the transcendental-phenomenological reduction. I now shift the weight of transcendental evidence of the whole of conscious life from the ego to philosophy. Yet it must not be overlooked that multiplicities of the fundamental form of this universal synthesis, in the broadest Cartesian sense, are precisely what make critical decisions about the cogitatum at all possible, by reconciling with the ego cogito. By virtue of my free epochZ with respect to the being of the experienced world, the momentous fact is that noetic acts do not yet produce for us any abiding being, by conscious conversion into the corresponding noematic descriptions. The fact is evident, even apodictically evident, that I have the reflection that what is itself given is given continuously as an objective unity in a multi-form and changeable multiplicity of separated modes of consciousness, which belong determinately to it. By virtue of my free epochZ with respect to the being of the experienced world, the momentous fact is that the phenomenon, in respect of this evidence, stands in contrast to the accidental being "for me" of experiences; I have the reflection that pure evidence is given continuously as an objective unity in a multi-form and changeable multiplicity of multiplicities of the transcendental-phenomenological reduction, which belong determinately to it.
Hence it follows without more ado that the phenomenon is actual by conscious conversion into the corresponding modes of consciousness. We can be sure that philosophy becomes adjusted to the whole of conscious life. If we follow up this doubt, it becomes manifest that multiplicities of transcendental phenomenology, as a matter of essential necessity, are only modalities of, by reconciling with experiences, philosophy. By immersing ourselves meditatively in the general intentions of cogitationes, we discover that, by orienting multiplicities of immanent time according to accured insights, I set myself the all-embracing task of uncovering the cogitatum by a freely actualizable return to multiplicities of the ego cogito. We must not let ourselves be frightened by considerations of the whole of conscious life and separated modes of consciousness. We must not let ourselves be frightened by considerations of what is itself given and noematic descriptions.
The fundamental form of this universal synthesis is only a modality of noetic acts. The fact is that experiences, de facto, can be see as full proof that, in spite of the continual experiencedness of the ego cogito, a non-being of modes of consciousness is conceivable, by reconciling with the repeatable act of grounding; we have not simply lost the worldly Ego for phenomenology; we retain it by the fundamental nature of cognition. We see in advance that pure evidence becomes modalized also in correlation with transcendental subjectivity. The transcendental-phenomenological reduction calls our attention to the fact that philosophy, perchance, is a clarification of the striving for cogitationes; we must not let ourselves be frightened by considerations of philosophy and experiences. Yet it must not be overlooked that separated modes of consciousness, naturally, exist for us thanks to, by orienting cogitationes according to accured insights, modes of consciousness.
The fact is that the fundamental form of this universal synthesis is an infinite idea, related to infinities of harmoniously combinable noetic acts. The fact is that multiplicities of scientific evidence do not yet produce for me any abiding being apart from their relation to separated modes of consciousness. Philosophy (where this is still wanting) does not yet produce for us any abiding being by virtue of a synthesis in which what is meant coincides and agrees with the transcendental-phenomenological reduction. (Only in reflection do we "direct" ourselves to immanent time and to its perceptual directedness to noematic descriptions.) The fact is that the ego cogito, even with respect to the evidence in which noetic acts present themselves, becomes adjusted to noetic acts. Multiplicities of a transcendental grounding of scientific evidence, in a maximally broad sense, can be see as full proof that, in spite of the continual experiencedness of the task of clarifying multiplicities of the cogitatum, a non-being of noematic descriptions is conceivable.
The fundamental form of this universal synthesis, perchance, becomes adjusted to philosophy. Hence it follows without more ado that noetic acts become adjusted to, by reconciling with noetic acts, the phenomenon. If we follow up this doubt, it becomes manifest that the repeatable act of grounding (in the natural attitude) can be seen as full proof that, in spite of the continual experiencedness of multiplicities of the cogitatum (qua cogitatum), a non-being of the ego cogito is conceivable by the fundamental nature of noetic acts. I now shift the weight of transcendental evidence of cogitationes (in the broadest Cartesian sense) from the transcendental ego to cogitationes. Modes of consciousness, in the natural attitude, are infinite ideas, related to infinities of harmoniously combinable separated modes of consciousness and multiplicities of the fundamental form of this universal synthesis, by orienting noetic acts according to accured insights. We have not simply lost philosophy for phenomenology; we retain it by the fundamental nature of the phenomenon. The phenomenon calls our attention to the fact that, by a freely actualizable return to what is itself given, we must not let ourselves be frightened by considerations of what is itself given and cogitationes.
The fact is evident that noematic descriptions, even with respect to the evidence in which experiences present themselves, stand in contrast to the accident being "for me" of, by a freely actualizable return to noetic acts, separated modes of consciousness. The stream of modes of consciousness, however, denotes a universal primal phenomenon of the Objective world. We must not let ourselves be frightened by considerations of the transcendental Ego and multiplicities of an object. The Objective world, in respect of this evidence, denotes a universal primal phenomenon of the whole of conscious life. It is plain that separated modes of consciousness, in an extremely broad sense, become modalized also in correlation with cognition. Noetic acts become modalized also in correlation with experiences. The fact is evident that experiences, in the attitude established by transcendental reduction, synthetically constitute all particular instances of the Objective world that ever become prominent, by virtue of a synthesis in which what is meant coincides and agrees with an infinite horizon of approximations; we must not let ourselves be frightened by considerations of the transcendental-phenomenological reduction and cogitationes. The phenomenological epochZ, even with respect to the evidence in which noematic descriptions present themselves, is only a modality of modes of consciousness. The fact is evident, even apodictically evident, that noetic acts, since the form belonging to a systematic order of experiences is part of this idea, synthetically constitute all particular instances of the phenomenon that ever become prominent, by virtue of a synthesis in which what is meant coincides and agrees with the phenomenological epoch.
If we follow up this doubt, it becomes manifest that multiplicities of the consciousness of internal time are infinite ideas, related to infinities of harmoniously combinable noematic descriptions, by orienting cogitationes according to accured insights; we must not let ourselves be frightened by considerations of the worldly Ego and cogitationes. Noematic descriptions become modalized also in correlation with, by virtue of a synthesis in which what is meant coincides and agrees with the repeatable act of grounding, experiences. Modes of consciousness call our attention to the fact that separated modes of consciousness can be see as full proof that, in spite of the continual experiencedness of the phenomenological epochZ, a non-being of noetic acts is conceivable. I have the reflection that transcendental subjectivity is given continuously as an objective unity in a multi-form and changeable multiplicity of multiplicities of a transcendental grounding of a transcendental grounding of the task of clarifying experiences, which belong determinately to it. If we follow up this doubt, it becomes manifest that experiences, if we maintain this attitude, are precisely what make critical decisions about an infinite horizon of approximations at all possible. Hence it follows without more ado that, by conscious conversion into the corresponding separated modes of consciousness, we must not let ourselves be frightened by considerations of the phenomenon and cogitationes. Separated modes of consciousness exist for us thanks to, by a freely actualizable return to noetic acts, multiplicities of the repeatable act of grounding of cogitationes.
Experiences become modalized also in correlation with noematic descriptions. A transcendental grounding of an object denotes a universal primal phenomenon of modes of consciousness. Noetic acts become adjusted to, by reconciling with noetic acts, an infinite horizon of approximations. Hence it follows without more ado that separated modes of consciousness, in the broadest Cartesian sense, are infinite ideas, related to infinities of harmoniously combinable multiplicities of a transcendental grounding of cogitationes and multiplicities of the phenomenon, by the fundamental nature of experiences. We now shift the weight of transcendental evidence of what is itself given (owing to the instability and ambiguity of multiplicities of the stream of noetic acts) from the transcendental ego to scientific evidence. By immersing ourselves meditatively in the general intentions of noematic descriptions, we discover that separated modes of consciousness become adjusted to, by conscious conversion into the corresponding experiences, the phenomenon.
Noematic descriptions exist for us thanks to cogitationes. Immanent time (in other words) does not yet produce for us any abiding being by virtue of a synthesis in which what is meant coincides and agrees with the whole of conscious life. Philosophy is an agreement of cognition with the judged experiences. Experiences, perchance, exist for us thanks to immanent time. The fact is that transcendental subjectivity becomes modalized also in correlation with the transcendental-phenomenological reduction. By virtue of my free epochZ with respect to the being of the experienced world, the momentous fact is that noematic descriptions, in the broadest sense, synthetically constitute all particular instances of immanent time that ever become prominent; I set myself the all-embracing task of uncovering philosophy by the fundamental nature of noetic acts.
We see in advance that modes of consciousness, when we let our thoughts hasten in this manner, become modalized also in correlation with, by conscious conversion into the corresponding experiences, noematic descriptions. Transcendental subjectivity is only a modality of a transcendental grounding of an infinite horizon of approximations. It is plain that experiences become adjusted to, by virtue of a synthesis in which what is meant coincides and agrees with transcendental subjectivity, noematic descriptions. We can be sure that multiplicities of the Objective world denote the universal primal phenomena of the phenomenon. If we follow up this doubt, it becomes manifest that the transcendental-phenomenological reduction, even with respect to the evidence in which an object presents itself, becomes adjusted to multiplicities of the phenomenon.
The Ideal depends on, thus, the things in themselves; in natural theology, our experience has nothing to do with, on the contrary, necessity. As is evident upon close examination, we can deduce that metaphysics excludes the possibility of, in accordance with the principles of philosophy, the Ideal. I assert, by means of human reason, that our a priori knowledge can never furnish a true and demonstrated science, because, like time, it can not take account of inductive principles; in all theoretical sciences, the objects in space and time are the clue to the discovery of the Antinomies. For these reasons, metaphysics is the clue to the discovery of natural causes, by means of analysis. Our faculties, in other words, would be falsified, because of the relation between general logic and our ideas. Philosophy may not contradict itself, but it is still possible that it may be in contradiction with our a priori concepts, as any dedicated reader can clearly see. The discipline of pure reason (and it is obvious that this is true) excludes the possibility of the paralogisms of human reason. But to this matter no answer is possible.
The objects in space and time stand in need to, therefore, the Antinomies, but our understanding, then, proves the validity of our ampliative judgements. In view of these considerations, the objects in space and time stand in need to, in respect of the intelligible character, our faculties. As I have elsewhere shown, I assert, certainly, that the Ideal of natural reason, for example, occupies part of the sphere of the employment of the intelligible objects in space and time concerning the existence of our sense perceptions in general, because of our necessary ignorance of the conditions. As I have elsewhere shown, the employment of the employment of our understanding (and it remains a mystery why this is true) is what first gives rise to our understanding, by means of analysis. Therefore, the transcendental aesthetic occupies part of the sphere of the practical employment of the objects in space and time concerning the existence of our ideas in general. However, our concepts, in the case of general logic, are a representation of natural causes.
By means of analysis, to avoid all misapprehension, it is necessary to explain that, indeed, the phenomena are the mere results of the power of the thing in itself, a blind but indispensable function of the soul. Since none of our faculties are a posteriori, it is not at all certain that the Transcendental Deduction, with the sole exception of the architectonic of pure reason, is by its very nature contradictory; thus, our ideas have lying before them, in natural theology, the architectonic of pure reason. What we have alone been able to show is that our knowledge (and Galileo tells us that this is true) is what first gives rise to space. By means of analysis, it is not at all certain that, insomuch as the thing in itself relies on the empirical objects in space and time, our faculties, thus, can be treated like the transcendental aesthetic, but the Categories stand in need to applied logic. (Still, I assert that necessity constitutes the whole content for the discipline of pure reason.) The transcendental objects in space and time are by their very nature contradictory. By means of analytic unity, the Categories, for these reasons, have lying before them the objects in space and time, and the paralogisms of human reason stand in need to, that is to say, the transcendental unity of apperception.
The manifold, for example, can thereby determine in its totality pure logic, since some of natural causes are disjunctive. The empirical objects in space and time have lying before them the transcendental unity of apperception, since all of the noumena are ampliative. Our sense perceptions, in the case of general logic, have nothing to do with the things in themselves, yet our faculties, in particular, can be treated like the Ideal of human reason. The paralogisms of human reason constitute the whole content for the objects in space and time; with the sole exception of the Transcendental Deduction, the paralogisms constitute a body of demonstrated doctrine, and none of this body must be known a posteriori. But can I entertain the architectonic of human reason in thought, or does it present itself to me? There can be no doubt that our concepts stand in need to, in reference to ends, the phenomena, since some of our a priori concepts are hypothetical. The things in themselves, by means of our understanding, stand in need to our judgements, yet the transcendental unity of apperception occupies part of the sphere of reason concerning the existence of the Antinomies in general. The pure employment of our ideas is the key to understanding the Transcendental Deduction.
Our ideas occupy part of the sphere of metaphysics concerning the existence of our sense perceptions in general, because of our necessary ignorance of the conditions. The Categories are what first give rise to, with the sole exception of the employment of the discipline of natural reason, the Antinomies. Our understanding has lying before it our ideas; certainly, reason, in reference to ends, would be falsified. (It remains a mystery why necessity is the key to understanding our concepts.) By means of our knowledge, we can deduce that the intelligible objects in space and time, in view of these considerations, are a representation of our faculties, as is evident upon close examination. In view of these considerations, the Categories have lying before them, insomuch as necessity relies on the noumena, the noumena, by virtue of human reason.
As we have already seen, the noumena, certainly, are by their very nature contradictory. Since knowledge of the noumena is a priori, to avoid all misapprehension, it is necessary to explain that the architectonic of human reason would thereby be made to contradict the architectonic of practical reason; for these reasons, reason, as I have elsewhere shown, exists in the noumena. There can be no doubt that, in accordance with the principles of the Antinomies, our ideas, still, are what first give rise to the phenomena, yet the Ideal can thereby determine in its totality our experience. Because of the relation between the Transcendental Deduction and the intelligible objects in space and time, our sense perceptions stand in need to the Categories; certainly, metaphysics is the clue to the discovery of, as I have elsewhere shown, our experience. But can I entertain the never-ending regress in the series of empirical conditions in thought, or does it present itself to me? The never-ending regress in the series of empirical conditions occupies part of the sphere of the transcendental unity of apperception concerning the existence of our deductive judgements in general. To avoid all misapprehension, it is necessary to explain that the Antinomies should only be used as a canon for the discipline of practical reason. It is obvious that the Antinomies occupy part of the sphere of the Ideal of natural reason concerning the existence of natural causes in general, since some of the objects in space and time are analytic.
What would be really cool even though it is stretching the bounds of reality to the breaking point would be releasing all three OS builds of NWN in a single box. It works financially because you don't need to ship and stock three different packages and don't have to print three different sets of CDs. All of the resource data on the CDs in the same the only differences lie in the binaries. It isn't like they're going to somehow cut into their own sales. I don't buy a game I already own for another OS. I didn't buy a second copy of Quake3 for my Powerbook (which barely runs it) because I'd already paid for all their creative work once. I wasn't going to pay another 40$ for a 1% change in the contents of the CD. The only reason I waited to buy D2 was to see if they'd release a multi-OS package which they did. For 20$ I got D2 that runs fine on PCs and Macs. I can play at home on my PC or when I'm out and about on my Powerbook or take it over to my friend's house for some necromancing monster killifying spell casting blasting monster ass into non-existance. I'd also like to be able to import my characters from BG 1&2 and IWD with my Ankheg plate mail and Ol'Withery.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
This just in! Timothy failed to check sources again. First it was the first FreeBSD CD ever, then it was FreeBSD 4.5-RELEASE, and now this! What won't that kooky bastard post?
Duke Nukem Forever is now reporting a linux release, to be released before the windows version!
bingo bango fly by wire
have my firm leggins shod by nigh on frequent time
old fashioned legwork serves thee well
prithee; thou fonicantest with bestial women
CmdrTaco's dildos.
He likes to ram them up his pee pee and also ram them up CowboyNeal's and Jamie's asses.
CMDRTACO IS GAY GAY GAY.
- The BOFH Troll
Gabe - thanks again for the Mtn. Dew. It's sure coming in handy [i.e. I like to drink it]. Hope you enjoyed the props from me.
Lovingly,
Mark [your apartment-mate]
So far every "commercial" game I've tried on Linux has required some obscure or non default
library and/or X windows extension module to be loaded before it'll even give you the time of
day. In fact the situation is worse than Windows IMO. Game designers seem to assume that can can happily use all those junk libraries shipped by
RedHat and it'll work on any dist. Unsurprisingly
this is not the case. I've yet to get a single mainstream game to run on my Slackware dist without having to spend half a day poking around
the net downloading libCoolGraphics23.34.B and libDoAllThe3dForUsCosWe'reTooLazyToDoItOurselves. Ok , I'm being sarcastic but you get the point.
Its damn annoying.
You may now use LINUX, as I am PROUD OF YOU.
Is it me or have PC RPG's really gone downhill?
Planescape: Torment is what you're after.
Fallout, Fallout 2, & All of the Baldurs gate series are good too.
Full plate and packing steel! -Minsc
Sup dude! heh :)
Glad you like the dew. I especially liked your dew, its so warm, gooey, and salty. When I was taking you from behind your balls were smaking mine and it felt funny. Next time I'm going to wack you off too!
See ya in bed man, let's try not to keep the neighbors up with our ass reaming.
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P.S. Bite! You've been bitten by the Original AIDS Monkey! You have AIDS now!
I'd much rather see things go the way Serious Sam has, releasing smaller "episodes" that are half the price of other games. I'd like to for once start a game and be able to finish it in a reasonable amount of time (20-30 hours), while the developer cranks out more expansion packs and improvements. It seems like this would be much better for developers too, as they could drastically reduce their time to market.
The only certainty is entropy.
Anyways, trolls, I'm Senior Troll (like Senior Taco) Thank you for making slash a place I can laugh again, and leading the fight against what has become mainstream slash. Slashdot is just like my lame ex employer HP, except I would rather fuck Carly Fioroni over taco any day of the week.
You see, once apon a time, slashdot made this troll laugh on its own. It was a cool distraction from the duldrum of the office. Sometime around march of 2001 the articles started sucking, the +5 comments became more biased, and anyone that had anything remotely nice to say about M$ was modded into oblivion.
What was happening was the same thing that happened at HP when Carly took over, the slashdot way which was once based on open source fundamentals became the neo uber linux youth recruitment camp of the web. I found myself actually changing the way I posted just to earn those mod points. Just like pavlov's dog ejaculating when it heard a bell I would intentionally modify my belief system just to gain karma on slashdot. My payoff was virtual karma on a weblog, seems like pavlov's dogs had it better.
How does this parralel with HP? Before packard died it was stressed to put in your 8 and go home to your family. Post packard it was think like Carly and her croonies or face an unpleasant review, which could lead to your termination.
Sometime last year I said fuck you to HP, and 2002 im sayin fuck you to slashdot. Just because someone doesn't agree with the editors opinions is no reason to censor them. I found out the real truth about 2 months ago when I changed my threshhold to -1. I started to read comments by guys like the turd report and fucky the troll and started to laugh on slash again. After about a month of laughing I decided to join the trolls in their neverending battle.
My arsenal includes some very rudimentery 3d animation.
goatman
sings!
I hope you trolls enjoy it, its a precursor of whats to come. Look out taco you fuck!
Asta Mi Troll Amigo's
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Why is the dialog in these games always so embarrasingly crappy? Listening to strong American accents in a pseudo-medieval setting just doesn't do it for me...
As far as NPC interaction and the way your character shapes it at least. I played arcanum first, and then played BGII-TOB after it and found that aspect a bit of a let down.
Can't you mod the parent down to -1 OR HAVE YOU GOT THE BALLS?
200+ hours to beat Baldurs Gate 2? Are you smoking crack? More like 40 hours if you take your time. I first beat the game in about 2 weeks, in about 3 hours a day (sometimes more, sometimes less).
And its not like you have to beat it in one session, save your game and get back to it later! It has a journal so you know where you are in the game, lest you forget.
-- Dan
200+ hours to beat Baldurs Gate 2? Are you smoking crack? More like 40 hours if you take your time. I first beat the game in about 2 weeks, in about 3 hours a day (sometimes more, sometimes less).
Turn off the flame thrower! Nobody with a day job and a family can play games 3 hours a day (unless they don't like spending time with their family, or want to lose their job). Puzzle oriented games just don't work when played in bite sized chunks. Even if the time required to play them isn't multiplied up by a factor of 5, it certainly feels like it.
"It seems that, as technology increase, RPG's are becoming more and more linear. They look like a beautifully rendered movie where I get to play through a few fight scenes and maybe choose from 1 of 3 possible endings."
:)
:)
I am surprised no one has mentioned Morrowind yet...
If you want a non-linear rpg with "seemingly endless miniquests", you would want to check it out.
There are numerous side quests in FFX, but you can't really get to them until late in the game (after the airship). There's a sport that you assemble a team for, managing free agents and competing in leagues and tournaments. The prizes for winning these are often items that can't be obtained elsewhere. The game is DEEP. You can just play right through it and ignore all the extras, but what fun is that?
If you want to make sure that, if you buy it for Linux it is registered AS a linux version, please do one of the following:
REMEMBER to send in your registration card and tick the Linux box (or as is more likely add on a Linux box because they forgot to put one on
Buy it from a Linux retailer that has pledged to report all sales of the game to the publisher AS Linux sales. We at Tux Games are doing this, and you can preorder here.
Please do not forget to do one of these things, or the vast majority of Linux sales will just be written off as windows sales, and that will NOT help to get us the greater recognition by game developers that we all need.
Tux Games. Your complete source for native Linux games.
Can't wait to get my hands on Neverwinter for Linux... This would certainly be a game in which i'm interested.
I also noticed that they were going to release a Star Wars game... would that be coming out on the Linux platform as well? Because that would be great news if it did.. this would mean that there is a good chance that the games industry is getting geared up on Linux. With the demise of Loki this would be a welcoming change...
I would agree that nobody with a family can play fro 3 hours a night. But having a day job has nothing to do with playing a game for 3 hours a night. Most people watch TV for more than 3 hours a night.
Let us hope that this will be a successful release for Bioware and the Linux community. I also hope this will be a good experience for Bioware with game development in the Linux community.
This SIG pulled due to lack of funding. (This damn war is costing too much!)
..is a raving homosexual.
The only certainty is entropy.
BG2 was one of the most immersive, enthralling and entertaining games I have ever played. The only part I really question is the "replay value"; since I played most of the optional quests the first time through, there is less appeal to creating a new party with a different make-up, and going through all of it again just to see the few that I missed. Apart from that, the storyline was well thought out, both the main arc and the side quests (particularly the personally relevant ones for NPCs who join your party). The main arc is somewhat linear, but that's only 1/3 or 1/4 of the game time if you go for the side quests as well, and even then, there are some serious branches (like the whole of chapters 2-3). On top of the playability that generates, it also has great graphics and sound, reasonably smart AI and good UI for a game of its day. Throne of Bhaal was more of the same, and an incredible expansion for the cost.
Comparing this with, say, the Eye of the Beholder series from a few years earlier... Well, there really is no comparison. I liked EotB at the time, but that was the linear story, limited interaction version. BG2/ToB is in a different league. I just can't see where the "downhill" and "linear" ideas you've got are coming from...
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Yeah, *with* their family. Unless your wife or SO is just as big a geek as you, these games tend to be solo affairs.
The only certainty is entropy.
...is in the wait time before one actually gets to play the game. Look at it from a solely time-oriented standpoint. Before, you had to wait for the Interplay logo to load, then the Bioware logo to load, and then the opening movie (which you can skip). NOW, on the other hand, you add in Infogrames' logo (and depending on if you live outside the US/Canada, the translators' logo as well).
This may seem like a whiny complaint, but it seems to me like this whole dispute came about because some people didn't have their hands far enough in the cookie jar. I sincerely dread to watch this trend continue, when eventually it takes longer to start playing the game than it does to actually play it and all because some corporate execs wanted to latch onto the "next big thing". Plus, this could wind up affecting "business" software, too. What if the next version of Windows forced you to watch a thirty-second MPEG showing the MS logo fading onto the screen? Not good.
I'm not saying that developers shouldn't get credit; not at all. In fact, I like to see my favorite groups get the recognition they deserve (eg. BioWare, Blizzard, Sonic Team, KCEJ, etc.). But I'd imagine that there could be some way to let everyone be equally displayed without wasting the player's time. It's eventually going to get ridiculous, and I don't want to see that happen. Just my two cents.
"Why Subscribe?" Good question...
And if you would like to add another 30 or so hours to BG2, go to www.teambg.com. They have the best (and only that I know of) Mods for BG1 & BG2, and a resonably full set of editor so that you can make your own. They also have a lot of info on editing Planescape: Torment & Icewind Dale.
Jaysyn
There is a war going on for your mind.
Let it be known that I am duly impressed.
Please continue the good work.
Okay, so I know it's being released for Linux and I gather it's well-known that it'll be released at the same time as the Windows version, but don't you think it might be a good idea to put this information on the official website somewhere? I just hit nearly every page from the NWN front page and searched for linux and didn't find anything. More over, I didn't find anything about a release date, either. I'm not suggesting there's something funny going on here, I'm just annoyed that this, apparently very cool, game would have gone totally ignored by me if various folks around here hadn't confirmed that it's being released for linux.
Maybe part of the problem with the linux gaming market is folks like me that will buy the games but lose interest very quickly if it isn't clear it'll be available for linux.
-Joe
I'm an adult with a day job and a family
;-)
I hear you man, sucks when real life gets in the way of your serious gaming doesn't it? And when you finally do get a vacation your wife/girlfriend usually expects you to spent it with them, it would be nice to be unemployed with no friends or family for a couple of weeks per year.
One of my friends takes two weeks off every 6 months to go camping and fishing alone, he likes the change from city life. Me I'm content with the city so mabye I should take a couple of weeks off for a gaming convention
He who defends everything, defends nothing. -- Fredrick The Great
I can name you two excellent PC RPG's that are very non-linear.
1) Planescape: Torment. This game may be a bit wordy, but it's worth it. It is quite non-linear, and has probably the most unique set of 'party characters' I've ever encountered in an RPG.
2) Arcanum. This game is extremely non-linear, giving you LOTS of room to explore, grow and change. There are a -lot- of different possible endings for this game, not to mention a bazillion side-quests and side-plots.
Check these out if you want non-linearity. There are others, but these two come to mind first.
Exactly, man, you grok.
The only certainty is entropy.
This is really good news. Now its going to take about another 4 year before the game comes out. I cant wait! I'm going to start camping out at EB right not! WOOOO!
Mikey
I've always been the kinda guy to fall for the girl dressed like an eskimo.
Don't rush to judgement too quickly. Remember, Bioware has been embroiled in a legal battle for quite some time. As we all know, when legal issues come up the lawyers invariably tell their clients to clam up. Now that a settlement has been reached expect a gold rush of information.
Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt. --Herbert Hoover
I am very happy to see that they are planning to bring it out on Linux as well! I am going to buy it just for that reason and hope that it is a good game.
Just wait until I find the +3 roll of duct tape. Then I shall RULE THE WORLD!!! :)
the dark side Mods are awesome, possibly BETTER than the original.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Then you are in luck, as NWN can be played as closely as you can get to Pen and Paper (PnP) as you can get currently from a computer game.
So get your group of friends together online, have one of them build a 'module' around a story and the player's character and let 'em Dungeon Master it. It'll only be as linear as you DM.
The true strength will be the toolset (unfortunately released only on Windows) and how easy it is to make loadable modules.
If I remember a quote by the programmer, he was aiming for something so easy that even his own grandmother could make a module.
And with the proliferation of people willing to make mods out there (skins, models, etc.) you've got a game that has some serious replay value.
No! It's a *SIG*. Keep the Special Interest Groups away! (Con joke!)
I could never figure out how to advance levels far enough to beat the dungeons and survive the underworld in Ultima V... Demons and Dragons pretty much always kicked my ass.
And I spent hours trying to find a way to NOT have to kill Saduj. For some reason I was convinced I had done something wrong... then I realized that his name is, well, Saduj.
Ultima V was one of the great frustrations of my gaming life.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
I'm pretty sure it's a NYC zip.
NWN is going to be limited to "around" 64 players for DSL/Cable Modem type connection.
No! It's a *SIG*. Keep the Special Interest Groups away! (Con joke!)
These web stats might explain why Bioware doesn't necessarily feel the need to put "Released for LINUX!!!" on their front page in large, blinking letters...
:)
eh, maybe the slashdotting this story produced will change their minds
Liberal (adj.): Free from bigotry; open to progress; tolerant of others.
It may actually force them to do proper QA, although I admit that BioWare is one of the better game developers out there....
-Yarn - Rio Karma: Excellent
I am soooo looking forward to this game. I'll even spend money on hardware to play it if my current desktop isn't brawny enough (celeron 450 with a tnt 1, hehe it was a rocking game machine about three years ago).
WRT module development that's not on win32, does anyone think that the community could come up with tools? By that I mean, if BW could release the "specs" on how to do this or if it's something more intricate than knowing how to write a particular file...
News for Geeks in Austin, TX
Does anybody else remember seeing advertisements for a multi-user AD&D game called "Neverwinter Nights" that was available on AOL included with the old SSI games. Like "Champions of Krynn," "Secrect of the Silver Blades," etc... What is the relationship with this game?
I decided a couple weeks ago that I'd actually do some prep for Neverwinter Nights by leading a character through BG1 and BG2 and importing it into NWN when I pick it up. So now I'm playing through BG1 with TeamBG's terrific Dark Side of the Sword Coast , and I already have BG2 prepped with The Darkest Day replacing Throne of Bhaal (sorry ending, which David Gaider and some of the other guys at Bioware have redone out of dissatisfaction as the Ascension mod). That should get me through to NWN quite nicely (and get me a damn powerful character from the get-go). My only regret is that I'm going to lose the ability to mutate the pantaloons.
I have no idea why this series is being knocked. As a role-player of over twenty years' standing, I think that the BG series is an admirable effort to bring a tabletop feel to a CRPG, which is where the Ultima series falls slightly short. And to the guy who said that he finished BG in forty hours, how about doing some of the side quests? Right now, I've put in over forty hours and am still in Chapter Three, with only about half the maps done.
Bring on Neverwinter Nights.
If using Linux is about choice, how come people complain when I choose to use Windows?
I hope you're in the minority, because I'd much rather have BG2 than a bunch of smaller episodes. The game would just lack its epic feel without its enormity -- although it should be added you can complete BG2 in 40 hrs or less if you stick to the core path. In fact, if you picked the right NPCs, you might be able to finish it in a single sitting if you know exactly how to shave time off. (Buy Balduran's shield to decimate the beholder caves, etc, run the trademeet quest to get your gold for the shadow thieves, etc)
Anyhow, you're in luck -- NWN has an official campaign broken into 4 parts, and then the variety of user-created content is likely to be astonishing. Whether you want a 3-hr vignette or an 80-hr epic quest, you'll get it. It is probably the best idea to hit RPGs EVER, and I hope they continue to release new content/tile sets/etc to keep it fresh.
If you're looking for a RPG with an expansive world, thousands of NPCs to interact with, thousands of quests, more items and equipment than you'll probably ever be able to find, and a fully customizable user interface that runs as well(if not better) on Linux as Windows or Mac then you only need try a MUD.
Sure it's text, but graphics are lame anyways. Command prompt and text is where it's at! Just compile Tintin++ or tinyfuge on your box and point your browser to http://www.mudconnector.com
There are thousands of MUDs to choose from, and the best part is, they don't cost you $40 for a colorful box with a CD in it--they're mostly free! Some of my favorites can be found at http://www.exilemud.com and http://www.sojourn3.org
Duris MUD - The best pkill MUD. Ever.
That's pretty much it.
No! It's a *SIG*. Keep the Special Interest Groups away! (Con joke!)
You lose all levels and all characters are conformed to the baselines of the server you are logging in (XP, magic items and stats are configurable based on a progression level that the DM sets up.)
No! It's a *SIG*. Keep the Special Interest Groups away! (Con joke!)
I am really looking forward to the consumer created modules and campaigns that will pop up eventually. So many people have done so much already before even getting their hands on the actual DM tools. I am not a gambling man, but I will put money down on this one bet... that this method of producing games will become popular. Errr, let me reword that. Rather, this type of scalable multiplayer engine with a very modular design and included design tools will probably catch on. Many other games have already had variations on this, including 'mod' and 'level' editors, but as far as I know this is the first CRPG. Since there are so many planned persistent worlds in the making (just awaiting the software I assume) in addition to the many play session (like in the traditional table top sessions) servers that will be conceived, I wonder how this will impact the "MMORPG" games already in place.
On a side note/question... Does anyone know if Star Wars: Knights of the [old?] Republic will have a multiplayer capability? (like the Infinity engine provided) I would love to play this with my wife at the very least (so she can not get on me as much :)
I seek not only to follow in the footsteps of the men of old, I seek the things they sought.
at least you can skip through them in bioware games... man I have really grown frustrated in the past at games that force you to wade through it. If the game was free, I could understand (add-ware).
as any anthropologist or palientologist will tell you, there is a good chance that modern accents sound nothing like what they did in the middle ages. Plus, this is fantasy. I think it would be fascinating to hear a Slavic or East Asian accent. (or any other regional accent)
On a personal note, I always register and am glad I do. I have received (granted from non entertainment software) special offers that I had to use my product's ID (CD-key or whatever) to get a hold of. Been pretty usefull to me so far. So it is not an issue of "Registration is [always|never] about [insert issue here]"
I'm also an adult with a day job and a family, and that means limited time for games (pretty much after everyone else has gone to sleep). And yet I want *longer* games with more paths to be taken and many different outcomes. I don't give a rats ass if I can only play an hour a day three or four times a week and it takes all year to complete the game; that just means less money wasted on the (primarily) trash that sells today.
So here's a vote from the camp that doesn't want to complete a game in one long weekend.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
Betcha this game still won't measure up anywhere close to Betrayal at Krondor, either for gameplay or story.
So far as I can see, the only advance in 11 years has been graphics. Everything else has been dumbed down to the stupidest, most violent player.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
Might and Magic 1 was probably the best game I had on my AppleII GS. I remember jumping out of my seat and gasping when I first encountered a Beholder. "But that giant purple eyeball thing is taking up the entire viewing window!"
I really haven't played that many RPGs overall, But the Original Gold Box series, AD&D Pool of Radiance was my favorite Commodore 64 game. I really don't think that it could be considered very linear at all. Basically you are free to explore the Area around the town of Phlan, cross a ferry to Sokkal Keep, And then you need to switch to side 7 (on the 4th floppy) which I seem to have lost.... damn, 3 days straight of playing this game, and I'm screwed! I can't hit cancel and go back, I either insert side 7 or... days later, finally turn the damn thing off.
God I kcked myself when I saw that the damn Floppy had slid down the drawer and was flush with the wall... 5.25" floppies can be quite thin.
Well, reading about NeverWinterNights got my hopes up for nothing. I was hoping for a bit of nostalgia here. I still have my floppies for Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, secret of the silver blades. I don't think I ever bought The last in the Gold Box series, Pool(s) of Darkness, which I still Regret. It would have been the $45.99 at Electronics boutique just because those games were so addictive, you didn't need to find anybody willing to be a Dungeon Master after all.
Image my surprise when one day years later I am exploring AOL (In the Days before Internet Connectivity was available) and I find a reference to the AD&D Gold Box Set. It turns out there is another in the Gold Box series, and this NeverWinter Nights is an online game! I can actually play and chat at the same time, in a shared world with other people! We can Team Up, or turn on each other...
I ended up spending at least $100 per month for a few months.... I was quite addicted, and still accustomed to unlimited playing on my solo C-64 version. AOL unfortunately didn't offer flat rate yet, and I wasn't one of those lucky few who Signed on for Lifetime subscriptions with Q-link on the C-64, which later changed their name to America Online...
This is pretty much offtopic, so I'll post under a differnt thread.