Newsgroup: it.comp.giochi.rpg
Titolo: BG2-novità dai programmatori

E' stata pubblicata una news molto interessnte su BGChronicles, dove si
parla di BG2, ovviamente, ma soprattutto di "comparisons to bg and torment",
cosa che credo interesserà parecchie gente. Ah, c'è anche un discorso
sull'allineamento e su come funzia nel suddetto gioco (anz
Quality
 Well, some people will not like the game we make, no matter how much effort
we put into it. And some people will really not like some
changes/aspects/whatever... there's nothing we can do about that.
If what you're worried about is that the game will not be done, I wouldn't
worry too much. The only thing we want to avoid is going too long... making
the game so huge that no-one would want to play it (besides the hard-core,
of course). We've already encountered that hurdle and overcome it.
Sure, we've got deadlines to meet, and we've got to keep things
reasonable... but, in the end, you've got to look at Interplay's track
record. They're just as committed as we are to releasing a quality product
and taking the time that is needed to make it work.
At the very worst, you're looking at fully-baked garbage. ;) Heh... I like
it, but then I've sunk over a year of my life into it, so I'm biased. The
proof will be in the pudding, I guess.
Ranger's cabin stronghold:
 The ranger stronghold is not centered around the cabin, it's centered
around the quests you undertake once you assume protection of the area.
As I mentioned once before, these strongholds are not things that go POOF!
in your lap when you reach a certain level and there it is not even
guaranteed that you will get offered it. It is part of the story, an
opportunity that comes up for your character in the course of another quest.
If you don't want to accept protection of the area when it gets offered
because they don't have a silly-looking treehouse to put you up in... well,
uh... that's up to you. :)
Comparisons to BG and Torment:
You are comparing a recently-made computer game using the Infinity engine
both to an old game and screenshots of a half-done game, although I don't
know what you're talking about there, either... some of the new areas are
done for 800x600 and look fabulous, easily superior to anything done in BG1.
Of course there are going to be a lot of improvements over BG1, all around.
What did you think? Planescape came out and we collectively smacked our
heads and went 'Ooooohh, THAT'S what we should have done with BG2! Make it
BETTER! Wow, what we THINKING?'
As for the characters, I'll agree. Planescape did a super job with a HUGE
story that went over a million words. But we're also talking about a
specific story that used one (only one) main character, the Nameless One,
and what was it? Six NPC's? It's much easier to write a story that focuses
on that one character and the other NPCs' relationship to that one
character. In BG, we are trying to create a story where the player has much
more control over the type of character they play and their own
motivations/history.
Totally different ball of wax. We're not trying to make Planescape. We're
doing something several steps up from out last game, as Planescape itself
did (they, too, benefited from the fact that a whole game had already been
done with the engine and learned, as we did, what was possible/impossible to
do and how it could be tweaked). Planescape is great, and it focuses on
several different things from what we're doing in BG2. Those things we focus
on will be better, without question.
And that's all I can really say about that. Once BG2 comes out, you'll
either like it or you won't, I suppose.
I did question the six NPCs thing even when I wrote it, and I think I wrote
it that way. So as you wipe all that wet noodle-essence from your face, you
just think about that, mr. 'let's keep things accurate'. (sigh) I wish I
only had 6 NPCs to worry about and do interjections for in dialogue. You
have *no* idea. Gaaaaah, I'm snapping!
Spells per level when making a new character in BG2: Now I *think* that you
can only select the number of spells that you are eligible to cast, but that
may be wrong. I will check with James tomorrow and see what the programmers
have implemented for this (because it's already done... I always test bards,
though, and not mages).
If you aren't importing an old character, you would choose your spells in
character generation just as you normally would, of course. You get a list
for each level and you select amongst them.
Scimitar use:
Druids using scimitars makes about as much sense as Rangers having a
dual-wielding specialty. Or standard Clerics using only blunt weapons. Or
the mage no armor at all. I mean, I suppose some weird explanation could be
made, but why? Why the restrictions or special abilities? 'Tis just the way
D&D is. It's a logic that only pertains to this particular universe, but is
so ingrained at this point it would be harder to change (with the possible
exception of the upcoming 3rd edition, which will no doubt turn everything
on its head once again).
J. E. Sawyer (Designer)
Alignment anecdote: By far, the best campaign I've ever played in came at
the end of my college career the year before I came to Interplay. Some of
the other players at my university referred to it as the "Evil Lite" party
because they didn't like our interpretation of the Neutral alignments
(especially Lawful Neutral). The thing that was interesting about this group
is that several of the members had, for quite a while, no more motivation
other than the seeking out and overcoming of challenges for profit. The
group certainly didn't do anything outright evil, but they were *really* not
nice people, and often wound up in adversarial positions to good aligned
groups.
In addition, the characters adopted a very "ends justify the means" attitude
towards their actions. Case in point: the thief/chosen of Mask in our party
"needed" to break into a Thayvian gem mine to rob them blind and leave the
credit to the church of Mask. My Lawful Neutral priestess of the Red Knight
didn't see anything wrong with this since giving credit to Mask and money to
her church was definitely better than leaving the gems in the hands of the
(definitely very, very bad) Red Wizards.
In another situation, she allowed Dave (the thief) to operate a thieves'
guild in town so long as all of Dave's activities did not bring harm to the
town and/or helped the town prosper. Smuggling was fine, swindling was fine,
outright piracy was fine, so long as the targets of his actions were enemies
of the town and the party. She wanted to build order and strength in the
community. So long as Dave's thieves acted in accord with the community and
its growth, it appealed to my character's Lawful Neutral alignment and the
dogma of her faith. The "other" RPG group didn't see it that way. Heh.

 ha scritto nel messaggio
news:z1Cs4.3862$IY.3...@news.infostrada.it...
Bravo.
Grassie :-)
--
Ciao!
Stefano aka Pitta


Ammazza, ma lavori per la Reuter?
Ciao!
Tasslehoff Burrfoot

 of course). We've already encountered that hurdle and overcome it.
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Qualcuno al mondo NON ha giocato a un QUALSIASI gioco perchè TROPPO lungo
?????????????????????
MAGARIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!
Tet_Zuo - a me i giochi mi paiono tutti troppo corti...sarà una
malattia... -

on will be better, without question.
Ecco, io adesso vorrei sapere quali sono queste altre cose che loro
'prendono in prestito' e migliorano da Planescape...
--
--------------------------[ M a t t h i a ]---------------------------
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E-Mail           :  
cla...@tin.it
IRC Nick      :  Matthia/Vault_13
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E-Mail to GSM: 
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I 10 titoli che aspetto di più:
Arcanum - Deus Ex - Dreamland - Jagged Alliance 3
Duke Nukem Forever - Outcast 2 - PcCalcio Online - NeverWinterNights
Winning Eleven 4 per Pc ;-)) - Team Fortress 2

 ha scritto:
Tass, quando fai dei reply cosě piccoli cerca di non postare almeno
tutto il quote, please...
--
--------------------------[ M a t t h i a ]---------------------------
Nick             :  Matthia
E-Mail           :  
cla...@tin.it
IRC Nick      :  Matthia/Vault_13
ICQ Number :  31640393
E-Mail to GSM: 
clau...@sms.tin.it
(ricordati di scrivere E-Mail al di sotto di 160 
caratteri e di non inserire nulla nel Subject)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I 10 titoli che aspetto di piů:


 malattia... -
Gioca a Might and Magic VI (non il 7), ci starai una vita! Sicuramente è il
gioco più longevo che abbia mai visto, molto più lungo di Baldur's Gate.


Si', ma longevo per la milionata di combattimenti da fare...non per la
bellezza del gioco
--------------------------------------------------------------
Daniele Foa'	      Kadath Dragon
df...@mwizard.net
      -==UDIC==-
ICQ#: 9716157             IAFo #13
Close my eyes and hold so tightly
 scared of what the morning brings
 Deep inside the empty feeling
 all the night time leaves me...
--------------------------------------------------------------

 
Ok, skuze me
Ciao!!
Tasslehoff Burrfoot