Neverwinter Nights 2 Q&A

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Collected and compile from resource all around, these are some of the questions that are being ask by eager fan all over world. The answers collected the developers either in official FAQ, Interview or Forums.
Covered here are list of confirmed features, race and prestige class availabe in Neverwinter Nights 2.

General
1. What is Neverwinter Nights 2?
Neverwinter Nights 2 is the sequel to the critically acclaimed and award-winning Neverwinter Nights from BioWare and Atari. It is a role-playing game based on Dungeons & Dragons system, Neverwinter Nights 2 is developed by Obsidian Entertainment, creator of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Many of Obsidian’s employees once worked for Black Isle Studios on projects such as the Fallout series, Planescape: Torment, the Icewind Dale series, and produced the Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance series of games.

2. What is Dungeons & Dragons and the Forgotten Realms?
Dungeons & Dragons, or as its more commonly known as “D&D”, is a game system that defines the pen-and-paper gaming genre and has set the standard for fantasy roleplaying for more than 30 years. Players create heroic fantasy characters, mighty warriors, stealthy rogues, or powerful sorcerers, which they guide through ongoing series of adventures, working together to defeat monsters and other challenges while growing in power, glory and achievement. More information about Dungeons & Dragons can be found at the official D&D Home Page.

The Forgotten Realms is one of several campaign settings available within the D&D universe. It is a fantasy setting world where Dragons fly the night skies, valiant heroes seek fame and fortune, and mysterious wizards hunt the secrets of long-forgotten magics.

3. When will Neverwinter Nights 2 be available?
Neverwinter Nights 2 will be available on Jumboplay Game on Demand service during 2007.

What is new in Neverwinter Nights 2?
1.
I’ve heard Neverwinter Nights 2 uses the newer 3.5 Edition D&D rules. What kinds of things are different now?
Wizards of the Coast made many adjustments to the 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons rule system to improve game balance and make the game even more fun. Neverwinter Nights 2 incorporates many of these changes, including a Ranger class that offers more interesting and useful abilities throughout each of its levels, and many tweaks to Spells, Feats, Skills, Monsters, and much more.

2. What are the confirmed features to be found in Neverwinter Nights 2?

  • Reputation and Responsibility

In Neverwinter Nights 2, you will be able to gather up a reputation with the deeds and actions you perform throughout the duration of the game. Populace in Neverwinter Nights 2 will react in favor or disrespectfully on encounter accordingly to your reputation.

  • Stronghold

As you come into procession of your own stronghold, you will be able to lord over your followers, store powerful magic item and legendary equipments from preying eyes. You would also be able build an army to form the last line of defense for Neverwinter.

  • Riding

Finally, you will able to ride in to battle in all glory above your trusty war steed. This also mean you can apply more tactics while in combat as well as able to travel faster and carry more loot.

  • Party Size

Instead of having just 1 companion in your travels. In Neverwinter Nights 2 you will traveling with up to 3 other brave adventurers, allowing you finally put each character into tactical use and make you consider your formation of your party more seriously.

  • Party A.I. Control
    Tired of your mage throwing his best spell at the first enemy he meets or the bumbling cleric who would cast her healing spell on you when you just drank a potion of heal? Neverwinter Nights 2 let you control your companions easier by the use of the “Tab” key to quickly cycle among them to issue or stop orders.

  • Crafting and Customization

Much like in the previous game, Neverwinter Nights 2 improve upon the system by allowing further increase the item and equipment you can craft within the game. Every equipment in the game can have their appearance tweaked by you to match your character’s sense of fashion too.

  • Wet eye candy

Water effect has receive a massive boost. Drop a stone in a pool of water and notice now the water distorted its appearance, or try running in the rain and you will find water gleaming on metal armor or leather to be soaking wet.

  • Interactive Environment

Unlike the previous game now stones, boxes and other small object can the interact with. Boulders can be push into path to setup blockage, smashed treasure chest will shower you in a hail of splinters. The world now looks and act real.

  • Equipment Grid

All equipments has been divided into multiple customizable grid to allow deeper tinkering for the fashion savvy adventurers. It is quite possible to have no two weapon to look alike in Neverwinter Nights 2.

  • Sub-Race

Neverwinter Nights 2 has just gotten more cosmopolitical then better with race and tribe from all corners of the Forgotten Realms. Check the list below for all the sub race available in Neverwinter Nights 2.

  • Prestige Class

More then a handful of new prestige class to spoil you for choice, while most of the prestige class from the previous game will be re-introduce in Neverwinter Nights 2 with adjustment for D&D 3.5 Edition.

3. Which are the confirmed Race available to be use?

  • Shield dwarves

    The taller and hardier race of dwarves found in the northern part of the continent.

  • Gold dwarves

    Shorter then their Shield dwarves cousin, Gold dwarvers are charismatic less grumpy then the average dwarves.

  • Grey dwarves (duergar)

    The dwarves’ evil cousin, lives deep underground and has resistance against vile trickery such as poison and some magic.

  • Dark elves (drow)

    The Evil elves, signature with their dark skin and white hair. Live underground and often in league with other evil race.

  • Moon elves

    The most common race of elves and also known as silver elves, they often openly mingle with other races.

  • Sun elves

    Less common then Moon elves, the Sun elves or Gold elves are slightly physically weaker but are better in tune with magic.

  • Wood elves

    Reclusive race of elves who prefer to isolate themselves and place more emphasis on strength than learning.

  • Deep gnomes (svirfneblin)

    A race of peaceful gnomes race found deep underground, they have minor telepathic ability and good at stayong out of sight.

  • Rock gnomes

    The most common race of gnome, they live in burrow above ground and often friendly with small animals.

  • Lightfoot halfling

    Among the most common race of halfling, they are agile and adventurous unlike the hobbit of J. R. R. Tolkien.

  • Strongheart halfling

    A semi-nomadic race of halfling found in the Forgotten Realms, they are often more tougher then the average halfling.

  • Aasimar

    They are offspring of human and celestial being and often inherited their parents’ good look and sense of righteousness.

  • Tiefling

    They are offspring of human and demon and often carry the stigma of their birthright but also minor super natural ability.

4. The list of confirmed Prestige Class playable in Neverwinter Nights 2.

  • Warlock (Player’s Handbook II)

    Unlike Wizard and Sorcerers, Warlock has near unlimited reservoir to use at their command. The trade off being that they often have very few tricks up their sleeve, but those they have can be use almost endlessly.

  • Eldritch Knight

    A master swordman who have delve into the study of Magic. They weild Magic and Weapon with equal mastery, striking fear into the heart his enemy.

  • Arcane Trickster

    Tricksters and con man, these individual uses magic as a tool to misled or outright fool an opponent into doing what they want.

  • Duelist A highly agile fighter who specialized in using her dexterity to overcome brute force. As the saying goes, “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee” she enter combat as it as dance hall.
  • Divine Champion These elite warriors are the defenders of their faith. Blessed by favor of their god and weilding the fury of the god, these warrior can often be found in battlefront instead of temple.
  • Frenzied Berserker These wild warriors are a sight to behold in combat! They can enter a frightening rage during combat which makes them oblivious to wounds and able perform amazing feats of strength.

More coming soon

Campaign and companions
1. What can we expect from the Neverwinter Nights 2 campaign?
An epic story, with plenty of role-playing opportunities. The ability to create your own character and define that character’s personality in the game world. Lots of exciting, D&D 3.5 edition combat, with full control of your main character and up to three party members of your choice. An intuitive, enjoyable interface that helps you control the complexity of the Dungeons and Dragons rules. If you are a fan of classic Dungeons and Dragons RPGs like Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, or the original Neverwinter Nights, there should be something for you in Neverwinter Nights 2. If you’ve never played a D&D RPG before, the more intuitive interface and clearer 3.5 Edition rules make this a great time to start!

2. Will I be able to recruit companions?
Yes, there are companions who join the player’s party over the course of the campaign. In addition to managing themselves as they did in Neverwinter Nights, you have full control over companions in combat. If you want make all the decisions for your companions in combat, you can if you don’t want to, you won’t have to.

3. What changes have been made to the interface?
Several changes have been made to the in-game interface to make it more intuitive for end users. One of the many changes is that in addition to the standard Neverwinter Nights controls, you’ll be able to select a new control scheme that will be more RTS-like, something to help if you are coming to Neverwinter Nights 2 not having played the first game.

4. What Multiplayer options will be available?
There will be co-op gameplay available with the game at release in addition, the toolset provides you with the ability to create your own campaigns that you can play with friends online.

5. Tell us a bit about the story.
The storyline of Neverwinter Nights 2 starts simply enough in the middle of the Mere of Dead Men - in your home town, the humble village of West Harbor. Only the brave and strong manage to eke out a living in such a dangerous monster-ridden swamp and Harbormen are tougher than standard folk, maintaining a certain pride in their adversity. But one night trouble comes knocking, and it’s looking for a long-buried relic, a remnant of a dark war fought when you were but a child. Not long after, you are sent on a desperate mission to Neverwinter to unearth the secrets of the relic, all the while being hounded by opposition. From there a chain of events force you into the role of a hero, giving you the strength, the power, and the knowledge you need to strike back against the forces gathering against you, and the people of the Realms.

6. Neverwinter Nights 2 areas and creatures tended to look similar to each other will this be the case in Neverwinter Nights 2?
For several reasons, Neverwinter Nights 2’s areas and creatures should be more varied than those of the first game. Neverwinter Nights used tile-based levels for both exteriors and interiors, which gave cities and forests their “blocky” appearance. To address this, Neverwinter Nights 2 will use heightmaps for external areas. Heightmaps are a technology that allows both us and the community to easily create varied terrain; including rolling hills, shallow valleys, and mountain passes, all without the need to create new tilesets. In addition, monsters, placeables, can be tinted and scaled, allowing for unique variations on their appearance and size.

7. How will players travel from place to place in Neverwinter Nights 2?
Players will have a world map, which they can select known locations from in a manner similar to Baldur’s Gate 2. Once a location has been selected, the user will travel there, though encounters may happen along the way.

Player character and Single Campaign
1. Will I be able to create my own character?
Yes. You do not have a predefined character in Neverwinter Nights 2, you can create a character of your own choosing.

2. What kinds of options will I have when creating a character?
Many. You can select your race, subrace, class, feats, skills and more. In addition, you will be able to select from a series of background traits; these affect how villagers in your hometown will react to you and confer special bonuses on the player as they start the game.

3. Will I be able to customize my character’s appearance?
Yes! Our tint-mapping and scaling systems provide players with the ability to customize their characters appearance to a great detail. In addition, several heads and hairstyles will be available for both genders of each race and subrace.

4. Will my alignment change over the course of the game?
Every player starts the single-player campaign with a blank slate (provided your alignment is not restricted by class.) You’ll be making plenty of tough decisions throughout the Campaign, and you’ll see the outcomes of those decisions reflected in your alignment.

5. Will I be able to have an influence on my companions throughout the game?
Yes, the influence system from Knights of the Old Republic II makes a return. It gives you the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on your traveling companions, and gauge their reactions to your actions.

Neverwinter Nights 2 Toolset
1. What is the Neverwinter Nights 2 Toolset?
The Toolset is an application which allows you, the player, to create your own campaigns using the exact same tools we have. The toolset allows you to quickly and easily make a small dungeon-hack to run through with your friends, while providing you with the power and flexibility to craft a campaign with an epic storyline and companion NPCs.

2. What’s new in the toolset?
Too much to mention here! But, here’s a short list:

  • New Interface. The Toolset’s user interface has been completely revamped to allow for a much greater degree of flexibility. Windows can be docked, un-docked, tabbed, pinned, rather than us choosing how we want your Toolset to look, we give you the tools to allow you to customize it to your liking.

  • Heightmapped Exteriors. Exterior areas in the Toolset are now heightmapped, allowing you to create freeform hills, valleys and other terrain features without having to switch tilesets.
    More Flexible Interiors. You are no longer forced into using pre-placed objects in interiors. Tiles will come unfurnished, allowing you to customize them as you like. In addition, you will not be locked into using one tileset per interior area, you can mix and match tiles from different tilesets as you like.

  • Static Cameras. You can now place cameras in the toolset and attach those cameras to lines of dialogue, making the once difficult task of creating cutscenes much easier.

  • Tintmapping and Scaling. You can now alter the color and size of placeables, creatures, and more, directly in the toolset.

3. In Neverwinter Nights, I wasn’t able to have conversations, scripts, and areas open at the same time, will that be the case in Neverwinter Nights 2?
Nope. You can have as many conversations, scripts and areas as you like open at once in the toolset, and you can easily switch back and forth between them by simply clicking on their tabs. Additionally, you can divide the screen such that you can have two areas, an area and a script, or any other combination of windows open at once on the same screen!

4. I’ve invested a lot of time in learning how to use the first game’s toolset, will I have to go through all that again?
No, while some aspects of the toolset have changed, the most complex parts of the first toolset remain largely the same. In fact, most of the scripts and dialogues you composed in Neverwinter Nights should largely just work, or should require only minor tweaks to get working in Neverwinter Nights 2.

In addition, the Neverwinter Nights 2 toolset will be providing a large library of helper functions to assist module makers in easily doing routine scripting tasks.

5. Will I be able to make my own Overland Map?
Yes! You will be able to create and script your own overland map, with all the functionality of the Original Campaign’s.

6. Can I create my own fully-controllable companions?
Yes, you have access to the same tools as the developers to create and add companions to the player’s party throughout the course of your own modules.

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3 Comments »

  1. Required said,

    December 4, 2006 @ 6:57 pm

    It’s DECEMBER now.. where is NWN2 ? :P

  2. admin said,

    December 7, 2006 @ 3:52 pm

    Neverwinter Nights 2 is aimed for release late December or, heaven forbids, January 2007.
    Due to a few complication with distribution rights for South East Asia.

  3. Free Online Roleplaying Games said,

    March 2, 2007 @ 11:46 pm

    Markus…

    It was quite useful reading, found some interesting details about this topic. Thanks….

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