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Mask of the Betrayers - Pre release interview |
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Mask of the Betrayer's set in the harsh, spirit-rich Rashemen, with the storyline kicking off shortly after events in the original game. "Following the climactic battle against the King of Shadows, the player awakens alone and stranded deep beneath the earth. Surrounded by a horde of evil spirits, the player embarks on an epic adventure that reveals his true destiny", Atari has said of the plot.
NWN 2 fans will be served up plenty of new content, with the new campaign accompanied by dozens of new feats and spells, new races, new base and prestige classes, new companions, new weapons, armour and crafting options, new monsters and finally enhanced modding tools.
Sounds like Obsidian is really cramming it in, and to find out more we caught up with the developer's CEO Feargus Urquhart.
So what made Rashemen an ideal setting for the Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion?
Urquhart: It really became an ideal setting for a few different reasons. The first was that we wanted to place Mask of the Betrayer in a Forgotten Realms setting that hadn't yet been explored in a computer role-playing game. Second, Rashemen is rich in spirit energy, and has many interesting elements around which we could craft a compelling story.
And finally, it's close to Thay, which is an area that many people who play D&D in the Forgotten Realms are very aware of. We have often been asked to put an adventure there.
You're introducing several new features, but what's the pick of the crop in your opinion?
Urquhart: I really wish that I could pick just one, but I think in the case of Mask of the Betrayer, it really is the sum of everything that we are doing that will make it a great expansion to NWN2. Epic levels will really push characters to new heights of powers, the new races and classes will let players play the game in new ways, and the effort were putting into the look of areas is really going to make players feel like they are in the Forgotten Realms.
How did you go about selecting what new content to include in Mask of the Betrayer, and how many hours of gameplay is there in the new campaign in the expansion?
Urquhart: Coming up with what to put in an expansion for Neverwinter Nights 2 is both easy and hard at the same time. It's easy because there are so many options from which to choose when it comes to what you can find in the Dungeons & Dragons source books and from what the fans would like to see.
The hard part is prioritizing that list and realising that we don't have the ten years it would take to put everything we and the community would like to put in it.
So, we look at this huge list and figure out what would be great for players, what would be great for people building modules and what people playing multiplayer would like. It can get pretty heated with some of us wanting a certain group of features with other people at Obsidian wanting a different group.
We figure it all out before it gets violent though. And, the sum of all those features and the new story that we are crafting for the expansion is going to be about 15 to 20 hours of gameplay.
We're assuming that existing NWN 2 characters can be ported over to the expansion. In what new ways will players be able to develop their existing adventurers?
Urquhart: There are a couple key things that they'll be able to do and that is advance past level 20 into Epic levels for each base class. They will also be able to specialise their character by choosing one of the new Prestige classes to advance their character in.
Will we be able to play through Neverwinter Nights 2 with the new races and base classes included in Mask of the Betrayer?
Urquhart: Definitely, it's always been our goal to have what we create in the expansion be accessible in the main Neverwinter Nights 2 game. I'm actually looking forward to going back and trying the original campaign as a Spirit Shaman.
What new tools will modders get to play with when the expansion arrives?
We are adding in some big things like an Appearance Wizard, which will let modders easily customize the look of the characters they are creating for their worlds. But, we are also refining aspects of the toolset all over the place.
It runs more smoothly now, you can load in personalised light sets, there are more terrain sculpting options and we finally got Terrain Undo in there - something everyone, including our designers, have been incredibly happy to see. And most of these improvements we've been able to release as updates to the original NWN2. We didn't want the modders to have to wait for the expansion for better tools.
Is there anything new you're introducing for multiplayer?
Urquhart: We don't want to have the NWN community wait for anything we are doing with multiplayer, so we are releasing whatever we have been doing in updates to the game. Plus, we will continue to do this in every update we release from now on. The larger feature that will be coming in either of the next two updates (1.07 or 1.08) will be huge changes to the DM Client.
We are pretty sure that a lot of what everyone has wanted to see in the DM Client will be in by the 1.08 update at the latest. Also, we've paid more attention to multiplayer game play in the design for the official campaign in Mask of the Betrayer. For example, it will have far fewer cut scenes, which we know were a disruption to cooperative multiplayer in NWN2.
Mask of the Betrayer's storyline concludes the plot the began in Neverwinter Nights 2. Does that mean that's it now for NWN2 or are further expansions in the pipeline?
Urquhart: Well, I'm sure that I would get in a lot of trouble if I talked too much about the future. What I can say is that Obsidian has loved working on Mask of the Betrayer and if there are future expansion packs, we'd love to be associated with them.
Are there any fan-created adventures built using the NWN 2 mod tools that get the Obsidian seal of approval?
Urquhart: We are actually judging a contest right now based upon a bunch of mods that users sent in. We don't have the official answer yet, but we've been really pleased with what the community has been able to do with NWN 2 and its toolset.
How does the idea of a Neverwinter Nights MMORPG grab you?
Urquhart: I think there are other great brands and areas in D&D and the Forgotten Realms that could be used for a MMORPG, but Neverwinter Nights is special in its own way and, if possible, it would be great to see it continue the way it has.
Do you think the rise in popularity of the MMORPG will have a negative impact on the popularity of RPGs like Neverwinter Nights?
Urquhart: I think they will if RPGs like Neverwinter Nights don't take the MMORPGs into account when they are designed. For instance, it used to be fine to make an RPG that was just wondering around and hacking things up with the player having very little effect on the world around them. Why play that game now if you could just play a MMO?
So, I think those of us that make non-MMO RPGs need to look at what a single player / small multiplayer RPG can do that MMOs can't and spend our time and effort on those things. For example, in Mask of the Betrayer, we can make the world react more to your personal decisions than any MMO could hope to. We can let you impact your companions and the game's NPCs - and the entire story outcome - in ways that MMOs cannot.
There's been mixed reactions from both gamers and developers to cross-platform play between PC and Xbox 360 - what's Obsidian's thoughts on that? Is that something you'd like to explore?
Urquhart: I actually think it's a great idea. I think there are some challenges to it when it comes to PvP type games. But, if I could run around with friends of mine in a game like Oblivion whether we were playing the PC or the Xbox 360 version and hack monsters together, I think it would be great.
Finally, looking forward, in what areas would you like to see the RPG genre in general develop, or do you think it needs to develop?
Urquhart: I'd like to see RPG focus more on the world that they take place in with particular focus on making the player a real part of that world.
Many RPGs, including some that I've made, allow the player to just stomp around and not really have to worry about the world that they are playing in.
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