NeverWinter Nights

[plaidfro]

If any of you are interested in a fun RP multiplayer game... that you dont have to pay a monthly fee for... look at Getting NeverWinter Nights:Diamond Edition. I am a DM with a great online gaming community for it; Wrath of Zero. Our website is www.wrathofzero.com (http://www.wrathofzero.com).

If any of you do play NWN and go on our server... I can help you out in game.

-PLaid

[[TLB]G_Man 1270]

I have the Gold one, but have thought about getting one of the newer ones. I like D&D.

[plaidfro]

Diamond Edition is just the easy way to get the mods.

I personally have NWN: Gold, plus I bought Hordes of the Underdark.

To maximize your fun on NWN you need the basic NWN, NWN:Shadows of the Unrentide, and NWN: Hordes of the Underdark.

NWN: Diamond has all of those in one DVD. Easy solution to getting the main and expansions.

[[TLB]AnnieGYG]

Hiya Plaid mate!!! Guys, this is my alliance mate from Uni 10 so look after him, he is a fellow BF2er as well.

(and yeah, I started in another Uni, the ocrack got me bad!)

Welcome to our little corner of the net mate.

They are mostly on the WoW-crack round here.

[plaidfro]

I would probably play WOW too... if there wasnt the monthly fee to play. So NeverWinter Nights has won out for me in the RP games.

[[TLB-HC]Silz]

WoW? Noooooo, me I'm a GW fiend, and working on becoming addicted to Hellgate:London (only 5 levels to go to max out the first character)

[plaidfro]

Silz;174889']WoW? Noooooo, me I'm a GW fiend, and working on becoming addicted to Hellgate:London (only 5 levels to go to max out the first character)

I was deciding between Guild Wars and NWN... my MOH:AA buds had their own NWN server (WOZ) so that is why I went with the NWN route.

[[TLB]Lackey]

I think Gold has more maps than Diamond, at least that was my impression from comparing the contents on both boxes at the store.

Played a little in the past, mostly single player and over an office lan.

[plaidfro]

Lackey;174915']I think Gold has more maps than Diamond, at least that was my impression from comparing the contents on both boxes at the store.

NeverWinter Nights: Diamond is more complete:
Neverwinter Nights Diamond Includes:

The award-winning Neverwinter Nights
Two hit expansion packs, Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark
Game modules from the developers of Neverwinter Nights
BioWare's Aurora Toolset, for easy mod and game creation
Neverwinter Nights Kingmaker expansion, including three complete BioWare designed adventures: Kingmaker, ShadowGuard, and Witch's Wake Remastered
All patches and updates ]NeverWinter Nights Gold doesnt include Hordes of the Underdark and Kingmaker:
Neverwinter Nights Gold Includes:

The award-winning Neverwinter Nights
The hit expansion pack, Shadows of Undrentide
Game updates, enhancements and BioWare-created modules
BioWare's Aurora Toolset, for easy mod and game creation

[optYmus]

wow is just too clowny and cartoony imo (no offense lol) i wish i could run neverwinter nights i have nwn2 but alas the graphics are too much for my machine *sigh* does anyone play ddo?

[[TLB-HC]Worthington]

Wait until Conan: Hyborean Adventures comes out.. pwnage

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Worthington;182100']Wait until Conan: Hyborean Adventures comes out.. pwnage

Yeah, I'm waiting for that myself. As far as computing power is concerned I think it'll be pretty high won't it? Because I'm definitely thinking of doing some major upgrades before the summer. Waiting for the 9800GTX or GX2 to come out later this month, then I'll do the step-up program on my EVGA 8800GTX for either one of them (not sure which I'll do, need to check the critics again). Maybe even SLI with a second unit (depends, because I've never done SLI before).

[[TLB]G_Man 1270]

Hell, I'm still waiting for Project Offset to happen. That game looks sweet. Not sure if it is going to be ab MMORPG or FPS though. Or both.

[[TLB-HC]Worthington]

Wolf and I are waiting for release date Vaz.. we'll need to make sure we get the same server.

[Confederate]

I have seen some adds for it. May have to join you.

[[TLB-HC]Worthington]

If it's half as good as it looks I'll be happy.

[[TLB]Vazkora]

May 20, 2008 for Windows according to Wikipedia.

[[TLB-HC]Worthington]

already up to 4 or 5 pre-orders between a handful of us.. any thoughts on profession Vaz?

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Worthington;186266']already up to 4 or 5 pre-orders between a handful of us.. any thoughts on profession Vaz?

I planned on pre-ordering it sometime this week but I'll do it today. Haven't been researching the game lately so I wouldn't know for what profession I should do. What are you guys doing and I'll try to do what you guys aren't doing (to cover the bases)?


EDIT: Ordered the special edition + game time card @ GameStop (overnight shipping on both).

[[TLB-HC]Worthington]

Nice!

Wolf and I are going rogue\assassin (slim chance I'll switch but I doubt it).. Trig will probably go some sort of offensive caster and knowing Leebull he'll do something like Conq, Barb or Soldier.

Those are the people I know for sure have pre-ordered.. might be a few more floating around.

*edit* I'm getting 5 guest passes included with my pre-order if anyone is interested.

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Does it matter what race we pick? I'm thinking of either Ranger or the Priest. A melee fighter would be neet too, though.

[[TLB]Sinister]

Wow Age of Conan looks neat

FFlnxr4r66g

[Confederate]

I am going to order this....waiting on some funds lol.

[[TLB-HC]Worthington]

Does it matter what race we pick? I'm thinking of either Ranger or the Priest. A melee fighter would be neet too, though.

It matters at least a bit Vaz. At the very least some races can't be certain classes (Cimmerians can't be assassins for example)..

Check out ageofconan.com or conanhq.com for some details.

Cool Confed! good to have another peep in the mix.

[[TLB-HC]Worthington]

Not your little brothers MMO:

"Jason "Athelan" Stone answers our questions about the things that truly matter in Age of Conan
As the launch of Funcom's Age of Conan looms over the horizon and there's really nothing exciting to shit talk in the MMO genre at this time. I figured it would be a good time to reach out to Jason "Athelan" Stone , Game Designer for Age of Conan and an awesomely accessible gentleman for the low budget and unkown gaming website, to get into his head to find out about things the things that really intrigue me about Age of Conan.

Everyone wants to know everything they can about Age of Conan before the launch such as PVP mechanics, system requirements, DirectX 10 support, how does shield blocking work, when is open beta and should I buy the pre-order with the Mammoth or the Rhino, but I'm not the kind of guy who wastes time investigating things that will be clearly identified in the game manual next month.

If you're interested in reading all that shit for the 15th time with a different twist on the same topic, you're out of luck. What I want to talk about is titties, sex, Arnold Schwarzenegger, MMO's failing at launch, breaking NDA's, more titties and to find out which Funcom employee is voted most likely to have a nervous breakdown when the game comes out this May.

While I'm still personally on the fence about whether or not I'll be playing Age of Conan for the long haul because new MMO's have in general been a let down for quite some time, I will definitely be buying the game and checking it out because while not "Revolutionary or Next-Gen", to use the token industry buzzwords, it does things that have not been done before, at least with any overwhelming success. Most importantly, boobs.. and sex.. blood and violence.. you know, the things that make video games blockbuster hits. I also figure that if I could buy Vanguard and play it for a month before quitting, it only goes uphill from there.

Ok, here it is, and thanks Jason...


Zergwatch: Alot of times the subject comes up about "How is AoC different from World of Warcraft?" Surely, you hope to win over existing WoW fans who may actually enjoy the game. In what ways would you say your game is like WoW for those people?

Jason: WoW was interesting in the fact it took what was already established about MMO's and made it polished and approachable. What once was the realm of t he young male college kid or an early career and single geek like myself fas t became an entertainment option that everyone was a part of. We have certainly tried to copy this to make the game accessible for people and to step up our levels of polish. You have all the standard RPG and fantasy MMO elements that have been around since the crossover from the MUD days when it comes to Items, Quests, Stats, Classes etc. But we have also done some re-working of interface options and whatnot to make it more familiar to those who played WoW.

Zergwatch: Age of Conan has had several delays now. Warhammer has now had a few. Delaying MMORPG's for a more polished launch seems to be in vogue since last year's disaster which was Vanguard Saga of Heroes. Do you think the industry now suffers from a Vanguard effect where publishers want to be extra certain their game is ready before launch, or are MMORPG delays just business as usual?

Jason: Really the first thing we have to say about any talks of delay is "Remember Anarchy Online Launch". We have under our belts what is argued to be one of the worst if not THE worst MMO launches of all time. Far before Vanguards struggles last year Funcom had already been there. So first to show our own growth and commitment we want to push the level of polish and not see a repeat. However, tying into the first question with more people playing MMO's and not just the hardcore junkies, consumers are more demanding about the level of polish that needs to be in a product in order to play it. Gone are the days where having 100,000 hardcore users was considered wild success when WoW blows everything away with its over 8,000,000 as development time and cost spirals to reach increasing consumer drive.

Zergwatch: When you are building an MMORPG like Age of Conan, surely your eyes must wander around and see the events unfolding in the industry as MMO after MMO gets released with lackluster results. Do poor launches by other games affect in any way, the business decisions or creative direction of your game?

Jason: Definitely, anyone who does not try to learn from others mistakes while doing their own development is just an ostrich with their head stuck in the sand. One of the things you have to realize on the dev side is we ALWAYS want more time. But usually business reasons or publishing reasons or partnership reasons etc, the game has to go out and often does so early. Having these examples to show people why releasing early is a bad idea is great for us to get the time to do it "right". On the flip side, an MMO is never truly complete which is its own curse as much as its own blessing, so picking when it is right to release it can be a guessing game.

Zergwatch: In America, Age of Conan's big media shock is its breasts and nipples. In Europe, they seem to take issue with violence. Funcom defends the design decision to include both in this game by claiming to stay true to the lore of Conan. In the Conan lore, there was also sex and rape among other things. Exactly how close do you intend to stick to the lore?

Jason: We have tried to stick to the lore as closely as we can. Things like racism, slavery, sex, drug use, and rape are present in the world where appropriate but as background color. You don't turn the corner and see an infamous Tijuana donkey show in an alley, but in interacting with NPC's and conversing with them you will definitely hear stories and background information that is filled with adult content. Players never themselves become involved directly in slavery, rape, or sex for example. Talked about before is that the first NPC you meet is a prostitute and you save her. When you get to town she offers you a reward, it is alluded to what type of reward she is offering as that is her profession but if you go down the path of innuendo she has to leave because a paying customer comes by and freebies come second. Of course the freebie never actually happens but the topic is still broached. We also took a stance making women on equal footing with men in the game while most women in Hyborea were simply practically naked waifish sextoys, while a few of them were much much more like Belit.

Zergwatch: Maybe it's just the American perception of the outwardly sternest appearance and strong Germanic accents of Northern Europeans, but after watching several videos and interviews with the European guys, they come off as being, ironically enough, a bit like Arnold Schwartzenegger's Terminator character. Was the team able to pull off any of the subtle humor we saw in the movies and make it work in the game?

Jason: There are definitely a few areas in the game where its an obvious one-liner. Especially with the amount of voice work we have tried to put in the game there are some very funny parts. Most of the humor actually has to be subtle because Conan does not lend itself well to overt, slapstick, or pop culture humor like you can see in some other MMO's

Zergwatch: Every now and then, on YouTube, an "Age of Conan Beta Gameplay Video" pops up and is removed shortly after. Has this been a problem for you with the closed beta? Who's job is it to sit on You Tube all day refreshing the "Age of Conan" search?

Jason: Usually fan's themselves of the game tell us of the leaks far before we find out about it ourselves. The problem is usually about the fact that regardless of the content it is an NDA violation, and the people tend to stink at making the game look good. Using the video that came out over the shoulder from the PvP reveal at Leipzig. People went nuts whining about how the classes were not balanced etc etc. Then at Dragoncon I played the exact same build and schooled people 1vs2 1vs3 at times with the supposedly "sucky" character. It's all about perception, and in truth Funcom loves machinima, all through our design progress we wanted to see super sweet hard rocking PvP videos and aspired to make a combat system that would allow skilled players to do just that, but most these leaks don't show much or intentionally focus on negative aspects.

Zergwatch: Being an adult themed game with a mature rating with PVP, it's safe to say there's going to be a shit ton of smack talking, trash talking and vulgar language between players. Most MMORPG's do their best to crack down on this behavior. In AoC, will anything go between players or do you intend to follow in the footsteps of past publishers and quell the vocal outcasts?

Jason: It depends, anything that goes into the realm of harassment, be it in the form of swearing, racial insults, spamming etc will still be deal with by Customer Service. But we are not going to ban someone for saying f*** you etc.

Zergwatch: Usually when MMORPG trash talking occurs, most chalk it up to "The 12 year old kid using dad's credit card to play". Do you think your > game will settle this debate once and for all and prove that adults are just as responsible for the lower rung of social etiquette in MMORPG's as the kids?

Jason: For a brief time before the department was down sized at SOE I was the Community Manager for Casual Games. This means I worked with everything from Wheel of Fortune to Infantry and Cosmic Rifts. This might sound like a segway but it really is interesting. I had so many problems with the 30+ year old cliques of women who were from Wheel of Fortune. It was a nightmare, I had one lady send an entire ream of paper from Australia with printed out bulletin board posts supposedly proving that I was having a love affair with another lady and so was acting unjustly against her. In contrast with the 15yr olds playing the free action shooter game Infantry I could simply show up and say "Hey knock it off" and 90% of the time they listened. What creates assholes on the internet is not someone's age, its someone's ability to hide being their anonymity. It gets worse the more people get online and realize they can get away with it. Playing Call of Duty 4 on Xbox live last week I joined a match and every word out of these two guys mouth was "N this" "N that" "my N". Maybe if there was a "fair" way to put in a digg or ebay type feedback system that eventually squelches peoples ability to type on public channels the MMO space would become more mature in appearance but until there is accountability that is enforceable bad behavior will continue to come from all types.

Zergwatch: Question #9...

Jason: 9. 9 oh 9 where did my question 9 go.

Zergwatch: WTF, were you expecting a 60 minutes quality interview? Did you think I was Barbara Walters?

Zergwatch: If you had switch your job to the art department, which job would you rather have? The artist who gets to texture the breasts.. The modeler who got to design them or the QA tester who makes sure they jiggle just right when you run?

Jason: I can't draw a straight line with a ruler, which makes it hard to explain things sometimes to artists. But I suppose if I had to pick one of these options I would say the modeler because I envy their ability so much and getting to look at pictures of hot women and claim it was research sounds even better than my job.

Zergwatch: Have the recent media attacks on video game violence had any impact on the direction of the game? Has there been any incidents where public advocacy groups or decency groups have made any motions your way? I personally think those need more sex in their IRL lives. What about you?

Jason: We have not let the media or the political controversy affect what we were doing at all. We decided that to get caught up in that would simply lead to us making something that compromised to the point of having no identity, and it was better for us to do our best presentation of how Howard's world was. It really does blow me away, at Gencon parents would want to bring their young kids into the booth not caring at all about blood, dismemberment, and decapitation, but the mere mention of a breast would make them run away from the booth in fear. I saw the new Rambo movie, arguably the most bloody and savage film I have ever seen, sitting one row behind me was a pair of parents with two young boys could not have been older than 6-7. Both kids were traumatized and the parents just kept telling them "its just pretend". I personally think children who are old enough to know that violence is wrong are not going to be violent just because they played video games. If a kid ends up being violent its going to be for a lot of other reasons that require professional help and the love and presence of their family. I heard at one point that the number of shootings has not gone up disproportionately in schools, but the accuracy in those shootings which results in injury or death has risen dramatically. People are not necessarily more violent, but now they aim better. I wish we had better answers but there is a whole world of "grown ups only" stuff out there and the only way to really keep kids out of it is better enforcement in the home and maybe mass usage of biometrics.

Zergwatch: Why doesn't Funcom have an animated and witty PR spokesperson with an English accent out there hyping up the game?

Jason: I guess I am as close as it gets and I am a bit too geeky being a designer I suppose. Oh well the life of the rock star was never for me.

Zergwatch: As you said to me outside this interview, the curtousey of crediting other MMO publishers seems to have died after the developers of WoW initially credited and thanked Everquest. If you were writing the credits today and such practice was still acceptable in the industry, who would be in the AoC credit list?

Jason: I hate to sound sappy and just wanting a big industry group hug but seriously. We are all gamers (I hope) and we are all doing this because we love games and wanted to work with something we love. We all want to play everyone else's games and try to find ways to get into Beta not for corporate spying or conspiracy but just because we all fiend for the new. Sadly as the industry grows and becomes more corporate, just like our own studios the feeling of the industry itself changes and becomes less friendly and familial. I would have to put the Blizzard guys in the credits, as WoW has been an addiction for many of us and done great things for the industry. I would want to thank the CCP guys as EvE has a lot of great lessons in it about how to build community supporting dynamics. Also the WolfPack/Ubisoft guys for Shadowbane as it was a great example of again dynamic community and PvP elements. All the guys who worked on all the singleplayer/fighting/action games that inspired us, really the list could go on and on.

Zergwatch: When Conan finally launches and the pre-launch anxiety and stress have subsided, which higher up team member is most likely to just lock themselves in their office and not speak to anybody for the next 12 months?

Jason: I vote for Gaute. and some of our programmers, they have dedicated so much of their lives to this project now I think they will just want to disappear to a mountaintop and hide.

Zergwatch: Well, I hope these questions are more acceptable than our first set. I can't really water things down more without adding a bunch of questions about screenshots, beta numbers and game mechanics. My final question is probably the most important one. Do you think Arnold will play Age of Conan? Has there been any attempts to contact him or to get his endorsement of the game?

Jason: Arnold in his position as governor is one of the non violent game protesters so I don't seem him playing the game. I would have died to have a sound clip of him asking for Beta but it will never happen.

Zergwatch: Ok I lied.Last Question. If Arnold did play Age of Conan, do you think he would be a ruthless trash talking PVPer on the FFA server or would he go the PVE and Raiding route? I personally think he'd be the role player who picks up the doods pretending to be chicks..

Jason: I think he would be the level 21 guy who stumbles into the Border Kingdoms and gets steamrolled by a guild on the warpath then quits in frustration."

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Right, so I guess I'll go with whatever race has the class I end up choosing. Nice read, by the way. Boobage? Now that's something you don't see in a video game everyday.

[[TLB-HC]Worthington]

NDA for this last weekend's PvP weekend has been lifted so check the ageofconan forums for juicy class information. So far people are loving the skill based\interactive combat.

Open beta is coming for those of you that are fileplanet subscibers.

[[TLB]Sinister]

Worthington;186734']Open beta is coming for those of you that are fileplanet subscibers.

*dibs*

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Did anyone else who pre-ordered get this email? Or is it Gamestop only?

Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for pre-ordering the Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.
To get your In-Game Exclusive, go to http://register.ageofconan.com (http://register.ageofconan.com/) and enter your unique key.
Your Unique Code is: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This key has certain benefits:
Fulfillment of your in-game item.
Early Access Program.
Go to http://register.ageofconan.com (http://register.ageofconan.com/) and enter your key. You may begin downloading the game client software and installing as early as May 14. Then you may create a character and begin playing on May 17, 3 days before commercial release on May 20, 2008. Your character and all his/her progress will be preserved into commercial release. This key also unlocks your in-game item. Note: There is a nominal fee of $5 that covers the cost of the download and includes 10 days of additional game time. Some restrictions apply, see registration page for details.
Thank you,
GameStop Customer Service

[[TLB]Xanthos]

Worthington;186734']Open beta is coming for those of you that are fileplanet subscibers.


12 gig, 26 hour download. Wow.

[[TLB-HC]Worthington]

Gots my key and am downloading now. Beta server opens May 1st. I'll start a Conan post (if someone doesn't beat me to it) and throw out some impressions as time goes on.

[[TLB]Sinister]

Can we get a head count of how many of us are planning to play this game? It would be nice to get a game plan together to make sure we all can help each other out.

[[TLB-HC]Worthington]

So far that I know of..

Me (pre-ordered and beta)
Wolf (pre-ordered and beta)
Trig (pre-ordered)
Leebull (pre-ordered)
Vaz (pre-ordered)
Confed (pre-ordered)
Mool (if it doesn't suck)
Saku (? not sure. Can't remember what he said).
Sin
Xanthos (Beta. I'm guessing since he is downloading the beta. )
2gunmcoy\dave (pre-ordered. Buddy I play BF and C&C with)
Argo\adam (pre-ordered. Another buddy I play BF and C&C with)

We also have some people that we WOW it up with that seem sorta interested. They are pretty happy with WOW though so I don't know if they would actually leave it or not.

*edit: feel free to correct me where I got the status wrong.
*edit 2: This would probably make a great starting post for a real Conan thread. lol

[[TLB]Sinister]

Put me down for preordered and beta ;)