Tag: icewind dale

A few days ago, Obsidian’s modular Roleplaying game Neverwinter Nights 2 was released. NWN is well-known for its overwhelming amounth of fan-made modules and even whole Community Packs. This is the result of BioWare’s powerful Aurora Engine toolkit, which came packaged with the game. So actually it’s not that strange the game gets so much attention - take a look at UT2004’s numberous modifications or Total Conversions: with UnrealEd this is all possible.

BioWare’s previous critically acclaimed Roleplaying game, Baldur’s Gate II, did not feature any toolkits when it was released in 2000. BG2 used Planescape Torment’s and Icewind Dale’s Infinity Engine to render scenes. (Acutally the Infinity Engine was first used in BG1, released in 1998. Black Isle did Planescape in 1999) Thanks to BG’s widely accepted “Best RPG Game ever” state, fans started engineering tools to hack the file system used by this engine. Various File extractors and speech decompilers started showing up and before you know it, complete Conversions for Baldur’s Gate became available! Let’s dig really deep and list a (short, can’t possibly list everything) couple of popular modifications for Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, and for the expansion pack, Throne of Bhaal.

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RPGs aren’t that rare anymore (good ones are), especially not on the console. Developers like to copy previous used techniques and concepts as it reduces the effort needed to finalize their own product, ànd this gives a familiar look which mostly means guaranteed sales. But are these mechanics good enough? Do they work? Are you roleplaying or watching a scripted scene full of soulless characters? Let’s have an in-depth look at nowadays Roleplaying Games with their biggest strengths and weaknesses.

There is so much to be seen and done in a typical RPG, it’s impossible to write a short article about. Instead, let’s review some of the basic and most used aspects of computer/console Roleplaying games. Below is a short breakdown of several concepts. They will get updated regulary, hopefully.

1. NPC interaction techniques | Watch NPC reaction videos! >>
2. Correct Item Placement
3. (Over)world systems and travelling
4. party building
5. member customization
6. battle sequences: random or not?
7. do’s and don’s of level grinding

I should warn you however, before you continue to read one of the article’s contents. Some negative criticism can be rather subjective. If you disagree and would like to enlighten us further, please do leave a comment as everything is of course open for discussion. Oh and there could be slight spoilers present without my direct knowledge. Sorry about that.

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