Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir Previews

[GameBanshee News]

Two fresh Gen Con-based previews of Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir have made their way to the web. The first is on the official forums:

The OM pretty much behaves as a regular area would, except that the zoom-out is locked out far, and you can't pan or rotate the camera (it's like you're looking down on a map, which is the point).

Running around the map, lots of fun stuff pops up. If you have the skills, you'll be discovering things all over the place, like caves, NPCs, monsters, ruins, treasures, etc. It's quite fun to run around the map trying to find everything you can. In the various minor adventure sites available to visit on the map in the demo, I could tell that most were optional to explore and could probably be skipped, but those areas seemed to each have a unique and worth-while treasure in them that could help down the road in the game (like unique armor or other magic items).

As you get close to monsters on the map, you get a Survival skill check to stay hidden (like stealth). The longer you linger on the map, the more monsters that will be passing by. Also, the longer you stay "close" to a monster, the more Survival checks you have to succeed at.

Depending on which character you're running around with, the skill checks are based on that PC's skills. You can switch the "leader" character for the OM at any time, and then that PC is the one who is used for skills checks. The speed of party movement on the OM is also dependent on the speed of the "leader" PC at the time. A monk PC moves noticably faster on the OM, saving time, and potentially increasing the chances of evasion of monsters by moving by them faster.

Once a monster catches you, or if you go up to the monster, you get some options, like "fight", "flee", or "talk". When you fight, you go to a special "regular" area to fight. If you try to leave the fight area before killing all the monsters, you get a chance to flee to escape.

In the pic, the 3 icons at the bottom of the map are "Time" - shows current time of day if you mouse-over, "Game Menu Options", and "Rest".

And the other is at Destructoid:

Another point of interest stems from the new party dynamics being introduced. Players will be able to not only form parties, but also enjoy the external benefits from having them. Players will be able to engage in conversation with members and have access to a “Teamwork Benefit System” which adds modifiers in battle for having a consistent party and utilizing talents well. Two new classes have been introduced, as well as several spells and creatures.