Neverwinter Nights: pretty much a dissapointment

[Stirge]

Well, I haven't started NWN yet (have the game, but my computer can't handle it!), but it doesn't take long to figure out where the problem is:

SCRIPTING!!

I mean, way back in the non-user-friendly days of BG2, many people rolled their own NPC scripts. The most hard-core would not even issue commands to people in their party--they would just let the scripts handle pretty much everything. My point is that it worked. The Infinity Engine scripting system wasn't super flexible, but it sufficed, to the point where people joked that the best scripts play better than mediocre human players.

Well, we shouldn't be hearing about scripting problems for NWN. I mean, I don't know how many hundreds of hours David Gaider spent on scripting for BG2 monsters *after* the game was released. This is because he realized that it's no fun unless the scripts are good.

It's sad to hear that they sluffed off on NWN henchmen scripts. You would think they would take them seriously. Oh well--I just hope that scripters like Sakryn step up and quickly improve henchman scripts. I guess this is the way to deflect all NWN criticism: If you don't like something, you can fix it! It's not like the "henchmen" in Diakatana...

The obvious inadequacy of the present henchmen scripts probably points to a general scripting laziness. I bet you that yet again, even smart monsters will basically just be scripted to attack the nearest enemy, no matter what extenuating circumstances there are.

This leaves future mod builders with a lot of work to do. I would do it myself, but I need to spend the time earning the money I need to upgrade my computer.

[dragon wench]

I think Stirge makes some good points.

From what I have gathered reading this board and others, the reason that henchmen are so poorly scripted is that they are essentially an afterthought. I get the sense that NWN is mostly focused on the multiplayer aspects, and that henchmen were added simply to cater to the single player component of the game in as minimal a way as possible.

While I applaud Bioware for producing what looks to be another truly excellent piece of work, I do think it is unfortunate that single player gamers have been largely neglected.

Again, I have not yet bought NWN, and perhaps I will change my opinion once I actually play it. This is just based on what I have been reading.

[Kull]

Nice eye candy for those fortunate enough to have a powerful computer. Nice potential for remote gaming (multiplayer) for those fortunate enough to have broad band. I'm looking forward to Baldur's Gate III - I think they call it Icewind Dale II.

[fable]

As far back as two years ago, NWN was planned by its developers to cover four different areas: a) singleplayer, Bioware-developed; b) singleplayer, mods shared; c) multiplayer, Bioware-developed; d) multiplayer, mods shared. Henchmen have been part of things for some time. My impression is that AI has simply never been a strongpoint at Bioware--and this is not meant as an attack on the company. They've created one of my favorite games (BG2). Yet we all know that even the enemy AI in BG2 isn't very good, at all, and that players have significantly enhanced that in mods. I suspect the henchmen AI was just business-as-usual, in that sense. Just my POV, and more a matter of personal observation, without facts to back it up.

[dragon wench]

@Fable, true.....

I am probably just feeling nostalgic for the in-party NPC interactions that we had in SoA. IMO, this was one of the things that made it such a great game.

[fable]

Originally posted by dragon wench
@Fable, true.....

I am probably just feeling nostalgic for the in-party NPC interactions that we had in SoA. IMO, this was one of the things that made it such a great game.

I couldn't agree more. There is some very good interaction in NWN, but you really don't lead a party in singleplayer. I guess we'll have to wait for Lionheart or Bioware's Star Wars RPG to regain that sense of living, breathing NPCs.