Has Bioware gone the right way in CRPG game developement?

They have gone the way where the money lies. Now we will have the fancy stuff like 3D world, 3D effects, Dynamic Light, 3D monsters and so on.
I would be glad about it, despite graphic and visual effects are almost top most unsignifficant factor for CRPG (thats my opinion, you can disagree with "most unsignifficant", but one thing is sure - for CRPG graphic is NOT THE MAIN THING DEFINITELY!). So I would say: "Very well, make the game nicer to the eye, if this doesnt need to SACRIFICE the THINGS that are more important than graphics (you all know that - story, non-linearity, AI, gameplay, number of rooms/maps/areas to explore, size and gametime of the game, replayability, npc/monster number, weapon number and variations etc)"
But we all know that software goes half a mile ahead of hardware... Even BG2 with its quite simple graphics (compared to NWN) was very demanding to hardware... And it was way too far from perfect CRPG. i would say even way too far from quite good CRPG. It was OK though.

What awaits us in NWN?
Nice graphics behind emptiness? Lara Croft with only thing that relates to ad&d in her dex, str, ac, and thac0? I am very afraid of this.
These are just creepy expectations...
Right now they have announced that game time would be 60 hours instead of BG2 300... A forerunner of my worst expectations...
What next?

Thay should have not made the graphics way... But game expanding, complexing, IMPROVING the game not for the eyes, but for the mind...

What do you think about all of this?


P.S. As for graphics improving i see only 2 gaps which need to be closed:
1. More Character portraits (At least 2 for each race/alingment/gender/class. e.g. If I am a elven warrior now which portrait should i use? Or orcish berserker? Lawful Evil Female Dwarven warrior? Too little, way too little portraits....)
2. Nicer body picture (I mean one that you see when in inventory window. Really ulgy. And doesnt represent armor you are wearing well enough. And armors pictures are agly also. Need improvement definately. Actually in any other way crappy Diablo could be an example here.)


[This message has been edited by kasio (edited May 17, 2001).]

Kasio, First off have you read anything about NWN? The reason the story line is only 60 hours is because NWN is not simply a single player game. NWN is designed for multiplayer use online, and the ability to create you own gaming world. With the DM toolset you can make as long and complex of an adventure/campaign as you want. With a live DM playing along with the PC you can have more choice and flexibility than any other game. NWN is going in the right direction.

As for the graphics issue you have, if you don't want graphics just go play the old gold box games. Does the concept of CGA get you excited? They are great games but the BG series is so much better.

If you want more portraits just go find them on the net. I downloaded over 3,100 portraits and I will never have to worry about finding the right portrait again. If true that the paper dolls are a little raw but there are some of them on the net as well.

Voltric, could you please help me with portraits?
I searched web today, found lots of fantasy paintings, art, they look great and impressive. Some of them look familiar to though i have never seen them before :). They are reaaly good as art work, but unfortunately I DIDNT find any portraits that suited my BG character :(
I would be reaaaaly thankful if u could post a link to them or send them by mail or put them on ftp or anyhow let them accessible for me pls pls pls :D!!!!!


As for the way of CRPG issue, what i want to say is "They must not sacrifice more important things just to give us nicer graphics."

[This message has been edited by kasio (edited May 17, 2001).]

Kasio, I downloaded them from Lady Nightshade's page. Here is the link http://www.planetbaldursgate.com/nightshade/ Alas the page is closed right now but you could Email her and ask for the files. I can't attach a 300mb file in Email my admin would have a fit. Let me know if things work out. Good luck in getting some portraits.

Check out http://havak.db-forge.com/
They have a nice selection of them.

Wow he's really redone that site nicely. I particuarly like page 16 :D

Anybody wants to have their own "real-world" photograph made into a oil-painting-style portrait for BG2? You can even choose what sort of getup you like (fighter, ranger, thief, mage, etc.), but still retain your OWN face...I can make some for you, upon request. :)

The photos that you submit must be of medium to high quality however (480x600 or higher in size), for best results.

-RODION http://www.piestactics.com/rodspear

just pray sniper doesnt read the page 16 comment.

Oh god what have I done *shudders* ;)

Getting back to the original post, I was initially turned off a bit with the 3-D style. I really dig the 2-D style, and I don't think 3-D is necessarily better. And why do all the screenshots show umber hulks? Anyway, after seeing the brief trailer in the BG2 game for NWN it looks pretty good. I'd have to see it I guess, and hear it. I think the experience of playing a multiplayer game with a smaller group has got to be a lot of fun. I never played any of those huge multiplayer RPGs. It seems like a different gaming culture, but this sounds cooler. We'll see.