Pool of Radiance:RoMD Message Boards News
Posted Monday, July 31, 2000 - 11:13 CET by Nazgul
From Chuck Yager, Associate Producer
Concerning Multiplayer:
Guys, guys...please, here's the skinny on multiplayer.
It is set in the same setting but will not be the same as the single player game. There are more random battles and quests to follow, as well as thematic dungeons scaled to level and creature type for you to enjoy. There will be certain magical items that are unique to multiplayer, but the storyline from single player will not be present in the multiplayer game. We decided to avoid the "same game over again" mentality with PoR2's multiplayer component. Hope that clears that up for ya.
Will the environment be active. I mean, will trees sway? Will weather be visible, at least:
We are presently trying to construct as active an environment as possible with ambient life and some movement. We'll let you know more as it progresses.
Icewind Dale Patch v1.06
Posted Sunday, July 30, 2000 - 22:54 CET by Sorcerer
Did someone say there's no news on Sundays?
A new official Icewind Dale patch just appeared on the Icewind Dale homepage. These instructions go along with it.
Happy patching!
NWN Project Update
Posted Saturday, July 29, 2000 - 23:35 CET by Sorcerer
Trent Oster, The Neverwinter Nights Producer updated the official site today:
NWN Project Update for June & July 2000
The last couple months have been a very hectic. We've been meeting on a large number of design issues and nailing down everything we can. The various aspects of the project are moving along quite nicely and things are progressing smoothly.
Programming
Working tirelessly to implement new features, the programmers have completed many improvements and optimizations to the game engine. We have done some graphic engine experimentation with bump mapping and the results are very promising. There were a lot of big grins plastered on everyone's faces when we gathered together to get our first peek at the prototype in action. We have also been adding a number of enhancements to the basic AI systems and implementing support in the scripting language for some additional functions. The reaction system is coming along, too, and I'll be discussing this more in future updates. To help the Animation department preview their work, we've also implemented an animation viewer that lets you queue up actions and view how they interact using the interpolation system. There has been significant progress on the Mac and Linux ports of the game as well, with Apple lending us a hand in the form of a G4 with a spanky flat screen monitor. We all felt like cavemen seeing fire for the first time. =) On a final note, the Aurora toolset has been renamed yet again and is now known as the Neverwinter toolset. We've basically come full circle on this issue and it's been quite confusing for everyone involved, so from now on we will refer to the tools as the Neverwinter toolset.
Art
We are starting to work out the details on a more realistic and dynamic combat animation system. The characters will actually duel as opposed to just swinging blindly. The work on the tilesets goes well with plenty of gorgeous scenery being added every day. The various tilesets have been changed a bit in terms of content, with us reworking and optimizing what is in each tileset. With our recent work we've managed to increase the diversity in each tileset and focus in on actual needs outlined by our designers. This has involved merging a number of the tilesets together to allow for much greater flexibility within a given area. The portraits are coming along very well, too, with good variety and strong character. The last two months have also brought a number of new character and monster models to life. We are hard at work texturing the characters and monsters and in the not too distant future we will be able to give everyone a good look at what we have been working on since E3.
Design
The Design department has been working on implementation plans and preliminary maps for the single player game. It is really hard not to give away the story secrets when discussing design, but we are quite dedicated to keeping the story under wraps until the project launches. On another note, the new and improved module design database is almost finished. The database will help the designers to better keep track of all the objects in the game and will reduce the effort required to create those objects by allowing designers to draw on a standard library of stock items where necessary (as opposed to reinventing the wheel with every module). On the game design front we have been working out a number of rules issues and other game mechanics problems that have emerged out of the "List of Lists". The "List of Lists" is essentially a master content and rules list for the entire game. If a feature or piece of artwork is in the list, then it is in the game and someone is assigned to it. Otherwise it can't be assumed to be in the game. Additionally, the Henchman system has been defined a little more clearly in terms of implementation, allowing for followers of both a generic and a plot-specific nature. This is a powerful tool for the designers to use, in terms of both playbalancing and storytelling.
Summary
Neverwinter is a grand vision of a project and every day that vision moves one step closer to reality. It is a pleasure to work on such an epic project, surrounded by a talented team and a lot of positive feedback from everyone interested in the project.
42 New Baldur's Gate II Screenshots!
Posted Saturday, July 29, 2000 - 23:02 CET by Sorcerer
As BioWare puts the finishing touches on its epic sequel, GameSpot offers a closer look at what to expect from it - over 40 new gameplay screens.
A bit of text from the intro:
Interplay handled the casting and production of all the speech in BioWare's sequel. Previous Black Isle Studios games have featured professional voice-acting performances from Hollywood stars like David Warner and Dan Castellaneta, and Baldur's Gate II will carry on this strong tradition. Baldur's Gate II will also include a massive print manual that describes the setting of the game, the second-edition D&D rules, the hundreds of available spells, and more. The spell book portion of the manual may or may not be included as a separate bound volume along with the rest of the documentation. The game itself will ship on four separate CD-ROMs. It is not known as yet whether Interplay will also release a DVD-ROM version of the game.
Check out the screenshots here.
RPG Vault Visits Bioware
Posted Saturday, July 29, 2000 - 22:54 CET by Sorcerer
Yet another report from a visit to the well known Edmonton Fun Camp (yea, right).
Today RPG Vault posted their report with a few new screenshots (shitty quality unfortunately, collectors start weeping) and a few other shots of the Bioware Team.
Today's load of news from the IWD and BG2 boards.
Posted Saturday, July 29, 2000 - 18:09 CET by NightKin
Let's start with the BG2 board, as usual.
On the Baldur's Gate II board
From David Gaider, BG2 Designer
On the Bounty Hunter thief kit:
Well, one thing we did has already been mentioned. The Thief class has the ability to Set Traps... and the Bounty Hunter specifically has the ability to set traps that have an increasingly more potent effect as his level gets higher. Some of them are quite wicked, indeed.
It's an interesting kit... although the use of the traps does require some thought and a change in tactics. The ability for PC's to walk over them and only enemies to set them off is definitely a plus, though.
NPC information:
A couple of things to add to the list of NPCs, there...
- Haer'Dalis (pronounced HARE-da-leece, in case you were wondering) is actually a Blade, the dual-wielding kit of the Bard class.
- Cernd is actually a Shapeshifter, not an Avenger Druid (this one is my fault, not Joost's, as I had forgotten the change).
- Mazzy (not Mazzi), while a fighter, is also technically a Truesword of Arvoreen (although she is not a Cleric). I suppose it more refers to her special abilities rather than her class, but we've always called her a Truesword. She kicks butt.
- missing alignments: Aerie (LG), Anomen (LN), Haer'Dalis (CN), Jan (CN), Mazzy (LG), Valygar (NG).
Keep in mind, though, what I said about NPCs and their alignments... they are much less likely to fight amongst themselves (or you) for differences in alignment (although they are perfectly willing to argue and bicker). There are also several characters whose alignments can change during the course of the game depending on your choices and the path the plot takes.
A small novel about NPC protraits :)
It's pretty hard to judge the portraits when they're wee bitty things on a screenshot. Mike Sass did the new portraits in a bit different style (more pastel-ly) that takes some getting used to.
Personally, I think they look great. Minsc's chin IS a bit big, but otherwise I like them better than BG... and I think you might want to withhold judgment until you see them up close.
Of course... when has that ever stopped any of you before?
Dropping into the Land of Snap Judgments, I am a bit surprised. Someone does something in a bit different style and some of you guys jump all over it like a pack of hyenas. Typical.
The IWD portraits were different, too. Once I got used to them, though, I really liked them (as obviously many of you do). But my first reaction was that they were quite different.
The new portraits reflect the characters very well (Imoen has been through a lot. Someone commented that you couldn't change that much in a few months... I might add that the original BG generally took place over the course of 3-4 months game time depending on how long you took). In some cases, I think they look better. Jaheira in BG did not look much like a half-elf, for instance.
But whatever. You guys will decide for yourselves, in the end, what portraits you prefer. This kind of knee-jerk negativity is disappointing, though, and overlooks the fact that Mike Sass (who did the BG portraits) has done some very fine work for BG2.
The new portraits took a bit of time for me to adjust to, as well... my first reaction was not very favorable, either, just as with the IWD portraits. But after sitting down and looking at them seriously, I saw the amount of detail and work that Mike put into them. They are really quite excellent, and after playing with them for a while, I actually prefer them to the BG portraits.
Hopefully. I also think, though, that there are those people who are going to find things in the game and react to them, right off the bat, exactly the same as the portraits.
There are a few things that we know happen in the game, story-wise, that some people are just NOT going to be happy about. At least not when it first happens (and they jump to conclusions). Unfortunately, I will only get to see their 'This game sucks!' post on the board and not know that they went on to finish the game, enjoy it and decide they were wrong.
Regardless, all I hope is that Mike is avoiding the boards today. Maybe in a day or two when people have settled with the new style things will be OK.
The portraits might be touched up a bit as they get finalized... but the chances of us going and changing the style of either the portraits or the game is zero. Period.
I don't think the picture in the ad looks so much like the old portrait of Imoen. It looks nice, sure... Jason Manley did that one. We did not put together those ads.
A change in style was not required. We happen to like the new style. Yes, you are free to put whatever portraits you like wherever you like. In fact, you can add a portrait to every single character file in the game and their portrait will pop up beside their dialogue.
That's because the old game was very popular. There are a lot of people who are quite attached to characters who had maybe 20 lines of spoken dialogue all told and very little story. The average character in BG2 has over 100 spoken dialogue parts and maybe 300 or 400 strings of written dialogue (if not more).
That's a lot of story. However, there might be some people who might not like that (for some reason) and they're free to do so.
I suspect, however, that the new characters will be very popular for that reason.
All I've seen so far are people expressing how much they dislike the differences after seeing the portraits and artistic style of the game for 1 day. Oh dear... the style has changed from my beloved old BG1 that I played forever. Something DIFFERENT... gosh, well, I don't like it. :)
You and others may not end up growing 'used' to it and may hate it forever. Whatever. I have little doubt, however, that the majority of the people who are griping over 'style' (like doing so makes it a critique) are really unsettled because we've done something different, period.
But that's not surprising. Nor is there any reason to be bitter about it. The game will be awesome, regardless... and there is as much stylistic difference in the story as there is in the portraits. Some people will like it, some won't. I simply hope some of these people give the story more of a chance than they have the portraits or they're going to be very disappointed, I guess.
I did. But I also decided, later, that I was being awfully prejudiced based on the simple fact that the portraits were so different from what I was used to. I was not giving them a fair chance.
Once I did, I didn't mind them so much and, as I said, I now like them more.
But I do understand what you say about the connection. GOD, do I. If there weren't so many of you who felt such a personal ownership for BG and D&D, do you think such a thing as portraits or whether or not damage vs. large is implemented would be a personal issue? Probably not.
I must admit my patience ebbs with my stamina from these long hours... I didn't mean what I said to be interpreted as 'there's something wrong' with anyone who disagrees with me.
The fact that a few people who don't like the new portraits feel the need to repeatedly post and be the loudest out of the bunch, and yet not really say anything useful escapes me, though.
I come here to hear ideas and suggestions, for future projects if not necessarily this one. I come here to hear thoughts on RPG'ing and CRPG'ing and argue with people, even if (and maybe because) you don't always agree with me. I also come hear to hear people's thoughts on what they would like to see in BG or in their gaming. And while I don't desire universal praise, I don't come here for pointlessly harsh criticism. Fine. You don't like the style, just as you obviously didn't like the story. Fair enough... there's not really much I can do about that. There's a big difference between a thoughtful criticism and some of the thoughtless insults that have been flying about hear today.
Now I'm not trying to say the portraits are high art. There are some I don't care for, myself (I would probably use Minsc's old picture, for one, although I certainly don't hate the new one). But I would never go into Mike's office and tell him or the rest of the art department: "Gosh, I've been looking at these pictures and MAN do they blow! They really suck! Look how fat Minsc is! And what's with this pastel crap?! Why did you try anything new, what's wrong with you?!"
Yeah that would go over well. About as well as Mike coming to tell me that the story I had written was 'not to his taste' but nothing more specific beyond that.
So why should I come here for more of the same?
Someone asked earlier today if we had finalized our decisions regarding MC/DC strongholds and the soft cap. We have... but I'm not about to bring it up here and get jumped all over for it. Best to see it and judge it as part of the game, rather than bring out just the one piece and put it under a microscope and rip it to shreds.
Or at least that's what I feel like. Mind you, I could just be weary and tired.
In a way, I suppose us designers get away a bit scott free at this point... I suppose our turn will come once everyone has his or her chance to play out the story. (shudder)
I suppose I might be a bit sensitive to that, as well... but is it too much to ask for some thought-out commentary rather than mean criticism with no point?
Only one dwarven NPC:
There were two dwarves in BG because we had 24 or 25 (I forget which) NPCs to work with. We have 16 in BG2. One might ask why there's only one halfling? Why only one gnome? Why only one elf (unless you count drow)?
And he's evil because that's the way we made him (or that's the way Kevin made him, anyway). What other reasoning is there supposed to be? Sorry we couldn't accommodate your hope for more dwarves... but with 16 NPCs there are a lot of people who aren't going to find their fondest wish, either, which is too bad.
Will it be possible to buy more then one thing at the same time?:
Yes, that's in.
From Nathan Plewes, BG2 Line Producer
Even more on NPC portraits:
Well keep in mind that the portraits are still being played with (i.e., the funky yellow tint and 'big eye' thing). Constructive criticism would involve suggestions for improvement not just "These suck.. change them." I agree with Dave that the new portraits took a bit of getting used to but they suit the look and feel of the game better than the old portraits, and as states many times if you don't like them import the old portraits.
And on the Icewind Dale board.
From Darren Monahan, IWD Producer
Const. bug:
This problem has been fixed in the patch coming this weekend.
Game crashing at start up:
One suggestion is to make sure you have the absolute latest drivers from both your video and your sound card manufacturer. This typically clears up the problem for most people. If it still continues to crash, lowering the sound hardware acceleration in the DirectX Diagnostics (C:\Program Files\DirectX\SETUP) can fix this as well.
Gamespot Does Baldur's Gate II
Posted Friday, July 28, 2000 - 23:42 CET by Sorcerer
Two Baldur's Gate II posts showed up at Gamespot today. One is featuring some nice new concept art and the other some of the characters that will (re)appear in the new game.
Follow the link above to see the new portraits for Imoen, Minsc and Jaheira (the returning NPCs) and some new ones as well. I wonder if it's just me or does anyone else think Imoen looked better in the original?
Baldur's Gate II Screenshots
Posted Friday, July 28, 2000 - 23:30 CET by Sorcerer
Geez... It seems everyone picked today for letting loose batches of BG II screenshots.
Anyway, RPG Planet posted 18 new ones from their field trip to Edmonton. Check them out here.
Baldur's Gate II Preview at Daily Radar
Posted Friday, July 28, 2000 - 23:22 CET by Sorcerer
A very nice new preview of the upcoming Baldur's Gate sequel popped up at Daily Radar. It's got new screenshots, plus some interesting info:
"Players can expect to see everything from the standard dungeons, to marshes, woods and even Drow city to explore. The game will include almost all of the original monsters from BG I and its expansion, but it will also include new enemies for a total of more than 230 different monsters, 180 of which are unique models. The animations have been improved, with dozens of cool little touches. The Beholder, for example, drools and rolls his eye into the back of his head whenever he casts a spell. As a bonus, the guys promise us something "big and cool" in the game that they aren't going to reveal until just before the game ships."
I wonder if "big and cool" is covered in scales and breathes fire... Hmmm.
Feargus Urquhart Interview
Posted Friday, July 28, 2000 - 22:41 CET by Sorcerer
Gamesmania kicked up an interview with Feargus Urquhart, Division Head of Black Isle Studios.
Topic of the discussion were, believe it or not, consoles. In light of persistent rumors of a Dreamcast port of Baldur's Gate (which you won't hear confirmed or denied by Urquhart in that column), Gamesmania thought it a good time to sit down with Mr. Urquhart and pick his brains about RPG games and gamers, the Dreamcast system, and the console picture of the future.
An interesting bit:
Gamesmania: What part of a PC RPG is the most difficult to translate for consoles?
Urquhart: An expansive non-linear game world. It would need to be done in such a way that the player continued to know what the next step was and that it was easy to get to. A lot of PC players like walking across five miles of wilderness for 20 minutes, whereas console players probably would find this boring. The trick on consoles is to make it easy for players to find their way to the next plot point in a world that seems very expansive, while hiding from that player the feeling that they are being directed.
The interview concludes with Urquhart confirming that in the future Black Isle Studios will definitely be producing games for consoles, too.
News on Neverwinter Nights
Posted Friday, July 28, 2000 - 17:23 CET by Nazgul
From Trent Oster, NWN Producer, Bioware Corp.
(1) If characters are stored on servers only, meaning no character vault or other outside influence, and a persistent world is built on a distributed model (meaning various small servers on DSL/Cable and "portalled" together)-- if a character dies on a particular server, or gets updated in any way (gains levels, items, experience) and that server loses its connection with the rest of the "world", will the character continue to be dead/updated upon next login, even if they log into the game with a different IP address (meaning another server in the group)? Or will that character "not exist" but on the current server (and thus be dead or currently updated):
The system is still under design and we are working towards the most powerful system we can build for the end user. The case you describe could result in one of two possibilities. If the characters are stored on one system for the entire server chain and that system is down the character will not be available for play. If the characters are stored in a distributed fashion, the character could exist on the last server you were on before the portal and you could resume play before you took the portal. If you played the character from the last server, any progression on the post portal server would be wiped out.
(2) Say 5 people are adventuring together and 2 take the portal to the "next world" and then that link goes down. The three remaining people cannot portal. If the characters are stored on the servers only are the 2 "trapped" characters done for until that particular server comes back up (meaning that they cannot play anywhere with those characters until they can get to the server where their character is currently stored):
The two people who are now on the crashed server will still exist on the previous server or in the server character storage system. they could log back in and resume play on the server where the 3 others are, but they would lose any xp/items/etc.. they obtained.
3) Is there a default timeout or server-defined parameter for timeouts? In EQ, for instance, if someone loses an IP connection, their character is vulnerable for 60 seconds:
Yes, pulling the cable out of your computer will result in an idle period while the character stands in a defensive pose.
4) Is there any capability for a personally controlled, central "character server" (not Bioware's Character Vault) where a distributed model could check characters in and out of (but under the server manager's control):
This is what I discussed as a possibility in #1. We are looking at this option in a serious manner and we hope to have time in development to offer this option.
(5) If a character logs out (or loses connectivity) and later comes back, do they "pop" back into the module starting point or do they "pop" back in where they left off, or (hopefully!) is it server defined:
Anytime a character loses connectivity with a server, his/her current position in the area is saved so they would pop back in where they were unless the module is reset, in which case the character would appear at the module start.
This is still an area we are doing a ton of work on and the final system may differ from the options I've described here. We are trying to create the best system we can and if a better option emerges we will attempt to use it.
He had a few other things to say about Darkvision as well:
We are still working through the implications of Dark vision. Our plan is to have some form of graphics representation such as the screen appears substantially brighter to a character with darkvision if there are no light sources present. If there is any form of light present dark vision will not function.
GEN CON 2000 – International Game EXPO & Fair
Posted Friday, July 28, 2000 - 10:40 CET by Nazgul
Repost from the Dragon Magazine Aug 2000
Come Celebrate GEN CON’s 33rd year, and experience gaming at its finest! We’ve sold-out the exhibition hall. We’re anticipating record gamer turnout. We’ve scheduled more than 2,500 events, tournaments, workshops, and seminars. We’re going to rig the convention center with a LAN so gamers can play computer games against each other. Games Workshop will run the largest-ever miniatures event featuring 150 gamers. The LEGENDS OF THE FIVE RINGS team will be making a surprise announcement. And lets not forget the exciting offerings from the Dungeons & Dragons team…
Witness the historic launch of the new edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game. The celebration begins on ‘Third Edition Thursday’ with a series of panels, discussions, and game demos surrounding this latest edition of the game. Hear from D&D creators David L. Arneson and Gary Gygax. Meet the producer of the Dungeons & Dragons film, Corey Solomon. Discuss the philosophy behind the design team’s work, hear why they made certain rule changes, and take a sneak peak at the upcoming Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual.
Update from Pools of Radiance:Ruins of Myth Drannor
Posted Friday, July 28, 2000 - 10:37 CET by Nazgul
Will we see the return of the Tyranthraxus as the main nemesis of the POR:
All I can say is that what we have is much worse than the Big T. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!!!
From Jon Kromrey Producer, SSI/Mattel Interactive
Will you have a Demo version of the game at GENCON:
In preparation for GenCon we are fine tuning what aspects of the game we will be showing off. We'll keep you posted as we get more details on the matter regarding a demo.
From Chuck Yager Associate Producer
I'll be at Gen Con showing off portions of the game. The demo is something Stormfront is still working on.
From Jon Kromrey Producer, SSI/Mattel Interactive
Here are the answers as best we have them now.
1) How will CD swapping be handled? For those limited on space, will the CD's be layed out so that CD swapping is at an extreme minimum:
CD swapping will definitely be at a minimum in PoR:RoMD. How much swapping will be found out in later testing of the game.
2) Will the game be made fully installable so only one CD is required to be in the drive at all times:
Yes, the game will be fully installable.
3) Would you happen to know the full install size of the game if there is that option:
We are estimating about a gig, maybe less.
From Chuck Yager Associate Producer
So what about the Detect Trap spell and Dispel Magic? Can these not be used on traps:
That earlier statement did not take into account the Find Traps spell that clerics can cast. Yes, that spell will help you find traps like a rogue would in 3rd Edition. What was meant was only a rogue can use the Search skill to find traps through non-magical means.
From Chuck Yager Associate Producer
Will we be able to rest in a room that we have barred ourselves into? Or will we be able to rest with them standing right outside that door or will we get a message such as, "You may not rest while monsters are around":
Yes, it most likely would be an instance where the rest indicator would go from red to yellow because of the precautions you had taken.
------------------
From Chuck Yager Associate Producer
Official Icewind Dale Site Updated
Posted Thursday, July 27, 2000 - 23:56 CET by Sorcerer
It seems that the Official IWD site just won't give us a rest... they are churning out new stuff for us to enjoy on a daily basis now.
While some other sections besides the Downloads & Archives were updated (Screenshots and a new Rhino Beetle gif), that one remains the most interesting.
You can find a bunch of new Manley's portraits there, including a female halfling thief, a male elven thief, a male elven fighter plus some others. They also added a plethora of new game-action movies.
Today's news from the IWD and BG2 boards.
Posted Thursday, July 27, 2000 - 23:47 CET by NightKin
Hello all you happy people, here comes today's load of news from the Baldur's Gate II and Icewind Dale boards. Enjoy you little monkeys :)
On the Baldur's Gate II board.
From Mike Geist, Designer and Webmaster
Information on Athkatla:
You won't be locked out of Athkatla, and should have no problems returning to visit. But there are a few times when you physically can't reach the city, such as being in the Underdark, Abyss, etc. You'll have to leave those areas completely in order to access Athkatla again.
From David Gaider, BG2 Designer
More on Release dates:
We're not legally restricted, only morally. I could say when I think the game might hit the shelves... but I could be wrong, and why get you guys all hyped up over something that I, personally, have little control over?
So instead of having us all guessing when we'll be done the Bug Hunt, we leave it to one person (generally Ray or Greg or Ben or someone) to make the 'official guess', so there isn't a bunch of dates floating around.
Heh... I know that sounds obscure, but it is a pretty educated guess. Currently we're targeting Fall of this year.
On Weapons:
Kensai can't use missile weapons, but beyond that Kensai are free to choose any melee weapons. Swashbucklers are only restricted to weapons that the Thief class can use.
NPCs and character kits:
Six out of the 16 NPCs have kits. Korgan is the only Fighter-class NPC with a kit (Berserker kit, technically a Battlerager since he is a dwarf). So, no, there is no Wizard Slayer or Kensai NPC unless you make one yourself.
Drow city:
The drow plot in BG2 does not take place in Menzoberranzan. LOL... you guys should know we like to chart new territory.
From Kevin Martens, BG2 co-Lead Designer
More on Rest until healed:
Rest until healed is an *option* in BG2. So, you can turn it off if you wish to.
And on the Icewind Dale board.
From Darren Monahan, IWD Producer
On the Patch:
Hello everyone,
We're planning a release of another patch for the end of this week (most likely Friday afternoon). It will include a fix to the Constitution problem.
For users of the foreign versions, the US patch should work fine on your builds as no text was changed, but we're finishing up localization of those for you as well.
From J. E. Sawyer, IWD Designer
Scrolls and spells:
Every mage spell in the game is on a scroll that is not randomized. There are multiples of some of the more popular spells.
The summoning limit is done for balancing reasons. As another user said, there's plenty of reason to take multiple summoning spells. You just can't cast them all at once -- which is exactly what we were trying to prevent. Would you like it if, for every day that passed after you entered a dungeon, the summoner inside conjured up twenty trolls? Probably not. We didn't want you to do it, either. It gets pretty silly otherwise. Sorry.
On other BIS Games:
I believe that there's room for all sorts of games to be developed at Black Isle. Some people loved Fallout 2. Other people hated it. Some people loved Planescape: Torment. Other people hated it. Some people loved Icewind Dale. Other people hated it.
There are a lot of gamers out there, and they have a lot of different tastes. I'd rather make a bunch of different products that appeal to a wide selection of tastes than make a bunch of products that are very similar in style and design.
Gamespy Visits Bioware
Posted Thursday, July 27, 2000 - 23:36 CET by Sorcerer
Some folks from Gamespy stopped by BioWare in Edmonton to see the progress on Baldur's Gate II and Neverwinter Nights. The report is an interesting read, offering some clues about the development of both games, but with some exciting details from Baldur's Gate II:
The second place we could visit was the fighter's stronghold that was overrun by trolls. Strongholds are special, arduous quests that are related to each class. For the fighter it revolves around a keep, while the thief can become master of his guild. The final area we could visit was the Underdark, home of the dark elves, the drow. Black, rounded spires, eerie lighting, and cages with human prisoners set the tone well for this unusual locale. By adding the interesting twist that you are magically disguised as drow, you interact with this evil society instead of just slaughtering them. For instance, while having a conversation with a drow female, another drow became upset by her responses and attacked the one I had been speaking to. These glimpses at Shadows of Amn made it clear that the game had a lot of depth, many gameplay enhancements and stunning graphics. BioWare has clearly been developing excellent games and a chance to visit them behind the scenes was a treat.
ZDTV Baldur's Gate II Interview
Posted Thursday, July 27, 2000 - 23:17 CET by Sorcerer
ZDTV posted an interview with Ben Smedstad, the producer of Bioware's highly anticipated sequel to Baldur's Gate.
There are a few paragraphs of text to accompany all the movies (yes, the interviews were all filmed and are only avilable for viewing online... in other words, all dial-up users don't even bother), but this was the only interesting piece of text:
The spell Find Familiar is what a higher-level mage casts and what he gains is a small little, almost like a pet, except it's more than that. They share a psychic bond. They can perform tasks. They can do all sorts of things. And the mage gets benefits in casting this. In Baldur's Gate 2 you can actually cast Familiar. And what the spell allows you to do is summon a creature based on your alignment, and it's random what it is, that comes in and when you summon it you gain hit points and other abilities. But of course if it dies it's a horrible penalty. But he can go explore the area in front of you. He can go scout. You can ask him questions. He can give you advice. You can scoop him up and put him in your pack and off you go or you can have him run around and do stuff. It's an interesting Forgotten Realms spell that we decided to include in Baldur's Gate 2.
Check the whole thing out here.
Scott Warner Updates Designer Notes
Posted Thursday, July 27, 2000 - 22:45 CET by Sorcerer
Earlier today Scott Warner, a designer who previously worked on Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale, finally updated his designer notes.
Elusive as ever, he posted some news regarding the status of Team Torment’s new project without revealing what the Secret Project is, of course.
What was said (among other things):
Designers are submerged in the realm of content creation at the moment, coming up with many different aspects of the story and game. We’ve recently added Brian Mitsoda to the team, who’s an intern designer from the wonderful realm of QA. We’re already starting to see great results from him, so hopefully he sticks around long enough to actually get along with some of us. We’ve also had Rob Holloway, one of our fine programmers here at BIS, surprise us all with a whole slew of amazing design submissions (hopefully he’ll be able to return my sentiments when I start helping out on the programming end of things later in the year).
Lukas Kristjanson (BG II Developer) Profiled
Posted Thursday, July 27, 2000 - 0:24 CET by Sorcerer
RPG Vault scored another interview with a member of the Bioware staff, this time with Lukas Kristjanson who was Lead Writer on the original Baldur's Gate, and is now filling dual roles as a Writer and Designer on the sequel. In this Developer Profile he tells us about his position at BioWare, how he found it, his background before that, some of his personal interests, and more.
Posts From the New Official Boards
Posted Thursday, July 27, 2000 - 0:14 CET by NightKin
And now to the info on the new message boards, which is really the place to go if you want to get info from the people that make the games you love.
Right ho, lets start with the BG2 board, mmkay?
The Baldur's Gate II board
From David Gaider, BG2 Designer
On giving info to the press and not the people on the boards:
Oh, please. We've told you guys so many things for so long... all we've got left is the story and the stuff we are holding out to create pre-release hype. Magazines are publicity and hype... they get the scoops, period. Sorry, but that's the way it is.
As for the few NPCs mentioned, I'll flesh out the info for you:
Nalia: human, dueled thief/mage (yes, there is a reason for the T/M thing, not to worry)
Yoshimo: human, bounty hunter
Korgan: dwarf, battlerager (this is the only dwarven NPC, so no good dwarven NPCs, sorry. Korgan is a blast, though.)
Haer'Dalis: tiefling, blade (this is the tiefling I've mentioned a few times... y'all were wondering about his name).
So there... that should hold you all off for a minute or two.
There are some things we're not supposed to say and lots of things we don't want to say. At least not yet. We've gotten our noses nipped more than once from a large group of people jumping all at once to conclusions based on limited information. Yikes! LOL!
Trust me... most of this stuff you're going to *want* to just see for yourself.
Time update:
Pretty well... no-one's head has exploded spectacularly just yet, and I understand that's a good sign. You guys have no idea just how hard it is to make the MONUMENTAL amount of stuff that's already in the game work properly. Aarrgh! (I know, I know... cry me a river, poor Davey has the wunderjob and there he is complaining...)
You don't know what a head-ache is until you've stared at a monitor for six hours straight hunting down some elusive bug only to find out that it was your own stupid fault for spelling DestroySelf() as DetroySelf() and it was right in front of you the whole time.
Underdark:
The characters are not actually polymorphed. They are covered with an illusion that is very difficult to pierce. They get no other drow abilities... part of the difficulty of being in the drow city is that you must beware any kind of direct scrutiny (especially from the Handmaidens of Lolth) that might reveal your presence. You must also act like drow, if you can, or others will become suspicious.
You do not have to take the infiltration path if you do not want to. The quest is on the critical path, but there is certainly a much more bloody and violent route to take as an option, should you wish.
A little info on in game romance:
the male romance meshes according to the type of female PC that is being played. His romance plot branches wildly... it's the largest romance plot both in length and by way of the fact that it ends up being more than one plot, essentially.
You'll see. I hope it doesn't disappoint. I would have liked to add in another romance plot, but at that point we were discovering just how huge and incredibly complex the romance plots were to script and mesh in with the overall game that we knew we just wouldn't have time.
Hats off to John Winski and Mike Geist, though, for managing to get the four romances to work as they do. It's good stuff.
No, no. In all the cases with romance, it only looks to see if you are eligible (of the appropriate sex and race)... it does not look at alignment or class or anything else. A romance only develops based on how you treat the character and on whether or not they approve of decisions you make. We'll leave the alignment conflict (if any) to your own role-playing.
From Kevin Martens, co-Lead Designer
And more on in game romance:
The male romantic lead meshes with a wider variety of alignments.
And on the Icewind Dale board.
From J. E. Sawyer, IWD Designer
More on resting:
By default, when you rest, you're "Resting Until Healed." This means that you're casting spells, resting, casting all healing spells, and re-memorizing your old spells. So, that's where you get 16 hours. However, as someone pointed out, there isn't any time limit in the game.
From Richard Finegan, IWD Programmer
Decastave spell:
It won't state in the log window that your character has been healed, but if you carefully watch your character's hp, you'll notice that s/he is being healed on successful strikes.
Crunch Mode @ BioWare
Posted Thursday, July 27, 2000 - 0:09 CET by Sorcerer
The miserable cloud of crunch mode hangs over the talented game designers of BioWare Corp. in Edmonton, Alberta.
About two months ago, the team working on the highly anticipated sequel, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, have watched their work schedules stretch from the occasional 12-hour day on Tuesdays and Thursdays to those long hours becoming the daily norm.
"We work Saturdays, but Sundays are enforced 'get the Hell out of the office' days," said Producer Ben Smedstad. "This is so people's loved ones remember who they are and so they can enjoy summer in Canada. It's a big thing for us. Winter is pretty harsh. It would be a shame to miss the warm season-both weeks of it."
Fun? You bet. Read all about it at Gamespy.
News from the Old BG II Board
Posted Wednesday, July 26, 2000 - 23:50 CET by NightKin
Well, Looks like the old Interplay boards are not quite as dead as some of us might have thought. Sorcerer just pointed out to me that both Bioware and BIS employees are still posting answers to several questions and I'm sure you kiddies would like to see the questions and of course the answers right away, so without further ado, here they are:
From Kevin Martens, co-Lead Designer
On how the journal will work in BG2:
We now have 4 sections to the journal.
Quests - active quests
Done Quests - completed quests with a summary entry
Main Plot - journal entries dealing with the main storyline and critical path
User - where you can add your own journal entries.
Some people think the rest button is to close the select all button in IWD and they are wondering if it will be the same in BG2:
The rest button is not close to the select all button.
And finally Kevins answer to another release date question:
We have given no official release date. There is no guarantee.
An apprentice would be interesting. Wait and see, I do believe that you will be happy... :P
Baldur's Gate II Update at Gamespot
Posted Wednesday, July 26, 2000 - 23:48 CET by Sorcerer
As the game nears completion, GameSpot got to play BioWare's upcoming Dungeons & Dragons RPG. Recently, they visited BioWare in Edmonton, Canada to play Baldur's Gate II for a few hours. The game is nearly complete, and is on track to ship sometime this fall.
Their news report is very interesting, and it actually reveals some things we haven't known before:
"Among the other information we discovered is that D&D fans will finally be able to wield and use the most powerful magic items in the D&D universe. Although we knew before that paladins would get their holy avengers, we now know that the staff of the magi is available as the ultimate quest item for wizards. Additionally, the hammer of thunderbolts - a weapon that lets you stack the bonuses of the gauntlets of ogre power and the girdle of giant strength in addition to doing double damage - is available as a quest item that must be assembled from various parts."
Check the update here and drool. ;)
Jason Manley Interviewed
Posted Wednesday, July 26, 2000 - 20:57 CET by Sorcerer
The brilliant artist whose work on Icewind Dale we all know and love has been interviewed by H'rothgar of Ice Winds of Dale.
Portraits inspiration:
I look at a lot of paintings from the 19th century. I am inspired by artists such as William Bouguereau, John Singer Sargent, Rembrandt Van Rijn, Jean Leon Gerome, The Pre-Raphaelites, Odd Nerdrum and even sculpters such as Rodin. As a kid, Larry Elmore and Kieth Parkinson were favorites. I feel like they really gave the D&D world the look that people expect and look for. There are others but they stick out to me right now. I look at the current people doing book covers as well. To be honest, I pull most of my ideas out of my previous studies drawing from life (light studies and color studies as well as figure drawing) and Art History.
Skip Williams Discusses Sorcerers
Posted Wednesday, July 26, 2000 - 20:25 CET by Sorcerer
There seems to be much interest in the new Sorcerer class on our Boards O' Magick so I decided to post this short interview that will give you a bit more information on what the Sorcerer class is all about.
"If you're from the "blast 'em" school of magic use, or you just have a short list of favorite spells, the sorcerer is for you. Sorcerers are great for fire support and transport -- you've got the fireball and dimension door spells you want. The sorcerer class is good for developing a themed spellcaster. For example, you can load up your sorcerer with transmutation spells and run around changing things into other things."
Read the whole interview at Wizards of the Coast.
Pool of Radiance: RoMD Recent News
Posted Wednesday, July 26, 2000 - 16:34 CET by Nazgul
07/24/00
The following messages were posted by Chuck Yager:
What areas of the game will be explored:
There are a total of 8 above ground levels, with building to explore, ruins to seek out, and superficial tombs to delve into. There are a plethora of underground catacombs, dungeons, and caverns to explore as well. However, there are no conventional towns so to speak, but there will be people to interact with, buy/sell/trade items with, and receive healing from in the game's above ground areas.
Armor. One size fits all:
Armor will fit anyone when you find it, "magically resizing" to fit the desired character. However, the halfling will be restricted on some types of weapon use, and some normally one-handed weapons for say humans might requie two hands for the halfling.
07/19/00
The following messages were posted by Chuck Yager:
1) Will there be a bandage option, which was implemented in the gold box games?
You can use the Heal skill to stop the bleeding on characters that are wounded in battle.
2) If a character goes into negative hp's will a cleric be able to heal them and get that character back into battle?
Yes
3) Will Monks be able to use their open hand fighting skill to get the 1d8 damage plus their bonus's for level advancement?
Yes and Monk's hand to hand damage goes up with their levels too.
4) Will the read magic spell and comprehend languages be used in the game?
No...there won't be a need. All magic will be able to be read by sorcerers as needed.
5) Will cantrips be used?
Yes
6) Will magical armor not be as cumbersome an heavy as non-magical armor?
Yes, it will not weigh as much as normal suits of armor.
7) What different types of armor will be used in the game? Will it be the basic armor with plate mail being the best or will there be half plate, full plate...etc?
Right now we are supporting leather, chain, scale, and plate.
8) On ability scores, will the option to do 1 for 1 be implemented?
You will get to assign points to all socres to create your scores in the beginning of the game using the 3E rules for point based character gen.
9) I believe I read somewhere that upon going up levels you will be able to raise ability scores, will this be used in the game?
Yes
07/18/00
The following messages were posted by Jon Kromrey:
on special class related attacking abilities being combined:
Yes.
on special Monk weapons:
Monks are a recent addition to the game and we're outfitting them currently.
on a multiclassing XP penalty for a Human Ranger/Roque/Fighter/Monk:
Humans can choose any class to be multiclass, and his highest class does not get penalized for XP. Your 4-class human character would have a -60% XP penalty (20% per each after the Favored Class).
07/17/00
The following messages were posted by Jon Kromrey:
1) Will the game be fully turn based, or mixed realtime when not in combat, and turn based when hostiles are present (like JA2 and the Fallout games)?
It's mixed so that when your characters are not in combat it's real-time. When you see an enemy (or the enemy attacks you), the entire party goes into combat mode... the "action-based initiative" combat where each character gets an amount of time (scalable by player) to react and commit an action.
2) If our characters cast a spell like "Monster Summoning", will we be able to control the actions of the monsters we summon, or will they operate independantly?
When you Command a monster it fights for the party on its own.
3) Will we be able to save in any place, at any time? How about during combat?
You can save at any place or time, but not during combat.
4) Will we be able to sort our savegames (for example, by save name, or date)? What will be the default order our games are listed in (I prefer them ordered by date as a default, but that's just me)?
The savegames are listed in order of most recently saved. We have just added an autosave feature as well. The autosave will save the game when the player enters a level.
5) How many save games can we have?
Approximately 30 or so.
6) Will there be a quick save/load feature?
Not at this time.
7) Will we know what area our area effect spells will cover (like in the Darksun games) or will it be more like Baldur's Gate and the original Gold Box games (only learn from experience)?
Targets of area effect spells turn red. As you move the cursor to select targets, the radius of the spell changes appropriately.
8) If a foe is invisible, will that foe be truely invisible to the player, or will we see a translucent image (like we would see for our own invisible characters)?
We're currently playbalancing this.
9) How are traps going to be handled? Will we have a Search mode like in the original Gold Box games, a Find Traps mode like in BG, or something different (if so, can you explain a little bit about it)?
In the new 3E rules, the Search skill needs be used first, then if a trap is found, then a Disarm Trap skill is needed. Rogues, and only Rogues, can disarm magical traps. The tougher traps (difficulty skill 20 +) can only be detected by Rogues.
10) Will there be special cursors (or something) which tell us whether our character's attack will be treated as coming from the front, side or back (this is most important for attacks from the rear, since that does have some special strategic significance)? If not, will there be any way to know for sure that our character's attack will be treated as an attack from the rear?
This was something we ran into while testing the paper version of 3E. WotC had the same problems we had and removed Facing from the rules. Flanking is supported (so that if there are 3 opponants on a character (Right, Left, and Front), then the Front opponenant gets a bonus.
11) On a related note, how will we control our character's facing during combat? Will we be able to move them to a particular location and then have them turn in place so they are facing a particular direction?
We're using a bit-based location system, so wherever you click the character turns to face that point.
12) Will there be keyboard shortcuts for various common actions? If so, will we be able to customize them?
Yes, and yes.
13) When we create our characters, will it be clear to us what size they will be (eg Small or Medium)? This is important because (as you know) in many cases this affects how many hands a character needs to wield a particular weapon, and to some extent what weapons a character can wield (a Small character couldn't wield a Large weapon, for example). Will there be situations in the game where it will be preferable to have a Small sized character rather than a Medium sized one?
Size is shown in the character creation process, but does not affect the gameplay. There are weapons that only smaller characters can use (but not weapons like a claymore), and size affects the kind of damage opponants can do to you. (example, as the halfling is a Small size, and thus gets +1 to attack, AC, and a +4 to hide rolls).
14) How will item identification be accomplished (especially magical items)?
Cast the spell, then select the item to identify. Right-click on the item to read its description.
15) How will we be able to tell each character's status (ok, HP remaining, charmed, held, poisoned etc)? Will a simple mouse over reveal any problems with one of our PC's, or will we need to access the character sheet etc?
An on-screen graphic will appear on the chacarater model showing positive or negative spell effects. HP is shown by concentric circles at the character's feet.
When our character are off screen will there be location markers like BG or will it be search until you find them?
During combat all characters are all in the combat... perhaps far away (a screen or two) and needing to run to the aid of others, but it's all for one and one for all. To go to a character that's off screen, simply left-click on the character's bar in the lower-right corner, and the screen centers in on that character.
Will you be able to play a CD of your own music in the background while disabling or turning down the in-game music?
The Pool CD must be in the drive when you play the game. We are not currenlty supporting CD-ROM switching.
Will we be able to type in a short description with our save games, and/or will there be a picture displayed with the save game (like in the BG style games)?
Typing in a short description with our save games is TBD (to be decided).
In turn based mode, will we be able to nominate the place we want our character to go (allowing the character to chose the path) or will we need to specify each step? If the former, will we see the path the character will take (like in the Heroes of Might and Magic games)?
Movement path tracking... This is not supported ala Might and Magic. The cursor changes per the placement (okay to move, not-okay to move). Once committed to an action, the model then moves to the designated point.
~New staff of Sorcerer's Place!~
Posted Wednesday, July 26, 2000 - 14:19 CET by Nazgul
Greetings all! I'm the newest member of Sorcerers Place. I am taking care of the news from the official Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor boards so you only have to check this site here for all the latest games. I am looking forward to working with Sorcerer and the rest of the crew. Also, if I see any new games pop up that I find interesting, I’ll post the info of them here. Nazgul
Bioware to develop a Star Wars RPG
Posted Wednesday, July 26, 2000 - 1:56 CET by Sorcerer
And you thought Bioware will be doing (A)D&D RPGs forever... Well obviously it isn't so, because a while ago a press release was issued announcing to the world that Bioware will develop a Star Wars-based RPG for LucasArts (smart move, we've seen enough disasters lately). Here's a sniplet from the press release:
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- July 25, 2000 -- LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC and BioWare Corp. today announced a partnership to create the first Star Wars role playing game (RPG) for PC and next generation video game systems. Expected to release in 2002, the game will be set in a time period prior to the Star Wars films.
The agreement combines Star Wars, the most successful film-based license in interactive entertainment, with BioWare's considerable development expertise in the role playing genre. BioWare created the critical and commercial hit RPG Baldur's Gate™. The Star Wars role playing game will be developed by BioWare and marketed and distributed by LucasArts.
Read the whole press release here.
More from the boards
Posted Tuesday, July 25, 2000 - 23:24 CET by NightKin
Several questions have been answered today on both the BG2 and IWD boards. Here they come, enjoy.
The Icewind Dale board:
From Richard Finegan, IWD Programmer
Problems with aura enhancement:
This is a bug - the potion of aura enhancement isn't correctly applying a permanent +5% magic resistance. Sorry - we're fixing it.
We have fixed this but the fix is not in the current patch.
From J. E. Sawyer, IWD Designer
Negative HP problem after patch:
Rich is looking into this problem. He thinks it may have to do with some code that he commented out during the patching phase. BioWare had this weird easter egg in the Infinity Code where, if a PC had less than -200 hit points, it would add about 11000 hit points. Why it would take high Con characters and mess them up, I don't know. I'm sure Rich will let everyone know what the deal is when he figures it out.
Rest:
If we have time in the future, I'd like the encounter check to happen once for each day of rest that goes by. Unfortunately, I think it would require a significant programming change.
Critters attacking party members with low Armor Class:
Monsters often target spell casters. It just so happens that spell casters often have the worst AC in the party. There is no evaluation of AC going on. And, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. You can rush right by enemies as well, and they don't get attacks of opportunity, either. Attacks of opportunity work well in turn-based games, but suck in real-time games.
And the Baldur's Gate II board:
From Brent Knowles BG2 Designer
On manual translations:
The translation of manuals is completely out of our (BioWare's) hands. Interplay will handle the distribution of Baldur's Gate II. We have little or no say in the matter, in terms of what is translated and what isn't.
Your concerns are definitely valid however, so what I can suggest is for you to contact someone at Interplay. I'm not sure who would be appropriate, perhaps there is a sales division for Interplay based out of your country that you could contact.
From David Gaider, BG2 Designer
On the Baldur's Gate II novel:
I wouldn't worry about the book spoiling too much of the game. There are a few things in common between them, but not many (a few of the characters are common, at least).
Of course, the book may have changed significantly from the last time I saw it, but I doubt it.
News from the BG2 board
Posted Tuesday, July 25, 2000 - 2:38 CET by NightKin
Ok, Here comes the first load of news from the Baldur's Gate II board
Enjoy kiddies!
From Ben Smedstad, BG2 Producer
Information about PnP and how they will be used in Baldurs Gate II:
Actually the rules from the P&P rules are adhered to as much as possible. Matter of fact very FEW rules have been changed at all, anywhere, including the kits. You can make a good decision on what kit to play in BG2 based on the AD&D source books.
From David Gaider, BG2 Designer
Rapiers and sabers etc.:
There is no saber and no rapier, at this point. If we stuck one in, at best it would be a +1. We'll see.
About thieves and their hoods:
The new thief avatars do have a hood, but it is not as big as the ones in BG2... it covers the top of the head, but not the eyes.
Bards don't use the thief avatar and don't have hoods at all, actually.
Summoning:
The spells in PnP don't really give foreknowledge of what is summoned, so neither have we. You do, however, have a fair knowledge of the HD level you are looking at... so you could probably come up with a few ideas.
Keep in mind that the summoning spells stick within a close range of creatures. Monster Summoning summons monsters... so you're looking at gnolls, kobold commandos, ogres and such. Animate Dead summons undead, Animal Summoning summons bears, wolves and such... while Call Woodland Beings summons dryads (I believe).
Continuing play after killing the final boss:
What for? What, exactly, would you do? Run around and battle the occasional random monster and complain as to why no one recognizes your general bad-ass-ness or changes at all? Once the story ends, the story ends... unless there's a sequel or expansion or something. We would treat that however we need to treat it.
Caravan scenario:
That would be a story element. We have all kinds of stories within the games, as well as unusual encounters. The 'escort the caravan' thing is pretty cliché (mind you, what isn't, really?)
Information on the Cities:
One really big city was enough for us for one game, so we didn't do Murann. But there are other Amnish settlements that we have included. Personally, I would have liked to have done Riatavin (although that is technically Tethyr, I suppose)... but the ones we do have some very intricate plots revolving around them as well as quite a unique flavor. I think you'll like them.
Stronghold siege:
The siege in the fighter stronghold doesn't actually involve the Sythsillian Empire. It is a separate story that culminates in the siege.
The Sythsillian Empire does, however, play a recurring minor role in the game... you will hear of events that are going on in that war, be presented with things that have occurred because of the war and (maybe, depending on your choices) become involved in some aspects of the Empire's activities.
The new kid
Posted Tuesday, July 25, 2000 - 1:38 CET by NightKin
Hail! I'm one of the new guys here at Sorcerers Place. I've known Sorcerer for quite some time and I'm sure that you will all grow to love me like you love him.
Anyway, I'm gonna handle the news from the official Baldur's Gate II and Icewind Dale boards so you lazy people won't have to go there and look for yourselves :)
Right ho, I'm looking forward to this opportunity to annoy a lot of people, and I'm sure you will too.
GA-RPG gives Icewind Dale 91%!
Posted Tuesday, July 25, 2000 - 1:24 CET by Sorcerer
For the first official news post on the new, spiffy, redesigned and oh so fine site (ehm), we have a link to GA-RPG's review of Icewind Dale. It may have taken them a while to review it, but it was worth it. The overall score it received was 91%!
A bit of their review:
Icewind Dale is a surprising title that should keep the more traditional RPG fans happy with the multitude of hybrid RPGs released this summer. Although the game has an emphasis on combat, the character development and storyline are both handled extremely well with this one. The promise to deliver a pen and paper dungeon crawl with Icewind Dale is apparent, and Black Isle Studios has delivered.
Check out the enthusiastic review here