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Neverwinter Nights 2 FAQ v0.99
This frequently asked questions (FAQ) is broken out into the following sections:
1. General
An overview of Neverwinter Nights 2 – What kind of game it is, when it will be released, and information relating to beta testing.
2. What's New in NWN2?
Answers to your questions about what’s new in Neverwinter Nights 2 can be found here.
3. Gameplay
This section talks about the mechanics of playing the game including the new interface, rules system changes, details about the game’s plot, setting, and what kinds of things to expect when the game is released.
4. Player Characters
What you need to know as a character within the single player game (as referred to as the Original Campaign, or “OC”) as well as features you will need to be aware of with regards to playing your character throughout the game.
5. Neverwinter Nights 2 Toolset
This section talks about the Neverwinter Nights 2 toolset, which allows users to create their own custom content in for the form of modules, environments, and campaigns for use within their own games. Details about what’s in the new toolset found here too!
6. Community
Everyone who plays Neverwinter Nights, creates content, asks questions, gives feedback, or raises concerns is part of the Neverwinter Nights community. This section is for you!
7. Technical
This section covers some of the more technical hardware and software questions about Neverwinter Nights 2.
General
An overview of Neverwinter Nights 2 – What kind of game it is, when it will be released, and information relating to beta testing.
1. What is Neverwinter Nights 2?
Neverwinter Nights 2 is the sequel to the critically acclaimed and award-winning Neverwinter Nights from BioWare and Atari. It is a Dungeons & Dragons based role-playing game from Obsidian Entertainment, developers of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Many of Obsidian’s employees worked for Black Isle Studios and worked on projects such as the Fallout series, Planescape: Torment, the Icewind Dale series, and produced the Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance series of games.
2. What is Dungeons & Dragons and the Forgotten Realms?
Dungeons & Dragons, or as its more informally known as “D&D”, is a game that defines the pen-and-paper gaming genre and has set the standard for fantasy roleplaying for more than 30 years. Players create heroic fantasy characters – mighty warriors, stealthy rogues, or powerful sorcerers, which they guide through ongoing series of adventures, working together to defeat monsters and other challenges while growing in power, glory and achievement. More information about Dungeons & Dragons can be found at the official D&D Home Page.
The Forgotten Realms is one of several campaign settings available within the D&D universe. It encompasses both one fantasy world and all fantasy worlds. Whatever you look for in fantasy can be found on Faerûn, the setting of the Forgotten Realms. Dragons fly the night skies, valiant heroes seek fame and fortune, and mysterious wizards hunt the secrets of long-forgotten magics. More information about the Forgotten Realms is available at the official Realms Home Page.
3. When will Neverwinter Nights 2 be available?
Neverwinter Nights 2 is scheduled to ship in Summer of 2006.
What's New in NWN2?
Answers to your questions about what’s new in Neverwinter Nights 2 can be found here.
1. I’ve heard Neverwinter Nights 2 uses the newer 3.5 Edition D&D rules. What kinds of things are different now?
Wizards of the Coast made many adjustments to the 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons rule system to improve game balance and make the game even more fun. Neverwinter Nights 2 incorporates many of these changes, including a Ranger class that offers more interesting and useful abilities throughout each of its levels, and many tweaks to Spells, Feats, Skills, Monsters, and much more.
2. What’s new with the user interface (UI)?
Neverwinter Nights 2 provides a robust and skinnable user interface using XML. Modders can now have customized UI’s and their own artwork that they provide with their campaigns. Enterprising modders also have access to limited UI functionality via script to create their own customized UI – imagine the possibilities for mini-games and the like!
3. Are there any new races or subraces?
Neverwinter Nights 2 features many new subraces from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Each race comes with their own strengths and weaknesses, and many have special abilities to reflect their special heritage.
4. Are there any new prestige classes?
There will be new prestige classes. In addition, there will be a new base class – the Warlock. The Warlock is a powerful new magic-using class with a unique list of spells.
5. What’s new with the Toolset?
Quite a bit! The toolset has been re-engineered from the ground up to be easier to use, more flexible and more intuitive than ever. For more information, check out the section of this FAQ on the Neverwinter Nights 2 Toolset.
6. Will dialogue work the same way as in Neverwinter Nights?
Functionally, dialogue is similar to the first game – but the presentation of that has been brought into the next generation. Cinematic dialogues, as seen in the Knights of the Old Republic games, are utilized to allow for more dramatic conversations and cutscenes.
Gameplay
This section talks about the mechanics of playing the game including the new interface, rules system changes, details about the game’s plot, setting, and what kinds of things to expect when the game is released.
1. What can we expect from the Neverwinter Nights 2 campaign?
An epic story, with plenty of role-playing opportunities. The ability to create your own character and define that character’s personality in the game world. Lots of exciting, D&D 3.5 edition combat, with full control of your main character and up to three party members of your choice. An intuitive, enjoyable interface that helps you control the complexity of the Dungeons and Dragons rules. If you are a fan of classic Dungeons and Dragons RPGs like Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, or the original Neverwinter Nights, there should be something for you in Neverwinter Nights 2. If you’ve never played a D&D RPG before, the more intuitive interface and clearer 3.5 Edition rules make this a great time to start!
2. Will will be able to recruit companions?
Yes, there are companions who join the player’s party over the course of the campaign. In addition to the managing themselves as they did in Neverwinter Nights, you have full control over companions in combat. If you want make all the decisions for your companions in combat, you can – if you don’t want to, you won’t have to.
3. What changes have been made to the interface?
Several changes have been made to the in-game interface to make it more intuitive for end users. One of the many changes is that in addition to the standard Neverwinter Nights controls, you’ll be able to select a new control scheme that will be more RTS-like – something to help if you are coming to Neverwinter Nights 2 not having played the first game.
4. What Multiplayer options will be available?
There will be co-op gameplay available with the game at release – in addition, the toolset provides you with the ability to create your own campaigns that you can play with friends online.
5. Tell us a bit about the story.
The storyline of Neverwinter Nights 2 starts simply enough in the middle of the Mere of Dead Men - in your home town, the humble village of West Harbor. Only the brave and strong manage to eke out a living in such a dangerous monster-ridden swamp and Harbormen are tougher than standard folk, maintaining a certain pride in their adversity. But one night trouble comes knocking – and it’s looking for a long-buried relic, a remnant of a dark war fought when you were but a child. Not long after, you are sent on a desperate mission to Neverwinter to unearth the secrets of the relic, all the while being hounded by opposition. From there a chain of events force you into the role of a hero, giving you the strength, the power, and the knowledge you need to strike back against the forces gathering against you – and the people of the Realms.
6. Neverwinter Nights’ areas and creatures tended to look similar to each other – will this be the case in Neverwinter Nights 2?
For several reasons, Neverwinter Nights 2’s areas and creatures should be more varied than those of the first game. Neverwinter Nights used tile-based levels for both exteriors and interiors, which gave cities and forests their “blocky” appearance. To address this, Neverwinter Nights 2 will use heightmaps for external areas. Heightmaps are a technology that allows both us and the community to easily create varied terrain; including rolling hills, shallow valleys, and mountain passes, all without the need to create new tilesets. In addition, monsters, placeables, can be tinted and scaled, allowing for unique variations on their appearance and size.
7. How will players travel from place to place in Neverwinter Nights 2?
Players will have a world map, which they can select known locations from in a manner similar to Baldur’s Gate 2. Once a location has been selected, the user will travel there – though encounters may happen along the way.
Player Characters
What you need to know as a character within the single player game (as referred to as the Original Campaign, or “OC”) as well as features you will need to be aware of with regards to playing your character throughout the game.
1. Will I be able to create my own character?
Yes. You do not have a predefined character in Neverwinter Nights 2 – you can create a character of your own choosing.
2. What kinds of options will I have when creating a character?
Many – You can select your race, subrace, class, feats, skills and more. In addition, you will be able to select from a series of background traits; these affect how villagers in your hometown will react to you and confer special bonuses on the player as they start the game.
3. Will I be able to customize my character’s appearance?
Yes! Our tint-mapping and scaling systems provide players with the ability to customize their characters appearance to a great detail. In addition, several heads and hairstyles will be available for both genders of each race and subrace.
4. Will my alignment change over the course of the game?
Every player starts the single-player campaign with a blank slate (provided your alignment is not restricted by class.) You’ll be making plenty of tough decisions throughout the Campaign – and you’ll see the outcomes of those decisions reflected in your alignment.
5. Will I be able to have an influence on my companions throughout the game?
Yes – the influence system from Knights of the Old Republic II makes a return. It gives you the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on your traveling companions, and gauge their reactions to your actions.
Neverwinter Nights 2 Toolset
This section talks about the Neverwinter Nights 2 toolset, which allows users to create their own custom content in for the form of modules, environments, and campaigns for use within their own games. Details about what’s in the new toolset found here too!
1. What is the Neverwinter Nights 2 Toolset?
The Toolset is an application which allows you, the player, to create your own campaigns using the exact same tools we have. The toolset allows you to quickly and easily make a small dungeon-hack to run through with your friends, while providing you with the power and flexibility to craft a campaign with an epic storyline and companion NPCs.
2. What’s new in the toolset?
Too much to mention here! But, here’s a short list:
New Interface – The Toolset’s user interface has been completely revamped to allow for a much greater degree of flexibility. Windows can be docked, un-docked, tabbed, pinned – rather than us choosing how we want your Toolset to look, we give you the tools to allow you to customize it to your liking.
Heightmapped Exteriors – Exterior areas in the Toolset are now heightmapped, allowing you to create freeform hills, valleys and other terrain features without having to switch tilesets.
More Flexible Interiors – You are no longer forced into using pre-placed objects in interiors. Tiles will come unfurnished, allowing you to customize them as you like. In addition, you will not be locked into using one tileset per interior area – you can mix and match tiles from different tilesets as you like.
Static Cameras – You can now place cameras in the toolset and attach those cameras to lines of dialogue – making the once difficult task of creating cutscenes much easier.
Tintmapping and Scaling – You can now alter the color and size of placeables, creatures, and more, directly in the toolset.
3. In Neverwinter Nights, I wasn’t able to have conversations, scripts, and areas open at the same time – will that be the case in Neverwinter Nights 2?
Nope. You can have as many conversations, scripts and areas as you like open at once in the toolset, and you can easily switch back and forth between them by simply clicking on their tabs. Additionally, you can divide the screen such that you can have two areas, an area and a script, or any other combination of windows open at once on the same screen!
4. I’ve invested a lot of time in learning how to use the first game’s toolset – will I have to go through all that again?
No – while some aspects of the toolset have changed, the most complex parts of the first toolset remain largely the same. In fact, most of the scripts and dialogues you composed in Neverwinter Nights should largely “just work” or should require only minor tweaks to get working in Neverwinter Nights 2.
In addition, the Neverwinter Nights 2 toolset will be providing a large library of helper functions to assist module makers in easily doing routine scripting tasks.
5. Will I be able to make my own Overland Map?
Yes! You will be able to create and script your own overland map, with all the functionality of the Original Campaign’s.
6. Can I create my own fully-controllable companions?
Yes – you have access to the same tools as the developers to create and add companions to the player’s party throughout the course of your own modules.
Community
Everyone who plays Neverwinter Nights, creates content, asks questions, gives feedback, or raises concerns is part of the Neverwinter Nights community. This section is for you!
1. I’m a member of the Neverwinter Nights community, or I’m interested in discussing Neverwinter Nights 2. Are there official forums available?
Head over here for the Neverwinter Nights 2 forums – and enjoy your stay!
2. Do the developers read or post on the forums?
Yes, developers read the forums and frequently post feedback on player suggestions.
Technical
This section covers some of the more technical hardware and software questions about Neverwinter Nights 2.
1. Will Neverwinter Nights 2 support NVIDIA’s SLI feature?
Yes, if you have two video cards that make use of SLI, Neverwinter Nights 2 will support them.
2. Does Neverwinter Nights 2 support AMD 64-bit processors?
Yes, we’re planning to fully support AMD 64-bit processors running Windows XP; however, the game does not support Windows XP x64 edition.
3. Will Neverwinter Nights 2 make use of dual core CPU’s?
The Neverwinter Nights 2 Toolset is a multithreaded application; as a result, it will utilize the benefits of dual-core processors from both AMD and Intel.
4. Does Neverwinter Nights 2 still use the Aurora graphics engine?
Neverwinter Nights 2’s graphics engine has been replaced by the next-generation Electron engine, which supports advanced graphical features like fully dynamic lighting, normal mapping, specular mapping, shadow maps, and more.
5. Will Neverwinter Nights 2 make use of advanced features of newer video cards?
Yes – The game fully supports Shader Model 2.0 and 3.0 cards (such as the NVIDIA GeForce 6 and 7 series and the ATI Radeon X1800) to achieve stunning visual effects at a much higher framerate than possible on older video cards.
The game requires at least a DirectX 9.0c compatible video card that supports at least Shader Model 2.0.
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