BG2: The best thing that ever happened to this forum.

[Mori]

I'm glad to see we've now passed the 6,000 posts mark and look set to beat the Ultima Online forum if this keeps up :)

So thanks to everyone for posting, and thanks to Black Isle for giving us the best CRPG the world has ever seen! :D

[Tenshi]

of course.. the rerlease of BG2 hasd breathed a new life into thew forum here :) and even more to come with NWN! :) YAY!

[[BLITZ]Scarab]

True though the timely demise of TFC has helped too :blitz:

[Prophet]

Hmmm, I don't think we'll see NWN as soon after BG II as we did BGII was after IWD

Incidentally, did anyone else watch the NWN trailer? The engine looks very different from BGII, far more 3D based and alot less in the way of background artwork.

[Mori]

Aye. The background for NWN is tile-based, not rendered, which is why it'll be so much easier for players to create their own modules for the game. And the engine is completely 3D rather than 2D. BG2 is the last game they're going to make using the aged Infinity engine (barring any add-ons, of course).

[Prophet]

Now you mention it Mori it would be very difficult to give the DM flexibility in design and retain the high quality background artwork. It's a shame really, as I think we'll really miss them when they're gone :{

I know I'm jumping the gun a bit, but have you heard anything about an expansion pack for BGII?

[Tenshi]

so does that mean that the graphics r going to go downhill from here?? :(

[Mori]

By no means, Fallen. It just means they're going to go 3D. There might be a bit less variety in the backgrounds in NWN, but there are many tilesets to choose from and even the capability to create your own where the existing ones aren't enough.

Prophet: there's been nothing official about a BG2 expansion, though there is one for Icewind Dale in the works if one's interested (I'm not). Given the success of BG2, there could be an expansion, but I don't know how they'd fit it in.

[Prophet]

I take it from the tone of your last post Mori that you found IWD a disappointment as well :{ For me it was just so disheartening to hide in shadows and then scout ahead to find row after row of undead lined up waiting for you, with very little in the way of justification for their presence. I know it was always going to be a dungeon crawl, but the whole game just felt soulless to me. Thank god BGII is so different :)

[SummerFlame]

I don't know what ya all on about the background artwork for nwn is ace and it looks cool. I think u should take a look at some of the screenshots.

I think iwd is too much of a rip off, they had the animations, artwork and monsteres already done for them. All they did was slap it together and gave it a name. So I'm surprised they would even do the same thing again by adding a expansion. Plus the team responsible for iwd are not the same team who made bg1&2 so I really didn't expect it to be as good as the original bg.

No doubt there will be a bg2 expansion as soon as the sales of bg2 begin to fall. No doubt they delebralty left out some cool ideas in bg2 and will only put them in the expansion just to give you more incentive to buy it.

[Prophet]

In a way I hope there's an add on pack like TotSC as that helped me go back and replay the original BG :) Without the add on pack I don't think I'd have ever got around to it.

Having said that I think BGII seems to have more replayability, simply 'cos of choice you have to make between the Shadow Thieves and the Vamps. I'm already planning my next party which I guess will include all the most evil npcs I can find :vampire:

[BlackWidow]

hahaha although i bought BG2 today my main game is still UO, We will get our revenge!!! :)

BlackWidow

[Mori]

I don't need an add-on pack to replay the BG games... heck, I've already completed chapter 1 with a second party :) My problem is, the Underdark runs really slow and jerkily on my machine, so I'm waiting till I have access to a better one before I continue with my first party.

[Prophet]

I've had some performance issues as well. If there's more than about 15 characters or monsters on screen I seem to slip into jerk-o-vision :{ and I've not even got all the flashy graphics options turned on. Maybe it's time for an upgrade...