SPOILER ALERT:

Screenshots from the Palace of Sorrows:

1- the Sorrowguard. Nasty.

2- Proof that super-epic level isn't always easy: my party of level 30s gets its arse kicked.

3 & 4- Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Shaar/Blacklake screenies

To SoZ or not to SoZ...

Jon: To make CotI SoZ-compatible or not to make CoTI SoZ-compatible…the choice came down to me (mostly as the only one with spare cash.) I’ve already read most of the arguments for and against so I’ll try and make some useful points.

PROS: (Ignoring those already mentioned)

OM/Party conversation/etc.

I think we’ve got to look at these aspects of the game in the same way as we did the NWN campaign as a whole; it doesn’t quite work as it stands (the OM in particular reminded me of those old Pokemon Game Boy games. ‘You have encountered a ___: Fight/Run Away!’) but there are infinitely great opportunities for modders. The only time party conversation really worked (for me) was when my female Warlock managed to flirt some information out of a randy Port Llast bartender where the boys were having no luck.

Ideas for party convos; f.i. you control a couple, battling their way through the world. Say a sleazy bard tries to chat up the woman of the party; her responses can range from temptation to repulsion, while the man can either suffer in silence or snap, with varying results. Possibilities of having your evil blackguard and good cleric play good cop/bad cop are endless.

Toolset.

Some much-needed and lovely stuff here, particularly in the effects department. Want to have a raven pecking at dead corpses, and then taking off as you approach? Yes. Want streams of light-and-shadow moving around you as you pass through forests? Yes. I’m sure some of these have been under-used in the game- why the hell have I not seen more snakes dangling from vines? Also jagged rocks, giant ferns, and snake tilesets which can easily be adapted. Sigh…

Continuity:

SoZ agrees with pretty much everything we assumed would happen after the OC, and we’re so happy. Aside from the Thayan Enclave in Blacklake, there’s nothing we’ll have to change, and it’s even given us a boost towards giving the OC companions a decent amount of dialogue to see that some of them have (somehow) survived. Now we just need to work out what happened to One of Many…

CONS: (Ignoring those already mentioned)

Scrappiness.

Constant poor spellings and bad grammar don’t ruin the game. They’re fine if you come across them on the Vault? But for a professional game, it’s not exactly smart.

Bizarre autosave

Poor doctrine on ‘entering unknown dungeons’ means that the autosave is still blanking the screen while my poor ol’ cleric is dashing blindly into harm’s way- once he was actually dead by the time I could see what had hit him.

Suitability of Chult.

OM is fine- it’s about time we had an improvement on the ancient World Map. But it means SoZ never gets a chance to make Chult what it should be about; towering canopies, huge ferns, your heroes wading through intense terrain rather than just being represented by a little man on a map.
I think our agreement is to make two versions, one with the Ape King and Neverwhere sidequests revamped for SoZ material (see above). It’s just too lovely not to use, and I hope we’ll be able to do with the borders of Chult what I’m blathering about in the last point.

Been A While: New Screenshots (Beware of Spoilers)

We've been having fun with one of the campaign's big battles. We don't want to give too much away, so ignore these screenies if you want to save the best for playing :D Problem was, they're just too damn pretty not want to share them.

Tricky part was figuring out a way of making the battle epic-scale without slowing the game down too much. Frame rate is still a problem, sadly.

All the best,

Nick

Screenshots

Screenies of areas already completed; we've been working on conversations (and romances...) solidly so there's not much new exciting stuff to show. But there will be- Gardens of the Immortals is currently in dev...

Screenshots #5

Shots today feature the 'Hall of Pleasures', where you'll briefly stop off in pursuit of your enemy. It uses the Estate tileset to make a giant demonic palace, with exterior views- we're adding more complicated lighting, so it will look less starkly red.

Daernvan, the paladin companion, is also featured. We wanted to get away from the 'typical' paladin- this is a man whose idea of 'lawful good' has been stretched to the limits, manning an abandoned Neverwinter colonial post by himself out of a sense of duty.

Also a few shots of the 'Neverwhen' major time-travel sidequest...you'll get to go back to the just-founded Neverwinter Docks (we thought a bit of a 'Wild West' feel) and help your future fellow hero out by stopping an Old One attack hoping to retrieve a certain artifact....

Screenshots #4

Jon- These are actually old shots, from the first chapter of the game; enjoy.