NWN 2: Storm of Zehir - Screens @ VoodooExtreme

Interesting - the "overland map" isn't really a map, it just looks like it's zoomed out a whole lot. Wonder how you exit the overland map? Do you just zoom in, or is it a "mode" that you enter and exit? Looks like the latter when considering the UI on the screenshots of the overland map.

As with every game element, this one is very hard to say anything specific about untill we've actually tried it. It definetly has potential though.
 
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hm, what's the supposed benefit/use of such a "map?" "Overland" suggests wide open spaces "a la Arcanum", where you could specify waypoints and toddle off over continents/countried. This just seems to involve moving the camera and redrawing the screen at a somewhat larger distance. In NWN2 you could already move the camera pretty far out, although I can't recall if you could pitch it all the way over for a top down view (?) The Arcanum model and the old BG model are both "overland" maop models that I liked and IMHO convey a suitable sense of scale when trekking large distances.
 
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Is that supposed to be the overland map? I thought it was just an extreme zoom out.
 
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You build the map like an exterior map in NWN2, but the scale is obviously quite different and things are obviously abstracted (as one can see with some of the placeables). The map also scrolls as you walk on it (may seem obvious but some people elsewhere assumed that those screenshots are of entire maps). I also believe the camera is locked in that position. There will be special placeables for use on the Overland Map.

You exit the Overland map when you run into enemies, NPCs and other stuff you can run into. The game then loads a "random encounter area" ala Fallout for those.
Otherwise I assume you just enter a set location by walking into it basically.

There was also an interview a while back with Matthew Rorie (Obsidian PR guy) where you could see the map in action on a screen behind him (pretty poor quality though). When the character ran past enemies, there was a Survival check which determines if the monster "sees you" or not so to speak. There were also quite a few other skill checks that popped up, but hard to see what they were.
 
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Interesting.

So is there no longer the ability to 'jump' from one location to another like in the infinity games and the NWN OC and MotB?
 
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...
You exit the Overland map when you run into enemies, NPCs and other stuff you can run into. The game then loads a "random encounter area" ala Fallout for those.
Otherwise I assume you just enter a set location by walking into it basically.
...

Thanks for the info. Seems kinda "gimmicky"? if I want to walk through an area, I'd rather have it rendered fully (as in Oblivion, which was oh so pretty ;-) - if I want to get from A to B - without a pointless amble - I'd rather have a BG/Arcanum type map (with possible random encounters and survival checks etc) without having to watch mini-me moving across the landscape. I'm not sure I see the value of this? I guess running into NPC's on a large scale map is a problem - but that can be scripted - or it could be a location (as in Arcanum) that appears if you wander nearby it on the map so you can then travel to it to investigate. But I guess there must be some tactical/gameplay use for it otherwise they wouldn't have put it in...?
 
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I expect the design goal was to create an open and more explorative campaign for SoZ, but sort of doing it in a way that wouldn't require *to much* work for the actual engine. I believe they said this in some interview as well.

As for the advantages vs a "static map" like BG, it is mainly the explorative feel that you can uncover locations on the map "manually" (like in Arcanum and Fallout or whatever). And I mean, for all intents and purposes I expect it will function like that as well, with the abstraction of time passing on (since we will travel huge distances in the game, along the Sword Coast and to Chult which I gather is a rather big journey though I'm not a Forgotten Realms nut). Just that it will be different stylistically in we don't get "icons" of Arcanum or Fallout but a more immedieately visual and graphical style, since I guess that enabled the devs to work faster with the engine.

I prefer an even more abstracted way (again, ala Arcanum and Fallout) myself, but I think this looks good to and will likely function quite similarily in many ways (with some differences, like we can see enemies and so on).
 
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Thanks for the info. Seems kinda "gimmicky"? if I want to walk through an area, I'd rather have it rendered fully (as in Oblivion, which was oh so pretty ;-) - if I want to get from A to B - without a pointless amble - I'd rather have a BG/Arcanum type map (with possible random encounters and survival checks etc) without having to watch mini-me moving across the landscape. I'm not sure I see the value of this? I guess running into NPC's on a large scale map is a problem - but that can be scripted - or it could be a location (as in Arcanum) that appears if you wander nearby it on the map so you can then travel to it to investigate. But I guess there must be some tactical/gameplay use for it otherwise they wouldn't have put it in...?

It added a little something to Fallout, IMO. Made travel a bit more interesting and a bit more hazardous, and made you less likely just to ignore the passage of time and hop madly from one side of the map to the other, à la NWN2. I like the idea. They could always screw it up in the execution, of course.
 
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Neverwinter is in the northern end of the continent and Chult is at the southern end of the continent. It will be a very long walk from Neverwinter to Chult, unless they shorten the trip going down there.

I really like the overland map and I thought it was going to be like Fallout but it is much more detailed then that. This makes it far better for finding those hidden locations that they have talked about.
 
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It added a little something to Fallout, IMO. Made travel a bit more interesting and a bit more hazardous, and made you less likely just to ignore the passage of time and hop madly from one side of the map to the other, à la NWN2. I like the idea. They could always screw it up in the execution, of course.


Now who's the pessimist? :)
 
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I always liked the map in Arcanum, and this does sound a bit similar, altho much more detailed.
 
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