NWN2 - Planescape Trilogy Interviews

Rogue Dao Studios who are working on the Planescape Trilogy series of mods for NWN2 has been interviewed over the last week at Warcry and NWN2 Worlds. Here's Warcry:

WarCry: For those new to the Planescape Trilogy, please give an overview of the three planned modules, Purgatorio, Inferno and Eschatologia.
The Planescape Trilogy takes place in the Planescape campaign setting (surprise ), starting the player off in the Hive Ward of Sigil, the city at the center of the Multiverse. The Cage as it is affectionately called by some is connected to the Multiverse through a countless number of doors, or portals, that lead off to different planes of existence.
Recently, a series of grisly murders within the Hive has brought the iron fist of the Harmonium, a strict law-enforcing faction, down upon the ward, and the less noble factions situated in the Hive are becoming restless. Tensions are rising between the fifteen factions of Sigil, and it doesn't help matters when there is a murderous psychopath on the loose.
Purgatorio will clock in at around 10-20 hours depending on how you play. If you rush through the main plot and don't touch any optional side quests the module will be significantly shorter. There will be a good mount of custom content available, such as: Mortuary and Gatehouse exteriors/interiors, new helmets, weapons, newly designed UI, epithet feats, a wide range of tilesets, new creatures and NPC's, and even some animated placeables.
Inferno is going to be smaller than Purgatorio in terms of game play and will contain a much darker storyline. While Inferno's gameplay will be half or less of Purgatorio there will be a much deeper storyline and the player will come to find out the motivations and desires of the characters he or she met during the first installment.
For Eschatologia we would like to recreate all the wards of Sigil, as well as a good portion of the Inner and Outer Planes, and allow the player to explore these areas in a non-linear free roaming fashion. So it would basically be an open world, and would also be about twice the size and scope of Purgatorio. This is obviously very ambitious, and something we're considering.

…and NWN2 Worlds:

What content can the community expect to be your first release? Do you have a ETA?
Monty: Right now, we're shooting for releasing Purgatorio sometime between the third week of June and the last week of July. That's always subject to change, but we're still making steady progress and if things go well, we'll make that timeframe. As for content, the following things are definite: 300 custom placeables (some of which are animated); 3 -hours- of custom music; 20 custom tiles and meta tiles; 12 custom weapons; 12 custom helmets; a few custom heads and clothing sets. Tentatively, we could have as few as 2 and as many as 6 full custom creatures. The meshes and textures are done for those creatures, and now its just a matter of animating them to a high enough standard in time to include in Purgatorio. We may, or may not accomplish that last bit.

More information.

Sounds interesting, but as with every other fan project, I'll hold my breath until I see the final product. Though in this case, I'm not sure if that means the first part or the third. Anyway I think lot of people will agree any new mods in Planescape setting are welcome.

Yeah, I wish them luck but a Planescape mod is heavily dependent on creativity and the writing quality.

I've been hopeful on this since it was announced last year. They've slipped a bit, but not too much by mod standards. It seems clear that they have a whole lot that they've accomplished, but whether or not it pulls together into a compelling experience is another thing. I'm still hoping …

I'm hoping for something good from this one too. Though I'm not so naive as to not be ready and braced for utmost dissappointment!

All the best, but I'm waiting for final results. And I would be very, very happy to see at least one module. The rest is only a bonus.

Originally Posted by Dhruin
Yeah, I wish them luck but a Planescape mod is heavily dependent on creativity and the writing quality.

I agree. Writing made Planescape: Torment the great game that it was. If this trilogy has great writing, it will be a great project.

Doctor_Kaz: You should bear in mind that these modules are merely set in the PlaneScape universe and are in no way connected with the Torment characters or storyline. Though I agree with you - if the module has great writing, it will be on the way to being a great project - though I think that holds for just about any project!

Sounds interesting. Lots of work, as well. I'm sure. I'm interested to see what the "newly designed UI", consists of. Also an 'epithet feat'—I thought only the Codex awarded those.
Think he might have meant 'epic'.