NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer - Interview @ Eurogamer

Obsidian's Feargus Urquhart talks to Eurogamer about NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer in an article format interview:

However while promising a hugely increased level-cap, new races and classes as well as a full stand-alone campaign, Obsidian are keeping many details close to their chests. So when offered the chance to exchange e-mails with Obsidian's very own Elite-class level CEO Feargus Urquhart, we clearly grasped it and tried to resist the urge to just descending to a conversation about how much we liked Planescape Torment when he was back at Black Isle.

We fail, rapidly, when we ask him what other game does the 15-20 hour included campaign feels most like, in terms of experience. "This may sound strange, but the other character based RPG that I can think of is Planescape: Torment," Feargus notes, "Both of them are character focused, but in different ways. Torment was about discovering who you were, while Mask of the Betrayer is more about saving yourself. Another difference is the focus on combat with Mask being more about fun combats and Torment more about your relationship with your companions."

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Interesting interview. Over their relatively short reincarnation as Obsidian, I've always been pleasantly surprised by how Urquehart and co. listen to the game community.
Apparently among other things, they will be eliminating the 'compulsory companion' system, adding better modding capabilities, and providing the uber races and classes people asked for.

Fearghus also said this about high-level character combat :

"…But we also are designing some specific combats to be extremely challenging. These are generally fights that have other possible solutions to them. So the hardcore players will find some great combat challenges, but the more casual gamers won't be overwhelmed by the game's difficulty…"

It's always hard to get combat right. I thought some of the fights in NWN2 were quite respectable, though.

While I will buy the expansion, I'm not going to believe ALL the hype just yet!!

I've ignored NWN2 thus far, but Obsidian sure know how to push the right buttons to get me interested… Did he just say it will bear some resemblence to PS:T? NOW I'm listening. Looking forward to reviews on this one. Any ideas on a release date?

Kinda meh interview. Seems Feargus is a real genuine politician these days, promising to cater everyone's interest without saying much in concrete ways how they are going to do it.

Obsidian/Atari could announce the upcoming classes and races already. Or at least admit if the info that can be found in dialog.tlk file is really going to be in the expansion. (After 1.05 patch the dialog.tlk file has several new lines that have material related to expansion like a red wizard prc and some companion names.)
There's a thread on the NWN2 forums about the topic and you can even check it out yourself if you have a suitable program capable of reading the tlk-file.

Originally Posted by mogwins
I've ignored NWN2 thus far, but Obsidian sure know how to push the right buttons to get me interested… Did he just say it will bear some resemblence to PS:T?

Obsidian have said that about just about every game they've made though Time to stop relying on past glories (which bear no relation) and make a name for themselves proper.

I enjoyed NWN2 through and through, except for the end. Wont give any spoilers here but there were many fans who mentioned PS:T as how to build a potential sequel to NWN2. I am glad they catched on to the idea.