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NWN2 - Toolset Criticisms

by Dhruin, 2007-06-23 03:04:30

Lucky Day pointed out that the July PC Gamer criticises NWN2's toolset, apparently saying "The NWN franchise was once the gold standard for the modding community, but now people are abandoning it in droves".  The text isn't online but Obsidians's Rob McGinnis responded in this thread:

 Speaking as a community member:

I will not address the article, but I will address the mods and the potential of the game.

Is the toolset more difficult to use? I think by the very nature of increasing the flexibility of the thing the difficulty naturally becomes more apparent. But I would say it is no more difficult to use than any of its peers and far easier to use than many of the other toolsets out there.

If your total experience in game modding consists solely of creating mods for NWN1, then I think your frame of reference is extremely limited and you are not prepared for the complexities of modding in today's world, unless you can work through the concepts of modding in your mind - without the interface. The NWN1 toolset was made to crank out cookie-cutter areas quickly for a small group adventure. It was made for the lowest common denominator user and, while it was an excellent solution for what was needed, it does not compete with toolsets or tools for today's modder.

As far as quality goes, I think the bar has been raised. The work you would accept five years ago is nowhere near what you expect now. Much of that comes just from our own maturation - Many of us were in our teens and twenties when NWN1 came out where we are now in our twenties and thirties. Some of it comes from the change in technology as well.

With this in mind, many of the modders are working hard to create modules that are "perfect." At the very least, that's a difficult thing to do and takes a lot of time. We demand engrossing stories now. We want characters with character. We don't want to suffer through amateurish attempts anymore - we did that with NWN1, we want better in NWN2. This puts a lot of pressure on the modders. the criticisms dished out make many modders think twice about publishing.

So I don't think it's necessarily the act of making the mod that's difficult. I think it's making a mod that is acceptable that is difficult.

For me, I enjoy them all, amateur and semi-professional alike.

Information about

NWN2

SP/MP: Single + MP
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC
Release: Released


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