RPGWatch Feature - Neverwinter Interview

Dhruin

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Lucky Day talks to Cryptic's Jack Emmert about their upcoming D&D "Online Multiplayer Game", Neverwinter. Here's a sample:

RPGWatch: What stage of development are you in? Have you started coding?

Jack Emmert: Full on production. Making content as close to shippable as possible.

RPGWatch: What involvement, if any, is Salvatore involved in the project and will there be any book crossover?

Jack Emmert: We worked closely with WotC to weave Salvatore's upcoming Neverwinter trilogy into the background of the game.
Read it all here.
More information.
 
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The only good news that Cryptic is doing Neverwinter did for me. Is to go back to NWN1 - because I realized its the best we will ever get.

And to my surprise ( i used to be avid player 5 years ago) the game is as busy as ever. Even busier!

The possibilities of engine are so advanced its way better than 4-5 years ago.

I am playing on server called Aerlith , and other Ravenloft. And both have features like housing , perma death , crafting , need for food and drink....

Most way surpassing todays MMOs.

Plus they are 100% roleplay enforced. With ever present DMs

I am positive this is the best it will get for us for a long long time.
 
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Twotricks, is the dragonlance game still around? I tried searching for it awhile ago and couldn't find it.

As for Neverwinter all I can say is HELL NO!!! Exclamation points for effect ;) I would rather play the original Neverwinter Nights online game than this ..... I'm being over dramatic of course, but this really doesn't sound like something I would be interested in. Maybe when we get closer to launch more details will come out.
 
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I don't know if you can even call this game neverwinter it has no resemblance to any previous titles.The first two still have a big player base and is single player not a game were you have to pay.I wish Atari loses the d&d license and another rpg company picks it up.
 
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I think Dragonlance is still around. Though i will check again when i come home from work
 
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Thanks, twotricks. I normally can find this stuff pretty easy, but my google skills seems to be lacking with finding out info on Dragonlance. Their homepage is down and every thread I find points me to the homepage. I was interested in that one a long time ago, but it took a long time to develop and since I have the attention span of your garden variety mouse I quickly forgot about it :D

Anyways, this was their homepage: http://nwmax.dladventures.com/ Not sure if they just changed it or more than likely the PW is just gone.

Thanks for the update on the community. I didn't realize it was still as strong as ever :)
 
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Thanks, twotricks. I normally can find this stuff pretty easy, but my google skills seems to be lacking with finding out info on Dragonlance. Their homepage is down and every thread I find points me to the homepage. I was interested in that one a long time ago, but it took a long time to develop and since I have the attention span of your garden variety mouse I quickly forgot about it :D

Anyways, this was their homepage: http://nwmax.dladventures.com/ Not sure if they just changed it or more than likely the PW is just gone.

Thanks for the update on the community. I didn't realize it was still as strong as ever :)

Ok. I checked. There are two Dragonlance PW's active. Dragonlance forgotten heroes, and Dragonlance official.
 
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I don't know if you can even call this game neverwinter it has no resemblance to any previous titles.The first two still have a big player base and is single player not a game were you have to pay...QUOTE]

Well Jack has said the storyline fits in the continuity of the first games by 100 years, something like IWD2 I guess. There will be references to originals.

Seeing as the the new book has Drizzt as the central character I'm betting the story in the OC will have him as a major character as well and that will be a big draw.
 
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That wasn't my point the first and second had a single player campaign offline with good mod tools.This one will force you to pay and play online. For people who enjoyed the older games this will be a deciding factor that and its cryptic developing it.
 
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well the first two could be played MP (except HotU) and the option of playing single player is still there - its just required required to be played online. you might remember that Bio mentioned multiple times that the best way to play was with a group of friends in co-op with a DM. It was this kind of play that got the most support from devs (with the exception of the DM client after the focus group study). Us PW devs tended to get the short end of the stick though we were the ones pushing the envelope on it.

As for pay to play that still hasn't been decided yet. He's said this repeatedly in interviews which is why I didn't ask Jack that question for the umpteenth time. Though the most recent interview from Eurogamer said there will be a fee Jack waxes eloquently on how successful the D&DO has been as a business model when previously free to play was considered a dud (I believe we have a group here at the Watch playing it).

Also, let's not forget Bio's abandoning the free mods early on when they figured out they could get more cash by selling them - even when rehashing Witch's Wake. Obsidian did the same although badly with MoW. So the companies that produced the games before were not of the altruistic spirit you might think they were.

Also, the game will have a toolset - Forge, as has been stated repeatedly including my article here.

We don't know much yet so I'm going to reserve judgement until the beta. Jack is saing all the right things right now including that the guys who were responsible for Champions and ST:O are no longer with the company.
 
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Doesn't matter to me when this game was announced I was exited but then more details came out I lost interest.I personally buy games for single-player and rarely go online to play.There are plenty of free single-player mods from people who have great talent.Online co-op or PW mods are fine but not everyone loves them.
 
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here's a summary of reveals Jack gave us

players will be able to queue a single attack

cloaks, flying and climbign will be available at launch

multiple systems will be needed to accomplish quests (combat, stealth, etc. - not clear if the same quest can be solved multiple ways)

no installed party dynamic system planned..yet

Cryptic answers only to WotC and not Atari in the approval process

Cryptic believes the toolsets were too complicated for the average users in the first two games.

Actions of players will affect the games environment

changes to the 4e system

"many powers in 4th edition deal with moving foes several or more squares away. Naturally, this works well with a miniatures focused game, but not so well in a real time situation. So we've made changes here and there."

PvP will not exist at launch - which is not a complete no, same with housing, and gold storage

No haks or walkmeshes needed - players are provided all content through patches,

tilebased or terrain manipulation (NWN1 vs NWN2)

"Honestly, we're still looking at how players will manipulate the terrain. Right now, players select preset rooms and terrain. Afterwards, the player populates the area with encounters, NPC's, etc. We've got a lot of time before launch and we want to get this into a closed beta ASAP. We want to get feedback on what the users want!"

No word on whether players will be able to script and change things like AI
 
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Having Cryptic make Neverwinter is possibly the worst news connected to this long awaited game. This will be the third dev interview for a third game of theirs that makes claims of "learned lessons" and "listening to the community," coming off with an air of expertise that Cryptic has yet to earn. STO is perhaps the best example of not listening to the community. Am I to expect a bang-up game here this go round? I sincerely doubt it. While its welcome news to hear the dev toolset will be easier to use for the non-modder, I can hardly expect that Cryptic will deliver, given the sorry state of player content tools in their other games. Its all great talk but until Cryptic actually delivers, this is just a disappointment.
 
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