NWN2 - Mysteries of Westgate Interview @ GameBanshee

Dhruin

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Ossian Studios' Alan Miranda has been interviewed at GameBanshee about their Mysteries of Westgate premium NWN2 project:
GB: Mask of the Betrayer had less of a focus on combat than the original Neverwinter Nights 2 did. Would you say that Mysteries of Westgate will follow in this same direction or can we expect a lot of confrontation in the adventure pack?

Alan: I think we’ve done a very good job balancing between both the role-playing and combat aspects in MoW. We definitely don’t focus “a lot” on confrontation, and I would have to say that things are scaled a bit more towards role-playing, with lots of interactions with NPCs and objects. There are many instances where players are given choices of how to deal with challenges, not all of which require combat, such as sneaking past a confrontation or talking your way out of it. However, we have plenty of challenging battles with nasty creatures that players have never seen before in a Neverwinter game, so don’t put away that sword just yet. :)
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Very political answer, doesn't really give a clear indication of what to expect.

Still, one to keep an eye on.
 
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Also, who's Ossian?

Game company founded by Alan Miranda, formerly of Bioware.

www.ossianstudios.com

This is their first foray into commercial gaming. Darkness over Daggerford which brought travel maps to NWN was supposed to be a Digital Download but Atari nixed it to focus on NWN2.

Because of their mass cancellations Bioware and the DLA team refuse now to make "Adventure Packs" for NWN2 (Bio had planned two) so this makes the Ossian deal more interesting.
 
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God I hate Atari. Worst publishers in the business. Is it possible to alienate great developers by being dickfaces any more than that?
 
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Bronone, according to NWVault you did the interview?
 
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Game company founded by Alan Miranda, formerly of Bioware.

www.ossianstudios.com

This is their first foray into commercial gaming. Darkness over Daggerford which brought travel maps to NWN was supposed to be a Digital Download but Atari nixed it to focus on NWN2.

Not exactly. There were a lot of reasons why the NWN1 Digital Download Premium mod scene was nixed, and this was only a lesser reason.

Because of their mass cancellations Bioware and the DLA team refuse now to make "Adventure Packs" for NWN2 (Bio had planned two) so this makes the Ossian deal more interesting.

Do not demonize Atari too much here. Others were at fault as well. Since I once worked for Ossian, I can't say too much (as still under NDA to some degree). But, it needs to be said that blame for canceling premium mods (like Darkness Over Daggerford) was shared among a group of organizations... not just one.

I give Atari credit for choosing to continue the Digital Download program with NWN2. They could've easily walked away from the whole affair.
 
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Bronone, according to NWVault you did the interview?

Yes. Why do you ask?

Not sure why that's worth mentioning in their newspost, it says so right on the article itself. I work as an editor for GB, so no doubt there'll be more interviews conducted by me upcoming (more previews coming now, though).
 
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Do not demonize Atari too much here. Others were at fault as well. Since I once worked for Ossian, I can't say too much (as still under NDA to some degree). But, it needs to be said that blame for canceling premium mods (like Darkness Over Daggerford) was shared among a group of organizations... not just one.

I wasn't, I just said it was interesting. In my previous post on it I praised Ossian for "keeping their head above water" over the affair and solidifying a deal when they too could have walked away.

With Alan being ex-Bioware and Bio having issues with Atari (really they've been vocal since first release of NWN and the first SecuRom issues) it comes as a small surprise that he continued to work with Atari. But its just a small surprise.

Thanks to that we're getting MoW.

According to the byline as well.

Yes. Why do you ask?

Not sure why that's worth mentioning in their newspost, it says so right on the article itself. I work as an editor for GB, so no doubt there'll be more interviews conducted by me upcoming (more previews coming now, though).

I saw it at the Vault and they mentioned it. I said to myself, "self, I know that name". I looked at the article to verify the byline but couldn't find it. As my mother says I didn't look hard enough. That's all.
 
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