Adam Wolf

IGN

The stronghold system and party interactions explored.
by Charles Onyett

August 14, 2006 - Swords clanged and gigantic dire bears were sliced in the eye during a Neverwinter Nights 2 demo last week. We got a chance to yet again check out how Obsidian's Dungeon and Dragons-based RPG is coming together, and it's sounding better then before. We pried lots of juicy information regarding the game's stronghold and party influence systems from Chris Avellone, one of the lead designers on the title, and will be concentrating on that for the rest of this preview. The basics of the game are largely covered by Feargus Urquhart's video walkthroughs posted a few months back. Since then, the game has finished in terms of content and features. According to Chris, the team is now in the process of polishing graphics, squashing bugs and various other chores, readying the title for its October release.

We'll start with the stronghold system, which becomes available to players around halfway through the game. It's part of the storyline, so it's not something that can be overlooked or missed out on. The stronghold, which looks like a castle, will initially appear in an exacerbated state of decay. Walls will be crumbling and coming apart, ramparts won't be useful, and more importantly, there won't be anyone in it. While hanging out in a castle is intrinsically cool, it's far more interesting if you can do something with it. In the case of Neverwinter Nights 2, there's quite a bit to be accomplished.


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First, the castle needs workers. Throughout the course of the game leading up to the stronghold's acquisition, players will meet certain NPCs clearly dissatisfied with their station in life. After players are castle owners, these NPCs can be recruited to labor in the stony abode. Some may agree to work with no strings attached, others may need convincing, and yet more will require special tasks to be completed before they sign on as your servant. Chris mentioned most of these NPCs will be located in major metropolitan areas, such as Neverwinter, and be relatively easy to find. A few may be more out of the way. Each recruit contributes to a specific aspect of the stronghold's augmentation. Among the many possible employees, there are miners, priests, architects, blacksmiths, and farmers, to name a few.

Since the demands of adventuring are so great, players won't be able to hang around their stronghold all the time. A work foreman of sorts will need to be given commands on how to run the base's day to day operations. As an added wrinkle, some NPCs will be better at their jobs than others, so players will need to choose carefully when assembling their workforce. Once a decent amount of employees are in place and performing their required tasks, orders can be given to the foreman to alter work habits, giving more attention to varying aspects. By speaking with the foreman in the stronghold, it will become more obvious what tasks require attention, as status reports are given detailing exactly how things are going.


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As the workers perform their tasks, the stronghold will build up into a more powerful, multifaceted structure. Its growth will prompt mercantile trading lines, and an inn can be built up as well. Taxes will need to be collected, revenue managed, and guards assigned for protection. Visual differences will appear, showing the stronghold as a more formidable, hardy structure than when it was first discovered. All this is in preparation for certain events that happen during Neverwinter Nights 2's story, called mass battles.

From what we were told, these mass battles are basically stronghold assaults. If players haven't taken the time to properly manage their castles, they'll have a much harder time surviving. Obviously the main character and three possible companions aren't going to be able to hold back an army. The stronghold provides the solution, giving the player the ability to train armies. Army management is conducted through the foreman, who can be told to ease up on training or train extra hard, and be especially harsh. Army morale is affected by these sorts of decisions, but different approaches to training need to be made in order to level up the forces as much as possible, as well as give them better weapons and armor. Based on what orders are issued, it could eventually be made clear that certain sergeants are on the take, or the numbers and strengths of your units could be diminished. In other words, if you're not paying attention and erratically issuing orders, your armies are going to get mad.

In terms of how there armies will actually be controlled on the battlefield, we only have a few details since we didn't get to see it in action. From what Chris told us, we understand that the player and all the followers will be have armies assigned to them. Each individual member of the army can't be directly controlled, but they can be moved in certain directions and given various battle orders. We did get to briefly see what a stronghold defense looks like. The player was out on a walkway that topped a section of castle wall. In the background were hundreds of fuzzy light and shadows, indicating the mass of forces assembled at the wall's foot. Shifting through the masses toward the stronghold were large wooden battlements, constructed to be the same height as the wall. Eventually they'd reach the wall, open their gates onto the walkway, and spill out numerous skeletons and other undead nasties.

Aside from serving as an army production plant, the stronghold will also house the various characters that can join your party. Since you can only have three characters in your party at once, there will undoubtedly arise scenarios where some need to be switched out to take advantage of their varying skill sets. Instead of disappearing into the void, the dislodged characters will reside in the stronghold. Should players want to use them again, they can be simply be switched into the party on the fly, though in certain zones switching won't be possible.


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In addition to each characters having different skills, they'll also have varying alignments and backstories. Active party members will interact with each other through dialogue, and should your actions veer too much from their personal philosophies or alignment, they might leave the party altogether. By performing deeds that agree with your party members' personal philosophies, players gain influence over them. High levels of influence with party members means they'll be willing to perform actions not otherwise possible. Chris related an example of a scenario where your character is forced into a dual. Assuming you're a wizard and the opponent has an obvious advantage because of his armor or skills, it's clear you'll get murdered if you head into the fight. With a high influence over party members, one with a more suitable class and skill set would volunteer to take your place.

Obviously, the fully controllable NPC party members are more than just cardboard characters. They all have something to say and underlying motivations, though these aren't necessarily made obvious right away. Characters will initially decline to talk about themselves or their deeper world views. Once you've traveled with them for a while and built up some trust, they'll reveal more. Special items in the game also have their own histories, which can be read by clicking on an examine tab in the menu.


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There's certainly more going on in Neverwinter Nights 2 than dungeon crawling. We haven't even scratched the surface of the intricately detailed toolset that lets players replicate anything in the game for their own mods. Expect more before this title hits stores this October.