Baldur's Gate II Announcement
John then flipped through a series of creature animations including a Black Panther and the awkward Kuo-Toa (moves like a hopping frog); and such large monsters as an Earth Elemental, Otyugh, Beholder and Troll. And these aren't the biggest monsters in the game. The animations are smoother and details crisper for each creature and player character. Clearly, every aspect of the art has been improved.
One thing that was noticeable during the demo was that the interface is in a state of flux between the old gray stone and the more cheery brownstone. Parts of the old interface were mixed in with the new, as can be seen in the screenshots, and the world map was an interesting collage of new areas pasted onto the old map. Although not yet working, there was a button to toggle a pen for annotating the map. Another nice feature, was the ability to display the left, right and bottom portions of the interface in any combination. If you run in full-screen mode without the interfaces, the game feels more immersive; by pausing with the space bar, the interfaces are brought back up and then disappear again when unpaused. When paused, the TAB key will bring up the current/max hit points over each person on the screen. And, unlike Baldur's Gate, pressing TAB over a monster will provide a qualitative assessment of their state like "Badly Hurt".
Once John finished showing me around, I was able to play with the demo. I quickly whipped up a character and then pressed New Game. I was deposited in a cage in a dark room. Right away, Imoen, now a mage/thief, walks up and releases me saying that we have been captured and need to escape. Stepping out, I notice Jaheira and Minsc similarly imprisoned, but no key was in sight. When talking with them, the dialog gives you the opportunity to select options based on whether you knew them or not in your previous adventures. I take a door on the left side of the room and find a small room with a crystal that is sending out lightning bolts. Soon the room is full with four Lightning Mephits. I try to defend myself but notice I am naked with no weapons or armor. I die.
Make another character and back in I go. This time I took the north door and found a Golem, who warned us not to escape when asked, and a chest containing some non-magical weapons and armor. Taking the north door from there, we ran into a Smoke Mephit and smoked him. We then proceeded back to the Lightning Mephits and promptly died again. If only I had noticed what is pointed out in one of the screenshots...
Later that evening, James Ohlen (Director of Writing and Design, and co-Lead Designer) walked me through the demo some more. We were wandering around the city when we happened to run into Garrick the bard, one of the NPCs from the original game, who was busy trying to impress a lady with whom he had become enamoured. Let's just say, he should have practiced his lines better. James also stressed that the dialog was more rich and complex. This was evident in some of the conversations we tried where there would often be five choices at each step. BioWare has also packaged the conversations in small bits so you normally only see 2-3 sentences and then have to make a choice. This involves you more in the conversation and reduces the amount of non-essential text.
From what I saw of the Baldur's Gate II demo, it is clear that BioWare has corrected the shortcomings of the original game and incorporated many of the fans suggestions. The game was already very playable, not surprising as it uses a tested engine, and they have tried to cram as much art, story and new features in as possible. Should the development continue on its current course, Shadows of Amn is sure to take the series and RPGs to a new level of quality and enjoyment.
Trent Oster, the Producer of Neverwinter Nights, also happened to be there that evening and came armed with the demo for that game. The demo consists of two small modules in which the character can be navigated. Movement is controlled by clicking the cursor where the character is to move to and the character walks (or runs if you so choose) to that point. The cursor was a glowing ball that appeared very responsive to the mouse and the camera could be swung around and zoomed using the keyboard in a manner similar to Myth II. The graphics were smooth, the tiles detailed, and the lighting effects realistic, as demonstrated with the character that carries around the candelabra and the torches in the dungeon. Especially impressive was the radial menu system. Upon right clicking, a context sensitive menu is brought up in the middle of the screen and you drag the cursor outwards from the center over your choice. For instance, to cast a spell, the action menu comes up and you select spell, and then a spell menu comes up and you select magic missile from the quick slot. Thus, with two flicks of the wrist you've selected the spell and then just need to target it. For a spell that isn't in one of five quick slots, you choose Sorcerer, Wizard or Priest. The next menu allows you to pick the spell level and this is followed by a menu picking the spell. These menus in combination with user-defined hot keys should prove to be a very versatile system. Neverwinter Nights looks very promising and slick.
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