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Gamespy
Arcade Chat (September 27, 2001)
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Edited and spell-checked log prepared by Sorcerer on October 3
<Cobby>
The channel is now moderated. Only our guests can speak. I'd like to thank
you all for coming and I'll let each of you introduce yourselves before
I start throwing the questions at ya ;-)
* Cobby pokes the POR team
<Cobby> don't be shy now
<dyeestey> Hi everyone. I'm one of the senior programmers on Pool
<slobato> Oh yes... slobato I'm the art director! Hi all!
<MAB> Hi, I wrote the game design, and spent a million hours playing
and tuning
<arrow> Hello everyone! I am an artist on Pool working on interior
environments
<Cobby> ok then! let's get started! When you're done answering -
please type <d> so I know to post the next question and we'll keep
this moving along!
<Cobby> *FunkyT* Are there any 3E rules that the developers couldn't
translate over into the game? Did they leave any rules out?
<MAB> This one is a bit tricky, because the game began like as a
2E product
<MAB> When we switched over, we added lots of prominent 3E rules,
but were not able to get everything in
<MAB> The books are pretty big <d>
<Cobby> *BadWished* Why did you decide to make Multiplayer not
follow the story of Single Player?
<MAB> Because lots of people will play single player first, and
then switch over
<MAB> The MP game is lots of fun in and of itself... even if you
play alone <d>
<Cobby> *JB* If y'all decide to do a sequel or expansion, are
you considering releasing an editor or SDK as part of it?
<MAB> Whether or not there is a sequel is totally top secret right
now... I can't really say much <d>
<Cobby> *Xtreme00* If this game turns out promising will there
be any more remakes of the Gold Boxed D and D games?
<MAB> Unfortunately, that's not a developer question... <d>
<Cobby> *LordGrimsword* does POR2 support win2000?
<dyeestey> yes
<dyeestey> fully supported on win9x and 2k.
<dyeestey> <d>
<Cobby> *[APR]Meiji* What will the Multiplayer mode be like?
<MAB> MP is what we call "hack and slash"
<MAB> You get a party -- two to six human beings -- and go at it
<MAB> There are tons of new items to find and monsters to kill
<MAB> But no storyline at all <d>
<Cobby> *[EQ]Sentinel* Will the dungeons be randomly generated
for every new game?
<MAB> For MP, they are random
<dyeestey> However, the party will always consist of 6 players,
whether you control 1 or 6.
<MAB> For single player, it's a fixed storyline
<MAB> <d>
<Cobby> *BadWished* If enough people Request Co-OP Multiplayer
could it be added Via a Patch or Addon?
<MAB> Not sure what "co-op" MP means. Right now, two to
six people all form a party...
<dyeestey> In multiplayer, the dungeons' difficulties are scaled
to the characters' levels. <d>
<Cobby> *blastfiend666* How long are you going to have the FR
rights for making games?
<MAB> You can play one to five characters in MP <d>
<MAB> Another publisher question... The developer doesn't get to
know that
<MAB> <d>
<Cobby> *Fausticle* Can you change the color of your players
skin and or clothing?
<dyeestey> Well, you can always host a session all by yourself and
play all 6 characters, but that's not fun. =P <d>
<MAB> No, not really. Only by changing armor or equipment
<[GSI]Silverdawn> MP is cooperative. Players go through random dungeons
as a party. Like Diablo II.
<dyeestey> During character creation, you have an assortment of
"looks" for your character. Other than that, you change appearance
when you change equipment. <d>
<Cobby> *[EQ]Sentinel* Will there be a time limit on the entire
quest or open ended?
<MAB> Open ended pretty much. In MP, you can fight virtually forever,
but eventually your characters will get pretty strong
<MAB> In Single player, there is an overarching quest you have to
solve to win
<MAB> You can wander around the world after that, cleaning up stuff
you haven't done, and getting pats on the back
<MAB> But the game is over at that point <d>
<Cobby> *Megadeth* Will the ability to Charge be in the game
(as a combat maneuver)?
<MAB> No
<MAB> <d>
<Cobby> *[APR]Aalin* I saw the game at e3, this year, and saw
that it was turn based (assumably by Initative) is this true, and if so,
how is Init determined in the game (3ed rules have rolls, is it something
like that?)
<dyeestey> the game is turn based.
<dyeestey> initiative is based on d20 + the character's initiative
mod.
<dyeestey> <d>
<Cobby> *Atterdag* What is your favorite monster in the game?
<MAB> HA! Good question...
<dyeestey> yah, that's a tough one.
<MAB> How about this: look for a dark naga named Preybelish
<MAB> <d>
<dyeestey> I like mixing up the battles with spell casters and melee
fighters. Makes it more interesting.
<dyeestey> Plus I like seeing the AI at work. =P
<dyeestey> <d>
<Cobby> *Megadeth* How will move action vs standard action vs
full round action work in the turn?
<MAB> There is a lot going on here, but in general a character can
move then act
<dyeestey> or act and then move.
<MAB> or act then move or move then move, but not act and act
<MAB> There are lots of modifiers (like haste and such) plus surprise
and other stuff, but that's essentially it <d>
<dyeestey> you can, however, make multiplie attacks and that counts
as a full round.
<dyeestey> <d>
<Cobby> *[EQ]Sentinel* Are there any accelerated graphical goodies
in the game engine?
<dyeestey> The game scales up to video cards like it would if you
had a better CPU.
<dyeestey> Better cards will help keep the frame rate up.
<dyeestey> Unfortunately, because we were trying to cater to a mass
market with somewhat low system specs...
<dyeestey> we couldn't take advantage of some of the cool features
say on a GeForce 3.
<dyeestey> <d>
<Cobby> *JB* Do you plan to release any bonus content in patch
form over the next few months, ie: extra levels, npcs, etc?
<MAB> Bonus material is probably unlikely... But, again, that would
be a publisher call
<MAB> <d>
<Cobby> *Tyranthraxus* IN MP, can players attack each other?
<dyeestey> We're all currently working on the patch, but mostly
to fix bugs that didn't make it in the final.
<dyeestey> <d>
<MAB> No... It's 100% party-based... You win or lose based on party
actions <d>
<Cobby> *Fausticle* Will there be any "towns" or places
to buy and sell items and get side quests?
<MAB> There are tons of side quests built in...
<MAB> As for towns, Myth Drannor is a large ruined city, so you
have to explore to find where your friend and where your enemies are
<MAB> And then find out who can buy and sell among them <d>
<Cobby> *^1[D2A]^4Dust* What will the inventory system look like?
Like Diablo2 where it is very limited or more like Ultima online where
you can bank nearly everything?
<MAB> We have a paged inventory system based on encumbrance
<dyeestey> The inventory system looks somewhat like diablo2.
<dyeestey> except you can have multiple pages.
<MAB> So you can carry tons of stuff, but heavily loaded characters
slow down a lot in combat
<MAB> So, it may not pay to haul aruond everything <d>
<dyeestey> However, there's no real max.
<dyeestey> it's based on your overall encumbrance which is based
off your Strength score. <d>
<Cobby> *Megadeth* Will reach (for large creatures) factor in
like it does in the Pen and Paper rules?
<MAB> That sort of thing was in the game at one point, but unfortunately
it became too complex to manage, so attack ranges were standardized <d>
<Cobby> *skywalker* Are there spoken voice overs by the DM in
the game?
<MAB> Actually, the system is this:
<MAB> All NPCs have recorded voice lines, but...
<MAB> spoken lines only occur before your characters respond
<dyeestey> The DM has text that comes up, but no spoken lines.
<MAB> The DM is handled mostly through text, with the exception
of important story points, at which time the DM speaks up <d>
<Cobby> *Xtreme00* Will there be any special apperances by other
Fogotten Realm Characters? Ex. (Ren'O'Blade, Tarl from the POR book)?
<MAB> Elminster appears from time to time, and chaacters from the
novel based on the game are there
<MAB> but no others <d>
<Cobby> *Megadeth* Will halflings look like the cool halflings
of the 3E or like hobbits (ala 2nd Ed)?
<dyeestey> you can even play as some of the characters from the
novel. <d>
<dyeestey> we'll let our art director take that.
<slobato> well, we did, with the help of Wizards of the coast, revamp
the look of the halflings. They have a slimmer and slicker look than the
old fat hairyfooted guys of the 70's.
<Cobby> *blastfiend666* How are you managing skill points in
the game?
<dyeestey> The number of skill points is determined as they are
in 3E....
<dyeestey> however, you don't get to decide how they are distributed....
<dyeestey> instead, there's an order in which the PC earns skills.
<dyeestey> once he's earned one skill, he'll earn the next when
he receives enough skill points....
<dyeestey> <d>
<Cobby> *Krimson* Can you give some examples of some of the skills
that are learnable throughout the game?
<dyeestey> hide, move silently, listen, spot, search, heal, ...
<dyeestey> concentration, spellcraft
<dyeestey> <d>
<Cobby> *skywalker* Is the music in mp3 format? Can we add our
own music in the game?
<dyeestey> the music is in MP3 format....
<dyeestey> and no, you can't add your own music. <d>
<Cobby> *Tyranthraxus* Are all the battles "set encounters"
or are there random battles after you clear out an area?
<dyeestey> In single player, the battles are set based on how the
level designers designed them.
<MAB> In single player, most battles are set, but how they come
out often depend upon how you approach them
<MAB> In MP, they are all randomly generated, based on your party's
strength <d>
<dyeestey> In multiplayer, the battles are random based on party
level (overall experience)
<dyeestey> <d>
<Cobby> *FunkyT* Are there any caps on experience points in the
game? How powerful can my characters become?
<MAB> Max level is 32; max of any single class is 16 <d>
<Cobby> *gruk* Is it true that there are no summon spells in
the game?
<MAB> If you mean monster summoning, that's right: no summon spells.
Too hard to manage the potential polygon count... <d>
<Cobby> *Stoffern* Whats the (physically) biggest monster in
the game?
<dyeestey> the undead red dragon, dracolich
<MAB> The dracolich
<dyeestey> <d>
<Cobby> *Fausticle* why did you not choose to include the druid
or the traditional Mage in PoR?
<MAB> In general, we had to make some tough decisions about what
is in and what is out...
<MAB> Since we have clerics and paladins and rangers, the druid
didn't seem to add that much...
<MAB> As for the mage, the sorcerer fit the spell casting system
better.
<MAB> In short, there was only so much time and money, so some classes
got in and others didn't <d>
<Cobby> *^1[D2A]^4Dust* Will the player be able to use the scenery?
Maybe to hide himself behind a tree or something else?
<MAB> You can stand behind objects to avoid being targeed by missile
attacks and spells. In fact, when facing lots of casters, it pays to work
out when to hide and when to leap out to attack <d>
<dyeestey> The player can use the "scenery" to avoid site
with monsters. Also, when spell casting, line of sight plays a role. <d>
<Cobby> *[APR]Cruelty4FR* Will the interface be overhead or true
3d?
<MAB> 3/4 perspective, over the party's shoulder. <d>
<dyeestey> The onscreen interfaces are overlays.
<dyeestey> <d>
<Cobby> *JB* To what extent are pets and familiars represented
in the game and how much control will we have over them?
<MAB> No pets, no familiars. <d>
<Cobby> *[GSI]ToughCookie* Are there levels of skill for each
skill you learn or do you just learn it and go on to the next skill as
you progress in points? (like Diablo2 where you can increase a skill)
<dyeestey> you don't increase the levels of any particular skill...
<dyeestey> however, if the next skill you're learning has a prerequisite
that hasn't been met, you'll learn the following skill....
<dyeestey> and then increase in that one skill the next time you
go up AND you've met the prerequisite. <d>
<Cobby> *Megadeth* With some feats, like improved critical, do
we pick an affected weapon, or will it affect all the weapons wielded?
<dyeestey> it affects all the weapons. <d>
<Cobby> *^1[D2A]^4Dust* How does the AI react on too powerfull
characters?
<dyeestey> The AI will usually try to go after the more powerful
characters granted that there's a line of sight....
<dyeestey> actually...
<dyeestey> I meant an actual path.
<MAB> And the definition of "powerful" is dependent on
the attacking creature's intelligence...
<dyeestey> if there's no line of sight but there's a path, the monster
will pathfind to the character. <d>
<MAB> <d>
<Cobby> *skywalker* Will NPCs let you loot their bodies and drop
them from your party? (I hope not)
<MAB> When you add an NPC to your party he or she is yours to control,
like any other party member
<MAB> You can do whatever you want with the equipment..
<MAB> But it pays to keep a full-strength party, and NPCs don't
come with really cool stuff anyway <d>
<Cobby> Ok we only have time for one more question:
<Cobby> *Krimson* Was there any real life architecture that influenced
the design of the city of Myth Drannor?
<arrow> yes, there are some influences from asia and europe and
just imagination.
<arrow> <d>
<Cobby> I'd like to thank the team from POR for being here and answering
your questions. You did great! Any closing comments from the team?
<dyeestey> I hope everyone enjoys the game.
<MAB> Pretty good questions, everyone. Have fun playing!
<Cobby> Ok - we'll unmoderate the channel - thanks for coming!
<slobato> Get out there and buy PoR!! you all Rock! Thanks. <d>
