Neverwinter Nights 2: Papermonk's Travelogue

Papermonk has posted his first 'travelogue' from A-KoN over at NWN 2 News. He has discovered several things that are of interest to our readers, wisely putting the 'bad news' first. Here's a bit:

I was very impressed. I was damn near giddy the entire time, and giddy isn't generally in my emotion set. I felt like a kid at Christmas. The toolset is immensely powerful - and we pay for that with a decrease in ease of use and "pretty" factor. It's well worth it, however.

The learning curve is much steeper. It's not something that gets into the "hard" area, but it's not as easy to deal with as the old toolset. But with the kind of functionality built in, I can scarcely imagine how they would do such a thing. Even so, I was able to start working my way around after just a few minutes of use. In less than an hour I'm sure I could have built a decent area. More time for more nuance.

A few things from his list:

[blockquote]The Bad

• No beholders, yuan-ti abominations or naga
  [li] There will need to be local versions of modules for MP an PW. This has been hinted at - but flat out, that's the case. The walkmeshes and such are just too big otherwise.
  [li] Half-orc heads aren't the best. But given half-orcs are more one of those things that sound great in principle and aside from that ONE NWN portrait - I've never seen a picture that looks decent. So, I don't really hold this against them.

Read the entire report at NWN 2 News.