Smoketest

I know who made what. I'm also waiting to see what Dragon Age is like. I'll probably end up getting both Dragon Age and NWN2.

Never tried the KotOR series, as I prefer fantasy to sci-fi in rpgs.

In my experience, the former Black Isle guys can write tighter code/script/dialogs than the Bioware guys can.

And Bioware's been slipping. For example, NWN's scripts and dialogs felt like a step backward from BG2's, which I suppose happens sometimes when you're doing a major engine rewrite. BG2 had the advantage of being built upon BG1's framework, so more time could be spent on the finer points. It took them until HotU to finally do a consistently decent job on the details that matter. I do enjoy that campaign.

The only thing I didn't care for in BI's IWD series were the way some maps felt like "Oh, empty space, lets fill it as much as possible with a pointless maze of rooms." I much preferred BG2's (generally) sensible area layout.

Still, I plan on buying a copy of NWN2 as soon as it hits local stores. That way I can play it and use the toolset, and then submit bugs before the patch cycle inevitably ends. After all, NWN is up to version 1.67 now (I finally got a copy of it when it was at 1.66) and I'm constantly finding bugs/issues that Bioware never bothered to address. They have mentioned another patch will be released, though it will mostly contain new content for mod-writers. Regardless, I just sent them a list of bugs I found. Hopefully it got through the filters.

Yes, Jon Olav has moved on to more lucrative coding projects, so Near Infinity is relegated to his "attic."

I'll probably abandon the IE games when NWN2 comes out later this year.

Ascension64, check your PMs.

Perhaps I should also make a new magical 'library' item for players who like to collect books. Ideas...?

Hmmm, perhaps a container for books that would have a capacity at least big enough to hold one copy of every book the game offers (75 would be enough for BG2:ToB). Call it the Portable Bookshelf, or something more in line with realm-speak.

You'd have to allow items of type MISC and BOOK though, since Bioware wasn't consistent. Books and scrolls both use these item-type codes. Roleplayers could easily keep the books in the bookcase and the scrolls in the scrollcases.

As one who appreciates and uses Lightspeed's paperdoll mod for BG2, I'm interested in unique book covers also. I also am a book collector (in every game that lets me do it). Maybe I was supposed to be a librarian?

The new book covers would work in BG1 also, so long as the final BAMs aren't compressed.