#THE BARDS TALE IV GEORGE ZIETS FREE#

It works very smoothly and really streamlines the whole party system as seen in previous party-based D&D games. You can then simply click on the portrait to see that persons dialogue options. Whenever a character have a different or additional dialogue option (whether it's based on a skill, alignment, race, deity etc) than your currently selected one, a speech bubble will appear on that characters portrait. Once you enter a conversation, you will see small portraits of your characters in the conversation window. This is a system which takes the partybased dialogues of a game like Temple of Elemental Evil (where whoever you have selected at the time will do the conversation, using that particular characters skills instead of the 'main character'). The cohorts personalities show through the Party conversation system. I have heard from writer Annie Carlson that they may object and leave if you do things that are completely against their nature but I believe it's a very rare occurence. Once they join you, they are part of the party entity so to speak. These cohorts do have personalities but you won't have lengthy and interesting conversations with them and they won't whine to you about their past conflicts that needs resolving. One you can get for 'free' (though you may need to finish a quest or pay some a bit of money to join) and if you get the Leadership feat you can get a sixth and final one. This is a great thing for the games replayability.Īside from the initial 4 characters you can also hire extra cohorts. If you want to create a classic D&D party you can do that, if you want to create a party of Half-Orc bards you can do that. There are no forced companions to bring along with you.

#THE BARDS TALE IV GEORGE ZIETS FREE#

The ability to create your own party really seems to free up the D&D gameplay a bit as you can really mix and match however you choose. You will also be able to write up a name for your band of adventurers, decide on a party motto and get to work on a party biography if you wish. Here (by accessing the ships passenger list) you will be able to create and add 3 other members to your party. Once you've created your character, the game starts on the ship Vigilant which is heading into a nasty storm. This character is no different from any other (there are no shards stuck in his chest), however it is the one character you won't be able to swap out due to (I assume) engine limitations. The big three are:Īt the start of the game you will create your main character. SoZ introduces a number of things that are completely new to the NWN franchise. Choices are there occasionally, though they don't feel quite as thought out as the ones in MotB. There are no long and insightful discussion ala speaking with Myrkul in MotB. And of course, we all know that combat has hardly been the strong points of the NWN franchise. It is very combat-heavy, you will most definetely talk down those pesky rats from attacking you (hrm). You see, SoZ is quite an old-fashioned game in many ways, delivering an experience that is much closer to older RPGs as well as the D&D Pen and Paper game. On the other hand, I also feared that I would be disappointed, knowing that many of the things that made MotB so great were simply not the focus of SoZ. On one hand I was excited to check out the latest game from the same team (with a few changes, perhaps most notably the absence of George Ziets) that created Mask of the Betrayer, one of the best RPGs to come out in quite a while. When I first installed Storm of Zehir, I had a curious mixture of feelings in regards to my expectations. In comparison, I'd probably give MotB just a few points higher. All in all, I would award the game with a score of 90 - Great.

Please excuse any bad grammar (hey, I'm Swedish, that's my excuse). If you vote, please explain your vote (whether good or bad) in a post.Īlso, I wrote up some thoughts of mine. So we're trying this again, and this time.

The bards tale iv george ziets