Questions about NPCs, story and dialogue

[dragon wench]

I have just spent some time browsing through the game's official website, and so far information there seems a bit sparse.

Of the various new RPGs that are presently available, this is about the only one which looks like it could have some promise, and there are things I'm curious about which do not seem to be detailed over at Obsidian.

1. NPCs:
Who are the recruitable NPCs? Without providing too many spoilers, what are their background stories? Which races and classes do they represent? etc. etc.

2. How complex are the NPCs (party members and non joinable)? How much depth do they have?

3. How much dialogue is there? Are the reviews that hearken it back to BG2 actually valid? What is the calibre of the writing?

4. For those who have played beyond the introduction/prologue, how much depth does the story seem to have?


I know there is already a first impressions thread, and I'm not seeking to duplicate it, I'm largely trying to fill in some missing pieces, since the official site does not presently supply many details. Also, I'm focused here on the issues that don't concern the more technical details like graphics, combat, camera, FPS etc.

[fable]

Areas of interest of my own. I could care less about the number of weapons in the game, or the different classes.

I've just left the tutorial area. You get 3 characters added to your party, of which 2 stay with you at the beginning of the first chapter. Since you control all their development, and the developers state you need to use dialog to convince party NPCs to change things such as class, I'm guessing they'll die or leave your PC, pretty early. They're dull in any case, or at least give that impression upon first looks. Of course, first looks can be deceptive: witness the rogue pilot in Obsidian's KotoR2 who appeared to fit that godawful smartalecky stereotype, until you began to realize what an ethical hell he constantly lived in.

[swcarter]

#1 I've found about seven companions so far. They include a tiefling rogue who has problems with an ex-partner, a dwarf fighter who wants to be a monk, a haughty human sorcerer who thinks she's better than everybody else, an annoying halfling bard, a boring elf druid, a boring human paladin, and more. I've had the rogue, the fighter, and the druid with me most of the time. Every so often you're forced to use a different companion.

#2-4 After about 25 hours, I finally finished Act 1. I have no idea how many acts there are, or how long the campaign is going to be (I thought I heard 40 hours, but that has to be on the low side). Like I've said before, the writing hasn't wowed me at any point yet. There have been some funny moments, and the companions are interjected much better than they were in NWN, but I wouldn't put the dialogue up in the KOTOR or BG range. I'm still hoping that as I build up some influence, this will turn around, but so far I've barely seen anything more than the companions' introductory conversation options, and I haven't seen anything close to convincing them to change their class or anything like that.

SWC