RPG Vault has an Age of Decadence Peek, with Iron Tower Studios penning an interesting dev diary that starts off mentioning the time spent recently fine-tuning the graphics then delves into the creation of side-quests:

Believe it or not, designing side quests turned out to be one of the biggest challenges. We knew what we didn't want to see - no pointless "save my kitty" quests, no boring and usually uneventful "FedEx" quests, no heroic "kill some rats in some basement" quests, and no feeling that the entire towns have been waiting for you to show up and solve all their problems. What we didn't know is what we wanted to see, so we tried a lot of different things, and in the end, we decided to go with something like this [...]

Back in September Gamasutra asked their readership of industry professionals to vote in the Quantum Leap Awards across three categories, including RPGs.  The results are in and as with all lists, noone will agree with all the winners.  Apart from some JRPGs and EverQuest, the winners include the Ultima series, Baldur's Gate II, Deus Ex, Oblivion, Planescape: Torment...and here's a reader's comment on the little game that took top position:

Fallout - this rpg really has everything a great rpg needs: incredibly robust player character development, not just combat skills; great original story and setting, not just another rpg with elves and orcs; a great turn based combat system for people who like to think, but yet has some of the most rewarding critical death animations that rival any game, not just rpgs; a rich world full of interesting npc characters, enemies and places; functional UI, and great character dialogue system; because the game was open ended and the character development was really deep, it is actually replayable more than 3 times.

-Anonymous, Electronic Arts

1Up has posted their review of Gothic 3 and this same review will apparently appear in the March edition of Games for Windows.  Written by Matt Peckham (of NWN2 fame) the score is 5/10 and the short text has limited room for real gameplay discussion.  Here's the intro:

 Every RPG has its hook. Some are practically orbital, trading depth to trace the contours of entire continents. Others might as well be fantasy sports leagues for all their buckets of exotic info. Gothic 3 is the culmination of a third approach that renders midsized environments in painstaking detail while keeping its mechanics simple and unpretentious. I definitely heart the latter, so it's a pity to report that Gothic 3 was released too soon, with too many glitches to warrant a recommendation unless you're supremely patient and own a sturdy desk -- because when Gothic 3 chokes, you will pound it.

Polish post-apoc project Afterfall has released a video on YouTube to attract investors.  According to NMA, the video shows one level of the game.

GameBanshee brings news of a press release from Soldat Entertainment -- apparently founded by ex-Ritual staff -- revealing their action/RPG Depths of Peril:

Dallas, Texas, December 5, 2006 - Soldak Entertainment today announced Depths of Peril for Windows PCs. Depths of Peril is a single player action role-playing game (rpg) with strong strategy elements. You play as a faction leader protecting the barbarian city, Jorvik, by destroying threatening monsters and completing quests. At the same time, you compete with rival factions to see who will rule the city. Barbarians choose their leaders by fighting to the death!

As a faction leader, you must deal with rival factions through diplomacy, trade, and in time, war. Between battles and raids against other barbarian factions, you build the most powerful faction possible, to withstand your enemies. Building the power of a faction involves exploring a fantasy world, slaying dangerous monsters, solving quests for the city, avoiding deadly traps, and plundering loot to share within your faction.

But in this world, actions actually have consequences, so take care. Annoying the powerful and aggressive Legion of Fear faction will cause them to declare war and destroy you. Ignored Orc uprisings in the Black Forest will cause even more trouble. Protect ally covenants that are being raided, because friends are hard to come by.

Depths of Peril is scheduled to be released in the 1st quarter of 2007, however it will be released when it's done.

About Soldak Entertainment, Inc.

Soldak Entertainment, Inc. is a small independent developer, focused on bringing new and unique gameplay to the entertainment industry. Soldak was founded by Steven Peeler. Before embarking on his own in late 2004 to create Depths of Peril, he was Technical Director of Ritual Entertainment.

A quick search didn't reveal a website but we'll follow this up as soon as possible.

A rather short review of NWN2 is up at Gamefreaks365.  The score is 8.5/10 and contrary to some reviewers, the complex D&D rule useage doesn't seem to have turned off every casual RPG player:

Ever since Diablo II got over-corrupted with farmers and hacks I've been looking for a new dungeon crawler that doesn't suck and has some decent online playability. Neverwinter Nights 2 is one of the better experiences I've had. While it may not perfect, it does give dungeon masters everywhere somewhere else to go besides the basement. If you are like me and tried D&D but never got into it because of the lame factor or the fact that you can not see anything and everything gets confusing, this may actually interest you in the genre.

The Mac version of Avernum 4 has moved to v1.1.  Word is "This new version is now Universal and runs natively on Intel Macintoshes. Also, the screen resolution switching works much better now."

Gamerhelper has tossed up their review of NWN2.  The score is 7.8/10 and this intro sets the scene:

I’m a console player at heart. About a year ago I finally got myself a decent PC and proceeded to do what any god-fearing male in his mid-20s would do upon procuring a fairly state-of-the-art piece of hardware: I hid the practical programs and applications in the bottom of the desk and bought myself a slew of gaming entertainment. Being a single-player boy in this MMO world I bought older games, the first being the well-received Neverwinter Nights. To keep this paragraph short and not reiterate information I’m sure has been said before, I’ll leave my impressions of that game to one word: awesome. Neverwinter Nights 2 (NWN 2) has finally landed with a new development team in tow, some new toys to show off, and mighty large boxers to fill. Let’s rock.

Thanks to CRPG.ru for poinitng out Russian project Beltion: Beyond Ritual from Rostok Games now has an English website.  Head over for screens and information on the gameworld, hero, religions and more.  Here's the game description from the Literature section:

«Beltion: Beyond Ritual» is a third-person view action/RPG, taking place in the original fantasy world significantly different from the genre canons. It is a new look to well-known fantasy races and nations, which differ either from their canonic appearance or games' and literature descriptions. The main character, a priest of one of human Temples, explores the world of Beltion, discovering its secrets and mysteries to the player.

Unique selling points of the game:

• game world of independent design, art and storyline
• nonstandard approach to genre and set art canons
• vivid main character shown on a nonstandard image of a necromancer priest
• rolepleying system of independent design
• "lively" game world
• combat system based on feats and combos
• diversified dialogue system
• varied endings based on in-game choices

Game Zone has posted a review of Gothic 3. With a fairly reasonable 7.7 score, the reviewer said:

Defeating creatures and completing quests will gain you experience points, which in turn can be converted over to skill points. They are the same typical skills that games of this type all have so there is nothing unexpected here, what was nice though, is when you find new weapons or items, it is clearly shown whether or not you possess the adequate skill to wield it. You can hold on to it until you improve enough, or you can sell it to one of the many traders that are all over the game for gold. In fact, I would like to thank the developers for coming up with a simple yet effective trading system. Nothing worse then an overblown trading system.

The game is rated T for teens, and I think it should be noted that there is quite a bit of blood and violence, fighting against humans will result in you winning without making a final killing blow, you can choose to execute that final blow, but chances are you won't make any friends by doing so. Of course, there are some instances where it is completely necessary. When it comes to fighting monsters, this feature simply does not exist. Apparently in the middle ages you can kill wolves to the point of extinction and no one will give a crap, but kill the wrong human even if you are defending yourself, then all sorts of problems could come your way. The game possess some complications that others do not.

Evil Avatar has posted a great two-part interview with Irrational's Ken Levine.  The first covers a little of his background and wanders into some interesting territory:

Jonathan: I've always wanted to ask: Is Thief suppose to be an allegory for capitalism?

Ken: Why do you say that?

Jonathan: Well, the acquisitive nature of the thief, his ability to take what's not his and make it his own (from which all great fortunes are amassed), and his invisibility whilst taking it.

Ken: Well, what's interesting about thief is that Garrett is more moral than the powers that be. Because at very least, he's honest about who he is. Everybody else hides behind a moral proposition or an ideology to cover up their greed and cruelty. Garret just puts it out there.

I like to think that we were creating of one of gaming's first anti-heroes.

Jonathan: As in a modern hero with a high degree of negative capability?

Ken: Most heroes in games just take on the tasks given to them because, they're, well, the heroes. I wanted Garret to be motivated by things that every day people could understand: money, women, and a sense of ownership of his own body.

Jonathan: Right, really the only different between the hero and villain in most games is that the hero is better at violence than the villain.

Ken: Whenever I write a scene and it's terrible, it's usually for one of two reasons. 1) I suck or 2) the characters’ aren't motivated. What makes Lord of the Rings great is not the heroism of the characters, it's their doubts.

Jonathan: Of course, humanism.

Ken: When 10 zillion game writers copy Tolkien, they only remember the orcs and the dragons, they forget about the most compelling elements of the story: the seductive aspects of power – something we can all relate to.

...while the second gets more specificially to Bioshock:

Jonathan: But we've had non-linear shooter going 6-7 years now, what makes BioShock so accessible to the mainstream, like the other titles you mentioned?

Ken: Yes, Shock 2 was a non-linear shooter. Deus Ex was a non-linear shooter. We learned a lot from making/playing those games. There are certain expectations the modern gamer has that those games didn't fulfill.
From the Shock 2 perspective, a) it was too hard to get into b) it didn't make the choices clear to the average player and c) it, frankly, wasn't visually competitive.

The key is giving the player a huge amount of expression, but giving him access to understanding that expression and those choices. If the player doesn't understand he has a choice, why bother giving it to him?

Gamespot , in a departure from most NA reviews, has posted a fairly 'middle of the road' review of Gothic 3. Handing G3 a 7.6 ('good') rating, reviewer Andrew Park states:

 

Gothic 3 is also a great-looking game that has detailed character models and interior environments and beautiful outdoor vistas, especially if you have a higher-end computer system and can get away with turning the game's graphics settings up. The game's good-looking graphics go a long way toward making the game seem like an epic adventure in a huge, sprawling world, even if the flat dialogue and issues with characters getting stuck on things sometimes detracts from it.

 

All things considered, it's unfortunate that the game shipped with its technical problems, and that it shipped in the same year as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, since it's almost impossible to avoid comparing the two. Gothic 3 doesn't have Oblivion's huge breadth and might not look quite as impressive just because of that difference in scale, but it does offer a fairly well put-together story in its set of linked quests, as well as plenty of freedom to roam. To enjoy the game, you'll need a high-end computer, time and patience, and tolerance for a brisk challenge--but if you have all these things, Gothic 3 could be what you're looking for.

Gamespot has posted a review of the recently released expansion to Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. Scoring Knights of the Nine at a decent 8.3, the reviewer said:

The content seems to be identical whether you play it on the PC or the 360, and the inherent strengths of the respective versions once again come into play. Don't expect much in the way of different graphics and sound from what you've already seen in Oblivion, but Knights of the Nine features plenty of new voice acting, a couple of powerful new enemies, and a few new effects. It's mildly disappointing that the Xbox 360 version of Knights of the Nine doesn't include any new unlockable achievements to commemorate your accomplishments, considering the other main quest lines all have achievements tied to them. But all in all, Knights of the Nine gives you a good day or two's worth of questing for a low price. If you haven't played Oblivion in a while, this new quest will be a great reminder of what makes it such a remarkable game.

According to Obsidian's Nathaniel Chapman, the final NWN2 v1.03 patch has been released and should be available through the Autoupdater.  Those who tried the beta patch will need to roll back to v1.02 before updating - full patch notes and links to the rollback files are available in this thread.  Since the notes are so enormous, here's a snip of just the new features:

Neverwinter Nights 2 – Version 1.03 Patch Notes

New Features
General
• Weapon combos in hotbar: Added the ability to set up dual weapon, weapon & shield, or weapon & torch combos in the hotbar. Clicking the hotbar button for a weapon you already have equipped will unequip it.
• Camera Changes: We’ve made a series of camera changes to this version:
o New options for adjusting sensitivity for controlling the camera by keyboard, mouse, and edge of screen.
o Chase Cam adjusted to work more like NWN1.
o In free cam mode, the arrow keys now pan the camera, and holding down CTRL will zoom and yaw the camera.
o Added bindable keyboard key for mouse look / camera control. This mimics functionality of pressing down the middle mouse button for those without a middle mouse button.
• Graphics Optimizations: A number of new graphics optimizations have been added:
o Anti-Aliasing Support: Anti-aliasing is now supported and can be enabled in the Options Menu. Please note: This could significantly affect frame rate, depending on your hardware.
o Shadow Rendering: Shadow rendering speed has been improved.
o Tree Rendering: Speed improvements to the rendering of trees.
o Water Rendering: Speed improvements to how water is rendered by the engine.
• New Options:
o Buy/Sell Confirmation: You can now turn off the buy/sell confirmation dialog.
o Options menu has been reorganized to support many new camera control options.
o You can now change keybindings in game.
• Database Support:
o The database script functions from NWN1 have been re-enabled. They are now significantly faster in many cases.

We missed v0.802 but Mount & Blade has quickly moved to v0.803, hopefully tidying up the loose ends since the major v0.800 update.

Hit the link above for the forum thread with details of this release and links to both the full install and the 0.802 to 0.803 step up.  As usual, savegames aren't compatible with this new version.

A Christian-centred gaming site called Plain Games has kicked up a review of Gothic II: Gold with a score of 3.5/5:

The game is extremely non-linear, with seemingly endless paths to explore. The mages are scheming and invite you to join their order. A violent tension is building between the paladins in town and the rebellious farmers on the outskirts of the region and both factions try to recruit you to their side. To progress in the main plot, the hero must become a proper citizen of the town, which includes obtaining a job. There are several jobs to choose from, everything from thievery to blacksmithing to herb gathering. Another option is to join the town militia, with the possible future of becoming a paladin.

The latest Gothic 3 review comes from Atomic Gamer, with a score of 61%.  Here's a snip on "the biggest RPG tragedy I've seen in years":

I'm going to start this review off with kind of an odd statement: Gothic 3 is one of the best games that you shouldn't play.

Now that I've gotten that over with, let's discuss why. Gothic 3 is an RPG sequel by German developer Piranha Bytes and Austrian publisher JoWood, and it includes a huge, open world, plenty of items, skills, spells, and abilities, excellent graphics, and multiple paths through the game along with multiple endings. Sounds pretty good, right? Well, it's also got a boatload of bugs and issues regarding combat, quests, NPC issues, frame rates, crashes, and AI that will make almost any gamer want to smash your keyboard in half at one point or another during this game's forty-plus-hour ride.

Knights of the Nine has been reviewed at Gameplay Monthly.  The score is 'A-' and apparently this content includes some non-linear questing:

Don't worry though, the rest of the quests in Knights of the Nine are not tedious at all. The rest of the quest-line includes item gathering which may not seem so exciting at first glance, but upon doing these quests, this is not the case. These quests are by far the best in the game, for they are not the linear dungeon crawlers you have done over a hundred times now, they are truly complex and require some thought put into them. For example, one quest tests your patience in combat; another is a series of riddles that open new path. These are nothing like those boring Fighter's Guild quests.

Gameplanet.nz has kicked up a review of Dark Messiah.  The score is 4/5 and here's that ubiquitous comparison:

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic is, without a doubt, a great game to play. With every facet of what you'd expect in an RPG fully exposed for your gaming pleasure, you can certainly believe that Arkane Studios have not left a single stone unturned in their pursuit to create the near-perfect RPG. And the question of the day - is it better than Oblivion? That we just can't say but we can certainly vouch for the game on its own merit and rank it as a game that could easily give Oblivion a run for its money. Bottom line, if you are an RPG fan, you won't want to miss out on Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, especially so close to the Christmas season.

Larian Studios has released a single new screenshot from their "next epic RPG" (with all bets on Divinity 2) and opened a forum to discuss the project.

Thanks, Alrik!

TweakGuides has a guide to getting the best performance out of NWN2.  Some of the tweaks are based on the current v1.03 Beta but the article promises updates to stay current:

All of these features make NWN2 unique, but also potentially problematic. Neverwinter Nights fans complain of issues with the interface, bugs in the AI, and importantly a real problem with getting the game to run smoothly on their systems due to its 3D graphics and engine issues. Given my fondness for D&D, and after a fair bit of research and testing, I've compiled this guide to help NWN2 players hopefully achieve better results with the game. The guide runs through clear descriptions and comparative screenshots of all in-game settings, including the new ones added as of the latest (beta) patch, as well as all the .ini file settings which allow further customization and optimization, and of course the console commands and a few neat tips to wrap things up. I genuinely believe NWN2 players will benefit from this guide, so give it a read-through to see if it can help you.

Thanks, Lucky Day!

CRPG.ru let us know about three new screens for Not the Time for Dragons.

This week's update at the Planewalker site on The Broken Hourglass is titled Magic, Mageborn and the Island of Argoniss:

The nearest neighbor to the Tolmiran Empire is the independent island nation of Argoniss. Argoniss is, in no particular order, home to the region's finest magical scholars, a chain of mostly inactive volcanoes, and lush plant life. In the Empire itself the use of magic is uncommon and not studied or cultivated with any degree of formality. On the other hand, the people of Argoniss are entirely devoted to the development of magic and mages. It is commonly believed that the vast majority of human Adepts are concentrated on the island of Argoniss, though the truth of this may be exaggerated. The mages of the island have limited contact with the outside world, usually limited to trading magical services and items for supplies from Tolmira. Goods are often teleported directly to and from the island, as no outsider is allowed to set foot upon their shores--ships which approach find that the winds and currents turn against them, and are sometimes sunk to the bottom of the sea by storms that arise out of nowhere and fade just as quickly.

Basilisk Games has kicked up an estimate of the system requirements for their upcoming turn-based indie effort, Eschalon: Book 1.  Here's the entire post:

Here is what we are estimating in terms of minimum specs needed to play. This is not an official spec statement yet because more testing is needed, but with many people asking us we thought we'd get an estimate to you.

// Windows //
Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 or XP
1.8 GHz processor
256 MB RAM (512 recommended)
DirectX 7.0 or later
3D accelerated graphics card

Windows Vista is not yet supported, but the game may run just fine on Vista once it comes out. The beta version of Vista has some buggy drivers that prevented us from doing any testing.


// Macintosh //
Mac OS X 10.3 or later
1.6 GHz processor
256 MB RAM (512 recommended)
3D accelerated graphics card

For Macintosh users we are unable to support anything before OS 10.3 due to the development platform we are working with. We understand that this may disappoint some Mac users, and we are sorry. This was a requirement of the platform that we did not realize until we recently began porting the game.

Thanks, dte!

Gamers Hell has kicked up their review of Dark Messiah.  The score is 6.7/10, with the reviewer a little disappointed it isn't a real RPG:

ARX FATALIS was an RPG told from first-person perspective. DARK MESSIAH, in contast, is really a first-person shooter with some rather minor RPG elements. You begin (and end) as a character named Sareth, and while you learn a variety of skills, spells, and weapons along the way, your journey doesn't entail much in the way of customization. You can learn spells and skills that take your character a little more or less in the direction of a healer, fighter, or mage, but since the single player campaign is primarily a solo one, the best skills and spells are those which increase your strength, stamina, health, and offensive abilities.

Gamasutra's latest Question of the Week is "Does Size Matter?" - "the importance of a game's play length, particularly in terms of monetary value".  The article then follows with excerpts of responses from collected game industry professionals, with the introduction indicating the majority position was they didn't have time for epic games.  Here's two opposing positions:

I believe that the game should be based on a "minimum hours to finish the game" calculated from the "Retail price in dollars = MINIMUM Hours needed to finish the game." Games that are short make the player (buyer) feel ripped off and like movies, games that are too long are usually less fun and less entertaining. In my Gamasutra article "The Pedersen Principles," I suggest this equation (The Yardstick) and use the acronym KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) to provide entertaining, intuitive gameplay.

Roger E Pedersen, PSI Software

I don't think that there is an actual hour-to-$ ratio that can truly be quantified. I think that it depends more on the actual game and how well it's crafted. I don't mind paying $70 for something that is truly engaging the entire time I'm playing it, whether it be 20 hours or 1000+ hours. Two games that were considered short that people didn't mind (that spring to my mind) are God of War and Chronicles of Riddick. Both were worth the price, but many felt they were too short. I have heard it said that if someone plays a game that they think is too short, then that means that they want more.

I would rather have a shorter game that was tight and polished than one that is 1000+ hours of bugs and crashes. One way we can help/compromise this may be with episodic content. Release the main game for a lower price, then have regular updates with new content for a lower price. It may work, but it suffers from the possible problem of charging way too much and having the same lack of polish a lot of games suffer. It all comes down to making and polishing your game to the Nth degree.

Liam Hislop, Full Sail

Spanish site Clan Dlan has interviewed Obsidian staffers including CEO Feargus Urquhart about the formation of the company, NWN2 and other projects:

P and I - Obsidian has so far developed two games, both made with BioWare engines or modifications to the engines. Also, the two games you made are sequels to BioWare games. Why did you decide to go for sequels to this games instead of creating "your very own"?

Feargus - Doing sequels is a great way to start a company since the question of what the game is going to be has already been answered. That makes sequels less risky and means that publishers are less worried about working with a new studio. However, given the option of make something entirely new or getting to make a game like Neverwinter Nights 2, I would still have a hard time choosing between the two. I suppose that I just don't think that sequels are necessarily less creative than creating something entirely new. In the end, whether the game is a sequel or not, a game ends up being good solely based upon how you make it and what you put in it.

eToychest.com has posted a very nice review of Neverwinter Nights 2. Scoring the game at 91%, the reviewer, Roger Helgeson, had this to say:

Neverwinter Nights 2 is really less a ‘game’ than it is a compendium, or a collection of related items. For some, it's a a single player campaign, while others are more interested in the multiplayer component. The game also includes a world builder and campaign editor, both of which appeal to certain types of players, while others are sure to enjoy the game's dungeon master tool. Different players may want this game for different reasons, much the same way one might purchase the Dungeon Master’s Guide while another would opt for the Player’s Handbook. Both relate to interacting within Dungeon & Dragons, but one book will appeal to those constructing the adventure while the other appeals to those taking part in it. Neverwinter Nights 2 includes bothbooks, as well as everything else one might conceivably need or want while participating as any role involved in a Dungeon & Dragons campaign: you can act as dungeon master, as player, hell you can even just be the host if you want, opening your IP doors up for others to game in the comfort of your bandwidth.

Gamers Europe has posted a review of Gothic 3 chock full of odd statements and metaphors.  The score is 7/10 and here's a snip:

Gothic 3 as an RPG is a fair contribution to a crowded genre where a few notable games shine brightly. One of these is a game called The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. Both are RPG games with similar ideas. Gothic 3 alludes to competing with Oblivion, but it is beaten in sheer scope and completeness. As I mentioned of Jowood, parts of Gothic 3 are quite obviously unfinished, most notably some of the towns in the desert where details trail off like an old coot telling a rambling story that doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. Or something like that. There can be a lengthy debate about which game is better but I’ll save us all time and say that Oblivion wins on panache. Everything about it is just somehow slightly better. If I had to pick the tie breaker, it’d be the memory leaks issuing forth from Gothic 3. Although Piranha Bytes developers such as Carsten say these are due to be fixed, my belief is that such a high level of community involvement is unprofessional. By all means, appoint a community representative to voice concerns to the development team, but don’t waste valuable time posting in forums when there is a job to be done.

No Mutants Allowed has picked up on an Interplay SEC filing that outlines Herve Caen's plans to raise $75M in capital for Fallout Online.  Here's a small snip:

- LAUNCH OF FALLOUT MMO Q3 2010
- REACH 1 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS DURING THE FIRST YEAR
- PROFITABLE YEAR 2
- REVENUE OF 160M$ PER YEAR AFTER FIRST
- NET INCOME OF OVER 50M$ PER YEAR STARTING YEAR 3

Sign me up.  Head over for the full post and links to the original filing.