Talus 2 and Haks

[Badwater]

Since we've let the cat out of the bag as far as haks go with T2...

We've had these discussions in the builder forum but I'd like to solicit some opinions from players at large. The question, simply put, is whether we would like to have some additional tileset haks other than the few that we're already working with on T2.

CEP is a hak, of course, and the only one that will ever be used with T1. That has always been Lanthar's intention, and for the casual player who only stops by periodically, T1 will always be there and work for them.

T2 is a different world for a different player. It's a little harder to play and level progression won't be as fast, plus it's a low magic world, which means there won't be as much loot and the magical quality will always be low.

Now I've already decided upon a few tileset haks that offer something different to the player and won't be the same old thing. I've also known about Worm's tilesets, which are still being updated and used, and might be interesting to use in Talus.

My question is, do we want to use any of them?

Here is a link the NWVault. There are options available and screenshots that will give you an idea of what the tilesets look like:

nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=6631

As far as a building project, T2 is really just getting started. If our current player base likes any of these tilesets then it's an easy matter of incorporating the ones of interest into T2.

So.....comments?

[Badwater]

Tonight I'm going to download these haks in a standalone module and take a look. I'll build a few areas to see what they do and if I'm really blown away by something I'll post some pictures and you can take a look and decide if it's something you want on T2.

[masterstrife]

Im always up for anything that adds to the immersion into the world. So anything that captures the imagination and helps paint a better picture is what I would be looking for in Talus 2. I agree with the foundations of Talus 1, but now with Talus 2 I would certainly like to see what the toolset can really do. As well as see what the NWN community has put together over the years.

-MS

[Badwater]

I downloaded the haks...the Bayou tileset is ok but there isn't enough going on with it, it's just kind of blah. I don't see it as having a lot of versatility.

Same with the Scorched Earth tileset. I like it a bit better than the Bayou, but not much and for the same reasons. The only reason to do the Scorched Earth would be to have some sort of volcano or Plane of Fire areas. I don't like that the cave feature in Terrain is not a door. I don't like that there isn't much in the way of Features and Groups with this tileset. I do like that you can walk on lava, which means that triggers which induce fire damage can be placed, and either you have immunity (RDD), you have elemental protection, or you fry if you walk on it. I'm not sure that's a reason to have it, though.

The Fantasy Interiors are excellent. I find that a lot of the NWN tilesets have attributes which can hamper a really nice custom look. There is more flexibility with the TNO tilesets that 1.69 incorporated and I do tend to use those interiors more than the old ones. The fantasy interiors, however, are a big jump in terms of quality and flexibility and I think, without a doubt, that all players would be impressed with their use alongside our other interiors. It would really give a lot of character and flavor to interiors, there's a lot of options...just a really solid tileset. I highly recommend it.

Finally, the Seasonal Forest tileset. If the Fantasy Interiors rate an 8 then it's only because this tileset rates a 10. There's more than just 3 seasons of tilesets, and it appears that it's possible to combine different tile looks in the same areas if it's done properly (imagine going up hills and reaching snow at the top and not having to change areas to an area that is snow, but transitioning the look in the same area!). But even keeping an area all the same terrain there are many, many options. You could use this tileset exclusively and I think you'd be hard pressed to exhaust the options available in customizing this tileset. While that may be overstating things a bit, it's just a bit. I'm quite impressed with this tileset.

So I'm inclined to use the Seasonal Forest and Fantasy Interiors and add them to our hak list. I will add Scorched Earth if players really like it for one reason or another. It might help if we heard what your reasoning is...as I have implied, I'm on the fence on that one (on the fence but leaning toward not using it, that is).

If there's consensus to go ahead with adding a couple more haks then I will make the rars available and update T2. The sooner I start going with new tilesets, the better.