Aurora vs. Infinity!

Remove all ads!

What game engine do you guys like more? the Aurora engine for NWN or the Infinity Engine for the BG, IWD, and Planescape:Torment games? I was just curious what other gamers thought because I think the Infinity engine is like 900,000x better! The graphics in the Infinity Engine, while not 3-D, were FAR superior. The environments, character models, and all that was way way way better. The NWN characters are cartoony and simple looking. Plus the mage robes in NWN look like balerena outfits. VERY annoying. Since when were robes tight around the legs? So does anyone out there think that the NWN engine is better? I also think that the interface is much more intuitive with the Infinity Engine games.

 

In my opinion the IE, while old and not looking any younger, is the superior engine. NWN's engine has almost a "design by committee" feel to it. And it doesn't even look all that good compared to many other 3d engines out there. The enviroments look kind of generic, there's that whole "Chocma's Cottage" problem with many of the houses. Granted, it was made to be easily modded by the community, but even so. Especially when compared to something like Morrowind. Now that is even more moddable then Aurora, yet still looks better. Incidentally, PC Gamer recently called the Infinity Engine the greatest game engine of all time based on the number of good gaming hours gotten out of it.

EDIT: I feel that I should say that recently I've started playing more user created mods, and have gained a new respect for the moddability of Aurora. That said, I still prefer Infinity.

[ January 17, 2003, 23:56: Message edited by: Kam ]

 

the infinity engine is superior. the environments for BG and planescape contained much more depth than the bland 3d of NWN.

 

I'm with you guys. Everything Kam says is right on target. IE games felt like they were in three dimensions, even if the engine is technically 2D isometric. Gaming's future will clearly be in 3D engines, but playing NWN just makes me feel sad... even WCIII's engine/interface feels more intuitive.

People talk about NWN being developed over a five year production cycle, but puh-lease: those guys were busy developing other games at the time! Based on the feel of it, I have to agree with those who've conjectured that the game was released prematurely.

Whatever breaches of contract may have occurred between BioWare and Black Isle/Interplay, I wish they had been resolved in a different manner. The break hurt the RPG genre awfully (at least D&D based) and probably computer gaming overall.

 

I prefer the Infinity Engine as well... But perhaps that's mostly becaus I enjoyed the gams base on that far more, than I did NWN... IT seemed more realistical in some way...

 

IE looks much better than the new 3D NWN engine, imo

 

I prefer the old Infinity engine. The rendering of backgrounds and characters and stuff like that looks and feels much better, even though they're not in 3D. The Aurora engine felt sort of hollow the way all the backgrounds looked the same; it's like when you're in a forest and you keep seeing the same tree over and over again, it gets boring looking at the same thing after a while.

 

Infinity is the best engine ever, always was and always will be in my not so humble opinion

 

Well someone has to stand up for NWN's engine. I agree I enjoyed the previous games more and so have happy memories of the Infinity engine. I also agree that it sometimes looked lovely and that NWN can look very samey becuase of the generic tile sets. However......

- NWN can also look stunning if you have the hardware to run it in high-res with all the options on. This is especially true when the designers bother to use the amazing range of lighting effect.
- Action in NWN looks far better, the characters seem to really fight, Infinity looks crap in comparison.
- The sound can be fantastic in NWN real 3d surround stuff gives clues and creates atmosphere, you don't get that in Infinity (before you jump in with the music in Infinity was much better - that is down to the individual compositions not the engine).
- The interface is much better. I noticed a few have said they prefer the Inifinty interface but that is likely due to being far more familiar with it. Think about it, NWN gives you all the same basic icons to click on as the Infinity engine games but then also lets you choose which specific commands you want in the bar at the bottom. So you customise to act as you want. Much better when you get used to it. (just thought of a PS example. My sister, who doesn;t noramlly play games, visited recently and quickly learned to use NWN so that we could play an adventure together. She really enjoyed it but I could never get her to try any of the Infinity Engine games as she thought they loooked too complicated.

But most importantly the NWN is so much more flexible and friendly to mod-makers and D&D fans. It really is a doddle to knock up levels in which to host games with friends with one acting as DM. With a little bit more effort it is fairly simple to knock up your own adventures. I'm surprised at the comment made earlier suggesting that Morrowind was easier to edit. I thought it was a nightmare to make adventures in Morrowind (of course it isn't quick in NWN if you're writing all the dialogue as well but...)

Anyway, I have happy memories on Infinity and it can look lovely and there were some great games made from it but it is showing its age. NWN can (if well designed) be more atmospheric, and far more varied and flexible. NWN is also a great tool for the community as it is so easy to modify. If you're not convinved get along to NWN vaults and download some of the great adventures that have been made, try some of the amazing new tilesets, look at some of the great mods (like horse or boat riding) and play it online (try out the DM mode too). You should also try the new adventure by Bioware (the Witches thing) as that apperently using the 3rd edition rules far better to encourage role-playing over hack-n-slash.

[ January 10, 2003, 14:29: Message edited by: Slappy ]

 

@Slappy - For what it's worth, thanks for pointing out some positives about the NWN engine. Bearing these things in mind, I will definitely give it another chance...

 

The IE because it expresses settings and weather really well.

 

Slap me down with a hammer for saying this, but I've been playing Dungeon Siege recently, and although the plot lines are poor, quests poor, character role playing terrible etc, the actual 3d engine kicks the ass out of NWN as far as I'm concerned. You can build up a party of six, which is the best feature of BG1+2 - it runs easliy on my P2 (to my amazement) and there are no long load up times between areas.

True as far as role playing goes it eats dirt but the engine .. .my dream team ideal would BG2 plot and NPC and D+D rules on the Dungeon Siege engine.

I probably shouldn't say this on this site. I get a feeling that DS is not popular here.

 

Just another thought prompted by the previous post. I guess one of the problems with comparing game engines is the massive number of variables involved. Dungeon Seige is a good example of this though I admit I only played the demo. On my old mid range PC Dungeon Siege looks much better than NWN as I have to turn all the detail of to get NWN running at a reasonable framework. On my newer pretty decent spec PC, NWN is prettier than Dungeon Seige. So, in my case, machine spec makes a big difference.

Then of course there is personal taste. There are not many games today that can be called ugly. With decent resolutions and lots of colours most games are pretty. Therefore the graphical style of the artists can make adifference (not to mention their skill in making the most of what is available). For example, I was recently lambasted on another forum for saying I preferred the graphics in Gothic to those in Morrowind. I can appreciate that Morrowind is technically better but I just loved the style of Gothic. It's a bit like someone painting in oils and another in black and white pencil. Technically the oils are more advanced but the pencil picture might look nicer.

Finally, graphics are the most noticeable part of the game engine but don't always make for the best game. A good example of this is Thief. When it came out many reviewers complained that it wasn't cutting edge graphically (a cardinal sin for a First Person Shooter ). However, they didn't allow for the fact that the engine had to turn over lots of processing power for the amazing (in their day) sound effects, AI, interactive environments, etc, etc. If we go back to Dungeon Seige and IE compared to NWN, how much more is the NWN game doing beyond the visuals?

And finally finally, sometimes a really good engine is let down by the developers simply not making the most of it. I think NWN is a case in point here. With BG and the rest, the developers got everything out of the engine that was possible, they excelled themselves. In fact the engine was designed to do what they wasnted to do with the game. With NWN it has always been developed to be Pen and Paper on the computer. The single player was tacked on later. Based on some of the mods I've seen (and done myself) I don't think NWN comes close to pushing the boundaries of the engine.

Anyway, that's my food for thought for today. back to work.

 

Just thought I'd put my two cents in here. First, although my experiences with the NWN engine have been frustrating at best, what I have seen I do love. It's not just the engine for me though. It's the modability of it all. Seeing all those old DnD modules I played as a kid turned into NWN adventures has been a real thrill for me I must say. On the other hand, the damn thing requires a PC from the gods to be able to see all the goodness inside. The IE however doesn't. I remember the very beginnings of the IE with games such as Fallout. Mmmmm.......... Fallout. Ahem. But I digress. What I am trying to say is that the IE has held up in todays market of 3D eye candy and is still going strong. That's a testament to it's power I think and I have to go with IE in this matter. NWN does rock though, especially if you have the PC to max it out with. Absolutely gorgeous. Bioware and Black Isle are names I will remember all my life as having given me more enjoyment than any other gaming company out there, whether it's IE or NWN. Thanks guys.

 

Infinity Engine,render backgrounds are very beautiful and you can control the game better.

 

Aurora give a better chance to realy custom yer character, while Infinity you HAVE to use THEIR model, and fighting look better on Aurora, some spell effect in Aurora are just fantastic. and with it you can "truly" customize your quick bar and beside Infinity is getting old, just look at IWD II, it's a great game but still....

I would love a combination of NWN visual effect and customization and Baldur's Gate I and II story and character...