Thirith on 27/10/2010 at 11:16
Might be worth it for the expansions; at least Hordes of the Underdark is pretty cool. Other than that, though, Neverwinter Nights is as generic as D&D comes, and it's definitely the sort of 3D that makes you wonder why anyone would prefer this to the often gorgeous 2D maps of some of Baldur's Gate 2.
nicked on 27/10/2010 at 12:29
Yeah NWN is good, but no cigar when compared to the beautiful Infinity engine games. Cheap-looking square tilesets and ugly polygonal characters abound. Also gone is all the party-based tactics as it's just you and a non-controllable henchman or two, turning it into more of a hack-n-slash grind-fest for a lot of character classes. The storyline was generic but engaging, and Hordes of the Underdark was definitely worth the price of admission.
Overall enjoyable enough, but wouldn't replay.
gunsmoke on 27/10/2010 at 15:38
Wow, I don't have the expansions or add-ons! This is great news. Thanks N'Al.
Yakoob on 27/10/2010 at 15:42
dude, don't diss NWN. I spent counltess late night hours on it, COUNTLESS!
but no, it wasn't the shit singleplayer. It was the online semi-persistant worlds full of interesting quests and great roleplaying people. I miss my Bard Band, who would on occasion perform plays in front of a 15 people crowd and earn good rewards, while some sneaky thief jacks stuff from the unsuspecting audience :(
Brian The Dog on 27/10/2010 at 20:37
As someone who missed pretty much all the RPG games when they were first released, why don't you all like Neverwinter Nights? I recently bought Temple of Elemental Evil from GOG as I would like a good dungeon crawler RPG-type game. Should I stick with that or buy another one from GOG's collection?
Thirith on 27/10/2010 at 20:43
@Brian the Dog: Baldur's Gate 2 was an example of how rich and varied a D&D game could be in its world and characters. Planescape Torment showed how the format could be used to tell a compelling, original story. By comparison, the original Neverwinter Nights campaign was a generic story filled mostly with stock characters and uninspiring writing. It felt like a showcase for the toolset rather than a single player RPG in its own right.
Sulphur on 27/10/2010 at 20:44
@BtD: The reason for the general disdain around the original NWN campaign was that it came right off the back of what was the pinnacle of CRPGs - Baldur's Gate 2 - and in the move to 3D also shed quite a few things which had come to define the computer D&D experience.
Some of those were: it looked like shit compared to the rather lovely 2D art of the Infinity engine games, it had you got it alone mostly, dropping any sort of party mechanics (for performance reasons, I guess), and its single player campaign was a laughable, clichéd and unfocused mess, which was doubly disappointing given how well-written BG2 was.
The only worthwhile official campaign was the Hordes of the Underdark expansion that Thirith mentioned. Everything else that added to the appeal of the game was user-generated content, on- or off-line, and there was a ton of really good stuff back in the day.
gunsmoke on 27/10/2010 at 23:32
Well, I had my fun with it...i really enjoyed the multiplayer co op, but I had no problem with the story in single player.
Mr.Duck on 27/10/2010 at 23:38
At $9.99 I'd say it's a steal....bought it.
We should get together to D&D with this baby sometime in the future, but right now....GUILD WARS!
:D
Tonamel on 28/10/2010 at 00:06
Quote Posted by Thirith
It felt like a showcase for the toolset rather than a single player RPG in its own right.
My understanding is that that's pretty much the case. They were intending to release it as JUST a toolset, but shortly before publication the publisher said "No, you can't sell a game with no game. Make a game" so they threw the original campaign together at the last minute. Each location was done by a different designer who didn't have time to talk to the others, which is why there's dramatic jerks in storytelling and pacing as you go through.
