Neverwinter Nights

[.:Imrahil:.]

Could someone tell me something about Neverwinter Nights? I am thinking of buying it, because I am in need of a new game, but I don't quite know what to expect. I downloaded the demo, but I read a lot about online gameplay, which is supposed to be much better than the singleplayer. True? :huh:

[DreamOfTheRood]

Dude, just wait for Halo 2.

[Peregrine]

Not only should you buy it, but you should buy both the expansions as well. The game by itself is excellent, but the second expansion is even better.

[valdir]

On the opposite end of the spectrum:

 

I strongly disliked this game. The character models were blocky and bad, the single player adventure is no where near as good as Baldur's Gate, the D&D "rules" are pretty nonexistent and the game just doesn't play very well.

 

The only saving grace of this game is the persistent world servers you can play on. Those are pretty entertaining and far more interesting that the single player. If you can tolerate it, go for it.

 

Me, I'll stick with BG2.

 

~Valdir

 

BTW- Halo2 is not that godly.

[Slaiv]

Half Life II will ROCK Halo 2.

 

Yes, buy the game and both expansions. Now. It's almost, if not as mod-able as MW.

 

Graphics aren't everything, and the D&D rules are there, they're just much different to BGII [Edition 3 as opposed to Edition 2]. True, I too prefer BGII to NWN, but that being said, NWN is definitely worth it. Especially if you don't have Xbox.

 

 

 

I do though, so ha! :P

[Dark0ne]

Why are you suggesting Halo 2 to a person asking about NWN? Thats a pathetic recommendation...I'm watching you...

 

Anyway...NWN? What can I say, the only D&D game I'd played before NWN was Icewind Dale (the original). I'd always been told that Icewind Dale was a lot more action orientated (more fighting, less chatting about favourite past times with a monotonous NPC with limited speech) and I believe NWN followed in this trend...more fighting, less running around town endlessly trying to find little Jimmy who got seperated from his mother during a goblin invasion...

 

It really depends what you want - I'm the sort of person who wants more action and less chat (of course, chat is ok most of the time and contributes to the storyline...and I love a good storyline. There's a paradox for you). You have a single character in NWN, which seperates itself from the other D&D games where you could control up to 6 characters. To me, this is a much better approach. For one, multiplayer is so much simply when you only have to focus on one character.

 

As well as this one character you can also hire a henchman who can be pretty much any class - each with their own back plot and annoying sayings. If you choose a druid, ranger or magic class you can also call upon animals and monsters to aid you...but most of the time you'll be focusing on your main character.

 

I'll tell you now, I enjoyed NWN (SP) so much more than Icewind Dale (which made me want to slit my wrists)...I'd recommend it to anyone, single player or multi-player, you'll enjoy yourself.

 

On the graphics I'll say that I had absolutely no problems with them (and I'm a GFX wh*%#)...they're the best graphics of any D&D game to date, thats for sure.

 

Have that, critics! :P

[Shakkara]

I personally didn't like it, because of the mononous environments, action-orientated gameplay and lack of character depth thanks to the D&D ruleset which comes out of my ears now (memorizing spells, no attribute increases every lvl, lots of completely useless perks to choose from, ugh the person that made that up should be shot). I played multiplayer after a while, but I think games like Diablo 2 etc are much better in that aspect, as it will all revolve around killing monsters and getting an item that's just a little bit better then what you've already got.

 

The Baldur's Gate series, despite the flawed D&D system, at least had a good atmosphere and beautiful environments just waiting to be explored, but I'm biased in that aspect anyway since I prefer 2D or an isometric 2D/3D combination infinately more then 3D all-around view. Direct character control from 3rd person is acceptable, but impossible for party-based RPGs unless you adopt a Wizards & Warriors gameplay style (which sucked).

 

I personally can't wait for Kult: Heretic Kingdoms, scheduled for release end of this month. You get a full game editor which should have similar or more features then the Morrowind editor along with it (they claim you can make your own RPG with it by rewriting the rules).

 

Downside is that it doesn't seem to have multiplayer.

 

Official site: http://www.kult.3dpeople.de/

[Illuvarin]

At least wait till the platinum edition comes out...

I bought NWN and i never regret it.

[Slaiv]

Same here.

 

Although, I, too, like the hand-drawn environments of BGII better. That may be because, like Shakkara, I also really like 2d and/or 3d isometric view-games.

[Zmid]

Just to add my two cents (even though I'm British ^_^ ), I would say definately get it, plus both expansions. IMO, it gets the balance just right - there's enough action to stop you getting bored, but there's not so much that it is more an arcade game than an RPG. The storyline is pretty good, and the graphics are definately the best graphics of all the D&D games so far. It's also got online play to extend it's playability and, of course, modability. Certainly in RPGs, I would say it's number two, Morrowind being number one, and pretty close behind Morrowind at that.