Neverwinter Nights

The Good
I care nothing for "constructing" games or for multi-playing, so this review concentrates on the Single Player game only .. with all patches applies.

I knew that NWN was a long game before starting. So I waited to play it when I could give it my full attention. And, believe me, it takes that .. I have been engrossed for weeks now.

I hadn't played an AD&D game lately (my most recent was the original Icewind Dale, which I liked very much) and Neverwinter Nights has gotten some really good commercial reviews, so I figured this was a natural choice. The reviews here on Moby thus far are varied, but lean towards the "bad" side. Well, although I agree with some of the other reviewers, my opinion leans heavily toward "good".

Hands down, the story is the best part about NWN. Even though the game is a "medieval fantasy", the plot is believable, intriguing and interesting. The script writers must be geniuses! Conversations with each character are unique, and there's very little repetitive dialog.

Second to the story, I think, is the way the game is divided. Each of the Chapters feels like an entirely new game .. new places, new people and new quests. And yet, those parts are flawlessly meshed to bring all of them together towards the finale.

Next .. the "quests" are wonderfully diverse and challenging. There are plenty of dungeons, caves and caverns, plus buildings and landscapes to explore. You don't need to complete all of the quests to finish the game (but it helps build experience!).

The "henchman" idea is terrific! You play your character alone, or with a "side-kick" if you wish. In this game, you don't control their equipment at all so they're not just "pack rats". You give them commands (such as "attack nearest", "follow me", "guard me" or "stand your ground") and can talk to them (something lacking in other games). Your partner should compliment your abilities, so if you're a spellcaster, choose a fighter. The experience points they gain are yours also, so it doesn't seem to matter who kills what. Their level is always one behind yours, which is different too. (I understand the expansion packs add more features for the henchmen, including managing their inventory.)

Although at a glance the graphics don't look different than many other games, some things are better. Special effects are cool especially during spellcasting. You're able to "zoom" in and out for close-ups of everything. In that view even blades of grass become more realistic. Being able to rotate the angle of view also helps pinpoint a particular spot, even when everybody is crowded together (like the "remains" of a chest you just opened).

Playing around with the arrangement of inventory has always been fun, and it's good in NWN, but not perfect. Finding "bags" to group like items together is a plus and they've included different ones here to reduce weight of the items in those bags .. 20% all the way up to 100%. Since the henchmen can't carry any of your gear, this means even a weak cleric can tote loads of stuff around.

This is the first time I've played as a Druid and, as most people know, a druid must keep their alignment neutral. It's interesting to note that conversation choices and actions you take DO have an effect on alignment. Many times I've had to restore an earlier game because something I said or did swayed me towards "evil".

NWN includes other things that I've grown accustomed to .. full maps; being able to add notes to those maps; auto-save; a well-organized journal.

The Bad
The music is nice, but not nearly as beautiful as in other games I've played.

I agree with another reviewer who commented on the maps. Several of the areas dump fully to your screen when you first arrive, complete with annotated locations. So much for discovery! But, that's a little thing.

I wished that when a "like" item was picked up, it would automatically combine with others already stored in one of my inventory bags instead of separately. I also wished that more than 10 potions could be stacked in one slot. (Bolts, arrows & bullets do .. why not potions?)

When levelling up you are allowed to pick new "feats" and (as a druid at least) your new animal companion side-kick. That's okay, but you're not able to increase your core attributes (strength, wisdom, intelligence etc.) except in 5 special levels. If you've made a mistake during those selections, you may never attain high enough qualities to beat the end-game boss. (This is especially important for spellcasters, druids and clerics who need those high level spells.) I didn't like that part. I wished the properties would have automatically upgraded as I advanced.

The Bottom Line
There are several words that I think describe the single-player Neverwinter Nights game .. good, solid, big, engrossing, challenging, interesting .. fun!

I have not been bored or disappointed .. not for a minute.

Sure, as a role-player I'm not as experienced as many of the other reviewers of this game. But, hey, I know what I like .. and I like Neverwinter Nights. I like it so well that I may go for the expansion packs (something I've never done).

Worth playing? YOU BETCHA!

The Good
The first time I saw it, one word came to mind: Wow! And it did win the first impression.

In the history of Advanced Dungeons&Dragons (AD&D), the Neverwinter Nights no doubt was the closest thing to bringing the concept into reality. Neverwinter Nights successfully created beautiful 3D creatures/monsters in an (almost) stable environment.

This would be the first game ever where you can respect the sheer 3D animated graphics of a Dragon.

The game engine is incredible. Editing your own dungeon, you can create a multitude of creatures all in once big map and watch them slaughter each other. It's basically a home 3D movie. Just bring-out the pop-corn!

The Bad
We spoke too soon...

Eventually the nothingness saw through. Players like myself restart the game a couple of times just to get a touch of the game play, to prepare for the final "perfect, planned and serious" game playing. That's when everything started to go wrong...

After my 4th replay. I realized the game was B O R I N G. It actually started to become boring the second-time around. There was one thing AD&D games always lacked: Intelligent Dialog and an overall good plot. AD&D was basically all action and not enough brains - unfortunately AD&D was always a game for "Fighters...never for Magic-Users". Neverwinter Nights is a statement to that fact. The dialog feature was ugly, empty and (again) boring. In games with good plot and story telling (e.g. Final Fantasy or Ultima) conversations with NPC's is an important aspect if not part of the soul of the game. You "thirst" for such conversations as the information was solid and fun. My experience in Neverwinter Nights (most of the time) was the lack of conversation, due to the fear continuous mouse-clicking due to the long and boring dialog.

Again I proved (well, to myself at least) 3D graphics somehow aren't - how do you say it...artistic? The rough edges, color and occasional bugs just can't seem to defeat the beautiful 2D graphics. It lacked detail. When something lacks detail, it becomes general. General=boring. Imagine playing a single Counterstrike game for 2 hours. No, for a total of 2 hours, but a single multi-player map that you play for 2 hours. Boring, eh?

Neverwinter Nights also introduced "Feats" which they claim was adapted from Fallout. Nice try, unfortunately not. Tell me, does anyone of you like to be restricted in your options in creating a character? Do you want create the best damn character ever? Yes. Easy enough. Don't understand why game developers have the !@#!$!@$ habit of restricting character development. YES I WOULD LIKE TO POSSES ALL THE SKILLS/FEATS OFFERED IN THIS GAME! Or at least give me a technology map like in Civilization so I can plan ahead without !#!$!$! restarting every time I make a wrong choice. Character development is supposed to be fun and to be anticipated. However, each time I gain a level in games like this, it take 10-20 minutes to figure out which feat/skill to upgrade in fear of making a mistake.

In Neverwinter Nights and some AD&D games, the perfect character becomes a problem in relation to multi-class characters. If it's a single class character, hey no-problem. But who can resist the unique combination of the multi-class feature. Unfortunately, there is a restriction to levels eventually leading to a restriction of skills and feats. Oddly, this level restriction is different from prior AD&D games. Usually, in multi-class, the levels are restricted to a maximum level per class. For instance if your a Mage/Fighter. You probably can reach the level of 8 for Mage and 9 for Fighter. If you were a single class, it would be 10 Mage and 11 Fighter. Fair enough. In Neverwinter Nights, the restriction is an accumulation of levels. It's like this: The maximum level for a single class is Level 20. If you have a multi-class character consisting of 3 classes (e.g. Mage, Thief, Fighter), the maximum level is the accumulation of the three. So Mage+Thief+Fighter=20. You might as well eliminate the multi-class in the first place really... It feels like your half-way on the road to nowhere.

'Scuse my swearing. I have high-blood pressure...hehehe (kid's don't try this at home or anywhere for that matter...)

The Bottom Line
Still worth playing though. Need very high-spec PC to play by the way.

The Good
Neverwinter Nights (NWN) is a very difficult game to review because there are so many different ways to play the game. NWN's biggest strength is as a platform for game development since it is so expandable you never run out of things to do whether you are a player, a Dungeon Master, a world builder, or all three.

The pre-made modules make up a good RPG with good characters and a fun, if somewhat cliched storyline. Bioware did a good job of making it possible and fun for any class to solve the game using class-specific special abilities and your henchmen helper. The graphics, while not as good as Dungeon Siege, are still very good, and the quests and dungeons are well done.

Gameplay is straightforward and easy to get into. Bioware gave you three sets of configurable hotkeys for activating abilities, weapons, emotions (like waving or anger), and spells. The character sheets are well laid out and easy to read and the automap and journal make it easy to figure out where you are and what you are supposed to be doing.

The journal is especially well done, letting you sort your quests by priority, completion status, and several other criteria as well as giving you the option of adding your own entries. The automap lets you mark locations on the map, and is automatically updated with obvious marks such as local stores and points of interest.

Multiplayer play is very easy to set up (I mostly played a few PvP modules and played some cooperative games through the main game). I can't comment on the Dungeon Master modes yet as I have not tried them, but I had a lot of fun dungeon-delving with my friend through Neverwinter.

The editor is easy to get started with, and has all the tools you need to make a game just like the included Neverwinter Nights (unless if you want to add new graphics, movies, or sounds of course).

The Bad
The main problem with Neverwinter Nights is that it is not an exact implementation of 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons rules. The combat is very well done, but the lack of crafting, professional, and knowledge skills really limits the flexibility of a Dungeon Master trying to add spice to his campaign. Other notable skill and feat omissions are: no Tracking feat, no acrobatics, balance, jumping, climbing, disguise, or forgery skills for thieves, no magic item crafting feats for magic users, several fighter feats are missing including Great Cleave and Whirlwind, and my favorite weapon, the spiked chain is not implemented.

Bioware initially stated that flying, climbing, mounted riding, and crafting skills would not be included, but why get rid of knowledge and profession skills, even if they aren't used in the Neverwinter campaign? Any creative DM could put in skill checks when necessary, even if the skill isn't directly supported in the engine. Also, I was very disappointed that you had to take Parry to get a defensive skill because the Acrobatics/Jumping combo was one of my favorite thief or Monk skill combos.

The omissions in NWN may be fixed in patched, hackpacks, or expansion packs, so this may only be a temporary issue, but it should have been addressed in the first release.

The other problems with NWN are only minor. The automap, as it is used in the NWN campaign, tends to reveal too much as you explore. It is a little anti-climactic to see a marker on the map labelled "Orc Chieftan Throne Room" when your character would really have no idea what the room was for until after he had entered it.

Another gameplay issue (for single player play only) is that compared to earlier Bioware games, interaction between your character and NPCs is not nearly as involving as some of the romances and inter-party conflicts in Baldur's Gate 2 or Planescape: Torment. This is mostly a design issue: since you can only hire one henchman (henchperson?) at a time, your role-playing is limited to your interaction with one teammate instead of five teammates.

There are other minor quest and scripting issues in the game, some of which were fixed in early patches. None of them keep you from finishing the game, but they can get a little annoying.

Another design decision that I didn't like was to use tiles to create the maps. The result of this decision is that NWN is the only recent 3D game that does not support smooth terrain such as the rolling hills and steep mountains trails in Dungeon Siege. It may make the map design easier, but I hate the "terraced" look of the wilderness maps.

The Bottom Line
Neverwinter Nights is an implementation of the 3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons game on the PC with 3D graphics, sound, and the ability to design and run your own games. It succeeds at providing a good bundled game and a well-designed if somewhat complicated construction set to build your own games. Of the three big RPG construction sets released this year (Dungeon Siege, Morrowind, NWN), Neverwinter Nights is the most successful at what it aspires to do.