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Neverwinter Nights
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Critic Score User Score
Linux
...
4.3
Macintosh
88
...
Windows
89
3.8
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Description

A plague known as the Wailing Death is terrorizing the city of Neverwinter. Lady Aribeth summons an adventurer, who teams up with her fiance Fenthick Moss and his friend Desther to capture four monsters which are needed to prepare the cure. However, the matters become more complicated when the protagonist is attacked by mysterious assassins. It seems that an evil cult is behind the infestation, and the hero must find out what its ultimate goals are, and eventually save the city.

Neverwinter Nights is a role-playing game based on the third edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. The game utilizes 3D graphics with a zooming function and free camera rotation. Combat is handled in real time, and is similar to that of Baldur's Gate series, allowing the player to pause in-battle to issue orders. Unlike other RPGs that utilized this system, Neverwinter Nights allows the player to fully control only one character. Various "henchmen" may join the hero during the journey, but their functionality as party members is limited, as they cannot level up, have no inventory, and only follow general commands.

The multiplayer modes include Dungeon Master, in which a "DM" controls the traps and battles set for other players in the dungeon, and a range of game types such as hunting for treasure or a simple death match battle between players. The game also comes with an extensive tool kit for the construction of custom adventures. It allows players to create their own maps using a tile system. It is possible to add objects to the areas and even produce scripted events, cutscenes, and conversations.
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Screenshots

Neverwinter Nights Windows Up close, even the "Entangle" spell looks cool as it wiggles and flexes.
Neverwinter Nights Windows Character information
Neverwinter Nights Windows Battle Mages. Our sorceress heroin unless magic against a mysterious adversary.
Neverwinter Nights Windows The Lay of the Land. Designing an outdoors setting, complete with elves and minotaurs.
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Promo Images

Neverwinter Nights Wallpaper
Neverwinter Nights Avatar
Neverwinter Nights Wallpaper Game box inside flap by Mike Sass
Neverwinter Nights Screenshot
[134 more | add promo images]

Trailer


Alternate Titles

  • "絕冬城之夜" -- Chinese spelling (traditional)
  • "无冬之夜" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)
  • "Wu Dong Zhi Ye" -- Chinese title
  • "NWN" -- Common abbreviation
[add alternate title]

Part of the Following Groups

User Reviews

Disappointed Windows The Fabulous King (1333)
Neverwinter Nightmares Windows Oleg Roschin (181731)
Close to Perfection! Unfortunately, we spoke too soon... Windows Indra was here (20930)
Perhaps what AD&D fans have been waiting for, but as a computer RPG, it stinks. Windows kbmb (435)
Not what I expected... Windows emmamomocat (33)
Worth playing? YOU BETCHA! Windows Jeanne (76516)
A huge letdown for fans of the BG and Icewind Dale series Windows OlSkool_Gamer (102)
Excellent computer RPG Windows Emmanuel Henne (26)
Neverwinter Nights is a very ambitious game that almost lives up to my expectations Windows Droog (522)
In 1 word AWESOME Windows Emiel Slot (3)
[review game]

Critic Reviews

ActionTrip Windows Jun 29, 2002 93 out of 100 93
GameSpot (Belgium/Netherlands) Windows Jun 27, 2002 93 out of 100 93
Game industry News (GiN) Windows Jul 26, 2002 4.5 Stars4.5 Stars4.5 Stars4.5 Stars4.5 Stars 90
Entertainment Depot, The Windows Aug 01, 2002 9 out of 10 90
IGN Windows Jun 21, 2002 9 out of 10 90
Gamesmania.de Windows Jul 04, 2002 89 out of 100 89
GameBanshee Windows Jun 24, 2003 8.1 out of 10 81
Jaded Gamer, The Windows Mar 21, 2003 80 out of 100 80
JeuxMac.com Macintosh Sep, 2003 4 out of 5 80
Thunderbolt Games Windows Apr 05, 2003 7 out of 10 70
[see more rankings | add review]

Forums

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Trivia

1001 Video Games

Neverwinter Nights appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Advertisement

To coincide with the US release of Neverwinter Nights, Infogrames bought a full page ad for the game in the men's magazine Maxim. The interesting detail is that unlike other publicity for the game this one was a unique layout that mimicked the monthly "Have you seen this girl?" one-page pictorials of the magazine, which contain a full-page picture of a hot babe along some minimal info à la Playboy (likes, dislikes, etc.). In this case the pictorial shows a nymph named Anna, (wearing nothing but some seashells and vines). Her comments in case you are interested include: "I'm all about beauty but height has never been an issue" (on her dream guy) and "I'm not just a fantasy girl" amongst some other stuff.

Engine

Neverwinter Nights uses the Aurora engine, but originally it was going to use the Omen engine, developed by Bioware for their third-person action title MDK 2.

German version

In the German version, the in-game gore setting was removed, i.e. permanently stuck on the lowest setting.

Intro

Although the opening intro has literally nothing to do with the main game besides the symbol on the sword, a keen observer may notice that the hero wears the same armor as Lord Nasher of Neverwinter, and their basic facial features seem to match, although the hero at the beginning is clean-shaven and far younger. According to The Art of Neverwinter Nights, a compendium of all the artwork that went into making the game and bundled exclusively with the Collector's Edition, it is in fact Lord Nasher.

This video sequence premiered at the 2002 Game Developer's Conference in San Jose, California.

Music

The game's music files are listed with a *.bmu file extension, but in actuality they're encoded in plain-old MP3 format. So basically, you can listen to them in Winamp without any special form of decryption required.

Neverwinter

The city of Neverwinter is located south of the Spine of the World where the Icewind Dale games take place, and north of the Sword Mountains, the northern extremity of Baldur's Gate.

Ports

Original plans were to include the Linux and Mac versions (and eventually a BeOS version) in the same box as the Windows version. Though the game code was said to be fully portable, various design decisions - most important: the use of the Miles Sound System, which was not available for Linux at that time - delayed these versions for over one year. Official movie support and the Aurora toolset were never finished, the BeOS version was never released at all.

References

In the courtyard of the Arcane Brotherhood you can hear the chant used by the temple healers in The Bards Tale 2: Destiny Knight (Amiga version).

Support

Publisher Atari halted support for the game in May 2006, with no more patches or premium modules for the original game.

Violence

Tweaking some of the game's configuration files makes the violence in the game much more graphic. Several mods for the game use configuration files tweaked in this way to create a more visceral effect.

Awards

  • 4Players
    • 2002– Best PC Role-Playing Game of the Year
  • Computer Games Magazine
    • March 2003 (No. 148) - #2 in the "10 Best Games of 2002" list
  • Computer Gaming World
    • April 2003 (Issue #225) – RPG of the Year (Readers' Choice)
    • April 2003 (Issue #225) – Best Development Tool of the Year
  • GameSpy
    • 2002 – PC RPG of the Year (Readers' Choice)
  • PC Gamer
    • April 2005 - #35 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list
Information also contributed by Alan Chan, Iggi, Jason Musgrave, kbmb, Michael Palomino, PCGamer77, Sciere, Zack Green and Zovni
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Related Web Sites

Contributed to by Corn Popper (69379), Kartanym (12784) and Iggi (14103)

Windows Credits

BioWare

Core Game Design:
Animation

Lead Animator:
Game Animation:
Art

Art Director:
Lead Technical Artist:
Prototype Artists:
[complete credits]