Video Games : Neverwinter Nights

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from: Atari

: Neverwinter Nights

List Price: $29.95
Price: $9.49
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Amazon Maximum Age: 20 years
Amazon Minimum Age: 144 months
Binding: CD-ROM
Brand: Atari
EAN: 0742725236462
ESRB Age Rating: Teen
Format: CD-ROM
Label: Atari
Manufacturer: Atari
Model: FGC958650
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Atari
Release Date: June 18, 2002
Sales Rank: 4462
Studio: Atari

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Neverwinter Nights takes on a tour through the entire Forgotten Realms, as you adventure across an entire continent to become a skilled and mighty warrior! It's epic adventure like you've never had before!

Amazon.com Review:
Neverwinter Nights isn't simply another computer game. It's a Dungeons & Dragons computer game, as well as all the tools you'll need to create your own Dungeons & Dragons adventures. Neverwinter Nights is an achievement. It accomplishes what computer role-playing games set out to do when Wizardry debuted in the late '70s: re-create the social, hands-on experience of tabletop gaming.

Neverwinter Nights uses the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition rules in (nearly) all their complex glory. It's the first game to attempt to fully support D&D 3E's customizable features, and more significantly, it's the first game designed to re-create the experience of playing tabletop D&D. You can play BioWare's extensive campaign alone or online with your friends, or you can use the included Aurora toolset to build your own adventure module and run it for your buddies with all the control you'd have if you were running a tabletop game. The powerful Dungeon Master client lets you put words in nonplayer characters' mouths, control monsters, alter the game world, and customize your adventure on the fly. If playing is your thing, you can join other people's games and play through encounters with other gamers around the world.

Everything works as it should and the game is beautiful to behold. BioWare has used a limited 3-D engine to allow you to spin your viewpoint around your character and zoom in on the action. During combat, Mages unleash spectacular spells, Priests raise their symbols to drive undead hordes back, and Rogues tinker with locked chests, while Fighters dodge, parry, and strike ferociously at any attacking beasts. The sound is topnotch, with BioWare's typically high-quality voice acting and music from composer Jeremy Soule.

But all isn't perfect.

The game makes a great effort of implementing the full D&D 3rd Edition rules, but doesn't quite succeed. In NWN, Paladins lose their Detect Evil and Mount abilities. Druids can shape change into animals, but can't change back to human form at will. Darkvision has no noticeable in-game effect. Troublesome issues for hard-core D&D fans, but it's understandable that some changes would have to be made in order to shoehorn a freeform tabletop RPG into a computer program.

Other issues are not so easy to understand: the camera controls are simple and will not allow the user to lower to decrease the camera angle--you'll never get anything approaching a character's-eye view of the world. Moving to a new section within a building or going from an indoor to an outdoor area takes you out of the game and presents you with a (mercifully short) "Loading" screen. There is an artificial limitation on how many henchmen you can hire in the single-player game: you're limited to one hireling, and Baldur's Gate fans will miss the squabbling party from earlier games. More significant are the problems that arise from trying to re-create a social experience like D&D in a computer game. Multiplayer games with strangers are confusing and not as fun as they sound and, like the tabletop game, they're really only as fun as the players and especially the DM you're playing with. Multiplayer NWN is only worthwhile if you have a dedicated group and a DM that knows what he or she is doing. The last drawback is the documentation. The manual is large and detailed but it omits key help in module creation; you have to buy a separate strategy guide if you want that information.

But though slightly flawed, NWN has indisputably won the holy grail of RPG gaming: getting the Dungeons & Dragons experience into a personal computer. The included campaign is fascinating and the tools are powerful enough to ensure a steady stream of module content from devoted fans. Make no mistake, Neverwinter Nights is an achievement and will likely change the way CRPGs are played from now on. It's a game no RPG fan, no D&D fan, should miss. --Bob Andrews

Pros: Cons:



Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Solid game, but the Official Campaign sucks
This is a really fun game, but don't worry about playing the Official Campaign. It's not very good. However the user content is amazing. Some of the best modules are Shadowlords and Dreamcatcher (http://adamandjamie.com/nwn/).


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - One of my favorites...
This is one of my favorite games, right up there with Starcraft Broodwar and Counterstrike 1.6. This and those two games are about the only video games I ever play anymore, and with good reason. They are awesome games. The campaigns are fantastic, but what is possibly my favorite is the online play with other people. This is a must-have for any D&D player or RPG lover.


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Great Game
For this price, I don't see any reason for anyone who enjoys RPGs not to buy this.

The graphics are nothing spectacular now, but the storyline is absolutely amazing. The four chapters of the single player campaign will keep you -very- entertained for a long time.

The game play is easy enough (especially as a Ranger or Druid), the alignment consequences add to the 'roleplaying' aspect and there's really a lot of content there if you're into it. If you have the time and $10, get the game.


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - I you have alot of time on your hands this is a good time passer
Ok, it can have it's glitches now and then,but overall its a good way to spend your pocket change. When starting, a mage or other spellcaster is the worst pick, they range,sure but it takes awhile even in quickselect ; a ranger is far better. My advice is to make a rouge or secondary rouge to pick those locked chests and disarm the traps. This can really anger you if your killed by a trapped chest thats vital to open.plus(theories not confirmed)in the second chapter there is a door that leads somewhere that cannot be bashed with a 100+ lock on it.Another thing is the henchmen are always running off to kill a enemy while your still opening the chests in the first room.
The game itself is fun but the dungeons are difficult, even on easy mode a few moderate level monsters are lethal. I advise buying this game with an expansion pack like shadows of the undertide or ect. Despite those drawbacks overall this is a game to be on your shelf, its over 100 hours of good gaming and sure to be worth the cost


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - A Good, Fun RPG
The Neverwinter Nights game series is one of my all time favorite, if not favorite, games. It's strength lies in it's diversity. This is not just one single player game nor is it just one multiplayer game. It can be about anything you want it to be. The game comes with one story to play through with many side quests. The game is massive, which is good and bad. Sometimes things seem to drag on, but then they pick up again. Overall it is a good story that will take up a lot of your time and keep you entertained.

Once you have completed the main campaign, unlike in most games, things are not over. You still have many choices. Since you get to create your own character and shape it how you want, you can always play through again with a character completely different than the one you just played. One negative to the story the game comes with though is that regardless of your character the story does not change much if at all, only how your character handles things. If you tire of that story you can download countless others that have been created by other creative players or Bioware. These vary in style and quality but there are many good campaigns out there to entertain you, all for free. Though Bioware does have some that you can pay to download, all player created content is free.

Think you have a good idea for a campaign? Think you can do better than Bioware or others? Then go for it! Neverwinter Nights comes with a toolset that has everything you need to create your own stories and worlds.

Tired of playing single player games by yourself? Then just connect to the internet and look through the many campaigns or persistent worlds that other players have created and are playing 24/7, all for free. Chances are you will find some place that feels right to you. Or create your own and have others enter your world and be at your mercy.

Neverwinter Nights is over 4 years old now. This should not put anyone off from buying this game. In fact it is a big plus. It means it is cheaper now than it was when it was new. There is still a good community with plenty of content to find to download. Most if not all the bugs you might have read about have been worked out by now, and work arounds have been made for things that were found limiting originally. Bioware has not left the game alone either as an update was just recently released and they have released new campaigns to download. Being older the graphics may not be top notch for today's standards, but they are still very pleasing with beautiful scenery whether you are walking through a zombie infested city or taking a nice stroll through an autumn woodland.

For what you get with Neverwinter Nights it is well worth the price. If you want to get the most out of the game though you really need to buy all the expansions. Buy Neverwinter Nights alone if you want to just take a test drive but if you want to really get the most out of the game spend the few extra dollars and get the bundled packages that include all the games and be sure to check out the Bioware forums.


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