Neverwinter Nights

Other products by Atari

Product Features

• Your city is under quarantine as a deadly plague decimates the population is running amok. You are sent on a quest to find a cure.
• You'll journey through ancient dungeons, battles allkinds of monsters, and learn the skills you need to become a mighty warrior
• Hire muscle or join up with other travelers to form war partys
• Incredible online multiplayer action -- you can be the dungeonmaster and control every facet of the adventure
• The unique new scripting language lets you design your own encounters

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004TSXC
• Item Weight: 2 pounds
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: June 18, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (306 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,494 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)

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• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PC | Edition: Standard

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:

• Almost perfect implementation of D&D 3E rules
• Deep single-player game
• Intriguing multiplayer game
• Powerful module creation tools

Cons:

• Not quite perfect implementation of D&D 3E rules
• "Loading" screens
• Inflexible 3-D camera
• Only one henchman
• Multiplayer is dependant on quality players and DM

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!

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

145 of 166 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What Neverwinter Nights is and isn't, May 28, 2001

By	John F Rauchert (Calgary, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews

Having followed the development of Neverwinter Nights for almost two years now, I think I have a feel for what this game will mean to Computer Role-Playing Games.

Neverwinter Nights (NWN) is not a Massively Multiplayer Game, it wasn't designed to be such. It is not a single-player Game although it will ship with a single-player campaign. NWN was designed for a small group of players (up to 64 currently) to play through 4-5 hour modules (adventures) very similar to the way Pen and Paper Role-Playing campaigns are structured.

One person controls one character either totally independently or under the supervision of a live DM that can control the playing environment (for instance scaling back an encounter that is too tough for the players).

To PnP roleplayers this game will be a dream come true, a chance to move into the computer game world and create modules without having to learn complicated graphic arts and computer programming techniques. It will also be attractive to the MMORPG player who is tired of the endless pointless series of combats who craves a Roleplaying experience. It will challenge Mod Designers who have up-to-now had their own private playgrounds due to the steep learning curve cost of entering the world of Module Design.

Will this lead to a plethora of modules being produced (most of them bad)? I personally hope so, because as with PnP roleplaying it was typically never the bought modules that yielded the memorable experiences.

Neverwinter Nights will not be Baldur's Gate and it will not be EverQuest. It will be something different, its own game.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Neverwinter Nights is obviously meant for multi-player..., June 21, 2002

By A Customer

Not that that's a bad thing. First of all though, in case you didn't know, Neverwinter Nights has been in development for a VERY (over 4 years) long time. Baldurs Gate fans (like me) have been waiting for this game so anxiously, you wouldn't believe. Most of of us would probably expect a game similiar to Baldurs Gate, but regardless of what you heard... it's not nearly as good.
You see, Neverwinter has a different purpose (which I don't like)... and that's multiplayer, and creating your own "worlds" with the tool set. Don't get me wrong, the game is still fun... but it plays like a souped up version of Dungeon Siege. Unlike Baldurs Gate, Neverwinter lets you control only one character, instead of a whole 6-man/woman party. True, this is dissapointing in a way, but the game is meant for playing with other people, and that's where the parties form... so not really anything to worry about.
The game looks and plays almost identical to Dungeon Siege (which I hated)... the only difference is that Neverwinter uses the 3rd-Edition Dungeons and Dragons rules. And no, I'm not going to explain it. But just expect lots and lots of hack n' slash.
So, basically, this game really isn't anything special. It really isn't. Behind all the flashy D&D rules, lies good ol' hack n' slash. The only thing is that it's fun when your doing it with other people. I don't understand why many are saying that Baldurs fans will love this game, because I'm a huge Baldurs Gate fan, and I don't love it. However, I do LIKE it... it's a good, fun multi-player experience. No, it's not the end-all RPG... not even the best RPG this year (Morrowind is 20 times better). But if your looking for some fun multi-player gaming, then buy Neverwinter Nights. Just don't expect another masterpiece like Baldurs Gate II. And if you don't own Morrowind, get that instead of this...

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars If you're looking for Baldur's Gate 3 - this isn't it, October 18, 2002

By A Customer

NWN is actually 3 things in one: it ships with a single player campaign so you can play it on your own, much as you would other CRPGs such as Arcanum, Fallout or the Baldur's Gate series. It can be played (and indeed was primarily intended to be played) multiplayer, in which you typically team up with other players to complete a module. Finally, it ships with an editor so you can produce your own modules. Note that this means you can download hundreds (eventually undoubtedly thousands) of player created modules to continue enjoying the game. NWN is based on the 3rd edition Dungeon and Dragons rules.

Having said all that I want to comment specifically about the SP game: opinions are deeply divided on this issue, but IMO if you liked Bioware's previous CRPG offerings, the classics Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2, you are probably going to be disappointed with the NWN single player campaign. In a nutshell, you don't get a full party but instead can hire a single henchman, who has about as much character as a cold bowl of oatmeal. The story line is very linear, some would also say predictable. Loot is randomly generated, so you spend a LOT of time smashing open chests and barrels because you never know when you'll find something good in the most unlikely of places. All the screen art is composed using a limited set of standard tilesets, so it gets repetitive fast. The side quests, such as they are, tend strongly toward the "purolator" variety in which you simply retrieve an item and return it to the person who gave you the quest for a reward. Depending on which class you choose to play you may also find combat generally unchallenging. I could go on, but you get the idea. For many of us who thoroughly enjoyed the BG and BG 2 experience NWN was a major letdown. Don't take my word for it though, visit the official NWN website at nwn.bioware.com, where the pros and cons of NWN were hotly debated by the game's supporters and critics for weeks after the release.

I have not touched on the multiplayer game or the editor. Suffice it to say that multiplayer game can be a lot of fun if you are playing with people you know. You can join games with strangers, but that experience is often -to say the least- uneven. To take full advantage of the editor you need to be comfortable using a scripting language. You can design basic modules using only "stock" scripts, but the results will be bland. It goes without saying that although there is a large and ever growing number of modules in the public domain, only a minority of them are even medicore.

One final note: if you are looking for quality fantasy CRPG, with well-developed NPCs, an engaging storyline and a well rendered world, and you have not played Baldur's Gate or Baldur's Gate 2, don't deny yourself any longer, you're in for a treat!

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