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Author Topic: Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition  (Read 5691 times)

oggsmash

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Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition
« on: October 03, 2021, 08:41:03 AM »
  I spent quite a few hours playing this game years ago when it came out, single player, multiplayer, persistent servers, etc.   I picked it up recently, and I have to say I am a little stunned at how many people are playing it online.  The 3rd edition rules lend themselves well to a video game presentation, and I can not recommend the game enough if you enjoy dungeon crawl style games.   With a toolset for designing your own modules as well as allowing a player to take the role of the dungeon master in multiplayer games, its pretty awesome.

Banjo Destructo

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Re: Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2021, 01:27:02 PM »
I almost got this to play with a group of friends. Too busy to schedule a workable time though.   I have been playing Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition though, and have Temple of Elemental Evil Enhanced Edition,  those are some fun games to play solo.

oggsmash

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Re: Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2021, 11:04:02 PM »
I almost got this to play with a group of friends. Too busy to schedule a workable time though.   I have been playing Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition though, and have Temple of Elemental Evil Enhanced Edition,  those are some fun games to play solo.

  The nice thing is, with the persistent worlds you can play with other people, and the amount of content is staggering with some of the player created as well as the official extra modules for the game.  Icewind dale I enjoyed years ago, I think NWN is quite a bit more fun, but I think that is because of the multiplayer option.  I have played little of the actual campaign for NWN, though what of them I did play they were very good.   I spent much more time playing custom modules made by the community.

Banjo Destructo

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Re: Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2021, 03:56:20 PM »
I almost got this to play with a group of friends. Too busy to schedule a workable time though.   I have been playing Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition though, and have Temple of Elemental Evil Enhanced Edition,  those are some fun games to play solo.

  The nice thing is, with the persistent worlds you can play with other people, and the amount of content is staggering with some of the player created as well as the official extra modules for the game.  Icewind dale I enjoyed years ago, I think NWN is quite a bit more fun, but I think that is because of the multiplayer option.  I have played little of the actual campaign for NWN, though what of them I did play they were very good.   I spent much more time playing custom modules made by the community.

The persistent world and player-made adventures sound really appealing. I do wonder if I can work something out to try it.

BoxCrayonTales

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Re: Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2021, 10:20:20 PM »
I remember playing it a lot in the 2000s. There was so much content on the Neverwinter Vault. It's a great example of how, if you provide good tools, then modders will create a lot of amazing stuff. What I like about NWN over other games is that it gives you the tools to make your own modules from scratch, as opposed to forcing your stuff into an already existing game. That's really nice.

I would love to see a NWN3 that offers the same freedom with the latest graphical and programming improvements.

TheSHEEEP

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Re: Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2021, 04:44:27 AM »
I played the game a ton when it originally came out.

And recently started another playthrough (which ended prematurely with the release of Pathfinder : WotR which is just better in every single regard).

Even with the EE, I feel that NWN is held back by the same things it was always held back by:
- Tiny maps that fail to give the impression of a larger world. Makes everything feel like you're walking around in a doll house
- Atrociously bad companion AI (holy side kicks, Batman, it is horrible!) with no way to control companions manually
- Ugly modernist UI clashing with the game's theme
- Early age 3D never looked good, this game is no exception (meanwhile, BG2 holds up visually to this day)

What it has in its favor are the ruleset and some great mods and campaigns.
And of course the persistent worlds, but I've never been much of a MP gamer.

Ghostmaker

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Re: Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition
« Reply #6 on: November 10, 2021, 02:19:44 PM »
Also notable is that NWN's original campaign plot was so hackneyed you'd have to be a moron to not see what was coming.

I mean, really, was anyone NOT surprised by the big reveal near the end of Act 1? Really? You couldn't tell 15 minutes in which NPC was going to stab you in the back?

BG and BG2 had MUCH better writing by comparison.

Svenhelgrim

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Re: Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2021, 09:56:27 AM »
Also notable is that NWN's original campaign plot was so hackneyed you'd have to be a moron to not see what was coming.

I mean, really, was anyone NOT surprised by the big reveal near the end of Act 1? Really? You couldn't tell 15 minutes in which NPC was going to stab you in the back?

BG and BG2 had MUCH better writing by comparison.
The worst part is the “Redemption” in Hordes of the Underdark. 

Ghostmaker

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Re: Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition
« Reply #8 on: November 12, 2021, 10:08:33 AM »
Also notable is that NWN's original campaign plot was so hackneyed you'd have to be a moron to not see what was coming.

I mean, really, was anyone NOT surprised by the big reveal near the end of Act 1? Really? You couldn't tell 15 minutes in which NPC was going to stab you in the back?

BG and BG2 had MUCH better writing by comparison.
The worst part is the “Redemption” in Hordes of the Underdark.
It was severely jarring for me, and I stand by an assertion I made back when I'd played through NWN and its expansions; somewhere between BG2 and NWN, Bioware lost some critical employees in the writing department.

The REAL irony, in my opinion, was that the Aurora engine was a hell of a lot more useful for developing online tabletop simulations and special custom campaigns. It was a case where the tools of the game were far more effective than the original game itself.

mudbanks

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Re: Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition
« Reply #9 on: November 29, 2021, 09:32:01 PM »
Had some great moments on a few persistent world servers. The ones that had active DMs were the most memorable. You could be going through a bunch of crypts when a DM would suddenly decide to spawn a talking spirit in your path, giving you a mini quest that wasn't in the scripts at all.

Now that we're talking about it, I have the urge to reinstall it lol

Zelen

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Re: Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition
« Reply #10 on: November 30, 2021, 05:32:00 PM »
Also notable is that NWN's original campaign plot was so hackneyed you'd have to be a moron to not see what was coming.

I mean, really, was anyone NOT surprised by the big reveal near the end of Act 1? Really? You couldn't tell 15 minutes in which NPC was going to stab you in the back?

BG and BG2 had MUCH better writing by comparison.

Definitely agree on the writing. NWN was so predictable that I couldn't even stand playing through the main campaign. Supposedly the expansions were better, but I always saw the product as the toolset moreso than the game.

At the same time the BG games were (IMO) unfairly difficult, sprawling to the point of losing focus, and generally not very good as videogames.

TheSHEEEP

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Re: Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition
« Reply #11 on: December 01, 2021, 02:51:04 AM »
Definitely agree on the writing. NWN was so predictable that I couldn't even stand playing through the main campaign. Supposedly the expansions were better, but I always saw the product as the toolset moreso than the game.
The funny thing is that NWN2 followed that line.
The main campaign was even WORSE than NWN1's campaign writing-wise - not so much in predictability (which isn't something I mind, I don't need video game stories to surprise me) but the general quality was just terrible, pure cringe as you'd say nowadays.
But both the expansions were so much better than the OC it would be a shame to miss out on them. Especially Mask Of The Betrayer can still be considered one of the best written RPGs.

At the same time the BG games were (IMO) unfairly difficult, sprawling to the point of losing focus, and generally not very good as videogames.
They were open world games (in a sense), so you could decide yourself what to tackle when. That's not losing focus, that's giving the player a choice of what to do instead of just being linear.
Other than the first few hours of BG1, I don't really know what you're talking about with unfairly difficult - sure, early level AD&D is a clusterfuck, one bad roll and you're dead more or less. The kobold mines in BG1 are a reload nightmare.
But once you got a few levels under your belt, you are in control of winning or losing a battle, though you do need to learn the systems, how to use them and how to prepare for encounters of certain kinds (e.g. protect from loss of levels when facing vampires, from turning into stone when facing basilisks, etc.). Demanding? Maybe. But certainly not unfair.

I found both NWNs a lot more unfair - since you are NOT in control, due to the braindead AI companions getting themselves and/or you killed all the time.
"Sure, I'll go stand right next to this group of melee enemies!", said the archer companion two rounds before dying to attacks of opportunity. *facepalm*
« Last Edit: December 01, 2021, 02:57:14 AM by TheSHEEEP »

Zelen

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Re: Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition
« Reply #12 on: December 03, 2021, 12:01:23 AM »
They were open world games (in a sense), so you could decide yourself what to tackle when. That's not losing focus, that's giving the player a choice of what to do instead of just being linear.
Other than the first few hours of BG1, I don't really know what you're talking about with unfairly difficult - sure, early level AD&D is a clusterfuck, one bad roll and you're dead more or less. The kobold mines in BG1 are a reload nightmare.
But once you got a few levels under your belt, you are in control of winning or losing a battle, though you do need to learn the systems, how to use them and how to prepare for encounters of certain kinds (e.g. protect from loss of levels when facing vampires, from turning into stone when facing basilisks, etc.). Demanding? Maybe. But certainly not unfair.

I found both NWNs a lot more unfair - since you are NOT in control, due to the braindead AI companions getting themselves and/or you killed all the time.
"Sure, I'll go stand right next to this group of melee enemies!", said the archer companion two rounds before dying to attacks of opportunity. *facepalm*

YMMV. It's been more than a decade since I played the games but I have distinct memories of dying scores of times in the early game, from the very first encounter you have outside Candlekeep and many, many times in events you just wander into while exploring. It might be (somewhat) authentic to the AD&D experience to die in random encounters that pop up, but ultimately I don't care about the authenticity of the experience or accuracy of the game rules when that detracts from progressing through game/story content.

By the time I got to the Kobold Mines I'd already used a character trainer to max out stats, and even then the game was hard, and this was when I was young enough that I would spend countless hours grinding out Nintendo-hard games.

TheSHEEEP

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Re: Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition
« Reply #13 on: December 03, 2021, 02:49:09 AM »
YMMV. It's been more than a decade since I played the games but I have distinct memories of dying scores of times in the early game, from the very first encounter you have outside Candlekeep and many, many times in events you just wander into while exploring. It might be (somewhat) authentic to the AD&D experience to die in random encounters that pop up, but ultimately I don't care about the authenticity of the experience or accuracy of the game rules when that detracts from progressing through game/story content.
That's the early-game DnD experience I was talking about. Yes, it sucks. And is a very valid criticism for ALL editions of D&D as well as by-the-books implementations of it.
But after that, it sounds to me like you just wanted to proceed through content without being challenged in the way these games are challenging you.

NWN got around the early game DnD experience simply by increasing character HP. A character that would have died by-the-rules through a critical hit due to having only 6hp would survive in NWN due to the flat hp bonus each character is given.
A crude solution, but it does its job.

By the time I got to the Kobold Mines I'd already used a character trainer to max out stats, and even then the game was hard, and this was when I was young enough that I would spend countless hours grinding out Nintendo-hard games.
That's because they are different kinds of difficult. Aimed at very different mindsets.
"Nintendo-hard games" (I like the naming!) really require tenacity and physical player skill (reflexes, mostly). You can stubbornly approach a situation in the same manner you did the last 10 times and you will eventually succeed, simply because your reflexes and mastery of game controls have improved. In a way, that also requires patience.
I've been there and done that, too.
Nowadays, I loathe games that test my patience, couldn't play games like that anymore. I lack the patience to git gud in a game's physical controls.

In tactical/strategy games (especially the RPG variant), tenacity and physical player skill are practically useless. You cannot grind these games. Patience won't get you very far, either.
Instead, you need to understand the system, the encounter situation, play tactically and with a cool head. It's much more cerebral. Every encounter has at least one solution (usually much more), it's a bit puzzle-like in that sense. Requiring understanding more than patience (though I guess you could blindly go through different approaches until one works).
Approach the same situation in the same manner and you will just die again, no matter how often you do it.
Undoubtedly leading to frustration eventually - but that's not the game's fault, and it's definitely not unfair.

In your example, the fact that you boosted your stats and you STILL had a very hard time is very telling: It wasn't the stats that were the problem, it was your approach.
Again, been there, done that. Pretty sure I went through the game with a bunch of "illegally" buffed characters as well when I was 13 or 14 or so. What was the name of that tool? BGKeeper or something like that?  ;D
But eventually I opted for the intended approach and that stuck with me since  ;)
« Last Edit: December 03, 2021, 02:57:51 AM by TheSHEEEP »

behayos

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Re: Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition
« Reply #14 on: December 09, 2021, 10:28:21 AM »
This game will not be suitable for everyone. Nevertheless, I want to stress: this game is one of a kind. It's almost the only RPG that offers to create its own RPG campaigns, playable solo / multi with or without a game master.