RPG fans who crave a faithful, epic D&D CRPG haven't had much to pick from in recent years. Temple of Elemental Evil looked beautiful, but clunky, buggy gameplay ruined what could have been a fantastic throwback to Bioware's Infinity Engine games. Interplay's own D&D efforts have gone the action-RPG route with Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance I and II. While Neverwinter Nights is far from perfect, it definitely is the best traditional RPG fix for D&D fans since Baldur's Gate II. First, the bad stuff. The game is designed to be intentionally easy. Instant teleportation can whisk you out of any battle so you can rest, heal and buff up, then teleport back in. Henchman can die and be raised for free an unlimited number of times. They're always waiting for you back at the teleport point. Henchman are also finicky to control. They rush into battles without warning, they choose their own foes to fight, and you can't manage their inventories or gear (at least not until Shadows of Undrentide). And of course, you only get one henchmen (two in Hordes of the Underdark) which kills the "party" facet of traditional D&D. But perhaps my biggest complaint is that there's no "sky". The NWN engine gives you a top-down 3D view of fully rendered environments except you NEVER GET A SKY! That takes away the realism in a way I wouldn't have expected. But there's lots of good stuff, which gets overshadowed by the complaints tossed above. First, the story isn't bad at all. It's not at KOTOR or BGII's level, but I enjoyed playing through it. Second, the character development is awesome as long as you have some idea of what you're doing. The game gives you "recommended' advice if you need it, but it's worth your time to read up at NWN's community fan site on how to build a great character. Laying out a path for an awesome epic-level character is good stuff. Third, the graphics are clunky and outdated but the spell animations are still fun and combat is a joy to watch. And lastly, you can get the whole package (NWN, Undrentide, Hordes) in the Platinum package for $30 or $40 now, and that's a huge steal. If you haven't given NWN a shot yet, or tried it earlier and gave up, you're missing out on a decent D&D experience. Much better than Temple of Elemental Evil and much more satisfying than the Dark Alliance series.
The first time I heard (or more accurately, read) about Neverwinter Nights was when I was playing Baldur's Gate II and a loading screen told me I would be able to import my Baldur's Gate character on Neverwinter Nights. ... Read Full Review
It only takes a glimpse at the manual to realize that Neverwinter Nights is a massive game. Over 200 pages of detailed information will give you a clear idea of what you're getting into. In fact, unless you're a hardcore... Read Full Review
