Muussstt plaay....moore yessss.... (Neverwinter Nights)

Name: martial_loh

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Product:	Neverwinter Nights
Date:	18/09/02 (448 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Graphics,Story, Story, Did I say....Story?! Oh - its addictive!!!

Disadvantages: Some bugs....., Sooo addictive...

Neverwinter Nights is the latest RPG to come from the masters of RPG that are Bioware... Well, I haven't actually played any of their other RPGs(English ones anyway) before, to be honest with you - Neverwinter Nights is the first RPG that I've decided to play. It is based upon "Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition rules" , but do not let that intimidate you or scare you off! There is no turn-based combat here! Bioware have cleverly designed a real-time system that uses the D&D rules without you even knowing it! There is no frantic hacking and slashing to be found either - you click on the enemy you want to hit, and your character will do so until it is dead.
Before I go onto how the game is played we'll take a look at the story. The game has 4 chapters, but we'll just look at the first one, so as not to spoil any surprises -OK?
You start off as a newly trained hero in the city of Neverwinter. A mysterious and evil plague has besieged the city and it is up to you to find the cure for it. Simple eh? The young leader of Neverwinter, Lady Aribeth is onhand to answer most of your questions and you'll find some other informative characters around the city too. Well... I suppose I can tell you that some thing is behind the evil plague - and it must be stopped. But thats it. I can't tell you any more without spoiling the fun of experiencing it for yourself! Seriously.

You create youor character by selecting race, class (fighter, magician, etc.) and a variety of criteria dictated by the D&D rules. Although there is a huge number of possible combinations, I personally find that most characters look samey - maybe this is so that they blend in with the game... a small gripe. At the start of the game, you can choose to talk to someone who teaches you the basics of the game - this can be skipped if you've played before. For some reason I was quite impressed with this feature. Rather than have a completely separate tutorial mo

de - the training is all incorporated to the main game. Very neat.

The scripting is very good. It feels like you're reading (or listening) to a fantasy novel when you converse with characters - and this provides an extremely high level of immersion. You see some games are bought, loaded, played, then played again the next day. After that it might be 2 days later. Then a week later. Neverwinter Nights has had me gripped from beginning to the end. And I still want to play through it again as a different character. Thats what you call addiciton.

You do have the option of hiring a henchman in the game. The tyhpe of henchman you choose is supposed to be vital in the game. If you are a fighter, then a sorceror is meant to be a good choice. However.....being quite a fight first ask questions later person, I hired the Red Tiger - a huge Uthgardt warrior who could smash up any door, chest or person I told him to!

The graphics are very nice indeed. The game is fully 3D, although you'll need quite a good machine to run it on the "Best" setting - like mine..hehehe... Grass blows in the wind - you have multiple castings of shadows - thanks to the dynamic lighting feature... Some of the temples you'll enter look just fabulous. I did read one review of NWN in the US version of PC Gamer Magazine. They said that areas looked samey - due to the tile-set creation method. I would say that this only applies to areas like dungeons and caves... but since you are only based in such a relatively small area around Neverwinter I would expect land features to be similar...(or am I making up excuses for Bioware?!!)

The music and sounds are good. Just good. THe voice acting is nice to hear for a while, but I find that I can read faster, so I dont bother listen to what people say. Perhaps this is due to my previous experience of playing Japanese styled RPGs. The music swiftly changes from the calm forest music to the battle anthem wh
eneve
r you..erm...battle. This somewhat reminds me of the old LucasArts SCUMM games - y'know Sam n Max, Day of the Tentacle....

Bioware include a map-maker-thingy that lets you create your own missions and quests. I havent had the time to tinker with this yet.. but I'm sure its good. CHeck out the official website and you'll find loads of fanmade modules to download..
The controls are good too. Nothing to shout about - then again you can't really innnovate with control systems can you? ANyway - onto the GOOD and BAD.

First with the BAD.
There are a few bugs in Neverwinter Nights. Some annoying, some just minor. I'm sure they can be fixed by downloading a patch....but I'm just sooooo lazy to bother! Basically the most annoying one is when I reached the end of Chapter 2. Nothing would happen. Do you know how mad I was? I was thinking...all those hours of gameplay wasted! Looking back on the experience it made me realise how much I love this game! I managed to progress the game thanks to its handy Debug Mode... which also can be used for cheats (if you like doing so). I had to search for at least an hour on the internet before I found a way round the problem.. THe minor bugs include: the way your character sometimes does nothing. You tell it to hit the big baddie...and nothing. He/She just gets beat up. Also, your henchman has an affinity to getting stuck in walls. Or just not moving at all. I recall once in the first chapter where I managed to get stuck on the roof of a building. A quick reload was the only cure!However because I like the game so much, I'll over look them:)

The GOOD
The graphics, the story- oh yes the story! Never has such a plot with so many twists and turns been incorporated into a game so well before. Maybe my opinion will change after I play some more RPGs, but for now - I am deliriously happy! THe plot keeps you guessing as to what will happen next, and some of the decisions
that othe
r characters make will shock you, or maybe confirm your suspicisions. One more thing....you won't go out much when you play this game.. AND it affects your mind....I mean - when I went to church on Sunday I was looking around frantically for some sorta chest or big wooden door to smash up and loot.... then I realised I was in the real world!! Its not often that a game has that affect on me! I think I've rambled on enough now. I think I've covered everything.. if I haven't then tell me. I'll fix it up. This game deserves that!

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