NWN SoU

[Roger Kohli]

Anyone played this? Is it any good?

I presume you can still play the main game as a party on a dedicated server?

[Rodéric]

My take is : Do not buy any BIOWARE product they don't deserve any attention and even less money.

- edit -
I realize it's a bit short of an answer.
The truth is, I've been very disappointed with the quality (engineering and gameplay wise) of Bioware games, and NWN.
So I recommand not to buy one of their product, except if you like to beta test a game instead of playing it... in the end it'll have a poor gameplay anyway so you would have lost both time and money for nothing.

[Maybe they'll improve/change in the future, but atm it's still true]

[Roger Kohli]

I don't know, NWN now plays ok (i.e. no crashes) and most of the fun comes from joining in with your friends in a game, which NWN does well.

[Rodéric]

http://gamespy.com/articles/september03/25overrated/index2.shtml

[John Reynolds]

http://gamespy.com/articles/september03/25overrated/index2.shtml

http://www.gamespy.com/reviews/june02/neverwinter/

91% eh? Hehe

The Baldur's Gate games were great. I do agree, however, that NWN was a severe disappointment.

[Rodéric]

The Baldur's Gate games were great.


I hate them, won't go into details, but I consider them an insult to RPGs and DnD.

[John Reynolds]

The Baldur's Gate games were great.


I hate them, won't go into details, but I consider them an insult to RPGs and DnD.

Really? You are in a very small minority then, but that's ok. You looking forward to Temple of Elemental Evil? It actually crossed my mind to take tomorrow off from work, but that's just too geeky even for me.

[Rodéric]

Really? You are in a very small minority then, but that's ok. You looking forward to Temple of Elemental Evil? It actually crossed my mind to take tomorrow off from work, but that's just too geeky even for me.

Heard about it, it was a hack & slash game (ok module) for DnD to begin with, so I don't think it'll be anything but that in a computer game (which tend to be all about hack&slash).
At least it'll stay true to the original version ;)

[jvd]

Not a fan of nwns . But i'm waiting for ultima x

[Squidlor]

The Baldur's Gate games were great.


I hate them, won't go into details, but I consider them an insult to RPGs and DnD.

Of all the rpgs that I've played in the past ten years, BG1 is one of the few games that ever made me feel like I was revisiting my past pnp D&D games.

NWN was a disappointment, but I still forced myself to play through the single player campaign. I picked up SoU, but I haven't felt compelled to play much of it. I don't care for the new henchmen at all, and there doesn't seem to be too much new content in the toolset.

I wish that some developer would show some guts and develop a Spelljammer game...

[K.I.L.E.R]

Not a fan of nwns . But i'm waiting for ultima x

:lol:

That would require EA to get off it's ass, we all know how good a majority of EA games are? Especially with RPG quality when EA creates them.

[Roger Kohli]

I read the reviews, but they all concentrate on the single player experience. I want to know how it is with multi-player on a LAN.

[dreamin']

Imo NWN is the greatest game of the last few years, not because it has stunning graphics or a superb single player experience, but because it gave the community the means to create truly superb roleplaying environments.
I played the single player campaign about 2 days, but playing online on some very nice servers kept me busy for about a year now. If you chose the right servers, no other crpg offers you a roleplaying experience more similar to pnp than NWN

[ZoinKs!]

The ideal way to play nwn is with other players and a dungeon master. Single player and multiplayer without a dm are certainly doable. Most of my nwn play time recently has been single player.

I didn't particularly care for the original official campaign, but SoU is much better.

[jvd]

Not a fan of nwns . But i'm waiting for ultima x

:lol:

That would require EA to get off it's ass, we all know how good a majority of EA games are? Especially with RPG quality when EA creates them.Well through the grace of god i have been involved in ever major beta test of an online game for the last 4 years so hopefully i will get into that beta. The good news is the engine is all done (its a moded unreal engine) and most of the art is done. Beta should be in january or febuary. I like the idea that once you max out your char he ascends and you start over with a char that will max out higher . Its cool cause to many games i have maxed out my char and had nothing to do which caused me to quit

[Malo]

I've played NWN and SOU ever since they were first released. I'm a mad D&D player for the last 18 years. IMO Bioware and produced some of the best D&D games ever.

firstly, if all the comments are based on the single player nwn, then they are probaly justified. it's really nothing compared to what the rest of the game offers.

multiplayer nwn is just awesome. either over LAN or internet, its the best D&D experience one can achieve with any title atm. with the toolset and mod community, there are a LOT of modules and online worlds to explore.

I myself host 2 NWN servers for a group of friends and we play as often as possible. we are currently writing our own NWN persistant world with their toolset.

if you enjoy multiplayer D&D then NWN is the ONLY choice as there is nothing comparable on the market.

[Rodéric]

Just want to say that I did play NWN online during several months, and my comments don't apply to single player campaign.

The single player part of this game is simply so bad I would give it a negative value.

[Malo]

I would advise that a definite majority of reviews and comments regarding NWN would be rather contrary to Ingenu's extreme hatred of this game. if you like D&D then buy NWN....

[Rodéric]

I would advise that a definite majority of reviews and comments regarding NWN would be rather contrary to Ingenu's extreme hatred of this game. if you like D&D then buy NWN....

Fortunately not everyone has the same opinions and tastes. :)

[Gubbi]

I would advise that a definite majority of reviews and comments regarding NWN would be rather contrary to Ingenu's extreme hatred of this game. if you like D&D then buy NWN....

Fortunately not everyone has the same opinions and tastes. :)

Heh, not everybody loathe Bioware games like you do. The only games I've gotten more replayability out off than Baldur's Gate II are Half-life (Counter-strike) and Quake 1 (QuakeWorld, YAY!)

Cheers
Gubbi

[John Reynolds]

I would advise that a definite majority of reviews and comments regarding NWN would be rather contrary to Ingenu's extreme hatred of this game. if you like D&D then buy NWN....

Problem with that is D&D is a party-based system since character classes are fairly limited in what they can do. While the brain-dead NPC companion in NWN helps with this somewhat, the single-player campaign is a joke, IMO. Multi-player on the other hand could be fun since a group of friends could flesh out an entire party and go adventuring.

Torment is still the best D&D-based CRPG ever created.

[Rodéric]

DnD is a pen & paper RPG set of rules.
The rules are simple and unrealistic because you can't afford to spend half an hour resolving a simple round of combat., it has to be simple (so everyone can play and the DM can make sure everyone's following the rules), and fast (a dice roll equal plenty of little things that can be simulated with a computer).

Using DnD rules (or any pen&paper RPG rules) in a computer game is ridiculous, because a computer can run a simulation far more realistic than what those rules offer.

All DnD players know that the rules are just there to make everyone agree on what's going on, and that they are not what makes the game, just a way to avoid people arguing all day long about what their characters did/could do/have done.

RPGs are no different from cop/thief, Indian/cowboy games you had being little, except to avoid fights and endless arguments, everyone agrees to use some rules they find not too bad, not too unrealistic, and well fitting in the gaming world. (Combat is not as lethal in all games, in some it's solved very quickly by death, in others it's a mega special effects festival like in FF games)

Computer can simulate with physics what we solve in a dice roll. On the character evolution side, there are plenty of RPGs out there, and as many rules, skill webs, skills, levels... are ways to make the character evolve and make the player get a feeling of accomplishement (there are ways to do otherwise to achieve this btw), and they also help the player achieving his goals.

RPGs, except online with other human players, are not likely to exist on a computer.

[Prophet]

NWN rox i use to play m&m for hours but it looked like hell and wasnt really that grate

people who say diablo1/2 are grate rpg's are just hack and slash fans

i like the fact that in nwn u acctuly choose a class/alignment and have to stick to it to a point becouse if you dont you cant advance
if your evil u cant keep being nice//good and expect most evil classes to allow you to advance

i use to play a mod'ed version of dnd for years it was closer to dnd3 then 2nd add hence the change of rules in nwn dosnt bother me

the one thing that really bothered me was that every time i tryed to run the toolset it would eather crash in use or when i tryed to save

now i hear from people that it works fine since the last patch when i get my new vid card i will try it out

the sing player wasnt that bad really i have seen far worse in games far more popular
it is far more fun to play with a couple friends over the lan though since you acctuly get help (online isnt as easy unless u have cable+ so u can use voice chat)

i will be getting sou as soon as my buddy gets done with it :) he bought me nwn after he got it and desided he wanted me to play and since hes about done with sou i should be able to give it a shot once i get my new vid card :D:D:D

go for it nwn can be a blast just make sure to download the toatly patch its worth gettting the one thats huge file size since it REPLACES the files inted of just trying to update them

think its called the critical file replacer or something its like 75mb well worth the download though from what i hear

i know the 50mb one i got b4 i had my vid card die was worth it i didnt have crashes in game any after that patch :D

good luck if ya want somebody else to play with gime a holler on msn or yahoo my links are at the bottem :D

[Malo]

if you want to see the BEST implementation of the 3rd ed rules, check out Temple of Elemental Evil. amazing combat options

[jvd]

nwns was never supposed to be a single player game. That was just there for u to get a feel for the game.

[Saem]

Link to ToEE, please?

[davefb]

TOEE!! i didnt even know this was coming out till this week,, yet it's apparently already out ?

aaah, not in the uk :-/ play has it to be released on 24th october at the price of 29.99...

link
http://www.greyhawkgame.com/

hmm , i'm sure i must have played this,, but my recollection is a bit hazy,, its probably 20 yrs ago :-O

-dave-

oh and i'm a biiig fan of nwn and sou . big fan..

[Roger Kohli]

I've gone ahead and bought SoU. Its multi-player is identical to NWN (i.e. you can play the single player campain multi-player instead of using henchmen).

I haven't played too much of the game yet, but it seems ok up to now.

[parodygm]

I've played PnP RPGs for more than 20 years. Personally, I found NWN to be the most expansive and immersive PC "RPG" title I've ever played.

The flexibility provided by the toolset and the ability to host my own modules made it a must have for me. The single player campaign never gripped me and was no influence on my decision to buy it, nor did I ever get around to finishing it.

My only issues with NWN and Bioware are the very poor support for ATI cards and the fact that they steadfastly insisted on including an expansion single player campaign with the SoU addon (and this also applies to the upcoming HotU expansion pack) instead of focusing on more custom content. I never agreed with the assertion that only by including a new module could they push the product...

I can't see how the true PnP fan couldn't like this game. I always felt that the system I was using was secondary to the experience of roleplaying anyway. NWN allows me to immerse myself in a compelling scenario and the rest is up to the capabilities of the players and DM alike.

[MfA]

You need playtesting to create a ruleset. Developers do not have the time to playtest rulesets remotely as complex as D&D and get out all the kinks, let alone something more complex.

Until we have true AI to do playtesting for us we will be stuck with phyiscs simulation (which has only limited use) and relatively simple rulesets, with the most complex&balanced rulesets coming from p&p games.

TOEE is fun, but buggy and it is a dungeon crawl (but that shoulda been obvious). Calling it hack&slash is stupid though when a single encounter can take 15 minutes.

[Malo]

yeah TOEE is a tad buggy, but generally its ok. good enough to play IMO. I like the 15 minute battles when they are worth it. come up against a decent amount of opponents with spellcasters etc and you really have to use your brain. positioning, 5-foot steps, AoOs, readying are what really make TOEE a detailed D&D experience.

having DM'd a 4 hour battle the other night in my pnp campaign, these battles are nothing!

[Althornin]

The Baldur's Gate games were great. I do agree, however, that NWN was a severe disappointment.
Bah.
Baldurs gate sucked, imo.
The only good game to come out in a while was Planescape: Torment.
Even NWN is lame in comparison.

note: comments apply only to single player

[MfA]

You liked Torment but didnt like Arcanum? I loved both.

(And BG1 sucked, but BG2 was okay ... even if the bad guy sucked, and the end game sucked worse.)

[Saem]

Is Arcanum that magic meets steam tech game?