The Hype was Justified-- You Have to Play This

Neverwinter Nights stands out in the crowded mass of PC Role-Playing titles for two primary reasons: 1) It lives up to its hype, and 2) It actually possesses a “story”.

Merely saying this is a good game doesn’t do the title justice. This is an excellent experience, which finally brings all the elements of a good AD&D tabletop experience to the PC. Once a person gets past the learning curve of the interface, they are rewarded with a phenomenal story, a deep, rich world, and a wide variety of playing options.

Bioware, maker of such RPG titles as Baldur’s Gate, has had this title stewing for several years, honing it and sweating the details—and it shows in the final results.

Where to begin…for starters, character development is robust and well-done. Neverwinter Nights allows a person to choose between a wide variety of classes and skills, as well as additional abilities called “talents”. Some of these abilities are class (or race) specific, but most of them can be learned by any class, which is a far cry from Diablo II’s class-specific skill trees. What’s more, a person can multiclass their character, and-

Wait? You don’t know about all this terminology? About attributes like Constitution, or Armor Class, or Critical Damage Chances? This is the only real problem with Neverwinter Nights—the game assumes a person has a working knowledge of AD&D rule sets already. What’s more, having knowledge of the tabletop gaming system doesn’t entirely guarantee an easy time picking up the particulars of the game. There are numerous examples a table-top gamer might get confused over, such as the fact that armor class in the tabletop game goes down as it improves, versus raising in this one.

There’s a lot to learn here—and not all of it will be easy for the casual gamer. Bioware has drawn the assumption that a person interested in this game is willing to invest a lot of time learning the dynamics of the title’s richly developed gaming system, but I wonder if this might scare off some of the title’s potential audience. Time will tell. I for one love everything rule-related in this game (the social and thief skills especially), but the average player might not take the time, giving up on it early on.

They’d be missing out, too. Neverwinter Nights is as rich and engrossing as any RPG title out there, on any platform.

I don’t want to spoil the storyline, but here is a brief synopsis of what’s to come: a plague called the Wailing Death has descended on Neverwinter, a proud and fortified city full of all the races we’ve come to expect in fantasy. An Academy full of students studying the ways of heros and heroines is expected to produce a solution to the crisis—but when the college is attacked, only a handful of survivors remain, one of which is you. Now the city is engulfed in turmoil. Strange creatures, called waterdhavian beasts, were needed to create a magical cure. In the attack, they’ve escaped into the streets, wreaking havoc.

To make matters worse, the city is suffering from terrible problems as the populace panics. A prison has been breached, and inmates are running loose in the streets. One district is engulfed in waves of the undead. Still another suffers from roving gangs of thieves and bandits, who have descended on a black market promising a cure. Every section of the city has it’s problems, and in your search for the cure, you wade into a world ripe with beautiful graphics, incredible ambient sounds, and not a dull character in sight.

Combat is fierce, and you can slow, speed up, or stop the action as you see fit. Monsters are well-done and range from the friendly and comical to the terrifying. The music is eerie or jovial as the moment demands, and never dull. Even better, brute strength or magical prowess won’t get your through this game alone. You’re going to have to use your brain, and you’re going to have to think your way out of problems.

People are watching, too—your every action influences others’ opinions of you. In true AD&D form, anything you do can come back and haunt you later. There are penalties and rewards for both good and evil behavior alike. It’s an excellent role-playing experience.

Couple this with good dialogue, and the ability to hire a henchman that complement your abilities, and you’ve already got one hell of a title. But the game doesn’t stop giving.

The graphics and sound are incredible. Walk into an area in the midst of a violent riot, and you'll not only see the flaming carts, trashed buildings, and convincing shadow effects, but you'll also get a good amount of ambient sound, too. You'll hear people throwing bottles, conversation, or strange wailing around every corner. In-fight sounds are well-done as well. The only problem is that sometimes some of the voices are a little over the top.

In particular you are allowed to choose a voice set for your character. There are very few that don't seem overdone (at least in regards to male characters). If this area were toned back I'd like the character sounds a little better. Still, having so many characters in the game greet you with voice is a nice change of pace.

There’s also a wealth of multiplayer modes and options, all of them enjoyable.

Want the ability to make your own modules? No problem—there’s a built in, supported module toolset included. You can customize as little or as much as you want—right down to dialogue or the color of a villan’s shirt. Using the DM mode, others (and definitely yourself) can control the action, and watch as players advance through your modules, trying their best to beat all odds. Yes, tabletop gaming has been done right.

You can also import your own character portraits, modules- you name it. The mod community has already taken this title into its hands. It seems Bioware has a winner on its hands.

And AD&D has finally been done justice on the PC. Gamers—be they of the pen & paper or PC variety—will rejoice over this one.