Neverwinter Nights

"Dark dungeons, high fantasy, magic and monsters abound...I'm home!"

In case you haven't read my other 50+ reviews, I'm a major RPG fan. I don't understand it and I don't care, I love RPGs. Whether it's the fantastic worlds or unusual characters or the ability to use magical powers otherwise unavailable to me, I love RPGs. However, there have been very few PC RPGs that catch my interest. I'm more a fan of the Japanese set, from Square to Konami to Capcom, etc. The only other non-Japanese RPG I've played is Arcanum, which, while good, is only one game in the vast sea of the genre. Then came Neverwinter.

Neverwinter Nights is from the good folks at Bioware, makers of Knights of the Old Republic. What surprised me, though, is how much better NWN is compared to KOTOR. I would think that since NWN came out first, it would be missing a few key elements, but it has several fundamental aspects that improve on KOTOR's gameplay, despite coming out first.

Graphics

I have a brand-new computer, and so this portion of the review will be for a 3GHz P4 with HT and a 800MHz FSB, 512MB DDR RAM, and a Geforce FX 5600XT to top it all off. The graphics are very slick, with waving grass, moving shadows, lighting everywhere, and very detailed character models. So let's get into details. At first you start in a lot of dark environments, with cobblestones below and high (invisible) ceilings above. You have three camera modes that change the vertical angle and can be switched as easily as pressing the * key (or whatever you want to assign to it). The vertical camera, as the name goes, sets it high above so you can see what's all around you, while the driving, or chase, camera follows from behind ala KOTOR. All camera modes can be zoomed in and out with either the mouse wheel or the arrow keys, and the camera can be swiveled from side to side with said arrow keys and the mouse.

As for the lighting, it's pretty snazzy. As long as you have the hardware, you can see some great light displays. Your PC constantly casts a shadow, along with pretty much anything else within light range. Spells (like bigass fireballs) create a light source just before they fizzle out. You also have magical rings capable of projecting a constant light source, which is handy in the dark dungeons. Torches and a magic Light spell accomplish the same feat, but they're both temporary solutions. The low lighting in dungeons isn't really so bad that you need a light source, but it can help if you have poor eyesight.

A final word on character and monster models. You won't meet a more varied cast of beasties and evil critters this side of Faerun. From fire beetles to air elementals to big freaking dragons, you'll go 'Ooo,' and 'Ahh,' and 'IT BURNS, IT BURNS!' That last one will be when you meet your first dragon and it sneezes on you. Your character model also changes with each piece of armor and weaponry you equip on it. If you have a female PC and should happen across a low-cut outfit, you can zoom right in and take a peek. Good stuff.

Sound

Whoo-boy. Originally I couldn't play this game because the generic sound card built into the motherboard conflicted with the software. Well, now I have a Sound Blaster Live! and I'm doing just great. What I really appreciated was the separate settings for speakers and headphones, along with settings for 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound. While I couldn't test the latter two, regular speakers and a set of headphones produce some great audio.

For one thing, there's a crapload of dialogue. Many of the voices are good, and while it's not all David Lucases, there aren't a whole lot of terrible voice jobs...well, except for what I can only guess are the Norwegian couple hitting on each other. The music's good at first, but the battle theme plays quite often unless you sneak around a lot, so you might end up quite sick of it. Luckily you can turn down the music and turn up the sound effects, thereby letting you listen to the clash of swords and the sound of spellcasting.

Gameplay

Okay, this'll be long. This game is based off D&D 3rd edition rules, so for those of you who play the real game, this'll be second nature. For all those who don't play, or if you're like me and got out of the game before they got to 3rd edition, here's a long-winded explanation.

You start out by either creating a character or selecting one premade by Bioware. If you don't know a thing about D&D you can select a premade hero, but if that's the case, you might want to brush up on the basics first. Anyway, in creating a character, you have a lot of options. Gender, race, and alignment play into things. Your gender influences certain encounters, i.e. at one point you can seduce a woman into her room to get her treasure (not that, you perverts!) if you're male, but if you're female, another guy will hit on her and you'll have to follow and sneak in after them.

As for race, this will heavily influence your character. You have a choice between human, elf, half-elf, dwarf, halfling, gnome, and half-orc. These races have their own advantages and disadvantages, in the form of stat bonuses or penalties, and special abilities, such as the elf's innate immunity to to sleep, or the half-orc's darkvision. Picking your race will influence your game to a certain extent, mostly dialogue, but also your class.

Your stats are one of the most important options, though they're pretty self-explanatory. Strength governs how much you can carry and how well you do in melee, dexterity determines your armor class (how easy you are to hit) and your ranged attack, constitution is your health, intelligence gives you skill points, wisdom influences certain magic and skills, and charisma is how well you can influence others. Choosing your stats at the beginning is important, because you only get a few chances to improve them throughout the game, so once you start, you're committed.

As for classes, there's a ton. In alphabetical order, we have the barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, monk, paladin, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, and wizard. Lots, huh? It's not really that difficult to choose one, however, because they can all be organized into categories. Fighters, monks and barbarians are the pure warriors, rangers and druids are the nature-tuned warriors/mages, rogues are the sneak-thieves, clerics are the bane of the undead, sorcerers and wizards are the magic-users, and bards and paladins are the mixed breeds. Bards are similar to rogues in that they're not frontline fighters, as they tend to sneak around combat rather than get into the thick of things. They have some magical ability, but not nearly as potent as the pure magic classes. Paladins are, of course, holy warriors. Mix a fighter and a cleric and you have a paladin, a tool for all that is good and true. Your class will heavily influence how you play the game. Even similar classes such as fighter and barbarian will have access to a different set of abilities, skills and feats.

Skills are another part of gameplay. Such abilities as Concentration for spellcasting in the midst of battle, Hiding in Shadows and Moving Silently for rogues, Lore to identify unknown items, and many others. A few particular skills are exclusive to certain classes, i.e. a wizard won't be able to Disable Traps, just as a rogue won't be able to improve the Spellcraft ability. Other skills, such as Spot, are cross-class, meaning any class can use them, but they cost more per rank to increase than class-specific skills.

Feats are a new edition to the mix, or at least to me. Feats are certain abilities gained over time (and at level-up) that grant you certain additional skills, whether they be combat-related or otherwise. Picking the right feat for your character is fairly important, as there's a lot of them and not all of them are appropriate. There's too many to list here, but thankfully the game provides an explanation as to what each feat does and why you should pick it. If you're feeling overwhelmed at any of these choices, just hit the handy Recommended button at the bottom, and you'll be presented with what the game believes to be the most useful feat/skill/stat gain for you.

As for the game itself, it seems to mix role-playing with dungeon-crawling and treasure-hunting. At the beginning of each chapter, you're given a main quest that you can go about doing while you explore your surroundings. In the first chapter, you come across a number of sidequests that can be completed as you work towards the main quest, but later on that process becomes reversed. In the course of your many sidequests, you will further the plot while lining your pockets with gold and putting magical weaponry in your hands. You move around either with the arrow keys, clicking on a distant spot with your mouse, or holding down the left mouse button and using an on-screen arrow to guide your PC.

You won't be alone in this quest, however. You have the option of hiring on a henchmen, someone from one of the many classes. The game recommends hiring someone, and so do I. Bioware built the game on the premise that you would at least have someone by your side to tackle the tough stuff with you, so going it alone might be very difficult. Depending on your class, you also have the option of summoning a familiar, an otherworldly beastie that'll fight by your side, or by calling wild animals or using one of the nine Summon Creature spells to bolster your forces.

Replay Value

The story behind the main game isn't epic. There's a sickness destroying Neverwinter and it's your job to stop it. So...yeah. However, the many classes provide a number of ways you can play through the game. Not only that, but there's online play and Bioware was so kind to include a toolset capable of letting you create entire campaigns. That toolset spawned a crapload of fan-made modules that are free to download and extend the playing time indefinitely. Basically, there's a lot there. Plus this game is damned old, so you can buy the original campaign plus the first expansion for the price of a new game. Two games in one, plus near-infinite replay value. Me likey RPGs.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/30/04