Rating: 
Summary: NWN: The Good, the Bad, and the elf paladin Hottie.
Review: Having sunk a few dozen hours into Neverwinter Nights, I can now say that this game is pretty much what it was promised to be. Pretty much? Well, here's the short version: The game delivers true 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons mechanics, has a good storyline, and shows room for extensive creative control with the bundled editing tools. On the downside, Bioware seems to have bungled the release a bit. Here's the detailed version: The Good: If you're a fan of tabletop D&D, you're going to be happy with NeverWinter Nights. This game includes the most full conversion of D&D to a computing platform yet. Not all things are literal: tedious and slow things have been moved out of realtime. (i.e. You don't actually wait 10 minutes to search for traps, or 8 hours to rest your character.) The storyline of the single player gameis what we've come to expect from Bioware. You get plenty of choices for how you want to solve things, and the story has more depth than you find in most PC games. The editor shows much promise, and you can already find a great deal of information between books and the net on how to do the advanced C coding with it that it takes to make the really cool stuff happen in the game. The Bad: Looks like Bioware did rush this game out a bit, despite their denials. Amongst my many friends who got the game, they'r about batting 50/50 for successful installs & crash free play. Out of the two copies I got, one had a misprinted CD-Key with no good resolution for the issue. I've found that I need to reboot the computer after a few hours of play as the graphics become choppier and choppier. I've only had one hard crash, however. You can find a long list of specific complaints on the online forums for other things that have gone wrong for people. All that being said, the game runs well under the circumstances I typically play it. The Elf Paladin Hottie: Is present, filling the Elf Hottie Online RPG minimums. Other hottie options are present, including ones for female players.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Play
Review: These scores are out of 5, and is the opinion of me, and me only. Feel free to hate this game. 1. Sound and Graphics. With the lowly video card of a Geforce 2, the game still ran at an acceptable rates. Admittedly, there were occasional jerky motions in spell and combat animations. However, overall, the game runs well on a decent computer. On a P4 Computer (2.53 ghz, Radeon 7500), the graphics were breath-taking. The detail was immersive. Now to sound - also, another breakthrough. The sound was phenomenal - background sounds including chattering of villagers and tavern drunks. The title theme in itself was a masterpiece. Graphics and sound are given a 5. 2. Gameplay. Gameplay, in all, was not as good as expected. The camera, at times, got in the way. Sometimes, I found myself looking at the [butt] of my orcan brute - not a great sight, I assure you. The quick keys were handy, to be sure. At times, there were problems with AI pathfinding - the enemy sometimes just standing there until Badly Wounded. Also, henchmen would sometime disappear entirely because they were left so far behind - then pop up in front of you a moment later. Furthermore, many skills and feats were useless overall in SP, and even more useless in MP (Animal Empathy, anyone?). Gameplay is given a 3. 3. D&D Implementation. One word - potential. The potential and unlimitedness of what could be implemented into the game was truly a wide range. Feats in the 3E DnD game such as disguise, climb, and ride were not put into NWN, a lamentable thing to DnD fanatics everywhere. Furthermore, skills such as Alchemy in IWD2 were not to be found in NWN - the ability of poisioning your weapons was a great idea. Yet another sad thing was that prestige classes were not included. Those that played Baldur's Gate 2 remember those like the Bounty Hunter and the Skald. Relievably, in SOU (Shadows of Undrentide), prestige classes of Assassin, Shadow Dancer, Harper Scout, Arcane Archer, and Blackguard are included. However, I truly believe they could have done better. DnD Implementation is given a 3. 4. Storyline. The storyline is intensive, and its tale of betrayal rivals the stories of Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, not to mention the great Planescape Torment. Voice-acting was rich and displayed full emotions and character - except for Aribeth. As loud and articulate her words were, her voice JUST didn't quite cut it for a half-elven paladin chick. The movies in between each chapter recounted my accomplishments, and was brilliantly displayed. In all, the storyline gets a 4.5. 5. The Toolset. The game's potential comes down to the toolset - the most powerful utility I've seen in a DND game yet. However, editing does not come easy to newbies everywhere. Scripting, making graphics, and DMing are complicated and hard pressed. Furthermore, unless there is a great scripter around, making prestige classes and other "out-of-the-box" creations are near impossible. I do, however, believe the toolset's ability can be expanded. Hopefully it will be in the next expansion. For now, though, the toolset is given a 2.5. 6. The Multiplayer Game. Multiplayer was, in all, an average experience. MP Adventuring was too fast-paced at times, and would only be fun if quality players and DMs participated. More than once did a hacker appear to ruin the show. Bloody carcasses...naked bodies strewn everywhere...not a pretty sight. However, PvP is a fun and engaging experience, with unlimited possibilities in the "ultimate PvP warrior". The spell repetoire and fighting feats make it more than just regular fun, and I believe I'll be addicted to this for a while longer. Hopefully, MP adventuring will be brought up to this level as well. MP is given a 3.5. However, other factors will be addressed as well. I believe that because NWN has so much potential, I will raise the score a bit. Hopefully modders will take advantage of the limitless possibility of the toolset and create some more great modules for us to play. IN ALL, MY RECOMMENDATION FOR THIS GAME STILL STANDS. ALTHOUGH GAMEPLAY MAY BE A BIT REPETITIVE OR BORING AT TIMES, THE STORYLINE, GRAPHICS, AND SOUNDS ARE WORTH IT. THE MULTIPLAYER AND TOOLSET ONLY ADDS TO THIS ALREADY GREAT EXPERIENCE.>>RATING<<
Sounds and Graphics: 5
Gameplay: 3
DND Implementation: 3
Storyline: 4.5
Toolset: 3
Multiplayer: 3.5OVERALL: 4
Rating:
Summary: Great game, but maybe a little too ambitious
Review: Neverwinter Nights is a great single-player game. Neverwinter Nights is a great multiplayer game. Neverwinter Nights is a great all-around game. 1,2,3, the cat ran up the tree. Really, though, it is a great game. I have a sort of souped-up computer now (3 Ghz processor, 1 GB RAM, ATI Radeon 128 MB graphics card) so the graphics run smoothly no matter how high the settings are. On my older computer, though (1.8 Ghz processor, 256 MB RAM, cheap Intel graphics card) it didn't work as well, so if your computer isn't great it might not runn so well. Overall, the gameplay is great; it isn't too hack-and-slash, the single-player campaign is superb, and I think it does a pretty good job of porting the D&D 3rd Edition rules (though I, being too young to have played the original pencil-and-paper D&D, wouldn't really know). Still, there are a couple minor flaws you should know about when deciding whether or not to buy the game: 1. Henchman (i.e. any companion you may have). There a few issues here. The first, and most glaring, is that you can only have one (excluding any people you are leading somewhere as part of a quest and familiars [animals or whatever that you summon via magic]). Still, when you play the game, you might be glad of this, because the pathfinding for henchmen is really inexcusably abysmal. Lots of times rounding a corner is enough to make your henchman freeze in his/her tracks and stay where he/she is until you come back and "bait" him/her out by inching along. Also, you can't control your henchman's inventory (although you can in the expansion). This, I suppose, is only a pain if you are a shady player who likes to take all he can from his henchman and sell it. But it can be troublesome if they have a good weapon that they aren't using and that you want. 2. Pathing in general. Pretty self-explanatory. The camera is rather awkward, which makes it even harder. Combine this with henchman pathing and you have a real pain. 3. The instruction manual. This is the biggest, baddest problem. Like I said, I have no clue how the original D&D was played; when it was in vogue, I was an embryo. I don't know what character class is. The term "skill modifier" is a mystery to me. And what is a "saving throw?" Here's a real gem, straight from the manual: "Only rogues may disarm traps with a DC over 35 or greater. With 5 or more ranks in Set Traps a character gains a +2 synergy bonus on Disable Trap checks." and there's more: "Standing still provides a +5 bonus to a Listen Check. A character with the Alertness feat gains a +2 synergy bonus on listen checks." And also, it was only after much ponderings that I realized that the often-referred to "2d6" meant a 6-sided die rolled twice, and "1d8" is an 8-sided die rolled once. And why does a "Greatsword +1" cost about 50,000 times more that a regular Greatsword? The list goes on and on. 4. Turn-based combat. For "turn-based" read "dumb, pointless and frustrating." For no real reason, there is a 5 or 6 second delay between each combat action. A zombie will swing a fist; the character will duck. A HUGE pause. You will swing your sword. The zombie may or may not duck. Why the pause? It conveys no sense of "my turn, your turn." Is it to make all the necessary "skill checks," "saving throws," and "dice rolls?" Come on, folks. This is a computer. It can do 20 times that amount of simple math in a millisecond. Well, anyway. It's a great game, just these minor details. Get it.
Rating:
Summary: Good game but could have been better
Review: Neverwinter Nights is almost a dream come true for all of us D&D players. You can create your own adventures or play other people's premade adventures either solo or with an adventuring party filled with players or NPC's.
My main complaint is the level limit. Twentieth level is the maximum you can reach. There was absolutely no reason for this limitation other than using it for future expansion sales. I understand that even the expansion has the same level limit, though! The reason I say there was no reason for it is because on the editor you can raise the monster's levels beyond that, so the game engine knows what to do if you're 23rd or 56th level. This game would have been SO MUCH BETTER if that limitation were not there. For people like myself, who have been playing this game for over 20 years, low level characters just aren't all that fun.
Despite this serious drawback, the game has an amazing array of spells, feats, skills, classes, races, magical items, and monsters included. The monsters are so customizeable that you can give them the stats of a completely different monster, in effect changing something like a lizard man into a kua toa (something I actually did in the editor. It worked quite well).
Another thing which could have added a lot to the game is enabling spellcasters to use hot keys (such as F1, etc) to cast favorite spells quickly instead of having to go through a series of mouse clicks during a real-time combat.
The editor is so flexible and user friendly that within a few days I was copying my old modules, such as Vault of the Drow and Against the Giants into it. They work great! I did find out that you are limited to about 150 creatures per level. Go higher than that and the monsters just stand there and let you pound on them.
So if you enjoy the low level game, break out the Doritos and have fun!
Rating: 
Summary: Neverwinter nights
Review: All in all this game is addictive. I had just finished the Morrowind series and was looking for something to fill the void. This is what I picked. To compare any game to Morrowind would be ludicrous, since I have yet to see a game with its scope and potential, please correct me.
All in all this game takes you into character development that is a little lacking. I have never played D & D on paper and so I am unaware of what everything means and how it plays out. I understand how strength can affect a fight but the other characteristics have little bearing on the game so far. There are a lot of times where a persuade option becomes available when talking to a character but what controls what persuades or not mystifies me. If you are familiar with D & D then this part of the game may hold sway. On the other hand I envision a DM (dungeon master) 'watching' you go through these caves and adding or subtracting from them at will. For this game you must enable certain interactions in order to participate in a certain dungeon. You can still go in but if not pre-ordained what is the point.
The overall camera angles are okay but can get in the way of everything else. You can pan this way and that and still not get the picture you are looking for. When an enemy shows up in red you just click on him to attack. If your character is strong enough I would recommend going to the bathroom so as not to waste your time on a pause.
The potential for this game is fantastic. Any and everyone can become a DM and create there own world for you to play in. This makes this game a keeper since people will continue to create long after this game has been surpassed.
This game is fun and addictive. Make no mistake and do not compare it to any other game. You will be surprised at how many hours are wasted at fighting through an area where it really matters little.
Rating:
Summary: Neverwinter Nights - Shadows and Hordes
Review: I don't have Hordes yet, but let me tell you the first adventure will keep you busy for a while. This game is so much fun. I played the first adventure non-stop for hours on end. I just had to see what was going to happen next. Shadows I played differently with an hour or so of gameplay a night it was always interesting and the game evolved a lot from the original. Shadows introduces Prestige classes which are a lot of fun. I am about to finish shadows and have already pre-ordered Hordes! In addition to the NWN created expansions there are thousands of user created modules online. You can download any number install some basic stuff which is all provided on the NWN Vault website and have endless adventures. It is true that you need expansion packs to play online, but whats the big deal with that? Every person who runs an online server wants to give you the benefit of the new features in each expansion pack. Online play is limtless with servers ranging from just combat slash and grab style to full fledged role-playing worlds where people chat in character while on the server. I highly recomend this game.
Rating:
Summary: Great single player game
Review: I recently purchased nwn and the 2 expansions. The game has a great storyline. The gameplay is a little slow especially when your first starting out. The graphics are good and I like the freedom you get with the camera. I also really like how many different ways you can spec or combine classes. On the minus side I felt the items in the game were quite limited. I went through the entire game and must have popped over 2000 chests, and the items I could purchase from the merchants were better then what I found. Now here is my main complaint, aside from the game being so easily altered with hacks and cheats the multiplayer really took the fun out of this game. You just simply export your char give a whole buncha stuff and he can run through the game one hitting everything. I could join other peoples server but tried to set up a LAN game and it wouldn't work for the life of me. Read lots of forums and articles on ports and how to fix this issue but to this day I am still unable to set up a LAN game. The Atari tech support is less then willing to help me with this issue which I think is a shame. In order to play multiplayer games you have to lower the security on your computer by disabling firewalls and other things. In summary buy this game for single player use cause the multiplayer is a pain. I will prolly not buy another game from atari/bioware because of the poor tech support I was given when an issue arose. They only want your money and could careless if the game works for you or not.
Rating:
Summary: Nice toolset, shame about the game...
Review: This game contains two main parts, a single/multi-player campaign, and the toolset and DM tools.
The single player campaign is really just here for the sales and should be avoided by anyone expecting a rich, immersive gameplay experience. The campaign is linear, repetitive, almost completely hack 'n' slash (there are perhaps two subquests in the entire game that don't have "killing the boss" as the main aim) and plays much like Diablo with 3rd Ed AD&D rules. You can play the same campaign through multiplayer, online or on a LAN, as well which though making for a somewhat more immersive game, can't hide the fact that the entire campaign feels rushed, like a last minute add-on. The toolset is graphically powerful, quick and easy to use and though limited in the environments, creatures etc. available, this is something that will most certainly improve. The scripting tools (the parts that create NPC interactions etc) are a different kettle of fish as you code them in what appears to be a derivative of the C programming language, not the most user friendly approach especially when compared with the graphics tools. This disparity will no doubt encourage users to follow the same approach as Bioware took with the SP campaign and create mods based around violent encounters as they are far easier to make. I'm sure in time the occasional Mod will arise that will do justice to the designer's original concept, but they are likely to be swamped by badly written and unbalanced slash fests. Graphically this game is on a par with others of its ilk but does tend to suffer from shudder even on high end systems. In this and in the woeful pathfinding the Aurora engine differs little from Bioware's previous efforts, though a special mention must be made of the appalling henchman AI (Yes it really is that bad).
All in all, this game is by far best played over a LAN with an experienced DM. Hey, but if you had that set up you would be better of turning those computers off and playing PnP instead, as then the only limit would be your imagination, not your coding ability and the toolset. And for those of you looking to relive those heady days D&D sessions of your youth you can't, because those days were about more than just the game.
Rating:
Summary: If you play PnP RPG's, this is the only review that matters.
Review: This is to stave off the people that compare this game to Dungeon Siege or Diablo. Do NOT heed the words of these people. If you played PnP Dungeons and Dragons this is THE game you have been waiting for. In the aforementioned games can you:
1. disarm
2. knockdown
3. set traps
4. recover traps
5. pick pockets
6. persuade for treasure/information
7. dual-weild
8. taunt
9. choose from many skills/feats
10. parry
11. 11 classes/7 races each with different
disadvantages/advantages 12. LIVE DUNGEON MASTERING!!!
...you get the idea here. This game offers a large amount of options not implemented in the pathetic 3 classes/1 race games. You aren't supposed to have more than one henchmen simply b/c they want people to really roleplay unlike most MMORPG's of today. This game has been intended for multiplayer from the get go, it is a port of TRUE PnP role playing, not some silly little point and click, level your character power trip game. A game that actually has a person who can take the reigns at any time and change the course of your game. I do not see how this possibly compares to the jokes that are Dungeon Siege and Diablo. Certainly the level restrictions on items are annoying, however you can disable that for both single and multiplayer. That being said I can list some let downs as well:
1. The only things that change on your character are the armor, helmet, and weapon.
2. Bioware fiddled with the armor stats a little bit.
3. The polygon count on characters is fairly low, so when you get close up in battle things don't look that pretty in relation to the models but when you zoom out everything looks just fine (VERY nice animations in battle); though the envoirnment is very nice to look at.
4. As in Pools of Radiance the dice seem to be a little bit weighted in the enemies favor (this is coming from a Rouge lvl.7/Sorcerer lvl.2 with a 25 armor class/ 29 vs. attacks of opportunities).
5. Thus far there have been no secret doors, however it is worth noting that there has been a script written already that allows them to be implemented into your self-built modules. I feel that you must enjoy PnP sessions and REAL RPG's to fully enjoy the purpose of this game.
Rating:
Summary: Still Waiting for the Perfect D&D Experience
Review: After the release of the Baldur's Gate franchise, players were amazed by the level of depth and scope that could be crammed into one gaming experience. Bioware had successfully captured the D&D tabletop experience, enriching it with superb graphics, a likable cast complete with convincing voice-dialogue, and a fantasy world immersed in epic grandeur. Neverwinter Nights, Bioware's follow-up to the Baldur's Gate series, is a great step forward in developing what players can expect from a role-playing game. Foregoing the aging Infinity engine, the creators have instead utilized a new fully 3-D Aurora engine to give players a more graphically impressive and technologically current game. Unfortunately, while Aurora is very powerful and 3-D environments is logically the next step in gaming experience, the new engine saps a lot of the vitality found in the Baldur's Gate series. Locations seem constructed by an amateur programmer, with a lot of the buildings, characters, and enemies lacking any sort of inspiration. Even fantastic creatures such as dragons, which should look menacing, are presented as comical by the blocky graphics that Aurora produces. Traversing through environments, especially the dreary city of Neverwinter, is a mundane experience and not particulary captivating. Gameplay wise, Neverwinter Nights translates faithfully the D&D core rules. Class skills, feats, character kits, and more are all here and much further developed than in the Baldur's Gate series. It's not just decorative either: the skills and feats you choose your character to specialize in can impact how you play the game and how other characters react to you, making Neverwinter Nights a very interactive world. Combat still unfolds the same way, with "to hit" ratio determining your proficiency in battle while your "armor class" determines whether you walk out of a battle with a scratch or in need of serious medical attention. You gain levels much quicker than you would in Baldur's Gate, which can be a good thing until your character becomes near-invincible towards the end of the story and the game becomes less and less of a challenge. But this can all be remedied by cranking up the difficulty factor of the game if you don't want to slaughter through hordes of enemies with relative ease. The interface of Neverwinter Nights is arguably an improvement over Baldur's Gate. Character Sheets, Inventory Screen, Journal and Map are all one click away and hover transparantly over the game so you can still guide your character as you ransack through your posessions or determine which location to visit next. It's an innovative idea, but it furthers the impression that Neverwinter Nights is more of a Beta version of a greater game rather than a finished product. The interface is too simplistic for its own good, reminding the audience that they're playing a game instead of immersing them in the Dungeon and Dragons experience. In the end, Neverwinter Nights is a great accomplishment but a rather flawed and forgettable game. The graphic engine for Temple of Elemental Evil is much more elegant and beautiful, and you'll miss the group chattering of your Baldur's Gate party when you can only travel with one other companion in the Neverwinter cycle. Bioware is capable of producing a much more ambitious and rich D&D experience, and if they can strike the right balance between TOEE's graphics and interface, NWN's improvement of the class system especially prestige class, and Baldur Gate's memorable cast, main plot, and subplots, then a truly remarkable game can be concieved. Until then, the company's upcoming "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" should satisfy fans for now who are still waiting for the perfect D&D game.
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