Rating: 
Summary: BAD!
Review: This thing has a LOT of things wrong with it. If you are expecting another Final Fantasy 7, Baldur's Gate, or EverQuest then this is going to let you down. I have a couple of reasons.1. Crashes, it crashes more often then a car during a crash test. 2. The game is EXTREAMLY complicated. 3. The camera hovers above your character at all times, you can zoom in and zoom out (to an extent) but you can't see everything that's going on. It would have been much better if they had made it in first-person mode like in EverQuest. 4. This is just my opinion but they characters all dress in ugly middle-ages Spanish clothing. 5. In multiplayer you have two options, you can either play in a confusing multiplayer version of the 1 player game or you can play in a [cruddy] player-made dungeon which was probably cleared out by the time you enter or the creator hasn't finished adding NPC's. 6. The battle system is confusing. Someone starts attacking something and you try to help and you end up rushing against a wall or post which you can't seem to get around until the battle is over. 7. They actualy made it possible to allow the dungeon master to keep people from entering a game with a character they used in other games, or a 'local character' and insted you hae to make a brand new character or select a character the game made for you. 8. The lag in multiplayer. This isn't EQ or DAoC lag this is online first-person shooter lag. The monsters can still attack you and you can't do anything about it. 9. If someone in your party does something evil then, guess what? YOU get your alliance tilted towards evil too! I suggest getting WarCraft 3 if you wanted to buy one of the the games nominated for game of the year, or even buying an old one like EverQuest. My opinion would be to pick two of the following: EverQuest, Aliens versus Predator 2, Diablo 2, StarCraft, WarCraft 3, or Dark Age of Camelot and play them until Star Wars Galaxies comes out.
Rating: 
Summary: I had never played Dungeons and Dragons before
Review: so the learning curve was high at first. I didn't really want to read the manual cover to cover before I started to play this game! A friend familiar with DND and NWN helped me create a character on the loose concept of "a chick fighter who also uses spells and looks really cool." I decided to be a sorcerer because the idea of "preparing" spells (4 classes of characters have to do this daily!) seemed appallingly tedious. I started out with a level of fighter because I was told mages are really weak at first. One of the coolest parts of the NWN graphics is, you can turn on "environment mapping on characters." And all the outfits are somewhat reflective, creating a mirror effect that looks especially cool on chain mail and full plate when you pan the camera. My character has evolved beautifully, although I have to skip the shiny armor unfortunately (armor causes spell failure!) in favor of mage robes. Also, I have a great magic helmet which adds one extra spell per level...and covers her cool face and hair. On the upside, I have a killer magic sword named "Harbinger Kin" that was forged especially for me with Dragon Blood. My character is now in Chapter 2 and up to level I think 14. The maximum character level is 20 though and I have many more chapters to go, so I wonder if it will get old when I don't get the thrill of gaining levels and spells and stuff. I DID take a lot of quests on, but that was because the first time I went from Chapter One to Two, I didn't have my henchman with me (I didn't know I wouldn't be able to go back and I even left a lot of gear behind at the temple!) and I absolutely could NOT beat the groups of NPCs attacking me. I went back to a previously saved game in Chapter One and picked up all the quests I could to beef up my character. Though now she's a little too good and it's all pretty easy. But the plot is so well-thought-out so far, I'm really enjoying all the little puzzles, and the multitude of items, and building my character. As far as just running the software goes, I must say I have complaints. I don't know if my RAM needs upgrading or what, but the game crashes the entire system every 15 minutes or so. I spend about half the time on a loading screen or saving the game, or going through the usual spells I cast to prepare my group each day (you can have just one henchman, but also a familiar and a summoned creature depending on class and abilities). I have gotten the latest game patch from [an online site], and still, problems. I guess it says a lot for how great this game is that I still play it despite all this! Hopefully there are more patches to come.
Rating:
Summary: A weak effort
Review: If you like eye candy without substance and being told a lame story rather than writing your own, which is the true mark of an RPG, then you might like this game. I COULD suffer along with the ridiculous 3rd person view, and I could perhaps ignore the lack of ability to interact with the environment making the game a simple hack'n'slash circa 1993. However, I have an intense dislike for linear 'RPGs' that force you down a storyline with little or no flexibility or freedom to explore and have fun. In short (mainly because talking any longer about this dog is a waste of time) I thought it was a terrible gaming experience and was severely disappointed. Game ran fine, looked nice, and I disliked almost every other aspect of the effort.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the wait
Review: Neverwinter Nights is, overall, fantastic in just the single-player game. The additions of the toolset, the multiplayer capability, and the chance to play with or be a DM make it well worth the money. Once we start seeing some of the creative efforts of our fellow NWN module-makers, we may find that this is a game that keeps us entertained for years. The single-player game is addictive, fun, and at times annoying. Some good points? * There is an incredible amount of flexibility when creating characters. It's possible to make a wise but unintelligent, blue-skinned, red-haired Half-Orc Cleric who has purple and green tattoos and who can disable traps and pick pockets. If you're unsatisfied with some of your early skills, you can add new ones as you advance in level. This is the only game of this type that I have played where I didn't end up deleting my first character and making a new one because my first character was too flawed to be any fun. I played through to the end with my very first character. * The NWN story is often both truly inspired and visually impressive. I've rarely seen anything in any game that compares to the lovely but dark and foreboding Neverwinter Wood, where light slants through the forest and tiny golden motes of sunlight flicker and dance. Here you find that the Spirit of the Wood has been poisoned, causing the forest creatures to ruthlessly attack any who dare enter. Your choice is to kill or heal the Spirit, but to do so, you must first commit suicide. Here also you will find Charwood, a town where an unspeakable crime has taken place, causing it to become trapped in time. In order to discover the nature of the crime and help return the town to the normal timestream, you must enter a haunted castle, interrogate two brothers and then judge between them. A little searching may reveal that there is more to their story than first meets the eye. You will also find yourself exploring ancient ruins for lost tomes of knowledge and artifacts of unusual power, battling and aiding dragons, and gazing into a mysterious snow globe. * The quests are many and varied. You can explore and talk to all the NPCs if you want to, picking up as many side quests as you'd like, or ignore that aspect of the game and stick to the main quest exclusively. There are often different ways to solve individual quests. You may be asked to rid the countryside of a troublesome bandit, but in order to collect your reward, you must return with his head. When you finally find him, he begs for his life. Do you forgive his past crimes and let him go, ignoring your reward, do you kill him anyway and collect, or do you find some other solution? * The number of weapons, armor, clothing, jewelry, scrolls, gems, magical items, and books is amazing. It's sometimes hard to decide which pair of boots you'd prefer to wear. Some of the bad? * Oh, those annoying henchmen! The addition of a henchman is supposed to make the game easier, but in some ways, it makes it more difficult. The henchmen will do as they're told - for about 5 seconds. After that, they're again heedlessly rushing into danger while you're still trying to figure out where they've run off to. You may spend more time trying to protect your henchman than vice versa. * The writing is cliched or childish in some spots. The main storyline involves an NPC who is first presented as strong, intelligent, caring leader. An unexpected plot twist leaves the NPC devastated, and the subsequent descent into evil seemed forced, out of character, and silly. * The ending was rather disappointing, merely hinting at expansion packs yet to come. I felt like I'd just finished reading the first installment of a trilogy without knowing that it was a trilogy when I bought it.
Rating: 
Summary: OH MY GAWD!!!!!!
Review: The best ... RPG that has ever graced the pc world!! Smooth gameplay, great engine, beautiful graphics, and an engaging storyline. This is the RPG to end all RPGs! Not to mention the fact that there are hardcore D&Ders that will be making full blown adventures with all new adventures to blaze through. The excitement will never stop! The only thing that could top this is if Bioware made a branching division that did nothing but more expansions or stories for Neverwinter Nights. Ladies and gentlemen this is the best game there is! Not a single penny was wasted on this game. Well worth the wait.
Rating: 
Summary: Multiplayer game
Review: If you haven't been following the development of this game and are expecting Balders Gate 3, you will be mistaken. If you like to play single player, you will be disappointed. You can bring only one other companion on the single player quest. There is no deep plot development and no interaction with your companions. On the other hand, players will be able to make their own modules, so you may be able to download a gem in the future or write your own if you are ambitious enough.
If you like multiplayer and are willing to wade through the online mediocrity to find a decent bunch of fellow gamers, you will be pleasantly surprised. This is the strength of this game and it does it better than anything out there for the moment.
The graphics are good and it is an excellent translation of 3rd edition D&D for the CRT, if that is any concern.
Rating:
Summary: there's a 90% risk that the game is not compatible ...
Review: The game crashed my hard drive and forced me to BUY a new one.
All of that happened after I unsuccessfully tried to install and run the game. I have a computer and engineering background, so this senario is not typical for me! I know what I'm doing and if it takes too long or if it crashes, most likely, it's not my fault!
The whole installation process was lagged (it would take several seconds for every move you'd make to respond) ... in the middle of the installation I was already frustrated but decided to finish it all the way, and then restart my system and see if it made any difference.
Well, it didn't.
I tried any display settings I could think of.
I updated (or checked for updates) on all my drivers.
I double checked anything I could possibly think of ...
and at the end, the game ran slower than a snail ... and to add insult to the injury, the next thing I knew, the infamous blue-screen was there!!! Last time I had a "blue microsoft screen" I was running windows NT, not XP!! Need I say that I was never able to recover my computer, or the data on my harddrive? I had to buy a new hard drive as the old one had been damaged beyond repair and ended up losing lots of data.
You've been warned! Buy and install at your own risk.
Rating:
Summary: Addicted - if you liked Baldur's Gate then....
Review: Highly Recommended if you enjoyed Baldur's Gate. Single Player Game: Love it. The updated functions (vs. BG) are great. The new menu system works well for use during actual game play. I haven't been able to control the henchmen as much as BG - which means I have to save/reload a lot because I'm constantly getting them killed. I like the new map system and the "recall" object is fabulous. The quests are fun and somewhat interesting. I hate having to run around and find a million little objects to complete a quest and have not found that NWN requires me to do this type of tedious quest work so far. Multi-Player: Have not yet tried. BEFORE YOU BUY: Double check the Bioware web page tech support forum for your hardware. There are posts with what works and what doesn't... My configuration: Intel P4 (I think it's 1 Gig-ish) with about 128 MBs of RAMBUS. I have a 64 MB ATI Radeon DDR VIVO and installed the 2nd most recent drivers -- not the Catalyst drivers (most recent), soundblaster live and windows 2000. A friend of mine had trouble running it because there was a conflict with his CD drive. However, he was successfully able to run the game by placing the "play" disk in an older USB CD drive instead. Using the older USB drive hasn't slowed it down at all, but he hasn't tried playing over a LAN yet.
Rating:
Summary: Slow down there skeptics!
Review: I read the post about all the bugs and I just couldn't help but posting a counter. Unlike D2, Counterstrike, Dungeon Siege, and numerous other games that promise the bugs will be fixed and months go bye NWN released an update within the first weeks of its release then another the following week. I have yet to have any bugs to report and on the forums from what I've seen every bug question has been reported and dealt with. I have been long waiting this game and I'm VERY pleased. I especially like how EVERY aspect of this game can be changed. From making your own char, to changing the environment, to customizing your own game, your own world, EVERYTHING either making modules or playing on the go as the dungeon master. The main campaign is a lil hack and slash heavy but after you get a feel of things you can change it. You can also steal script so you can learn how to create complex quests, worlds, characters etc. All and all there's too many options to even think of. You just have to be a lil patient to learn, read and have a lil bit of creativity/imagination.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome game, IF you can get it to work
Review: Simply stated, I love this game. It is addictive, challenging, and after one week of playing it, still not boring. Wonderful, except... NWN is like a nice sports car with a flakey ignition computer. When you get it running it is great-- but you don't know how long before the car will quit on you. Installation, patching and getting it to otherwise run took nearly two days of frustration. For my installing was a simple matter, getting it to run was another matter entirely. On my AMD 1700XP system with 512 MB of memory (Windows 2000), it crashed the system intermittently, requiring a hard reboot every time. The upgrade/patch utility aborted during the update. I had to manually install the patch files. This didn't resolve the issue. I ended up updating my AGP driver, video drivers, IRQ driver, and soundblaster drivers. As a result, my system no longer crashes. However, NWN will crash and become CPU-bound after a few hours. If you are frustrated easily, I would wait. It is irresponsible for Bioware/Atari to release a product in this state. After five years, this is the best they could do?
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