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Post Date: 17:20 12-06-2007
Rating: 8
Author: philonus
Comment: Neverwinter nights, i should say, is one of the best games I"d played in a life time. Sadly enough, I see a great potential in this game because unlike other games you can create a world of your own for artistic reason or to entertain your fellow players in the community. However I feel as if this game hasn"t reached it"s peak, most MODS are poorly made and almost empty. Not only are they poorly made, they seem to place too much emphasis on leveling and making the best builds rather than adventure, quests, exploration like Guild Wars. Most (bioware MODs are simply single player based, I was hoping that they would someday make a Multiplaying-MOD of thier own professionally so everyone would play it.) MODS are also very difficult to build for an average joe like me, it requires experience with codes, scripting, and others.
For graphics- 9/10 it is considered decent in its times but now it is considered obselete. However unlike other games your character and opponents are highly animated. You can see them block anything with a sword or shield, you can see them dodge attacks, you can see them skilfully use thier weapons such as a double sword. The animation is very advanced in contrast with other RPG games, and I would love to see this being adopted in other games.
Gameplay- 9/10 It really depends on what mod you play online, I highly encourage people, who never played nwn but wanted to, to play online rather than on single player. Single players, made by bioware, to me didn"t really caught my attention. Online you can see various choices of MODS and meet players around the world. The unique part about this is that each mod is different, it has its own system, its own rules, its own gameplay. However the setback is this, gameplays can highly vary in all mods. Gameplay in some mods are terrible while as in other mod it is decent or excellent. So measuring gameplay for NWN as a whole is hard to do, unless you are measuring a particular kind of Mod. However this is only if you try to measure the gameplay online, measuring how the character develop is different. You have varriety of classes you can choose, there are also variety of skills, feats, and spells. If you play the expansion, which furthers your leveling to 40, there are countless of possibilities of how to make a strong or weak characters. Making a strong character, or ledgendary, is very hard, to blend and manipulate D&D rules along with classes, skills, feats, and spells takes a long time and it may require a form of ingenious to make a complicated but powerful build. When it comes to making/experimenting a powerful character this game is highly reccomended for those who are highly ambitious. If you are a type who is an impulsive hack/slash fan, this game may not be for you.
Sound/Music- 10/10 The Sound is great, it sounds very realistic (compare to dungeon and siege). you can hear a sound of a parrying sword to a piercing arrow. Everythign is in detail when it comes to sounds. The Music is fantastic, the music is beautiful and serene and thrilling. I wouldn"t mind buying a NWN soundtrack, it"s that great. If your a modder and you use the right music theme for a certain setting, the music is flawless in this game. In my opinion the Music in NWN is the best of the best, probably next to or above Baldur"s Gate.
Storyline- (doesn"t count) There really isn"t a storyline unless your playing a single player mode, it isn"t that good or captivating. Storyline is almost non-existent online, unless you play a Story MOD.
Online MOD running and MOD making 7/10 - Mod is one of the most unique aspects of NWN. You can make a MOD for over 60 players and become and Dungeon Master (DM) to control and manipulate the world of yoru own like a GOD. If your MOD is well made more players will attend your MOD and play more oftenly, if not then you"ll recieve less players. Making a MOD sounds fun but when it comes to making it it"s very difficult. It requires scripting, coding, making countless of conversations, programming NPC, ect. You get the picture? I hope you do, if you want to make a perfect MOD it"s very difficult, it require time and committment. I don"t think anyone in the real world has time for that unless you have a group who is dedicated to do this. Also running a MOD online is another aspect of MOD Making which makes it difficult. You require a very advanced or a decent computer to run a MOD that supposedly hold from 20-60 players. You may also require a Cabel or broadway connection, so that players who play your mod do not lag as much. This is the problem, if you do not have a good computer and a good connection you can"t run a huge MOD. You simply can"t. If you have all those things, then it"s a good thing, but you still need to reboot your MOD now and then or restart (or clean) it so that your MOD will continue on to exist. This is all required to prevent server crash, which is highly inconvinient. Also, do not run a MOD by yourself if it"s a huge one. You need other DMs working under you to help enforce MOD rules. For those of you who are willing to do this, I give you luck, only a few people are able to do this. I highly discourage you to download great MODs for online playing, most of them are not very good unless you decide to revisit it or re-edit it. Overall MOD Making and Online MOD running is a difficult subject, If your an average Joes like me I don"t suggest you to do this.
Online MOD 8/10- This is another aspect, this time for players, which makes NWN special. Now let me start with this: Finding a perfect MOD for you to play is difficult. Actually it depends on people, some people it takes time while others it doesn"t. There"s variety of choices there for you to choose but sometimes choosing is difficult. To break this huge subject for you let me give you PRos and Cons
Pros:
1) There are variety of choices for you to choose
2) Each Mod has its own unique gameplay and rules, you can choose any of them that fits your taste
3)Playing with friends is fun online, you can make guilds as well depending on the MOD, and you can create a party and level up together.
4)Competing with players based on who makes the best build is a creative and stimulating aspect of the game. It requires commitment.
5)Leveling system varies in MODs, if you are a fast leveler you can join MOD that can take you to the highest level in a day.
Cons:
1)Most MODs are poorly made. About 20-30% of them are popular and decent. It"s hard to choose which MOD to play when you see countless of them in your list.
2)Server Crash, something when a MOD disappears due to overload of lagging and players, can be very inconvinient. You have to wait for 10 minutes to about a week, but it really depends on who runs the MOD.
3)Sometimes its hard to get into the server when its full, and you have to wait for a while
4)There"s a lot of PKing (player killing) and PPing (Pick Poketing) in certain MODs, so if your faint-hearted noob stay away from those MODS.
5) Idea of community varies in servers. Some servers are nice others are not. The most popular ones are usually non-friendly, so overall the community is poor in NWN.
conclusion- NWN is a great game, it has a great amount of potential. It has the gameplay, the graphics, the sound/music, and the MOD-making. However Online MODs have been doing poorly in making fun MODS. Most MODs are boring and Cliche. There"s barely anyone living in there. I would say taht the economy is bad in online MOD. It"s like an extreme capitalism, only a few MODs are dominating the whole server. Since not many are professionals, MODs tend to be low-quality such as a poor xp system or poor gameplay. Dont" expect too much from online MOD. The only way I can give this game a perfect score is if the online MOD is doing great, if more MODS are well made by hired proffesionals who know how to make a decent MOD for all players. Since Modding is entirely in the hands of the common people, it"ll be difficult to find a decent MOD. This is why I rate this game an 8.
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