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NWN1. The best online RPG!
Neverwinter Nights 1.
Yes I know it is quite an old game but I have yet to find a better online fantasy computer game.
In "normal" MMO's like WoW and other similar the whole concept of roleplaying is often not present and communication in-between players is close to nothing.
Maybe some are MUD'ing in text format but I really need to have a graphical representation of what it is I am doing.
If you are looking for the same and perhaps want a Dungeon Master to entertain you and your friends...check this out....
How does the game look?
See this Youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlzMYEoDhKw
Although the game is dated...the graphics still hold up and it gives a solid feel altogether. Then who would expect less than a miracle game ahead of its time from the masters at Bioware.
Where do you buy it?
It can be hard to find in a gamestore but you can order a copy on amazon for example. In USA it is often called "Neverwinter Nights Diamond edition" and in europe "Neverwinter Nights Deluxe edition". Theese packages include the two expansions that you will (usually) need to play online.
Do you need anything else?
On most roleplaying world servers they are using the free downloadable Community Expansion Pack. You can find the latest version here:
http://nwvault.ign.com/?dir=cep/downloads
Which server to play at?
There are a whole lot of servers to choose from. The one featured in the video above is called Arelith Underdark and it is one of the most popular ones. I would recomend you to seek out other servers though as they can be easily to get into and probably have a smaller community that take very well care of newcomers.
I have made a list of such server on my NWN1 X-Fire guild page:
http://www.xfire.com/clans/superfly2000/
Naturally I would like to recommend my own world server called Genesis Nordock, that also is on that list. If I have some free time I would be glad to show you around myself. Messengers such as X-Fire, Skype and MSN are heavily recommended for this. Send me a PM to get my bearings.
If you don't like any of the servers you can always build your own world!
What does it cost?
The good part also is that there is no monthly fee for playing this game on the online world servers. You just have to have bought the game.
Note that most (read: all) game servers are being provided by enthusiastic (read: fanatic) amateurs. Their services are usually provided "as is".
You will be amazed at how proffessional theese amateur game servers are though!
Comments
It's a great game, though I only played it via LAN with some friends. There was even a persistent world based on (A)DnD's Ravenloft setting which was really promising, but alas I didn't have a chance to try it.
And here I thought you were talking about the original:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_(AOL_game)
Agreed.
If you are looking for real Roleplaying experience. Nothing can beat it.
Persistent Worlds made the game for me. I found the boxed campaigns very blah. I wanted mutliplayer action when I bought the game, and PWs provided varied worlds, systems, and rules to explore.
Players working for free provided some content better than what professional MMO devs are doing.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
QFT!
The boxed campaign was and still is very blah but being able to create your own settings lifted the game to fandom.
I think that Morrowind is the best RPG ever made, Baldurs Gate is good but sometimes it got a little tedious micromanaging a whole party of adventurers.
I prefer games where it's just you and maybe the occasional hireling.
All those memories will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.
I have never touched the boxed campaigns. Still I have been playing this game for probably 6 years now.
Buy Neverwinter Nights 1 here! | Unofficial NWN1 homepage | NWN1 guild on X-Fire
I just bought NWN2 over the weekend and have been exploring some of the PWs this week. It's a huge difference from what I am used to, but the dungeon crawls are very fun and it's neat seeing all the work the players have put into the game.
The first OC sucked but the ones from the 2 x-pac was really cool, I love them.
"you are like the world revenge on sarcasm, you know that?"
One of those great lines from The Secret World
At first I thought this thread was going to discuss the ORIGINAL Neverwinter Nights... which I believe is the first graphical MMORPG ever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_%28AOL_game%29
It was the first MMO I played and it totally hooked me on the genre. It was a pretty crap game though by today's standards.
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I agree that Bioware's Neverwinter Nights was a great game. I played it for a long time and got really into the world building aspect of it. I loved being able to script content and design maps. It really brought out the game developer in me...
Loved the game a ton and I miss Aribeth! I loved all the classes such as champion of torm, arcane archer, red dragin disciple and black guard epic classes. Nothing beats the classes NWN had.
I liked the campaigns, and I love the game. I'll have to look into more of the online aspect it seems.
I liked part 2 more actually. I hope to see a NWN 3 but sadly I hear Cryptic is working on a NWN MMORPG and with how they are doing with CO and STO I dont' trust them with NWN or D&D.
I was thinking the same thing
I can't say which I liked more, NWN2 had some launch era blues, but was a very good game, NWN1 was the game that got me interested in online gaming so it holds a special place ofc.
NWN1 had more pw's if I remember correctly, which quite a few found their way to two which was definitely nice.
On the game-play front I felt two was better, story would mos def go to one though.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Ahh...I guess you just played the original campaigns then...single player.
I am really only talking about the online gameworlds...
Buy Neverwinter Nights 1 here! | Unofficial NWN1 homepage | NWN1 guild on X-Fire
I have made two blog posts on the subject as well:
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/sfly2000/042010/6052_Neverwinter-Nights-1-can-be-played-as-an-MMO
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/sfly2000/062010/6311_New-website-for-Genesis-Nordock-persistent-world-server
Buy Neverwinter Nights 1 here! | Unofficial NWN1 homepage | NWN1 guild on X-Fire
Good thread!
I'm going to have to check out NWN1, as although I remember the game when released, I never did get the opportunity to play - even though I have never been a fan of AD&D [Forgotten Realms].
I will have a number of time-constraints when I return to the UK in a few weeks, and have goals and other immediate priorities that come first, second, third, etc before MMO gaming. I also have a hankering for much smaller, community based gaming and single-player RPGs, and am looking forward to getting back to Morrowind once more. The range of community modifications for Morrowind is staggering, as is the level of professionalism.
The community aspect - people giving up their free-time to create professional additions / modifications to enchance a game for the enjoyment of others - is one aspect which absolutely trumps anything in MMOs; especially given that up to now, players [MMOs] have been given very little leeway to create their own content to share with other players.
When / if (!?) I find spare time away from work, job / market research, professional certification, Chinese, and Morrowind, I'll take a look at NWN1 - especially as I believe my friend has a copy and may be interested in playing. But I'm notorious for never finishing games - heck! I still haven't finished Morrowind! Nor did I ever finish Baldur's Gate!
Cheers!
"If you think I'm plucky and scrappy and all I need is love, you're in way over your head. I don't have a heart of gold or get nice. There are a lot nicer people coming up. We call them losers."
Thanks Riotgirl!
Yeah...one thing about NWN1 though is that you really can't "finish" it. Thats why so many people are still holding on to this 9 years old game.
If you want to play single player campaigns you can start with the official ones and then there is like a close to endless amount of player made campaigns to play through.
The same goes to multiplayer and persistent world servers. You can play again again and again...depending a lot on the people you are playing with...just using the created world as a place for your neverending adventures.
I got some good news also!
As we are speaking it is actually official that Cryptic is working on a multiplayer aimed version of NWN. It is only called "Neverwinter" so far and the developers are saying that it is not an MMO though.
See the link
http://www.playneverwinter.com
I know some are bashing Cryptic because their last games sucked but personally I am just happy that some is doing something with NWN and that it seems to be all about multiplayer! Thumbs up!
Buy Neverwinter Nights 1 here! | Unofficial NWN1 homepage | NWN1 guild on X-Fire
Go away....
Buy Neverwinter Nights 1 here! | Unofficial NWN1 homepage | NWN1 guild on X-Fire
Biowares were kinda part 2 or at least the second game with that name but Obsidians NWN2 were nothing near to Biowares game. The story of NWN were a lot better and so was the coding. NWN2 wasn't bad or anything but it had nothing on Biowares best game ever.
And yes, I think I had my best online RPG experience in NWN even if we just played on a 64 players server.
True roleplaying games make my skin crawl a little, but NWN definitely is the least creepy-crawly experience of the true rpgs that I've played.
My wife and I just started (trying) to play NWN2, having played NWN1 together many years ago. But we can't get past the horrible, horrible camera/controls. Are we doing something wrong? Maybe a setting we missed?
I managed to get our characters to (kinda) move with WASD movement, which is what would be ideal, but setting the camera to automatically stay behind doesn't work well, there's large delays and on stopping movement/turning the camera often keeps going and our characters are constantly "snapping" to face random directions.
I think we played the original with the old fashioned "click on the ground to move" mode, like Diablo II, but having played so many other games since then with such nice controls such as WoW, can't seem to go back to that.
So, any NWN2 players out there that might have some tips? WoW style controls (WASD movement + camera always behind and somewhat above your character) would be ideal, if there are some settings that make that happen without causing the camera/character to spaz out constantly!