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Play Neverwinter Nights 1 similar to an MMORPG!
sfly2000
Member Posts: 168
For thoose of you who don't know it there is a perfectly good "in-depth" D&D multiplayer experience to be had on the computer. No need rummaging through piles of modern day "copy-cat" MMO games just to realise they are all the same.
Get the real thing! Go hardcore!
The game is a bit old and even though many might think its graphics are outdated it really isn't that bad. The community has been working hard (and still is) at creating persistent world servers with newer content.
The game itself is looking good still as you will see in some screenshots that I will post later. The graphics and engine altogether do what it is supposed to and can give you an "MMO" experience I think.
I'm gonna start of with some vital links:
Buy Neverwinter Nights here
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/neverwinter_nights_diamond_edition
Currently it costs just 10$ and there is no monthly fee as the servers are private, created by other players (Yes - theese servers are legal and this is how the game is supposed to be played).
Or buy a bundle of NWN1 and NWN2 here: http://atari.com/neverwintercomplete
Bioware's "legacy" page for Neverwinter Nights
http://www.bioware.com/games/legacy
The official page for the game has been scuffed under Biowares "legacy" games and provides only limited information unfortunately. If you scroll further down on that page you will find a few rows of text about the game. Better get your information some other place...
Unofficial homepage for Neverwinter Nights
http://www.neverwinternights.info
Made by the community and provides a lot more information than the official legacy one.
Bioware Social
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/subindex/153
This is the current official forum for NWN.
CEP
http://nwvault.ign.com/?dir=cep/downloads
CEP stands for Community Expansion Pack and is one of the most popular add-ons to the game. Some of the online servers have this as a required download.
As of writing there is said to be a 2.4 version out.
The CEP is a little bulky though. Make sure that you need it for that server you want to play on, otherwise you can skip it.
Personally I prefer the project Q hak-pak but it is unfortunately not as widely used yet.
ABOUT PLAYING ONLINE/MULTIPLAYER
There are many different types of online servers. The most popular types are probably the "roleplay" servers and the "action" ones. They differ a little bit but mostly in the way that most roleplay servers like you to stay somewhat In-Character when creating and playing your character.
The most important thing is to understand that every server functions differently and you should probably read up on their forum how they would like you to play at their server and what restrictions there are.
However...do not read theese rules with fear. I am assuming that most server staffs nowdays have a grown up approach and as long as you don't spam or are being disrespectful to others you should be perfectly alright.
If you are interested to play at roleplay servers you could read this document that actually describes a little how to play. Personally I think that this document too much describes theese are "rules". Instead I recomend you to read it with an open mind and then to do the type and degree of roleplaying that you want yourself.
Gruush roleplayers guide to Neverwinter Nights
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Other.Detail&id=501
MORE ABOUT ONLINE/MULTIPLAYER
What servers should I play at?
Well...this is really your choice ofcourse. You could just fire up the game, choose what type of server you want, sort all the servers on amount of players and then join the one with the most players.
Note though...that just because some servers have a lot more players than others do not mean that they are the best ones. Naturally a server should at least have a couple of players on (otherwise it would be boring I agree).
Action servers are usually easier to levelup on and gather loot and the rules on staying in-character do not exist. Also they probably have less restrictions about building your character.
I have put together a list of my favourite servers here: http://www.xfire.com/clans/superfly2000 (That is also my gathering/community of NWN1 players on X-Fire.)
They are mostly roleplay servers as that is what I play on mostly. I do think that well known action server is called Higher ground...if that is your interest.
CD-KEY
The CD-key is what the game uses to identify the game owner on the internet. From what I understand you only get a generic CD-Key when downloading the game from GOG so to actually play online you must follow their instructions on the troubleshooting FAQ for NWN to recieve a real CD-key.
WHAT IS X-FIRE?
X-Fire is a stand-alone communicator software that I use for chatting with and seeing on what servers my friends are playing. X-Fire can do a lot more as well.
A description of what you can do with X-Fire: http://www.xfire.com/cms/xf_help
Download X-Fire here: http://www.xfire.com/download
X-Fire is by no means a must have for playing NWN online but I full-heartedly recomend it. By now there are 300 members of this community...which is ofcourse a mere fraction of the total community...but we are growing.
I would even offer my services, in the cases I have enough time, to personally guide you through how to get your game setup, how to join and play on roleplay servers.
===========
I uploaded a video to Youtube about playing on an example persistent world server called "Cormanthor".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoTuMCXUkhY
===========
Some screenshots:
===========
Some gameplay trailers. They don't use any of the new custom content, but are still informative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD8BnROvBRc
And a trailer with a little bit more modern content:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZmL_HFCJrs
===========
...and a Neverwinter Nights video tour from Gamespot:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/neverwinternights/video/6026457/neverwinter-nights-video-tour
Comments
Laugh but I've never actually played with my copy of NWN online, I always got put off by the stories I heard about RP police etc, (it's something I'd want to try over action servers).
Thanks for the fav server list though maybe I'll take a look.
Neverwinter Nights is one of the best things that has ever happened to multiplayer online games because the persistent worlds are made by players for players.
This means that you can find servers with perma-death and hardcore roleplay if you want to.. which I did back in the day.. Maybe it's time to go back again.
This was a serious problem and unfortunately still is to some extent. At least in my eyes. I know many actually LIKE the roleplay police servers and some of the most popular servers are like this...doh.
Still...there are many smaller very good and quality servers with real roleplayers on. You just have to find them. I devote my life to (lol) finding such servers actually....so taking a look at the guild list there is a good start I think.
Personally I like a playstyle with both roleplay and action. Sitting around the town or campfire all day talking about who will be the next mayor just isn't my bag.
I agree theese servers are hard to find but we will suceed together!
Buy Neverwinter Nights 1 here! | Unofficial NWN1 homepage | NWN1 guild on X-Fire
I fully support this post, and have to say I am really impressed with it in general.
NWN is still a cracking game and the rerelease by GOG should give it a shot in the arm. Personally I don't even think it looks awful graphically, considering.
Personally I don't think this is necessarily the greatest reason. I think a company managed persistent world NWN server could have blown a lot of modern day MMO's out of the water....but sure....about the diversity....its all there...
...and it is both the strength and the weakness of this game...
Buy Neverwinter Nights 1 here! | Unofficial NWN1 homepage | NWN1 guild on X-Fire
Play on a action based rule set server.
Some more screenshots:
Buy Neverwinter Nights 1 here! | Unofficial NWN1 homepage | NWN1 guild on X-Fire
Nice thread, I'm actually extremely tempted to re-install NWN for another playthrough now
already begun a playthrough of Vampire: The Masquerade and Divine Divinity, gunna be pressed with the golden oldies to play soon! Haha.
M
"Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death!"
- Sun Tzu, the Art of War
Support the Indie Developers - Kickstarter
I am more a fan of NWN2 personally, but both are great games and heaps of fun , nice post!
i ALWAYS wanted to play this game but when i actually held it in my hadn at a store it was close to 5 years after its launch and i figured no one even plays this game online any more...now that i c they do i might get it game looks freaking sweet
Too bad I lost my keys long ago. All i have are the disk.
Gwing,
yeah now its like 10 years from its release, lol, but yeah there are still people playing. There are many servers that have 50+ people on...even though I personally tend to choose smaller playerbase servers.
Forcelima,
it doesn't cost so much to buy the game again on the GOG site (see my original post).
Buy Neverwinter Nights 1 here! | Unofficial NWN1 homepage | NWN1 guild on X-Fire
Just thought I'd add on to this post. Despite NWN1 being 10 years old, and NWN2 about 5, the communities for both have continued to support and improve those games because there is simply nothing else quite like the experiences offered by persistent worlds.
Whether you're looking for casual action servers more akin to classic MMO's with that certain Niche setting no commercial MMO's cover, or you're looking for Roleplaying Heavy servers with active DM support teams, this community is an absolute blast to be a part of.
Shameless plug: I'm admin at Legacy: Dark Age of Britain (http://legacydarkage.com), a heavy RP, low-level server set in 6th Century Arthurian Britain (think Anglo-Saxon invasions + magic). Like most other pw's these days, we have so many new custom-built systems that it only still D&D in the loosest sense.
I encourage anyone who thinks things like Guild Wars 2's 'dynamic events' stuff sounds cool to check out these servers. With NWN2 now only $10, it's absolutely worth that small price of admission to check out what might become your new favorite hobby.
There's nothing like a human being DM'ing for you on the other side of the screen to make these worlds come alive, and make your character's actions truly affect and shape the world. It's a special niche of the gaming universe. Because of the human capital it takes, this model will never be commercially viable, but the volunteer community has made it an absolute blast for those willing to play an older game with a superior experience.
- Troy
+1
I still have my Diamond release. I was just looking at them a few minutes ago. There was this sudden urge to re-install them, Games on the market just don't have that NWN brought to the table. Now if only Cryptic, after being bought by Perfect World, doesn't screw up their new NWN MMO release we should be in for a treat. I'm not counting on it.
I tried playing and thought it was complete garbage. I was expecting something like Diablo. I uninstalled the game and dont know/care what happened to the CDs.
Ok.
My thoughts exactly....
M
"Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death!"
- Sun Tzu, the Art of War
Support the Indie Developers - Kickstarter
Sic Luceat Lux
Has Bioware fixed NW2 PW server issues?
I am not an expert for NWN2. There is a reason I still play NWN1 :-P
To what I know NWN2 had a bit more "issues"...but some of the "issues" where as the design was supposed to be ...like that you needed to get PWC files and so on...
..but yeah...fresh from the start they had more serious issues...but thoose where fixed quite fast I think...I knew one guy who hosted one server and he was always there...so I guess it worked...
Still....NWN2 never really turned into the NWN1 killer it was supposed too and there are still many more players oneline on NWN1 than NWN2.
Buy Neverwinter Nights 1 here! | Unofficial NWN1 homepage | NWN1 guild on X-Fire
I've recently started playing a PW on NWN2. I'm amazed at how devoted the development teams are to their goal. The playerbase also surprises me in the way that it seems so loyal.
Having never played NWN I guess I sort of feel like a newfag. I really feel like I may have missed out on the glory of it, when it was new. I'll probably end up checking it out, just to see what's different about it from NWN2.
Really, I think player hosted/toolset games should be included on this site's game list.
I know Diablo 3 was being considered, I am unaware as to the outcome of that, but I remember reading peoples posts about how, if you add one game like that, you add them all. Well, that could really work, especially with this type of game.
Sure it isn't the same as the typical MMO, but we still have an avid interest in it, and PWs might be small now, but in my opinion, this site would fix that completely.
My reasoning with the above statement is this;
I have played MMOs for the longest time, I have played so many that I am too lazy to, or do not have the patience to count how many there have been.
Very few MMOs satisfy my need for gaming.
Almost no MMO has satisfied my need for roleplay.
The entire purpose of this site (from what I understand) is to help gamers find an online rpg community that suits them. Have the players promote the good, while also showing the not so good.
In all my years of gaming, I have waded through piles of crap, just to find certain games. I just now found NWN2, and I feel like this is somewhat of an important find.
Showcasing/promoting games like this would solve/help all of those problems.
I think you have a very good and wise comment altogether.
However...I'd like to comment on a few things.
1) and 2),3) don't at all fit together. I don't know how you can say that really. It is totally contradicting. You are not alone in saying this though. I've seen it hundreds of times. It is some kind of frustration amongst MMO players I think...but still you can't discard all MMO's as you played them I think....so it is wrong that they don't satisfy you because they cleardly DID satisfy you at least for most of the amount of time that you played them....so 2) and especially 3) are not completely true but are rather just a feeling you have now :-P
Sorry for disecting your post like that but I've just seent it so many times I needed to comment on it :-P
4)
Yeah...I sent multiple e-mails to the owners of this site to add NWN1 but with no success. Either they are too mainstream to realise the possbilites of this game or they are only interested in games that generate revenue (as opposed to share raw free entertaining gaming experience).
5)
Exactly...thats what I am saying...you should have found it much earlier...and it is all because sites like theese don't devote any time at all at showcasing very similar games to MMORPG games that could very well interest MMORPG players.
Buy Neverwinter Nights 1 here! | Unofficial NWN1 homepage | NWN1 guild on X-Fire
the memories....
Yeah, NWN1 persistent worlds MP was/is great. Fact it was basically roleplayers Mecca also helps the fact.
Maybe a better way of saying it would be;
I have tried so many MMOs, but none of them turned out to be what I needed. I go in hoping it satisfies my craving, but I soon realize, it won't, so I search for another one.
My point still stands though. It shouldn't ever take someone that long to find the game for them. There are people out there (I know a few personally) that refuse to spend their time searching for something, they tell themselves that if it's that good, they would have known about it, it would be better advertised.
Alot of games are punished because not enough people get the chance to try them, and really, alot of gamers are punishing themselves.