The future of RPGs?

Neverwinter Nights, Bioware’s latest take on their Dungeons & Dragons licence, could easily be described as ambitious. Their plan is to take computer roleplaying to the next level by extensive multiplayer support. The whole roleplaying party is transferred to digital age, the adventures just move from pen and paper to mouse and display. Game master still controls the adventure, players act it out.
By delievering the editor & other tools with the game Bioware hopes gamers accept Neverwinter Nights as the new medium for role playing. With dozens of new scenarios and modifications appearing daily, the beginning looks promising.

In addition to the new concept Neverwinter Nights also brought Bioware’s AD&D games into the third dimension. The Infinity Engine, used in Baldur’s Gate & Icewind Dale games is replaced with the new Aurora Engine. The transfer to 3D has its advantages and disadvantages. First of all, the graphics look great. Environments are beautifully rendered and player models look good. One disadvantage the 2D engine had was the fact that all your characters & their equipment looked pretty much the same. This is no longer the case with Neverwinter Nights. You’re now able to actually see what equipment your character is wearing, from weapons to different outfits.

Combat is beautifully detailed. You can see different moves, blocks, equipment changes etc. If you hit an enemy with arrows, you see them sticking out of their body. Magic spells & lighting effects look excellent. Funny thing is that while the 3D graphics look good, so did the 2D ones. In fact the detailed backgrounds of the old Infinity engine and the incredible amount of detail they have still continues to impress. Fortunately the Aurora brings along more than just 3D.

Battles are entertaining to watch

Neverwinter Nights uses the new 3rd edition rules of AD&D (Now just D&D). This brings many changes to the gameplay. First of all, it removes most of the character restrictions AD&D 2nd edition had. Mages can’t use swords, clerics are restricted from using bladed weapons, wearing armor prevents from casting spells etc. , you know the stuff.

With the 3rd edition, none of these exist. There are no restrictions in weapons, eg. mages can use two handed swords if they wish – although they have to be proficient with them if they want to be effective. Wearing armor now doesn’t prevent spellcasting, it just makes it more difficult. Mages with full plate armor have significally greater chance of failing the spell than those with no armor at all. They can reduce the penalties by focusing on armored spellcasting when leveling up. Which leads to the next big change in system.

The amazing singing fighter

Character development has gone through a major overhaul. Every character now needs the same amount of experience points to go up a level. In 2nd edition some classes advenced slower than others, rogues needed less points than wizards for example. In 3rd edition dual & multiclassing is gone. Once you go up a level, you choose a class to advance in. You may choose the same class you began with or advance in another.

E.g. when a 1st level warrior goes up a level he may choose to advance to 2nd level in warrior class or choose another class. This makes customizing your characters much easier. You can gain 3 levels as wizard, one as warrior and two as druid, then gain one more as warrior etc. The only limitation is the experience penalty you recieve if you have two classes more than one level apart (eg. Level 5 warrior/level 5 rogue/ level 1 wizard).

Resting means sitting on a floor until you are healed.
Heroes never sleep.

Close combat is dangerous, use henchmen

Even though Neverwinter Nights is clearly designed with multiplayer in mind, Bioware has not totally forgotten single gaming. In Neverwinter’s single player campaign you play as a newly recruited hero trying to find the cure to a strange plague infecting the city of Neverwinter. The single player scenario is not as complex and long as Baldur’s Gate games were but it offers a decent gaming experience. Although rather linear, it manages to stay interesting. The game’s clearly designed with multiplayer gaming in mind.

Inventory is big enough for spare clothing.
Why just fight when you can fight with style?

This shows up in the gameplay as well. Instead of controlling a group of up to six characters like in other Bioware/Black Isle AD&D games, in Neverwinter you’re stuck with one. The game allows you to hire one henchman to help you, but he/she is computer controlled. The sidekick feature is pretty limited as you can’t access your helper’s inventory, give him items (potions are exception) or anything like that. Basically the henchman is just one extra guy in the battlefield, drawing enemy fire and assisting you in combat.

There are various henchmen to choose from and each one has their own story & quest for you. They have a wide range of abilities. There are warriors, rogues, wizards, etc. Certain henchmen are better in some quest than others. If your henchman has rogue skills, he/she opens doors and chests for you and disarms traps. Brute force works on doors & chests as well, but is slower and tends to break stuff…

Clever employers fight from the range
while the henchman do all the dirty work

The A.I. of the henchmen isn’t something to brag about. They usually hold out on their own in battles but they are too eager to fight. I often saw my henchman running around the map beating enemies senseless. Then he run to an ambush. Results are easily imaginable. Fortunately you can pick up your resurrected henchman from the temple of Tyr where you’ll also get free healing. The handy portal stone you get at the beginning of the game transfers you to the temple at no cost.

Rampage isn’t the only flaw henchmen possess. Once my henchman spotted a trap at the end of a hallway. After seeing it he commented something about disarming the trap for me. whet surprised me was the way he did it. My henchman disarmed the trap by running straight INTO the trap! Well, that’s one way of doing it, I guess and fortunately he survived. It worked, though and the trap was obviously no longer there…a good employee does anything to protect his master, apparently…

Traps are highlighted nicely in red

Victory

I have mixed opinions about Neverwinter Nights. On the other hand, Bioware succeeded in moving their D&D games to 3D. I haven’t tried the multiplayer game, so I can’t say how well they succeeded in changing the RPG genre. On single player front Neverwinter Nights isn’t as good as it could be. The 1 player scenarios available for download on the net may make up for it, but we’ll see. Even if you’re not planning to play online, Neverwinter Nights isn’t a waste of money. There’s a lot to do and explore on the single player scenarios, just don’t expect anything as grand as Baldur’s Gate was.

Righteous heroes glow in dark