Neverwinter Nights
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| Neverwinter Nights | |
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| Developer(s) | BioWare |
| Publisher(s) | Infogrames/Atari MacSoft |
| Engine | Aurora engine |
| Latest version | 1.68 |
| Release date(s) | Windows: NA June 18, 2002 GE June 28, 2002 EU/AU July 3, 2002 JP March 20, 2003 PL November 20, 2003 Mac: NA August, 2003 Linux: NA June 20, 2003 |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T (Teen) USK: 12+ ELSPA: 11+ OFLC: M |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X |
| Media | 3 CD-ROMs |
| System requirements | 450 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM (256 MB for Mac), 16 MB video card RAM, 8X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 8.1, 1.2 GB available hard disk space, Windows 98 |
| Input | Keyboard, mouse |
Neverwinter Nights (NWN), produced by BioWare and published by Infogrames (now Atari), is a third-person perspective computer role-playing game that is based on third edition Dungeons & Dragons and Forgotten Realms rules. It was originally to be published by Interplay Entertainment, but the publisher's financial difficulties forced the change. Infogrames released Neverwinter Nights for Windows on June 18, 2002. BioWare released the freely downloadable Linux Client in June 2003. MacSoft released a Mac OS X port in August 2003.
The game is based in part on traditions started in the original Neverwinter Nights online game, the first graphical MMORPG, which ran from 1991 to 1997 on AOL.
The core release includes the game engine, a campaign that can be played as single player or multiplayer, and the Aurora toolset (for Windows only) used for creating custom content based on the same engine. An expansion pack, Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide, was released in June 2003, and a subsequent expansion pack, Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark was released in December 2003. In October 2005, Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker, an expansion pack that includes three new modules was released. On October 31st 2006 a sequel, Neverwinter Nights 2, was released.
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[edit] Description
Play centers on the development of a character that becomes the ultimate hero of the story. In the original NWN scenario supplied with the game engine, the player is single-handedly responsible for defeating a powerful cult; collating the four reagents required for stopping an insatiable plague; thwarting an attack on the city of Neverwinter, and many other side quests.
The first and final chapters of the story in the official campaign deal with the city of Neverwinter itself, but the lengthy mid-story requires the player to venture into the countryside and then northward to the city of Luskan. Neverwinter is a city on the Sword Coast of Faerûn.
[edit] Gameplay
As in Dungeons & Dragons, the first thing a player must do is create a character. One can choose the character's gender, race, class, alignment, stats (strength, dexterity, etc.), abilities (skills, spells, feats, etc.), appearance, and name. There is a great deal of customization involved - one can be, for example, an outdoorsman (Ranger class), healer (Cleric class), and choose the skills and feats that would help them the most (a Ranger might want Animal Empathy, for example, while a Cleric would probably choose Combat Casting).
The actual game is lengthy (original NWN has three CDs, while the expansions each add one CD). Following a small prelude, there are four "chapters" in the original game, with each chapter consisting of a general storyline (the first chapter, for example, deals with a mysterious plague in the city of Neverwinter), and within each chapter, there are many quests, subquests, and mini-storylines. The game's actual mechanics are based on the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition rule set – most important actions (fighting, persuasion, etc.) are based on a die or dice roll. For example, when a fighter attacks, he would roll a 20-sided die to determine if he hits the target then roll another die determined by the type of weapon (8-sided die for longsword, 2 6-sided dice for greatsword, 10-sided die for dwarven waraxe etc.) to determine how much damage was done.
[edit] Campaign plot summary
[edit] Prelude
The conflict began when a virulent plague known as the Wailing Death broke out in the city of Neverwinter, Faerun's Jewel of the North and headed by the legendary Lord Nasher Alagondar. His right-hand, the Paladin of Tyr Lady Aribeth de Tylmarande, believed that some sinister force may be behind it and created an academy for the two-fold mission of training adventurers who have come to assist her to discover the reason of the plague, and whatever sinistral force may be behind it. The protagonist is introduced as an adventurer who responded to Aribeth's call for aid and has completed his/her training at the academy. The hero, along with the academy's other graduates, enters the graduation chamber where Aribeth is about to begin the ceremony, when a group of mysterious mages, goblins, and undead suddenly appear in the academy and begin to attack the students and instructors. After the mages who appeared in the graduation chamber have been fought off, Aribeth informs the hero that the attack is likely an attempt by those who are behind the plague to kill four creatures sent from Waterdeep by Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun that are being held in the academy. Each of these creatures contains a reagent that Arunsun believes, when combined with the other three, is capable of producing a cure for the plague. Aribeth is impressed with the hero's combat prowess and asks him/her to hurry to the stables, where the Waterdhavian creatures are being held, and see that no harm comes to them. By the time that the hero reaches the stables, the attackers are about to kill the creatures, but are unable to do so and the creatures flee into the city streets. Shortly after the attack has subsided, Abbott Fenthick Moss (Aribeth's fiancé) and the Helmite Desther Indelayne, who had arrived at the stables just as the hero did, discuss the events which have befallen the academy with him/her. After the onslaught, most of the academy students and instructors have been killed, and the Waterdhavian creatures have become lost within the city. Fenthick requests that the hero meet with him and Desther in a week to discuss how they are to act next.
[edit] Chapter One
After being briefed by Fenthick, Desther, and Aribeth, the hero is sent out into the streets of Neverwinter to retrieve the Waterdhavian creatures. Though the creatures can technically be retrieved in any order, level-wise there is a linear path to the chapter. The lowest level zone is the Peninsula District, where a series of prison riots have plunged the district into chaos. After battling through hordes of convicts, the hero discovers the cause behind the riots to be one of the Waterdhavian creatures, an intellect devourer, that has taken control of the prison warden. After killing the warden and the intellect devour inside him, the hero retrieves the brain of the creature and returns to the Temple of Tyr. The next district, the Beggar's Nest, is overrun with the undead creations of the next Waterdhavian creature, a Yuan-ti pureblood. The Yuan-ti, upon her arrival in the Beggar's Nest, defeated the leader of a cult of Cyric, whom the hero later finds imprisoned and can choose to kill him, set him free, or leave him. Now in control of the cult, the Yuan-ti sets up a base of operations in an old crypt but is defeated by the hero. After retrieving the creature's heart, the hero once again returns to Aribeth for a reward. The next district, the Blacklake district, is divided into two regions: the noble's district, which is sealed off from the rest of the city and heavily guarded, and no-man's-land, which consists of the poorer parts of the district now controlled by gangs of plague carrying thugs. After gaining entrance to the noble's district, the hero discovers that one of the nobles, a wizard named Meldanen, has in his possession the third Waterdhavian creature, a dryad, along with huge amounts of food. After defeating Meldanen and retrieving hair from the dryad (and the key to Meldanen's food stores which, incidentally, is also the key to the Dryad's prison) the hero again returns to the Temple of Tyr. The fourth and final district is the Docks District, where the Bloodsail pirates have taken control. After gaining all the reagents for the cure, the cure will be created. Desther steals it, and it is revealed that Fenthick may have been involved with helping Desther. Aribeth tells the hero to follow Desther. In the Epilogue of Chapter One, the hero battles through Helm's Hold and confronts Desther. After the battle, Desther reveals that the cult worship beings known as the old ones. Desther is taken back to Neverwinter where he is burned at a stake and to please an angry Neverwinter, Fenthick is also hung. Then, chapter two starts.
[edit] Chapter Two
Chapter Two starts out with the hero arriving in Port Llast. Aribeth and Aarin Gend tell the hero to search for the cult. It is here the player first learns of the mystical Words of Power, and a new "Creator Race". As the player tries to find information, he is forced to kill some of the cult's agents. At the end of the chapter, Aribeth mysteriously disappears. Setting out to find her, the hero sets out to the city of Luskan. After this chapter, the player finds out that Aribeth has betrayed Neverwinter, and has become corrupted by the Creator Race.
[edit] Chapter Three
In Chapter Three you find yourself adventuring in Beorouna's Well, and trying to find the three other Words of Power, as the enemy has one already.
[edit] Chapter Four
Chapter Four is back in Neverwinter. A war has broken out in three of the four districts, and Maugrim has hidden himself inside the Academy. The hero defeats him and reluctantly, Aribeth. It is possible to spare Aribeth by convincing her with either a high persuasion level or by obtaining her ring in the second chapter. The hero journeys into Morag's lair and slays the Creator Race, becoming the Savior of Neverwinter.
[edit] Multiplayer
The robust multiplayer component separates Neverwinter Nights from previous Dungeons & Dragons games, as there are many servers for players to choose from. Each server, depending on hardware and bandwidth, can support up to 72 players or more in the same module. NWN game modules run as a variety of separate genres and themes, including persistent worlds (which are similar to MUDs), combat arenas (player versus player modules), and simple social gatherings similar to a chat room. The campaign included with the game can be played with friends, for example, or a team of builders can build a virtual world similar in scope and size to commercial MMORPGs. BioWare insists that these persistent worlds be free of charge, primarily for reasons of copyright law.
Many persistent worlds are still actively run with updates and improvements; notable examples include Avlis and Layonara. Servers can also be linked together, allowing the creation of large multi-server worlds. Two early examples include A Land Far Away and Confederation of Planes and Planets.
Because Neverwinter Nights lacks a global chat function aside from the supported Gamespy, players typically join "pickup" games through the game's multiplayer interface, or schedule games in advance with friends. Matchmaking sites, such as Neverwinter Connections, facilitate scheduling of games, and the experience is much like traditional Pen-and-Paper roleplaying games. Persistent worlds do this work for them by inviting players to visit their website and continue to roleplay there.
One important feature of Neverwinter Nights is the 'DM' or 'Dungeon Master' Client, a tool that allows an individual to take the role of the traditional 'Dungeon Master', who guides the players through the story, and has complete control of the server. While not the first game to utilise this feature (one previous example is a more basic version in the game 'Vampire the Masquerade', based on the printed gamebooks published by White Wolf), Neverwinter Nights had the most evolved version of this feature and thus arguably created one of the most 'immersive' RPG experiences currently available in CRPG gaming. The DM Client allowed players to participate in regular campaigns, while also allowing persistent-world servers to flourish by permitting the Dungeon Masters of those servers to possess NPCs 'on-the-fly' for added realism.
[edit] Custom content
Neverwinter Nights ships with the Aurora toolset, which allows players to create custom modules for Neverwinter Nights. These modules may take the form of online multiplayer worlds, single player adventures, character trainers or technology demos. Additionally, several third party utilities have further expanded the community's ability to create custom content for the game. Custom content creators are known as builders in the Neverwinter Nights community.
The Aurora toolset allows builders to create map areas using a tile system; the appearance and surface textures of the area are defined by the area's selected tileset. Builders can overlay placeable objects onto areas, and use the built-in scripting language NWScript to run cut scenes, quests, mini-games and conversations. NWScript is based on C++.
Third party utilities allow builders to create custom content for most aspects of the game, ranging from new playable races and character classes to new tilesets, monsters and equipment. Custom content is added to the game in the form of hakpaks. Builders have used the Aurora toolset in combination with hakpaks to create playing experiences beyond the scope of the original campaign. Despite the game's age, the Neverwinter Nights custom content community remains active.
The Aurora toolset is not available for the Linux and Macintosh versions of Neverwinter Nights. The open source project neveredit aims to port the toolset features to these platforms.
Throughout the game's life, a handful of Neverwinter Nights custom content groups were formed, dedicated to the creation of high quality content and modules. The largest of these groups were the City of Doors Initiative (CODI) and DragonLance Adventures (DLA). The former's aim was the recreation of the Planescape universe within Neverwinter Nights, while the latter worked on modules in the Dragonlance setting. Other groups worked to convert NWN to use other settings such as Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, and Ravenloft Prisioners of the Mista popular 2nd edition setting featuring horror and gothic elements.
In terms of sheer user-created content, however, the major player is certainly the team that produced the Community Expansion Pack (CEP). Overseen by a small group of Neverwinter Nights builders, the CEP project was an enormous collection of player-made items, creatures and character appearances compiled into an interconnected series of add-on files. Content is only added to the CEP after being tested and approved by the CEP team, giving rise to one of the most widely-used player-made enhancements ever created for Neverwinter Nights, and (thus far) the only one to have received its own page on Bioware's official site.
Due to the extreme success and popularity of the CEP, a sister-project was started several years after the CEP's release. Dubbed the Community Tileset Project, it is attempting to duplicate the CEP's success, but the focus of the CTP is to create a collection of user-made tilesets, which are used to create a basic Neverwinter Nights map. While progress has been slow, the team itself is still working together. CommunityTilesetProject
As of June 2006, some smaller custom content groups are inactive and the CODI team is defunct. DLA is still around and remains the largest NWN community development team. DLA dissociated itself from its "DragonLance Adventures" moniker after it was contracted by BioWare to create most of the original artwork, sound and music for BioWare's premium module program.
[edit] Expansions
- Shadows of Undrentide (SoU) — This expansion scenario pack was released in June 2003. It adds 5 prestige classes, 16 new creatures (two of them available as additional familiars), 3 new tilesets, and over 30 new feats and 50 new spells, as well as additional scripting abilities for those who use the Aurora toolkit. It features a story line concerning a student sent out to recover some stolen magical objects. The story begins in the Silver Marches, eventually moving toward the desert of Anauroch and the old Netherese city of Undrentide.
- Hordes of the Underdark (HotU) — Released in December 2003, it expands the level-cap to level 40 (epic levels), and adds a number of spells and items appropriate to such characters, as well as adding further tilesets, prestige classes, feats, and abilities, and compatibility with the Intel Pentium 4 Processor, which was unsupported in previous versions. The story continues where Shadows of Undrentide ended, with a character of at least 12th level (if you start this expansion with a character below level 12, the game will level you up to 15), and leads into the vast subterranean world known as the Underdark. The first chapter of the story takes place in the Undermountain dungeon beneath the city of Waterdeep.
In March 2004, an expansion known as the Community Expansion Pack (CEP) based on community material was released. This freely downloadable expansion was compiled by members of the Neverwinter Nights community. It combines a selection of previously released custom content into one large hakpak. BioWare had no involvement in creating content for the CEP, but provided resources to help promote it. Players must add the CEP to a module with the toolset to use CEP content.
Though not actually expansion packs, Atari released subsequent editions of the game following its first release in 2002. These editions are: Neverwinter Nights: Gold, which combines the original game with the Shadows of Undrentide expansion pack; Neverwinter Nights: Platinum (in Europe called Neverwinter Nights: Deluxe Edition, or with extra bonus content as Neverwinter Nights Deluxe: Special Edition), which combined all three NWN products and came on a single DVD-ROM or four CD-ROMs; and Neverwinter Nights: Diamond, which includes everything in the Platinum edition plus Kingmaker and three additional modules.
As well, in early December 2003, the Players Resource Consortium released the PRC, which is a group of hakpaks combined, which added classes, races, skills, and spells to the game. As of May 20, 2006, the PRC now has roughly three times the number of prestige classes the original game had. It also adds dozens of epic spells, and many normal spells that make better use of Bioware's Aurora engine. These include: Teleportation, Transposition, Mazes, Summoning Houses and more. As well, psionic powers have been included, which are essentially spells, but done with "power points", akin to the sorcerer class. This "expansion" can be found at [1], along with documentation. Much of the PRC pushes the engine in ways that the designers never intended, so caution is advised when making use of the hakpak.
[edit] Premium modules
In late 2004, BioWare launched its online store and started selling what it called premium modules as part of its digital distribution program. This initiative was spearheaded by BioWare's Live Team Lead Designer, Rob Bartel. Though technically not expansions, these smaller-scale adventures introduce new storylines and gameplay. They often include new music and art that BioWare claims will be integrated into future patches and updates to the core game. The most recent patch, 1.68, includes much of the art and music that can be found in the premium modules.
According to BioWare, the revenue generated is used to support their fan community and provide ongoing updates and improvements to the popular game. The modules that are sold in the BioWare store require an active internet connection to play, even when played in single player mode. The modules in the Kingmaker expansion were stripped of this requirement but are only for Windows. The modules included with Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition do not require Internet access to play.
- Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker — In November 2004, BioWare announced their flagship premium module, which later received the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences 'PC RPG of the Year' award. The player is called upon to defeat the evil at the Keep of Cyan, and win the throne.
- Neverwinter Nights: ShadowGuard with free Witch's Wake — At the same time as Kingmaker's release, BioWare also offered a bundled pair of shorter premium modules which included ShadowGuard, created by community member Ben McJunkin, and Witch's Wake, a remastered version of Rob Bartel's popular story-oriented module by the same name. The remastered version added new subraces, music, and substantial voice-acting throughout.
- Neverwinter Nights: Pirates of the Sword Coast — In June 2005, BioWare announced the upcoming release of a new premium module. The story begins in the city of Neverwinter, and leads to a lengthy ship-bourne, swashbuckling-style adventure. Characters start at the 5th level.
- Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker (Premium Modules collection) — Atari released this CD-ROM expansion pack in September 2005. It compiles the premium modules Kingmaker, Shadowguard and Witch's Wake.
- Neverwinter Nights: Infinite Dungeons — In May 2006, Bioware released this premium module which takes place in Undermountain below Waterdeep. The main feature is randomly generated dungeons, which are suitable for all levels of adventurer. The module is designed for single and multiplayer gaming. With the exception of the ability to respawn one's character, ID is very similar to a 3-D roguelike.
- Tyrants of the Moonsea — In July 2006, Alazander released the first of the three cancelled premium modules to Neverwinter Vault. The story takes place in the Hillsfar area and includes gladiatorial matches. Characters start at the 12th level.
- Darkness over Daggerford — In August 2006, Ossian Studios Inc., headed up by Alan Miranda, a former producer at BioWare, released the second cancelled premium module to the Vault. The story takes place in and around Daggerford and has been compared favorably to Baldur's Gate 2 in terms of its scope. Characters start at the 8th level.
- Wyvern Crown of Cormyr — In September 2006, BioWare announced a new premium module produced by the DLA team. It features fully ridable horses, flowing cloaks, tabards and long coats, a new prestige class (the Purple Dragon Knight), and extensive new art, creatures, and tilesets. Characters start at the 6th or 7th level and module offers an approximate 18 to 20 hours of gameplay.
New content created for the premium module program by the DLA team continues to be patched into the game's official resources. Neverwinter Nights 2 was released on November 4, and new support for the premium module program is unlikely to continue (although Bioware has said that they will not stop supporting the existing modules). Development resources for premium NWN content is likely to be redirected to Bioware's new Dragon Age RPG.
[edit] Reception
Neverwinter Nights was generally met with very positive reviews. GameSpot referred to it as "one of those exceedingly rare games that has a lot to offer virtually everyone, even if they aren't already into RPGs", and praised it for its campaign, its Aurora toolset, and its graphics.[1]
[edit] Awards
- E3 2000 Game Critics Awards: Best RPG, Best Online Multiplayer
- E3 2001 Game Critics Awards: Best Role Playing Game
- E3 2002 Game Critics Awards: Best Role Playing Game
[edit] Legal issues
Since the original release of Neverwinter Nights, several in-game portraits have been modified in patches due to their having been copied from outside sources. [2] In another instance, the Canadian Red Cross complained to BioWare about the appearance of the Red Cross symbol on the in-game item "Healer's Kit", not wanting the Red Cross to be associated with the game's violence. This resulted in the Red Cross symbol being removed from the Healer's Kit through patches. [3]
[edit] Educational usage
Neverwinter Nights is used for educational purposes in West Nott's College in the UK as a means of showing IT designers how to understand the coding in the game.
[edit] Sequel
A sequel to Neverwinter Nights, Neverwinter Nights 2, was developed by Obsidian Entertainment, a company which has a long history of association with BioWare. According to BioWare, the change of developer is due to BioWare's business with other titles, such as Mass Effect and Dragon Age.
NWN2 shipped at the beginning of November 2006 prior to the 4th of November in the US and most European countries, and on the 16th of November in Australia.
[edit] Legacy
[edit] Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, a role-playing game based in the Star Wars universe, was also released by BioWare using a heavily modified version of the Aurora engine of Neverwinter Nights. The sequel, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, also used this modified engine. Because of this, modders have been able to modify these games using some Neverwinter Nights modding tools.
[edit] The Witcher
The Witcher, a computer role-playing game currently in development by the Polish company CD Projekt, is based on the Aurora engine of Neverwinter Nights. Its development was highly publicized within the NWN community.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
Dice to Clicks: Neverwinter Nights Faithfully Translates Pen-and-Paper D&D. Apple (July 2003). Retrieved on April 3, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Official NWN website
- IGameD.com Neverwinter Nights on IGameD.com
- NWN Vault, the largest hub for user-created content.
- Reference and utility
- NWNWiki
- NWN Lexicon Scripting Reference
- NWmax 3d modeling software for gmax and 3dsmax
- Neveredit module editor for Linux and Macintosh
- DVD/CD Install Script for Linux
- Neverwinter Nights at Wikia
- Notable custom content teams
- Community Expansion Pack (CEP)
- DLA (formerly DragonLance Adventures)
- Player Resource Consortium (PRC)
- Penultima, a series of modules for Neverwinter Nights.
- General resources
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Neverwinter Nights series
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Games: Neverwinter Nights | Neverwinter Nights 2 |
Categories: Wikipedia articles needing clarification | 2002 video games | 2003 video games | Role-playing video games | Multiplayer online games | Neverwinter Nights | Mac OS X games | Linux games | Windows games | Cooperative video games | Video games with expansion packs | Interactive Achievement Award winners
