robb5: Hello!
I recently received the Neverwinter Series from a great GOG user.
Well I played NW:DE for about 5-6 hours and what can I say....this game is just awesome. It is one of the first Old School RPG's I have played and damn! this game is good. In the first hour I was skeptic about it because of the graphics and complicated gameplay, but after I leaved the training area the world "opened" itself for me. The story is more interesting and immersive than any other modern RPG. The gameplay is complicated at first but then it becomes more easy and fun. I can't wait to play NW 2 and see how the game progressed.
What is your opinion about this game? What makes it different from other modern RPG's?

robb5: snip

Licurg: Dude... Planescape Torment ! It's the best D&D RPG ever made. And it's better than NWN :)

Jekadu: Kinda debatable if Neverwinter Nights is an old-school game.

Glad someone is enjoying it; I couldn't stand the vanilla campaign. The expansion campaigns were more interesting, though, since they were just long enough to be interesting and not overstay their welcome.

As adaptations go, it's very faithful to D&D 3.0, or possibly 3.5 (the differences are very subtle between those two versions), which is certainly a plus.

If you're interested in fan modules, I really can't recommend A Dance With Rogues enough. It's a two-part campaign tailored to Rogues (it's in the title), and all its various nuances. Larceny, blackmail, forgery, stealth, burglary, pick-pocketing, robbery, seduction, espionage, getting into scraps, it's all there. Be warned, however, that it's an "adult" module. It started out as a private piece of erotic writing by the author, and it shows. Of course, with the right character build it is definitely possible to play through the game chastely, although some of the scenes aren't completely avoidable, and the main character finds herself in a lot of situations where her clothes are suddenly not there.

NWN2 is a more focused experience, but also one that doesn't really know what to do with itself. The story tries to make something interesting out of a clichéd setup, but only manages to come across as confused and resentful of the setting. (To be honest, there isn't a lot to recommend to Forgotten Realms ;) ). The characters are clearly created with originality in mind, but come across as if they were designed by putting nouns in two piles and then randomly picking one from each. The game lacks the illusion of freedom the first game had, as side areas are small and access restricted.

Still, it's better than the first game's campaign. At least this time I didn't have to force myself to complete the game. That said, I'm going to give NWN2 another go soon. I've been hankering for another playthrough of the absolutely brilliant Mask of the Betrayer, and I've never tried Storms of Zehir before. I suppose I should also give the vanilla campaign another go.

akhliber: (oh, and some advice, when you get to NWN 2, check out the gog forums for the game... there's a link someone posted for a doc file called something like "camera modes demystified," and following the instructions in it to change the default camera settings makes a HUGE difference. When I first tried the second game, the awful default cameras (in all three modes) almost put me off from the game entirely. Fortunately, I was too drawn in to the Forgotten Realms universe to give up entirely. That camera tutorial was the best game improvement I could have imagined though. I followed it exactly and the results make for a smooth playing, immersive game.
And a gorgeous one at that.

tinyE: I love them all and they all have their niche. I currently have NWN1, Planescape, Arcanum, and Fallout 1 installed and the reason I have them all installed is that some days I have an itch that only NWN can scratch, and sometimes what I need is a Fallout fix, and then some other days what I really need is more cowbell, and so on and so on.

akhliber: This is exactly why I play so many games at a time. I'm the same way with books. Though I must admit, I've yet to play the Fallout games. (ducks)

Jekadu: As adaptations go, it's very faithful to D&D 3.0, or possibly 3.5 (the differences are very subtle between those two versions), which is certainly a plus.

tinyE: I'm reading Lovecraft and Ellison at the same time. Any moment I fear I may slip into another dimension and end up fighting Cthulhu with the aid of a telepathic dog.

Side Note, anyone else have that cool NWN cloth map that came with the original rom? I've got mine hanging right next to my monitor.