Neverwinter Nights: A Classic that Remains the Best Role-playing Game Ever Created

Neverwinter Nights was probably the first "modern" role-playing game. It succeeded Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, but advanced so far being those humble roots. First, even today, with the few resources that were available when the game was created, the graphics remain incredible. The game showcases everything that computers have to offer, and especially in the case of the incredible spells that were offered. You can practically see the shimmers on the water, and even turn up the graphics of the game all the way but still have it run quite quickly.

I did like all of the games that Bioware has ever made. I found that even Planescape: Torment offered a lot of dynamic between the characters and interesting spells and character progression. Baldur's Gate, too, I found to be incredible with a very interesting, if one dimensional, plot throughout. Neverwinter Nights, however, far surpasses that. Both the original and the expansion have a very dynamic plot that would be as interesting to read in a book as they are to play.

Furthermore, this game surpasses previous Bioware titles because of the excellent implementation of the D&D 3.5 ruleset. This not only makes the game easier to understand, it also creates a great allowance for dynamic multiclass characters. For example, in the previous rulesets, a character could only get abilities from two classes if the second class passed the first class in level, making it impossible to do so past a certain point, as it would practically neuter a character. This means that you get an excellent opportunity to create characters that far surpass what Bioware suspected. (Think Monk- Weapon Master or the like.) It also allows for prestige classes, which create an infinite number of opportunities. Finally, it adds in the possibility of Feats, rather than very specific abilities at certain levels.

Unfortunately, however, I can give very few of these positive comments to Neverwinter Nights 2. That game lacks any of the dynamics, believability, or even good graphics of the first. It requires a computer with specs that are just about impossible to get and the characters are more than one dimensional. The story, as well, has none of the depth that was offered in the original game and is pretty much boring. It is really just an excuse to kill people with a high-powered character and to give out weapons that are too strong. So yeah- NWN 1- good. NWN 2- bad.