For the longest time, Neverwinter Nights was something I never thought could be for me due its shortcomings in single-player as well as my stubbornness to play original campaigns before any mods or expansions. While these problems are still relevant, and the game is flawed if it took me the fourth time around to get invested, NWN has quickly become not only the greatest tabletop adaptation for RPGs but also the most expansive, memorable tapestry of adventures. The reality is NWN is more than the sum of its problems or its qualities of excellence; it’s a library full of heroic tales that continues to add new chapters, new insights and new worlds that never loses its luster. As a result, to evaluate the game for the shortcomings of one story would be missing the point as there are literally thousands to choose; you can simply put the book back on the shelf and open a new chapter instead.

Underlining this impressive volume of grand adventures is the extensive capability of the Aurora Engine itself, which is not only used in BioWare’s future titles (Knights of the Old Republic and Dragon Age: Origins) but also licensed to CD Projekt Red for The Witcher. These examples should demonstrate the sheer creative freedom when these tools are in the proper hands, and the most impressive part is how well the engine balances both single-player and multiplayer. At first, the limitations of NWN1 may seem detrimental to the single-player experience compared to the Infinity Engine due to the lack of feedback for party management. (As for multiplayer, it’s mainly focused as a PVE type of game rather than a balanced PVP mode.) However, once you learn to manage its clumsy, yet simple, interface the benefits of the 3D environment and the scripting capabilities for wider role-playing outshines its issues. Even with marginal quality of life improvements, BeamDog continues to refine this game—the latest patch allowed cloud downloads of modules when joining servers, and they have hired official developers like Ossian studios to create MORE premium modules—and every developer involved should be applauded for keeping Neverwinter alive in 2018.

In addition to these impressive qualities, the most amazing feat is to believe a game like NWN exists when modern games fail to bridge single-player/multiplayer RPG hybrids without sacrificing their core role-playing elements. Neverwinter Nights manages to provide an experience, alone or with two or hundreds of other players, to make each new roll of the dice a new adventure worth the gamble.


Modules are probably foreign to millennials who have grown up in a time when individual cosmetics are something you purchase, but they are proper expansions that come with their own content, campaigns and additional features. The Enhanced Edition comes equipped with the original module, the two official expansions, and the three premium semi-official modules from the Kingmaker expansion. The pirates module, the infinity dungeon module, and Darkness Over Daggerford are all amateur projects by outside studios—yet their quality rivals any Creation Club content by miles. These latter three pieces of content are between two to ten dollars each, or they are bundled with their soundtracks for sixty dollars (or forty dollars for the modules themselves available on BeamDog’s website.)

Before you get your pitchfork decrying a rip-off, allow me to explain some important details behind the “complete” version. The former Diamond Edition, which was only $10 on GOG, did not come with these three latter modules—you couldn’t even officially get them anymore from BioWare’s website— and you can now purchase these content far, far cheaper than their original $12 - $20 prices. In addition, as stated in the updated Darkness Over Daggerford expansion, which added 500 NEW voice lines and bug fixes, “Buying the enhanced edition of Darkness over Daggerford helps to support Ossian Studios’ goal of bringing you more great Dungeons & Dragons adventures!” Essentially, BeamDog has done with Bethesda cannot do by making officially licensed third-party content profitable for both parties, and one would hope this would inspire more amateur projects to keep NWN thriving into the next decade—or perhaps far longer if this dream can truly be never-ending.

As controversial as it may be to say, I welcome this method of paying for continual development as BeamDog continues to update the game across platforms—even on the iOS—and I hope they attempt to create their own content like Siege of Dragonspear. This aspect is what I think BeamDog will attempt to capitalize on as they played it safe with the Planescape Torment Enhanced Edition with only quality-of-life improvements. Even if they cannot use the official Wizard of the Coast license, they can follow the Kingmaker expansion by creating their own worlds. What makes me more tolerant to this idea is that this method is the most ideal situation to become more professional with their own projects, and if people don’t want the content they don’t have to purchase it. (This is why I would prefer original content rather than fanfictions living off the predecessors, which would be fine too if done correctly.) These developers could pull off safer projects like officially translating the Infinity Engine games into NWN or modernize the 3rd Edition ruleset with 5th Edition D&D, and it will still provide players even more reasons to support its development. No other developer is sitting on the means to create a bigger name for themselves more than BeamDog, and they also have the benefit of expectations compared to the original campaign, one of the dullest RPGs ever created.


Although this word of caution is unnecessary, please do not start with the default module as the expansions like Shadows of Undrentide or Kingmaker—or even the forever incomplete modules like Witches Wake and Shadowguard—offer better introductions as to what works in NWN. Instead of detailing each individual module, it would be more useful to illustrate why the original campaign is often derided by examining the lessons learned by its successors. The simple truth is the original campaign, if you know how to make it tolerable, can be enjoyed, yet its problems are more at the core with the issues with NWN itself when it has poor pacing.

Much like many modern-developers, the original NWN is a victim of its own ambitions to provide a sense of scale as well as quality with its vast design. Perhaps this issue is more pronounced for the single player audience, yet it’s apparent how vacant and spread out everything is in the city of Neverwinter compared to the close-knit community of Hilltop (Undrentide.) One might argue that the vast city of Neverwinter should feel big despite the numerous amount of NPCs, especially if it must hold a hundred players, yet no other module shares this problem. On the one hand, the size and the open-ended nature of the game allows players to truly feel like it’s a world they are exploring; however, providing an immediate sprawling map with mobs in the way makes it feel like a chore. It would be more likely to assume the allure of translating the isometric 2D D&D games into the third-dimension is the culprit as many gameplay mistakes from the base-game are corrected and acknowledged by BioWare.

You can read the rest of the 12K character count (2K word) review here with visual aids.[ryancolxire.wixsite.com]

For the longest time, Neverwinter Nights was something I never thought could be for me due its shortcomings in single-player as well as my stubbornness to play original campaigns before any mods or expansions. While these problems are still relevant, and the game is flawed if it took me the fourth time around to get invested, NWN has quickly become not only the greatest tabletop adaptation for RPGs but also the most expansive, memorable tapestry of adventures. The reality is NWN is more than the sum of its problems or its qualities of excellence; it’s a library full of heroic tales that continues to add new chapters, new insights and new worlds that never loses its luster. As a result, to evaluate the game for the shortcomings of one story would be missing the point as there are literally thousands to choose; you can simply put the book back on the shelf and open a new chapter instead. Underlining this impressive volume of grand adventures is the extensive capability of the Aurora Engine itself, which is not only used in BioWare’s future titles (Knights of the Old Republic and Dragon Age: Origins) but also licensed to CD Projekt Red for The Witcher. These examples should demonstrate the sheer creative freedom when these tools are in the proper hands, and the most impressive part is how well the engine balances both single-player and multiplayer. At first, the limitations of NWN1 may seem detrimental to the single-player experience compared to the Infinity Engine due to the lack of feedback for party management. (As for multiplayer, it’s mainly focused as a PVE type of game rather than a balanced PVP mode.) However, once you learn to manage its clumsy, yet simple, interface the benefits of the 3D environment and the scripting capabilities for wider role-playing outshines its issues. Even with marginal quality of life improvements, BeamDog continues to refine this game—the latest patch allowed cloud downloads of modules when joining servers, and they have hired official developers like Ossian studios to create MORE premium modules—and every developer involved should be applauded for keeping Neverwinter alive in 2018. In addition to these impressive qualities, the most amazing feat is to believe a game like NWN exists when modern games fail to bridge single-player/multiplayer RPG hybrids without sacrificing their core role-playing elements. Neverwinter Nights manages to provide an experience, alone or with two or hundreds of other players, to make each new roll of the dice a new adventure worth the gamble. [h1]”What Are Modules? Is this ‘Ye Old Paid Mods?’”[/h1] Modules are probably foreign to millennials who have grown up in a time when individual cosmetics are something you purchase, but they are proper expansions that come with their own content, campaigns and additional features. The Enhanced Edition comes equipped with the original module, the two official expansions, and the three premium semi-official modules from the Kingmaker expansion. The pirates module, the infinity dungeon module, and Darkness Over Daggerford are all amateur projects by outside studios—yet their quality rivals any Creation Club content by miles. These latter three pieces of content are between two to ten dollars each, or they are bundled with their soundtracks for sixty dollars (or forty dollars for the modules themselves available on BeamDog’s website.) Before you get your pitchfork decrying a rip-off, allow me to explain some important details behind the “complete” version. The former Diamond Edition, which was only $10 on GOG, did not come with these three latter modules—you couldn’t even officially get them anymore from BioWare’s website— and you can now purchase these content far, far cheaper than their original $12 - $20 prices. In addition, as stated in the updated Darkness Over Daggerford expansion, which added 500 NEW voice lines and bug fixes, “Buying the enhanced edition of Darkness over Daggerford helps to support Ossian Studios’ goal of bringing you more great Dungeons & Dragons adventures!” Essentially, BeamDog has done with Bethesda cannot do by making officially licensed third-party content profitable for both parties, and one would hope this would inspire more amateur projects to keep NWN thriving into the next decade—or perhaps far longer if this dream can truly be never-ending. As controversial as it may be to say, I welcome this method of paying for continual development as BeamDog continues to update the game across platforms—even on the iOS—and I hope they attempt to create their own content like Siege of Dragonspear. This aspect is what I think BeamDog will attempt to capitalize on as they played it safe with the Planescape Torment Enhanced Edition with only quality-of-life improvements. Even if they cannot use the official Wizard of the Coast license, they can follow the Kingmaker expansion by creating their own worlds. What makes me more tolerant to this idea is that this method is the most ideal situation to become more professional with their own projects, and if people don’t want the content they don’t have to purchase it. (This is why I would prefer original content rather than fanfictions living off the predecessors, which would be fine too if done correctly.) These developers could pull off safer projects like officially translating the Infinity Engine games into NWN or modernize the 3rd Edition ruleset with 5th Edition D&D, and it will still provide players even more reasons to support its development. No other developer is sitting on the means to create a bigger name for themselves more than BeamDog, and they also have the benefit of expectations compared to the original campaign, one of the dullest RPGs ever created. [h1]Everything Wrong about Neverwinter Nights is Learned by Others[/h1] Although this word of caution is unnecessary, please do not start with the default module as the expansions like Shadows of Undrentide or Kingmaker—or even the forever incomplete modules like Witches Wake and Shadowguard—offer better introductions as to what works in NWN. Instead of detailing each individual module, it would be more useful to illustrate why the original campaign is often derided by examining the lessons learned by its successors. The simple truth is the original campaign, if you know how to make it tolerable, can be enjoyed, yet its problems are more at the core with the issues with NWN itself when it has poor pacing. Much like many modern-developers, the original NWN is a victim of its own ambitions to provide a sense of scale as well as quality with its vast design. Perhaps this issue is more pronounced for the single player audience, yet it’s apparent how vacant and spread out everything is in the city of Neverwinter compared to the close-knit community of Hilltop (Undrentide.) One might argue that the vast city of Neverwinter should feel big despite the numerous amount of NPCs, especially if it must hold a hundred players, yet no other module shares this problem. On the one hand, the size and the open-ended nature of the game allows players to truly feel like it’s a world they are exploring; however, providing an immediate sprawling map with mobs in the way makes it feel like a chore. It would be more likely to assume the allure of translating the isometric 2D D&D games into the third-dimension is the culprit as many gameplay mistakes from the base-game are corrected and acknowledged by BioWare. [url=https://ryancolxire.wixsite.com/theschmaltzycynic/blog/neverwinter-nights-enhanced-edition-review-the-nights-may-not-last-yet-the-dream-shall]You can read the rest of the 12K character count (2K word) review here with visual aids.[/url]