New Neverwinter Nights Game Probably On Its Way

[Sunseeker]

I certainly hope Cryptic doesn't make an NwN MMO, honestly I'd kill for ANYONE to make a good SRPG these days. Yeah, a slam-bam MMO with a monthly fee and a few microtrans makes for a good profit margin, but really, there are times when I just don't want to be around other people and just enjoy my own little world.

Not to mention an NwN MMO would have a difficult time distinguishing itsself from WoW, even moreso from DDO.

 

[renau1g]

I enjoyed NwN I but the whole "no-party" element of it really turned me off. Sure you could have 1 guy following you, but if you played a mage, you needed a fighter and thief with you, one to hold off the enemies and one to disable to traps. Unfortunately, you couldn't have that as a mage so it really sucked. Either you couldn't open trapped or locked chests, or got pounded in fights without the fighter holding the line.

 

[Wrathamon]

There are some rumours that it might be an NWN MMO done by Cryptic, actually. Cryptic has announcned/admitted/indicated that they are doing a third MMO a while back, and some things seemed to have indicated it might be NWN.

They're doing a D&D MMORPG - unannounced. Doesn't mean that this will be the 1st new D&D game announced thou.

 

[WizarDru]

They're doing a D&D MMORPG - unannounced. Doesn't mean that this will be the 1st new D&D game announced thou.

Atari ALREADY HAS a D&D MMORPG. D&D Online Unlimited by Turbine, which has jumped from 8th position to 3rd in the MMORPG business since jumping to the Free2Play model late last year.


NWN1 had a terrible single-player game, but the expansions were much, MUCH better...and those paled in comparison to what the fan community was able to pull of with the toolset, right down to persistent worlds. NWN2 managed something similar, but was not as well implemented (and featured some serious missteps, IMHO).

 

[ProfessorCirno]

That's partly because it was written by Obsidian, not BioWare. Which is strange because 9/10 times, BioWare is the one who's awesome, Obsidian is not.

This is nonesense.

Bioware's entire credo is to release the same game with the same characters and virtually no depth, ambition, or meaning every single time. And hey, they succeed at it.

Obsidian is the opposite. Fantastic storytelling, incredible characterization, and sublime depth and meanings in their games bar one. They have, however, Troika Syndrome - what they lack is mechanical expertise.

NWN2 is, agreed, not a good game or a good story - but how can it be when it's being forced into yet another terrible stock cliche fantasy story? Mask of the Betrayer, on the other hand, is flat out better then anything Bioware has made. It's easily one of the best games made in recent times. It's Planescape: Torment levels of good.

 

[deinol]

Whatever the game is, it'll be a new team and new code. So while we may hope that the dev team learns lessons from previous games, the only thing they'll really have in common is the brand name. (IE, compare Baldur's Gate with Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance)

I'm actually rather surprised that they hadn't announced something sooner really. The hype around the new addition 2 years ago was a better time to start a new computer game line.

 

[Remus Lupin]

This is nonesense.

Bioware's entire credo is to release the same game with the same characters and virtually no depth, ambition, or meaning every single time. And hey, they succeed at it.

Obsidian is the opposite. Fantastic storytelling, incredible characterization, and sublime depth and meanings in their games bar one. They have, however, Troika Syndrome - what they lack is mechanical expertise.

NWN2 is, agreed, not a good game or a good story - but how can it be when it's being forced into yet another terrible stock cliche fantasy story? Mask of the Betrayer, on the other hand, is flat out better then anything Bioware has made. It's easily one of the best games made in recent times. It's Planescape: Torment levels of good.

Urrrhhh???

 

[P1NBACK]

I'd be super interested in a new NWN game. I loved the mini-MMO persistent worlds crafted in NWN1. I didn't like NWN2 that much.

I'm on the fence about an MMO though. I have tried various MMOs in the past and they just don't grab me like they should. I'm looking for something that games like WoW and the persistent grind cannot offer.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

One thing that strikes me, given that there is no official announcememt is it going to be 2 years+ before we see the actual game?

 

[Lancelot]

I'd be thrilled to see a good 4e solo-play D&D CRPG. I'd be even more thrilled if it came wtih DM tools as well (e.g. Neverwinter Nights). I'd be heartbroken if it's just another MMO.

With regards to the Bioware vs Obsidian vs Troika discussion, here's my two cents...

• I agree with the earlier post that Bioware simply repeats the same formula again and again. I think that's fairly well-known, as it has been the topic of a number of online articles. They have a superficial layer of "choice" in nearly all of their games (basically: good or evil) and they use stock characters (e.g. drunk Berserker dwarf theme: Oghden the Dwarf = Black Whirlwind = Khelben the Dwarf = Korgan the Dwarf = etc).
• However, they also make great games. The mechanics are excellent. I've played all of them multiple times, and I've never played a Bioware game that I didn't enjoy...
• ...except for the original Neverwinter Nights. I really disliked that campaign. Amazing toolset, and I love what the community did with it, but the original campaign was terrible. The two expansions were excellent, though. I particularly liked Shadows of the Underdark. The first time the true Big Bad was reveal, my jaw actually dropped.
• I didn't enjoy NWN2 as much as the NWN expansions, but I find it more playable than the original NWN. I liked some of the NPCs, enjoyed the stronghold quests, and appreciated the epic scope. And I'll add my voice of support in saying that Mask of the Betrayer has the second-best story (after Planescape:Torment) of any D&D game ever released.
• I've played Arcanum a couple of times and, while I like the creative world design, the mechanical implementation of the game is pretty poor. It's not something I'd recommend.
• ToEE is a love-it-and-hate-it game. I think it has the best implementation of turn-based D&D rules ever... but it's based on a sub-standard module, and it requires immense patience. Half-baked later stages? Absolutely - which reflects the half-baked nature of the original module. And the game is buggy as heck.
• ...and finally, there's the one Troika game I love without reservation (assuming you have patched it to fix the big game-breaking bugs...). I own no White Wolf products and have never played their pen-and-paper (and costume) games, but I love Vampire Bloodlines the CRPG. Fun story, great NPCs, some truly nerve-racking moments. The first play-through I went all the way to the end after being a faithful follower of the prince, and got "that" ending. Stunning. I've since replayed it at least four times as members of other clans. Just a great game.

Another favorite CRPG not mentioned here: The Witcher. I'd recommend this for a very different shades-of-grey storyline that is unlike the Bioware good/evil standard. Reminiscent in parts of Dragon Age (which, some might say, copied elements of it), crossed with Hellboy (a lot of fey mythology and other-realm opponents) and made with European sensibilities (i.e. no real heroes, grim storyline that doesn't end in a heroic triumph, and a lot of nudity - unless you're playing the censored US-release version).