How you Rate NWN 1 to 10 scale

[Skeelo]

Ok this seems like the best way to get everyone's overall opinion on the game so please vote, 1 being lowest and 10 being highest.

[Tutoric]

I'd love to vote but I am waiting on the good old US Postal Service to bring it to my door. The worst part is it is at a PO warehouse about 15 miles from my house.....arrrgghh!

[Aegis]

6. Why? First off, the Aurura Engine is horribly dated. When compared to the graphics engine of Morrowind, or even EQ, we know developers are capable of so much more.

Second, The inheirant bugs in the system. I have never seen any game (aside from PoR) that has this many serious bugs in it, and that seriously degrades the game.

Third, the Henchmen. The fact that you are so limited in what you can tell them to do, and give them.

And the last point deducted off? Just my own bitter resentment to the game since I cannot play it, and give a more accurate review like I was hoping to do.

[THE JAKER]

well Aegis I don't know if you should rate the game at all since you haven't played it.


OK, I am not going to vote yet. I think in a month or more, when I've finished the SP campaign, played multiplayer and dm'd, and worked with the toolset and designed a level or two, then I'll feel like I've experienced what the game has to offer and be ready to express a well-considered opinion.

[Pebz]

Agree with with THE JAKER (on both points)

[Aegis]

Just because I have not actually thoroughly played the game, does not make my rating of it any less important. I'm sure the over all gameplay is fine, and the story very immersive, but bugs, glitches, shoddy AI, and an outdated engine are serious marks against it, in the long run.

[Amidala]

Who cares about the engine, it is only important what the designer made out of it.

[THE JAKER]

Yeah...the engine.... you know, the graphics are crisp, clear and attractive, the controls are intuitive and clean, and the animations are VERY nice (better than Morrowind's). I don't really have a problem with the engine. I mean, BG2 was 2D, so it's a step forward from that.

[fable]

Originally posted by Amidala
Who cares about the engine, it is only important what the designer made out of it.

Well, that's problematic. I mean, we all care most about the content of the game--nobody wants something that's all flash and no substance. (Well, most of us do, anyway.) But there are some games(not NWN) where the graphics are so counter-intuitive that they actually get in the way of the fun. And then, too, there's also a point when the graphics become so dated that no matter how good a game is, it can't win an audience. That's happened before.

[Aegis]

Originally posted by fable


Well, that's problematic. I mean, we all care most about the content of the game--nobody wants something that's all flash and no substance. (Well, most of us do, anyway.) But there are some games(not NWN) where the graphics are so counter-intuitive that they actually get in the way of the fun. And then, too, there's also a point when the graphics become so dated that no matter how good a game is, it can't win an audience. That's happened before.

Also, what I was getting at with the mention of the Aurura engine being dated is that when we look at other games, Morrowind for example, it seems to be missing something. Morrowind is a game that took less time to develop (as they didn't begin right after Daggerfall), but looks stunningly beautiful. NWN's graphics seem to be missing some polygons, and looks blocky for the most part. For the level of graphics these days, the Aurora Engine does not compete, and will probably not be an engine that is used for long, unless they do some tweaking, and get it up to snuff.

[archerknight]

yahoooooo!!!!

Finally got the game. After much conjoling and many gifts I manage to convince the wife that I really, really needed this game. Hope it's worth it.

I'll give my vote in a day or two. Till I got home, scanned the manual, loaded the game, downloaded the latest patch, and whipped up a quick character(ranger-mostly w the recommended stats), it was time to put the kids to bed.

For the brief look I got: nice graphics, looks like the controls will be pretty easy to master, dialog w npc(only got to the first person) was a bit slow and drawn out(not that big a deal).

Be back to vote as soon as I get a chance to form an opinion.

[THE JAKER]

I completely disagree about the graphics "missing something" Aegis - I also dispute that Morrowind looks better.

Of course taste in graphics is a matter of opinion, but here is mine: there are some truly gorgeous effects in Morrowind - mainly the landscapes, sky, and weather effects, but there are downsides as well - the faces and figures are clunky, and the animations are weak and clumsy. NWN might not have as many raw polys (and thankfully does not take as much of a system to run, your experience notwithstanding) but the figures, faces and animations are gorgeous - my barbarian human female has - how can I say this? a VERY attractive walk. As I said before the graphics have a pleasant clean, crisp look to them. The spell effects, lighting and shadows are also more attractive than those in Morrowind. (and in the case of the shadows, can be run, while those in Morrowind slow down the game too much to be worthwhile).

And really the irony of comparing NWN to Morrowind is choice - Morrowind, the game that I've ever seen generate more *****ing about performance, system incompatabilities and gameplay than any other.

[KaaZe]

Again I hear that NWN graphics are bad... I cant see it.. honestly. I think they are spot on. The do NOT make the game, they do not hinder the game... FOR ONCE, the graphics complement the game.. They didnt focus on getting as many polygons on a model for the simpel reason that... in a game of D&D, the mood means SO much to game and IMHO, they ported that beautifully... Live shadows, GREAT combat animations, shining/reflective armor, EXTREMELY good spell effects.. it's all there!... I simply LOVE combat in this game, everything from standard melee to watching my cleric fire off Chain Lightning, Hammer of the goods etc.. One thing is for sure... it BEATS the hell outta watching my character in morrowind swining his weapon.. sheesh.. SO many games developer's spend too much time on graphics, that they forget why they are even there... Good Story and Gameplay outlast's good graphics any day of the week. Also, remember that all scenes in NWN are made with Tiles.. I hope you have some idea of just how hard that is to make.... which brings us to another point.. the toolkit. Try loading up the one for morrowind and makes 2 area's that you can zone to.. then do the same with the NWN Toolkit.. enough said.

Anyways, I gave it a 8-9'ish score... I think the game is everything they promised so far.. and that my friends, is a pretty rare things these days. There are some bug's in the game right now (Not hardware/system related) and henchmen could have gotten alittle more love from the developers.

PS.
If you want a glimps of just HOW cool spell effects look at the later levels.. use the toolkit, make a small scene, put in 1 level 20 Drow Priestess and 1 level 20 Elf mage. Change the faction of the elf to Defender and load it up...

[Aegis]

Both Jaker and Kaaze, good points. My rebuttal (Won't be very long, tired, late and sleep deprived)

First off, I'd like to point out to Kaaze that Morrowind is more than jsut graphics. It has the most stunning graphics, mixed in with a very open plot line, tons of replayability, and great music/sound. In retrospect, Morrowind is an amazing game, especially when compared to NWN.

Jaker, you are right that the faces are clunky, but only when running older cards (We're talking GF2, Radeon) When you get the more powerful cards (Radeon 8500, GF3-4 Ti) every bit of the character model is smooth. The characters in Morrowind, especially when decked out in a full suit of Daedric, or Glass armour are amazing to behold, more so then the rather bland (IMHO) characters of NWN (And yes, I have seen the game in action). The only upside I can really say for the Aurora engine is, as was mentioned, the lighting effects, which is the only part of the engine that surpasses the Morrowind engine. Also, the lighting effects don't slow down the game. I run at 1600x1200, with no slow down (except if I got programs in the back ground), and the same goes for most systems.

About the performance issues, I haven't seen or heard about one major issue. I've seen it crash once or twice on my friend, but he was running numerous plug-ins' one of which was bugged.

Kaaze, while the NWN tool set is a fine piece of software (the one thing Id ecided to keep after returning the game) it does not compare to the TES kit. The NWN is all module bassed, so your limited to what you can place in certain areas, and how far you can go. In TES kit, you have the entire game area as a palette. While NWN kit is far easier to get into, it is more limiting in the long run. The TES kit offers infinite expandability, and replayability. While the game install for Morrowind is smaller then NWN's, it can potentially grow to ten times that of it, and that is a testament to how effective the TES construcion kit.

[Irenin]

NWN looks much better than EQ........