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Neverwinter Nights

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This article is about the video game series. For the unrelated online role-playing game, see Neverwinter Nights (1991 video game). For the first game in the series, see Neverwinter Nights (2002 video game).
Neverwinter Nights
Genre(s)Role-playing video game
Developer(s)BioWare, Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher(s)Atari (formerly Infogrames)
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
First releaseNeverwinter Nights (Microsoft Windows)
June 18, 2002
Latest releaseNeverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition (Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Xbox One)
December 3, 2019

Neverwinter Nights is a series of video games developed by BioWare and Obsidian Entertainment, based on the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Aside from also being set around the city Neverwinter, it is unrelated to both the 1991 Neverwinter Nights online game and the 2013 online game called Neverwinter.

Overview

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The Neverwinter Nights series take place primarily in the city of Neverwinter, located in the Sword Coast region of the fictional land of Faerûn.[1] Also commonly referred to as the City of Skilled Hands,[2] Neverwinter grew from a multi-racial settlement named Eigersstor founded several hundred years prior to the start of Neverwinter Nights.[3] At the time the first game takes place, the city of Neverwinter was beset by a magical plague named the Wailing Death,[4] whereas in the second game the city is threatened by an invasion from its ancient enemy named the King of Shadows.[5]

Gameplay

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The Neverwinter Nights series is a franchise of role-playing games.[6] The systems of the games are based on the rules of Dungeons & Dragons, a table-top role-playing game originally developed by TSR, Inc.[7] Both Neverwinter Nights and Neverwinter Nights 2 contain three game modes: a default campaign, a multiplayer mode, and custom contents.[7]

Campaign

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Both Neverwinter Nights and Neverwinter Nights 2 include a default campaign, which focus on the development of the player character through a series of distinct acts.[8] In addition to the main story, the player also has the opportunity to undertake a variety of side quests, some of which form storylines that span the entire game. The player has the ability to make key choices in specific quests can affect combat encounters, key plot points, and the outcome of the overarching story.[9]

Before the player can begin the campaign, they must first create a new character through the game's character creation interface. The player may customize a new character from scratch, or select one of the pre-set characters provided by the games. If the player chooses to create a new character, they are then guided through a series of choices about their character, including race, class, appearance etc.. Some of the choices such as gender and appearance are purely cosmetic, whereas others such as race and class affect how the player character fights and what abilities they have access to.[10]

Custom content

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In addition to the base campaign and the multiplayer mode, both Neverwinter Nights and Neverwinter Nights 2 also included sets of software development tools which allow the players to create custom campaigns which they can then share with other players.[11] Neverwinter Nights shipped with the Aurora Toolset,[11] while Neverwinter Nights 2 shipped with the Electron Toolset, which was completely rewritten by Bioware using the programming language C#.[12]

Reception

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The first instalment in the series, Neverwinter Nights, was generally well received according to review aggregator Metacritic, which gave it a score of 91/100 based on 34 critic reviews and a score of 8.1/10 based on 608 user reviews.[13] Greg Kasavin of GameSpot praised the game's accessibility, calling it "one of those exceedingly rare games that has a lot to offer virtually everyone, even if they aren't already into RPGs".[14] Gamezone appreciated the game's graphic and sound design, and that "the musical score foreshadows game action (the music picks up in intensity when combat looms), and is well done".[15] Allgame reviewer Mark Hoogland commended the Aurora toolset shipped with Neverwinter Nights, calling the breadth of level, story, environment, and module creation options "impressive". Eurogamer reviewer Gestalt was less convinced, criticising the single-player campaign's emphasis on combat encounters over "actual roleplaying", but was optimistic that the game's mod support will give it longevity.[16]

The game series was praised for its customizable player character, including gender, as well as its non-player characters, which Kotaku editor Mary Kenney described as "fun, flawed and downright weird", like paladin Lady Aribeth,[17][18] kobold bard Deekin Scalesinger[17][19] and writer and trouble seeker Volothamp Geddarm.[20]

Legacy

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The Neverwinter Nights series has been adopted by a number of educators for use in the classroom. University of Alberta's Professor Mike Carbonara and colleagues made use of the Aurora Toolset to develop an "economics game" aimed at teaching the concepts of fixed price commerce, mark up, and supply and demand.[21] Squire & Jenkins at MIT Education Arcade created the multiplayer game Revolution, which allows players to roleplay characters with different dispositions and political views in 1770s colonial Williamsburg, with an aim to improve the student's understanding of the American Revolution.[22] In 2005, researchers Nora Paul and Kathleen A. Hansen designed a custom module for journalism students; players took on the role of a journalist investigating a train derailment in the fictional American town named Harperville, during which they must investigate and analyse multiple sources.[23]

Games

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Neverwinter Nights Series
Title Release Platforms Additional Info
Neverwinter Nights 2002 Windows, Mac, Linux
Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide 2003 Windows, Mac, Linux expansion pack
Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark 2003 Windows, Mac, Linux expansion pack
Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker 2004 Windows premium module* (requires Hordes of the Underdark)
Neverwinter Nights: Pirates of the Sword Coast 2005 Windows, Mac, Linux premium module*
Neverwinter Nights: Infinite Dungeons 2006 Windows, Mac, Linux premium module*
Neverwinter Nights: Darkness over Daggerford 2006 Windows, Mac, Linux premium module*
Neverwinter Nights: Wyvern Crown of Cormyr 2006 Windows, Mac, Linux premium module*
Neverwinter Nights 2 2006 Windows, Mac
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer 2007 Windows expansion pack
Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir 2008 Windows expansion pack
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate 2009 Windows adventure pack**
Neverwinter Nights: Tyrants of the Moonsea[24] 2019 Windows, Mac, Linux premium module*
Neverwinter Nights: Dark Dreams of Furiae[25] 2020 Windows, Mac, Linux premium module*
  • A "premium module" is a small-scale, stand-alone adventure.
  • An "adventure pack" is similar to the first game's premium modules.

References

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  1. ^ "TTRPG Products & Accessories | Roleplaying Games". Archived from the original on April 13, 2018.
  2. ^ Matt Sernett, Erik Scott de Bie, Ari Marmell (2011). Neverwinter Campaign Setting (pp.2). Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-5814-6.
  3. ^ Jennell Jaquays (1988). The Savage Frontier (pp. 13). TSR, Inc. ISBN 0-88038-593-6.
  4. ^ "TTRPG Products & Accessories | Roleplaying Games". Archived from the original on April 13, 2018.
  5. ^ Onyett, Charles (November 3, 2006). "Neverwinter Nights 2 Review". IGN. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  6. ^ "TTRPG Products & Accessories | Roleplaying Games". Archived from the original on April 13, 2018.
  7. ^ a b Kasavin, Greg (June 24, 2002). "Neverwinter Nights Review". GameSpot. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  8. ^ Dubin, Jayson (May 4, 2012). "Neverwinter Nights 2 - PC - Review". GameZone. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  9. ^ Chadwick, Gareth (March 12, 2020). "Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition Review". TheSixthAxis. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  10. ^ Mueller, Greg (November 1, 2006). "Neverwinter Nights 2 Review". GameSpot. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  11. ^ a b "Aurora Toolset - Neverwinter Nights 1: EE - NWN.wiki".
  12. ^ Robertson, Judy & Good, Judith (2004). Children's narrative development through computer game authoring. TechTrends 49(5), 57-64. doi:10.1145/1017833.1017841
  13. ^ "Neverwinter Nights". Metacritic. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  14. ^ "Neverwinter Nights Review".
  15. ^ Dubin, Jayson (May 4, 2012). "Neverwinter Nights - PC - Review". GameZone. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  16. ^ Gestalt (July 31, 2002). "Neverwinter Nights". Eurogamer. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  17. ^ a b Kenney, Mary (June 18, 2016). "Neverwinter Nights Made Me Love Games". Kotaku. Retrieved November 6, 2024. It was the characters, though, that made Neverwinter my favorite, and for many years only, game.
  18. ^ Bell, Alice (March 18, 2019). "Have You Played... Neverwinter Nights?". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved November 6, 2024. Aribeth is actually one of my favourite game characters ever.
  19. ^ Kimberley Wallace (August 15, 2013). "The Best BioWare Characters". Game Informer. Archived from the original on August 19, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
  20. ^ Chianese, Claudio (2008). "Neverwinter Nights 2 - Storm of Zehir". Giochi Per Il Mio Computer (in Italian). pp. 100–103. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
  21. ^ Carbonaro, Michael et al. (2006, January). Adapting a Commercial Role-Playing Game for Educational Computer Game Production. Conference: 2nd International North-American Conference on Intelligent Games and Simulation, Game-On NA 2006.
  22. ^ Squire, K., & Jenkins, H. (2003). Harnessing the Power of Games in Education. Insight 2003 (3), pp.7-33.
  23. ^ Paul, N., Hansen, K., & Taylor, M. (2005). Modding' Education: Engaging Today's Learners. International digital media and arts journal, 2(1), Spring.
  24. ^ "Tyrants of the Moonsea - a new premium module for Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition". Beamdog. 2019-08-16. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  25. ^ "Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition - Dark Dreams of Furiae Module Announced". GameBanshee. 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
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