Neverwinter Nights (NWN) has won many awards last year. Many people still don't understand why. Most of these people didn't enjoy the game. The main culprit was the single player campaign that shipped with it. I have never hidden the fact that I myself never liked the single player game included in the package that much. Still, I was adamant in giving NWN the RPG of the Year award. The reason I bought the game was for its multi-player aspect, and that has never disappointed me. And I saw the potential that this very special RPG offered.

A new beginning
I always understood those who bashed the game because of the let-down that they felt about the single-player campaign. I don't necessarily agree that it's that bad, but it wasn't that great either for certain. Still, the single player campaign was a let down for many, and it didn't seem up to par with what Bioware could have accomplished.

Enter Witch's Wake. Now, before you continue reading this, please head to Bioware's official site and download the free Witch's Wake module (if you haven't done so already long before now). Once you're done looking through it and getting a feel for what the developer of the module (Rob Bartel) wants to achieve, come back.

After playing through most of it, I can honestly say that it isn't the most engaging module I've ever played. Still, it's the first module of a multi-part campaign, so the story has to start somewhere. Also, the story of a hero's memory being completely erased for some reason or another is getting a little old for me. It was done in Planescape (in a very, VERY good way mind you!), it was done in Morrowind, again in Arx Fatalis, and now once more here… Too much of a good thing is the same as too little. I think it's too easy to have a character lose his memory to explain the « Hero is thrown in the story against his will » type of plot.

Stopping to smell the flowers
Anyway. The story isn't really what I want everyone to concentrate on right now. What is interesting, even very interesting, is the way that the module is built. This is single-player true Role playing at it's best, people. This is what the original campaign could, or even maybe should have been to a certain extent.

In the first few moments of the game, you are in the middle of a battlefield. Corpses lie all around you, one of which is your Lord's. Although you lost your memory, you seem to remember that you loved him. And here you are offered your first Role-playing opportunity : build a mound over his body and mark his deathbed in recognition. You don't have to do this, different characters playing different alignments might do otherwise, but the great thing about taking the time to actually do this isn't the action itself but the fact that you will be rewarded for it. Finally, you are rewarded for role-playing your character! Haven't we been asking about that for a while?

This continues throughout the short module. You get XP for avoiding combat, for discovering new or secret areas, for opening locked chests without resorting to bashing it, and lots more. Killing creatures is not the only way to gain XP anymore, which is refreshing. Actually, in my opinion one of the module's drawbacks is the combat. The developer decided that combat should not yield any XP at all, and only a few significant or special encounters award some XP. The problem is that for certain characters combat will still be a major part of the adventure. Managing to kill a couple of kobolds at early levels and receiving no rewards for that is as bad as giving XP only for combat.

I have no muscles, but I can evolve just as well!
But the principle here is the fact that someone thought of rewarding the important things a character may do in an adventure besides killing monsters and "Fedex'ing" items between NPCs. The module isn't perfect, but it truly shows what NWN can achieve in the hands of a talented and mindful builder. And it is a testament to the reasons why NWN was awarded the Best RPG award by so many people. Multiplayer enjoyment is highly dependant on who you actually play with, but this module displays NWN's power to anyone willing to even only take a quick look.

So, if you are one of those that shunned NWN because of its single-player failures (and I am not blaming you at all for it), if you are of those that said that NWN was a disappointment, please (oh please!) do yourself a favor and download this free module. Don't linger on the story yet, but pay attention to what it achieves, and where it's headed. And remember that there are more modules on their way, and that its developer is taking notes as to where it should be going. Take the time to experience the game again, and maybe then you'll understand better why we thought it deserved to be praised so much.