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NWN: Gamespy's 25th most overrated game
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Dhruin
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NWN: Gamespy's 25th most overrated game
   

This one will have readers either nodding in agreement or stunned at the insult. Gamespy have posted an editorial exploring their list of the <a href="http://www.gamespy.com/articles/september03/25overrated/index2.shtml" target="_blank">25 Most Overrated Games Of All Time</a> - with Bioware's Neverwinter Nights coming in at 25. Note that this doesn't imply it was bad - just overhyped in Gamespy's estimation. Here's why:<blockquote><em>Neverwinter pegged the hype meter during the whole D&D 3rd edition hoopla, even going so far as to have a sexxxy Maxim magazine ad worthy of satire. When the game finally came out, the single-player adventure was pretty solid. But the much-hyped DM tools? They were an enigma wrapped in a mystery controlled by an incredibly obtuse and almost completely undocumented scripting system. Forget running an adventure; most budding DMs couldn't figure out how to get doors to work.</em></blockquote>
Post Mon Sep 15, 2003 8:18 am
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chrisbeddoes
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Thank you Gamespy . Thank you .
Post Mon Sep 15, 2003 8:19 am
 
EverythingXen
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No game is worth its hype. No game.

I loved NWN as you can tell from my review... but it could NOT live up to its hype. Replace pen and paper as new viable forum for roleplaying? Please, the lag is so bad because the netcode is so sloppy that it can be almost painful to play.

It was a good game... a great game... easily the most fantastic looking D&D game ever made. The DM tools were obtuse, sure, but there are a lot of people who have obviously figured them out... and even a year later if you're bored all you have to do is download a module and run through an adventure in NWN. Infinite replayability is where the hype didn't fail NWN so far.

But for the rest? No game is worth its hype. It can't be. That's what hype is... short for hyperbole: n. - an extravagant exaggeration.

By its very definition in the english language no game has a chance of living up to 'hype'.
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Post Mon Sep 15, 2003 12:08 pm
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jellylad
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Well said EverythingXen.
I agree with every word.

Maybe I'm just too easy to please.
Post Mon Sep 15, 2003 3:43 pm
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Halsy
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NWN was still one of the greatest letdowns in gaming. The editor was needlessly complex. You needed to be a programmer to create anything remotely good. Where's the good in that for the majority which aren't programmers?
It was pretty ugly too (way to blocky). No cloaks, robes, underwater, etc.
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Post Mon Sep 15, 2003 4:35 pm
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Roqua
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I agree that the game was a let down, but I think the opposite of the reviewer. The main campaign was my let down. Its the player modules that made the game semi-enjoyable for me.
Post Mon Sep 15, 2003 5:23 pm
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Val
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Odd, I rather like the DM tools.
And I love the improvements they made in the expansion too. They gave a lot more control to the DM. I'm hoping for even more with the next expansion.
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Post Mon Sep 15, 2003 6:05 pm
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Are you all crazy?

There are over 2000 mods on nwvault that can be downloaded to use.

Don't know scripting? Use Lilac Soul's script creation tool, all via drop downs and simple selections.

Of course the best mods out there will have innovative scripting and custom content. That is to be expected. But there are many mods out there with limited scripting that are still fun.

Want to get a multiplayer game together? Go to neverwinterconnections.com. Took me five minutes to get into a game that has become a five session very fun campaign.

Unnecessarily difficult to use? Really? Compared to what? What other product has allowed the creation of thousands of complete user created games that anyone can play for FREE.
Post Mon Sep 15, 2003 8:04 pm
 
TheMadGamer
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question
   

the reviewer states that the DM tools were abysmal. But aren't the tools much better now as compared to when NWN was first released?
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Post Mon Sep 15, 2003 9:02 pm
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hoyp::.
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quote:
Originally posted by Anonymous
Are you all crazy?

There are over 2000 mods on nwvault that can be downloaded to use.

Don't know scripting? Use Lilac Soul's script creation tool, all via drop downs and simple selections.

Of course the best mods out there will have innovative scripting and custom content. That is to be expected. But there are many mods out there with limited scripting that are still fun.

Want to get a multiplayer game together? Go to neverwinterconnections.com. Took me five minutes to get into a game that has become a five session very fun campaign.

Unnecessarily difficult to use? Really? Compared to what? What other product has allowed the creation of thousands of complete user created games that anyone can play for FREE.



You obviously know how to use it, although most people don't.
The point is that they said that the editor was gonna be accesible and easy to use. Is it? For experienced people, it most certainly is, but for the average gamer, it is too time consuming and downright confusing.

And they also promised that the single player campaign would be non linear and deep but it turned out to be just another diablo clone.

I'm not saying that I dont like the game, I like it a lot because of the mods but it fell way short of the hype and the single player part is downright horrendous.
Post Mon Sep 15, 2003 11:43 pm
 
Halsy
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It's no different from me being a mechanic and thinking you're nuts for thinking that installing a new carbeurator is hard. The learning curve for the NWN editor is extremely steep (again, to do anything GOOD).
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Post Mon Sep 15, 2003 11:46 pm
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methusala
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I bought NWN for what the makers promised me would be non-linear,great single-player experiance.They failed miserably in all the reasons I bought the game for in the first place.I did not buy this game for the mods other players could make for it nor for the multi-player.If they would have told me the TRUTH before release,I would never have bought NWN.
Post Tue Sep 16, 2003 6:00 am
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Gamespy people seems on drugs. It is other way round:

"single-player adventure was pretty solid"
- quite the opposite - bad story made in an environment which is better suited for multiplayer. Boring action fights requiring no brain at all, stupid henchmen. D&D was designed for party based turn based combat. It is still visibele even in the current version (even though big changes were made - e.g. in levelling, which make it more accesible to playing with just one character).

"Forget running an adventure; most budding DMs couldn't figure out how to get doors to work"
In DM, multiplayer and especially designing modules is the strength of the game. As for difficulty - yes, it is possible to make menu driven RPG maker, but there would be heavy price in limiting the module designer.
Module designing/scripting is similar to programming. It just *has* certain complexity. Designing something requires effort and intelligence - because it is intellectual effort (unlike killing monsters in game made by somebody else).

Mirek
Post Tue Sep 16, 2003 9:11 am
 
elkston
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I have a general problem with the title for this series. It seems they should call it "25 most overhyped" or "25 most dissapointing games" or something like that.

Saying something is overrated implies that it is praised too widely even AFTER it is released.

Many of the examples they list are games that received a great deal of hype and press, but were dissapointments when released for one reason or another. This is very different from overrating.

A few of their examples DO meet the overrating topic (like Morrowind -not saying I necessarily agree, but that the example was right) , but most of their examples are just of the "overhype" or "supreme dissapointment" category.

I mean c'mon. Once Dungeon Seige came out, who didn't take it to task for the fact that it was a bit shallow despite its polish and technical brilliance. This was noted many times, so I don't really think that game "overrated".
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Post Wed Sep 17, 2003 3:51 pm
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Ekim
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quote:
Originally posted by elkston
I have a general problem with the title for this series. It seems they should call it "25 most overhyped" or "25 most dissapointing games" or something like that..

I completely agree with you. Whoever thought up of the title for these articles has to be slapped in the back of the head a few times, I think... It's obvious that they are talking about games that were overhyped, not really overrated. I would never say that NWN was overrated, whether some people out there like it or not. Some of the games they have listed earned big scores because they were still good games despite their hype.
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Post Wed Sep 17, 2003 7:19 pm
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