But yes, it looks like were traipsing back into the world of Faerun, the Forgotten Realms of Dungeons & Dragons! We've been here before, of course, a few times. Boy, were they fun! Now, we return again and it's just like the last time in that it's good - not that it's the same thing repackaged again with slightly shinier graphics.
CC: @Bethesda Softworks
But what does Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition bring to the table that is any new? A little bit, actually. Most of the improvements seem to be around bolstering the online multiplayer community, as in actually giving it an avenue to work from and connect with other people through the internet to journey across playthrough. The Aurora toolset has been upgraded with some new things to play with, allowing prospective DMs to create modules to their heart's content. There's also modules aplenty to be found as developed by both former NWN devs and fans. It just shows you how much love and consideration that the community has for what should by all means be an archaic game at this point. While we may never get a proper Neverwinter Nights 3, it's nice to see that this one could be brought back for one last ride.
Apart from those minute tweaks and massive additions to the multiplayer system, the game is pretty much exactly as I described it back in 2014 (seriously, where did those six years go?) when I reviewed the base game and its DLCs. If you're not a spellcaster, you click on an enemy and the game auto-attacks for you until they die. You neck down some health potions in the meantime. If you are playing a spellcaster, then you use your fantastic power to freeze time known as the pause button to set up your attacks perfectly and then fire off your spells that leads to the blood and gore equivalent of a line of dominoes falling. Neck down some health potions in the meantime, provided you're not smart enough to keep your distance from your enemy.
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| Ice, Ice, Baby! |
I didn't get into it in my review back then, but currently playing a wizard as I am on this playthrough - the magic in this game is so hilariously broken it isn't funny. Not necessarily in the effects, but it is entirely possible for a character to expend all their spells in a fight, rest for a few seconds, and then have their entire allotment back up for use. This doesn't help so much in the early game, but hit about halfway through Act One and (remembering you are a squishy mage) you can bring some serious pain down on even heavy enemies with your spells. By the way, if something has spell resistance, it's always a good idea to have a Spell Breach or two handy. It will make fights go much quicker!
The game is also backwards compatible (the Steam version is, anyway), meaning that if you still have all your save files, modules, or mods from your original copy still on a hard drive or your computer, you can bring them right over at no extra cost!
As far as gameplay changes, given how Bioware was apparently loving it's boxed in cells when they were making Nights, developer and publisher Beamdog was kind enough to add in an ability that makes the wall closest the player disappear from view in the event the player's vision is blocked, sort of like a reverse fog of war. It definitely saves you a lot of time rotating the camera, which I had gotten so used to when I did my original review that I didn't even think of it as a problem with the game.
Some of the items also have had their icons changed, and mostly for the better. Many of them look far better than before (the Many-Starred Cloak you get for joining the Cloaktower comes to mind in particular).
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| "No, Aribeth! It's step, step, kick, step, bless! Are you trying to piss off Tyr?!" |
I also learned that you can actually hire and go through the questlines of all companions within a chapter - meaning that you can find whatever random item in that part of the story that they want, bring it to them, and if you've been leveling you can just go through their entire dialogue tree on the matter until you can give them the item. In this way, you can farm more experience and get the magical trinkets that come with keeping your minions happy. Just dismiss your current one, go and rehire the next, and repeat the process until you have all the bits of shiny.
Seriously, I've been playing this game for at least thirteen years and only now did I learn this!
To criticize a bit, the pathfinder feels a little wonky. I'll often click on a space and my character won't move and I can't figure out why (and yes, I have checked to see if I'm paused, thank you very much). Often, I'll have to randomly click until my character decides on a path they like and then goes on it.
The stories and the actual gameplay haven't changed much, though I suspect more than a few bug fixes have been done just to make sure everything remained in ship shape. So, thank you for that especially, Beamdog!
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| "We are just poor, lost circus performers. Is there a village nearby?" |
Also, furthering the Bethesda comparison from earlier - Jeremy Soule did the score. The music is different in a few places, but seems to have been largely untouched, at least to the best of my recollection. It's still pretty good.
Like I said before, I will again: if you're a Dungeons & Dragons fan, then this is definitely a great choice for you. As far as single player RPG experiences go, it's one of the high notes. Sure, it's not the heights of metaphysical magnificence that is Planescape: Torment, but it's fun and I happen to like fun.
Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition is brought to us by Beamdog. It is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Linux, Macintosh OS.
For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
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