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Very nice! (MAC version, performance specs)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 66 / 69
Date: November 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game combines the hack-and-slash of Dungeon Siege and the complex character management of Baldur's Gate 2 into a very enjoyable game.
The gameplay focuses on a single character; while there is no party system you can hire a henchman (a la Diablo 2) that can be useful. The story line is detailed and interesting. Many, many NPCs to interact with. No "ultra-impossible" enemies: while the game allows you to examine an enemy and determine their challenge rating, I found that even ones labeled as "Impossible" by the game were not particularly difficult for my fighter to dispatch.
MUCH better than Dungeon Seige, with a similar feel, but not so much the tedious "hack and slash" boredom I got with that title. And I went to play Diablo 2 for a little bit after playing NWN for a while: forget it, it's paleolithic in comparison.

Recommended character: I'm currently having much fun with a single-class Fighter, lvl 10 (in second act right now). Specialized it in greatsword, have the Harbinger Kin +1 GS (the GS is perhaps the best melee weapon in the game). Tried a monk but she kept dying! Paired the fighter with a bard henchman and it is much fun to attack a boss with a bard's song pumping all your stats up! (Think Brave Sir Robin and his Minstels, only the opposite)

Pros:
1) Stable build, only two major crashes in 3 weeks of playing (upgraded to latest version 1.32)
2) Good performance on a mid-line machine (see below)
3) Game play not too difficult at normal level (but can increase)
4) Storyline is slightly linear, but once you get to Act 2 there's a lot of branching sidequests to do!
5) Henchmen can be very useful!
6) Talking to NPCs really can work wonders on the gameplay; able to talk my way out of several battles and earn my "Neutral Good" alignment (even though I could have SO KILLED THEM!)
7) Graphics are high-end for Mac
8) Sounds are excellent
9) PLENTY of room in the character inventory; limit is almost exclusively dependent on character strength

Cons:
1) Viewable area sometimes seems claustraphobic when compared to full zoom-out in Dungeon Siege.
2) Sometimes can get overwhelmed with the number of active "quests"
3) Have no clue about some of the items I've picked up
4) Cannot "equip" henchmen with items (no packmule) nor upgrade their base equipment
5) Graphics are mid-range for PCs
6) Apple sound system not able to convey all the subtleties of the background (need to use headphones)
7) Cannot modify character portrait/color scheme during play as you could in Baldur's Gate 2

About performance: I have a dual 867mHz G4 with an older GeForce4 MX440 (32mb) card and 1 GB ram. The game set itself to low-medium but runs over 30 FPS on 1024 resolution without many hiccups. No problems here, though might "burp" when a lot of enemies on screen. I'm upgrading to a GeForce 3 Ti4600 card this week and I'll update then.

UPDATE: Minor improvements with the GeForce4 Ti card, but cannot run it at max settings without significant rate drops (<20fps). This seems to say that there is significant CPU dependence of this conversion -- be aware.

UPDATE2: Newer versions of the nVida drivers with OSX 10.3.5 and higher provides a SIGNIFICANT speed improvement! I can now run at 1024x768 with high level graphics at an acceptible 28-30 fps.

excellent engine for endless gameplay!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: June 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Overview: Don't think of NWN as a single game, but as an engine that allows you to play graphical role-playing games by yourself and with others. It's your way to access thousands of modules written by other NWN fans, each one a separate adventure. It's easy to find these modules online at the BioWare website. (You can download whatever style module pleases you -- from ones that emphasize roleplay to ones that are pure hack-and-slash.) It's also very easy to join multiplayer games online. (Mixed results with these. If you adventure with a standard group of people that you know, it feels like an intimate pen-and-paper role-playing session. If you join a random game and hang out with random people, it feels much more like a MU*.) The game ships with a single long campaign, which is well-written and enjoyable.

Of course, I'm just repeating what hundreds of PC players of the game have said -- go and read their reviews for that version of the game.

For Mac users: In my experience, NWN runs without a problem on an 800 MHz G4 iBook with 640 MB of RAM and 32MB of VRAM. It opened but ran unbearably slowly on a 500 MHz G3 iBook with 576 MB of RAM and 16MB of VRAM.

As is often the game, Mac gamers are treated as second-class citizens -- although it's not too bad in this case. Here are some specifics:

* We don't get the toolbox that allows us to write and customize modules, which is the biggest disappointment for me.

* The expansions (which are necessary for many of the downloaded modules) haven't been released for the Mac, and won't be anytime soon. [Edit, 7/5/2004: the expansions have now been released, finally! I'm leaving this part of the review in, because it illustrates how Mac users haven't been a top priority. Then I'm going to go order the expansions!]

* BioWare claims that MacSoft is responsible for providing support for the Mac version of NWN. MacSoft's attitude toward support is minimalist.

Bottom line: Five stars for the concept and the game. Minus one star for the Mac adaptation of it.

Will Rule Your Free Time

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: February 13, 2005
Author: Amazon User

It took a while for me to get this game mainly because I had a lowely 16 MB graphic card and after reading some reviews didn't think my 400 MhZ could run it. So with a 1.2 MhZ Sonnet upgrade and a 128 MB graphics card, Neverwinter Night runs well. One of my other inhibitions was from playing Baldur's Gate II and other RPG's that let you control and entire party instead of just one character. However, after playing NWN, I quickly got over it. The 3D graphics and ability to circle and tilt the camera, along with the raidial and hotkey menus, make game play simple. I played it through the first time with a monk, and he did die frequently even with the help of a henchmen, eventually he became awesome and able to quickly dispatch nearly any foe. Perhaps my only complaint is that the game isn't that long, but with two modules to add on and a slightly different experience depending on the class of your character, Neverwinter Nights is worth checking out.

Doesn't live up to it's billing......Yet

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: January 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The game has received rave reviews and I bought it based on experience with Baldur's Gate I and and II. THe game is much to linear with the built in storyline. Not nearly as challenging as the prior games. A major problem is that it follows the newest Ad&D rules and they are just a little to wierd for someone who started with the first edition and only grudgingly moved to the 2nd ed. I quickly lost interest in the built in scenario and have not gone back to try out any custom games.
This game runs fine on a G4 400mHz with 896MB RAM and 64MB ATI video card.

Great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is pretty good. The storyline that comes with the game gets kind of repetative, but I gave it 5 stars because you can download modules and play those as well as the origional story. There is an unsupported mac toolset called neveredit. It is freeware too. If you are interested in making your own modules, go to versiontracker.com and download it.

Amazing Storyline and Gameplay

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Wow. Neverwinter Nights totally blows away all other r.p.g.s out for mac today. Terrific graphics and gameplay are just part of the package. The real gem quality in this game is its storylines and quests. Compared to Dungeon Siege, the intricate storylines provide a real feel for the world. It is almost as if you have been sucked into a really great fantasy novel, playing the main character. The A.I.s, for the most part, actually engage in conversation with your character and you can choose how you speak to them and deal with them. I really enjoy the large number of quests that you can pick and choose to complete. The ability to mold your character's personality through your words and actions is also a really great, fun feature. Overall, despite this game's flaws (of which I think there are few), I think the stories and characters make this game an amazing way to keep yourself out of touch with reality.

Great story, graphics, and sound. Subpar control & gameplay.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 17
Date: March 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I recently bought a Mac and have decided to try computer gaming. I've been playing console games since NES, and have used computers for music and work, but I never mixed the two. The first game I bought was Neverwinter Nights as I love console RPGs and Action/RPGs. This is a cool game, with great graphics, but the gameplay is rather restrictive if your a console gamer.

I am trying to stick with this game, as I like the story and enjoy the general look and atmosphere of the game, but this is nothing like any console RPGs that I've played. You don't control your character directly the way I am used to with console games. I feel more like your character is an NPC and your sort of give him suggestions. There exists a layer of abstraction between you and your character, so you don't feel as though he is your onscreen representation (as you would with a Zelda or FF game) but rather a separate entity that you direct (another way to put this is, in a Zelda game for example, I would say "I'm trying to hit this enemy" or "I just ran across that bridge", In Neverwinter I'm more likely to say "I'm trying to get him to move" or "I want to get him to the other side of town"). You control your character by pointing him in the direction you want him to go with your mouse, he decides the path he takes and his exact movements himself. You click on enemies to attack them, but he doesn't attack when you click, but rather when he's good and ready, resulting in many an untimely death. Combat feels very forced and unruly - it's this element of the game that comes very close to ruining the whole experience. I'm progressing at a snail's pace, and will abandon this game if it doesn't become more fun in the near future.

Overall this seems like it could be a great game, if this sort of gaming experience fits your fancy. As a console gamer I just feel to detached from the action and not in enough control. I often find myself in situations (especially combat) where I'm thinking "If I could only control my character directly, or attack at will, this would be great fun". This game comes across allot closer to something like starcraft wrapped in the trappings of an RPG - I would almost call it an RPG/Sim. If your a computer gamer, this sort of thing might be your bag, but if your a console gamer, I'd be weary. I can tell there's a great game underneath it all, and that's why I'm plugging away at it though the fun has yet to start (I'm almost 10 hours into it without completing a single quest) - that and I spent 39 bucks on it, so I've got to at least attempt to get my money's worth. I would reccomend Neverwinter Nights to anyone who enjoys this sort of indirect control gameplay, as all other aspects of the game are top notch. I wouldn't reccomend it to someone from a console background.

P.S. There is a control scheme that tries to give your more control over your character, but it really doesn't work out so hot. You can tell how this game "wants" to be played, and it's not by direct control. Though it's borderline agonizing, your best off with the mouse.

I could not turn it off...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: September 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I actually could not turn off the game.
It gave me hours of play and i really loved it.

It reminded me of Diablo 2 but i liked the player classes in this game much more :-)
I really did buy a game worth it :-)

boring game, bad AI

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: June 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

While Neverwinter Nights can be fun to play, it's incredibly boring (both in comparison to Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale, and also just on its own terms.) The plot is straightforward, unremarkable and and consists mostly of "go here, find this, bring it back, and don't swallow your own tongue" busiwork, and the design of the game is incredibly frustrating: there are countless identical maps that are tedious to navigate, innumerable locked AND trapped chests/crates/barrels that contain nothing of value, millions of locked doors to random rooms filled with said chests/crates/barrels. You will kill hoards of unchallenging enemies and solve connect-the-dots-type plots, but there's no fun to it. The first chapter - which is set in the city of Neverwinter - is the most intriguing so far, since the plot is a little more open-ended and you can explore the various districts at your leisure. The later chapters seem much more linear (as well as disjointed and arbitrary - you randomly resurface in new cities searching for things that various people have told you are important for reasons never quite made clear) and the game suffers for it.

Also, the AI in the Mac version seems to be flawed: my character randomly gets stuck standing on walls. I think you can troubleshoot this at the MacSoft website, but it's still sort of a pain.

Just Give it time

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: September 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

iv owned this game for about 6 months and when i first got it it didnt really run good and i was unexpierenced with D&D based games. Since then iv played Baldurs Gate 1 and 2 and Icewind Dale and iv come to appreciate NWNs as one of the best RPGs out. I really suggest you at least running it on a G4 700 MHz at least. I started playing it on my imac G3 500mhz and it ran just not very well and you couldnt get the best out of the game. i have currentley purchased a new computer and it runs great the graphics are awsome and the storyline is pretty good. i dont like though that you can only party up with one person (called a henchmen). i believe it shouldve been more like baldurs gate in the NPCs area of it but besides that a great RPG. Id suggest purchasing this game and its newley released fun expansion packs.
Pros:
-Great Single Player Campaign though towards the end its too easy
-its 3D!
- 60 hours of Gameplay
-good graphics
-multi-player its pretty good
-Nice control

Cons:
-only one party member (cant equip with weapons armor etc)
-With mac version no toolset
-gameplay can get repetetive

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