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[Column] Neverwinter: What It Is...and Isn't
BillMurphy
Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565
Neverwinter is poised on the edge of its soft launch at the end of the month (Open Beta). Many people have questions about Neverwinter and we've got a few answers to share. Check out what we believe Neverwinter is and isn't and then leave us your thoughts in the comments.
Neverwinter Nights takes place about ninety years before the events of Neverwinter and unless some iconic characters in the form of certain famous Dwarves and Drow show up, most people from NWN are dead and buried...or at least old and institutionalized.
Read more of Suzie Ford's Neverwinter: What It Is...and Isn't.
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Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
Comments
The same comments about being an MMO or not were made about swtor. I didn't understand before I played that game how someone could claim it wasn't an MMO- clearly by the definition both tor and neverwinter are MMO's. But the technical definition is lacking because TOR proved its possible to satisfy those requirements without delivering anything that feels massively multiplayer.
The "neverwinter isn't D&D" complaint is probably a similar issue for many D&D fans. Clearly Neverwinter is a D&D product, but that doesn't mean playing it will feel the least bit D&D to them. Just because somthing meets a technical definition doesn't mean it captures the essence of a thing.
Seeing as how Neverwinter Nights was D&D and this game is basically that game in online form...it is D&D.
It can be as solo or group oriented as YOU want it to be, if you are a ture D&D player you would be ROLEPLAYING your character and not trying to solo anyway but instead finding ways to play grouped...and there will be no shortage in group content with the foundry in place and being able to set difficulty.
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
But you can not apply a "essence" to a product as that essence vary from person to person...
It is still a MMO and it is still DnD... Just like 3.0 is DnD and 3.5 is DnD (trust me... that was very much a argument back in the days... )
This have been a good conversation
Sure I can, we all do it all the time. If most people don't agree then losing me won't matter to the company. But if a large part of the target audience does agree then it will matter. Just because it varies doesn't mean its not important.
edit: that 3.0 vs 3.5 vs 4.0 arguement is what landed D&D were it is now with D&D next. Losing parts of their customer base every time they made changes became a serious problem, and they are trying to adress the point I was making now.
Neverwinter feels nothing like a D&D style game to me. Names are there..the places and lore...but the freedom is lacking. The depth that I remember...even in 3.0 or 3.5 is lacking. (Played D&D from 1980 to 2004 in tabletop and am a fan of the 2nd edition AD&D ruleset...despite the millions of books/manuals it produced).
I might play the game from time to time as I do others..but I will not associate it as a D&D game..except in name. Just not feeling it. DDO even feels more like my idea of D&D despite it also being a multi-instanced nightmare.
A D&D mmo should have vast lands/cities/dungeons to explore..especially with all the resource materials and maps over 30+ years. Just pathetic that they haven't gotten it "right" yet (i know...right is a subjective word in this case).
Sorry for the rant..just very disappointed in this game from all I've heard and seen.
According to Wikipedia:
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) (muh'-mor-puh-guh) is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world.
So, given that the majority of the playerbase are in private instances, and thus not able to interact with 99% of the rest of the people, I would argue that heavily instanced game are NOT MMORPGs, by its very definition.
More over, instances are NOT persistent and with the majority of the gameworld in instances, then again that is a point of argument if heavily instanced games are MMOs or not. I say not.
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the main zones are not instanced.. they do have instances in them but the zones themselves are not.. they do get bigger as you progress as well.. it's not open like vanguard or anything but you will see plenty of people around while questing. If swtor is considered a MMO this one should be as well as swtor played like more of a lobby game(using the term loosely) than this one in my experience..
what nwo is to me?
it IS a fun dungeon crawler MMORPG with an extremely robust content creation tool
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
This game is nothing like "NWN in online form" whatsoever. I can't understand how people can say that really.
I'll dabble in it some, but i wish there was a true, captivating mmo that does right with the Forgotten Realms IP instead of this kind of incredibly linear heavily instanced game that doesn't even let us explore the city in a meaningful way or visit nearby places such as Port Llast or Luskan. Adventuring from Calimshan to Spine of the World, making stops at Amn, Baldur's Gate and the like... But i guess no luck for many years to come. When does their license expire anyway?
I like Neverwinter for what it is, a great F2P diversion between "real" games. Kind of like going to an amusement park and riding a few fun rides in the morning before the ultimate awesome ones open up later.
So I'll do what most will, that is play it, enjoy it, cap a character maybe and move on because other better games will be out by then. Seems like a good trade really.
What is Neverwinter? Trailer
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Actually it is fully just that right down to the world map where you click on a location icon to get there...
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
if neverwinter follows 4th edition rules on the 4th edition forgotten realms is only D&D if you still believe 4th edition is D&D, to some people it does not feel like it anymore...
You don't understand definitions one bit.
The definition does NOT say the 'majority' of players.. it's you saying that. By that definition, the game world doesn't even have to be persistent either. Do you see the word persistent in the definition? Nope.
So, rather than making yourself sound clever and proving your point.. you've just made yourself look like you need an education. You can't just imagine certain words are in definitions to validate your opinion.
I'm not saying that definition is correct.. but my god man, learn to back up your opinion better than that because the definition you just quoted goes against everything else you said. You somehow managed to prove 'yourself' wrong!
Ahhh yes the arrogant advetisment... "the most fun D&D game yet" irkes me beyond beleif as that's just arrogance and putting one self on a high horse doomed to collapse underneath you.
Let fans make this claim and not official advertisements.
I say your wrong.I played and was able to interact with as many people as I wanted whether or not i was in an Instance.Also I have the option to group with any number of people in those instances.
The game is fun! I love the combat system, I love being in Forgotten Realms, and I've never played 4th edition before, so it's kind of new. The last time I played D&D was AD&D 2nd Ed.
Love Neverwinter, and cannot wait for the launch!
So the foundry will only be used to create dungeon runs with a storyline and a reward?.....
I was expecting the foundry to be a full in depth modding system like the Skyrim workshop.
I guess i expected too much? Now im sad and not caring about the foundry anymore.
There are gathering spots, places to cooperatively quest and much more, all while thousands of players are simultaneously connected to the game. If that’s not an MMO, what is?
Why do you even need to point out that thousands are "simultaneously connected?" They're not in these gathering spots, are they? I agree with you that neverwinter is an MMO, but I think you're doing yourself a disservice with that bit.
Massive non linear virtual world...errrrrr.
I was suprised I didn't immeditely log out. I was also suprised that it wasn't bad for what it was. Definitely the best game that I've played from Cryptic (not saying much).
yes foundry is a dungeon creator.. nothing like skyrims worksop where you basically can make anything you want... this type of creator is a perfect fit for a D&D dungeon crawler MMO game though
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
i thought Neverwinter nights had a also a more in depth modding workshop. Maybe im wrong, but thanks anyway. Ive been so spoiled with Skyrim's workshop that for some reason the comments by cryptic (and players) praising the foundry made me think it was something like beyond a dungeon creator.