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One Step Closer to NWN for Linux
Apostata writes "It's been a long, long road for those of us awaiting the oft-delayed Linux Client of BioWare's NeverWinter Nights, but finally there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. BioWare has put up a Linux Client page which will specifically inform eager beavers on how things are progressing, and it now states a Fall 2002 release." God if only it were true- I could
slaughter the villagers and read my email without rebooting. Gotta make
sure I don't get that backwards.
Everquest and NWN are windows games, and a lot of gamers are just that, not also IT folks, program designers, etc. Windows, then, is just a means to the end, the game itself. Some gamers I have come in contact with don't want anything to do with other OS's, since they are only there for the game, not to fiddle with the OS. Linux, being a wonderful playground for us OS fiddlers, ( and indeed it is) won't be accepted by this kind of gamer. Whatever Everquest ran on would be accepted, but once ported to Windows, then it's Windows only for these gamers. These gamers talk very little about the technical side of the game, only the night's killing, etc, like the game was some kind of primative soap-opera, rather than a technical achievement to fiddle with. We have heard some talk that Everquest is an addiction, in and of itself.
The single player isn't that great, but the multiplayer, and the ability to make your own single player is what NWN is all about. The Bioware included single player adventure is basically a dog and pony show, showing off all the little gizmos you can set up with the toolset. Not much more than that.
*sigh* another BG2 fan, who expected NWN to be BG3.
Newsflash: Its not *supposed* to be BG3.
The great thing about NWN is its DM client, and the Toolset (even though there is zero documentation for it, its easy enough to figure out).
NWN stands as a great game on its own. It was never meant to be BG3, but to be its own, self conatained game, which stands wonderfully on its own.
"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." - Thomas Jefferson
The story's not nearly compelling enough to cover for any flaws in the gameplay (as in BG2), and the gameplay's not nearly addictive enough to cover for any deficits in the story (as in IWD). Without that compensating effect, the end product ends up feeling a little tepid. Still fun, but not memorably so.
I wish I could say I just have some irrational bias against NWN, but -- well let's put it this way: The look on my face when I picked up the box at EB was that of a boy who's just decided to sneak the world's cutest stray puppy home from the park. And the look on my face after about 8 hours of playing was that of the same boy, finding out that the puppy just took care of some business in Mom's basket of clean laundry.
it is a very different sort of game than those, surprisingly enough. for some that is good, for some that is bad.
I have to take issue with anyone dismissing a storyline that takes 60 hours to complete and includes different plots for different character classes as nothing more than "a dog and pony show". I had a great time with the single-player campaign, and on its merit alone recommended the game to my father. He'll likely never play on-line, but he is immensely enjoying the single-player campaign.
I've played it through twice so far, with different characters each time, and I'll likely do it a third time. Perhaps I'll play on-line some day, but what I've experienced of on-line play over the last four years has destroyed what little bit of faith in humanity that my tech support day job hadn't already taken care of.