Bioware Announces New Neverwinter Module

Despite assurances that we'd seen the last of new NWN modules, Joystiq is reporting that Darkness over Daggerford is now available for download, thanks to the folks at Ossian Studios. From the article: "Ossian Studios is comprised of BioWare veterans and RPG enthusiasts, and while they had originally planned Darkness over Daggerford as a premium module release, this lengthy single-player campaign is now available as a free download at the Neverwinter Nights Vault. Check out BioWare's interview with Ossian co-founder Alan Miranda, and let us know what you think of Daggerford."

Comments

NWN is piles and piles of fun

[Travoltus]

NWN is one of the GREATEST games I've played yet... because

a) I can play it on my older laptop when I'm not near my super duper desktop PC
b) The game is very, very long (and even longer with the additions), you have lots of side quests and a large universe to explore, plus a boat load of spells and weapons (and magic bags to carry loot)
c) It has a ton of user made mods
d) I can play it without sound and follow the whole story regardless

I like this more than Baldur's Gate and Champions of Norrath because of a) and b) and c), and I like it more than Dungeon Siege because of a) and c) and d).

Doesn't beat Oblivion, though Oblivion would utterly kill my laptop with a Daedric Warhammer of Fire Damage & Soul Trap (thus causing my laptop to burst into flame.. get it?)

I don't like NWN because it often costs me my lunch hour at work!

Re:NWN is piles and piles of fun

[SScorpio]

You mentioned Baldur's Gate and Champions of Norrath. I have to assume that you are referring to the console Baldur's Gate which where action hack and slash games. The Baldur's Gate games you'll hear people talking fondly of are PC only, and they are 2.5D and will run on an older computer than Neverwinter Nights. I highly recommend picking up both games, You can get a pack that includes both Baldur's Gate 2 it's expansion for $20 and will give you 200+ hours of gameplay. There is also a pack for Baldur's Gate 1 and it's expansion, but it's a little harder to find.

There has been user created content for both games; however, nothing on the scale of Neverwinter Nights which was create with this in mind. But if you like a good store I highly recommend checking them out.

Re:am I the only one

[zyl0x]

I found that while the game was lacking in overall content compared to BG/2/IWD/2, the jump in graphics and character diversification more than made up for it. I like to consider NWN not so much of a great game as it was a great step in the right direction.

Hopefully Atari's financial issues won't kill NWN2

[Maul]

NWN was great because it was supported for a long time. Free content was added periodically, in addition to the interesting premium modules. Bioware continued to support and help the community as much as possible long after both expansions were finished. This is amazing for a non-MMO, and lead to an impressive community that still creates mods for the game and enjoys it greatly.

I'm hoping that Atari's financial issues won't cause the NWN2 community to be "stillborn." Yes, the game will be released with the built in campaign, but I'm worried that the Obsidian will not get the approval to provide as many patches or community assistance as Bioware got with the original.

Re:am I the only one

[n9uxu8]

Matter of preference, I suppose. I was never able to get into BG, but my NWN CD never left my dvd drive until they released the no-cd patch. The expansion modules were all a bit short, but some of the user-created modules are fabulous (though there is, of course, a veritable cornucopia of crap content as well). The interface just works for me, I don't feel like I am always fighting the same fight as I do in Oblivion, I don't have to direct each henchman as I do in ToEE (not that I EVER play ToEE). Dave

Great transition from the PnP experience

[gtmaneki]

NWN is the first and only PC game I've bought for a long time. My best experiences with it revolve around using it to continue playing D&D with my old friends from college. Now that we've graduated, moved, gotten jobs, gotten married, and have kids, it's a lot harder to get together.

NWN helped with all this. It also streamlined a lot of the 3rd edition stuff, which was good for most of us who never bother to learn the updated and expanded rules. Thanks to the mod community we can also change the in-game rules, as well as perform dice rolls and customize the Faerun setting to reflect our own little world. And most of it runs on Linux!

You didn't play NWN

[Chris Burke]

if you didn't play it with a Dungeon Master.

As a stand-alone single-player or coop-mode CRPG, NWN was okay but not stellar. The original campaign was pretty bad, but the expansions were decent enough. Either way it was just the same old RPG with 3rd edition AD&D rules underneath.

With a Dungeon Master or Dungeon Masters running the show, NWN is simply put the closest thing to table-top real role-playing that you'll get. It's a completely different experience, and it's freaking awesome. With a human being in control of the game, you can use real creativity and ingenuity to solve problems, unlike every other CRPG.

Perfect? By no means, but it's absolutely a major step in the right direction. Judging NWN by anything other than this aspect of the game is to miss out on its truly genre-defining qualities.

Of course the problem with playing NWN as a computer equivalent of a table-top game is that it takes a similar amount of planning, preparation, and organization. Thus a lot haven't experienced the real game and instead criticize it's admittedly lack-luster single player mode.

NWVault is why I play

[frankie]

NWN is by no means a perfect game. The D20 ruleset is saddled with old wrong ideas deep in its kernel (AC, level-based HP, memorization, etc) no matter how elegant they make the surrounding details. NWN's default AI is horrible; AI haks are erratic. And its 2.5D geometry is just plain sad compared to the true 3D engines used by most other games this millennium. But it has exactly one thing unmatched by any other CRPG since perhaps FRUA -- the toolset. Other games offer skins, maps, tweaks, etc. Thanks to sites like NWVault, NWN has entire UNIVERSES full of those things and more.

Re:great timing...

[Jaysyn]

There are very, very well done remakes of Diablo & Icewind Dale II: Heart of Winter for NWN however.

||shameless plug||

If you like the old Dark Sun setting, NWN &/or PvP you may want to check out Athas Reborn. Unfortunetley the server itself is down at the moment apparently because of a cut fiber.

Jaysyn

Article seems a bit misleading

[Shilkanni]

My understanding is that Atari canned the support for Neverwinter Nights and any future "Premium Modules". These were modules released through Bioware which you had to pay for (usually small-medium size modules for small-medium price). This was 'official' content and the ability for them to make a bit more money from NWN carried with it new features and content in patches.

There were no "assurances that we'd seen the last of new NWN modules" - no-one was ever suggesting that there would be no more user created modules, just that we wouldn't see any more "Premium Modules" and official content from Bioware.

This was one of the modules which was going to be a "Premium Module" but got cancelled, and they are releasing it for free, as is the case for a couple of other projects as well. I think it was pretty obvious this was going to happen when we learned that several work in progress modules were cancelled.

However, this does not signify a change of position from Bioware or Atari about the Premium Modules, and it's not an official release from Bioware. It's just another example of stellar quality free content from NWN.