I just got an invite to join the beta today from Cryptic. The beta will be this weekend for 2 days only - available will be 4 classes, 7 races, 40 level max. Downloadable now to get ready.
Anyone else get an invite?
I have some beta codes from PAX but I haven't been able to get them working yet.
Anyone else get an invite?
Got the same invite. This shall be interesting.
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Awww... I didn't get one.
Be sure to post up a review.
Yeah let us know how it plays. Please :)
This is the sceond beta weekend. I think the 1st was only open to those who bought any of the different founder's packs for the game. This one is open to them plus those who had subscriptions to their other games (I have a lifetime with Star Trek Online) and from a code in PC Gamer magazine.
Yep. I got the invite because of my lifetime sub to Champions Online.
Wait I am a lifetime Star Trek player. Where do I go to get my code?
Wait I am a lifetime Star Trek player. Where do I go to get my code?
I got my invite by email. Did you sign up for the Neverwinter beta?
Here's what the email said:
"Thank you for supporting Cryptic Studios by being a lifetime subscriber for Champions Online! As one of the perks, you are qualified to participate in the second Beta Weekend for their upcoming action MMORPG, Neverwinter!"
So I was wondering if it was tied to beta signup or something they send out to all lifetimers.
Found it in my junk mail folder!
Thanks. I almost missed this fun.
So. Any impressions of this so far?
I'm not very eloquent so my take can, so far, be summed up as "it's okay, I guess."
Not to start up an edition war, but I had honestly expected 4e to work better as a computer game. Turns out I find it kinda boring this way too. :/
So how ya'll like it?
Got the invite, won't be playing.
Dammit, Hama. I signed up for Neverwinter Beta but have yet to make the cut. Looks like I'll have to wait until launch.
Ok I played it all Saturday.
The world and quest structure are basic and linear but since this IS a beta I don't hold that against them yet. It borrows some of the organizational structure from its sister games Champions Online and Star Trek Online. One issue, I found no way to alter my control configuration so I just had to learn the new controls. And the game was chock full of bugs that would lock you in an area or quest unable to finish. I only played a mage so I can't comment of the other classes. My reason for mage is simple: I have difficulty fighting in melee in the other two games CO and STO, so I anticipated the same issues here and only the mage is pure ranged. The mage was balanced and easy to solo through most of the content as long as you knew when to run away. Graphics were nice for the environment but there was very little different between characters of the same race and class. It almost felt like Diablo 2 in that regard with only one look for each class. Audio was generic fantasy and got boring after a few hours.
Out of 5 possible stars:
Game Engine: 4 stars
Graphics: 3 stars
Sounds: 2 stars
Multiplayer: 3 stars
Story: 1 star
Overall this is a 2 to 3 star game. Very repetitive quests and lackluster story make it a truly forgettable experience.
Overall this is a 2 to 3 star game. Very repetitive quests and lackluster story make it a truly forgettable experience.
Yeah, I think I agree. One thing worth noting, however, was the few player-created quests I ran, which integrated seamlessly into the game world and seemed to work really well. That may be Neverwinter's saving grace, depending on how it's going to work out (and if City of Heroes is any indication, it will be abused into the ground - I don't know what kind of safeguards Neverwinter have in place).
I got to level 16 on my rogue. I seemed to run out of content around level 15 though, and had to run player-created quests to get the last way to 16.
Btw, you can change your keybindings under the gameplay options. I reconfigured mine, at least. Seemed to work fine, except that it didn't save your preferences across characters so I had to set them up every time I rerolled (which was a lot. I wanted to try each class).
Sorry. I don't even know why i got it. I never signed up for beta... (because i will never, ever again play anything with WOTC stamp on it)Got the invite, won't be playing.Dammit, Hama. I signed up for Neverwinter Beta but have yet to make the cut. Looks like I'll have to wait until launch.
Lol, I get that. I was/am a huge fan of the Neverwinter series, so it was slightly distressing to hear that this game had "nothing in common with the previous two titles besides the setting." Still, while playing 4e our group always commented that the mechanics would make a better video game than tabletop so I was interested in seeing them in action.
Not trying to start an edition war or anything. 4e was not for me, but I feel like it might translate into a video game fairly well.
So this is the game using 4e rules? I have been playing NWN Diamond on my laptop for years (no broadband here, so no online). I was thinking it would be a great idea if Pathfinder somehow got in the mix.
I didn't hear good things about NWN2, so I hope something good happens to this one.
Very loosely based on 4e.
You have at-will powers, encounter powers (cool down timer), and daily powers (charge up before you can use one). But the powers themselves aren't the same as 4e... so it resembles 4e superficially.
So this is the game using 4e rules? I have been playing NWN Diamond on my laptop for years (no broadband here, so no online). I was thinking it would be a great idea if Pathfinder somehow got in the mix.
I didn't hear good things about NWN2, so I hope something good happens to this one.
From someone who played NWN1 and NWN2 in the wrong order and who didn't tried the multiplayer mode, NWN2 left a better impression on me than NWN1.
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That buggy unoptimized thing with a garbage story? How?
While I generally agree, Mask of the Betrayer was rather amazing.
Further, comparing NWN1's OC v. NWN2's OC, number 2's is substantially better - unlike number one, it doesn't devolve into "go to the four corners of the map and get the four things, bring 'em back to central, so you can do it again next time".
There are two important notes about this:
* Note: Shadows of Undrentide, Hordes of the Underdark, and the rest of 1's expansions are far superior to either of the OCs, by a substantial margin... but similarly, so is Mask of the Betrayer.
* Note: the first time I played NWN2, it took so long, load times were so awful, and there were so many bugs, that the story was kind of lost on me. I can easily see someone taking the impression that it had no story. The second time I played through it all, though? I actually recognized the plot and story. Which was honestly rather well done. Very imperfect, but superior to the plot of OC1. It was not, however, nearly as pretty. One thing that immersed me in NWN1 as opposed to NWN2 is that, while the first did use 'still images', they were animated 'still images', and most of the important parts of the story was told through the in-game dialogue. This is where the OC of NWN2 suffered: literally still "still scenes" (not even the meager 'animation' from before), and a tendency to have poorly done in-game animations.
* Note: NWN2 had loading times that were unbelievably long for many people. This would have naturally impacted how they viewed the story and, if they're ADD like me, often enough caused them to lose interest and/or forget what's going on by the time the next screen loaded.
Because of those elements many people have a very poor impression of NWN2. It's not a bad game. I strongly prefer the first game, by a fair margin, but after going through the second one more than once, I gained a genuine appreciation for it. It's kind of like Pixar's movie Brave - it's vastly superior the second time around, when you know what's coming. Because of that I can genuinely see how some would prefer it to NWN1, especially if they didn't fully explore the expansions for NWN1 (or even if they did, though that's less relate-able* to me :D).
* What? Is there no word "relatable"? Spellcheck hates every iteration of it I can come up with, and separates them into two words. I dunno. :/
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I got years of gameplay out of NWN1, long after I'd finished the official games. I've been wanting something similar ever since.
Same. I played through NWN1's storylines maybe twice - the first one only once, but HOTU got a few playthroughs, so it evened out - but I never managed to finish NWN2's base plotline. But yeah, I heard Really Good Things about MOTB. (Nothing at all about SOZ, though...)
But I've sunk years into various NWN servers, and my first NWN community has been eagerly awaiting a new game that will let us rebuild our server and world and community. We've yet to have anything workable come along - NWN2 just couldn't handle the online thing, so that never worked out, and as got mentioned in the other thread no games have come out since with a toolset and multiplayer capability on par with NWN1. Since that's the main reason I keep going back to the game, that's unlikely to change until another game with similar capabilities comes out... if one ever does.
NWN2 is a much more advanced game though Obsidian failed to keep it updated and stopped supporting it the second they stopped making expansions. To this very day many of the bugs in NWN2 OC and SOZ remain unfixed and never will be fixed. MotB is the only expansion aside from amazing fan made content that works beautifully.
NWN1 had active support from Bioware all the way up till NWN2. That was impressive. It was also the first to have such a huge fan made content community, a community which still makes content to this very day as far as I know (though you may want to learn French to play it). Dragon Age was the successor to NWN1 that Bioware wanted. And it shows.
I got years of gameplay out of NWN1, long after I'd finished the official games. I've been wanting something similar ever since.Same. I played through NWN1's storylines maybe twice - the first one only once, but HOTU got a few playthroughs, so it evened out - but I never managed to finish NWN2's base plotline. But yeah, I heard Really Good Things about MOTB. (Nothing at all about SOZ, though...)
But I've sunk years into various NWN servers, and my first NWN community has been eagerly awaiting a new game that will let us rebuild our server and world and community. We've yet to have anything workable come along - NWN2 just couldn't handle the online thing, so that never worked out, and as got mentioned in the other thread no games have come out since with a toolset and multiplayer capability on par with NWN1. Since that's the main reason I keep going back to the game, that's unlikely to change until another game with similar capabilities comes out... if one ever does.
I wonder, from a sales point of view, if this is considered a problem? I mean, we both got years of entertainment out of a relatively small purchase. If it wasn't for the toolset and all the fan content, we might have bought and played more other games instead.
Thus the current focus on subscription model MMO type games.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised. But the current model is also what's kept me away from most recent games, in addition to the lack of toolet+online multiplayer. I've had my fill of pay-to-play with the three years of WoW I have under my belt and am not looking to repeat the experience.
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I strongly prefer the first game, by a fair margin, but after going through the second one more than once, I gained a genuine appreciation for it. It's kind of like Pixar's movie Brave - it's vastly superior the second time around, when you know what's coming.
What? Brave was amazing the first time around...
I strongly prefer the first game, by a fair margin, but after going through the second one more than once, I gained a genuine appreciation for it. It's kind of like Pixar's movie Brave - it's vastly superior the second time around, when you know what's coming.What? Brave was amazing the first time around...
I enjoyed it, but it wasn't nearly as good as most Pixar movies... the first time I watched it. It just felt weaker, much to my surprise, especially after seeing the trailers. I liked it the first time, but it just wasn't a great movie to me. I know that this is true for many. (You obviously disagree... there is nothing wrong with this. :D)
The thing is... it was just an okay movie until I saw it the second time. And then it became an great movie.
I strongly suspect it's partially because the trailers sold me on one thing, but the movie experience was something else entirely; when I went in, I simply wasn't in the appropriate mood for the genuinely great story they were trying to tell. I'm pretty sure this is true for a fairly large sampling (obviously, different opinions are different).
This is not a problem with Brave the movie, it is a problem of expectation v. delivery.
In any event, NWN2 is similar: the OC has a good, strong story (much stronger than the OC of NWN1), but the problems surrounding it were so numerous that it made it hard for many to appreciate in the slightest. To make matters worse, it was a distinct step down in story telling from the previous installment (Hordes of the Underdark) - not because of the power level or anything, but because it was just a lesser story. It was different than what we expected and wanted, and thus harmed enjoyment.
With a better card in my computer, a few patches in the game, and a determination to go through, regardless, and do so quickly now that I knew how to do the sidequests, the story unfolded very nicely. It wasn't as great as Shadows of Undrentide, Hordes of the Underdark, or Mask of the Betrayer, but it was superior to the OC of the first Neverwinter Nights.
ANYWAY this is off-topic, and I'm kind of trying to defend someone else's position who could do the job himself, in all likelihood.
I'm curious if there are any more or further reactions to the Neverwinter playtest.
I strongly prefer the first game, by a fair margin, but after going through the second one more than once, I gained a genuine appreciation for it. It's kind of like Pixar's movie Brave - it's vastly superior the second time around, when you know what's coming.What? Brave was amazing the first time around...I enjoyed it, but it wasn't nearly as good as most Pixar movies... the first time I watched it. It just felt weaker, much to my surprise, especially after seeing the trailers. I liked it the first time, but it just wasn't a great movie to me. I know that this is true for many. (You obviously disagree... there is nothing wrong with this. :D)
The thing is... it was just an okay movie until I saw it the second time. And then it became an great movie.
I strongly suspect it's partially because the trailers sold me on one thing, but the movie experience was something else entirely; when I went in, I simply wasn't in the appropriate mood for the genuinely great story they were trying to tell. I'm pretty sure this is true for a fairly large sampling (obviously, different opinions are different).
This is not a problem with Brave the movie, it is a problem of expectation v. delivery.
In any event, NWN2 is similar: the OC has a good, strong story (much stronger than the OC of NWN1), but the problems surrounding it were so numerous that it made it hard for many to appreciate in the slightest. To make matters worse, it was a distinct step down in story telling from the previous installment (Hordes of the Underdark) - not because of the power level or anything, but because it was just a lesser story. It was different than what we expected and wanted, and thus harmed enjoyment.
With a better card in my computer, a few patches in the game, and a determination to go through, regardless, and do so quickly now that I knew how to do the sidequests, the story unfolded very nicely. It wasn't as great as Shadows of Undrentide, Hordes...
No need for that, you pretty much covered my thoughts about both games. :)
NWN OC was atrocious while NWN2 OC was just bad. Both games expansions were good enough, but, like I said, I played the game in the wrong order and NWN, which I played recently, really shows its age. However, except for SoZ, NWN expansions were more chanlleging than NWN2 expansions (both games OCs were cakewalk), but the story of MotB is far superior to the story of HotU. If you add the online components to the equation, then NWN is clearly the winner, but for someone like me who experienced only the single player portion of both games, NWN2 was more enjoyable.