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Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition?

VarwulfVarwulf Member Posts: 564
edited November 2013 in General Discussion (Spoiler Warning!)
Sorry, but I had to ask the question: Is a Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition a feasible idea in the distant future?

For starters, Neverwinter Nights came out the same year as Icewind Dale 2, which is up for grabs as a possible Enhanced Edition project.

In contrast, I realize Neverwinter Nights was built on a newer (no longer isometric) engine, which some might view as modern enough and unfit for being "Enhanced".

So what are your thoughts? I have not seen any Dev commentary on the subject (though IWD and IWD2 were mentioned as being of "interest" to the Devs).

It is more of a curiosity of mine than anything, mainly because Neverwinter Nights is what got me back into the Infinity Engine games after almost a decade of not playing them.

I personally would welcome an Enhanced Neverwinter Nights, after Baldur's Gate 3, IWDEE, IWD2EE, and Planescape: Torment EE of course :)

Edit: Subtopic - I also remember thinking about how cool Neverwinter Nights could/would have been if the loading screens in Baldur's Gate were correct about transferring your characters to Neverwinter Nights and had come true. Neverwinter Nights on the Infinity Engine? Yes please :)

I get a kick out of the mods that have brought Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate to the NWN2 engine, because if I had more skill and knowledge (and time) with the Infinity Engine, I'd love to personally bring Neverwinter Nights to the Infinity Engine as an Icewind Dale 2 mod.
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Comments

  • MungriMungri Member Posts: 1,645
    No cos the engine in that game was terrible. It wasn't modern in anyway, its the single worst 3D engine ever made in the history of RPGs, and it was so bad that Obsidian have now gone back to making a 2D game.
  • VarwulfVarwulf Member Posts: 564
    @Mungri
    I am sorry that you feel that way. I personally liked the story and the adventure of it.
  • MungriMungri Member Posts: 1,645
    edited November 2013
    The story was fine. The engine was shit. Most people felt that way about it, the game felt absolutely terrible to play because of how bad the engine was.
  • VarwulfVarwulf Member Posts: 564
    @Mungri
    It left something to be desired, but I wouldn't say it was the worst RPG engine ever created. If that was the case I'd never have finished it (multiple times).

    As I said in my post, I'd have loved if it came to the Infinity Engine instead.
  • AkihikoAkihiko Member Posts: 213
    Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition.... now in the infinity engine. Oh, if only.
  • VarwulfVarwulf Member Posts: 564
    @Akihiko
    You and I think a lot alike it would seem :)

    @Purudaya
    I can't argue with that, I always said (of the Infinity Engine games and the Fallout 1/2 games) that if they had continued making games on those engines, I'd still be buying them. This is largely why I am 150% behind these projects that Beamdog is undertaking. I'd love to see more DLC and content for these games well into the future.
  • MungriMungri Member Posts: 1,645
    As outdated and unoptimized as the Infinity Engine may be, it was still better than every single 3D D&D based game that came after it. So much went wrong with the series, and Atari / Wotsc didn't even care, they just kept making everything worse.
  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455
    @Mungri Most people? Yeah, right.
  • MornmagorMornmagor Member Posts: 1,160
    edited November 2013
    Mungri said:

    As outdated and unoptimized as the Infinity Engine may be, it was still better than every single 3D D&D based game that came after it. So much went wrong with the series, and Atari / Wotsc didn't even care, they just kept making everything worse.

    Except Temple of Elemental Evil.

    Its engine was much better than Infinity.
  • VarwulfVarwulf Member Posts: 564
    Mungri said:

    As outdated and unoptimized as the Infinity Engine may be, it was still better than every single 3D D&D based game that came after it. So much went wrong with the series, and Atari / Wotsc didn't even care, they just kept making everything worse.

    Not arguing that point at all. I still prefer the feel of the Infinity Engine games over the more modern D&D games, even if I find Aurora much easier/understandable to mod than Infinity (though I never seriously attempted an Infinity mod).
  • VarwulfVarwulf Member Posts: 564
    @Mornmagor
    I do need to still dust off my old GOG copy and give that a try some day :)
  • AkihikoAkihiko Member Posts: 213
    My favorite thing about ToEE was being able to edit formations, picking where each character is placed. I wish BG could do that, rather than having the pre-defined formations.
  • JoeyJoey Member Posts: 201
    edited November 2013
    The whole point of NWN was that it was a computerised version of 3rd Edition. The story wasn't *awful*, and the story in the add-ons was actually pretty good. Some of those dungeon crawls sent shivers down my spine man...

    But it doesn't have the emotional attachment that Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 do to many people, plus it's a completely new engine. So, no, I don't think it will be done.

    Also guys, we aren't the ones who saw the sales figures for Icewind Dale II vs Neverwinter Nights...the people who did see those sales figures decided to never make a 2d RPG ever again. 2d has a charm, especially if the artwork is brilliantly done, but 3d is where the future is/is going. Neverwinter Nights 2 had a *brilliant* engine, honestly I'm more dissapointed in the lack of games of that style, rather than the more action-y approach of Mass Effect.
  • MungriMungri Member Posts: 1,645
    I reinstalled it so many times to try and play it again. I was annoyed with the controls, movement, skill use and everything other than the story. It felt like downs syndrome combined with DnD and went 3D.

    I don't get why people refer to it as modern either. Morrowind was older, and vastly superior in terms of the engine, movement and actually playing the game.
  • SilverstarSilverstar Member Posts: 2,207
    NN doesn't really need an Enhanced version. It plays just fine on modern systems and there's tons of good modules out there for it. It could be interesting to see Overhaul make one but I'd rather they spend their time and money on something else.

    HotU is one of the best expansions for any game ever and easily gave the game the improvements it needed imo. If only Witch's Wake had been finished too. Ah well.
  • VarwulfVarwulf Member Posts: 564
    @Silverstar
    OH MY GOD, YES about Witch's Wake! I remember playing through that and saying to myself: OKAY, when the next part hits the store, buy it immediately!

    Then as time went on and it never happened, a huge empty void was left in my heart :(

    That was such an engaging, yet short story that I would very much love to see brought to completion...
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    So,

    (a) the 'Worst' DnD engine/implementation to come out is hands down "Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Dranor". About a billion times worse than anything else.

    (b) For everyone that says NWN was 'The worst', did you know that NWN2 was basically the same engine, but with an overhaul?

    (c) There is still a (if not necessarily) thriving NWN community (at least persistent) out there that still plays NWN1 and 2. Not bad for a "Bad" engine.

    (d) There is a whole boatload of content for both NWN1 & 2 far and above anything that currently exists for BG. Just sayin.

    I am not saying that it was great or anything. I am not even saying that I prefer it to BG. merely that it wasn't as bad as all that.
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    I remember, when NWN1 first came out, I played around with the editor. I had lots of fun. I never made anything "Of substance", but I know I sunk a few hundred hours into it. I created a few basic adventures and an entire city block with guards and a foot-pad attack. I created armor and magic items. It was pretty cool.

    I'd be all for an enhancement of NWN1, although I think that really NWN2 pretty much fits that bill. I would definitely play a NWN2:EE. Although I am not sure what could be "Enhanced" about it beyond what TonyK and Kaedrin and others have already done.
  • FardragonFardragon Member Posts: 4,511
    The NWN2 engine was worster than the original.
  • JoeyJoey Member Posts: 201
    like everything with a brilliant world creator, there were very few good mods for nvn. There were thousands of small dungeon crawls, but afaik there were no actual 'mods' like there were for baldur's gate.

    Certainly i never played or heard of anything substantial. And i tried out the multiplayer community once, it was just a bunch of dickheads talking like they thought they were in the lord of the rings. If that's what roleplaying is, you can leave that at home.
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    @Joey - ???? Um???? Try checking out NWVault for NWN1&2 Modules. there are thousands of them. And there are MODs that alter most aspects of the game. Also, check for all of the Persistent worlds. there are a BUNCH of them.

    There are loads of modules that are significantly better than the official campaign out there, and some quite intuitive stuff.
  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455
    @Joey That's your loss. AFAIK there were modders for NWN who got jobs in the gaming industry for their projects. Play through the hall of fame modules at nwvault and come tell me they're not "substantial". You tried the multiplayer once and that's enough to condemn it? Come on, there were hundreds of servers.
  • TeleronTeleron Member Posts: 25
    I have to agree, the story was nice, but the engine lacked finesse. I would even prefer to port it to the good old infinity engine.
  • shawneshawne Member Posts: 3,239
    Here's a thought: since Beamdog's amassed so much experience with the Infinity Engine, and the main complaint about the NWN games are their engine, and IWD2 proved you can do 3E in 2D... why not do a "demake" of NWN in BG's engine? Same story, same characters (DEEKIN!) but with a different presentation.
  • VarwulfVarwulf Member Posts: 564
    edited November 2013
    I think the legal issues would be the only think preventing that from happening, but I approve!

    Edit: I actually used EEKeeper to make a "Deekin" party for a friend of mine (Multiplayer save), sent it to him for laughs and he got an absolute kick out of it.

    Would love for custom voice sets to be a little easier/less buggy to work with though :P
  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455
    edited November 2013
    I don't see the point of remaking NWN for Infinity Engine when the best part of NWN is the toolset and what it enables for the community. IE can't ever match it.
  • Mrpenfold666Mrpenfold666 Member Posts: 428
    neverwinter nights was an amazing game yes there was the fact that you could only have 1 henchmen but because its third edition and summons lasted more and by edition rules everyone can have a summon, do you know what kind of lag you would get if you had a party of 6 druid/wizards with their familiar, their animal companion, their summoned creature and their animal empathy creature? you'd have a party of 30 and it would be crazy, with 2nd ed being so.....dangerous you could have as many summons as you wanted because they didn't last forever and a party full of mages would die very quickly once their spells run out unless they were god like with those darts.


    dont get me wrong i love both BG (and BG2) and NWN neverwinter nights first got me into roleplaying, and because of that game it taught me about character development and how to progress a story, roleplaying online and DMing online gave me the confidence to DM in pen and paper.

    of course the entire point of an enhanced edition is to bring back and -improve- upon the aurora engine, and the Devs clearly know their stuff.

    Do i have confidence in them? Yes

    would i like the devs to make a NWN EE? hell yes

    should they? depends, if they aren't confident they could do it or it would be too big of a challenge i understand. it also depends if they can get a hold of rights to who ever owns the engine. which i believe is either obsidian or atari and then you have to think about NWN main focus which was its online community. you have to either charge for it or get a third party to host the servers.

    in short, i want it but i think its too big of a task FOR NOW. maybe when the devs make a few of their own games, get their names out there then maybe they could give it a shot, for now im happy to wait, i have stuff to keep me occupied until then
  • rdarkenrdarken Member Posts: 660
    I would love a NWN:EE. But mostly for the community expansion pack stuff and persistent worlds.
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