What is NWN

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OK, this may be a very stupid question but what is Never Winter Nights? Is it a in-between-game like Icewind Dale or is it a sort of BG3. I know that you can import your BG2 character in NWN so is it a sequal or not??

 

It is a different sort of game to any of the BG, IWD, etc. The main purpose behind it was to recreate the atmosphere of traditional table top role playing on the computer. So NWN will allow people to design their own adventures and act as a Dungeon Master while other people play the adventure. There are also some interesting spin offs from this approach. Some people are setting up dedicated servers to provide a permanent world with a team of DMs to run it (this is what ALFA is). This will allow players to build up a character and embark on adventures a bit like Everquest but with the advantage of a proper human DM. There might also be stand alone adventures designed by people made available in much the same way as mods are made for games like Quake3.

In case you are getting worried there will also be a single player option shipped with the game. This will be a standalone adventure for one character. It will not be like the previous Bioware epics though (probably be about 60 hours playing time). However, don't let this put you off. If they get the game right it could be the best thing to happen to toleplaying games ever. Just image all the benefits and flexability of a proper human DM, access to players through the ineternet and the computer doing all of the tedious dice roling behind the scenes (and providing fantastic 3D graphics).

Anyway, look at some of the links below for more info and check the news on the front page of sorcerer's often:
http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/NWN/index.php
http://www.bioware.com/NWN/index.html
http://www.pcgamer.co.uk/games/gamefile_preview_page.asp?item_id=4742
http://www.cgonline.com/previews/neverwinte-01-p1.html

PS as to the importing/experience issue. Importing a charcater is fine as it lets people who become attached to a charcater use it without re-rolling. As I understand it DMs will be able to set an experience starting level and cap to suit their adventures. This is exactley the same as happens in P&P. If I design a new adventure for some inexperienced players starting from level 1 - I will not allow a more expereinced player to use his level 20 chracter as this unbalances the game and makes it unfair on the newbies. It is alos likely to be boring as hell for the level 20 person. The reward for being at level 20 is that I will design a specific, more difficult adventure to challenge and respect the player's character's level 20 abilities.

 

Now I have an interesting point to bring up. I'm not sure if this has been discussed before, but it pertains to importing a BG character into the NWN world. I see two problems with this. First is that NWN uses a point buy system if I'm not mistaken. How would it be fair to allow a person to bring in a well rolled and rerolled character with lots of high stats into the game, when creating a character normally wouldn't allow for such stats. Secondly, since NWN is 3rd edtiion, stats scores will be a lot different. An 18 strength in 3rd edition obviously means a lot more than an 18 strength in 2nd edition.

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at in a very round about way (sorry, too late for me to be typing this) is that I would not be suprised if NWN even goes as far as letting people import their characters stats from BG into NWN. And if this is the case, what's left to import? A name, sex, alignment, possibly picture? If they do allow people to import such ridculously high stats for 3rd edition (yeah I know people will be able to easily hack in whatever they want if they are so inclined-it's more the point of the matter) I think it could very well ruin a lot of the gaming experience for people who are getting their first taste of 3rd edition with this game.

 

I think the thread you refer to is the one where I copied some of my stuff above from. In that thread Tal, you said "Ah, so 20 posts later everyone finally came to see that what I posted is right. Oh ye of little faith.
Dreams shattered? Hopes lost? Good! We can now link to this thread every time some wiseguy starts yelling that everything from BG2 will just export into NWN.

Oh, and for the last time, NONE OF YOUR ITEMS WILL TRANSFER EITHER. Get it through your thick skull already. (kasio and/or everyone else who still won't drop it)."

So I guess that is the one you mean

If anyway wants to read it, they'll find it here:
http://www.sorcerers.net/ubb/Forum2/HTML/002338.html

 

Well then I certainly won't bother posting on such things in the future. Excuse me if I didn't ever notice anyone bringing up my point in the past. I was only trying to make what I thought was an interesting new point. Sorry to offend *grumbles and walks off*

 

Ah Crawl don't be down, we all still love you . You just happened to hit one of Tal's raw nerves Besides look on the bright side especially if you saw that news item about lawyers expecting divorce rates to rise sharply due to people playing so much NWN. If they are right then all that time at home in front of the PC should also lead to a huge demand for Pizza. Quick lets buy shares in Crawls restaurant now (as long as he has a home delivery service of course)