Neverwinter Nights (2002 video game)

Did You Know?

• The game was developed by 65 people with a multi-million dollar budget.
• BioWare worked alongside AD&D to ensure the game framework was faithful to the tabletop game.
• The game was announced to use the Omen engine as a replacement for the Infinity engine.

Gameplay

The original campaign supplied with Neverwinter Nights comprises approximately sixty hours of gameplay. The player character develops through adventuring and ultimately becomes the hero of the story, tasked with defeating a powerful cult, collecting four reagents to stop a plague, and thwarting an attack on the city of Neverwinter. The first and final chapters take place in Neverwinter itself, while the mid-story requires venturing into the countryside and northward to Luskan. Many optional side quests are available. As in the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop game, the player must first create a character, either choosing from ready-made options or building one from scratch. Panels allow selection of gender, race, class, alignment, ability scores, skills, feats, appearance, and name. After a small prelude, the original game has four chapters, each following part of the general storyline. Within each chapter are many quests, subquests, and mini-storylines. Depending on which quests are completed and which unique items are kept, some storylines continue throughout the entire game, such as the Henchman's or Aribeth's tales. Completing side quests gives the character more experience and special items, making them improve more rapidly and the game easier as the player progresses. Improvements come in the form of levels earned through experience points, with each level providing enhancements selected by the player.

Plot

The story begins with the player character being sent to recover four creatures known as the Waterdhavian creatures—a dryad, intellect devourer, yuan-ti, and cockatrice—under the guidance of Lady Aribeth de Tylmarande. These creatures are needed to make a cure for the Wailing Death, a plague sweeping Neverwinter. With help from Fenthick Moss and Desther, the PC retrieves the creatures while being attacked by assassins from a cult behind the plague. As the cure is made, Castle Neverwinter is attacked by Desther's minions; Desther betrays the heroes, takes the cure, and escapes. After a short battle, Desther surrenders and is sentenced to burn at the stake, while Fenthick is sentenced to hang. The protagonist meets Aribeth and spymaster Aarin Gend to search for the cult. Diaries and letters convince Aribeth the cult's headquarters are in Luskan. She goes ahead, and the hero follows. In Luskan, rumors say Aribeth has defected; she is found meeting with Maugrim and Morag, Queen of the Old Ones, seeking the Words of Power. The protagonist retrieves all but one Word. The Words open a portal to a pocket world inside the Source Stone, where Morag and the Old Ones sealed themselves long ago. The hero confronts Aribeth, who either surrenders or is killed. The protagonist battles Maugrim for the final Word, enters the Source Stone, and battles Morag. After Morag's death, the protagonist escapes as the world inside implodes.

Reception

Infogrames sent a million copies of Neverwinter Nights to retailers for its launch, splitting them evenly between North America and the rest of the world. The publisher experimented with a $55 price tag, five dollars above the standard for PC games at the time, a move that CNN Money’s Chris Morris noted drew loud complaints from gamers. Within nine days of its June 18 release, the game had moved 125,000 units by June 27. It claimed the number one spot on the NPD Group’s weekly computer game sales chart for the period of June 16–22, held it for two weeks, then lost it to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Still, Neverwinter Nights stayed in the top ten throughout its first three months. Global sales passed 200,000 by July 23. By late December, NPD recorded 330,000 copies sold in North America, generating $18 million in revenue, which made it the region’s eleventh best-selling computer game of 2002. Greg Zeschuk stated in June 2003 that the game had exceeded one million sales before its first expansion pack arrived. In the U.S. alone, it reached 510,000 copies and $23.2 million by August 2006, earning a spot as the country’s 26th best-selling computer game since January 2000 according to Edge. The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association gave it a Silver award, meaning at least 100,000 units sold in the United Kingdom. Combined global sales of the original game and its expansions topped 2.6 million by early 2005, with 1.3 million of those in the U.S. by August 2006. The standalone original game ultimately sold 2.2 million copies as of 2007.

Legacy

IGN ranked Neverwinter Nights No. 4 on their list of The Top 11 Dungeons & Dragons Games of All Time in 2014. Ian Williams of Paste rated it #4 on his list of The 10 Greatest Dungeons and Dragons Videogames in 2015. The game has inspired fan-made films using machinima techniques, such as BloodSpell and Neverending Nights. Several in-game portraits were modified in patches due to being copied from outside sources. The Canadian Red Cross complained about the Red Cross symbol on the Healer's Kit item, leading to its removal through patches. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, a BioWare role-playing game, used a modified version of the Aurora engine called the Odyssey Engine; its sequel also used it, allowing modders to modify those games with Neverwinter Nights modding tools. The Witcher, by CD Projekt Red, is also based on the Aurora engine. BioWare used Neverwinter Nights and its toolset to develop prototypes for Dragon Age: Origins. The game received three expansion packs: Shadows of Undrentide in June 2003, Hordes of the Underdark in December 2003, and Kingmaker in November 2004. Shadows of Undrentide concerns a student recovering stolen magical objects, moving from the Silver Marches to the desert of Anauroch and the city of Undrentide. Hordes of the Underdark continues the story with a character of at least 15th level, leading into the Underdark. Kingmaker features three premium modules: Kingmaker, Shadowguard, and Witch's Wake.