Should I Try Neverwinter Nights?

BTW, Nathyrra is the best Bioware waifu. This is not up for debate.

I only ever picked Sharwyn...

brb reinstalling NWN

For a maximum of 10 USD at just about any of the digital game marketplaces, NWN, even over 10 years later, still has no equal.  But you'll need to understand all of what the package encompasses.

First and foremost, an almost limitless access to fresh, innovative community content, designed by folks who have nearly dedicated their lives to bringing the most from an ancient game.  One benefit of downloading and playing content created by the NWN community is that. because they have experienced all the bugs and players' biases over the years, they have become extremely skilled in delivering quality craftsmanship, light years beyond anything BioWare created for NWN in its infancy.

This includes graphics innovations that rival some of the newer games.  The graphics designers in the NWN community have proven their skill to wringe out every ounce of refinement from the game engine.  But don't take my word for it.  Visit the Neverwinter Vault at neverwintervault.org/ and poke around a bit.  Sample the latest graphics and imagery and decide if your puny investment was worth the trouble.

The facts about NWN.

It's old.  The interface is dated.  The newest RPG-type AD&D games are shinier by far.

[edit:  For those wondering how "shiny" NWN's dated graphics are in practice, is one example of texture innovations from an explorer of the possibilities lying deep within the NWN resources.  But you will need to click fast to view this exceptional artistry.  It's about 3 weeks and counting before the link ends up dead in the water.  Hope you make it in time.]

The game interface is intuitive.  Unless its your first experience trying to play an RPG, you will begin playing and enjoying immediately without much orientation at all.

There is a tutorial campaign that was developed by BioWare specifically-designed to help first-timers get acclimated to the interface.  It is called the Original (or Official) Campaign.  "OC" for short.  Most veteran NWN enthusiasts refer to it as the "Plague Campaign".  It's the one that is most commonly associated with NWN.  It is strictly a learning experiment made easy on purpose to allow new players a chance to get their hands around how the game works without interrupting their immersion into the story.  There are some innovations within the OC (innovations for the year 2002, anyway) and interactions that demonstrate the basic role between the player, the environment and the characters.  There are enough quests and central theme to introduce NWN's version of real-time AD&D 3.0 to the player base.

There are several expansions that are included with the $10 Diamond version.  Shadows of Undrentide (SoU), a more challenging and immersive story than the OC... Hordes of the Underdark, the sequel to SoU which introduces the player to epic character development and adventures for the first time... and a few short "premium" adventures like Shadowguard, Kingmaker and Witch's Wake, all designed by the BioWare staff.

Besides the Persistent Worlds and easy LAN game access (if you would like to play private games with friends), the main feature of NWN, the one that is responsible for its lasting this long, is the Aurora Toolset.  Any novice can jump right in and begin creating their own adventures without an intensive orientation period like other toolsets require.

Best of all, the community, though significantly pruned-down by the passing of years and real-life pressures (the teens that played NWN in 2002 are now moms and dads with families that afford little time for "frivolous diversions" like PC gaming), is still active, helpful to newcomers and generally more mature (also in part due to those 14 years flying by) discussing the game than other venues.  In other words, trolls are instantly booted.

BTW, I've seen the Diamond download on sale for as low as 5.95 USD during promotions.  Bottom line: shop around.  You could get to sample NWN for less than a box of doughnuts.

Hope this helps in your decision of to-play or not to-play.

If you DO play Neverwinter Nights 1, I highly reccomend the PrC pack.  Especially if you like some of the Rarer builds (I like the Archmage, myself). The Later one includes the Tome of Batle, which re-vamped combat in many ways.  (it was also so script intensive, that my poor little PC actually started weeping whenever I clicked on it's Icon).

Speaking of the PrC, does anyone know where I can find the relevant CEP and PrC/CEP Merge files for PrC v2.2c?  I thought I still had them, but I can't find them now.

Link doubles back to your post.

Actually, don't bother playing them. You can if you'd like, but it's mostly nostalgia.

He's a shopkeeper in NWN2. Sells some high end prestige class-specific armors and such.

Neverwinter Nights was pretty awesome, one of my favorite Bioware games.

Don't feel weird going back and experiencing whatev, I still haven't played Jade Empire

I like NWN2/MotB but the controls just kill me. I end up facing the floor more than anything and the cameras are terrible. I have no idea how I managed to play the game as many times as I did. Wasn't able to finish my "evil" PT of MotB, though - I just got bored.

It's my least favorite BioWare RPG, personally not a fan although it has a lot of decent stuff in it.

I say try it, see if you like it. If it were me personally, skip it.

I don't know if it's the nostalgia speaking, but I highly, HIGHLY recommend NWN. You will see where a lot of the inspiration from Dragon Age came from. That game was my first introduction to "Dark Fantasy" and completely loved it. I must have only been about 15 years old at the time... The expansions are worth playing too.

The Companions in the expansions are more like actual companions, not just hired henchmen.

The best thing about the game is that there are sooooo many ways to play it, and no real right or wrong way to do it. I played as a dual wielding ranger, then again as a fairy conjuring mage...

Both NWN1 and NWN2 are permanently installed on my PC. Every time I buy a new PC or reinstall my SO they are the first thing that I install.
From time to time when I get bored of the game I am playing I just load one of the many beautiful mods from the Vault and I know I won't be disappointed. So far they have provided me fun for, I don't know, 10 years?