NWN Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition - Beamdog's final enhancement - now with new premium modules

[Infinitron]

http://silverstringmedia.com/news/2020/3/24/dark-dreams-of-furiae-launch

Dark Dreams of Furiae launch

Here's the chant, basher: drop some jink, stay peery, and get the dark of Furiae!

Today marks the launch of a new Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition adventure module, DARK DREAMS OF FURIAE — a uniquely narrative Neverwinter story of intrigue and investigation produced by Silverstring Media in collaboration with Phantom Compass!

Dark Dreams of Furiae: A City on the Edge of Hell
In the fallen city of Furiae, ruled by devils and despots, a quiet war wages for the hearts and minds of the people. Into this chaos, a new arcane substance is smuggled: worldwine. Worldwine is deadly to devils, and turns mortals into dream-addled fanatics.

As a mortal of Furiae, you have a vested interest in this new operation. Could worldwine serve as a tool against the oppressive regime? Or will a passive populace simply succumb to their rule? What dark forces hide beneath the city, feeding on the dreams of the afflicted? Fight to save a damned city in this planar mystery adventure…

Dark Dreams of Furiae is a mystery adventure set in the Dungeons & Dragons Planescape setting, which we produced for Enhanced Edition developers Beamdog. The game even ties into D&D's 2019 adventure module Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus!

The story was developed by Lucas, loosely based on a TTRPG campaign he ran a few years ago, and he directed and produced it, as well! The writing was done by Lucas and Jacob Burgess, with some art by Anna Wolff, music by Devin Vibert, and additional design and consulting from Claris. We worked with the amazing team at Phantom Compass for the actual development of the module — they were wonderful to work with, go check out their own stuff.

We were thrilled to have the opportunity not only to create a new, original Neverwinter Nights module, but to work with the great folks at Wizards of the Coast to tie our story into the larger stories of Dungeons & Dragons. Working with the Planescape setting was also a fantastic opportunity, as it was the very first campaign setting Lucas got into when he started playing D&D back in the 90's: a uniquely flavoured setting that brings the whole multiverse of beliefs — demons and angels and mechanical Modrons and more — to your fingertips. This was truly a dream come true, and we're very excited for it to be out now.

We'll talk more about the inspirations and design of it sometime in the future, but for now — go check out the game. It's out now on Steam, GOG, and Beamdog.com, and if you're reading this the day it comes out (March 24th, 2020!), Steam is also featuring NWN:EE at 75% off, so you can get the base game you need to play it, and dive right in!

 

[Popiel]

Yeah, investigation.

First conversation runs like this:

PC: Hey, you, punk gnome! What are ye doin' here.
Gnome: Why are you speaking like that.
PC: Doesn' matter how me talkin', what are ye doin' here.
Gnome: Well, I worked at this place and I blew it up, because, well, I made drugs there...
PC:
1. Hm, I'll take you in for breakin' THE LAW.
2. Hm, I'll let you go 'cause FOR THE REVOLUTION, go and spread these drugs mate.
3. Hm, I don't care.
Gnome: [after whatever you choose] But hey hey mister, I can tell you all about this smooth operation!
PC:
1. [Lawful] Okay, you can stay at my place.
2. [Chaotic] Okay, you can stay at my place.
3. [Good] Okay, you can stay at my place.
4. [Evil] Okay, you can stay at my place.
5. Okay, you can stay at my place.

 

[Nerevar]

It was very short and unfinished and it was never playtested it is very very rough. Ran into a few big game ending glitches guards suddenly becoming hostile not being able to progress the story ETC.

You just get to investigate one thing per day and you have a choice of two things but can only choose one. However there is some very good gear you can get from going in a certain order.

You get a dagger worth 60k so you can basically go to the blood war merchants and buy whatever you want.

Your henchmen don't do or say anything or have any input you can't give them commands or change their equipment. The quests are very poorly designed with only one outcome most of the time.

Picture of my guy and two henchmen after beating the game.

There is no ending slides or picture you just go to the room I am in and read some text.

Spoiler

The most fun part of the game is getting the +5 dagger and selling it to buy equipment for your character.

 

[Nerevar]

The first shop you walk into right by your apartment has a flamboyant gay dwarf and his elf butt buddy.

And they try to tell your their life story straight away. It was so bad it was funny also the shop sucks and they give you shit prices (Demons buy dagger 70k fag store 20k) literally blood war demons are better people than homos.

Oh in the end Dungeon there is a chain lightning trap that no one can disarm that will TPK your party also if you get past the trap the chest behind it has nothing worth while in it (I got my wizard to walk into it and die then resurrected him saw there is nothing in the chest) also there is a demon spider that will kill you in 1 hit and you're just supposed to not go there.

Maybe spend more time creating actual content and less time putting in 'cute' TPK jokes and faggotry.

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

Sounds refund worthy.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

a flamboyant gay dwarf and his elf butt buddy.

Gay dwarfs in relationships with elves.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

a flamboyant gay dwarf and his elf butt buddy.

Gay dwarfs in relationships with elves.

This is outrageous.

 

[Nerevar]

Oh yeah not all weapons are represented well. So weapon master (one of the most popular classes) is very gimped unless you know before hand what items are in the game.

My first playthrough i was a very safe Fighter/Scimitar Wm but there are no scimitars.

Also these guys like to give random NPCs text dumps that refresh every day they tell you a bit more. They had enough time to write these but they didn't make a single unique item, all the items are base game items.

All this game did was made me want to play Swordflight. One quest in particular highlights how poorly made this module is you approach slavers den with guards the game warns you that you can find another way that isn't combat.

So I killed the guards anyway because I'm a boss. If a real module developer made this module the head guard would have dropped a key I can use or a note telling me about the back entrance or I should be able to pass a spot check to find the secret entrance. No none of those.

What you have to do is talk to a random NPC and he tells you there is a hidden entrance. What a game. What a champion of humanity. What a complete waste of time.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Also these guys like to give random NPCs text dumps that refresh every day they tell you a bit more. They had enough time to write these but they didn't make a single unique item, all the items are base game items.

It was made by modern D&D players who don't care about the game but just want to larp.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

the game warns you that you can find another way that isn't combat.

Wait, so there was an alternative to combat, but not a solution THROUGH combat. Fucking hell, what.

 

[fantadomat]

a flamboyant gay dwarf and his elf butt buddy.

Gay dwarfs in relationships with elves.

This is outrageous.

I agree,gays should be put to rest!

 

[rogueknight333]

...All this game did was make me want to play Swordflight...

Then it was not a complete loss.

Aside from that, the level of quality appears to be what we have come to expect from Beamdog?

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Aside from that, the level of quality appears to be what we have come to expect from Beamdog?

Probably even worse from the look of it, lowering the bar even further :D

From the above impressions, this looks barely functional.

 

[Chippy]

There's me thinking Beamdog would just nail the lingo/cant of Planescape. Maybe Amber Scott has come back under a new identity?.

 

[DarKPenguiN]

Also these guys like to give random NPCs text dumps that refresh every day they tell you a bit more. They had enough time to write these but they didn't make a single unique item, all the items are base game items.

It was made by modern D&D players who don't care about the game but just want to larp.

I hate those motherfuckers.

 

[NJClaw]

I'm starting what essentially is my first playthrough of NWN OC (I played it as a kid and I can't remember a single thing about it, except for a chest next to a bed and a road with sick people) and I'm having trouble picking a class for my character. I know I want to cast spells, but I can't decide between druid and sorcerer. Is there any particular reason to choose one over the other? Things like "wildshape is heavily supported in the game", or maybe "arcane spells are particularly interesting".

Also, is the Shifter prestige class actually worth it?

Last thing: is there a mod to play some sort of a "gestalt" character advancing separately in two classes? That would solve the problem at its root, but I'm afraid it could trivialize the game (but, from what I heard, there's not much to trivialize).

 

[Infinitron]

I'm starting what essentially is my first playthrough of NWN OC (I played it as a kid and I can't remember a single thing about it, except for a chest next to a bed and a road with sick people) and I'm having trouble picking a class for my character. I know I want to cast spells, but I can't decide between druid and sorcerer. Is there any particular reason to choose one over the other? Things like "wildshape is heavily supported in the game", or maybe "arcane spells are particularly interesting".

Also, is the Shifter prestige class actually worth it?

Last thing: is there a mod to play some sort of a "gestalt" character advancing separately in two classes? That would solve the problem at its root, but I'm afraid it could trivialize the game (but, from what I heard, there's not much to trivialize).

My recommendation is not to play NWN OC.

But if you must, a Sorcerer is probably a better idea because of its greater trash mob annihilation potential (fireball spamming). Also you can use fireballs to bust open locked containers which is faster than waiting for companions to open them for you. You're going to want to be able to wade through this game's areas as quickly as possible.

 

[Elex]

So i tried to replay it after 14 years with the EE (that only changed the UI scale ?) and i disgusted uninstalled after the end of act 1 (i know starting the base campaign was not a smart move).

i was ready for an old game but not like that.

my summons and henchman always stuck my character on doors loot hard to click, retarded keybinding And even more retarded remapping (enhance that at least!).

i was playing NWN for the editor and the persistent worlds too: but why someone should play it today??

i have good memories of that game and nwn 2 but they aged worse of many others rpg.

 

[hell bovine]

I'm starting what essentially is my first playthrough of NWN OC (I played it as a kid and I can't remember a single thing about it, except for a chest next to a bed and a road with sick people) and I'm having trouble picking a class for my character. I know I want to cast spells, but I can't decide between druid and sorcerer. Is there any particular reason to choose one over the other? Things like "wildshape is heavily supported in the game", or maybe "arcane spells are particularly interesting".

NWN OC is worse than BG2's ToB. But if you want to suffer, I second the sorcerer (with the half-orc barbarian henchman).

 

[rogueknight333]

I'm starting what essentially is my first playthrough of NWN OC (I played it as a kid and I can't remember a single thing about it, except for a chest next to a bed and a road with sick people) and I'm having trouble picking a class for my character. I know I want to cast spells, but I can't decide between druid and sorcerer. Is there any particular reason to choose one over the other? Things like "wildshape is heavily supported in the game", or maybe "arcane spells are particularly interesting".

As others have said, the NWN OC is not very good. If you are determined to play the official stuff, then Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark are a bit better, and can be played independently of the original campaign.

Sorcerer is ultimately a more powerful class, but the official campaigns are easy enough that it does not matter too much. One advantage of Druid is that it is somewhat better in melee combat giving you the option of meleeing through trashmobs if you do not want to bother casting spells on them (though with hardly any resting restrictions in the official campaigns, there is not much reason to conserve spells).

Also, is the Shifter prestige class actually worth it?

As a rule, both the Shifter class and the Druid's Wildshape are not too useful, for two reasons:

1) You cannot cast spells while shifted, making the ability a poor complement to a Druid's spell-casting powers.

2) You usually do not get the benefits of all your gear while shifted. Since typically the bonuses from gear are more powerful than the bonuses from the shifted forms, shifting usually works out to be a net negative. However, if you are playing a "low magic" module (i.e., one that provides only very weak magical gear), the class can be very strong, if not OP. However, the official campaigns could hardly be described as low magic (although the original OC is relatively more so than the expansion campaigns, and thus might be a somewhat better choice for a Shifter specifically).

Last thing: is there a mod to play some sort of a "gestalt" character advancing separately in two classes? That would solve the problem at its root, but I'm afraid it could trivialize the game (but, from what I heard, there's not much to trivialize).

You can already play multi-class characters under the default rules, unless you mean a mod to take levels of multiple caster classes while keeping a caster level in all of them equivalent to your character level, or something like that? I do not know of any such mod, and if it existed, it would be game-breakingly OP.

...i was playing NWN for the editor and the persistent worlds too: but why someone should play it today?? ...

Because the editor and the persistent worlds are still there, and no other game offers a satisfactory equivalent to either? Though I certainly agree that neither Bioware or Beamdog ever took proper advantage of the editor's capabilities.

 

[DarKPenguiN]

Is this game 'enhanced' at all yet?

 

[DalekFlay]

Is this game 'enhanced' at all yet?

We'll never know because the Beamdog hate here prevents an honest appraisal.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Is this game 'enhanced' at all yet?

We'll never know because the Beamdog hate here prevents an honest appraisal.

The hatred is an honest appraisal.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Is this game 'enhanced' at all yet?

We'll never know because the Beamdog hate here prevents an honest appraisal.

The honest appraisal is that they released NWN with essentially zero changes beyond a beamdog logo.

 

[Fedora Master]

Is this game 'enhanced' at all yet?

We'll never know because the Beamdog hate here prevents an honest appraisal.

The honest appraisal is that they released NWN with essentially zero changes beyond a beamdog logo.

Hey now, they implemented UI scaling that's either too large or too small for 1080p! That's something, right?