NWN Neverwinter Nights (NWN & NWN2) Modules Thread

[JarlFrank]

I think the initial point was that NWN's blocky graphics and off-scale proportions were specifically designed to be easy to use in an editor.
I countered with other games that have easy to use editors but better assets/architecture.
Then this led into this.

I'm not gonna argue that NWN's editor sucks, but it being uniquely great among all other contemporary games with editors is a bit of an exaggeration.

 

[Gahbreeil]

It simply looked shit compared to all of its contemporaries, and it still looks shit now. While other games from the time have been polished up with user-made content to look better than they ever could on old hardware, NWN's inherent limitations prevent it from looking much better than it did. Environment scale will always feel off, there will never be sloped hills, there will never be anything but 90 degree corners, making everything look fake and lame.

Slopes and hills? What did you need, a sledding sim? Besides, both do exist in NwN. Maybe not in the OC but there's a big difference between the Wailing Death campaign and the game as a whole.

EDIT: There are slopes in the OC, what are we talking about?

 

[rogueknight333]

I have had basically the same argument going on in this thread with JarlFrank multiple times now, since he appears to be obsessively determined to repeat the same criticisms in every thread in which NWN is mentioned. Maybe I will have it again if I can find the time in the next few days, though I am not sure there is much point, but for now I will just say that if a thread is devoted to general discussion of Game X, it is reasonable to show up and explain why you do not like Game X, but if a thread topic is something like "What are your favorite mods for Game X?" it is rather obnoxious to hijack that just to rant about how much one hates Game X (even if we were to grant for the sake of argument that Game X is indeed a bad game).

 

[Shuruga]

I'm a big NWN enthusiast, though of course no engine is perfect. I suppose the various complaints folks have mentioned in this recent flurry of posts just don't bother me that much. To me, NWN provides a fun and flexible playground for a massive variety of DND adventures. From short and quirky modules to epic adventures built by an amateur hobbyist in their spare time, NWN has produced an absurd number of quality adventures that would never have received a commercial release. (In fairness, it has produced a lot of stinkers, too.)

In fact, I like the Aurora toolset so much that I wish it could be used commercially, because

1. Commercial projects could draw attention to the vast (and still growing!) array of free modules; I think a lot of RPG enthusiasts aren't aware of the treasure trove that is NWN modules.
   and
2. Some of the solo devs and indie teams who are trying their hand at making a profit with their games would shift to Aurora, which would speed up dev time (more games!) and offer an (attractive, in my view) alternative to existing "starter" engines like RPG Maker.

That said, I'm sure it will never happen for a whole host of reasons. I'll just continue to count myself lucky to be aware of the NWN community.

 

[ds]

I'm a big NWN enthusiast, though of course no engine is perfect. I suppose the various complaints folks have mentioned in this recent flurry of posts just don't bother me that much. To me, NWN provides a fun and flexible playground for a massive variety of DND adventures. From short and quirky modules to epic adventures built by an amateur hobbyist in their spare time, NWN has produced an absurd number of quality adventures that would never have received a commercial release. (In fairness, it has produced a lot of stinkers, too.)

In fact, I like the Aurora toolset so much that I wish it could be used commercially, because

1. Commercial projects could draw attention to the vast (and still growing!) array of free modules; I think a lot of RPG enthusiasts aren't aware of the treasure trove that is NWN modules.
   and
2. Some of the solo devs and indie teams who are trying their hand at making a profit with their games would shift to Aurora, which would speed up dev time (more games!) and offer an (attractive, in my view) alternative to existing "starter" engines like RPG Maker.

That said, I'm sure it will never happen for a whole host of reasons. I'll just continue to count myself lucky to be aware of the NWN community.

Surely what Luke Scull / Ossian Studios have been doing counts as commercial use of Aurora/NwN.

 

[luj1]

I'm not gonna argue that NWN's editor sucks, but it being uniquely great among all other contemporary games with editors is a bit of an exaggeration.

The only other truly good editor was Morrowind CS

 

[Shuruga]

Surely what Luke Scull / Ossian Studios have been doing counts as commercial use of Aurora/NwN.

Yeah, fair point, though Beamdog is the publisher for their NWN modules and you need NWN to play them. I was envisioning something more like how RPG Maker works: anyone can pay a flat fee to get access to the toolset, and they can publish their work under their own name (and without needing NWN or Beamdog's seal of approval).

 

[luj1]

Love it or hate it, NWN is still being played a lot and modded. 20+ years later. Most PWs may have low populations (50-200) however they are strong communities with a consistent playerbase