Game:

Neverwinter Nights (2002)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 13:27

110 views

5

If I was to rate games for realism and which I like best overall, I would take games like this into consideration since they come closest to emulating a life in a fantasy world, but of course one in which I would want to jaunt.

So that would basically tend to titles like Morrowind, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights. When it comes to worlds that suck me in and of such places where I relish the immersion, those are archetypal.

Morrowind and Baldur's Gate, or any game built off the first Infinity Engine strike so close to the mark in hitting the spot that it would make anything but a vegetable jump and lose control of bodily functions.

But though Baldur's Gate (etc) and Neverwinter Nights are close, each with their own advantages over the other, I would still have to hand the victory to the Neverwinter Nights games.

Baldur's Gate (et al) is a fine game and definitely the more immersive and involving of the two in terms of the melee combat and the feeling of an adventure. Well, at that, it is almost unmatched. In that way the Infinity games are really bucking for the title.

Still, Neverwinter Nights is basically endless. That is huge.

And when you really come down to it, that is really really critical for the whole immersion. What hasn't been created for the game can be conjured, and with astounding ease, using the toolset and some basic programming skills.

And even so, this game ranks up there. It isn't really a contender for the crown, but it is still up there, and closer than most other games I might consider.

I have said it before, there is something about the border-austere brutality and the concise mathematics and algorithms inherent in Dungeons and Dragons that brings the Dungeons and Dragons games to life and launch it off the tabletop, or in this case from the console, right in your face.

Of course it really really helps that the D&D games such as this one and Eye of the Beholder is in that tactical movement is an inherent mechanic, and that they are complex to the degree that flanking an enemy is not only a viable but a highly advantageous strategy.

It's a shame that this game doesn't employ stealth mechanics and formulas such as Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate, but the other RPG features such as Charisma factors in negotiation and PC-NPC interactions are a bit more momentous in this game, it seems. The truth is that when I began playing I was a bit taken aback by the insistence on RPGing; but it was a refreshing, if challenging thing for me and it brought back fond memories of my first tabletop RPG experiences, the best of which were playing D&D-based games.

I have spieled about my favor for tactical games elsewhere, and don't be surprised if you hear me spouting about it again somewhere else.

The future of my channel is promising for tactical and strategic games, obviously not to neglect the many other genres I favor.

Other Statistics