The Legacy Of Neverwinter Video Games

Talking a bit about the interesting history of all the neverwinter games and what they've contributed to gaming.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:43 Neverwinter Nights (1991)
02:40 Neverwinter Nights (2002)
04:17 Neverwinter Nights 2
05:57 NWN 1/2 Multiplayer Functionality
07:36 Neverwinter MMO
09:30 The Common Thread
10:38 The Future
Intro Music By Juan Andrés Matos, www.juanmatosmusic.com/
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#gaming #gamereviews #neverwinter #neverwinternights #neverwinternights2

[@FretboardToAsh]

I'm going to take the opportunity to spam that Neverwinter Nights (2002 release) is after just about 2 decades still going strong. Many community-driven modules and persistent worlds, both new and some almost as old as the game itself, in whatever niche you are into, be that roleplay, action, or otherwise. The game is cheap and often for sale these days, the quality of the community driven material can be easily equal to 'professional' releases, and the bang you get for the buck is in near limitless.

[@NinesIng]

One of the best RPGs I have ever played. The amount of hours spent with that game and custom servers was insane. Too bad we are not getting games like this anymore. Fingers crossed Baldur's Gate 3 will get a similar map/item/creature tools for custom servers.

[@navyblue42]

is it on steam? where can I install the player made campaigns from? I really wanna get into this game

[@rainer516]

It is all so overwhelming. I bought it and still don’t know where to even begin. Any suggestions?

[@Hravokh]

nooooo. don't tell me that >.< i have no time as is :D

[@tesselesk8]

@@navyblue42 You can do inside the game, no need for download mods, campaigns and stuff elsewere

[@LORDOFDORKNESS42]

It's a dang shame NWN 2 is getting slowly written out of the RPG history books. Sure, the original campaign was rushed, but Mask of the Betrayer is one of the best RPG stories since Planescape: Torment. And I really wish we'd gotten a finish to the Knight Captain saga. Because the open-world stuff added in Zehir was really cool.

[@Funkin_Disher]

And lets not forget some madlad ported all of Icewind Dale as an NWN2 mod, allowing you to play that entire game in 3.5 edition.

[@aka-47k]

sadly the biggest problem of nwn 2 it still has problems on too many computer setups and runs at 0,5 fps the code is a mess.

[@BigBoyXanos]

Back in the day the story of MotB and PS:T gave me a similar feeling as when I played Dark Souls for the first time. I wonder if they had an influence on Fromsoft even slightly...

[@Sabamonster]

Mask of the Betrayer is hands down one of the best stories ever written. That's an experience I wish I could do for the first time, 100 times.

[@MuttleyVonErich00]

@@Funkin_Disher I know there was/is a Baldurs Gate port, I didnt know about IWD. Is it still knocking about to download?

[@CaedoGenesis]

Neverwinter Nights is one of my absolute favorites! With Enhanced Edition too, it feels like Beamdog has spoiled us rotten with the support for this 20 year old game.

[@xXPoolitzerXx]

I honestly never played the community content but god do I love Hordes of the Underdark, Neverwinter as a city and all the adventures and lore. Really hope we will get a NWN3 one day.

[@JohnnyTightIips]

NWN1 and 2 are close to my heart even if I only recently played through the campaigns earlier this year. I played the start of the campaigns so many times as a kid, super nostalgic.

[@chadmwilliams89]

So many years ago today..

[@Andre_vyent]

its too close too my heart , its part of my youth, the story and the context is very good nwn 1 and 2 is my soul

[@MrDonkDonkerson]

The Swordflight module for NWN is still one of the most enjoyable RPGs I've ever played. It does such a good job incorporating all the mechanics and classes. It's got a bit of a learning curve for sure but once you get the hang of it you can really see all the time, effort, and attention to detail that went into making it.

[@Daggoth65]

NWN2 was only given 18 months for production, I really wish they had more time for protection and the chance for as much love as nwn1 received

[@blueshit199]

is it me or does Obsidian always make games in 18 months time period

[@blueshit199]

@@Portuducks and people blame Bethesda for not giving them enough time with FNV

[@kristianolesen6173]

You really nailed how I feel about Neverwinter Nights 1+2. NWN1 was a defining part of my teenage years, where i spent enormous amount of time in Persistent Worlds. For me, the reason why NWN2 didn't completely take over the spot of NWN1 was because of how visually uninteresting it was. Nothing had oomph and everything felt just a bit janky. If BG3 releases with a toolset as powerful as aurora, the game will last (probably) forever. I long for the day when another game usurps NWN1 as the best game I ever played.

[@CrescentRollCarl]

We installed a NWN legends of Nordock server at my University. That ended up being probably the most fun I've had gaming ever. Such great memories.

[@MuttleyVonErich00]

I remember Nordock!

[@robertatwell694]

I actually started playing this game 2 days ago as it was just sitting dormant in my PS4 backlog...and im truly glad that I did! With the game being as old as it is the game actually brought me back to why I love RPGS in the first place...the STORY! Finding a cure for the Wailing Death is a fun ongoing mystery and it's extremely well written making me want to play even more! I'm pretty old school as it is as far as RPGS go so it's definitely right up my alley. So im going to play the main campaign and then immerse myself in the modules. You get a LOT of game for your dollars as it's easily over 100 plus hours with All the content currently...and im going along for the very long ride and duration.

[@Fuzz_Aldrin88]

A year later and I hope you've discovered how much better "shadows of undrentide" is than the wailing death lol. I'm gonna replay the wailing death here soon because I never finished it. Wasn't a huge fan of how they implemented the mechanics. The whole game would have benefited from the baldurs gate approach to DnD. Party based, with full control over your party and their positioning in battle. Not having that sort of defeats the purpose of "real time with pause"

[@kevinshepard7796]

Man. Nwn 1. Spent over 30k hours playing it online. So phenomenal and still haven't played anything like it. I miss my old uber community friends. They, honestly, changed my life. I went by Vash. Such good memories. Thanks for the visit down memory lane.

[@OrrBracha]

I started playing this game when I was a teenager, first game ever to make me wake up 2-3 hours before school to play, or sometimes even skip school if I was playing all night. I play NWN to this day, although not as much as I'm already a grown, married man, with a job and I'm a father. I won't lie, I still look fondly at those sleepless nights and playing with my friends (we played Lands of Lore - Horn of the Fox). I hope my son one day finds his forever game, his own Neverwinter Nights, I won't even be mad if he stayed up all night, not even a little.

[@zaphero5518]

There was a recent interview where "the man who launched Neverwinter Nights twice wants to do it again," making another community mod focused D&D game could come quite soon. As for personal experience I recently started playing the game and sunk like 25 hours into Darkness Over Daggerford Enhanced Edition and I just love it, it feels so free and breezy and I surprisingly have been liking the combat when KOTOR's bored me fast! I've been poking at other modules and it's mindboggling how many hours of wildly different stuff is out there for me to try after Daggerford!

[@MuttleyVonErich00]

Any links to this interview? We should encourage him to do a kickstarter campaign.

[@Particulator]

Something not mentioned often about NWN2002 is the DM client. That thing was so amazing for running multi player quests on servers. It had all the tools and flexibility for a DM to run sessions just like the table top pen-n-paper original. This game is responsible for the best 4 years of online RPG goodness in all of my life. I'm 58.

[@karlklein2263]

I've been saying, solasta feels like the "neverwinter" of the current generation.

[@garchomowner]

yeah, but at least as far as i remember , the dungeon master mode is still limited to what it can do. hope they will update it more

[@NATIK001]

Solasta has a really good basis to build on and I really do hope they build on it extensively.

[@MrGouldilocks]

I love Solasta, but I wish the fifth edition rule set had a bit more In the way of character building options.

[@motivateddad]

@@MrGouldilocks 5th edition's one of the biggest problem for me is the feats being optional. You either choose being strong from ability score increases or being unique for choosing feats.

[@karlklein2263]

@@MrGouldilocks I could go on for hours about the problems I have with 5th ed. So much of that ruleset is meant to be handwaived or made up for by the DM which really hampers any digital representation. Example: barbarians and intimidation. By all rights you'd think a hulking freak of meat wielding a greataxe would be pretty scary, but if their charisma stat is low then good luck. And who in their right mind puts charisma on a barbarian? They're designed in every other way to have the physical stats maxed. The PHB says to change this at the DM's discretion, but that doesn't happen in a video game.

[@freakyfro99]

I think that you describing what AOL is just aged me a decade. I feel so old remembering how often I would be throwing away those damn CDs XD

[@badgerknight5263]

i am so fucking hype about mortis covering the neverwinter nights game, these are all awesome and i am loving my favorites being covered

[@talahar123]

For some time in its life span, the new Neverwinter MMORPG also had user created content. Unfortunately that functionality has been discontinued some time ago.

[@imapseudonym6198]

Clowning around in Undermountain on the multiplayer servers of NWN (2002) is one of my all-time favorite gaming memories. I made a lot of friends and became very, VERY good at the game. You know how everybody has that one game in their life that they are just insanely good at? Like you may be mediocre at a lot of them but that one game, you just absolutely destroy everything in? That was NWN, for me.

[@guitarzero6970]

Today, I believe Solasta does a great job at alllowing people to create their own campaigns. Too bad it's not well known enough.

[@Jandau85]

Yep, I just finished playing through Solasta for the first time and I got Big Neverwinter Energy from the game...

[@Deriathan1]

Even tho I love NW 1 I cant get to like Solasta. And I cant exactly point out what I find wrong.

[@bechtholdillustrator9378]

Solasta is one of the modern rpgs I enjoyed the most. Played through main campaign and Dlc. Got also some nwn vibes with available community content

[@malaficus]

@@Deriathan1 Because it limited. Solasta is a great game but it is very lacking in dialog, races, classes, spells, etc. The only reason why it is so praised is because unlike mathfinder wrath of the rightious and divinity 3 it doesnt try to fix the d&d combat system.

[@chrissoclone]

Sadly, to me turn-based is the killer. I grew up with real time with pause, my pile of shame is filled with highly praised turn-based games I couldn't get into, and I can't even imagine playing multiplayer or a persistant world in a turn-based game. I know I have to pass on a lot of good games, including Baldur's Gate 3, but turn-based games are the opposite of what I loved in the NWN games.

[@Madkingstow]

I started playing Neverwinter Nights for the first time because of you and I'm so embarrassed I haven't played it before. It's exactly the kind of game I would have loved back when it came out, and even though the graphics are quite dated I'm still really enjoying it even now. I love how challenging the game is, and the world feels very immersive. I also really like how dark, uncensored and gritty the setting is. I'm excited to play the sequel after I finish with the first game. Thanks for introducing me to this gem! If anyone could recommend some modules that I must play, please let me know!

[@Kanjiimufu]

For NWN1: Darkness over Daggerford, Shadowlords- Dreamcatcher -Demon (this is a trilogy) for NWN2: Mysteries of Westgate, Dark Waters, Path of Evil

[@Madkingstow]

@@Kanjiimufu Thanks for the recommendations! I'll start there!

[@user-il2gy2rq5x]

@@Madkingstow Start with the prophet series. It is a mind blowing saga! Also try Vis et Virtus series! They are a must! I do not know however if they are compatible with the enchanted edition. In the normal edition they run fine!

[@Scarygomez]

Nice format, i really like this content !!

[@k_and_kkosplay4711]

I've been playing the NWN games since I was a very young boy, and watching my dad play them before that, and I love these games with all my heart, and play them to this day. Currently on a replay of Hordes of the underdark for nwn1, and I have been on the SCOD multiplayer server on Nwn2 for half a decade.

[@Daggoth65]

I'm hoping BG3 does well enough for WotC to invest in a NWN3, NWN is such a significant game for my wife. We were so excited for NW:O when it launched but quickly lost interest it's just not the same and 4e was so bad 😞

[@seraphinaaizen6278]

Neverwinter Nights is still, arguably, my favorite game of all time. I still like to load it up and play it every now and then.

[@stevequincy388]

The 2002 NWN Game is still going strong! I still fire it up occasionally to check out new fan-made modules (which are still happening these many years later). Some are kinda crappy, some are excellent! If you want a challenging experience with great RPG designs, I recommend the Swordflight series. If you want an epic campaign and story, the Aielund Saga is excellent and you can even install it from the Steam workshop. There’s many more, but that’s my top two recommended. If you disliked how the original campaign ended, the Aribeth’s Redemption series is quite good also and gives an alternative ending to the original campaign aftermath.

[@ridersoftheli]

It would be so cool that owlcat does a kind of toolset "a la neverwinter" for Pathfinder, they have so much material already.

[@RankAndFileGuy]

I've replayed Neverwinter Nights series 5 times over the 20 year period and each time I finish it, I never have a shadow of the doubt in my mind that I will in few years time come back to the game again. It's just one of those experiences.

[@Nick30468]

It still saddens me a bit how I couldn't get into nwn2. I loved nwn1 and still play it from time to time (currently re-playing the Prophet custom module on EE with the gf, her first run of it), but nwn2 always felt clunky to play. Perhaps it was just me? Sure, visually it looked better but when actually trying to play, everything felt stiff and awkward to move around in, even the camera controls felt a step backwards. There were definitely a lot of positives in gameplay compared to nwn1 but ultimately and unfortunately, I couldn't get past how clunky the overall package felt to use. I know it's incredibly unlikely but I'm still hoping one day for proper nwn3 that "feels" as good as the original along with a creator-friendly toolset.

[@Headhunter-5000]

I played NWN 1 & 2 when they came out and play NWN 2 right now after a 17 years break. The special thing about both games is the community and the possibilities the toolset and self hosted modules gives them. There are still some servers out there with active players and game masters that actually do real P&P like roleplay. Those players will stick to the game as there is no modern alternative. Games like Baldurs Gate 3 would have the potential but the multiplayer mode is limited to a group of 4 players that do the same quest together. NWN games allowed about 100 players to be on the same server with multiple groups at the same time doing different Game Master controlled quests while others maybe just hang out in a tavern drinking beer and telling stories.

[@Pedone_Rosso]

When I was a little kid, and videogames looked at their very best like Pacman, I wondered when I'd be able to play a game that looked as good as those hand-drawn Disney cartoons I watched in movie theaters back then. And we've passed that point some years ago, already... It's cool to think now about what will this media look like in 30 years: thanks for this video!

[@lodrezzon]

Back in the early 2000's, after burning myself out on Everquest, I moved to NWN and started designing community content under the Lodrezzon name. I made custom tilesets with improved texturing and functionality, as well as other quality of life content. Each of these paks would take between 400 to 1000 hours to create, working by myself, 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, until the content was finished. The end results were always enough to motivate me to push forward and keep making new content, but that kind of work schedule burned me out after a couple of years. I've noticed recently that many of the tilesets, headsets, weapon sets, etc. are still available today, which makes me extremely happy. At the time, I was really excited when Neverwinter Nights 2 came out, but the difficulty with using the NWN2 toolset was beyond description. I had no coding experience before working on NWN 1 content, and making the things I did took a supreme effort; figuring everything out on my own. NWN 2 was simply beyond my limits to figure out by trial and error, so I stopped making content for the community. I'm sure it was like this for other content creators also; thus the lack of community content for NWN2. in 2004, WoW came out, and I simply left NWN for greener pastures to play. But that window of time, back when the NWN1 tileset came, was one of the greatest and most satisfying times of my life.

[@NapGod]

Neverwinter (2002) was what made me realize I love RPGs the most. I played that game and its expansions into the dirt, and it led me to explore games like the elder scrolls series I'd previously ignored. Bioware was the first game developer I consciously followed - so many great games, S/O Jade Empire. Obsidian always had the tough job of following Bioware and never put out a sequel that equaled it's Bioware counterpart except for mfkin goddamn New Vegas. It beats the hell out of Fallout 3 and 4. Thanks for this dose of nostalgia.

[@phantommiasma4390]

Sword coast legends attempted to replicate the nwn experience back in 2015. It was pretty poor from a community perspective and consequently shut its online play after a very short time. Nwn1 pw's were and are still some of the best online content I've ever played, made some great friends back in 2003 some of whom I still know now. There are more d&d projects upcoming, including an open world multi player. No info on setting as of yet... interesting times ahead maybe.

[@tzikas95]

I would love to see you make a story video for NWN2 and MOTB like you did for DOS2. But I know this will be too time consuming. Great video once again, I am so happy you covered one of my favorite games ever and enjoyed it!

[@MD-zm6sn]

Intro music really sets the perfect vibe.

[@TheAzureGhost]

Ahh the memories of all the time spend in NWN1 Multiplayer mode. What i liked especially about those small scaled "semi MMOs" was that the low player number, the job varety and DM influence actually gave every single player more impact on the world. You were not one in a million faceless mook but maybe one of the tightknit group of hunters who provided for their village or the best Axesmith(while others specialized in swords or shields ect.) on continent who even rivaling citys came to to trade for their specialized tools. And the DMs created unique experiences instead of repeatable fetchquests or ever ressurecting dungeon bosses.

[@whydidyoutubeaddthis]

I love how I remember nearly every single location you showed in the game play even though I haven't touched these games since like 2008

[@insoneo]

Perfect timing! I just got back from playing Neverwinter (the MMO) yesterday. Aldo, I've never played NWN2 because it's unavailable for Mac users.

[@Hurricayne92]

A fascinating look at the history of RPG's. Personally I loved the 2002 release of NN.

[@paulwest8575]

"There certainly are an awful lot of them. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." -Bevel Ah, Bevel. I had forgotten all about your cowardly ways. Thankfully we kicked him to the curb shortly thereafter. Loved both games and played quite a bit. Perhaps another visit is in order. Thanks for the content MG, great stuff.

[@PixPunxel]

Best computer RPG ever made. As you say the game itself is more of tech demo of what is possible. Its a tool. And amazing one at that. Its also something we will never again get in this age of cash shops, payed content, etc. A tool that gives players power to create endless quality content, for one time price of a box. Unbelivable in 2020+

[@Deepockent]

Thanks again for showing my favorite so much attention. I'm not a big fan of the Neverwinter MMO personally, but I do hope that the rights for NWN are within the hands of someone to make a wonderfully third title. :-)

[@brentbentKRFP]

Yet another great video! I loved playing NWN! I was constantly trying to build the world's greatest Weapon Master that was Dex based and using a rapier because of it's 18-20 critical threat range, that got doubled from being a Weapond Master makig it 15-20 for its critical threat range. Also loved making the most powerful wizards possible and the Red Dragon Disciple. Both NWN and NWN 2, if you had the expansions, you could start off with characters around level 15, which for a nerd who has been playing D&D a few years after it was originally released is part of my favorite thing to do. I've lost track how many times I've just made high level characters that I never play but created because I enjoy creating high level characters that are OP. You can also do the same with Baldur's Gate if you have the Throne of Bhaal expansion to BG2, which allows you to start out at a super high level where you can cast ninth and tenth level spells.

[@addo-s-]

Weapon Masters using a rapier could achieve 10-20 crit range in NWN 1, Improved Crit & Keen both doubles the 'crit range', from 18-20 to 15-20, to 12-20. WM provided the final additional two, taking it down to 10-20. Good times.

[@brentbentKRFP]

@@addo-s- you're right, it's been ages since I played NWN and my meds and edibles makes my memory mushy.

[@joel5956]

When Mort has to explain what AOL was 😭

[@timothybodey9168]

I still play both of the original Campaigns (and expansions) to this day. I think they're both beautiful.

[@tk3839]

NWN Diamond edition is one of my favorite games, still a good one i enjoy playing again and again. I hope for more modules to be added.

[@Moosenthusiast]

Now Imagine if wrath of the righteous had a toolset similar to aurora

[@valacarno]

That was my first thought. That would become a legend instantly.

[@teddycouch9306]

@B(.Y.)BIES!! it would undermine the sale of their dlcs and possibly future game sales

[@phantommiasma4390]

It likely won't happen, companies monetize everything these days to the nth degree. It would be awesome though 😎

[@rogown2]

@@teddycouch9306 ^This! Instead of having to just compete with other publishers, they would then be competing with all of the sales of their previous game. Without a huge engine or content upgrade nobody wants to buy your sequel since they have near infinite free content, and even that may not save them (see NWN2).

[@Mythicalgoon]

​@@rogown2 Not really, toolsets usually only allow you to use ingame assets or modified ingame assets. NwN1 and NwN 2 used this as a way to push dlc by adding new ingame assets with each dlc release. Obviously you CAN add new assets to the game albeit now easily, when it just natively works the way everything else does by just buying the dlc a lot of people will just opt to use the dlc. Also dlc required for certain online servers or mods would be a thing as well.

[@maxmach4361]

Even though I love NWN1&2, to me the most important thing about that series is that it simply exists. Because if it didn't provide a continuity for old cRPGs then: - Witcher series might have never been created(engine) - Pillars of Eternity1&2 and Tyranny could just stay as an Obsidian's dream - we wouldn't see Pathfinder games - and who knows, maybe Larian would be working now on something different than BG3

[@Kantorath]

One of the coolest pieces of custom content I ever came across in NWN was the entirety of Diablo 1 remade with the toolset. They even had a sound pack you had to install which had all the diablo noises and cinematics. Mindblowing amount of work and was really fun. The Auroa toolset is an incredible tool and I remember buying the toolset handbook. I even managed a to make a stupid little module as a kid by banging my head against a wall until I figured it out enough to do something. Granted that something was me making a super OP greatsword that cast firestorm on every hit but man was it fun burning through the classic campaign lol

[@librarybear3419]

I have some fond memories of this game. I don't remember much about the original campaign plot, but I spent a lot of time trying to translate different side quests, feats and abilities. For me, NWN was an important milestone in learning English and my first big RPG.

[@alessimc]

Still one of my favorite all-time series. Didn't really get into the MMO but did give it a shot many years ago, but absolutely played the crap out of NWN1 and NWN2.

[@kaidorade1317]

“This is not a documentary, simply an observation “ no idea why but this cracked me up!

[@pizzaman1891]

I like these game legacy videos. Would love to see more.

[@user-il2gy2rq5x]

To be frank, I play a lot of neverwinter nights modules from neverwinter vault. There are hundreds but some of them are masterpieces and even compete modern rpg plots (in terms of plot- story like the prophet series, the bastard of Koshigan, a dance with the rogues etc)

[@Alex.Holland]

Please try out Dungeons and Dragons Online, its a 3.5e dnd mmo that really tries to use that ruleset (its deviated more and more over the years) and its fantastic. Its absolutely A tier if you have a few friends to play with as a party. It may be the mmo that is the most different than the norm among mmos. I especially recommend the ravenloft expansion.

[@theglamourisgone5669]

Oh wow I’m going to need to give these a try.

[@Drragnorr]

Oh, Neverwinter Nights, my first "mmorpg". It was this game, that in the end introduced me to the true mmorpg genre, throught the community made persistent worlds. It will always stay in my heart.

[@bikibaws]

played nwn as a kid first then as my neck beard grew I just saw KOTOR 1-2, Jade Empire, Witcher 1 up to Mass Effect and Dragon Age as NWN mods or reskins/improvements. when I recognize the good guy bad guy, light side dark side, paragon renegade system, the menu, camera, the engage/disengage system always made my dumdum brain go "oh they used nwn's skeleton!" all great titles though.

[@Thomas-nn3rz]

There was a persistent world in NWN (2001) That recreated the original 1991 version.

[@00ddub]

Well done, thank you.

[@darksavior1187]

I am hopeful for something in the "future" of these types of games from Owlcat and/or Tactical Adventures. The best TTRPG inspired games I played in the past years are Solasta and Pathfinder WOTR. Tac Adv with Solasta seems to want to make mod tools so here is hoping they keep on that path and refine it, and if Owlcat did something like that for WOTR or either in future games did so, it could be something truly special.

[@ArcaneSorceror]

While I never go into Neverwinter Online (despite being made/run by the team that did City of Heroes) I did get into DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online) and I find that MMO to be one of the best free-to-play MMOs around. It is still supported to this day, gets regular content updates, and while you could unlock certain races and classes through an in-game grind, they have recently released the older unlocks for free, iirc.

[@felixrondeau5029]

Hey, Mort! Ever thought about reviewing the Banner Saga's games? Great video by the way!

[@michaelabbamondi8892]

I only played Neverwinter Nights/Neverwinter Nights 2 offline and never messed with the tool kit. Both some of my favorite games of all times, still. Everyone calls the NWN Campaign a tech demo, maybe I was too young.... but the plague, cult, treason of Aribeth, all of that sits close to me lol.

[@MrPwatson1000]

Great video. I can't disagree with any of it. I really loved NWN 1. Spent days creating worlds and GM'ing for players in different parts of the world, so this was a real trip down memory lane. The world creator for NWN 2 was really advanced for its time but, I believe, too complicated to use which put me off moving to NWN 2 (along with the bugs!).

[@iTzTiMeToJuMp]

When you mentioned modding capability contributing to the longevity of a game I immediately thought of wc3. Up til about when WoW was released, the wc3 modding community was insane and that game felt like it lasted quite a while. That being said, it's not a great business model for continuous monetization for businesses, and I think that's why we see less and less companies adopting strong modding toolsets.

[@TheAzureGhost]

It continued a while longer after WoW release btu got a huge dampener when Blizzard released the statement that they practily want the rights to everything that is created with their editor in order to not repeat the DotA case.

[@iTzTiMeToJuMp]

@@TheAzureGhost I thought that statement came out with reforged, did it come before then?

[@TheAzureGhost]

@@iTzTiMeToJuMp threre was one about that topic arround SC2 release if i remember right (atleast i remember a discussion about that among some mapmakers i hung/played with back then)

[@MrDarkenson]

Here's hope that after Baldur's Gate 3 we will get Icewind Dale 3 and after that Neverwinter Nights 3.

[@billc.8569]

Loved playing the games like Pool of Radiance back in the day. Not sure I played Neverwinter. I remember Baldur's gate and such but some time after that I jumped into Everquest for many years.

[@cerudienpendragon4566]

You say if you will alot lol but great video great info. These games are underrated the amount of people I tried to convince to play these games is redicoulous. Maybe 1 outta 10 people would actually pick it up but when they did they always loved it.

[@lofoten2223]

"This is not a documentary." Goes on to make a 13 minute documentary of the series.

[@MortismalGaming]

Documentary implies evidence and this is mostly opinions

[@solomani5959]

Make of the Betrayer is one of the best stories ever told in CRPGs. Up there with Planescape.

[@Aranneas]

Baldurs gate 2 had a massive modding community and that's a lot of people who got involved in nwn and other modding scenes since then

[@Aranneas]

Dragon age origins also tried to be a modding platform but the community never really took to it - too hard to use and not enough options

[@Darkwizzrobe]

Neverwinter Nights 2 OC also played like a demo, like a big chunk of the game was used to show off different tilesets; like a dungeon of seasons which showcased different seasonal tilesets or going to a volcano so we can see fire giants and a red dragon etc etc.

[@sarahohara5806]

For me the big thing that these games tried was letting the player focus on just that one character, probably to make DnD more accessible. But DnD is always supposed to be a party-based game. And in that way I always found the Neverwinter titles lacking, even if NWN 2 added more control over your companions. I played games like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale first and then going to Neverwinter feels a bit like you are giving up features. I still love the world, the systems and the writing.

[@kristianolesen6173]

While D&D has always been a party game, you have almost never had control over the rest of the party in TTRPGs in the way you do in CRPGs. I miss the days when we didn't have full control over companion levels and equipment.

[@MuttleyVonErich00]

You still get a party feel if you play multiplayer.

[@onatgz]

didn't neverwinter nights (2002) have a dm mode, like dos2? even if it didn't, i'd argue that nwn 2002 was a huge influence on dos2 having a dm mode.

[@HDBeredok]

It did, it was highly used by admin DMs in some persistent worlds where they made server story events and the like.

[@onatgz]

@@HDBeredok ah, cool. i wasn't sure about it. thx.

[@ianhynd9664]

I feel like Shadowrun Returns was crafted to fill this niche, it just wasn’t adopted at the same level. Simply put, Shadowrun doesn’t have the same cultural relevance as DnD, so it never reached those same levels (despite the strong attempt). There are certainly some great UGCs out there, but they are few and far between.

[@joaoteixeira8349]

Mortismal Gaming, one reason that makes it look like NWN2 wasn't as adopted as NWN is that the website used to share custom content was shutdown some time ago, and lots of projects were lost as well. While the new website was realy cool, it didn't saw as much popularity as the old one, which is unfortunate since SoZ had lots of modding potencial.

[@seanmurphy7011]

Thank you for explaining AOL and making me feel OLD. lol.

[@Deriathan1]

I had so much fun on RP servers in NW 1 and 2.

[@konst3d]

That was my second D&D game (after IWD) and I basically lived in it, not just played it. Still playing NWN2 based Persistent World from time to time.

[@Akatharie]

NWN 2 is still my favourite despite some of the issues. You mention that Skyrim still has a massive modding community - have you seen some of the new mods for Oblivion? There is some incredible stuff still being released. Also Morrowind (another favourite) is still being modded.

[@imjodokast]

The developers have stated they used the Neverwinter games for early development on Knights of the Old Republic and Dragon Age.

[@unperson5713]

People STILL mod Neverwinter Nights, I am one of those people. I was on the NWN2 toolset closed beta. Financial concerns derailed both NWN2 and Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO), as those two products were being developed at the same time and competed for resources. As far as the prospects of fans getting a new tool like the Aurora Toolset bundled with NWN, don't hold you breath. Giving players and amateur modders so much flexibility and power is too difficult for developers to efficaciously monetize.

[@Schlumpsha]

Can't wait for the upcoming Baldur's Gate 2 Reloaded fan module for NwN2. I dare say their Baldur's Gate Reloaded was even better than Beamdog's EE release.

[@salami155]

Played on a wheel of time third age world back in the early 2000's. Won't forget the amount of RP I had with NWN1, lots of good memories and people.

[@sindolorum]

nwn was one of my all time fav.

[@mirrorsandstuff]

I love the Neverwinter Nights series, but I'm worried we'll never properly see its like again. Creating a platform to make your own games on was amazing, but with game development being as it is, it's tricky to monetize. Especially when that content can be vast and eclipse the quality of the games a publisher may be putting out.

[@mirrorsandstuff]

I think the big difference between Skyrim and NWN is that people /tend/ to add small additions to Skyrim. A quest here, a shake up of the mechanics there. There are total conversions (Enderal, for example), but they're rarer. With NWN, each module was basically a total conversion.

[@mirrorsandstuff]

Knew someone in uni who did their final year dissertation in NWN's engine. Even a decade later, it still had a really useful scripting engine.

[@dh8203]

To me the real predecessor to the 2002 Neverwinter Nights was Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures. It's really what NWN was, but for the goldbox era and D&D 2nd edition.

[@bugs1yb1ins]

Hey Mortum, great video as always. I wanted to ask, have you ever done any coverage on the Dungeon Siege series and, if not, do you plan to ever do so? Just a random request coz I'd really like to hear your opinion on it because you're damn good at opinions about this stuff lol Cheers

[@MortismalGaming]

Not yet at least, maybe in the future. DS3 in particular I've been debating because its one of the few obsidian games I havent played

[@bugs1yb1ins]

@@MortismalGaming Ah ok, well, obviously you should review what you want, but DS2 is a much better game than 3 in all aspects but story (and even then it's debatable who is best). It has aged rather well imo! I've decided to replay it since I only played the base game, gonna do it with the Broken World expansion this time (but I'm doing it coz I played it more than 15 years ago haha, also because it was a blast) Don't get me wrong DS3 is a decent game too, I don't hate like a lot of the franchise's fans do, it just... wasn't Dungeon Siege anymore, or what it was originally, they reduced the number of characters in favour of more individualization of said characters (not a bad thing) but reduced party size to two (that SOURED fans of the series big time), story had nothing to do with first two titles' stories, the dungeons were much smaller in scope and the spell system was reworked to this toggle between two stances thing that felt nothing like the previous games with all the combos and combinations, also the loot scope was smaller A well done game, just not what had made Dungeon Siege Dungeon Siege.

[@Carcerian]

You can actually still play original neverwinter nights persistant worlds using the open source gamespy replacement "Neverrun" or by direct connect to server ips or web urls in some cases.

[@alanborges4392]

The EE update is awesome for NwN. The CEP content, Project Q, and so many vast arrays of downloadable content to continue to make the game fresh continue to push this bad boys longevity. Forgotten Realms Cormyr (FRC) happens to be a very fun server to enjoy. The EE team that pieced together Baldurs Gate 1 and 2 still drive me to play that old bird. I never played NwN2 though.

[@MuttleyVonErich00]

What time zone are you? I never finished the OC or Mask Of The Betrayer. If we could get a group of 4 going(UK/EU time zone) I would be keen to play through RP heavy style if people are up for it.

[@axebeard6085]

I've been playing video games since the Atari 2600 first came out. In the 2000's, I fell in love with MMO's. Then Neverwinter took that love and stabbed it in the heart. Commercial video games have always had a profit motive. But when the Sea of Moving Ice was added, I found myself floating in a boat for days on end doing a fiddly fishing game that was designed to require all your attention to play. That was when I realized that manufactured discontent had gotten out of hand. Neverwinter had created a game feature so tedious and unenjoyable that it made handing over fat stacks of cash seem reasonable. Thanks to Neverwinter, every MMO now seems as appealing as a multi-year tax audit.

[@itsmarmalade]

115,000 players playing an mmo in 1997 is actually insane.

[@ded2thaworld963]

Hell, i still play the first ones multiplayer on my phone sometimes. There are still a lot of VERY well made game worlds running

[@ded2thaworld963]

@@tymmezinni i was surprised. I bought it for my phone because i was away a lot at the time so wanted something to do while on the road or where ever. I got it for nostalgia factor, but was legit surprised to see so many still playing it and maintaining modules or worlds or whatever you call it.

[@Random_Chiroptera]

I found NWN2 immensely useful for playtesting a variety of character builds before ever bringing them to TRPGs. Distribution of Ability Scores, skill points, feat and/or spell selections, etc. These details and minor adjustments can often make the difference between a build that dies too easily, and one that has a good run.

[@MuttleyVonErich00]

*cries in nostalgia*

[@aka-47k]

actually Neverwinter the mmo did have a foundry, where you could create custom maps/stories/big overarching plots ect, but the company killed it because cryptic did feel the pressure cause players always said that those custom storys were better then the official campaigns.

[@dempa3]

I think I'd be very interesting to aee a toolset which would allow you to mix meticulously made environments, dialogues, plots and intrigues, and proceduraly generated content. Imagine that you'd like to create a certain dungeon, or dialogue, but to also mix it up with other content that can change between playthroughs. Or on a hihher level, you want to create intrigues and plot that can be "injected" and acted out by different characters, factions, in different environments between each playthrough. And it would let you as a creator to go in to as much details as you'd like.

[@TheChaoskg]

Also, as far as I remember, the first Witcher game use the first NWN engine (I think Aurora is the name).

[@MortismalGaming]

Heavily modified but yeah