FOREWORD, GREETS & DISCLAIMER:
Hey there!
So you may have noticed that the Beta Weekends for Neverwinter have absolutely no NDA for BWE testers. I decided to take advantage of this by writing up a preview that should hopefully offer some insight on the good and the bad of the beta.
(Please keep in mind the following: This is the FIRST
beta weekend and any content, information and images provided may not reflect the final product. As of BWE 1, three options were unavailable to play: the starter player character race of Drow, the starter PC class of Great Weapon Fighter and the starter PC class of Control Wizard. It appears that all other launch races and classes ARE currently available.)
Remember, this is only my take on the game so far. Feel free to disagree or counter any of my points -- this is just what I personally thought!
Without further adue, on with the show!
ART, CUSTOMIZATION & DETAIL:
Overall, Neverwinter so far has a rather detailed character creation system with a very fair number of customization options and details to let you create a unique character and to let your character look not only impressive, but to fine-tune the smallest details of your avatar from hand-picking your favorite appearance gear to actually 'skin' over the model/texture of your strongest equipment, to dying your armor -- and even modifying the color of your weapons and accessories.
This is done through a system of dyes or even dye /packs/ that can both be looted or purchased through the Cryptic Store (their version of a cash shop), letting you customize gear down to portions of the model itself -- and without worrying that you'll be Robby the Rainbow Ranger as you progress through the game thanks to dyes, you can also forgo your worries about looking like Bob the Blocky Barbarian due to a system in place that allows you to 'consume' (use and discard) the appearance of another item and transplant it square onto the appearance of another. This lets you keep a cool, preferable appearance while letting you kick butts with the best of them and sacrifice nothing in the playability department.
Neverwinter's actual character creation is lovingly detailed. While it does seem to be missing some options that it could use in terms of some more hairstyles and face textures, it shares what appears to be a happy medium between Star Trek Online's character creation and that of Champions Online in that it allows you a massive amount of freedom over its color choices of your eyes, skin tone, hair and the likes (in spite of its somewhat modest color palette), body and face sliders, and choices in everything from tattooing to scarring to complexion and the shape of your facial features.
(I'm only somewhat sneering at you!)
It has a good number of options in each customization category that differ from race to race; some races have different options from others in terms of hairstyles, eye color and the likes, which makes sense given that an elf shouldn't have a tiefling's eye type or coloration, right? It does lack some unfortunately basic appearance options such as hair styles that you think would be obvious starter options, as well as a height slider. This is somewhat made up for by the body shapes the game offers right from the get-go.
(Armor and character detail are impressive. This is the game on maxed-out graphics.)
What's even more interesting yet is the Foundry, which appears to be Star Trek Online's Foundry if STO's Foundry were Superman on crack. While currently locked in BWE1, I was able to explore some of the already-present creations from other players (perhaps from testing phases past), and the offerings were rather incredibly detailed. I noticed that we could apparently change anything from the enemy types present, to their very appearance down to the sliders. Custom dialogue was also present and dialogue branches were clearly available to be tailored to the scripting choices that the author of the custom content favored. This paired with the fact that we will apparently be able to chain together quests into an over-arcing 'storyline' holds promise for epic campaigns and recreating fond memories of basement tabletop sessions. Where is the Mountain Dew indeed.
With gorgeous surroundings and environments, the game feels as much like an authentic Neverwinter as Atari's original 1990s/2000s imagining of the tabletop setting of Faerun. Even the darkest dungeon and stinkiest sewers have a level of liveliness and intrigue to them, and rolling terrains and vibrant, stellar landscapes can really catch your eye in the most intense fights.
(The surroundings and the thought put into them continue to impress.)
The Nutshell:
Sweet Deals:
*An excellent character creation foundation
*The Foundry 'preview' totes an impressive amount of depth and detail
*The wide variety of appearances in armor and weapons, even cross-classes yields promising possibilities for customizing your character.
*Beautiful environments and surroundings truly envelop and immerse you in a word that feels like an authentic replication of what comes to mind when one thinks 'Faerun'
*A long list of emotes, stances and social animations are a nice bonus
Sour Deals: (Things that I found to negatively impact the fun of the game that will hopefully be addressed at some point before launch or in a patch.)
*No height sliders are a big question mark from me
*A total lack of some basic character customization options and choices in dyes
*Characters can be difficult to make 'beautiful'. Some of the options come across as starkly skewed towards the opposite of that
*The chat settings are debatable to begin with. Some will consider the basic chat and channel options to be an eye-sore and will mess with them immediately. Others won't care so much
CLASSES, CORE MECHANICS/COMBAT & PROGRESSION/GAMEPLAY:
Though only three of the five starting classes were available and I've so far only sampled the profferings of the Trickster Rogue and Guardian Fighter, I will fully admit that Neverwinter plays more like a robust hack'n'slash game than a hotbar-spammer's MMO. This can be both good and bad; a total of less than a dozen on-screen hotkeys consisting of mostly-interchangable abilities will bug some players more accustomed to having tray after tray of hotbar abilities, who will have some adjustments to make to really feel at home with Neverwinter's control scheme.
The benefit of this, of course, is that players who enjoy the more action-oriented combat that most RPGs seem to be taking a kindness towards nowadays, will feel right at home in the nest of ability and spell options that the player earns along their path of progression. The best part about this is that while you'll have a full set of abilities by level 10, progression beyond such levels continues to offer abilities by way of 'alternate abilities' that you can swap onto or off of your hotbar to better fit your playstyle. If you're the kind of player that wants snares and damage-over-time abilities to maul your opponent, or the type that enjoys mauling them with spike or burst damage attacks, or some mix there-of, you're perfectly allowed to do that. Feat lines are deep and allow you to really enhance your playstyle rather than punishing you for thinking outside the box.
Neverwinter's strongest suit and the aspect of the game that truly shines the most is its combat and gameplay. Questing is simple, but does not force you to grind to progress through the story or gameplay; one could say you wouldn't notice if the questing was boring simply because the combat is so intense and entertaining, playing more like a true action RPG than a lot of others to come out recently. Whether you're raising your shield to block a hail of arrows or making an effort to dodge a heavy-hitting swing so you can roll right behind the enemy and stab their flank, combat feels fluid, flowing, intensive and truly reactive. Using the wrong ability at the wrong time can be your undoing, but popping a consumable heal can help you recover. I would say the biggest problem so far is that the majority of the game can feel a might bit too easy to advanced MMO gamers, but I anticipate that will change at some point past the level I'm at (I'm closing in on my 20s).
Itemization and loot feel fair. You're able to make use of almost every drop you pick up, whether it's a potion or a new upgrade, without their being such a stark difference as levels progress that you feel like you're useless because you're level 14 with a level 10 set of accessories.
(Sorry, was that you I just bisected? I didn't notice in the hordes of your kin that I murdered.)
Racial and class abilities (and the combinations thereof) are not overpowered and seem to be just there for flavor, so you aren't 'gimped' for picking one race and another class. Race and class combinations are entirely up to even the strictest number-crunching min-maxer.
Sweet Deals:
*Combat is reactive and intense. Attacks feel brutal and heavy without weighing you down with a ridiculous amount of visual cues or effects and most importnatly, combat is overall very action-oriented and FUN.
*Race choice is almost entirely cosmetic and do not truly affect stat options, and if you somehow accidentally roll up 20 Charisma at the start of building your wizard, you aren't forced to be the prettiest mage in-town and can reroll until you get a hand of 'cards' (or stats) you're happy with
*Almost all of Neverwinter's gameplay is rewarding and interesting whether you're a solo player or if you enjoy group dynamics. You are not punished or told you're a bad dog regardless of what level of interaction you prefer with friends or strangers. Party dynamics are important. Every class is invaluable whether the guardian fighter is tanking the hordes of angry mobs, the rogue is adding damage and detecting traps or the cleric is laying down spells to maintain party health and control the battlefield. Any class can turn the tide of a dungeon crawl, but creative groups are rewarded for their ingenuity.
Sour Deals:
*Combat seems to favor advanced players, and will take some getting used to for players used to the more 'static' combat of many other MMOs. I can imagine this will be both a blessing and a curse for new players
*Some combat is definitely too easy, especially with consumables. Hopefully this changes with progression
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS, CONSIDERATIONS ON CHANGES & THE FINAL VERDICT
With all that said, Neverwinter has the promise to be a very fun and admittedly very impressive addition to any MMO gamers "Free to Play" collection. While Neverwinter may not stack up impressively as other current or upcoming titles in the genre, it still stands tall and proud as a very fun and very strongly-built game, which continues to wow me with the idea that I'm playing a game that's going to actually be 100% free and that isn't kicking me in the shin for not ponying up to unlock extras.
The cash shop is fair; there is no need to unlock basic game functions, class mechanics, nothing. It appears to consist entirely of game enhancements and cosmetic or vanity options, absolutely nothing available to allow a character or player to become "Pay-to-Win." On top of all this, the core combat and gameplay are endlessly entertaining, progression feels flowing and fluid and it does a solid job of letting you make a unique-looking character and feel like you truly are a hero of Neverwinter.
Overall, this game has a solid foundation and if Cryptic continues to pump the same loving updates it puts into its other titles post-launch (Here's lookin' at you,
kid STO), it can only improve.
7.75/10
Comments
Occam's Razor makes the cutting clean.
Their mistake was they made too different kind of game, STO was their best IP, they should've done Star Trek, Battlestar Galatica and maybe Stargate for example.
I vehemently disagree. The reason isn't because it's "too different", it's because there's no development or new content.
Occam's Razor makes the cutting clean.
I don't want to move it from here because, as it is clear, this is an all purpose review and not 'feedback' but it does greatly highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the game which in most regards I agree with you on.
Thanks for posting this!
I think players and developers will find it very insightful
Hey, thanks for the kind words! I'll get on posting this cross-forum as well!
That said I loved the game and concepts for future play, however I have no intention of playing any game where the only advantage of skill is a minor amount of money saved on pots... STO is a great example of challenge-less fun. But I have had my fill of brainless grinds.
If they dont beef up the game difficulty even at the 15+ level range, ill have to abandon my founders pack and spend time doing something fun. And no, I dont thing playing against a guy with no arms in tennis fun.
Archterra Magnairam Zealbourne
The Devil of Destrado
Exactly. CO has gone developer silent for what, SIX MONTHS now? Think of what any other MMO could do in that time span, then look at CO.
That said, excellent preview. Glad to see you posted it here from where I saw it originally on CORP.