Atari - Announce Neverwinter

There's not a lot of details on the new Neverwinter game other than it's a co-op rpg by Cryptic inspired by R.A. Salvatore's upcoming book trilogy. Eurogamer have the Neverwinter announcement details.

Cryptic COO Jack Emmert had this to say: "We're beyond thrilled to develop a brand new version of Neverwinter.
"It's been years since the original became a gaming icon and we're honored to work with such a great franchise.
"We've been working closely with Wizards of the Coast and R.A. Salvatore to create an authentic D&D adventure filled with compelling fiction and exciting gameplay."
Gamers will choose to become one of five classic D&D classes and team up with friends or the AI to form five-person co-op groups.
There's an "extremely user-friendly" content generation system called Forge, too.
Book one in Salvatore's Neverwinter trilogy, Gauntlgrym, will be released on 5th October this year, and "lays the groundwork for the Neverwinter storyline".
Atari's launched a website for the game, from which you can follow using Facebook and Twitter.

Edit: There's a Q&A at Gamespot with more detail on the game.
More information.

And full press release is here:
http://www.playneverwinter.com/press

I love the sound of the persistent world type thing they are aiming for, and that user generated content is in. I just hope they settle on a revenue method I'm happy with

I dont know how many here haw MMO playing experience.
But if you do you are surely acquainted with infamy of Cryptic. This company practices a formula of adopting famous franchise. Creating a semblance of a game in shortest possible time. And than maximizing on the first day sales (of lifetime packages) before the fans realize they have been cheated.

Atari on other hand is well known to all for abusing and ruining D&D licence for years now.Even the WOTC is suing them desperately trying to revoke exclusive distribution rights.

4th edition D&D is unloved by most of pnp D&D players

And new Forgotten realms lore is so bad WOTC had halted the press of new novels.



This MMO or whatever it is , must be the marriage made in hell.
Probably the worst D&D based game waiting to happen.

It was just announced and people already hate it

I did not see MMO listed any where in the details neither here or at the website
I think what you will get is more like Titan Quest nights, not that that is a bad thing

With all the success of the Diablos I think it was just a matter of time
I am betting they will have a mechanism for you to buy DLC also just another sign of the times

Please have some of Salvatore's characters as NPC- That would work for me

I read they got rid of Bill Roper. Perhaps that means good things for this game

Originally Posted by Twotricks
Atari on other hand is well known to all for abusing and ruining D&D licence for years now.Even the WOTC is suing them desperately trying to revoke exclusive distribution rights.

Because NWN and NWN2 were such awful examples of D&D games.. oh wait, they weren't.

4th edition D&D is unloved by most of pnp D&D players

By most 3rd ed players, just like 3rd ed was unloved by most of 2nd ed players etc. etc.

I've not tried 4th ed, but I bet it's appealing to new players, and some of us old farts don't have the time to play any more.

And new Forgotten realms lore is so bad WOTC had halted the press of new novels.

It could get worse?

It was just announced and people already hate it

Can you name any mainstream sequel/series continuation etc. where that wasn't the case? People love it too

I'm sorry, but this game sounds terrible.

Gamers will choose to become one of five classic D&D classes and team up with friends or the AI to form five-person co-op groups.

First: a D&D game with only five classes to choose from?!

Second: since they're saying "co-op", instead of "party", I assume you'll only have control over 1 character, even in single-player.

No thanks….

I dont really mind cutting down on the number of classes, provided you have freedom to flesh out your character within the class. Having a ton of overlapping/redundant classes with linear progression is not very interesting to me.

The way they describe co-op sounds a bit off-putting though. I have yet to see satisfactory AI NPC control in a game.

Might still try it as there is a dearth of games to play with the gf though…

This sounds more like a co-op version of DDO than Neverwinter Nights 1…

Not excited about 4th edition…

Originally Posted by JDR13
First: a D&D game with only five classes to choose from?!

Fighter, Rogue, Ranger, Mage and Cleric.

Barbarian and Paladin were just variations of the Fighter, Sorcerer of the Mage and Monk and Druid were weird offshots. Those four mentioned were the distinct ones.

Originally Posted by kalniel
I've not tried 4th ed, but I bet it's appealing to new players, and some of us old farts don't have the time to play any more.

I think you are spot on here.

Originally Posted by JemyM
Barbarian and Paladin were just variations of the Fighter, Sorcerer of the Mage and Monk and Druid were weird offshots. Those four mentioned were the distinct ones.

They were variations that many people liked to roleplay. Part of the appeal of D&D has always been the large variety of classes, even if some of them were similar.

Originally Posted by JDR13
They were variations that many people liked to roleplay. Part of the appeal of D&D has always been the large variety of classes, even if some of them were similar.

The last campaign I DMed I restricted the choices to the classic four, because I knew they were enough and the group would have a great time. I'm sure there will be expansions/DLC/train robberies if you want additional classes down the line, but they've provided enough to have fun.

This sounds like a MMO type system to me…or I guess it would be like a HUB or something.

The word "persistent" I'd think ensures that it's some sort of MMO type setup.

World Without End
Neverwinter features co-operative multiplayer in an ever-evolving, persistent world where Dungeons & Dragons adventurers quest alongside thousands of other warriors, rogues, wizards and faithful avengers.

http://www.playneverwinter.com/about

Added the source.

Originally Posted by kalniel
The last campaign I DMed I restricted the choices to the classic four, because I knew they were enough and the group would have a great time. I'm sure there will be expansions/DLC/train robberies if you want additional classes down the line, but they've provided enough to have fun.

That doesn't change the fact that it's a big downgrade, in terms of choice, compared to past D&D crpgs.

I'm sure there's lots of people, maybe even the majority, who won't care, but there are still plenty who will.

Originally Posted by Roland
This sounds like a MMO type system to me…or I guess it would be like a HUB or something.

There was something in the gamespot Q&A where I thought they distanced themselves from that idea, but I think it would be awesome. Imagine a hub where you could choose to play official modules or instead take an adventure created by other users with the toolset, as you fancy.

Originally Posted by JDR13
That doesn't change the fact that it's a big downgrade, in terms of choice, compared to past D&D crpgs.

Sure, but quantity != quality.

Originally Posted by kalniel
Sure, but quantity != quality.

Well hopefully I'm wrong, but my first impression is that this is going to be nothing more than a simplistic action-RPG attempting to cash in on the NWN name.

Sounds very much like an MMORPG to me.

Thanks to everyone who wrote in, such as Kalniel and VoxClamant.

Doesn't DDO already cater to the small-party-MMO thing for D&D?

Meh. After Champions Online and Star Trek Online, I'm not touching this with a 10' pole