Neverwinter Nights
Well, now I have recovered from a mild case of food poisoning, it's time to dive back into Blogging. You may have noticed no updates since last Wednesday, other than a brief cry of pain yesterday morning. I HAVE been doing stuff in between. Simons party was fun!

I have also been playing far too much Neverwinter Nights. My enforced homestay thanks to gastro meant I actually got back into NWN over the weekend. I had spent Saturday cleaning and organising in readiness for a mega-session on Sunday. This merely extended by a day.

Graphically, it's OK. The camera handles well, but it's no work of art. I'd describe it as functional.

Graphics, however, don't make a game. This is one reason I play so many "retro" games. This game made me think of Ultima, circa Ultima 5, or maybe Wasteland. It has an intense amount of gameplay. I have heard it said that there is a minimum of 60 hours of gameplay, if you go through and don't do any side quests. It terrifies me, as I enjoy the sidequests so I could be playing this well into next year... There always seems to be something to do. Many of the quest elements can be safely ignored, or, alternatively you can go the whole shebang.

The combat is well balanced. Most creatures are a challenge, but suitable application of appropriate healing and maybe the odd spell and you are through. Boss Monsters, however, tend to be truly challenging, taking a careful application of violence, tactics, and use of the more powerful tools in your repitoire. I have found monsters that I had to really stop and think about before I was able to overcome them.

It also threatens a good amount of replay value, what with the level editor, and dozens of quests I seem to have missed.

I tend to value things in the number of $10 movie tickets it'd replace. A movie for $10 provides 2 hours of entertainment. Therefore a game should give me 10 hours of entertainment for $50, or 20 for $100. Currently I have clocked somewhere closer to 30 hours for $50, so we are talking very good bang for buck here.