For the final eight years on Xbox, gamers have been in a position to enter the Forgotten Realms and expertise the world of Dungeons & Dragons for themselves, by means of the free-to-play MMO Neverwinter. Now, as Neverwinter brings its Menzonberranzan arc to an finish with the most recent launch, The Demonweb Pits, we sat down with Neverwinter’s Lead Content Designer, Elliot Minner, to speak concerning the final decade of adventures.
The Forgotten Realms is a basic setting, and gave the Neverwinter crew the prospect to convey basic Dungeons & Dragons characters to life and let gamers work together with them. Doing this has allowed the builders to discover a few of their favourite heroes and villains.
“We’ve been lucky enough to put some of our absolute favorites in the game,” Minner stated. “Antagonists like Strahd von Zarovich and heroes like Drizzt Do’urden and the Companions of the Hall. In fact, we recently were able to partner with R.A. Salvatore and his son Geno Salvatore to write an original story involving Menzoberranzan and Drizzt.”
Many of Neverwinter’s updates, known as Modules, are based mostly straight on the modules launched by Wizards of the Coast for the final two editions of Dungeons & Dragons. When crafting these tales into gameplay experiences, Minner says they’re cautious to observe the unique plotline, however put their very own twist on it.
“We try to stay true to the character and story, but adapt it to what the game needs,” Minners explains. “So we’ll usually change or add skills to make a cool combat, or place the characters in a unique model of the plot as a result of we aren’t in a position to observe the module one to 1. With all the things we make, we work with Wizards of the Coast to verify it matches their imaginative and prescient, and so they’re very supportive after we add our personal touches to the IP.“
Of course, bringing beloved D&D characters like Jarlaxle to life comes with its personal obligations. Players can have their very own imaginative and prescient of those characters that’s lived of their heads for literal a long time. While no model will be excellent, the crew are all large Dungeons & Dragons nerds, and work to get as shut as they will.
“Our content writers sit down and think about the characters and their plot lines, and write to the character’s history,” Minner says. “We have a huge bookshelf of Dungeons & Dragons novels in the office, if anyone needs to reference a character’s established voice. Then we send that writing to our talented audio team, who cast the right person for the job and direct them to give a satisfying performance.”
Neverwinter isn’t the primary Dungeons & Dragons recreation, and it isn’t the primary to convey these basic heroes and villains to life. Asked what units Neverwinter aside from different video games within the Forgotten Realms, Minner says: “As an MMO, Neverwinter is all about playing together. You can meet Elminster with your friends, and interact with him as a party. I love the feeling of getting a group of friends together to battle one of our epic bosses, like Lolth herself.”
When requested about one character he would add if given the prospect, Minner laughs. “Bahamut, definitely,” he says. “The dragon god of justice. I mean, how cool would that be?”
Neverwinter’s The Demonweb Pits is on the market on Xbox consoles now.
Neverwinter
Gearbox Publishing
Neverwinter is the premier Dungeons & Dragons MMORPG expertise, that includes fast-paced fight and epic dungeons. Explore the huge metropolis of Neverwinter and its surrounding areas, battle its many enemies, and be part of Forgotten Realms historical past.
Experience Dungeons & Dragons Like Never Before – Neverwinter is an motion MMORPG that bridges intense fight with basic D&D gameplay. Journey by means of the town of Neverwinter and the legendary subcontinent of Faerûn, and face off towards the best adversaries from D&D legend.
Build Your Own Legend – Bring your adventures to life by means of iconic D&D lessons and races, superior paragon paths, companions, and a exceptional vary of customization choices. Whether you’re searching dragons and beholders inside crumbling dungeons or battling different gamers within the icy reaches of Icespire Peak, you’ll uncover why Neverwinter is the definitive Dungeons & Dragons expertise.
Optimized for Xbox One – Neverwinter evokes basic Dungeons & Dragons adventures with a completely optimized participant expertise for Xbox One. The fast-paced motion gameplay of Neverwinter has been mapped to the Xbox One controller, giving adventures the power to maneuver across the battlefield and forged highly effective spells with ease. Xbox One gamers may use their Xbox One mates record to seek out and celebration up with others as they discover iconic places of the Dungeons & Dragons universe.
This recreation helps English, French, German, Italian, and Russian.
Additional System necessities: Minimum broadband web connection of 512 Kbps is required to entry all options.
Discussion about this post