Choose My Adventure: Finding a hat in Neverwinter

When we last left off in Neverwinter, I was finding out whether or not people wanted me to purchase the game’s subscription-but-not-really. You voted a resounding no, although quite a few of you voted no on the basis of this making me angry faster or something like that. Guys, is this a thing? Do you just want me to be sad? I don’t think we can be friends if that’s the case, and I’m usually sad anyway. It’s not a long walk.

Also, Ceilarene was hot on the trail of the thieves who stole the crown of Neverwinter. Or somewhat warm on the trail, at least. The crown in question isn’t a magical artifact, though, it’s just a crown. I think it’s just a mark of office, anyhow; it might be magical after all. Either way, it does confer a certain degree of status and it looks really neat, so presumably I should actually chase after the jerks who stole it. That means heading to another district of the city, the Blacklake District. If that sounds like a bad part of town… well, yes.

I’m increasingly getting the sinking feeling that Protector’s Enclave is the only part of the city which hasn’t gone completely to hell, which is kind of disappointing. I mean, I get it; considering that Neverwinter itself is a really big city, it makes sense to only have some parts of the city as safe zones. But it’s also kind of disappointing at the same time. I like having more than one place to call home, even if it’s just for roleplaying I never actually expect to do.

This district is also where the game opened up a bit more, as it serves as a shared zone with other people around rather than being limited just to Ceilarene and whatever horrors she’s dredged up from the abyss. (It’s a whole thing for Scourge Warlocks.) Mostly, this means that it’s good form for everyone to shoot at targets so they all die together. Perhaps not the most original arrangement, but it’s nice to see that the game still feels fair and exciting when other people are running around.

I also wound up with a sidequest based off of my race, since being a tiefling means that my ancestors made a contract with demons. Turns out those things don’t expire with time, so I had to help warn the seditious Nasher twits in the district about a demonic cult infiltrating them.

Joking aside, I kind of like this; it’s portrayed as being something where you don’t really want to help these people, but letting it go is actually notably worse. I can appreciate that, and I also like the idea of putting up various posters around the district warning the seditionists that they’re being manipulated. I assume those will go over well. Well, I did all I could; back to the main plot.

One of the crown’s thieves was off in the sewers being held prisoner by were-rats, and I offer my thanks for getting the sewers out of the way quickly. It’s a romp much like the other bits, but this time with one more active power in my arsenal. I appreciate the slow roll that Neverwinter has of its systems and complexities, always providing something new to do without ever just inundating me with more systems. I’ve never felt like I’m far from another unlock or another ability, but I’ve also always felt as if I have enough time to get used to the things I have.

Of course, respecs are limited, and I am going to bet dollars to donuts that there are huge mistakes you can make at an early level which you’ll need to buy a respec to fix. That’s kind of the nature of the beast. Having said that, I’m willing to forgive that a bit more just because getting into the game is already fun. That really does cover many sins.

Locating the thief results in him happily selling out his former employer, but on my way back I happened to notice that the skirmish-master was sitting right there. Why, there’s a skirmish! I could queue up for it! Should I do so? Behold, a poll!

I also couldn’t help but notice that Foundry access was “temporarily disabled.” I’m not sure how long that’s been the case, but if it’s been more than a couple of days, that does not bode well.

Now that I had a path to go hot on the trail of the Nasher leader, I set off as fast as my not-actually-hooves could carry me to the Nasher stronghold, which had been set on fire for some reason. He escaped from there, which meant that I had to chase him down yet again after a couple of perfunctory sidequests. I’m being a touch dismissive here, I know, but the fact is that all of this does flow nicely and have an entertaining rhythm. Each one of the door missions has a fair number of side stuff to explore here and there, so you aren’t just walking down a decorative hallway, and they all cap off with a simple boss fight that manages to be entertaining as long as it lasts.

In the immolated Nasher hideout, for example, I had a companion tagging behind me and had to face off against two bosses at the same time. When I caught up with the actual leader, he kept summoning in disposable minions like the boss of a side-scrolling brawler. (And he kind of looked like one, too.) For quick and largely self-sustaining solo content, this is enough depth to make things memorable without becoming frustrating.

Of course, his stream of little minions actually made things easier for me, since that meant I could easily resummon my Soul Puppet by using one of my abilities to kill them more or less instantly, but that’s not the point.

Beating up the leader, naturally, resulted in uncovering the crown itself, so I hoofed it on back to Protector’s Enclave for a pat on the back and a questline completion. That, in turn, opened up several new questlines across the city, albeit without much direction about which one is most important. Ah, well, I’ll just pick one. Or I’ll go queue up, depending on the poll results. Life is an adventure!

This particular adventure will continue next week, when I will most likely not be able to befriend an injured kitten and nurse it back to health in-game. You can, however, still leave your feedback down below or mail it along to eliot@massivelyop.com. On the off chance I do befriend an injured kitten, you may also use this for name suggestions.