Slam your sword into a barrel or bump into a tapestry - and shock upon shock - they move! (Bummer, then, that you can't sit in chairs.) Where Neverwinter’s visual failings are most noticeable is in the sad fact that the models for my character’s armor and weapons scarcely changed throughout my trek to the level cap of 60. Most notably, Neverwinter has a physics system absent from most other MMOs. Character models themselves look like holdovers from the PlayStation 2 era, though they’re extensively customizable and the world itself is full of little surprises. Who needs raids in a fantasy MMO when you can create scenarios like this?Ĭryptic certainly gets the high-fantasy ambiance of Dungeons & Dragons right, at least, but Neverwinter isn’t an overtly pretty game outside of a few breathtaking vistas. For all of the flaws springing from Neverwinter's dogged linearity, its high-priced cash shop, and over-reliance on instances, developer Cryptic gives all of us the tools to create more memorable dungeon experiences than you'll find in its big-budget cousins.

And here's the really surprising thing: I was playing a user-created dungeon called Tired of Being the Hero. (I've no idea what I would have dropped.) It was awesome, silly fun you just don’t find in most other MMORPGs, particularly not free-to-play ones. Like Michael Douglas in Falling Down, I'd somehow become the bad guy – the boss even – prompting five-man groups of adventurers to rush in and try to take me down.

I'd grown sick of the tank's inability to hold aggro and the mage's smartass commentary, and so I slew them and took their loot. And suddenly it hit me: I couldn't stand these people. I discovered my favorite quest in Neverwinter about 30 levels in, when I stood overlooking a fiery pit with my dungeon group scattered around me.

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