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Where can I get Mysteries at Westgate?


Potemkin

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So far as I am aware the only way to get it at the moment is as part of the NWN bundle (which I think only Gamersgate has). That is of course a bundle rather than a separate download though, and is currently rather expensive considering it has been in the $6 range before. You can get GG to send you email alerts on price drops and the like, since they are having a Thanksgiving sale- despite being Swedish- that supposedly extends right to christmas it may well be part of that at some point.

Edited by Zoraptor
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  • 4 weeks later...

All of this is speculation on my part. But, since no one involved is talking these are the best guesses I can make about why NWN1/2 has nearly vanished from retailers and commercial websites.

 

Something has gone terribly wrong with the terms of a Atari - Hasbro settlement, particularly with the sale of Cryptic Studios. Personally, I believe Atari, and all the studios involved in the production of "Neverwinter" based IP have lost the right to use the name retroactively. Specifically when Atari sold Cryptic to that Chinese MMO sweatshop company, which was holding the current license to use the name. IANAL but somehow, my best guess is that someone in legal wasn't paying attention and didn't realize the retroactive use of the name was being given up.

 

Why do I think this? Look at what has happened in the last year: Atari settles with Hasbro, Atari sells Cryptic to Perfect World, 6 months later all Neverwinter Nights related products disappear from Atari's site. All US based digital content distributors (GoG, Steam, etc.), pull the titles and will only say "no further information is available" when inquiries are made. All studios involved in Neverwinter Nights content suddenly remove almost all WoTC artwork and references to Neverwinter Nights not shown in plain text fonts: Obsidian, EA Bioware, and even Ossian's MoG home page is reduced to plain text.

 

I ran across all this because, somewhere along the lines of the last 6 years, I never got around to buying NWN2. I went looking about a month ago and let me tell you it has been a headache. The web is littered by a metaphorical fallout of broken links to places that sell "NWN2" or the expansions. The platinum edition has risen to over $100 on eBay and Amazon.

 

What went wrong? I don't exactly know. Either part of the Atari-Hasbro settlement involved no further use of the name or when Atari sold Cryptic the retroactive use of the name mistakenly went with that sale. Either way, this is bad, especially for Hasbro. Obviously, a lot of work goes into game development. Developers and publishers will not want to work with an IP owner that has a history of pulling rug out from under them on future sales of existing work. Especially now, in the era of digital downloads where things can become popular in retro gaming years after release. Even if Atari made the mistake during their sale of Cryptic, the appearance to me, and a lot of other people, is that Hasbro yanked the rights to sell a finished and shipped game. Not just one, but 2 games with 2 expansions and other DLC in the process.

 

Yea I know, that didn't answer your question... but I'm hoping that it will shed light on the problem. Here is how I managed to finally purchase NWN2, the expansions and Mysteries of Westgate: Call up your local Gamestop and ask them to if they have "Neverwinter Nights Complete". And, if they don't, ask them to search inventories of nearby stores. I got one marked down to twenty-something dollars and it includes Mysteries of Westgate.

 

The box warns you it won't run on 64 bit systems, but that's incorrect. Here's how I made mine run on Windows 7 Ultimate: First, download and install DirectX 9.xC for Windows 7. No, it doesn't come with version 9 natively installed, but if you have Steam and any older games installed it's already likely to be on your system. Next, install NWN2 from the DVD. When it's finished right click the NWN2 icon and select properties. Click the Compatibility tab, click the first checkbox and select Windows XP (Service Pack 3), and then click okay. The game runs for me glitch free this way.

 

Cheers...

Edited by Luridis

Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt. - Julius Caesar

 

:facepalm: #define TRUE (!FALSE)

I ran across an article where the above statement was found in a release tarball. LOL! Who does something like this? Predictably, this oddity was found when the article's author tried to build said tarball and the compiler promptly went into cardiac arrest. If you're not a developer, imagine telling someone the literal meaning of up is "not down". Such nonsense makes computers, and developers... angry.

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Atari settles with Hasbro, Atari sells Cryptic to Perfect World, 6 months later all Neverwinter Nights related products disappear from Atari's site. All US based digital content distributors (GoG, Steam, etc.), pull the titles and will only say "no further information is available" when inquiries are made.
As I recall, all D&D games were pulled from Digital Distributors. This seemed to be because of a general transition of the license from Atari to Hasbro.

 

For some reason, Neverwinter Nights 2 did not return. Actually, I swear I saw it return, then get pulled again.

"Show me a man who "plays fair" and I'll show you a very talented cheater."
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If you don't mind paying $15 (currently on a 50% sale) for NWN2 plus expansions, you can buy it digitally here

 

Also includes the NWN1 stuff in the price if you for some reason want to check that out too,

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“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein
 

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As I recall, all D&D games were pulled from Digital Distributors. This seemed to be because of a general transition of the license from Atari to Hasbro.

 

For some reason, Neverwinter Nights 2 did not return. Actually, I swear I saw it return, then get pulled again.

 

Yes, that's what I mean... It showed up, then got pulled again. And now, no one involved with NWN production over the last 10 years seems to be able to sell anything related to it. Gamer's Gate may be the only exception because it is a Swedish company and there may be laws there that treat IP contracts differently than our own. Neverwinter Nights 1 is gone too, which is part of the reason I think Atari somehow screwed up, or got screwed, and lost the retroactive license. Look at these missing pages:

 

http://www.obsidian.net/games/nwn2soz/index.html

http://www.nwn2.com

 

Personally, I don't understand why, in the age of the internet, all D&D is still relevant. There are millions of people creating campaigns and creatures and worlds and lore. If all these people got together, formed an oversight board, and spent just one month of their free time working on a game system and supporting lore it would be the end of overpriced-typo-ridden book buying. Everything out there under an open gaming license; people would never again see things like take down notices. And, companies like Obsidian here could make and sell games based on the stuff without worrying about a license to the lore within the unique adventure they created. The same people who put all this together could create their own campaign boxed sets, take it to Kinko's, and sell it online.

 

BTW: Why would Atari be transferring the license to Hasbro? Hasbro is the IP owner as of their purchase of WoTC. Atari was a licensee of the WoTC owned IP...

Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt. - Julius Caesar

 

:facepalm: #define TRUE (!FALSE)

I ran across an article where the above statement was found in a release tarball. LOL! Who does something like this? Predictably, this oddity was found when the article's author tried to build said tarball and the compiler promptly went into cardiac arrest. If you're not a developer, imagine telling someone the literal meaning of up is "not down". Such nonsense makes computers, and developers... angry.

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Atari would be transferring the licence to WOTC/ Hasbro because they were in breach of contract so their licensing rights were terminated, ending the contract and reverting the IP back to its owners. Same (well, in general) thing as happened for Interplay previously except they reverted to the then licensors.

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Neverwinter Nights 1 is gone too, which is part of the reason I think Atari somehow screwed up, or got screwed, and lost the retroactive license.
No, it isn't. http://www.gog.com/g...diamond_edition

 

Neverwinter Nights 2 is the only one that's notably hard to get.

 

But yes, Atari lost the license, which is why Hasbro is listed as publisher now.

 

Check this out. http://nwn2.com/

http://www.obsidian.net/games.html#nwn2

"Show me a man who "plays fair" and I'll show you a very talented cheater."
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Yea, I see you bypassing the w3 interface there Tale, but click any of those links on Obsidian's page and they die, even the one that leads back to Obsidian (404).

 

The whole thing is depressing... I sorta missed NWN2 and it seems most of the community has dissolved now, save for the persistent worlds. Makes me wonder who's going to be the next one to make the roll your own adventure CRPG.

Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt. - Julius Caesar

 

:facepalm: #define TRUE (!FALSE)

I ran across an article where the above statement was found in a release tarball. LOL! Who does something like this? Predictably, this oddity was found when the article's author tried to build said tarball and the compiler promptly went into cardiac arrest. If you're not a developer, imagine telling someone the literal meaning of up is "not down". Such nonsense makes computers, and developers... angry.

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Sp where do this is leave us that bought the game at gamer's gate, I think? And downloaded it legally? and have a legally downloaded file for Mysteries of Westgate? Can we still get the game to activate at the servers or? is our purchase null and void?

 

This is exactly the reason why I always want a disc version of game, since any company can just state that another company is in breech of contract. And then pull the license from the other company.

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Dude, you should be fine. A game disappearing from sale does not mean that you cannot download it, just that it cannot be bought by new people any more. Same thing will happen for XIII on GOG today/ yesterday, and people who bought that will still be able to download it even though it won't be buyable until a new deal is negotiated.

 

But if you want a proper backup for NWN2 then copy out the entire game folder from ..\program files, and the game folder from ..\My Documents to an external device. If you restore them then running the updater will restore the registry entries and you have a safe back up; or for GG once the install is starting following download/ log in go to the Gamersgate Temporary Files folder, find the installer and copy that to an external device- then you have an installer as DRM free as one from GOG would be.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Hi, folks! GOG is having a huge D&D sale, and NWN2 Complete is included for just like 8 bucks. Thing is, I didn't have Mysteries of Westgate, so I bought the entire pack like a backup and finally got my hands on MoW for a reasonable price. Exciting! :)

*** "The words of someone who feels ever more the ent among saplings when playing CRPGs" ***

 

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Hi, folks! GOG is having a huge D&D sale, and NWN2 Complete is included for just like 8 bucks. Thing is, I didn't have Mysteries of Westgate, so I bought the entire pack like a backup and finally got my hands on MoW for a reasonable price. Exciting! :)

 

$11.99 here, kind of much for just MoW, might just go ahead anyway as I'm replaying NWN2's OC currently (never finished MotB for some reason, planning on rectifying that)

 

Yea, I see you bypassing the w3 interface there Tale, but click any of those links on Obsidian's page and they die, even the one that leads back to Obsidian (404).

 

The whole thing is depressing... I sorta missed NWN2 and it seems most of the community has dissolved now, save for the persistent worlds. Makes me wonder who's going to be the next one to make the roll your own adventure CRPG.

 

These guys maybe?

 

EDIT: put it in my cart and the price wend down by nearly $3, weird. Not complaining though ;)

Edited by marelooke
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