Neverwinter Nights 2 Review

[Mark]

Neverwinter Nights 2 Review by Mark

PC Review: The Obsidian curse.

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[Sin Ogaris]

To be fair, the first title had a terrible story, horrendous party AI and unforgiving system requirements. Although it was still a great game, it didn't have the camera issues (pretty much only top down view) that this one seems to which helped it.

In terms of graphics, one thing the first title had which was amazing for the time was the spectacular shadowing effects, I assume that this game has built on that strength, among other things. I'll probably pick it up when it drops a bit in price seeing as I did really enjoy the first game (even though it was easy as piss) and I like the lore.

[ObsoletE]

the problem with reviewing NWN, imo, is that the original is not indicative of the game.

NWN was never about the initial campaign, but the custimisation tool to create your own dungeons, and even online MUDing.

that all said, personally i'm loving NWN2 SP. the sys-reqs are fairly insane though, and it took 3 patches to fix many of the resource leaks it initially had (the patching process is a pain in the arse too).

i'd probably had given it 1.5 - 2 points more than the review overall, once you've done this, and see some of the custom campaigns coming out for it, but that's me.
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[Mark]

I still stand by the score. I found the customisation once again superb, and the ability to determine your path is equally as good. However, I can’t, and I don’t think anyone should, look pass the unforgivable problems with the game – you can tell it wasn’t finished on so many occasions.

While the original wasn’t perfect upon release, it certainly wasn’t this bad; I agree that added patches made the game better though, which will probably be the case here. But they’ve changed a few gameplay elements from the original and formed a more cumbersome game. Four player parties stink because the AI is terrible; should’ve stuck it to the original one, and the UI is so troublesome to effectively navigate. And I really found myself having to constantly sway the camera around during some of the dungeons with tighter corners.

As good as the potential for such a game is, I don’t really understand how anyone should have to tolerate such a rushed performance. I was really disappointed in fact; hoping for such a better game, and it didn’t deliver. I’ll go back to it every now and then, I’m sure, once some modders fix a few things and upcoming patches iron out the problems that shouldn’t have been overlooked.

I’m so over Obsidian at the moment though; two iffy experiences from them so far. I wish they’d just stuck to their old releases back in the Black Isle days. Meh.
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[B3NBO]

This game sounds quite good..mite have to give it a go when I get a new PC.

[Sin Ogaris]

Oh well, on the plus side it's another excuse for me to make some crazy NWN levels. I'm sure I'll end up agreeing with you on the party front, I know in the first title I just had the thief guy for picking locks with, I didn't even care if he died in battle (which he regularly did). However as for Obsolete's comments, none of those things can really be factored into the review (except to increase longevity to about a 10 from the mods) especially not patches. A game should only ever be reviewed on how it is when it comes out of the box, whether patches fix this is irrevelant. Again, such items can be mentioned, but it shouldn't affect the score as it is a reflection on how the title is when it is released.

[ObsoletE]

yeah - i understand that this is how the reviewing process works, and i tried to say as much in my post, a review does have to review what's inhand, not the game engine, which is essentially what NWN games are released to distribute.
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[Sin Ogaris]

If only they released the engine on its own (which for the life of me I can't remember what it's called).

[A_Grain_Of_Sand]

About your NWN2 review, especially about the last statement, "NWN2 doesn’t even come close to matching the high caliber that has been reached with other recent action-RPGs on the market, and is ultimately a poorly executed finish." Hate to break it to you, but your reviewer just made this site look stupid.

Neverwinter Nights 2 isn't an action CRPG. It is a traditional CRPG in the same vein as Baldur's Gate series and the Fallout series. If you want an action CRPG look at Oblivion or Jade Empire. NWN2 is NOT an action CRPG. Far from it. It is a story driven traditional CRPG.

[Sin Ogaris]

I haven't played the sequal so I couldn't say but the first game was pretty much an action RPG. It had the customization of a regular RPG however the playing felt far more like an ARPG than a traditional one.

[A_Grain_Of_Sand]

Well, I was commenting on the article review but the original was pretty much a Diablo clone. I absolutely hated the first NWN. One of the biggest disappointments in gaming in my opinion. After playing Bioware's previous game Baldur's Gate 2, Neverwinter Nights 1 was a huge step backwards. Neverwinter Nights 2, which is not an action CRPG, is closer to the Infinity Engine games than its predecessor.

[mahlerfan999]

Some of the complaints made in this review are fair and true, however lack of side quests is not one of them. My experience playing the game is that at least half of the content are in the side quests.

The criticisms about the story would seem to be true *if* you only played the first third of the game. It starts out sounding very cliched, but it offers much more later in the game.

Since the game is story driven, it will feel linear, how is that a bad thing? If it's not linear, then it's not following a story line, it's just following xp based cut scenes. I wasn't aware that the score system was supposed to mean 10=action, 0=story.

Also what does this game review offer that others don't? It's very late in the game and only seems to repeat what others have already said. What's worse is that it looks like cut and paste. Some comments don't even match in tone. Hey this game sucks because it's like d&d! No wait, it sucks because it's not like d&d.

I think you meant to say that micromanaging the party sucks because it destroys the immersive feel of role playing a single character. That doesn't have anything to do with pen and paper because pnp is not single player! If you want to compare NWN2 to the pnp experience, you have to compare multiplayer.

[Mark]

[AlaCarcuss]

While i pretty much agree with a lot of the points regarding bugs and the "not quite finished" state NWN2 was released in (though the already released patches fix a lot of these issues), I do have a problem regarding a couple of the gameplay points raised.

Regarding your party - did you ever play Baulder's Gate 1 & 2? - NWN2 is much more a sequel to the BG series than it is to NWN1. And as any BG vet will tell you, the first thing you do is turn OFF all party AI, so you have total control over all members of your party. It's what makes the gameplay great for me - I love the ability to fully control my whole paty and is a VAST improvement to the henchmen in NWN1. How that defeats the purpose of playing a D&D game is beyond me. Besides, it's not D&D - it's a CRPG that just hapens to implement the D&D 3.5 ruleset and be set in the Forgotten Realms, just as the BG series was.

I'm also not having too many problems with the story either, though admittedly it starts off pretty slow and boring - as one other poster stated, it improves greatly the deeper into the game you go and really picks up after around the half-way point, I'm enjoying it. Funnily enough, most other reviews are also making it down for bugs (as they should) but finding it redeemed somwhat for a having a great and compelling single player campain - how far into it did you get?

Of course reviews, like reader posts are just personal opinions - you don't like the party system, some (most) love it - you don't like the story, I think it's pretty good (and much MUCH better than NWN1's OC). While I wholehartedly agree with the points regarding the games beta-like release state, things have already improved greatly and will contiue to do so. Remember NWN2 is both a game AND an engine and the future looks bright indeed.....