Neverwinter Nights 2

"A good game that could have been SO much better"

Let me start out by saying that if you are looking for an immersive D&D rpg, this is probably the best one out on the market. The storyline is beautifully drawn out, and the NPC characters are the best I've seen since Baldur's Gate II. That being said, there are so many minor flaws with the design of this game that truly etched away at this game's true potential.

GRAPHICS

Okay, I will admit, I was fairly pleased with the new graphics when I first installed it. The characters look much less cartoonish and more realistic compared to NWN1. However, I felt that many of the new aesthetic features did not keep gameplay in mind. For example, a few of the holy spell effects in the game turn much of the screen stark white. To make things worse, one of these spells lasted for a good few minutes, which forced me to move my characters as far away as the area of effect as possible just so I could still manipulate them. But I suppose the graphics still look good, so I can't really subtract points here.

One thing I must say I like most about the graphics in NWN2 is the prodigious use of semi-cutscenes. It really makes the storyline much more fun to follow, and including conversation queues in the middle of them keep you involved and immersed.

I'll give graphics an 8/10

SOUND

At first, I felt much of the voice acting was uninspired and cliche. However, many characters later on have wonderful voice acting, completely making up for the lack in many of the early-game characters. Although you will cringe at some of the truly terrible voiceovers, most likely you will forget them once you get into the meat of the storyline.

I'll give sound a 7/10

GAMEPLAY

Gameplay is where much of my love/hate relationship with this game is founded. One of my biggest gripes with NWN2 is that they removed the radial menu that was so convenient in NWN1. Instead, a much more traditional and clunky dropdown menu is used, making a lot of battles so so much slower.

The party AI system is also quite daft. There were so many times my sorceress cast Cloudkill directly on top of my party to kill a half-dead goblin (even on the most conservative casting mode)... eventually I got sick of it and turned the AI off.

The inventory screen is fairly annoying to use also. All items take up the same exact space, and the icons for them are so stylized that it's hard to tell what exactly it is I just picked up. I prefer the Diablo II style inventory they used in NWN1, simply because it was so much easier to tell what I had in a single glance.

Other minor gripes aside, the rest of the gameplay is fairly smooth and interesting. The battle system is pretty fun, but it can be a little squishy and imprecise at times. My biggest problem with combat is that I hardly ever had to cast dispel magic/spell breach. Most of your foes can simply be beaten with superior physical damage. Also, you may be disappointed if you like playing a primarily ranged character... this game is definitely melee-biased itemwise.

There are a lot of 'minigames' in the game that really give you a well needed break from pure dungeon crawling. It's a throwback to FFVII, and hey, who didn't like that game?

I'll give gameplay a 7/10

STORYLINE

This is where this game truly shines. The story line starts out fairly slowly, but before you know it a rich and satisfying plot emerges, promising to devastate your academic/work/social life without mercy. There are a few RPG cliches, however they were not dealbreakers. Overall, I felt that the storyline progressed at a perfect rate to keep you feeling genuinely proud of your character's achievements, unlike other games where you are knighted and publicly adored for slaying a few sewer rats 5 minutes into the game.

I'll give the storyline a 10/10

MULTIPLAYER

I'll be honest... I haven't tried multiplayer. I'm sure there is potential, but I have no idea about the toolset or the gameplay online. Sorry ^^;;

I'll give multiplayer a hearty 'buh?' out of 10

OVERALL

I know I've spent a bit of time complaining about many of the design decisions in Neverwinter Nights 2. However, I did spent a week straight playing this game, and I plan to play it again fairly soon with a different character class. You will like this game... you just might wish it was a little better.

I give Neverwinter Nights 2 an 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/09/07