Neverwinter Nights 2
by Atari
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List Price: Category: Video Games See more product details |
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Video Game Reviews of Neverwinter Nights 2
Customer Review: A step backward
Summary: 2 Stars
NWN2 was released...what, in 2006? Plenty of games through the 90s and early 2000s were achieving things that made it seem that the ultimate RPG was right around the corner. That made it all the more disappointing when this game, with all its hype, failed to deliver. In fact, NWN2 seems to be outdated compared to games we were all playing BEFORE it shipped.
Long load times between zones? Hmmm. Sure was nice when I was playing Dungeonsiege in 2003 with NO load time between zones...in fact...no visible zone boundaries. That was three years before NWN2.
Strong-arm plot tactics where the characters have no options? Where you can't even turn down a henchman? Can't attack friendlies? Can't decide whether you receive a stronghold or not? The developers would have you believe that such strong-arm tactics are the only way to keep the plot on track. Funny...I could SWEAR Baldur's Gate had a plot. It let you do all the above things. How long ago was that? I believe it was last century, right?
Blocky character models with hair clipping the heads? Come ON! I don't even know which old game I should cite for examples of better character models. Maybe all of them. Seriously, this one was unforgivable.
A "moddable" game where adding new content requires hacking data tables? How quaint. Years before NWN2 came out, I was adding new content (new spells, weapons, races, etc.) to other games by whipping up a template, tossing it in a mod folder, and firing up the game. If you are expecting to add new content to NWN2, don't expect it to be as easy as dropping a file in a folder. That was only possible five or six years ago, apparently.
And is there really NO WAY to have anyone except the main PC take the lead in conversations? With all of modern technology at our beck and call, is it really, totally, absolutely, unavoidably, necessary to send the soft, squishy rogue or mage PC to the forefront of every conversation to take the full brunt of the attack when it inevitably turns hostile? Do the laws of physics and computational science really mandate this?
Alas, other games have long since done infinitely better on these counts and many more. The company that finally takes all the good bits from the games of recent years and puts them together - and gives us the game we've been waiting for - will own the world. I have a feeling that, when it happens, it will sadly not have the D&D franchise name associated with it.
Oh I almost forgot - the story line. I see some people liked it, but seriously...a foster child with a mysterious background who turns out to be the chosen one...this doesn't seem a little...familiar?
Customer Review: Waited for patches--Runs very well
Summary: 4 Stars
Instead of buying games when they first come out, my gaming group and I wait (sometimes several years) to buy new games to play together. With NWW2, this strategy seems to have paid off well for us. After patching (an hour investment at least), we have played this game co-op over a LAN with little problems. The one time we did struggle to play was due to a conflicting setting that was easy to diagnose and change.
Graphics are beautiful. My computer was built in the winter of 2006, and I play on maxed out settings. I recently went back and played NWN1. The older game is difficult to play now because I am used to being able to adjust my camera in NWN2. If you don't like monkeying with camera angles, then this game probably isn't for you. But if you like a good story, great characters, and interesting dungeon crawls, I highly recommend NWN2.
Customer Review: Some things not touched on.
Summary: 3 Stars
PRO'S: Hands down, it has to be the fact your character comes to posses an entire keep. Not only that, but you can spent vasts amount of money to improve upon it. I almost kinda wish they had put more special missions for your troops. Perhaps, in a future game, they can bring back treasure from the bandits/monsters/etc. There were some glitches I encountered, but nothing that can't be fixed in future updates.
The second would have to be the improvements to a characters animal companions. There is nothing worse than having a multiclassed character, and have an animal companion that is roughly half your level. At this point, they become nothing but cannon fodder. NWN2 fixed this by giving you a skill to rectify the problem. Now your pet/friend can keep traveling with you as a help, and not a hindrence.
The above paragraph also applies to spell levels with multiclassed characters. While I never saw it as much of a hindrence, NWN2 fixes this issue as well, adding a similar skill for spell levels.
Lastly, some of these fights are truly hard. Gone are the days of NWN, when you could Powerlevel through everything relatively unscathed. Three things pounded my hindquarters in NWN2: The red dragon (which I never defeated), the two black dragons, and the final fight.
CONS: I want to start off by saying that I have played through the game. I have a 9800 NVidia graphics card, and 6MB of RAM...and it still runs slow. I have to place most of my settings to low so massive fights run smoothly. I also agree with what most say about the camera angles. In a word? Dismal. Up close or far away, it slides through walls and NPC's, giving you a nice polygonic view of the inside of someones face. Also, if walls are high, you might as well set the camera directly above you. This posed the biggest problem in the final fight.
Next I wish to address the cutscenes. With as much graphic power this game seems to be pumping out, you'd think the programers could have done better than cardboard cutout scenes. It's the computer equivalant of a silent movie cuecard. NWN definitely has NWN2 beat on this one.
Also, I'm sad to see character portraits disappear. While it does appear that you can rectify this somehow (I assume through downloadable content), this shouldn't have to be the case. While the color/hair/face pallatte can produce an array of combinations, I miss the up close and personal touch.
Lastly, at least one of the new classes seems incredibly weak. Now perhaps I played my character wrong, but I found the Warlock to be disappointing and a one trick pony. I quickly became bored with the same abilities. This wouldn't be so bad if they made up for it with perhaps some fighting skills, but, alas, the Warlock is no better than than any other arcane caster in hand-to-hand. It was near impossible keeping her alive in the final battle.
Story: I have to say that the story really isn't all that much more impressive than the original NWN. As to be expected, you face characters that turn on you at a later date. Somehow, it just doesn't seem as devestating as when the paladin turns on you in NWN.
Customer Review: Good until the end
Summary: 3 Stars
Well, I had a decent amount of fun exploring and building up all the different characters, although trying to control all of them at the end was to say the last, a major pain. Graphics were quite good and the overall storyline was very good as well. BUT, in all the years and games of the genre I have played, after spending hours upon hours getting to the end and finally killing the head dude, I was, well how do I put this, VERY %&(*&#$ ticked off at the stupid lame ending, unless you're evil, but still you spend all the effort to get finish and after a climactic battle you get wiped out by a stupid (*&@(#$ cave in. I mean please how freakin likely is that???? I'm sorry but all of your lvl 20 characters are so helpless they cant get out of a frickin falling building. How (*#@(*&#$@$ lame. Oh, and why the heck is their only ONE female character you can possibly have any romantic involvement with...shesh. In NWN 1 you can manage to snag 2 at once at the end. So up until the end I'd give the game a 7 out of 10....but the end stinks. It's like the developers got drunk or stoned when finishing the game and thought "hmm how can we really make the game suck now that we're done". Maybe the expansion pack will be better. The evil character ending is better though, but still...what a let down.Customer Review: Not bad, could have been better...
Summary: 3 Stars
(Note this may contain spoilers)
I never played the first NWN game but my husband said it was good and I decided to give this one a shot. The character selection screen isn't all that great. Don't get me wrong there is a wide selection of character races and classes to choose from but choosing what your character should look like is rather poor. Hardly much to choose from and not enough to make your character the way you want them to look.
From there it goes into the game. As you travel through the realm you meet different characters who join your party, which can be rather amusing. However if you pay close attention you will run across dialogue they speak doesn't match up with what is typed out on the screen.
Furthermore some of your party members you learn a great deal about who they are but others you are left with cryptic messages about their past and only to find out later it was removed from the game due to time constraints, which is a huge disappointment.
The other problem with this game is the fact there are not too many side quests and it seems you are more forced to do the main storyline then to actually explorer the world. If you take a look at the map you see so many areas that could have been added in the game. For example one such area later on is called "Leeves" a gnome village, but you are not able to travel there, such a shame.
Even more so the enemies' in this game are rather poor, there is a huge range of enemies in the Dungeons and Dragons world, yet you are only able to combat not even close to a third of them. Most of the time the game time is spent; fighting thugs, Watch guards (if you go evil), animals, and standard demons such as Succubus and imps, undead, shadows, Ogres, Orcs, Bugbears. Goblins you won't see until Act II and common enemies' like vampires don't appear until Act III. The only giants that are in this game are Fire Giants and you only encounter a few dragons.
The main storyline isn't too bad filled with holes that leave you scratching your head. The ending of the game was terrible. They should have allowed you to continue on playing the game. For example if you go evil and join the main villain you should be allowed to do missions for them or if you choose to be good continue onwards doing good deeds.
Romance in this game was another issue they were very sloppy on. I liked the fact my female character was involved with the paladin, Cassivir, but again, cryptic messages from him and you only were able to choose to be involved with him at the end of the game. Would have been nice to have this happen earlier in the game allowing it evolve over the game's time span. If your going to add romance in the game, either go all out with it like in the game Fable, or just don't add it in at all.
The game isn't horrible but it could have been much better. I just felt this game was put poorly together without too much thought put in it but with only thought of we have to get this out on the market. I think creators should take a look at Oblivion and see how a real fantasy game should be.