Neverwinter Nights II                                     reviewed by Rose

“you bear the shard within you, kalach-cha…seek a way to master it.”

Rating: 6 out of 10

I am a fan of the Neverwinter Nights games; I know they don’t really measure up to some others (especially MMO’s)  as they are very linear,  but I’ve just always been fond of the attention given to story.  I held off buying NWN II as I had read some reviews that said it was completely unplayable. 

Fans of NWN, don’t hold off any longer: the bugs have been fixed, and the game camera is no longer unmanageable.  It is a little awkward,  but very similar to the old games, one learns how to work with it.

The best thing about this game is the storyline: it’s innovative and unique, it is intriguing, and it’s pretty much a new storyline, although it has some small references to the past games and lore.  One could start this game not having played the others, and really miss nothing at all except a few references.  (and we run into one of my favorite henchmen from the past games, “Deekin”.  If you don’t recognize him, though, nothing is lost story wise except a bit of satisfaction.)

The story is not as great as some past NWN games have been (I was particularly fond of  “Pirates of the Sword Coast,”) but it’s still fun, and I’m sure some great modules will spring from this.

The graphics are not all that different from the older Neverwinter nights games, although a bit more detailed.  I could have forgone detail, in order to have the thing run as fast as the old games run on my computer.  In order to play this game, you need some pretty high specs: and the graphics don’t seem as good as other games I’ve played (Oblivion and World of Warcraft spring to mind), so I’m not sure what gives here.

In any case, I’ve got it working. So:  on with the review!

This game’s got a little something for everyone.  It starts out in a small town, and branches out from there as you’re sent on a quest.  If you like strategy, there’s some of that later on in the story; if you like mysteries, there is a mystery or two to solve; if you like action, there’s plenty of that, with the caveat that early on you really must use your space bar to pause and shell out some orders among your characters, otherwise things are pretty difficult early on, when all one’s party members are “squishy”, with low level gear, and the opponents are … not.

And yes, you have more than one person in your party. The “henchman” system has gone back to the way it was in the very early blizzard games:  you have about five people in your party total, which helps a lot for players who don’t like to multiclass.

Another thing to like: there are some new classes, and new races.  Very enjoyable they are, too.  There are now more types of elf and dwarf:  you can be a gold dwarf or a dark dwarf, a wild elf, …you can also be a “planar touched” , either part demon or part angel.  Quite entertaining!

After having experienced the epic character creation of “Oblivion”,  the character creation looks-wise is not all that exciting; however it’s better than the old games.  There are a few more choices to make your character look individual, and the hairstyles don’t all look like you put a block of wood on top of your head.

The voice acting overall is pretty darned good.  Only a few of the “villains” are wince-worthy and cheesy; the are good enough that one isn’t distracted by them, and can stay in the storyline.  A few of the “henchmen” are annoying, but at least they all have distinct personalities.

The graphics are pretty, but don’t have the mind-blowing beauty of Oblivion, or the bright Mickey-Mousey color of World of Warcraft.  They’re adequate, and they get the job done.

The music is nice: there is some original stuff, and some carried over from the old games. 

The story is, as I said, intriguing, though the game seems even more linear than the old ones.  There are basically two path choices:  Light and Dark.  I won’t go into details, but the path choices do overlap so  you may be doing the same quests, just from a different side of things.  I have yet to play my way through this twice, so I don’t know how repetitive it gets; I think if you choose different companions it might also change the story and add different quests.

Overall, I enjoy this, but will give it a rating of about 6 out of 10, simply because of the immense computer requirements which don’t balance out in stellar graphics, and the linear nature of it.  If you’re a NWN fan, though, it’s worth the price.

Discuss review here.