Neverwinter Nights 2

If your only consideration when purchasing a game is fancy graphics, then NWN 2 will have you in paroxysms of delight. On the other hand, if you'd prefer your game to run well, be relatively free of bugs and feature an intuitive user interface to complement the riveting gameplay, then NWN 2 is a game that will see you hurling abuse at your monitor.

Camera control is awkward, intrusive and generally horrible. Even on relatively modest settings, the game runs like a blind, lobotomised paraplegic. The storyline is dull, the NPCs predictable caricatures (a Scottish dwarf, a sanctimonious paladin, a mischievous rogue, etc), and prior to playing the game you're required to download approximately* 396 terabytes of patches, hotfixes and updates. If you're still on dial-up, you'll be sucking mashed banana and milk through a straw in a retirement village before this herculean download finishes.

And then we have Obsidian's Electron Toolset, successor to Bioware's Aurora Toolset. Aurora was intuitive, relatively simple to use and allowed you to knock up a vaguely playable module in a few hours. By contrast, Electron is about as user friendly as a rabid wolverine. While interior areas remain tile-based, exterior areas are sculpted from a flat plain with a selection of brushes. As a result, creating any sort of presentable exterior area is an incredibly time-consuming process, involving a lot of "painting". If you're crap at painting, you'll be crap at creating exterior areas in the Electron Toolset -- unless you're prepared to dedicate enormous chunks of free time to practicing.

Most people have jobs and lives, and spending their weekends wrestling with Electron is going to seem little more than a masochistic exercise in futility. Shame really.

*Hyperbole may have been employed for effect.

Personally I really enjoy this game.

For any dungeons and dragons fans out there, this game follows the rules to the book, using the 3.5 edition rule set.

I liked the story line and the shiny graphics. It is even more fun multiplayer and you can download new modules or create your own if you want a new story.

While it had many bugs when it was released most of them have been patched out now, and while the camera may still be annoying at times it does not ruin the experience.

Recommended for all RPG fans

but needs an ultra modern system to run. It doesn't look bad exactly, but certainly not amazing. It's quite nice with all the shadows on but I had to turn them off to get a consistently good frame rate. I didn't much like the art design either. Some weapons, armour and monsters look unrealistic and silly, and many items lack detail. Some interior locations are beautifully detailed though. I also find the overuse of particle effects annoying. Particularly the big explosion of blue sparks whenever an arrow, not even a magic arrow, hits anything. A clear attempt to impress the eight to twelve year old ADD sufferers.

All that aside, from what I've seen from a few days playing, it's an engrossing, and enjoyable, classic RPG experience. A deliberate attempt has been made to make it feel like NWN 1. I was pleased to see the old voice set from my NWN character was still available, so I basically just brought my old character back to life. The familiar music gave me warm fuzzies.

It's much more party oriented that the first one. I didn't like that so much at first. It would be better to have been required to play alone for some time before being offered companions. And unless you play on whimp mode you will definitely need a couple of helpers. The big plus though is I actually like the characters and enjoy having them along. Unlike the henchmen from the first game that were an annoying necessity.

The real test will be in how long and engrossing the campaign is, and weather towns and other locations are interesting to explore. Neverwinter itself is disappointing, but I'll have to wait and see. So far I'm enjoying it and it's keeping my occupied, which is the main thing.

This is a good game, with a nice storyline and good combat system. The masses of spells and abilities you can learn are just awesome. Also, there are over 20 classes, which you can multiclass in several exiting ways.
I also have to defend obsidian here. There are way less bugs in the game than the other reviews would make you think, I already finished the game more than once, and I never downloaded any patches for it. Most of the problems can simply be fixed by adjusting something in the menu.
For example, the "rotating camera bug" can be fixed by unchecking the some the option that allows you to turn the camera angle with the mouse. If your used to turning the screen with the keyboard, this shouldnt be a problem.
Once you adjusted a few things in the menu, this is a great game.

NWN2 is a decent game when played alone but it really shines when played with a group of friends. I played through the main campaign over LAN with a friend and up to the beginning of the last act, we both enjoyed it greatly. Past that, however, it is just better to close your eyes, plug your ears and make up your own ending because the conclusion is so lack lustre it will ruin the rest of the game experience for you. Other than that, an excellent game for any DnD fan.