Neverwinter Nights 2 Reviews

• More like a NWN expansion pack

  
  By A6J432QZLIXLH on 2006-11-05
  The requirements have been seriously jacked up from NWN original and you really get very little for it. The 50 hour new capmaign is decently put together but none of the view options work very well to play the game in realtime. You will spend half the game repositioning the camera. Game plays slow on my machine, which only a year old 2ghz Dell with a gig of ram and I have a reasonably new 256 meg graphics card. Heck, I play Oblivion reasonably well with less than full grahpics, but I can't make this game work and let me tell you.. this is no Oblivion. Graphics are a slight improvement over NWN original but they are bellow par for any PC game I have seen come out in a year. I am very disapointed. Obsidian Entertainment never failed me before, but this game is a failure.
  
  UPDATED: 4/4/2008 - So a couple years have passed and people are still on my case for saying the game doesn't run fast enough. No kidding right. Computers and graphics cards are sorta faster now you see. I doubt a 2005 rig could still play it.. BUT I just got the Mac version on my brand new MacBook Pro and it runs just peachy on max settings so I'd say technology more than caught up with the game. It runs very smoothly now. Of course now the interface and camera action are even more dated, but if you can handle the sorta retro feel of it the game is not half bad. Certainly a lot of love has gone into it from the community since release. I am sure I will enjoy finishing the main quest and checking out the expansion.. if that is actually possible on my Mac anyhow. Sorry I would have updated my review sooner but the PC DVD got scratched and the copy protection wasn't interested in letting me play without it.
  
  If I could change my vote I'd give it 3 out of 5, and 4 if I could just figure out how to make the freaking camera follow me. There has got to be a way, it is just too big an oversight not be in there somewhere.
  
  Oh yeah, the graphics on max settings are MUCH better than NWN 1. Had to scale them down before so I guess I never saw what it was really capable of.
  
  

• Improvement over original, but not groundbreaking

  
  By A3G7N38O6CNRII on 2006-11-02
  At first glance, the graphics are on par with Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. That's not good since that game came out in 2003. But after a little while I've decided they are a little better than that, about 1-2 years advanced from the original NWN (which is 4 years old). But not up to snuff for late 2006/early 2007. Perhaps lesser graphics are necessary for the Toolset, since they need to be mass-producable (sp?). At least this time you can see your cloaks when you wear them without the unstable CEP.
  
  The provided campaign (I'm still in Chapter 2) is rather boring to me. I do not see as being more immersive as someone else said, just less exciting or interesting. But less than half of the original NWN players I've spoken with over the years were not very excited about the original storyline either. Conversation in the Official Campaign are an improvement over the original, but that may be because of the movie animations involved that the toolset probably can't provide to the average module builder. I have only just opened the Toolset, so I cannot yet comment on how user-friendly it is. But it is different from the first one.
  
  My recommendations are thus: if you want a single-player game, wait until the price drops and bugs are worked out (advice for almost all games). If you are the more creative type and are most interested in the Toolset, then I would suggest going ahead and getting it so that we have something to play when the rest of us finish trudging through the OC. For multi-player play, I can't really comment except to say visit the official forums and wait until the first patch is actually ready.
  
  

• A fun game, if you can tolerate the performance issues...

  
  By A16NYGDPBMJQDB on 2007-01-27
  NWN is a fun, exciting story that is unfortunately swallowed alive by its own technical limitations. I won't say much about the game quality other than to say that long time fans of Black Isle games will recognize the fun and depth built into NWN2, and the story is everything you would expect from the successor to Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Neverwinter Nights 1. Sadly, the fun of playing through the story is quickly swallowed up by the frustration of fighting the game's significant technical flaws.
  
  The user interface, and particularly the camera control, is horrendous. Any time you enter one of the game's many tight, swirvy dungeons, count on stopping to adjust the camera angle every few minutes as it gets hung up on seemingly every wall, plant, or chunk of rock within throwing distance. You may miss much of the game's more impressive eye candy as the camera points uselessly off at nothing or grants you an extreme closeup of a patch of dirt on the wall.
  
  Sadly, the technical issues with NWN2 don't stop with the UI. Independent reviews at Gamespot confirm what countless users on Atari and Black Isle support forums are reporting: achieving a playable framerate (> 30 FPS) in this game requires significantly better hardware than that which is "recommended" by the box.
  
  Users logging onto the Atari & Black Isle support forums are consistently reporting single digit framerates in almost all areas of the game. My own impression, based on many hours scouring the forums, and on my own in-game experiences, is that if you have the absolute best hardware available on the market, and you turn *all* of the graphics options down to "mid grade" or lower, you can expect to see about 25 - 30 FPS. If you have the hardware "recommended" by the box, and you turn all of the graphics options all the way down (disabling any optional eye candy), you can expect 5 - 15 FPS, complemented by a constant 100% utilization of both CPU & GPU (is it a bad sign when CPU utilization remains at 100% just looking at the game's main menu?).
  
  Unfortunately, Atari and Black Isle support have left their userbase without a solution to these issues, reporting that they have been unable to reproduce any of the performance problems reported on their support forums. Personally I find it hard to believe they are unable to reproduce what is a seemingly ubiquitous set of problems, but either way they have yet to release a patch or troubleshooting step that has provided a resolution to the many users experiencing significant performance issues with NWN2.
  
  Given the many technical issues this game suffers, I cannot recommend it to any but the most die-hard fans, and even then I cannot recommend it to anyone who's hardware is less than the best the market has to offer.
  
  

• The wait is over....

  
  By A2WN0T4EMQ9VWB on 2006-11-02
  ...and it was all for naught! I loved the original Neverwinter Nights and was looking forward to this title. All the 'insiders' gave it rave reviews. What were they thinking? This game has a horrible feel. It's absolutely boring and the controls are wanting. (I have a 256 MB nvidia graphics card...still lags after adjusting gameplay options, etc) My system runs the game well, it's just that the game is awful--great hardware can't fix that. The new dialog system is nice and a lot of the other ideas are well-intentioned, but the end product is a very, very boring game. I only hope I have enough time to cancel the Limited Edition I have on order.
  Additional comment after edit: It's obvious that these guys put a lot of work into the effort. I truly empathize with them as human beings. But manipulating Amazon's rating system by saying negative reviews aren't helpful while all positive reviews are helpful is obvious and demeans the intelligence of those who read the reviews. Put a demo out like one of the latest reviews suggests. Let people play the crappy game before they decide. Oops...they won't do that (for obvious reasons) Sorry you guys put hours upon hours on an ill-conceived plan. I empathize with you, but you failed.
  
  

• Pretty bad for a A+ game

  
  By A3EUY1P52LDEYN on 2006-11-03
  Firstly despite having a system with requirements I have to turn all the graphics options way down to make it even halfway playable.
  
  Constant fighting with the camera to get a decent viewing position.
  
  Very very long loading screens. Even for something as simple as going through a door in an inn to get to a upper floor.
  
  Essentially dull gameplay as you HAVE to space bar pause the game endlessly in combat to fight with the camera to even find the next target. Thats just with the fighter I rolled, a caster would be even worse.
  
  Wasn't enjoying endless dialogue cut scenes either. I held out through the starting area hoping that it was just setting the stage and teaching game mechanics. Then the first character you meet outside the start zone is a Dwarven Monk who "likes punching people in the face" and woo-hoo you're in luck because we can trek all the way to Neverwinter together.
  
  Rrrrrrrrrright.
  
  Uninstall. Toss game into the used pile on Amazon. Post review so as not to feel guilty about selling it to anyone without a warning.
  
  2 Stars because it *might* play better on some kind of ZOMG powerful computer.
  
  
• A must have for fans of traditional RPG's
  By A3R0F96D3XM06C on 2007-11-26
  DISCLAIMER: I bought both NWN2 and the expansion pack, Mask of the Betrayer, at the same time and installed them both, so my review reflects changes that were implemented with the expansion pack but still available in the original campaign.
  
  I'm probably in the minority of gamers in that I never really liked the original NeverWinter Nights. I loved the concept of a game that allowed you to create your own campaigns and play online, but I got really turned off by the single character with henchmen aspect. NWN2 has fixed this with a more traditional 4 character party system.
  
  I am running it on the following system:
  
  AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 1 GB Ram (Single Channel), GeoForce 7600 GS 256MB DDR3. So my system is nice, but by no means state of the art! I am able to run at almost all of the highest settings for graphics and action.
  
  Pros:
  The game play is great, very similar in style to the older Infinity based games.
  The graphics are beautifully rendered, a significant upgrade from NWN
  The storyline is engaging (haven't finished it yet, about 1/3 through)
  There is enough flexibility in how you control your party to allow various styles of play.
  
  
  Cons:
  I've tweaked the mouse control as best I can and it still gets a little jumpy when I try to pan around.
  The load times between areas can be a bit long at times.
  The world (so far) is not fully built out. For instance in several of the villages I have encountered so far, there are only one or two buildings you can enter. While I understand how time consuming world building can be, one thing I always enjoyed about the Baldur's Gate and Ultima series was that you could go almost anywhere you wanted. If you are playing a thief, this seriously inhibits your ability to role play.
  
  Neutral:
  There are so many feats, skills and other abilities, that it's hard to keep track of them all and know which ones to use.
  Each of the party members always have the same level of experience points. This makes it easier for balancing the party of course, but it seems a bit strange that when a new member joins, he is at the same level of the other characters. I always enjoyed managing the characters to make sure each got enough XP.
  So far the story has been very linear. I prefer a more open gameplay (like Ultima and BG).
  Cut scenes are well done, but can be a bit long at times.
  
  Synopsis:
  
  For those that love the party based CRPG genre, this is a must have, despite some of the flaws of the game. I have only found one CRPG since the release of Baldur's Gate II that I really enjoyed, and that was a user mod of Dungeon Siege (Ultima V: Lazarus). Icewind Dale II just didn't hold my interest (the story seemed to convoluted, especially given how linear it was), Temple of Elemental Evil just seemed unplayable, and NWN lost me with the single player/henchmen concept.
  
  Additionally, given the large community that made campaign modules for NWN, there should be plenty of modules coming out that don't have the same story issues as the original campaign.
  
  UPDATE: I did have some performance issues once I got to Neverwinter and had to turn down the settings some to avoid low frame rates during combat, but it still plays very good.
  
  
• Sad, buggy sequel- Developers should feel shamed
  By A2LU7NS0WAKT78 on 2006-11-03
  Please do not waste your money, like I did. The game is VERY buggy, and has tons of broken elements. It was clearly done on a low budget, and is just leveraging the great success of the first version.
  
  The graphics look like they are from the mid-90's, and the gameplay is just... a joke. So sad- I wish I could get a refund. Especially, because my game broke only part way though. (my brothers snagged on a bug even earlier). I feel robbed and cheated... and mostly just dissapointed.
  
  
• Wait about 6 months for some patches to build up
  By A3PX6I2Q1XA1JQ on 2006-11-04
  My jaw dropped when this game would not play on my computer. I have a brand new Alienware Area51 ALX that is less than 3 weeks old. I literally had to cut everything off (graphics wise) on it.. and it was still a slow buggy experience. In a panic (thinking my machine was messed up) I took it too my friends computer that is a Dell XPS700.. and was met with the same results.
  
  Im not returning the game .. because I think there may be some goodness here... but as of right now.. my cutting edge supercomputer can't play it.
  
  Very dissapointed.
  
  
• Game Beyond Borked
  By A2DHCBPDOG2IRE on 2006-11-13
  I'm a 41 years old and have played every RPG that's ever been released. I'm currently playing Oblivion, Dungeon Siege II and Diablo II. Picking up NWN2 seemed like an obvious choice.
  
  This is based on the DVD-ROM version.
  
  Install: Went quite fast
  
  Multiplayer: Here's the basis of my low score. The Multiplayer options whether it be LAN, Gamespy or just hosting a game for yourself is *Borked*. What i mean is that it flat doesn't work and there are more than enough threads at the NWN2 site to back this up. Be prepared to do a lot of work opening and forwarding ports to and from your router (if you use one). I spent the entire weekend with D-Link support trying to find out why every multiplayer game i tried to connect to or start always tried to connect to IP: 127.0.0.1:5121 That's because that is a loopback IP and isn't a real IP. You're going to need to know your IP or you won't be playing any Internet games. First off, you need to have a goodly amount of ports open to even play this game online. Then you have to be able to do this yourself. I'm no novice and i can't even get it to work right.
  
  Let me say that NO game should be this difficult to play online out-of-the-box. No game i've ever played was this frustrating. To make matters worse is no Devs have even commented on what the problem is or whether there's a patch in the works? There had better be because i spent $100 on two copies so my wife and i could play together and we can't.
  
  To everyone that has said how great the game is you probably have only played single player or you haven't run into the numerous networking/internet bugs this game has.
  
  Single player does work fine, but to be honest, i got the game for the multiplayer option for my wife and I. I have no interest in playing the single player campaign.
  
  I have to say that if you have to buy this game be prepared for a lot of headaches. If it all works for you, consider yourself very lucky. If it doesn't, just remember i told you so.
  
  
• Aweful, just aweful
  By A1NW4X5MMNJHU0 on 2006-11-04
  I am a big fan of NWN1 and would give that game 5 stars. This game is by far not even close to it. Not only are the graphics inferior, but the game play is very awkward. It's like they took everything that was good about NWN1, and through it out the window. As someone said in a previous review, it's clear they are just riding the success of NWN1.
  
  I would expect this game to run smooth with the system I just built last week, but boy was I wrong. My ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe, 2 gigs of ram, AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+, and 2 Nvidia 7300 GT's running in SLI mode are not enough to make this poor excuse for a sequel to run smooth.
  
  Save your money, this game get's an F-
  
  
• An unfairly criticized game
  By AGIZPA336U632 on 2006-11-13
  I've been playing this game for a few days now and I must say that I'm really enjoying it, i'd give it a 9/10 overall. After reading page after page of nay sayer's reviews and fearing that it wasn't going to be that great, I am pleasantly surprised. It seems that most complaints you hear are about the system requirements. Let me put this into perspective - I have been recently playing the original NWN on my system with alot of the tweaks turned on (anti-aliasing, etc) and the framerate drops dramatically during big combat scenes (BTW, my specs: AMD Athlon 64 4000+, 256 MB Raedon x850 graphics card, 2 gigs ram). On NWN2 I have LESS lag than on the original with the tweaks turned on. I think most complaints are because people's systems aren't powerful enough to run the game properly but, as anyone who follows game design knows, these days, software is ahead of hardware. Remember when Oblivion came out and people were talking about horrible framerates and rendering issues? This is no fault of the game.
  
  The character models are detailed and really nicely designed. Some have said that there aren't many options as far as modifying your appearance but, if you factor in skin tones, hair styles, armor and weapons, etc there are LOTS of variations (NO, it's not as varied as Oblivion, but what other game is? Plus, most of the time there is going to be a helmet on your head, do we really need to see how pretty and full your character's lips are or how arched your eyebrows are?). There are ALOT more sub-races to choose from in this game. Some of the more powerful ones carry a leveling penalty, ie - 1,2 or 3 levels behind standard characters. The monsters designs are fantastic. Really I'm quite impressed by how great they look. Enviroment designs aren't as detailed but still good (remember the blockiness of NWN's backgrounds?) plus you can see the sky which has nice details like twinkling stars at night. As has been said before, the magic effects are terrific and offer so much more eye-candy than NWN or perhaps any other game I know of.
  
  Lots of people have complained about how difficult the camera is. This is simply untrue - you have basically the same options as in NWN and one more "free mode" which, to me, is useless. It does seem that the camera freaks out sometimes either by unwanted zooming or rotating but that may be because of my controller and isn't necessarily a game design flaw.
  
  The new drop down menus all seem user friendly to me (they quit using the radial menu from NWN). You have a FULL 10 LEVELS of quick menu at the bottom of the screen to use. My biggest pet peeve so far (and it's a small one!) is that when you overwrite a game, you have to type a name for it and can't automatically use the old one.
  
  I am really looking forward to developing my character (Tiefling bard/future red-dragon disciple), exploring the game further and seeing what user content (modules, hacks, etc) comes out for it. Although there are some minor technical issues, this game stands as a major achievement and upcoming patches (the first of which is already out) will only improve it's stability and gameplay. If you're into computer RPGs, this, like NWN before it, is an incredible value. Don't believe the hype - this is a great game.
  
  
• An improvement over the original in some ways, but in others a step backwards
  By A3AKZZ6SB06RB5 on 2008-01-28
  I want to get this out of the way - it's taken me a very long time to get from start to finish of Neverwinter Nights 2, and for good reason. When the game shipped in 2006 it was all but unplayable for many people because performance was just atrocious. For this reason, I couldn't get passed the first hour or so of the game; it was just too distracting. But the state of the game now is not the state of the game as it was at release. Numerous patches and an expansion pack have made me pick up the game again to give it another try, and I was pleasantly surprised with the game's improvement.
  
  Character Creation (not scored)
  When you first start the game, you'll be taken to the Character Creation screen. There are many, many, options for you when you start character creation, and I'm not just referring to what color hair your character has. So much so that it's overwhelming. In fact, I almost didn't get into the game at all because I didn't know what to do. There isn't really a tutorial or anything to help you figure it all out; instead, the game just gives you paragraphs of information on the right side of the screen detailing complicated, esoteric Dungeons and Dragons jargon. I will revisit this problem later when I talk about game-play, for it is a problem that permeates the game - in order to get the most out of the game you really need to have a pre-requisite knowledge of the way D&D works. It wasn't anywhere near as overwhelming in the original game or Baldur's Gate or other D&D based games - the game worked with or without your own personal experience with the game's systems. So when the game describes dice rolls, and stat offsets without explaining what they mean, it alienates the less hardcore consumer who hasn't spent half their life in a dank basement rolling for initiative. In the end, I just chose one of the pre-set character customization options or else I never would have gotten started. I will say, though, for the aforementioned D&D fanatic, the options and classes are very deep and varied; just don't expect for the game to cut you any slack, at first at least.
  
  Story 8/10
  This is one of the game's biggest strengths. Within the main campaign, you will easily find 50+ hours worth of playtime. The game takes place in the Forgotten Realms, more specifically the Sword Coast. You play a guy/girl/creature from a small southern swamp town, with an unknown destiny. There is an attack on your town at the beginning of the game, leading you to discover said destiny and set off on an epic journey to the city of Neverwinter and beyond. The set-up is very familiar, but the execution is top-notch. There is political betrayal and intrigue, racial tension and other problems to contend with that help make the world feel alive and vibrant.
  
  The game also employs use of a good/evil alignment system that attempts to make character interaction more interesting, but it doesn't have any effect on the story at large - you'll still end up battling the same final boss, and you'll either win or lose. Which brings me to the main problem with the campaign: its linearity. The world is large, but you'll discover it in a very linear manner. There are side quests, but for the most part, they are just optional objectives to fulfill along the main story arc, rather than allowing you to explore other parts of the Sword Coast.
  
  Game-play 8/10
  Game-play is exactly what you would expect of a D&D game. The difference between the original and the sequel, though, is that you control an entire party of four people rather than just one. You have complete control over your henchmen, rather than having the game automate all of their actions. The AI does control them when you want them to, but you have the option of micro-managing every action and level up.
  
  Battle consists of giving orders to your characters, watch them act out those orders, hitting the space bar to pause the game, giving more orders and doing it all over again. It isn't really any different that it has been in games like Baldur's Gate, but why fix what isn't broken? It's fun, engaging, and the reason to play the game. If you didn't like it before, you won't like it here, but it's dungeon crawling at its finest.
  
  The game gives you a rather slow-moving, basic tutorial at the beginning of the game to orient you with the way combat works. It sort of does its job, but once again, the game doesn't really teach you the way D&D works. So you either learn it elsewhere or ignore the underlying mechanisms, but it will make you feel like you don't understand what's really going on if you do just ignore it. The idea behind having a computer version of a D&D game is to automate it for you, but I felt alienated by being kept in the dark, and I often didn't know how to play different classes.
  
  Also, it is FAR easier to play as a melee-oriented class than a caster. Because you need to rest constantly to recharge spells, you won't always have your basic spells to use on your foes. When your casters have leveled enough, this will cease to be a problem, but if you start out as a mage, expect to rest after every encounter for the first 8 or 9 hours of the game. Also, you won't be able to manage any kind of aggro, so be prepared to need a fighter or warrior to get through most battles. This is part of the challenge of the game and the nature of D&D, but playing a fighter really is a breeze, while playing a sorcerer can be an exercise in frustration. Also, the AI is okay, but you'll notice sorcerers using their most powerful spells on rats when just a magic missile will do. As such, you'll probably want to order around all of your characters rather than trusting the AI. Inventory management can be clunky, too, but you generally have plenty of space for everything you want to pick up and sell.
  
  All of these issues are often minor, though, and playing the game is a blast most of the time. After a few hours you'll get a handle on how everything works, and it'll start to feel more natural. Later in the game you gain control of a fortress, which is yours to reinforce and work on, hire soldiers for, etc., which is also really engaging.
  
  Performance 6/10
  And here we reach the biggest issue with the game. The game just wasn't programmed to perform well on most systems. Especially considering the level of graphical detail inherent in the game design, performance is downright awful. Framerates rarely exceeded 15fps for me, and I have a gigabyte of video memory and two gigs of ram. The game has a particularly difficult time dealing with SLi or multi-core processors, which may have resulted from the game's lengthy development period. The patches and updates have made a big difference, but since then huge game-breaking bugs have reared their ugly heads.
  
  By far the biggest bug is one where the game actually deletes party members from your roster. It wouldn't be such a huge issue if certain campaign events didn't require you to have specific characters in your party at the time. See, the game stores character information every time you change scenery. However, when you have a familiar summoned, it will overwrite your useful tiefling thief or dwarf fighter, or what have you, with that familiar, effectively losing said character. It requires clunky file manipulation or a game restart, to fix which almost made me give up the game after 35 hours of playing. It is inexcusable to have such an enormous bug in the game a year and a half after release still in its code. Also, in order sidestep said bug, you have to unsummon all creatures every time you leave a scene, which is just irritating. Patch documentation state that this has been addressed, but this is a flat-out lie; I started a new game after all the latest updates had been installed.
  
  Graphics 7/10
  Even with the game's poor performance, the game looks okay. It kind of gets away with it much of the time because it doesn't require twitch action from the player. The backgrounds are pretty, with certain districts of Neverwinter being almost beautiful. The spell effects are the highlight of the game, with firebolts, mage missiles, and ice balls being flung all over the place during combat. It's very pleasant to look at while fighting, and satisfying when a meteor storm obliterates a boss character.
  
  However the characters look like they fell out of a time warp circa 2001. They often look awful, and the hair is particularly bad. I would expect character models of this caliber on the PSP, not on PCs. Also, the graphics engine is buggy, with random flickering happening quite frequently. Again, this all depends on your setup, but it is the norm, rather than the exception, if forum dwellers are to be believed. Loading times are very high, framerates are low, and bugs abound. The camera is particularly suspect - it's kind of isometric, kind of over the shoulder, but you there is no automation whatsoever, so plan on constantly manually moving it to get a better view of the action. Even more frustrating is the fact that it doesn't save where you were last looking with it when you transition to a new area, so you end up with an awful view every time you gain control of your characters. I don't know what was wrong with the way the original camera worked, but it detracts from the game experience.
  
  Sound 9/10
  I don't really have any criticism here. The voice acting is of high-quality across the board, the orchestral music is compelling and fitting, and the sound effects are satisfying. This is easily the most consistent part of the game.
  
  Summary
  All of the issues can really creep up on you while you play, and it's unfortunate that there are so many of them because there truly is a lot of fun to be had here for the persistent. All of this isn't really new to PC gamers, who are used to doing all kinds of tweaking to get games to work, but a history of this doesn't exclude Obsidian from the responsibility of releasing such an unpolished an inconsistent piece of software. That having been said, once I got the game working at a stable rate, I had a great time discovering and becoming part of its world and the tale it has to tell. The bottom line is that it's fun, engaging, and deep. Keep in mind the bugs and problems you may encounter before making a purchase, but it has my recommendation.
  
  Pros:
  -Engaging story
  -Great sound
  -Fun, deep gameplay
  -Lengthy campaign
  
  Cons:
  -Extremely inconsistent performance
  -Mediocre graphics
  -Difficult to get started
  -Complicated game systems
  -Lack of in-game explanation of those systems
  
  Overall Score - 8/10
  
  
• Buy the original instead
  By A14CL1QI9JVZWP on 2006-11-04
  The story line in the game is interesting so far, and after playing the first in a variety of environments my expectations were quite high.
  
  However the list of drawbacks are too painful to ignore. The user interface is extremely awkward. In many cases the only way to take action is to right click and wait for the context menu. Many of the keyboard shortcuts are gone. The camera is a constant awkward distraction, extremely annoying and frustrating. Every time a conversation starts all characters in the party are frozen. If any character moves to another zone, the whole part is brought as well.
  
  These detract so much from the game that my wife refuses to play after enjoying the last one, and looking forward to this since it was announced.
  
  
  
  
• Dissapointed
  By A1AXZNFZG53RYO on 2006-11-04
  Mega-disappointment, especially since this game was WAY behind schedule. Originally it was scheduled for release about a year ago - what have they been doing in the extra year they added to development? And why, for the love of God, can't they get something as simple as WASD/Camera follow controls right??? Come on people, this kind of control has been around for many, many years - why can't you get it right?
  
  The game runs fine on my machine, but the interface/contols are too big of an obstacle to game play. The character customization (graphics) is basically non-existant, the voice acting/scripts are dreadful, the graphics are wanting, and on and on... To be honest, NWN1 was a far better effort.
  
  I'll be going back to Nightfall - see you in Elona
  
  
• Doesn't meet expectations
  By A2VETMKGTHHRCJ on 2006-11-09
  I am not a hardcore gamer. NWN is the only "intense" game that I invest the time to play. I have been waiting for the 2nd version with anticipation for quite a long time.
  
  On release date, I bought two copies of the game. Sadly, I have only even bothered to open up one of them. The game, as is, only beta quality in my opinion.
  
  It is very buggy, and some of the new design decisions that were made in terms of UI and such were not good ones. Online gameplay is almost impossible with the way things are right now due to bugs and poor UI.
  
  I am still hopeful that they will patch the game and make it the game we all expected it to be, but I am extremely disappointed that it is 8 months late and still in the condition it is in and I still had to pay $50 for it.
  
  Unless you absolutely have to have it, wait until after the new year before buying it. There will probably be a half a dozen or so patches out by then.
  
  If they fix some fundamental things like NPC AI, the Camera, and Inventory I will reconsider my rating, but at this point in time I am very disappointed.
  
  
• Clarification
  By A1E92PCC4NSKU on 2006-11-03
  Just a quick point:
  
  The problems (with graphics, etc.) expressed below are experienced by a minority of people who have systems that meet the requirements but unfortunately (due to some sort of oversight of the developer's part) have issues running the game.
  
  In case you're holding off on buying this game, my advice is don't, especially if you're a D&D fan or liked the original Neverwinter Nights. The largely negative reviews here on Amazon make perfect sense...
  
  Because the rest of us are still playing the game!
  
  
• Don't Listen to the Whiners
  By A2VCC9UVM30151 on 2006-11-24
  Let me start off by saying I am a big fan of D&D and have played the original NWN. If you've perused online reviews and the official forums you'll find a lot of mixed reactions to NWN2. Unfortunately a lot of the criticisms aren't unfounded, but if you read some of these reviews it seems like people just complain just to complain. Yes the game has some flaws but bottom line,the game is fun. Nearly all of the flaws the game has can be fixed with a patch. Granted some of the things should have been there to begin with, but even so the game provides hours of fun, and at the end of the day that's really all that matters.
  
  I bought the collector's edition of the game and I'm either spoiled by the CE of the Guild War's series, or maybe it just takes more to impress me than 2 cheap rings and a crappy cloth map. For 20 extra bucks that's what you get, and a manual-esque "art book" with a few scans and character designs. That's it. A much better version of the CE was released in Europe and Australia which included the Original NWN, a D&D miniature, and a soundtrack cd. A much much better CE than what we got here. Guild Wars gives you a soundtrack cd, a poster, a hardcover artbook, and a nice sturdy, nicely designed box to keep it in. It's nothing earth shattering but it actually speaks more about the total NWN2 experience than you'd think.
  
  Obsidian had a HUGE task with NWN2. I peruse the forums every now and then and some of those guys are die hard enthusiasts. They'll complain about every little tiny detail from cloaks not flowing right to this spell wouldn't do this in D&D. Granted, there's no way they could please everyone with this, but a lot of the complaining was defintly warranted.
  
  For instance, I have a relatively powerful PC. It's not bleeding edge but like everyone else has said, if you can run Oblivion you should be able to run NWN2. Sadly while I don't have the horrible performance some people report, it's nowhere near the buttery silkiness that I get with guild wars, which NWN2 very much resembles. It's really quite baffling at what the problem is when the graphics are nothing special. They're light years ahead of NWN1's tiled , ugly look, but if I can run Oblivion at high settings I should not in any way have problems running NWN2. It's like in a lot of aspects the game could have used a few more weeks of polishing. I know they wanted to get it out before xmas, but with such a huge title, a large, vocal community who will call them on it, and the greatness that was the first game, it's crazy how they didn't polish this thing till it gleamed. From the crappy CE to lagging graphics you can see how some nerdy fans (me included) are so vocal about it.
  
  What get's NWn2 off the hook is two things. The gameplay and the huge possibilities it has with expansion. The game ships with a toolset (which i never use) that lets any D&D fan create stories and adventures till their hearts content. For sure a lot of hobbyist silliness is created, but there have been quite a few gems from the NWN1 era that rival some professionally created games in terms of scope and fun. You can download professionally created amateur modules many places, and the original NWN featured several official modules created by Bioware. So the game will surely have a very long lifespan. And that;s great considering the engaging battles and RPG gameplay.
  
  Battles are very tactical now as you have the ability to take 4 companions with you at any given time. Many different people will come and go in your party and all of them have different personality and classes. If you've played Knights of the Old Republic the party interaction is similar to that. Your character is still a silent mute, which is unfortunate. I'd like atleast once for RPG's like this to give your character personality. Let you pick a voice style when you create your character and have them actually talk and react. That's another thing, characters talk and act much better than NWN1, but they still only have so many animations that they cycle through. Sometimes you're party will get jostled, and you'll be having a conversation with an important character only to have one of your party members staring off in the complete opposite direction. Sometimes even when a NPC is directly addressing them. It seems nitpicky but it really jars you out of the experience. Another thing is any city you go to , it doesn't matter what time of day it is, the exact same citizens will be in the exact same places for days and days on end. In the City of Neverwinter there's these 3 people who sit in the same spot by a tree and never move. If i remember correctly in the original NWN the npc's had cycles. If it was night, the city would be empty and if it was day they'd actually go about their business. Little things like that take you out of the RPG element.
  
  Even despite these flaws though, Ive played the game for hours on end and really enjoy it. It took what was great about the first game and put some polish on it, upgraded it and made it shine. Battles are fun, spell effects are great, managing your characters is easy, leveling up is easy to do, and just so many things make this game fun to play despite it's flaws. Most of the issues that the game has can surely be patched up. Obsidian seems like they're in it for the long haul and are behind the game 100%. If you read the forums the devs are responsive to criticism and attentive to game issues, which there are plenty of.
  
  If you're looking for a good RPG for a xmas gift, then this is a great game to give. Even with it's flaws you can get this up and running easier than Oblivion. Oblivion has some steep system requirements and isn't for casual gamers. NWN2 is more accessible and a lot more tactical. If you're a fan of D&D or RPG's then you will surely love Neverwinter Nights 2.
  
  
  
  
  
• Way behind the times!
  By A2WLDEORTNRY0D on 2006-11-04
  Read the other reviews to get a good idea of what you will be dealing with. It is definitely buggy...even with updates. I firmly believe a game should be fully functional out of the box. This game requires and will continue to require updates and patches. I have a pre-release copy because
  I was a beta tester. I have played the retail release version for over 3 weeks.
  
  Forget this game and go buy Elder Scrolls: Oblivion!!!
  
  To be honest, if you want the best of both FPS and RPG environments...skip this game. The graphics are outdated, the concept is outdated and the inventory management system is horrible. Just wait till you have 2 or 3 characters to manage!!!! UTTERLY FRUSTRATING and TIME CONSUMING!!
  
  If you like clicking around with your mouse all day....you could just cruise websites...it won't cost you a dime...or you could play this game!
  
  Pass it over, especially if you played the first NWN game. Not much new folks.
  
  Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is still the GOLD STANDARD!
  
  
  
• Wait at least six months.
  By A2D39T7QKIZS6T on 2006-11-05
  I mainly play rpgs on the computer. Because of this I don't have the fastest computer, nor do I expect to play a game with best graphics. Visual appeal is not my highest priority, I look for games with a solid interface that keeps you interested and immersed. This game hasn't met those expectations so far.
  
  The graphics are above par. In particular, outdoor settings look great. Once you start moving your character around, however, things start looking down. Character movement is jerky and unrealistic. The camera controls take some getting used to but are manageable. Being indoors slows things down a lot more than being outside(don't ask me why), to the point where I almost dread having to walk in a room or building. You are also limited to the angle at which you view your characters inside because walls and other objects will block your view.
  
  Character generation is done very well with the only drawback being a lack of personalization features(only a handful of different faces and hairstyles). Inventory interface definitely needs to be worked on. No keymapping. When right-clicking on a character to get a list actions to preform, the developers intentionally add a delay. So you have to hold down the button for a second to get the list. There's a slider that allows you to adjust the amount of delay but no way to get rid of it which drives me crazy. There are several other things that need to be changed or replaced. All these things combined wind up distracting you from enjoying the game.
  
  I've been playing dnd computer games since pool of radiance and in comparison this game rates at the lower end of the spectrum. However, It can and will improve once a few patches have been made for it. I've waited a long time for this game and feel nothing but disappointment that games are allowed to be released when they're not ready to be played.
  
  Thank you atari for teaching me to never trust a distributer and always wait at least six months after a game is released to buy it.
  
  athlon64 3200
  geforce 6600
  1 gig ram
  
  
• The Longest 4 Year Disappointment
  By A3QKHVXEGDM1FS on 2006-11-14
  Neverwinter Nights: One of the most highly acclaimed RPG titles finally has a sequel!
  
  After literally 10 minuts of gameplay, I couldn't be more disappointed.
  
  Pros-
  
  Graphics are noticeably nicer. Crisp, Clean refresh rate
  
  ...and that is about it.
  
  Cons-
  
  The interface is completely and totally abysmal. I have no other way of putting this.
  
  The screen at 1024 X 728 resolution is cluttered and unmanageable.
  
  Your player movement is sloppy and uninspired. I tried to use the default movement keys (WASD) thinking it would make movement/camera angle easier to navigate. Nope. Still terrible.
  
  These are my impressions after 10 minutes.
  
  How on earth did you manage to make this game so unplayable? What a complete and utter disappointment. Did your developers or playtesters even play this? Are you sure you didn't accidentally give them a copy of NWN 1?
  
  Do not buy this; you will be sorely disappointed and out $60. Seriously, save your money for Christmas presents for your family.
  
  
  
  
• Extremely Disappointing
  By A16YETZFYWITCT on 2006-11-21
  Yes, this is a weak effort at best. Not because you need a computer that consists of a video card that hasn't even been invented yet to play it properly, not because the character creation tool is very much lacking (compared to oblivion and the like) in any depth, not because this is really just a 3D version of icewind dale with a bit of KOTOR thrown in, not because the load times are almost as bad as vampire: bloodlines. No...I think this game is weak because NWN 1 was soooo bloody good. As was Baldurs Gate, as was Torment. What a disappointment. When Black Isle disbanded, apparently, so did their work ethic, originality, genius...well you get the impression.
  
  Oh, and I have noticed that `impartial' reviewers from Game Banshee, War Cry and IGN have all given this game the big thumbs up...what a bunch of sell-out wankers you lot turned out to be. This game is [...], pure and simple. I hope you're all enjoying the complementary fruit baskets obsidian sent you (cretins).
  
  P.S: I CANNOT BELIEVE they actually used the same voice/sound/music bytes from the last game!! This is so lazy and self indulgent it defies description.
  
  
  
• A disgrace to the name
  By A3L6IEBP51T8OF on 2006-12-03
  I almost never write reviews, but I had to do my part to try to warn people away from this game. Let me start by listing all the good things about the game: 1) The new Quickcast display makes spellcasting much easier than in NWN1. 2) Many of the voice actors are very good. 3) There's no 3.
  
  If you are buying it just to play the campaign, well... I couldn't make it through Chapter 1. I gave up after being bombarded with six conversations/cutscenes in a row. And those conversations begin to feel like a series of traps, where every other thing you say causes an alignment shift and/or a change in "influence" with your henchmen, often in a very unpredictable fashion. Speaking of henchmen, instead of doing anything at all to improve the AI from NWN1, they added a puppet mode, allowing you to take direct control of your companions. So after deciding on the character you want to play, you will instead spend much of your time controlling the characters forced on you by the designers. And you still won't be able to use them effectively, because the pathfinding is so poor that often times they will be unable to even get to an enemy unless you steer them manually. Of course, all of the enemies are stuck with only the laughably sloppy, unfinished scripts left over from NWN1 to control them.
  
  As far as the toolset goes, it is slow and clunky, often pausing for several seconds when trying to do something as simple as changing one of the colors of one part of a suit of armor. That adds up quickly. It takes much longer to launch than the NWN1 toolset, and you will notice that because it crashes regularly. It will also suck up all of your processor power even while doing nothing. Please note that I am running on a Core 2 Duo system, so this is by no means a relic of a PC.
  
  I could go on and on, but the bottom line is, save your money!
  
  
• garbage
  By A3CRIO6Q6QA2WC on 2006-11-05
  I own a Core 2 Duo with a Crossfire mb/video card. I've installed 2 Gbs of Corsair memory at the highest frequency available for my ASUS mb. This game lags badly, the movement is choppy and the camera view is the worst I've ever seen in a 3D game. I should know better than to pre-order games. The video game industry has so many unscrupulous people who are simply looking to cash in on popular franchises. As a software developer in a Fortune 100 company, there's no way I could do this sort of thing to customers and not get fired. Releasing this kind of crap is unacceptable. [...]
  
  
• Be warned - NWN2 unplayable on most computers
  By A2LWI7KTJJFJT on 2006-11-07
  Not everyone walks around with the complete system specs for their machine in their head. Looking at the requirements on the box I assumed that since I have plenty of memory and that my comp is still fairly new I'd be up and playing in no time. But it turned out that my video card wasn't an NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or 6800. The game wouldn't run at all with my inferior card.
  Now that I'm retro-researching, I'm finding out MANY buyers can't access this game without significant upgrades or flat-out buying a new computer. PLEASE don't make the same mistake I did. Make absolutely certain your machine has what it takes to play the game before putting your money down. Otherwise you may end up feeling cheated.
  
  
• Solid game
  By AR4S8E3RSZ9MW on 2006-11-12
  First off it says my location as Afghanistan because I am deployed right now. I am all American . Now thats out of the way on to my review :)
  
  I purchased this game based upon my experiances with NWN1. Granted I have only had the game for less than 2 weeks I have enjoyed it very much. My review is based on my opinion and experiance with past games.
  
  The good:
  1.Solid Character development
  2.D&D v 3.5 rules
  3.Great looking textures
  4. Overall gameplay is great
  5. Has a module editor
  
  The not so good:
  1. The Camera <-- I know this one has been mentioned a few times
  2. Dungeons and Buildings can get laggy on older systems at times
  3.I wish I didnt have a party at times
  
  Overall :
  
  I believe this game will become another loved classic by those who truly like to roleplay and love this genre of games. I for one rated it 5 stars because its a great game and well worth my money. The replay value is endless due to so many combinations of characters and moddability. I hope they have expansions in the works . In my eyes if the game play is awesome then game is great the graphics is just the icing on the cake.
  
  
• This is supposed to be fun???
  By A1U7S8OXAU1MMP on 2006-11-14
  I've played almost every RPG thats been released, I'm still enjoying,"Total Annihilation Kingdoms", "Sacred","dungeon Siege 1&2","NWN 1" and I enjoyed "Diablo2 LOD "until Blizzard Ruined it With thier attempt at Demogogery.This game However is by far the biggest waste of money I have ever spent!I have a state of the art computer,and this game runs like a tortoise even on the lowest graphic settings!
  If I wanted to fly an F-16 I would have joined the airforce or the navy!!The gaming interface is so complicated that you could never ejoy it, even if the movement rates an screen changes were fluid enough. Its a war just to have a fight!!A game is something you utlize to relax, unwind and enjoy Yourself! I'm sending it back!!! DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY OR YOUR TIME WITH THIS PILE OF DISKS!!
  
  
• still pulling out my hair
  By A37LCO4QRR9GCU on 2006-11-29
  Well I waited for this game to come out for a long time. I just finished playing it yesterday. To be honest with you all I had to make myself finish this game. In Nwn One I couldn't wait to get back to playing it, I loved it. This game was about as exciting as having teeth pulled. Over the course of this game I have seen some really bad flaws. I will tell you the worst for me. If you want to fight an enemy in this game you will have to pause this game. The click area around an enemy is too small. I have seen a lot of complaints about this one. You have to pause, click on the enemy, and then unpause to fight. Oh yeah and rotate the camera and oh yeah rotate the camera some more. Folks it's a mess. I feel I wasted 50 bucks on this game. The ending was short had a lot of cut scenes. My question is where are the puzzles to solve? NWN one had a lot of puzzles and quest. NWN2 has a few quests, which were very annoying, and no puzzles to solve. I could go on and on but I would be here all night. If you are a fan of NWN One then wait for the price to reduce. Maybe they can save this game somehow. There is supposed to be an update to fix the cameras. I was in the middle of playing Baldurs Gate 2 when this game came out. The entire time I couldn't wait to finish NWN2 so I could go back to playing Baldurs Gate 2. Its up to you if you want to buy this game but please don't pay 50 bucks for this game. You will regret it as much as I do now.
  
  
• Still A Way To Go...
  By AQCU0K635E3ER on 2006-12-07
  I was so looking forward to NWN2 - I loved the Baldur's Gate & NWN series from Bioware; and to a lesser extent the Icewind Dale games. The pre-release hype implied this would be NWN with radically improved graphics, especially scenery, with a more BG feel to the game and interface and everyone expected such. Instead Obsidian seem to have scrapped the entire engine & toolset (the most developed parts of NWN) and rebuilt from scratch. However they recycled many voice scripts & background music from the original! So you get a new game engine that is basically similar to NWN on the surface (but nominally to D&D 3.5 Edition standards), but which has no new features of any huge merit and a limited quality rendering for your character customisation and only limited new original sounds (voice, ambient, or music).
  
  NWN2 also exhibits similar bugs to what NWN had, in fact on first release it had more originally but by the 5th Patch (version 1.03.840 on 05 December) it has at least reduced to a more acceptable level. However some characters in game are seriously hampered by bugs (e.g. Defensive Casting mode is erratic for spell casters). NWN2 was probably released too soon and it is yet to be seen whether Obsidian (& Atari) have a genuine commitment to support the game long-term as considerable patching and improvement will still be required.
  
  Graphically the game is visually impressive in some areas (notably Outdoors Terrain), but the poor customisation capability for characters, limited variety of interior terrain, poor spell effect graphics, and issues with frame rates undermine this. Obsidian have also indicated they may not offer any real support for PWs; and only minimal MP support! I don't dislike this game, but I am disappointed, apart from the overall first impression of the outdoors graphics it offers little over the original NWN and expansions. I expect the game may be worth 4 stars by about June 2007 if Obsidian are committed to improvement.
  
  I purchased the Limited Edition (DVD) version, primarily to get the extra Feat & Store Items in game, although the artwork book is also nice (but features spoilers so shouldn't be read until after playing). The NZ/Au version of the LE seems to be much better than the UK/European one. Despite what the packaging says you will actually need about 6.5GB to install, and about 7GB free space to play & patch).
  
  If you have not previously played the original NWN and expansions you may get much better value from buying them (Platinum or Diamond Editions are recommended) and downloading additional Premier or Free modules off the Internet until NWN2 has been further debugged & enhanced.
  
  
• Falls way short of the original (See expanded review)
  By A2ASDLD91KHPSA on 2006-11-03
  This is more like Icewind Dale than NWN.
  
  If there was a demo I wouldn't have bought it.
  
  If you like NWN you probably won't like NWN2. They removed many useful things NWN had, made it so large pw's won't be possible, there's hardly any monsters.
  
  
  A horrible let down
  
  
• The gameplay is relatively good, but beware
  By AQN53Q68X4ZJE on 2006-11-07
  I'll start out by giving my input on a hardware problem I haven't seen others chime in on yet, and then I'll give my impressions on the game itself.
  
  My system is around 2 years old (AMD 64 3000+ CPU, GeForce 6800 GPU, 1 GB of OCZ 3500 DDR ram), but runs the game on high details without a problem. The issue I did run into (on around my 5th gaming session) was that this game makes my system run much hotter than any other game I've played (and I have around a dozen other recent games). My hard drive got so hot that it started making a rapping sound. I powered down, let it cool off, and since it has been fine, but I fear I may yet have to replace it. My cooling setup has been more than adequate for any other game (1 front case fan and 2 in the back, with correct airflow), although I know it could be improved. I guess the best way I can describe it is that this game seems to make your system run as hot as if you were trying to overclock your system. So if you are like me and have never pushed your system to its limits, be catious while running this game because you may not have optimized cooling for your system to handle it. I advise anyone playing this game to keep a close eye on their system's temperature or you may end up damaging your hardware.
  
  I'm not really sure why this game runs so hot, since the graphics aren't anything special by today's standards. However they made this game, it takes up mountains of resources for its very plain graphics for some reason. So all I can say is be wary.
  
  The game itself has a pretty good storyline, and I do like the fact there are more NPC interactions than in the original. It is also nice that you can control your NPCs and that your party has a maximum capacity of four instead of three. However, I do wish they would have introduced a turn-based toggle feature to enhance single player play. Fallout: Tactics has this type of feature, which I found refreshing. The absolute worst feature of the game is the camera. It's a complete chore to have to constantly readjust the camera to find an acceptable angle, especially indoors. Most times I just use an extreme bird's eye like view, which ironically results in me not being able to take in the full effect of the resource-intensive (yet mediocre) graphics the game has. The game also has its share of bugs, although I haven't experienced as many of them as most have.
  
  My overall impression is that the game is a fun continuation on the series, but that the graphics engine and programming involved were poorly done. I give the game four stars for fun (assuming you can safely run it with an acceptable level of playability) and two stars for the developers releasing the game as it is (so three stars overall) which is giving so many gamers, who aren't hardware geniuses, so many problems. This is definitely not a user-friendly game for the average person.
  
  

• Neverwinter Nights(tm) 2 Official Strategy Guide (Forgotten Realms)
• PC Gamer (1-year)

• Neverwinter Nights 2 Expansion Pack: Mask of the Betrayer
• Neverwinter Nights Diamond
• Neverwinter Nights(tm) 2 Official Strategy Guide (Forgotten Realms)
• Baldur's Gate 2: Ultimate Collection (Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal)
• The Witcher