Neverwinter Nights 2 Review

By Kieron Gillen Published 4 November, 2006

Winter: it'll all be over by Christmas [spring, surely - Ed].

Version tested: PC

Much like reviewing its prequel, Neverwinter Nights 2 offers you a challenge. Do you review it just as any old videogame - that is, the adventure in the box - or do you measure the power of the creation tool included into the box, and think about all the mods that'll result from it?

Well, you do the former, clearly. As great as the tools may be, you don't mark for something that doesn't exist. Most people with the original didn't do this, as otherwise its fairly rubbishy campaign would have lowered its marks hugely. Yes, eventually it was worth buying Neverwinter Nights... but only for what it allowed you to play rather than anything in the box.

However, with this new spirit of rigour, it's lucky that Obsidian - whom pals Bioware chose to develop Neverwinter Nights 2 while they go off and do The Things Of The Future - have just made a great fantasy role-playing game.

Phew.

Far more than Neverwinter Nights, this is something that slides easily into this particular lineage of the RPG canon. You know - the Fallout/Baldur's Gate/Planescape Torment/Knight of the Old Republic strain. Rather than the loneliness of your slightly idiotic henchmen, you're gifted a small party of idiosyncratic partners you get to control directly, equip and generally get familiar with. Rather than a constrained small environment, it includes a Baldur's-Gate-esque world-map that allows you to travel from locale to locale.

'Neverwinter Nights 2' Screenshot 1

Something prismatic, I dare say.

Despite the fact it's dealing with a far more mainstream/clichéd fantasy world, Obsidian has managed to craft a memorable supporting cast of NPCs. The tone's set from the first character you meet - a brawling dwarf who enjoys starting fights. It's familiar from every classical RPG you've ever played. The twist is that he's a dwarf who's obsessed with becoming a monk. Why a monk? Because they're just glorified pub-brawlers, aren't they. Smart deconstruction of the fantasy world - enormously funny and enormously cute. One of the biggest strengths of Neverwinter Nights 2 is simply the quality of its writing.

It does all this without significantly losing any of the better points of the original Neverwinter Nights. For a Dungeons & Dragons fan the absolute mass of rules crammed into the game is somewhat dizzying. Be a tiefling? Why not. What prestige class do you want to be? And on and on and on. For someone whose bookshelves aren't wobbling under the weight of Monster Manuals, it's dizzying too, but in terms of look at all this stuff. It's a big game, however you care to define it.

It's far from perfect. It doesn't have the mass of bugs that ruined Knights of the Old Republic 2 for many people; rather it has areas where some mix of design and technology conspired to render it less than it should be. The biggest aggravations come from the perennial bugbears of pathfinding and NPCs' artificial intelligence. The latter's a far more pressing problem in terms of play. Agreeably, you have all manner of options you can turn on or off, which alter NPC in precise ways - shall they use their equipment unprompted and so on. But the problem with this is that if you give the computer any control over AI, it's only fine up to a point, in a low-level conflict; when you're in an area where precise control is required, your companions are more likely to go running off and deal with a distant foe rather than staying close and working like a party. It's at its worst when you're trying to make the party actively run away. Essentially, when you're engaged, you're engaged, and everyone on one side is going to end up as experience points for the other.

'Neverwinter Nights 2' Screenshot 2

She's got a lovely personality though.

Alternatively, if you want the full control, you can turn off any significant AI (except following) and directly give all the orders for your eight-legged XP-grind machine, supported by the handy pause key. But it's clear that the engine isn't really designed for such precision. Skipping between each individual and choosing their target every time they kill someone is just tiresome for extended periods. RTS-style drag-and-drop multi-character select would have helped, but isn't here.

You wish Obsidian had proposed a happy medium between characters being completely passive and adventurers going off on adventures by themselves. You know - stay near the leader and hit anyone within arms reach once you've put someone down. Coming straight from playing the (brilliant, randomly) Guild Wars: Nightfall, it's clear how clunky Neverwinter Nights 2's party control system is.

Then there are the other minor problems. Like your being unable for some reason to redefine keyboard shortcuts when actually playing the game, and not being able to redefine a mass of your shortcuts at all. In fact, a load of them aren't even listed in the game. It's as though they expected you to actually read the manual, like it was 1987 or something.

Then there's the save system. While you can save anywhere, the game's enormously stingy with the checkpointed auto-saving. For example, in the opening segment when you're defending your village and investigating something in the swamp - the first half hour or hour of play, depending on your speed - there isn't a checkpoint. Generally, the game only appears to save by itself when you travel on the world-map, and rarely anywhere else. Would it have killed the developer to do one when you're going down a dungeon level occasionally? While the game actively advises you to save regularly, if you're actually enjoying a game like Neverwinter Nights you simply don't. You don't die regularly enough to worry about it in the same way you would in a first-person shooter, but the loss in terms of time when you do die is relatively huge.

'Neverwinter Nights 2' Screenshot 3

It's far more an outdoors game than the first.

However, as grating as all these aspects are, they're things which are worked around. You remember to save. You balance whether you want AI or direct control depending on how difficult a fight is. You (er) remember the buttons.

Seven or an eight, seven or an eight...

There's a nagging sense that - perhaps - we're reaching the end of the road of the Black-Isle/Bioware model western-style role-playing game. Jade Empire reviewed well, but disappeared almost immediately from public discourse, dismissed as a Knights of the Old Republic in wushu clothing. Yeah, it was good, but it was good in the same old way. Whatever Bioware do with Dragon Age will be very interesting. In that way, while hugely improved over the original Neverwinter Nights' campaign, this is essentially Baldur's Gate. Shouldn't we be looking for...

Rewind that. This is essentially Baldur's Gate.

While its design is starting to show its age a little, the engine is far from perfect and so on and so forth and so bloody whining, there's still enough of the magic here which will reduce the seasoned PC role-playing gamer to rapture. It's not the future of PC gaming, but a glorious slice of the recent past. This may be the last adventure like this you'll ever go on. And there's a certain style and grandeur to anything like that.

In short, great. But what's next?

8 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Kieron.

About Kieron Gillen

Kieron is one of the founders of the lovely Rock, Paper, Shotgun and nowadays writes comics for Marvel starring characters that even his mum has heard of.

Read more articles from Kieron by visiting the Kieron Gillen archive page.

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Comments (66) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • octo #1 5 years ago

    Hmmm, did they pay you to say that?

    Just kidding on the square of course!

  • SeesThroughAll #2 5 years ago

    This is essentially Baldur's Gate.

    That's it. I'm gonna upgrade my PC and buy this :D

  • CitizenGeek #3 5 years ago

    Bleh, western RPGs can't match JRPGs IMO............

  • vane101 #4 5 years ago

    So what's the future of the western rpg, if people say it's not Bioware or Betheseda?
    And surely many of us have had enough of the JRPG linear model with random battles and often iffy stories.

    What's the future for the rpg then?

  • Azazel #5 5 years ago

    Rewind that. This is essentially Baldur's Gate.

    Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Th...

    EDIT:

    Coming straight from playing the (brilliant, randomly) Guild Wars: Nightfall

    Any danger of a review?
    Edited by 1 at 04/11/06 @ 15:34

  • SleepyMagpie #6 5 years ago

    I quite agree with the score. It looks like it's going to turn out a longwinded, fun romp, with lots of character (fnar), but not necessarily everyones cup of proverbial tea.

    One thing to note fellow grottos & gremlins geeks: The games' engine can, when unchecked, and with all bells and whistles switched on, bring your rig to buckling under the strain. I own a high specced box (if not the highest), and out of pure habit I ticked all the boxes on the first graphics settings page, and then went on to tick all the boxes and max the sliders on the second "advanced graphics" page too.

    Not wise. I wrongly thought the second page to contain the real heavy load, but Obsidian has put these in rather randomly. Consider well if you need "Normal mapping" and a couple of other settings on the first page. Of other technical concerns the camera seems nasty the moment you start to point it about, but spend some time adjusting it and it turns out fine.

    So this is a - spend 2 hours config'ing it like Oblivion - sort of gameworld, but it's very nice when you've got it sorted.

    "Gathers copious Electron toolset manuals and guides, readying for creations of a long winter".

  • morriss #7 5 years ago

    I'm loving all these reviews but Tiger Woods '07 has been out for 10 days now and I'm starting to dribble on the carpet in anticipation.

    Where. Is. It?

  • Xerx3s #8 5 years ago

    Bleh, jRPGs can't match wRPGs IMO............

    Fixed. There simply is no debate about it.

  • ave #9 5 years ago

    If they can fix the performance issues, this game would be essentially awesome.

    I guess you didnt run into any performance/camera problems Kieron?
    Edited by 1 at 04/11/06 @ 16:22

  • BrokenSymmetry #10 5 years ago

    Again with the references to Guild Wars: Nightfall (as in the Archlord review). But where's the actual review of Nightfall?

  • fawe3 #11 5 years ago

    Wow, comparison to Baldurs Gate where I was expecting a comparison to kotor2, looks god. Will check some forums then off to the store. :D

  • Drakron #12 5 years ago

    Performances issues are wierd, I have nothing to brag about my rig but it plays better that Gothic 3 and Oblivion ... only issue was the skybox that was fixed by updating the graphic card drivers.

    Sure combat is not ToEE and that is a damn shame but NwN2 is the future of RPGs because the mainstream market is alergic to anything that resembles turn base, in NwN2 they even used KotoR(s) "nobody dies at 0 hp, they are just knocked out".

    Bethsoft is only going to make FPS with very lite RPG mechanics and BioWare is unlikely to move away from KotoR mold (JE and ME already shown that).
    Edited by 1 at 04/11/06 @ 16:32

  • SleepyMagpie #13 5 years ago

    @Drakron:

    There are rumors floating around the net currently that performance issues on high specced rigs are due to these machines either sporting dual core cpu's or sli graphics cards.

    If this is the case, then this is damn shoddy work on Obsidians part, but which will no doubt be rectified shortly by a patch.

    This is a patchwork universe remember, where everyone, devs and community alike, chip in and keep honing the work, and already at install you are greeted by a 80 meg + patch!

    I can hear some of you more console-centric lot groaning. No, wait, everyones been caught up to it on Live now, no? ^^

  • Collie #14 5 years ago

    Hmm, I never could get into NWN. Unlike BG1/2 which had really impressive storyline and plot, NWM was awfully linear feeling, had tired and banal plots and voice acting (especially that posh bird) and just felt very much like something built from a construction kit instead of a polished gameplay experience. At times it was like playing some RPG Maker adventure. One uninspiring room and street after the other, and endless cupboards, barrels and chests that all contained exactly the same useless trinkets. The combat seemed to revolve around you dying quite a bit but just teleporting back and finishing off your foes that you couldn't bother to use a health potion on earlier. I suppose it's main strength was the construction kit itself and the endless modules that came out and multiplayer aspect, but by then my interest in the game had gone entirely.

    This review for NWN2 doesn't exactly endear me back to the series either, although at least it isn't as ugly. As for this being the last of this style of Western RPG game, well I hope there are some developers out there willing to keep plugging away at them. I find Japanese RPGs more like linear adventure games with endless over the top strategy battles one after the other, with scripts that seem to be written with children in mind. I'd personally like to see an RPG where the world itself is richly detailed and the characters in it, like Ultima 7, but updated somewhat so they react much more to what is going on, and with some decent battle engine. Oblivion doesn't meet that criteria either.

  • Chtulie #15 5 years ago

    After more people have played FF XII with it's workaround system, bad party AI isn't going to be nearly as easily accepted as it used to be.

  • Sorb #16 5 years ago

    Welcome back Kieron!
    I guess this is no Oblivion then...

  • Dizzy #17 5 years ago

    Please do not even think about mentioning FF in this thread...

    I am getting this... *after* my new PC arrives in about a month. The original NWN ate shitloads of my time... some amazing mods and great adventures.

  • Bates #18 5 years ago

    "Rewind that. This is essentially Baldur's Gate."

    Is this supposed to be a good thing?

  • Drakron #19 5 years ago

    Actually I did hit a serious bug, I cannot save the game ... I belive its caused by My Documents being on C:\ and the game being installed on F:\ ...







  • George-Roper #20 5 years ago

    @Collie

    Couldn't agree more. Reeks of RPG Constructon Set, from the invis-o-land borders, to the generic Crate01 containing Item03.

    This is what really killed the original NWN for me, the absolute feeling of the construction set being created first and then the single player game being tacked on top. It all feels rather..empty. Devoid of feeling. I didn't give a toss for all three of starter 'friends' and when that Mage died, I was completely uninterested.

    Good story telling and UI/Controls maketh an RPG. This game has neither.

  • TardKommando #21 5 years ago

    Thanks, have been waiting for the review and it has swayed me to get this before Gothic 3 or DMoMM.

    Quick question, is the campaign a 15 hour romp, 60 hour monster (ala BG II, Oblivion), or somewhere in between?

  • Azazel #22 5 years ago

    BG + TotSC + BG2 + Throne of Bhaal + Darkest Day = The Win

    I've went through the whole thing from level 1 more than once :D I'm sure legions of others are equally sad :) Can't beat it with a Staff +9

  • striker #23 5 years ago

    I feel most EG reviews lately are a bit too short and uninformative, leading to the common "X/10? sounds like X-4/10 to me!" comment.

    They seem to consist of 3-4 fun introductory paragraphs, 1-2 paragraphs explaining what the game is about, and a list of glitches, problems, things that bother the reviewer.

    Though the writing quality is great as usual and boring descriptions of the game are rightly avoided, IMO many gameplay aspects and even personal experiences that convey the feeling of the game should have a lot more relevance.

    I don't understand a word of german but after glancing at the Eurogamer.net review of this game I wish I did.

    I really like Kieron Gillen's style and most reviews, but the current trend to short and uninformative reviews seems a bit exaggerated.

  • spongebob #24 5 years ago

    @striker:

    You have probably noticed that almost all of the game reviews published use some kind of format. There's only a few mags not to mention websites that have critics who are able to rival, say, some of the better movie critics out there.

    The reason is of course the fact that many of the journalists working in games are self taught. They don't have formal education in journalism.

    I am not saying EG is like that, actually it's one of the best games sites around, but the reviews tend to use the similar format from time to time. Especially the one with 1-3 paragraphs of "out of context" or "funny" writing is something that's almost given here.

  • Scimarad #25 5 years ago

    I just saw this running on a friends uber PC - I'll just say that it must be one hell of a game if it can overcome the horrendous technical issues & horribly bland graphics I saw...

  • TheJuriel #26 5 years ago

    The game's twice as heavy as Oblivion, for half the looks.
    Almost impossible to create a cool PC from the parts given.
    The interface is just worse than in NWN1.
    Combat animations are severely lacking.

    There's a lot for patches to fix...

  • UncleLou #27 5 years ago

    I hate the graphics, I hate the camera, I hate the lack of polish, but I am really hooked to the game now. Except for these points, it really is like in the old Infinity-engine days. If you've been craving for Baldur's Gate III for years, this is the game to get.

    And for the record, I thought singleplayer in NWN1 was terrible.

  • immateriaux #28 5 years ago

    hmmm, I've a dual core athlon and amn't getting any performance problems at all with absolutely everything set to max on graphics options (thought I'd start at the top and work down but turned out didn't need to change anything).

    Camera movement issues are driving me bananas though for these first few hours of playing. My first impressions of the game are about a seven, felt far more "immersed" when starting Oblivion than I've felt starting NWN2 - plus bit pissed off with the crap bundled "lite" manual, hate reading online ones and they're useless when you want to look up something midgame.

  • Drakron #29 5 years ago

    You liked captain Picard in Oblivion?

    I never get this, when does the Emperor in order to escape goes out of his tower all the way to the city prison just to enter some "escape tunel" were it would faster to just walk down the front door and down the hill to the small pier.

    Unless you are joking with the "immersed" since Oblivion is the standart railroad start we seen since ... well the very first one (alright, Daggerfall starts in a cave without us being a prisoner) and honestly have to say who the hell said my character have to be some kind of concerned citizen (that is in jail)?

    At least we can skip the whole harvest fair in NwN2 and even if we do at least we be mean to those 2 joinable party members ... unlike "hello, I am captain Picard ... now please be bored for the next half hour as you go over the dungeon for the 35th time".



  • Laserbream #30 5 years ago

    Yeah, Picard becomes a little tiresome around the 40th time you have to complete that dungeon.

    Even worse is that lady that threatens you with "We won't hesitate to kill you!" in a voice that sounds like it drives a Land Rover to the supermarket with its only child.

    Off topic though! I love NW2 already! I love the dwarf, in a platonic sense, unless he wants to take it further in which case I'm cool because you know I'm open-minded. No performance issues yet with most things turned up high, shadows and water reflections turned off (on a intel core2duo 6600, 2gb of ram and a radeon x1900 xt).

    Loading times are great (compared to Gothic 3's which in its defense does allow me to catch up on that novel I'm reading) and fully controllable party members kick the crap out of NW1's henchmen system. I just wish I could make Dragonball Z poses when I cast magic missiles.

  • Reapergold #31 5 years ago

    Had a couple of nights to play this, and yes the autosave function could do with a few more waypoints, but if you enjoyed Baldurs gate then you will enjoy this. The D&D toolset is essentially a storytelling product, therfore personally id recommend reviewing this with that in mind. Decideing what score the story deserves and going from there. There will be allot of mods popping up quickly to whihc is always nice, and no doubt some free ones done by the developers to. Enough to keep me happy for some time yet.
    Loving the team banter im getting, just a little bit more of a push and ill have the tiefling rogue and the dwarf fighting. Takeing all bets!

    edit- @Laserbream LoL. Need to get a patch to change the magic missile sounds to a kamehameha to :D


    edit
    Edited by 1 at 05/11/06 @ 10:22

  • skuzzbag #32 5 years ago

    Ha ha ha!

    You played through the dungeon in Oblivion over and over and over?

    The rest of us saved just before exiting the dungeon and used this save point as the character creation template.

  • Artemis_Matsas #33 5 years ago

    Good review. I'm definetely buying this.

    How about Dragonlance dear developers??? great world, fantastic story-telling, get to it!!!

  • Inigo #34 5 years ago

    I'm only a couple of hours into the game and i'm really enjoying it. The story and characters are well written. I've only met 2 NPCs so far and they seem like an great amount of fun. I love the angry "scottish" dwarf who likes to get into drunken fights.

    I love the different choices you can make in the game. Being able to talk down you enemy or slit the throat of you rival. Though i still feel guilty when i do something tooo bad :)

    My systems 2 years old and i've had no slow down or performance issues. The graphics are not as good as oblivion but then what game is better? My only real problem is with some of the controls and interface. Theres nothing that can't be tweaked in a mod or patch.

  • immateriaux #35 5 years ago

    "hello, I am captain Picard ... now please be bored for the next half hour as you go over the dungeon for the 35th time".

    My "first impressions" of something are formed the first time that I play, not the thirty fifth time I play.... ;)

  • Groggen #36 5 years ago

    Played a few hours last night and there's one thing I don't understand.. what's so bad about the camera? I just use the "top-down" view and increase the mouse wheel sensitivity for the zooming.... Seems to work just fine.

  • jonnyreb #37 5 years ago

    I can't really complain as my system is getting on a bit......

    P4 2.6
    1GB DDR RAM
    NV GeF 5700 LE with 256mb

    ....But this games runs horribly on it.

    If your system is anything like mine and you don't want to upgrade I would pass up on this...I get 5-6 FPS with everything turned right down to minimum.

    On my friends system which is leading edge it runs 'OK' only - not that smooth considering - and the graphics really don't justify the horsepower this uses.

    Great story and game though, if you can run it.

  • Miths #38 5 years ago

    I'm really enjoying the story line (not very far yet though) and the combat (especially that you have full control over all party members, just like the old Infinity Engine games).

    The UI took some getting used to (but I think it's decent), but I've not had any camera issues. In top down view, no automatic camera rotation/tracking (which is how I prefer to play it) it appears to me as though it handles exactly as the original NWN.

    The graphics are pretty bland and certainly don't come anywhere close to what I would expect from a good 2006 game. And yet I had to spend the better part of an hour tweaking in-game settings to get adequate performance without too many tradeoffs (and often readjust shadow settings etc. based on the area I was in at a given time).
    That a Core 2 Duo E6600 with 2 Gb RAM and a Geforce 7900GTO (and a brand new one week old Windows installation) should have to struggle so much for so little graphical splendor doesn't make sense. Even Gothic 3 damn near seemed better optimized than this game.

    There's no shortage on performance complaints on the official boards either. And all those with slower systems saying you're getting flawless performance - I'm wondering, you wouldn't by any chance happen to have something like shadows at low or off entirely? Which makes a huge difference.
    Fair enough on a mid range system, but you really shouldn't have to do that on a high end system. I've finally managed to get it to run decently with shadows on high (most of the time), but that's with heavy adjustments to shadow map resolution, lighting sources etc.

    I love the game despite those issues, but there definately seems to be some patching to do in the near future.
    Edited by 1 at 05/11/06 @ 19:14

  • CitizenGeek #39 5 years ago

    @Xerx3s

    Oh come on, western RPGs cannot match the depth of JRPGs battle systems or the depth of the story or the depth of the character development or the richness of the worlds in JRPGs. And while JRPGs are fun as well as serious, all wRPGs take themselves far too seriously making the whole experiance rather dry.

  • Scimarad #40 5 years ago

    That wasn't really an inflamatory statement, then?

    I prefer JRPGs (I can't imagine anything coming close to FFXII) but I think this sounds pretty interesting aside from the tech aspects.

  • Pike #41 5 years ago

    Stop making an idiot out of yourself, CitizenGeek. All reasonable people know that JRPGs are for dim-witted console gamers.

  • Scimarad #42 5 years ago

    Oh dear, grow up you 2!

  • Pike #43 5 years ago

    Never!

  • Scimarad #44 5 years ago

    :-)

  • Lacero #45 5 years ago

    CitizenGeek: JRPG battlesystems are "deeper" because the west has an unhealthy obsession with D&D, and its broken mess of a rulesystem. This also means a lot use the settings of D&D, which are almost a definition of fantasy cliche.

    JRPGs might win out on storylines too, but for character development in an RPG WRPGs are much better becuase you can actually choose how you and your party develop.

    In summary:
    WRPG > JRPG
    D&D < Midgar (or Avalice or whatever)

  • pauleyc #46 5 years ago

    "western RPGs cannot match the depth of JRPGs battle systems or the depth of the story or the depth of the character development or the richness of the worlds"

    Clearly it's a matter of taste. Personally I find JRPGs infantile, shallow, ridiculous, over-simplified, laughable and plainly boring.

    Well done, Obsidian. Now finish KotOR 3!

    /cracks whip

  • UncleLou #47 5 years ago

    Oh come on, western RPGs cannot match the depth of JRPGs battle systems or the depth of the story or the depth of the character development or the richness of the worlds in JRPGs. And while JRPGs are fun as well as serious, all wRPGs take themselves far too seriously making the whole experiance rather dry.

    Oh dear. I suggest you actually play a western RPG before you embarass yourself even further. "Depth of character development" in JRPGs, eh? *chuckles*

  • MrChuckles #48 5 years ago

    Baldur's Gate > NWN2 single player > NWN single player

    I'd put it nearer Baldur's Gate, but not there. Mind you that with the multiplayer stuff and yeah, an awesome package.

    Played it for most of Saturday, the dwarf kicks arse a bit too much, goes into a cleave-fest and everything ends up dead.

  • Quine #49 5 years ago

    I've had this for a few days now and my opinions keep fluctuating- the starting areas looked nothing special and hardly an improvement on the original NWN and the UI has some maddening deficiencies like mapping dual items to a hotkey and even stuff like selling loads of crap was painful == BAD.

    Then I got hit by some spellcasters and the graphics suddenly looked great, and having lightning spells carving a path through a packed melee really made me take things a lot more carefully (playing on Hardcore mode for more interesting fights) == GOOD.

    I made a mistake in giving the sorceress fireball as she just nukes my entire group in a scrap (not a problem on normal difficulty though) so I had to start taking command of her instead of my main all the time == BAD.

    Now I'm stomping through the obligatory orc caves and I've got my pause/adjust/unpause tactics working well and suddenly every scrap is an interesting balance of using all the skills- can I get my sorc to turn round and cast a quick daze spell at that charging Orc cook who's just flanked us, or should I set her to parry, or run my healer over and hope for the best == GREAT.

    I'd love to see a good multiplayer party using all the skills in realtime, but even the pause-fest singleplayer is becoming is good fun, although I may have to swap the sorc for the druid to keep things flowing in future.

    In terms of performance my Core Duo/GTO combo seems to be having no problems at all on max, with shadows down to medium settings. Maybe it's a driver/soundcard thing?
    Edited by 1 at 06/11/06 @ 11:51

  • SALZHERZ #50 5 years ago

    Ein rundum gelungener Testbericht. Kompetent, knackig und alle Bereiche einbeziehend. So soll es Sein.
    Danke !

    Nach dem für mich enttäuschenden Oblivion (level scaling, generische Dungeons, Kampfsystem, NPC Verhalten) spiele ich NWN2 mit Freude. Es hat ein tiefgehendes, forderndes RPG System, alleine meinen Charakter zu erschaffen dauert bei mir eine Stunde.
    Ich empfinde die Grafik und Effekte als gelungen, stimmungsvoll. Der Sound ist hörenswert, kurzum, für mich das RPG des Jahres. Ich freue mich schon jetzt auf neue Module.

    Also, Mick, weiter so und bleibe kritisch.

  • UncleLou #51 5 years ago

    Yes, in my experience, the shadow maps (the 3 settings in the advanced options) are the real framerate killer, and (in the first options screen) the "pointed lights" (or somesuch).

    So if you're having problems, try either putting the shadow maps to the 3 lowest settings, or turn off environment shadows altogether (which looks shit, though). Funnily enough, the "normal mapped ground textures" didn't seem to make any framerate difference whatsoever on my PC.

  • Crea #52 5 years ago

    I agree with most comments - this is pretty good stuff, and probably the closest to the heights of Baldurs Gate we've had in years. It's still not as good though. The 3D engine is pretty poor at getting the feeling of a bustling city. The buildings are too spread out, and the framerate stutters in urban areas on max detail even on an uber machine. I preferred the 2D approach of BG, frankly.

    That said, I think the graphics really come into their own when dungeon crawling. There is some really great texturing work here, and with the dynamic lighting and what looks like normal mapping of cave walls etc, you get some really atmospheric dungeon crawls. As people have said, the spell effects look really good, the game looks fantastic mid-battle when there's a couple of wizards in the fray.

    The return of the world map and proper party control makes all the difference between this an NWN 1 as far as the single player experience goes. It's still, strictly speaking, quite linear (in that places don't open to you until you've reached the relevant plot point), but it still somehow feels...open. I think it's the fact that you can revisit places you've been, and there's a fair bit of going back and forward. I miss the openness of something like Oblivion far less than I thought I would. It's making me reassess my previous committment to non-linear gaming. I still think this is important, but NWN2 has shown me that the illusion of openness is sometimes enough.

    All in it's well worth the money. But SURELY Obsidian, Bioware et al must be aware of the desire of many to see a return to the glory days of BG-style RPGs? KOTOR was great, and all, but if the cost of moving to 3D was a game 30% of the size, I'd stick with 2D.
    Edited by 1 at 06/11/06 @ 13:27

  • pottersfield #53 5 years ago

    'Neverwinter Nights 2 offers you a challenge...do you measure the power of the creation tool included into the box, and think about all the mods that'll result from it?
    Well, you do the former, clearly. As great as the tools may be, you don't mark for something that doesn't exist.'

    right. Presumably you also wouldn't review multiplayer games, because the players don't come in the box. Word and Excel are also rubbish because they contain no existing documents.

  • chicknstu #54 5 years ago

    It's a tough one to review, I agree. But I think that disregarding the tool, which is the main pull of the series, is a bit harsh. It IS included in the box, along with a hefty tutorial on how to use it.

    If this was a review of simply the included campaign, I'd almost say you should have gone with the 7. For me, it's that potential (and the fact that I intend to use the tool) which would make me whack the score up higher than that.

  • Caimbeul #55 5 years ago

    @CitizenGeek

    "Bleh, western RPGs can't match JRPGs IMO............ "

    I agree the Japs make amazing RPG's ... BUT! you obviously have not played Baldurs Gate II, Icewind Dale II, Elder Scrolls and Shadowrun. All western RPG's and easily upthere with the greatest from the land of the rising sun. In fact I would go as far as BG2 being the greatest RPG to date.

  • Crea #56 5 years ago

    Planescape Torment, you heathen! :)

  • MrChuckles #57 5 years ago

    Nah, BG2 for me too.

    Never finished Planescape due to a savegame bug with the main pub where everytime i went in there everyone attacked me and i couldn't continue the main story... Corrupted all my savegames, and i couldn't be bothered to start again!

  • mingster #58 5 years ago

    1up pull their review of NWN2 and print an apology!!

  • Crea #59 5 years ago

    To be honest, there's only a gnat's baw-hair between any of the classics - BG1/2, Planescape, Fallout 1/2.

    All frelling brilliant. Why oh why don't they make games like that anymore? NWN2 is good, but it ain't THAT good

  • Caimbeul #60 5 years ago

    lol @ Crea. I have heard its great an I even own it but I couldnt get into it for some reason...

    @ Crea they dont do it any more because jo Schmoe and all the sims junkies want 3D and think its great. when in fact you can achieve so much more in isometric 2D or even fixed view Isometric 3D - same view its just all small detailed 3D. Sigh.

    @Bioware - Why did you can BG3!!!??? Why oh why oh why

  • Crea #61 5 years ago

    @ Caimbeul

    How I envy you, my friend - to have the experience of playing Planescape in front of you, fresh. It'd be like seeing Star Wars for the first time, having known nothing about it. Play it, you madman! Play it right now! Here's the concept to get you in the mood:

    - you're an immortal man with no memory, who follows clues left by previous incarnations of yourself (a la memento) to discover who the hell you are and what your purpose is. You're accompanied by a wise-ass floating skull and along the way you'll meet a man who's been on fire for centuries and a talking cube (yes, a cube). Pretty much every quest in the game be solved multiple, interesting ways, and by the time you're done you'll have explored some of the most interesting locations ever set to digital canvas...

    I've had to work on my sales pitch, my flatmate and I were forever trying to get each other to appreciate our favourite games. He'd never shut up about Beyond Good and Evil, I'd never shut up about Planescape. Have I sold it to you? :)

  • gamesb*tch #62 5 years ago

    So it's better in German then ;)

  • UncleLou #63 5 years ago

    It's just getting better and better. Obsidian FTW!

    +1

    Party interaction rocks, battle system pretty much rocks, story is good.

  • Reapergold #64 5 years ago

    a travel interupt battle has decided to lock on for me :s I defeat some bloody orcs and then the screen gos black for a second, loads, then returns to the place i was jsut fighting but wih no enemys. 2 of my party stop following all of a sudden and the exit to the area fails to work. I hate you nvn2. I HATE YOU! DAMN YOUR BUGGY AS FUCK SHITTNESS! I EXPECT THIS OF AN EA GAME, BUT NOT FROM YOU!

    /riddelin time.

  • Quine #65 5 years ago

    I had a similar problem with an encounter locking me into the level- it was fixed by replaying the encounter and ensuring I was controlling my main character at the end of the fight when some Plot kicked off.

    I think the 1.02 patch (out today) is supposed to address this(?)

    "Save early. Save often."

  • ElPresidente #66 5 years ago

    Just to chime in with Crea, I really do feel insanely jealous of anyone about to start their Planescape journey... it is one of the greatest stories in gaming and certainly one of the best RPGs.

    Regarding all the JRPG comments... yes they are fun games but they really aren't RPGs at all and fail to offer the depth of content present in 'true RPGs' (ie: Not Oblivion and its GTA with swords approach :p).

    So... any chance we can get the old members of Troika to go hook up with Avellone over at Obsidion and make us an Arcanum 2? :D