73 out of 73 people found this review helpful.
Neverwinter Nights 2: Could have been a great sequel
Date of Review: Feb 1, 2007
The Bottom Line: If you liked Neverwinter Nights, you may like Neverwinter Nights 2; don?t expect grand changes. If you've never played the Neverwinter Nights series, this may be fun for you.
It's been six years since my last journey to Neverwinter and the place has changed, and not all for the better. Since the days of the plague the city has fallen under some hard times with pirates, bandits and cutthroats running the docks district pretty much unhindered. Many buildings were destroyed during the war with Luskan and reconstruction is taking years to complete. People don't soon forget treachery and hostilities are still high with the city of Luskan. But that was another time and another story, this tale is for a new hero. A new adventure awaits you in the Forgotten Realms City of Neverwinter.
I wish I could report that the game was actually this interesting. Although the story and characters are both very intricate and follow their course true, there is still something about the game that screams, "REPEAT". Even though the graphics are different (notice I did not say better) and the rules are in line with the D&D 3.5 edition, the game lacks originality of its own and (for me anyway) gets rather boring after a while.
Neverwinter Nights 2
The game/storyline opens in your father's home. You are an adopted child with no memory of your mother or how you came to be with your father. Your character is assumingly rather young (maybe early twenties for a human character, even though you can set the character's age in the character setup to be older) because you are in a hurry to go to the town fair and compete with your friends for the prize. This entire quest is basically a tutorial for new players. After the fair is over the real story begins.
Your town is attacked by Githyanky in the middle of the night and you are called on to defend it. After fighting off the Githyanky your father hands you a strange crystal and tells you that you must take it to your uncle in Neverwinter. This is how your quest into the world of Neverwinter Nights 2 begins.
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System Requirements
* Operating system: Windows XP (Windows 98/ME/2000 do not have support although the game may play)
* Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.0GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2000 or better
* Memory: 512MB RAM
* Hard disk: 5.5GB free space
* Optical drive: DVD ROM/CDROM – this game is released on DVD or CD
* Video: DirectX 9.0c compatible 128MB video card with Pixel shader 2.0 (ATI Radeon 9700 Pro/NVidia 6600 or better)
* Sound: Windows XP/DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
* Multiplayer: Local area network with TCP/IP protocol or broadband Internet connection
* DirectX: DirectX version 9.0c or later
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Gameplay
The game is played almost exactly like the first Neverwinter Nights, which in itself is somewhat of a disappointment to me because I was hoping the sequel would follow the idea of "Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls IV" and be a first person adventure. Alas, they didn't. You basically point and click to move your character, attack and talk to people. There are quick slots for actions and spells but this is another sore spot with me that I will get to in a minute. The world is in three dimensions; however it is not any better than the previous Neverwinter Nights. It just looks a little different. It's hard to describe, the graphics use newer technology but they really don't look any better, just a little different.
Your character is created at the beginning of the game. You can choose from the standard D&D races or there are some new ones you can choose from. The standard classes available in the D&D Players Guide v 3.5 are all available in Neverwinter Nights 2. Along with the new races, there are also new Prestige classes you can work towards as well. Some of these were introduced in the Neverwinter Nights expansion "Hordes of the Underdark" (which was a really good expansion for the original game).
Character creation is basically the same with little change. You choose your characters face, hair color, tattoos and voice just like the original game. You also assign your skill points and attributes like strength, charisma, constitution and so forth. You can choose your character's alignment as well. All this is basically identical to the original game.
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Really the only big differences between this and the original game are:
The region map which shows you where you've been and you can quick travel to any place on the map you have marked, but you may still occasionally run into enemies or have other encounters between destinations. The map is a nice addition to the game but not enough to rate an extra star.
Quick slots do not operate like the original game. If you put a spell in a quick slot, it will stay in the slot until you leave the area you are in. If you travel anywhere, you have to reassign all your spells to your quick slots. This only happens if you only have one of the spell, if you can cast more than one of the particular spell it may or may not be removed from the quick slot during travel. Also, you can no longer right click and assign an action or spell to a quick slot, you must drag the spell or action from its menu into the quick slot. I though they were called quick slots for a reason? This is a pet peeve of mine and it irritates me to no end.
The story itself. The storyline is decent but the way it plays out makes the game get boring after a while. It's like the side quests are there to distract you from the main quest, which is a good thing except they aren't very interesting and seem tedious in a way. The main story is pretty good and unfolds in an interesting way, but you must suffer the beating around the bush to get to the good stuff.
The graphics are… different. They are marginally better but not so much that you will stand up and take notice. After you play for about an hour, you realize the graphics are really the same but displayed slightly different. That's because the graphics better utilize texture and lighting but really they aren't much different than the original game. Water looks a little better but other than that I was really not too impressed with the graphics of the game. No photo realistic textures that I had hoped for. Also, the camera angles are a little more difficult to work with even though they basically work the same as the original game.
D&D version 3.5 rules and spells. Neverwinter Nights 2 uses the D&D rules and spells in the version 3.5 player's handbook. The original game used version 2.
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Sound and Music
Amazingly, the sound and music are totally un-amazing. The sounds of battle and the background music are exactly the same as the original game. I mean heck, I'm all for familiarity in a sequel, but this reeks of cut corners. After playing for a while, you begin to realize that they could have simply released this as another expansion for the original game and it would probably have been better.
The NPC (non-player character) character voice-overs are done rather well, I have to give them credit for that. The character voices are fresh and new which does throw a little integrity back into the game. Player characters, however, still have the same voices to choose from with the same vocal commands, word for word, as the original game.
My personal opinion
The game can be fun. I have played for about seven hours total and I did have some fun playing, but I can't get over my disappointment with the game either. The game doesn't suck, but it could have been much better in my opinion. With a little more graphic development, better artwork and new background music, battle sounds and character voices would make this a much better game. I also wish they would release a true D&D game in first person. I had so much hoped this would be a first person adventure and I believe that was my biggest disappointment.
That is one reason that I believe "Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls IV" is probably the best adventure game in this genre at the moment with "Morrowind: The Elder Scrolls III" running a close second. They really put you into the world you are playing in.
Final thoughts
If you played Neverwinter Nights and liked it, you may like Neverwinter Nights 2 but don't expect any grand changes. If you have never played any of the Neverwinter Nights series, this will probably be a fun game for you. It would be more fun for me, I guess, if I hadn't held such a high standard for the sequel to one of my favorite games. As it is I can not give it more than 3 stars. I kinda feel like I am playing the same game, just a different story.
