The game seems more like a well crafted user mod than anything a developer should put out, story wise at least
I find it hard to categorize Storm of Zehir; I can't say it's a dungeon crawler because the dungeons are far too small in size to impress. The story is also far from epic or even complete feeling. I guess this confuses me because the game seems more like a well crafted user mod than anything a professional developer should put out, story wise at least.
The story starts off aboard and ill fated ship where I was prompted to create not only my lead character but also three other companions that would fill out my adventuring party. I read the manual beforehand and it said to make the party as diverse as possible so that is what I did. When all the dice were cast I walked away with a male half elf ranger that would make navigating the world map easy, a female Halfling rogue that would help with traps, locks and was also surprisingly adept in lore, a half orc male fighter who was the brute of the bunch and a male water-something or other that was a paladin. So 4 different races, 4 different jobs, the 2 different sexes, that should have been at least a decent party.
It was. It turned out to be a quite enjoyable party. My ranger lead made sure that no random encounters that popped on the world map were unwanted, the rogue handled all the lore responses, the paladin was my diplomat and the fighter was the intimidator. While the group ended up not being the most colorful group I've experienced in a role playing game, they each had separate personalities and uses throughout the quest. I think this example best sums up my feelings on the party dialogue mechanic. The characters don't turn out to be the most interesting but they are all enjoyable and fully functional.
The time aboard the ship doesn't last that long as you're tossed upon a shore with a jungle setting. Seeing this jungle area was almost a culture shock over the environments is the previous NWN games and expansions. The wilderness is full of lush green vegetation and the creatures found within this setting take on a more wild or tribal look. A quick encounter occurs which got me used to the elementary parts of crafting equipment and reacquainted with combat. I thought that the overhaul of item crafting that has happened with this expansion would make crafting easier but it really doesn't so once again I skipped over it entirely. Too many things are still needed such as recipes, parts, money and the right skill with the right amount of points in it.
After this encounter, my characters were quickly apprehended by guards, brought to the local city and then given the meat of the story information. It seems after the events of Mask of the Betrayer, the Realm's economic life came to a crashing halt and it's up to trade groups to get the money and items pumping again. Where the party fits in is they will be the people to get this ball rolling and also find a insidious plot going against all of it.
Then about 4 main quests later it's all over. Seriously the main quest in this game is very short and unfulfilling in the way a Tic Tac would be a poor meal for a starving person. I was literally shocked when the credits rolled as it felt a lot like the feeling I got with the Kingmaker expansion for the original Neverwinter Nights. I have to say one thing about the ending though, it's really put together quite nicely and is a fitting closing for such a short adventure.
So my complaints are main story, crafting is still a chore, oh and the voice acting is very hit or miss. I haven't seen this much variation in voice acting quality in a game ever. Some voices are perfect while others seem like janitors told to read a piece of paper into a microphone.
The flip side to that is the music is actually quite catchy and for a game's music to actually peak my interest is quite impressive to me. I'm thinking that if I wasn't too lazy, I would try to hunt down the music files and convert them into MP3 if that's not how they are already done and toss them into a folder with my Morrowind, Bioshock and Fallout soundtrack.
Storm of Zehir doesn't do much to spice up anything else in the Neverwinter Nights world. There's a few additional classes, a few new races and certain skills are given a bigger emphasis which is primarily used during the aforementioned world map parts. Other reviews have noted that the random encounters found in this portion are horrible but my argument is that a little reading of the manual helps a lot. Letting a ranger, druid or rogue lead the part during these portions will more than likely solve the issues of numerous random encounters as the spot and hide skills really come in handy not only for encounters but also to find the small dungeons or items hidden on the map.
So the majority of the game falls back on trading and the various side quests one will encounter along the way. While this doesn't sound impressive in a role playing game, it's actually a lot of fun if this interests you. I personally spent the majority of the time playing the game setting up caravan routes, amassing gold and then putting that gold back into the business by improving those caravans. Along the way you'll come across enough encounters to stretch out the time spent on this expansion far more than just doing the main quest.
So this expansion, while well crafted has left me with mixed feelings. For a person looking to play an RPG that is just about how much treasure you can collect along with some pretty good side quests, this is the best D&D adventure out there. Just don't go expecting a great story, plot or characters because those are all absent here.