NWN2 is the next generation game for the old school crowd who can very much hear the dice rolling amid all the carnage.
Essentially, NWN2 is more of the same. Its official campaign as compared to the first one is more expanded than what amounted to be merely an afterthought and certainly aspires to greater things, but serves the same purpose of showcasing first and foremost what the toolset is capable of. The problem may be that it does not seem to offer any drastic improvement over the original gameplay wise that could not be realized by custom content contributed via the Aurora toolset by the community at large.
Gameplay: NWN2 dutifully incorporates one of the most faithful adaptations of the updated D&D ruleset into the same ‘real-time with pause’ combat mechanics. I happen to believe that real time in any incarnation or form clashes with original D&D turn based gameplay. Real-time with pause now seems not so much a compromise as more akin to complacency. I believe it does not qualify for the ‘if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it’ mantra of game design, and seems to be more a repercussion from a resource management decision to adapt the Aurora engine into the new Electron engine albeit with some substantial graphical facelift. As for the specific aspects of D&D ruleset, currently in version 3.5, I am not so as well versed as to analyze the underpinnings of the system, but the general consensus from the official forums seems to lean toward being satisfied, despite a few oversights either due to design and balancing limitations or bugs of technical nature.
The interface is strewn to the four corners of the screen, and while fully functional and can be positioned to preference by drag and drop, seems needlessly disorientating. The interface also hides some useful broadcast commands one right mouse button hold away that govern much of party interaction. This includes heal requests and movement orders, dealing generally with manipulating the artificial intelligence. The options for AI customization are ensconced under a tab accessible from the character panel, far removed from the broadcast commands. The map panel is static in size and direction, irrespective of camera rotation. Characters on the map are represented by arrowheads of the same color, with the cone emanating from arrowhead indicating the direction a selected character is facing. A group formation option would have been nice. Furthermore, the map cannot be used to give tactical movement commands to cover a wider area than what the camera view would allow, nor does it allow any additional description via custom inscriptions. The inventory system is serviceable but consists of small equally sized spaces where only a representation of an item stored is visible. It quickly fills up into an unmanageable clutter and it gets rather painstaking to identify and organize the items by its respective icons. The mess is compounded by not being able to automatically receive visual feedback of the changes the magically enchanted items affect the status of the character (this information is instead found on the character sheet), and not having auto sorting option.
Camera is another aspect of gameplay that is somewhat problematic. It is hard to achieve the ideal perspective from which to view the characters and their surroundings, and it presents a constant task to update and wrestle with the camera as it defaults to its starting zoom and tilt when new locations are loaded, in addition to a tendency to zoom in when placed in certain over the shoulder position behind the characters. This is the most prevalent when the camera is stuck between the characters just having exited a building and a trigger behind its door.
The AI itself leaves a bit to be desired, in that it seems to require at least a couple seconds to register with where the player character is traveling and how to position their next destination in the form of map waypoints, making them straggle. The AI also comes short in group dynamics. It does not hesitate flinging are of effect spells that harm party members interlocked with foes targeted, and seems hamstrung by the most strange spell casting macros that undo preparatory buffs and generally fails to assess the special status (immunity, health points, etc.) of opponents. The party members do not use skills effectively or just does not use them at all, which more or less obviates investing in particular sets of skills for specialization unless micromanaged to be put to use with the AI inactivated (a la ‘Puppet mode’). Despite all the aforementioned problems, I rarely found myself left wanting for a more robust AI during a play through on normal difficulty, and the problems never amounted to more than mild annoyances. The playability is probably due to the straightforward nature of the game, only requiring the other party members to perform a specific task from time to time.
The game is relatively easy, but it is enough to last 40 to 50 hours on the first play through. This seems to encourage experimentation with the skill sets and classes, and the possibility is quite endless, between all the options available in not only prestige classes but races. Whatever vulnerabilities your planned character would possess, your party members would more than make up for them. Another aspect of the gameplay worth mentioning is that there is a specific sequence of events where you will be able to oversee the development of a keep, and this presents some refreshing change of gameplay opportunity to affect the outcome of the latter game events amid all the fighting. The ability to impact the consequences of your actions and more specifically the choices in dialogue extends to the influence system that manages how your party members interact. This type of relationship system most gamers will recall from KOTOR and KOTOR II, and in NWN2, it is less vaunted in its scope but still relevant in realistic portrayal of characters. The problem is that all available characters are not sufficiently supported by enough exposition nor do they command a variety of dialogues and seem to provide any dynamic response to the relationship changes through independent action until the very end. It is disappointing since most of the characters are well conceived and interesting, but as it is now, they seem nevertheless too enigmatic and forlorn for ostensible cohorts all bound by a common objective requiring their life commitment, but this could even be regarded as realistic by some.
The game is definitely combat heavy, in some sections (especially Act I) almost to the point of being drudgery, and it tends to expose and aggravate some of the shortcomings in the AI and the camera functions. However, the fighting closely pertains to the worthwhile incentive and premises provided via the plot, and seldom feels pointless after Act II where the plot becomes more honed and much better paced than the first act.
Graphics: the graphics in NWN2 (Electron engine) seem to be an evolved version of what KOTOR2’s Odyssey engine showcased, with revamped shader functions and ample normal mapping. Excuse me for being rather limited in describing how well they look in terms of recent graphics technology, but the game seems to use all that DirectX 9.0c offers and thus looks much better than the original NWN. The camera, granting its problems, has more range and could even be placed on ground level with the horizon and sky visible all in their glory (including nice touches such as comets trailing in the night sky) through its night and day cycles that are unfortunately not gradually proceeded. The water looks very good, and in some cases the natural surroundings attain some sort of photorealistic quality when viewed from distance. The performance is admittedly not great by any means, especially with a lot of objects and iridescent, visually magnificent magic effects on display. The framerates can be managed to a minimal degree, through a bevy of visual options including anti aliasing and anisotropic settings, not to mention how the water is rendered and the quality of textures used. The shadow and the water settings seem to have the most profound effect on performance overall. The hardware memory and CPU do not affect the performance as much as a graphics card.
The graphics suffer from occasional clippings (armor protruding out of cloaks, etc.) and the engine is rater limited in articulating emotions through facial expressions and body languages. The animation provides a continuous visual feedback of action and maintains some semblance of continuity to the proceedings, but foregoes some of the representation of skills and status. The increase in run speed manifests in the same animated character simply covering more ground, for example. What is also irritating is how some party member character models do not change appearance after equipment alterations. The armor does change their appearances in accordance to their body size, but helmet does not register any change. It is incomprehensible that the developer would have created all the different variations of armor types and other equipment added onto the base character models of all the races and their subtypes and neglect the NPCs. Fortunately, your player character does not have any similar limitation. Some players may find absence of wings on red dragon disciples or tails on tiefling characters as notable omissions. One could not also view the ‘Reavers’ in the game with its color coded mantles and not recall with little persuasion the Power Ranger undercurrents (this time, the blue one is the apparent top dog).
NWN2 features a wealth of models to aesthetically render all manner of scenarios that permeate any conventional fantasy setting and this is no better observed than in exploring its toolset assets. The amount of variation in terms of environmental objects and other visual elements is nothing short of breathtaking. The sophistication of the graphics may increase the complexity and learning curve of the toolset and may change how the modules are constructed with regards to time investment. However, I believe that the creators will be no less impressed as compared to NWN1 with how much progress was made between the last of the expansions and NWN2 and for a while would not likely find the graphics aspect of the toolset wanting.
Sound: NWN2 recycles most sound effects such as those involved in magic incantations and even soundtrack music from its predecessor. There is nothing objectionable, but nothing remarkable either. The sound music files can be just renamed to .mp3 extension for a listen through any media player (128 kbps, at near CD-quality). The voice acting is plentiful and quite well done, and corresponds to the written lines without any major mishaps (some written dialogues are missing ellipses). One character I particularly liked is the warlock, voice and otherwise. He very much represents the significant theme of the game and is quite similar to the character Kreia from KOTOR2 without all the annoying peculiarity.
EAX 3 sound acceleration is supported in NWN2. The situational music features appropriate amount of reasonably arranged materials, and helps increase tension and excitement in the right moments.
Value and Tilt: NWN2 as its place in the CRPG genre is almost unique in its position as providing the full and almost unfettered access into another Dungeons & Dragons adventure. Its toolset, while more complex, will be no doubt utilized to full extent in creating very high quality modules and new adventures that will be shared and enjoyed by the wonderful community that made the original game a resounding success. The single player campaign itself was constructed using the toolset and can be modified via the toolset for evaluation purposes (or cheat). The single player campaign, while at some points quite tepid (especially during the Act I), has an engaging and substantial storyline, however anti-climactic I felt about the ending (at the same time hoping for an expansion pack that continues the story via the exported character) . It also presents a number of novelty gameplay mechanics (no doubt gleaned or inspired from a number of community work on NWN) that is short of one card based mini game from being able to fully present the derivative nature of escapist fun aside from the core D&D system.
The game offers some good old adventuring opportunity to those who were wondering if the license had any remaining relevance to PC RPG genre, and the toolset improves its prospects for longevity. With a couple of additional patches the most pressing system and gameplay issues should be addressed. One of the aspects that need immediate improvement is currently its multiplayer component, which doesn't seem to have added any convenience feature or improved its performance or stability over its predecessor upon cursory examination. In the long run, the true value of this game will depend on the level of support undertaken by Obsidian and Atari in the course of its product life cycle. If you are able to endure the camera and the lackluster AI, some of which can be amended via community supported patches on Neverwinter Vault, at http://nwvault.ign.com (most popular ones including the AI patch and the xUI interface plugin), then NWN2 will last you for a long period and provide an enjoyable experience. It is certainly a viable style of RPG as opposed to emergent free-roaming style adventure, providing a focused and involving main plot all the while providing plenty of character defining and relationship building side quests.