Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

Neverwinter Nights 2

1. Official Site
2. Platform: PC
3. Publisher: Atari
4. Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
5. Release Date: 10/31/06
6. Genre: RPG

by Ron Burke

Neverwinter Nights was created by some of the biggest names in the industry – Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, Trent Oster, and Feargus Urquhart, all of Bioware fame at the time. Almost 10 years later, we see the release of Neverwinter Nights 2, but this time it is handled by Obsidian – a company formed by Feargus Urquhart. So while it seems that Neverwinter Nights has been handed to another company for development, it is actually right at home with Obsidian.

Neverwinter Nights 2 starts off in a similar fashion as the previous title. You are the adopted son of an elf in a small village far from the hustle and bustle of the city of Neverwinter. Your days are filled with basic chores, light training, and a few deep friendships with others the same age. Life is simple and good, but it never really stays that way, does it?

Playing through a short village fair sequence that serves as your tutorial, your village is set upon by beasts and dark dwarves, guided by a Githyanki wizard who makes light work of anyone who stood before him. The prize they sought was not in the village, so they set out upon their own quest to track it down. Your foster father explains that the silver shard they assaulted the village to find actually lay just down the road from your current location, and that you should seek it out and find out why it is so important. Your adventure begins here.

You may note that many other sites have already published their reviews of this title, but something always kept me from completing mine. A new patch, playing through again as another class, and tinkering with mods and the included toolset always made me feel like there was something more than I should see and include in the review. Well, I finally feel like I’ve plumbed the depth of the game enough to cast a review, and I have to say that, despite the rocky start, Neverwinter Nights 2 is finally living up to the legacy of the first title.

The requirements for Neverwinter Nights 2 are as follows:
OS: Windows XP
Processor: P4 2Ghz, Athlon XP2000 or equivalent (P4 3Ghz, or Athlon 64 recommended)
Memory: 512MB RAM, 1GB RAM recommended
Hard Drive Space: 5.5GB Free
DVD –Rom Drive: 4X speed, 8X recommended
Video: 128 MB Pixel Shader 2.0, (ATI 9500 Pro or nVidia 5600 Ultra or better); 256 MB Pixel Shader 3.0 (ATI X1600 or nVidia 6800 GT/GS or better recommended)

These requirements are obviously pretty steep, and even if you have the hardware to handle the game, there are still some pretty significant framerate hits that defy explanation. Despite several patches to resolve this, the issues still persist as well. The texture work in the game varies wildly, as does the environmental looks and effects. Put simply, this game wants you to drive a Ferrari, but will only give you the speed of a Mustang.

Despite some of the flat and lifeless character models, some areas of the game will really wow you. For instance, the foliage in the game looks pretty fantastic in some areas, as do some of the larger beasts and the effects they unleash on your party. In fact, the spell lighting effects are probably the best looking portion of the game. As casters face off against each other, the spell effects really kick into high gear. Fire will fill a corridor, only to be ablated against your protective spells. Magic missiles cast off a blue light as they whip around, unerringly hitting their target, creating a splash effect on impact. If you are a caster class, you’ll love the spell effects in this game. Similarly, some of the armor and weapon designs in the game are top notch, with intricate detail on every facet. The problem is that the graphics just feel half finished. It is as if some of the graphics got the full treatment, and others are simply placeholder. I shudder to think that is the case, but given the mismatched system requirements and the mismatched results, it is almost the only conclusion.

The nice part about Neverwinter Nights 2 is that the graphics can be fixed. All of the graphics can be modded, and even the camera can be tamed to a degree (we will talk about the camera in-depth shortly). With enough time either the modders or Obsidian will fix the game.

Don’t judge this game by your in-game father's opening voiceover sequence. Ugh. Most of the cast of Neverwinter Nights 2 is spot on, and the sound effects that accompany their voice work are equally great. Larger monsters sound gargantuan, roaring at your party before trying to roast them alive. Your companions range from appropriately annoying to laugh out loud funny. If you aren’t cracking up at the crazy stuff your wannabe monk dwarf (yea, you heard me right) says in the game, you might want to check your pulse.

As I said above, the spell effects in the game are pretty fantastic. Thankfully the sound effects that accompany them are equally well done. In fact, they sound well done because they were well done when they were used in Neverwinter Nights. Most of the sounds used in the game, including all casting sounds, many of your battle sounds, and much of the non-critical dialog is culled directly from the previous game. It saves money, but I was personally hoping for some new battle voices to chose from. Thankfully, there is at least a nice new soundtrack to go with the game.

The biggest flaw in the Neverwinter Nights 2 armor is the camera. There are some painful camera moments that occur fairly frequently, and they can put a serious damper on your gameplay. You can select from four stock camera angles, and can scroll the mousewheel to move the camera in and out at your leisure. The problem is that it requires constant shepherding to keep in line. No matter where you put the camera, it always feels like it is at an obtuse angle and it frequently comes to rest behind solid objects. During heavy combat, you might will see your character fall to enemy forces due to the camera suddenly deciding that something else was more interesting to watch. It does this frequently in cutscenes as well, giving you a good look at your Tieflings chest, or focusing on something completely offscreen for the whole conversation. It is a lot like training a Jack Russell Terrier to sit still – it isn’t any fun for you or for him.

The mod community fixed a small oversight in Neverwinter Nights – the ability to equip your henchmen. Thankfully, Obsidian agreed with their idea and integrated this into the sequel. In short, you can now use your henchmen for more than pack mules, which goes a long way towards thinking of them as party members rather than walking storage.

The real time and tactical combat system present in the previous game makes a return here. At any point you can pause the action by simply hitting the space bar. This will allow you to orchestrate your tactics, put the rights spells in place, and direct your party members. If you are particularly micromanagement savvy, you can also enable a puppet mode which will make your party members only obey your commands, eschewing the thankfully-competent AI completely.

If the camera is the biggest flaw in the game, the construction set in the game is some of the best to date. Many small flaws have been fixed in the toolset, and the mod community is embracing the game already. There are already a great deal of mods that address some of the very issues I spoke of earlier. Given time, the mod community will make the tweaks necessary to fully flesh out the incredible potential of the game.

Sit up and pay attention D&D 3.5 Edition purists, this game was made for you! Obsidian has spent a great deal of time making sure that this game is a true role playing game, in the same vein as its predecessor, and using the closest following of the 3.5 ruleset that a CRPG can manage. Want an example? Well, the 177 page book that comes with the game is sure to deliver one or two, but I’ll provide a few examples right here. Want to be a Sun Elf Arcane Archer? Yep, that is covered. How about a Shield Dwarf Defender? It’s in the box. Human Shadow Dancer perhaps? Why not, let’s do it! There is an overwhelming number of options that will give you the flexibility to create the experience you want. Just as it was in Neverwinter Nights, there is also a wealth of dialog options that will affect your alignment, progression, and the general disposition of your party. Bash first and ask questions later might make your monk happy, but your tree-hugger Druid will be deeply bothered.

Another community-created mod has made its way into the game proper – crafting. The crafting system in the game allows you to craft armor, weapons, potions, spells, and much more depending on your selected skills. Like real life, practice makes perfect (or in this case, leveling up and slotting those skill points), so don’t expect to make anything of any significance until you’ve made a few crummy daggers along the way. Consumables such as scrolls, potions, and wands will eat up a bit more gold in the crafting process, but they are much easier as you level up. Enchanting and spellcrafting works in a similar way as item crafting. All of this requires you to find recipes that will provide guidelines and instructions on your crafting process. Once you get the hang of the basics you can burn through your bag of loot fairly quickly trying to make your own items.

As the game progresses you’ll find that (as is often the case) you are caught up in things much larger than your small farm beginnings. Rubbing elbows with royalty, stopping demonic beings from alternate planes, preserving ancient forests, and even obtaining your own stronghold. If all of the minor glitches and bugs can get fixed, there is a fantastic D&D story just waiting to unfold.

The value of a game like this is hard to determine. There is a 45 to 50 hour storyline combined with an expansive character and class selection system. Toss in prestige classes, crafting, and the incredible potential within the mod community and the replay value of Neverwinter Nights 2 is virtually limitless! On the other hand, in its current state there are a great deal of bugs and minor irritations that require constant attention. Beneath these minor issues is a game that represents the best presentation of the D&D 3.5 ruleset to date. You have to give 'em points for that.

Another great option is the ability to play through the game with a friend. In fact, you can actually play with a total of three other players. The balance is supposed to ramp up with the more players you add, but in the testing I performed it just didn’t ramp enough. Another bug, but at least the potential is there. Perhaps in the next patch? In the mean time, we’ll just crank up to the highest of the three difficulty levels.

Neverwinter Nights 2 is a compelling representation of the D&D 3.5 ruleset. With a 50 hour game shipping in the box and an unlimited amount of expansion in the mod community, it is hard not to like the game. In short, Neverwinter Nights 2 is the game that almost gets it right. Over time, and a bit more testing, I believe that the game will live up to its Bioware-powered predecessor.

On a separate note, I was in the closed beta for this game. Obsidian gave us access to only the initial area of the game (which is why it is bug-free but the rest of the game isn’t) Next time, start testing earlier and give us a new area every week to test, ok? Your score here could have been so much higher here!

Gaming Trend Score

85

1. Graphics: 80
2. Audio: 85
3. Controls: 80
4. Gameplay: 85
5. Value/Replay: 95
6. OVERALL:85