Only the (not justified) huge system reqs prevent it from being plain perfect; even so, it's the best game since NWN 1.

Best Game Ever!!!!

Only the late release and a few bugs keep me from a 10 here. I don't know what Andrew C is talking about with the camera, the controls are just like, and just as responsive as the original NWN. As to there being not enough monsters, or not enough models, well, let's just say that if there's not enough, I haven't seen it and they do an excellent job of killing me whenever I don't plan well for a fight. Graphics are phenomenal, the storyline is engaging and long (I'm over 15 hours in and still in Act I), and the back end of the system is solid. On second thought, it's worth a 10. It just so happens to own my soul right now.… Expand

I play D and D 3.5 every week and I love this game. It does an ok job coverting 3.5 into a real time game, but i would rather have turn based. The games strongest point is its plot. This game does a great job creating a roleplaying experence similar to a real (paper and dice) RPG. The main story is complex with many aproches to that incresses replay vaule. Wile the plot is thick the game alows you to engage parts you may enjoy, like building up your keep, and ingnor parts that are lame, like the bard. This game is a real rpg fueled by player choices not FMV.… Expand

Finally, finally, after the blunder of Neverwinter Nights I, they have gone back to the way Baldur's Gate was done -- brilliantly sophisticated and intelligent, funny at times and always subtly beautiful. Well done guys.

The first real RPG in years. If you liked BG2 and KotOR, this will ´rock your socks off!

I play the game and I am close to end it. The game is great the graphics are very good the story is great with lot of subquests and the gameplay is good. I like the way that equipment appears on the caracters the swords the armors and especialy the clocs. I believe the only problem it has is the camera but with the patch the things are better. I play D&D 5 years and the game the best singleplayer RPG for those who love D&D.… Expand

Everyone who gave NWN2 a score 0 is a total retard. The game has some bad points, true. Its far from perfect, but 0!!!! COME ON!!!! Thats why i am giving 10!

This game was really enjoyable, I played through it twice at least back in the day. Don´t know why it has such a bad score. The storyline was enjoyable, the classes were fun and leveling up your characters was fun. I don't remember having any issue with bugs in it either, except one with the cut scenes but they fixed that.

Man! I am total surprised at the low score this is getting. You have to give it marks for just providing an editor (the tool set). The ability to create a multi-player mod give this game 9 right off. Yes! The campaign provided is crap..agreed. However, this game is about communality content. Like me, if you are a wanna-bee game designer you have no other options out there to create multi-player worlds.. So from a game designers perspective this game is a must have. I have hundreds of hours spent building my modal and I find it very rewarding. . Coming from a game designers perspective the NWN2 tool set id leaps beyond the nwn tool set. Yes. the nwn2 tool set requires an advanced builder..so maybe cut your teeth first with the first tool set.… Expand

As close as a RPG can get! Combat can be a little sluggish at times but with patches, that problem clears up. Sadly, developers are making games now where its more hack n slash with a little story.

This game is hard to like when you play only the (tutorial) inicial part. The story does not start as good as Baldurs Gate series, so, dont rely on this to continue the game. The game becomes very good after the inicial part and once you get used to turn based in real time that easy to see it greatness. Its 7.5/10 for me, But the 10/10 was given due to low score given by many without full gameplay. I recommend to buy it on STEAM.… Expand

This is a great game. Like NWN 1 it starts very slowly, which can be a pretty big barrier for those going back to this game after enjoying stella controls and camera with newer, better presented games like Oblivion. This game gets really good as you get to higher level and deeper into the plots. Character development was fantastic. The writing is awesome. The scenario is great. But the engine SUCKS big time. Sorry guys, I can't agree. There has been a lost decade for Bioware in which they have tweaked and published all their games on sub-optimal engines. Everything has been published on a different version of different engines, so they have never been able to publish what they needed to: a sequence of games that could provide real continuity in building a single fantasy world. They are still messing around with new ideas and a totally different engine for Dragon Age 3. (Frostbite 2?) Thus a whole long series of games since Baldur's Gate add up to ten years of LOST TIME, facking about with totally different engines, totally different character systems, totally different approaches to narrative, none of which have been significantly better than what they had with Baldur's Gate 2 back at the turn of the century. In the light of this the forced resignation of the two chief honchos was inevitable. Their performance was too erratic. It would have been nice if at any stage they had taken the time to build a single SUPERLATIVE engine and used that as a stable basis for a series of games that built an amazing fantasy world. They have only flushed about a million hours of professional paid labour down the toilet. perhaps we will see the dawn of understanding at last. In a sense it doesn't matter. Without Greg and Ray, there is no more Bioware. When David Gaider cleans out his office it will all be a memory. Thanks for the great games guys! Never say never! Have a break Reflect on your mistakes and try again. For Thedas!… Expand

Awsome game! Bioware's games rule! Why?... I DONT KNOW! They just do! Neverwinter Nights forever! But if talking seriously - its a good game because it have a tonn of side quests and its never boring. The bad thing about it is the "waiting for the loading to stop" that takes up about 20 % of your whole playing time... But in all the game is great. 9/10 - awesome

This game is a masterpiece. The only problem that it has that keeps me from giving this game a straight 10 is the fact that it does take quite a bit of tweaking to get the game to even run. The main problem that causes performance hits is the water FX, as they seem to be severely bugged and can make the FPS rate go to 2 or 3 on even the highest-end system. However, after you get past, or work around those initial technical issues and actually start playing the game - its amazing. I don't want to spoil anything, but RTS fans may be excited to get this game too. There are some RTS elements thrown into this game.… Expand

A pleasant surprise compared to other boring RPG around. It is a game where the design is so pervasive that you need to cover it entirely to experience all the nuances in gameplay and variety. The factor that dragged down the game in the eye of a lot of people is that you have to actively play it to enjoy it. If you are trying to find a game where the first hour of gameplay is an exaustive demo of the entire game experience go away, in this game every action you take counts. It's a better sandbox game that those dull approximation of a lifeless reality that they dare to call RPGs. At least here there's a story to shape aside incompetent NPCs to kill.… Expand

Giving it a 9 mainly because of small crash to desktop issues, else it is a game of neverending joy where one self even can decide the content for eg. mod building, anyhow with all the posibilities you get, then you can really get alot of gameplay out of it as well as lust for creating your own mod for both multiplayer reasons or singleplayer reasons. The Reason to that I do not give it a 10 is mainly because of certain hardware errors that occurs with some video/sound cards that causes you crash to desktop with the option to report an error to windows, those most of the time can be walked around still, but you are in need to know in what to do if you receive an error like this.. For those people giving the score of 1, I would say some of the stuff I have read does not explain or anything constructive said other than eg. talking about another game for then simply flaming away in a way that does not provide any proper feedback.… Expand

This is an enjoyable new saga to the nwns world. Great intro cut scene and a very powerful modding program combined with a strong story makes it a must by for all those d&d players out there.

Solid entertainment, improves on the first.

Though there are a few technical deficiencies, the official campaign is a massive improvement over the first game's. The party companions are always sure to bring plenty of chuckles with their dialogue and character. The toolset and multiplayer mean infinite value for a long time.

A faithful continuation of the NWN franchise, this one blends elements of the first NWN game as well as elements found in the older party-based InfinityEngine games such as Baldur's Gate. Recommended for fans of D&D.

I agree with most of you naysayers out there. NWN2 has serious camera issues, AI flaws, and steep hardware requirements. My computer barely meets the requirements, and I have the graphics all the way down. The cut scenes still look decent, but in general, not a big step up from NWN1. I've used the toolset a little bit, and its daunting. But with the online community it's pretty easy to get your feet wet, and after all, for a truly powerful toolset you would have to complicate things...its in the nature of power. Finally, the game is FUN. The voice acting, while at times exaggerated, is hilarious. I can't wait to play though as an evil character. The different choices do an excellent job of making the player feel like he's bearing an impact, and quest accomplishment is rewarding. It gets an 9 for its overall play value, and while it does have issues, its one of the most potentially replayable games in a long time.… Expand

To sum up: good= long, brilliant, immersive storyline, well crafted characters, very well voiced dialogue. bad= Looks somewhat dated except on cutting edge hardware, unstable framerate, a few minor bugs(that are being ironed out in patches bit by bit)

I dont know what is the problem with you people here!! NWN2 had some bugs, true! But they are not so big to give a great game a score 0/10. Almost noone mentions the bugs Oblivion had, which is far worse game in every regard when compared with NWN2! This so unfair! And it is clear that Bethseda payed you people to slander NWN2 so they could boost their sales on Oblivion, which BTW doesnt deserve one point above 7.… Expand

An excellent game (after the fifth patch). Not quite as good overall as the original but better in many ways.

I am impressed. It definitely has a different feel from the original Neverwinter Nights... if you've played Dungeon Siege, try to imagine that with better graphics and an actual plot. I'm running a 1.73 Ghz Pentium 4 with 1.0 gigs of ram, with a GeForce 6800 video card, and while I can't play at an extremely high resolution, the detail settings are pretty high without any frame rate issues. It's doable, and enjoyable, if you have my specs or even slightly lower. The gameplay is engaging and the character details are fabulous. I also enjoy the "cinema" conversations, which resemble dialogue in your average popcorn movie. The interface is a tad cluttered, and the whole game does not feel as "sharp" as NWN 1, but the trade-off is excellent. I recommend this game for anyone with reasonable computer specs and a love for the NWN story.… Expand

I can't stop playing this game. The graphics are lush and very detailed. Everything is dynamically lit and done very well. The technical flaws keep this from becoming a 10. Sometimes the cut scenes wont focus on a character and my frame rate keeps dipping (on a 3 ghz, 6800 geforce, 1gb ram). Still, inspite of the flaws, I'm really enjoying this game so far its very addictive and well done.… Expand

Don't believe the nay-sayers, this is a great game. The graphics are nice (especially if your system is strong enough to take advantage of them). The difficulty level isn't too easy, it's quite challenging at times. There are lots of new races and abilities added so lots of variety in character choices. I haven't played multiplayer yet but I'll check it out soon.

This game is several light years ahead of the original Neverwinter Nights and its expansion packs concerning the singleplayer campaign. Granted, it does have its flaws, like for example the camera, AI and the poor performance. These negative factors are however overshadowed by the interesting characters, a good plot which steadily improves during the course of the game, the big variety of different classes and feats you can choose for your characters, the often very well written dialogue with its many choices and the party/henchman based system which leans more in favour of the system in Baldur's Gate than the original Neverwinter Nights much more uninteresting more Diablo-esque system. To summarize my experiences with the game, I most point out that I have had a great amount of fun with the game. And if you desire a more refined gaming experience than that of the rather shallow predecessor, than Neverwinter Nights 2 could very well be worth buying.… Expand

I really don't understand what you people are complaining about the "camera angles" for...I've never had any trouble with the camera. Maybe that's because I actually control it to look at what I want to look at. Also, the graphics look a billion times better than NWN1. The A.I. is spotty, yes. But, that is in the very nature of A.I. so there is really no reason to rag on Obsidian for that. I haven't been able to play the multiplayer yet, but it doesn't seem that bad. Just wait for the PW's to get back in the swing of things. Single player story is pretty good, but I've never been a single player guy. A lot of people have been talking about it being a "rehash of NWN1." Obviously you never followed NWN2's development. They did that on purpose, going by the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" policy. I wish they had added more voices sets, but still. It's progress forward. I don't have the video settings on high because my comp has been built on a small budget, but it runs very smoothly for how I do have it set, so once again I don't know what you people are talking about. And, don't compare it to BG...I'm sorry, but BG wasn't that good anyway. And, NWN2 is 2 generations past BG. NWN was designed (from my perspective) to sit the fence between single- and multi-player. BG was meant to be single-player. The official campaigns are not going to be the same quality, because they want us to have room to make our own stuff.… Expand

Good fun dnd game. Interesting tactical fights. No major bugs for me. Toolset seems very powerful so I can't wait to see what gets made.

At first, I thought the game was about a 4. Clunky interface and mediocre visuals. Slowly, I decided after using my friend's computer as a server (no 3rd party server needed), that that feature alone was excellent. After playing through 8 levels and running a second 3 player campaign (which we are only 6-7th level) that the fun was rolling along. Each spell and each night spent with a friend over 1,000 miles away makes me realize, that when the multiplayer servers are up and running, that the game has potential. The graphics are better than I thought, but they do tax my system as well as the interface is still mildly clunky. But heads up. We're doing a 2-3 player raid which has lasted over 20 hours and is better and better as we go. So far, maybe one gamespy crash. But well worth the 10 minute delay.… Expand

An excellent RPG with great expansions. The addition of the Auto down loader makes visiting PWs a snap.
The graphics are better than NWN1 and the mod community is strong and helpful.

NWN2 is to Baldur's Gate what NWN1 is to Icewind Dale. That is to say, where NWN1/ID focus primarily on combat, NWN2/BG give equal time to roleplaying.
In NWN1 there really was only one substantial roleplaying quest (the trial in chapter 3), companions had no personality ("please help me find some item, and I'll give you a bonus", repeat...), quests didn't go beyond "fetch X" and "kill Y", and the world just didn't feel like a place were people actually lived.
In contract, in NWN2 NPCs once again have memorable personalities, quests are diverse, the world is atmospheric, you get to invest in it by building up a base of operations, etc.
I do have to say that I played this game when most bugs had been patched, and by then its only major weakness was that it required a very heavy pc while not looking particularly great.
Now, 5 years later, I still consider NWN2 to be one of the better RPGs ever made. It's right up there with games like BG, KotOR, and Morrowind. (And the first expansion, Mask of the Betrayer comes close to Planescape: Torment.) Heartily recommended!… Expand

Very good story. Good graphics. Not well optimized performance-wise (graphics quality to machine-requirement ratio). Good moddability but more coding needed. The mods weren't as big as in NWN though. Agreements could be the cause of this, and maybe additional complexity in the toolset. The expansions weren't of the snuff but the single player experience with the base NWN2 was very good.

Considering how much of a blow Neverwinter Nights was to me, it's suprising I did try this one at all - and I didn't regret it! This a lot of fun, the graphics are actually pretty good (no more wireframes like in NWN1!), and - the story! The characters! Time to roleplay. Loot, skills, feats, everything D&D was meant to be! Ah yes, and even the multiplayer works and is a whole lot of fun.

This game is a honorable part two for the neverwinter nights series. There might be some bugs and crashes, but those aren't bad enough to blame the game. The graphics are very good and the story is good, too.

I got the game about a half year after release and couldn't see what all the bad player reviews were about. Bugs have been fixed for a long, long time and the game is a lot of fun. NWN'ers will have about a ten minute learning curve and then will loose themselves in the customization and immersion the gorgeous graphics and character generation process give you. Good game, still needs higher end hardware to run well on high settings. Good story, good options, great graphics, familiar feel. It's a worthy successor to the crown. It's biggest problem was the system requirements were way misleading and that pissed a lot of people off in 2006. It's still an issue today in 2009 but a medium end gaming rig will run this game on High.… Expand

Been playing it since yesterday. Here are some of my observations: Good: Gameplay feels like Knights of the Old Republic (also by Obsidian) Bad: Gameplay feels like Knights of the Old Republic, camera angles and controls are a bit funky at times Good: More character options to choose from when creating a character Bad: Not enough faces, and some of the faces are ug-ly! Good: More sounds and music Bad: Many of the sounds are ripped right out of Neverwinter Nights 1 - kind of a rip-off Good: Graphics are gorgeous to look at Bad: Requires a high-end system for all options, probably worse than Oblivion Good: Armor, capes and weapons are beautiful Bad: Helmets do NOT show up on henchmen/party NPCs (whose decision was that?!) Good: Interface, commands and hot-keys are intuitive Bad: Many options, like the radial menu from NWN are gone Good: Load times are really fast Bad: Setting some options (like resolution) will require that you reload the game from the main menu because the maps are glitched Good: Spell effects are freakin' awesome!!! Bad: Gets a bit confusing with all the fireworks Verdict: Excellent - The good fortunately outweighs the bad, in my opinion. I was able to tweak my graphics to a smooth-playing configuration that looks pretty good without sacrificing responsiveness. Cannot wait for people to start releasing mods for it.… Expand

I'm able to run this game on my business notebook at a reasonable speed and with few of the bugs that I've seen so many people claiming to have "high-end" systems have reported. Some patience is necessary but this game is probably 3 or 4 patches away (from v.1.03) from appeasing the critics. This game is in a rough spot, critics-wise, because it's caught between the rabid loyalty of fans to NWN1 and the excellence of TES:Oblivion. Taken alone, however, it's a pretty good game. Of course, it isn't Oblivion, graphics-wise, but if you enjoyed Wizardry in its early incarnations, Bard's Tale, Ultima and Baldur's Gates I & II, there is no reason, a few bugs here and there, not to like this game.… Expand

Hmm, I am rather confused with the negative votes. I just finished the game after buying it (April 2008), and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I am big on storyline as I am tired of hack/slash games. There is a deep story involved if you are willing to seriously roleplay your character. I enjoyed the action and combat. I think people are too obsessed with desiring over the top graphics and special effects. I thought the graphics were great and the effects enjoyable, I played my character true to form and enjoyed a wonderful walk through making tough choices and got to destroy the bad guys. My negative points would be that some of the boss fights were over done, I dislike having to over-strategize and hope it all works out because its all based on D&D rules with a non-existent DM. But then again in my pen&paper days of gaming my favorite DM was forgiving and friendly, while others would make you roll dice every 5 seconds to see if you could remain seated on your horse, a mate of mine rolled a critical failure and had to go the rest of our campaign with a permanent broken leg. If you play games for an enjoyable storyline then this will bring you enjoyment. If you are looking for hack/slash and over the top graphics and special effects then buy a PS3 and get Heavenly Sword, or a God of War series and stop complaining. I avoided this game for a very long time because of the negative reviews, and now I wish I had just ignored them and played this earlier. I gave it an 8 because I wish there had been more interaction between characters and boss fights were over done. (Possible spoiler ahead) In general I get irritated when a games makes you kill the boss more than once to finish the game or continue to the next stage. Just die and be done with it, stop lingering.… Expand

I bought the NWN2 Gold edition, much later than the initial release, so I probably didn't experience a majority of the bugs and flaws that may have given the game a lower score from other people. NWN2, in my opinion, is a good sequel - not great. Basically, it's NWN1 with better graphics, more spells, more classes, etc. The default controls aren't great, but can easily be tweaked to your liking; you can even make it play just like NWN1. In fact, the menu gives users a lot of control over graphical features, control, etc. Added features, like the quick spell menu, really help streamline the gameplay, and make it a much more enjoyable experience. One thing I find disappointing is that NWN2's toolset system is more difficult to use, and has slowed the creation of community mods. If you're looking for a solid RPG DnD experience, I would highly recommend NWN2.… Expand

While the this game is not without its flaws, few of the negative reviews have taken into account one of its strongest points: mods. Multiplayer, especially when played on the dedicated servers put up by the more prominent mod teams, is an entertaining alternative to games such as World of Warcraft. The animations may appear lackluster in comparison with more recent titles, but the multiplayer is free, and I for one am more than willing to ignore occasional bugs (which are far less common than other reviews would have you believe) in favor of a multiplayer system devoid of monthly fees.

The player community on these servers is also far more engaged than that of big-ticket MMO's: roleplay is encouraged, granting an element of versatility to the game and enhancing replay value significantly. This offer a sharp contrast to the pettiness I encountered during my brief stint playing WoW; players are willing to flesh out their backgrounds significantly and remain true to their characters even when doing so negatively affects gameplay. While this may not appeal to all, it enhances that the suspension of disbelief essential to many enjoyable video games. Single player offers a somewhat different position; the original campaign is slow at first (the first few levels feel almost like another tutorial), but it soon becomes more interesting. While I found playing a truly evil character difficult (the game seemed to be forcing me to conform to a particular brand of evil: those who have reach the end of the game as evil characters know what I mean), neutral or good characters offer a wealth of interesting gameplay with enough material for roughly two interesting playthroughs. My only true complaint with regard to the single player campaign is the often stilted dialogue of minor NPC's. In many cases, they restate their commentary two or even three times before finally relinquishing their unwelcome hold over your computer screen. The issue of poor voice acting is less prevalent in the first expansion, Mask of the Betrayer, but it resurfaces with a vengeance in Storm of Zehir. Beside better dialogue, MOTB continues in much the same vein, with the occasional moral dilemma to make the story more engaging. In conclusion, aside from bugs and somewhat disappointing voice acting, this game is one well worth purchasing, with significant replay value, enjoyable roleplay-based multiplayer and a comparatively low price of $20 on Steam. I would strongly recommend it for any who enjoy fantasy RPG's and would like a multiplayer service to occupy a few hours on dreary evenings without the prohibitive monthly fees.… Expand

Classic Forgotten Realms adventure. In fact it's positively cliche, but don't let that put you off: this is one excellently realised linear D&D romp, with extremely entertaining NPCs (NWN2 doesn't take itself too seriously). The single "romance" plot (I won't spoil it) is just the ticket if you're fed up with BG2's melodrama. It's too easy (there's only one properly tricky encounter, the optional dragon battle), but I had ages of fun with this. Why so many detractors?… Expand

looking at all the other reviews, i have to agree the game cold be buggy. but not any more than many other rpgs, and it is fairly stable when patched. balance is fairly bad for PvP, but that's not really what this game is about. i am quite amused at people complaining about the AI, as i found it good in the original campaign and it just got better in the later campaigns (after spending a few minutes setting it up in the AI menu, which is admittedly fairly easy to miss). importantly, every mechanic is there in the spell/ability description, and all the numbers too, unlike that annoying trend recently.… Expand

This was the first game that actually pull me into the D&D lore, the game is good and the story is kinda epic, the Tools to create maps are really really hard to use and are not intuitive.

The main plot of this game is absolutely amazing, with lot of twists, lot of decisions that matters! Classic RPG with great voice acting and lot of variety for customization! Also soundtrack is pleasant! The bad sometimes it's buggy, main protagonist doesn't have a voice! Conclusion one of the best game of 2006!

The game is better then NWN1..marginally better. I'm a big fan of NWN1 and I also like this game but I truly feel they could have pushed this game further in all aspects then it did. There's no climbing, no swimming. Character customization is disappointing. The PC head and hairstyle variety and quality is pitiful especially. The inventory needs work. Why they decided to revamp the interface to make it like WoW is beyond me...the original NWN1 interface was the best. Why reinvent the wheel? They should have just left that intact with a few improvements. I guess they wanted to attract the WoW people over. The campaign itself was enjoyable and a huge imporvement over NWN1's however you can tell things were left unfinished and it was rushed at the end. The end cutscene was so bad with poor quality slides and lame voice over it leaves a sour taste in your mouth. It's sad because the rest of the campaign is otherwise fun.
The toolset is much more powerful then the original which is awesome however the interface leaves something to be desired. It is very initutive at the moment and needs plenty of tweaking.

Overall, at the moment, the game feels like its still in a beta state. If you're planning on buying it please wait at least another month.… Expand

A lot of the people giving this game negative reviews are comparing it to NWN and somehow trying to say that was a better gaming experience. As a veteran of D&D RPGs, I can tell you that NWN 1 was by far one of the worst entries in the franchise, and a huge step down from BG and BG 2. If you liked NWN 1, then I am not surprised that you do not like this game, but in the same token, perhaps Diablo 2 or its kin would be a better fit. NWN2 restores to the D&D franchise depth of character, full parties, and story. By no means is this game perfect, but it is by far a step in the right direction, where as NWN 1 was three steps back from BG 2. The biggest complaint on this game is the system requirements. I am running an Athlon X2 4200, 2 GB DDR, and 2 x GeForce 7800 SLI, and I run the game at medium settings at a 1280x960 resolution to get adequate game play. I shudder to think what is required for the HIGH end settings (including enabling shadows and water affects, both of which I had to take off). All in all, it is a good game and a rewarding experience to any D&D veteran. It is not the open ended world of oblivion, but so what, Oblivion held my interest for 3 days - this will hold my interest for 3 years.… Expand

At the start of this review of NWN 2 I like to quote the words of Feargus Urquhart, the CEO of OBSIDIAN from the manual that comes with the game. - "What we really wanted to do is bringing the playing and crafting of D&D adventures to the computer." - "keep the sequel as true to the original product as possible" These statements reveal the aims of the game at the moment of release: it was to differ little from NWN 1 and specifically to make a game and toolset in one like NWN 1 was. It is therefore not surprising that there have been no groundbreaking changes. The same levelling system, same classes, races, skills, abilities, spells and feats are implemented. Except for the introduction of a new base class, the warlock, nothing has been altered so drastic as to attract attention. A few changes have been implemented. The first two stem from criticism against NWN 1: the rather uninspired plot and the fact that it was a single character game. So these points have been addressed by creating a better story line and adding a party game system. The third change is maybe the only real new thing: a more elaborate system to create your own items and potions. Many problems make the game rather wearisome. Wearisome because the action is interrupted continuously. Battles are generally followed by resting because you need regenerate spent spells and lost health that way, since both won't regenerate themselves. Irksome is that by slavishly sticking to the restricted AD&D rule set little interesting is brought into the game. You find that some classes are repeating their actions again and again and again. Notably the fighter class offers little variance. But even when a change of tactic might be possible this is hampered by the way OBSIDIAN has implemented it. The thief class offers sneaking which could be used in other games to scout ahead, but this advantage is nullified because in NWN 2 the thief can't act on his own. What is even more tiresome is that the already small area's are filled with roundabout routes and blocked area… Expand

An alright game. Nothing spectacular about it that saves it from its flaws. The interface or really the entire game as a whole seems unpolished and clunky, with things such as your character taking half a second to move after you tell him to detracting from the experience. Spell effects are weak and clearly quickly thrown together. Multiplayer, the original NWN's strongest point, was not focused on in NWN 2 which is a real shame. Overall, not a bad game, but I was expecting so much more from the sequel to what is possibly my favorite game of all time.… Expand

To begin with I love crpg's. Baldurs Gate, BG2, Fallout 1+2, PS:T, M&M series, Arcanum, even the Diablo series with mods. The problem with crpgs today is the most important part, the story, is the part that gets the least attention. Big shiny graphics, "life-like" AI, giant worlds; all secondary elements in an RPG to the story. RPG: Role Playing Game, if the role your playing is a courier you have a tedious game. If the role your playing involves exploring many simple areas populated with simple enemies, you have a tedious game. Act 1 of the NWN2 OC was genuinely painful for me; excruiatingly boring "find orc leader, fight through peon guards and kill him" type quests, set in "plod forward through the sea of boring underlings to reach the boss" style dungeons. Act 2 improves somewhat; the keep is genuinely interesting but doesn't feel like a fully implemented feature. If you could merely join your men on special missions, patrol the roads, guard the farms, some way of making the keep feel "real" rather than just an object you throw money at it would be vastly more entertaining. I haven't even finished the game so can't speak for Act3 and am not sure I ever will. I am patched to 1.12 and bugs still exist with alarming frequency in the game, many show stoppers such as, corrupt save games, crash to desktops and missing party memmbers. The AI is literally garbage; your companions will randomly stop obeying commands, attack each other for no apparent reason, cast aoe's when companions are in the area of effect, etc. The real reason I bought NWN1+2 is the Toolset and the modules resulting from the toolset. The quality of the modules is in direct correlation with the quality of the Toolset; the mods I've played have been vastly superior to the OC; VASTLY SUPERIOR! Almost surreally, my toolset will not work and surfing the forums many users, especially vista 64x are experiencing this with the latest patch. I'm sure it will be fixed, but it certaintly is a WTF moment when you pay for something and integral parts do not work at all. The reason NWN2 gets a 7 is the promise of true greatness hiding deep within the engine; the graphics will be tolerable/good for many, many years. I just hope all the bugs will be ironed out before the modding community gives up on the game. Rating the OC by itself I'd give a 2.5/3, rating the "polish" of the game I'd give a .5, the plethora of bugs present after more than 1 year is unacceptable, especially one preventing the toolset from running at all.… Expand

Neverwinter Nights 2 is actually superior than the first neverwinter nights in game design. It has a functional party system, some good companion characters, an interesting story line and lots of choices and consequences. However, this game's user interface is just terrible. there are three modes for camera angles which may drive people crazy because you have to press a button to change it not like in first neverwinter nights, just need to scroll up/down the middle mouse button. Also this game still has performance issue even with current patch. All I have to say, this game has potential but is not nearly as well-done as the original Neverwinter Nights. so I give it 7 out of 10.… Expand

I'm writing this review in 2012, so this review is more of a retrospective than a new product review. For that reason, I'll keep it short & down to a few key points. To put it simply, NWN2 is both a huge success & a dreadful failure all the same time. That may sound a bit strange, but in order to appreciate this game, you really have to appreciate what the developers were trying to accomplish. They were trying to 1) create a true D&D simulation, that captured the table-top RPG experience, and 2) allowed players to appreciate the game alone or in groups; that had 3) a structure both complex enough to contain the diversity of rules for D&D; and 4) was still simple enough in design for players to write their own modules and create their own content at home. If you look at that list, then they succeeded beautifully in that regard.

Where the game falls down is where the rubber hits the road, so to speak. On paper this game looks great, but when you actually try to play it is where you find all the shortcomings. The character models are ugly. All the models for clothing & armor are likewise uninspired, dully, and ugly. The controls for the game are clunky, poorly considered, and often create a situation where there is literally no good way to both control your character properly & see what's going on. Many times you feel like your characters are playing inside a very tiny dollhouse, and you can't quite see what they're doing. Added to that are the glitches & errors that pop. Some of which are simply annoying, while others will cause a total failure of the game & force you to reroll & restart. All I can advise you there is to save often, so you can back up if you have a crash or a memory file gets corrupted. Inventory management is a real chore. Crafting is needlessly involved & slow.

So when you judge this game as a D&D simulator it's fantastic. When you judge it as a video game, against such series as Dragon Age or The Elder Scrolls, you find that it falls short of the mark. If you're a hardcore D&D player, and can't get your group together enough to satisfy your needs, then this is just the thing for you. If you just want a video game to bash swords into bad guys for a few hours, then you should turn your attention to other, greener pastures.… Expand

This is a pretty good game, if not quite as good as its predecessor, but it really was too buggy for me to give it a really high score. Finishing the game was as difficult in terms of simply getting it to run and finding workarounds for all the bugs as in terms of actual gameplay. I did it -- but it's clearly not for everyone.

Graphics and effects are pretty good, maybe a 9. D&D based gameplay gives it a 9 in my book. But the storyline is slow to start and pretty bland and predictable, probably a 7. Unfortunately, these make the game sound good, but I come away with it feeling very dissatisfied. The gameplay is extremely linear. Sure, you can change you class & equipment, but you can't "choose your own adventure", so to speak. Everything is layed out for you from the start to the point where you really have no options available to you. You get tons of equipment, but have to sell 99% of it and choose only the ones that fit your profile. These sorts of things make the game fall short on any sort of replaybility or ability to capture your attention for more than a passing fancy.… Expand

I almost completed this game, two years ago. I never did. Owen T, below has already said much of what I feel signifies the problems with Neverwinter Nights 2. My first problem the first time around was that after four hours of playing and eventually reaching the city from where the game draws its' name, I still didn't feel like the story had started. The story eventually picked up and even got somewhat interesting (albeit remaining terribly cliché) at times, but it was still too slow to start and at times it felt like half a dozen writers wrote a part each and then joined them together hastily. I could probably live with a bad story if the gameplay was smooth. But it isn't. The controls are sluggish or over-sensitive, depending on what actions you are trying to perform. The interface is clunky, counter-intuitive and the targetting functions in such a way that half the time I found myself throwing fireballs at my own party members only to start applying healing to the enemy. The graphics are at times great, but mostly stick to bland with a few dips into sheer ugly or out of place and often times I found myself thinking "Wow, Dungeon Siege looked better than this". All this combined with a difficulity that flails wildly from cake walk to hair tearing frustration in the span of two encounters leaves you with a game that you occasionally find yourself wanting to play more of. But most of the time, the uninspired story, the horrid interface and controls and the strange design decisions will just be too much to stomach. I give it a 6, because for all its' shortcomings, NWN 2 still delivers a solid dungeon raiding experience from time to time. Every now and then, you actually feel as if you are playing a virtual simulation of the Pen & Paper game that NWN2 draws its' rules and setting from. It never lasts long and it certainly doesn't make up for Obsidians glaring lack of polish (which holds true for all their games so far) but it saves NWN2 from being a complete disaster of a game.… Expand

Disappointing to a NW fan. Perhaps my expectations were way too high. The title plays like it was rushed. They use the same music that was in NW1. The graphics are very poor compared to other games being released right now. I spend more time trying to control the camera than I do actually playing my character. I'm truly confused as to the high system requirements? Poor graphics, few graphical choices for characters? Weird. Also, characters in your party seem to lose their way. They get stuck easily behind objects and you have to go back and find them to set them free. Craziness!… Expand

PROS: reasonable story-line, reasonable advancement system, good graphics on iMac 3Ghz, like the feature of having 4+ party members CONS: single player campaign too easy and WAY too short, still LOTS of bugs which are usually sorted out by the time the Mac version is released, many useless skills, not good value for money, no toolset in Mac version, low replay value, very limited variety of monsters/opponents, monsters don't respawn.… Expand

Anyone who's played NWN will be disappointed, but that doesn't mean it's a bad game objectively. The camera ruined the entire game for me, you can't do anything without the camera screwing you over.

It's got great game content wrapped in a shockingly bad graphics interface for this day and age. Plus it is SO slow on my overclocked Core2 Duo @ 3600 w/ ATI x1950 XTX and 2 GB of memory I just want to cry...

No too original. Not too absorbing. Horrendous camera. Clunky interface. So gameplay, which is so important in, well, a game, is badly hampered. The whole thing begins with an overused ploy, an attack that so urgently requires you to do simple and uninteresting things to resist. Done this we move to the typical ladder of monster-vanquishing. Start with Lizardmen, move on to Bandits and most likely would have gone up to Goblins and Orcs very soon. I do not know since I uninstalled the game quite early. The RPG immersion is broken constantly by "world transitions" glowing on the ground and assorted cut-scenes that many times do not quite match what has taken palce. An RPG is not ONLY a humongous dialogue tree, it is also fluidity of the action so we don't have to emerge from the, hopefully, depths of the character. Giving orders and mounting creative attacks or solutions to situations proved an exercise in futility. Too many clicks are needed constantly to herd your companions to make it fun and practical to use them fully during the encounters, and, as was my experience, resorting to other means of solution that are not combat were close to non existent. When there is a chance to speak to an enemy, talking may be a way to solve a situation, but trying to use, for example, pure stealth and a careful disposal of the enemy force from the shadows no to confront them directly, was not, as this course of action met its doom against scripted spawning of antagonists. My fellow dungeon crawlers were not too bright. Even after tinkering with their "Behaviours" the results were not too much more satisfying. Frequently I found them running to help me the longest possible way, activating all traps and getting themselves dispatched before reaching me. Or collecting other creatures on the way to arrive with a tail of pursuers. The central story may be good, I have no idea, but the side quests were unremarkable, common and unattractive. The camera is, along with the interface, one of my greatest sources of irritation. Ceilings, walls, wooden beams, pillars and other structures that in most games are usually transparent, were constantly obstructing my line of vision. With the unkindness of the interface, the whole process of a simple battle was made very difficult. Graphics are nice, sounds are merely OK, the 3-D models are not nice but varied enough. Overall it may please D&D hardcores, and maybe other RPG enthusiasts too, but I think that the game has just too many low points to make it a must of the genre as, let's say, Torment, Baldur's Gate or Fallout all are. What makes this game very promising is the inclusion of the necessary tools to create your own scenarios, for the myriad of Dungeon Masters that want to see their creations turned into a video game.… Expand

Anybody here a fan of AD&D? This game will not disapoint. It's wonderful, full of pretty memorable lines, decent characters, and 8/10 voice acting (Ran out of adjectives). While not as in-depth combat-wise as any D&D Tabletop game, it's definitely got that 'Mountain Dew and Doritos' feel to it. Never checked out online play, and only have over 30-50 hours in the game total, but I'm sure nothing is ruined.
Plus, toolset's out!… Expand

I only started playing this game recently and it hasn't aged well. I wasn't expecting another Dragons Age or Elder Scrolls but in terms of graphics, game play, plot and character development I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the storyline is well written and the ability to create and edit within the game is excellent but there are more modern games which have surpassed this one.

After playing NWN1 for years and loving every minute, I really wanted to like NWN2. The game is true to the rules of DnD so that portion of the games is the saving grace. Where NWN2 fails and fails hard is in the terrible camera controls.

I got about 2/3 of the way through before I ran into a bug that forced me to quit. Most of the bugs aren't too bad, but eventually you get to one that kills the game. But the real problem is the stunningly bad characterization and voice acting. I got so very tired of Khelgar, Neeshka, Qara, Grobnar, and the others that I stopped caring about the plot or the deep choices available to me.

Needs a lot of work done yet. Would advise not buying this for awhile. "Party AL" is remarkably awful and fairly essential options are missing to manage those party members. Camera is clumsy and giving orders oddly awkward. Overall there's the promise of a good game there but it is very frustrating at the moment (played with patch 1.2)

Incomprehensibly terrible game. It is not worth repeating for the twelfth time exactly why. Go read the forum posts and please don't wast your money on this game. By it on ebay for $4.00 and it might be worth that.

Not a worthy successor to NWN. Not ready for prime time. What the mag critics above are smoking, I've no idea. Environments, map design, interface, camera controls, and game mechanics are all poor, all unacceptable for this title. Sometimes the environment graphics are so bad, it's mind-boggling: think Knight Online quality, same low-res textures on boxy models of building faces that are facades and have nothing inside them. Any review that gives this game a 90-100 simply hasn't played it.… Expand

- The multiplayer system for the default game demands that all players listen to every conversation that advances the plot. This forces all players to freeze completely while the story is being told, even if you are simply selling something to a merchant or changing in game settings. Any spell or ability that needs to be charged, including rest, will be cancelled. - Also in multiplayer, if a player walks into a building, all characters load and enter that building. - Some voices and music are taken exactly from NWN1… Expand

A sheer number of bugs and flaws sums up to poorly rendered graphics. While the system requirements are high, the quality of the graphics is appalling compared to what is on the market today. The GUI is cumbersome and feels rather out of date for 2006. The original campaign suffers from strict linearity and lacks the aspects of exploration and freedom that generally define role playing.
A big disappointment, considering the prequel.… Expand

This is a rushed grab for the Xmas buck. You'll need a very good system to get anywhere near the screen shot graphics. Sound is basically NWN1. Bugs - more like a termite nest. Give it a few months (maybe 6) for the monster issues to get patched and to see how the the player base reacts. Wait and see!

Pros: The OC story is not bad. Better than many lately, and some of the NPC party members are interesting. They did do away with a few nerfed feats like discipline. Cons: OC is very linear. Your basically forced to do what the story script tells you. Performance is substandard unless you have a very high end machine and/ or were very lucky. The HUD and in-game controls are counterintuitive and hopeless unless you like hitting pause every few seconds. The camera particularly so.The graphics are muddy and following action is difficult especially with the clunky controls. Frankly the graphics look like they were lifted wholesale from KOTOR-2 along with the game engine. Multiplayer is almost totally unsupported except for some insinceere lip service from the developers that "Were looking into it." Im no big fan of consparicy theories, but the fact that they refused to release a demo, AND shipped NWN2 with a CD of DnD online tells me that they knew they had a stinker on their hands.… Expand

Whilst probably not as bad as some would make you feel, it does have that unfinished aftertaste. If you haven't bought it yet, you might want to wait a couple of months and see if the patches sort out the problems.

There is some potential there, but I thought that Baldur's Gate I did it better (and how old is that?). The 3D view causes more problems than it solves, and there's very little that you can do to get your companions to behave sensibly. You can either have them do nothing at all, or waste all their spells/potions against the first things that goes "Boo!". Again BG did this better, with a whole choice of scripts you could select from for each character.

One can only hope that the developers will listen to their critics, rather than basking in the glory of misguided reviews (we can only assume they reviewed pre-release version, and believed the spin that the game was still going to be fixed; but that's why I think it's unprofessional to review pre-release versions).… Expand

The game was well written, the story is pretty good, and the interactions between NPC's had me laughing on many occations. However, the game play makes me regret the week of my life I wasted playing this game. The maps and quests are non-intuitive, the camera angles are awful, the characters are hard to control, the big fights are WAY TOO LONG, and you will bang your head against a wall when you hit the endgame. I literally spent hours trying to beat the last boss... i even resorted to cheating and couldn't do it. Hell, walkthroughs didn't help. I can't even finish the game and many a bug had me reloading to saves the happened hours before. I would only recommend this game if you have nothing better to do and no other games you want to play.… Expand

As a hardcore DND and DND video game fan, I was very excited to buy this game. I LOVED the first NWN, and played the hell out of it. Yet it was a big disappointment. Sure, the graphis are nice, and there are lots of options, but the game runs like crap (and my comp is quite up to specs), buggy buggy buggy, and the story was so trite. After about a week I got bored with it and went back to playing BG2 again.… Expand

GRAPHINCS: I was expecting a lot more from this game. After playing it about a year after release it still suffers greatly from bugs and poor performance. What I mean by poor performance is that the hardware requirements are too high for the graphics you get. Sure it better than NWN1 in terms of graphics but other games out there look a heck of a lot better with less horsepower. This must be on the of worst 3D engines for a game today..buggy as hell and not optimized. AI: The AI in NWN2 is inferrior to NWN1. Too many times does the henchman get stuck or refuse to join the battle. Story: Here is where it shines. I liked it better than NWN1 and found the backgrounds of the henchman more interesting. Interface & Camera: Feels very clunky. The camera view is not as good as in NWN1. To many things can get in your way blocking important views during battles ie. trees. Dialogue: OK..this one is mixed. I like that fact that more voice acting was involved but I did find that the cut scenes-dialogue scenes intefered with tactics. You can be in stealth mode but as soon as you hit a an area that calls for dialogue scene your stealth tactics are thrown out the window, and if battle pursues after the cut scene you are at a disadvantage tactically. The only way to play is with straight on battles...using no stealth or magic tactics allowed. I found the same problems in a NWN1 mod of Darkness over Dagerford. Rules: I find that 3.5 is better than 3.0 so I have to give it a nod over NWN1. Overall: a major disappointment. It feels like KOTOR2 all over again. Taking a great game and messing it up.… Expand

This game should never have been released in the unplayable, buggy state it is in. Atari and Obsidian are just using the gaming community as unpaid QA testers. They have essentially ignored 5 years of community work improving the original NWN, ditched its elegant interface and AI for some horrible thing from KOTR, filled a linear, unengaging single-player campaign with endless cutscenes to hide the fact there isn't really much to do in it, and what there is to do you don't have a whole lot of choice or control over. Why did Bioware ever give this license up to let it be ruined by these people?… Expand

Good game horrible execution. NWN 1 controls were a little boggy...but NWN2 is far far worse. Over detailed ui with intrusive unneeded borders. K.I.S.S was avoided. And yes it will tear your machine apart. Runs worse than Oblivion at unlimited view distance with modded 4x res textures. And looks worse than Oblivion on the worst settings. Uses a model 'style' similar to EQ2's clunky ' realistic' models.… Expand

Rubbish in comparison to NWN. I'm very disappointed that Bioware gave up the rights to this game, and Obsidian did a poor job of the sequel.
Multiplayer is also pretty bad. Both single- and multiplayer are buggy as hell and got quite boring quite quickly.

This game is a HUGE disappointment. There is no AI to speak of, the camera angles are a real pain in the butt and the game engine seems unfinished and powerless compared to the previous Neverwinter Nights game. The plot is weak and one-dimensional, compared to Oblivion and Gothic 3.

Really, 50% is still an "F". That said: This game fails on so many levels. -The story: trite and predictable. -Gameplay(quests): transparent. -Rules implementation: Abysmal, can't even get Attack of Opp to work correctly, eh? Not to mention Bogus feats and NO Climbing/Swimming/Flying... -Graphics: Kotor with more polygons at best, not optimised at all. -Fun factor/balance: Terrible. Even a fighter with great buffs and equipment will be taxed to understand the CR mixture thrown at him. -Cinematics: Terrible, too much, too little PC control, pulled along by the nose and horrible text choices!! You have 4 ways to say yes to a gnome bard joining your group and that is it. 'Nuff said. -Conclusion: Play Baldur's Gate TOSC or TOEE. Vastly superior games in terms of everything that counts to a true DnD fan and not an intellectually nascent Diablo-clone.… Expand

Must admit that I am a bit disappointed. I enjoyed BG and BG2 immensely, but the first NWN.. well.. it was boring. I'm sad to see that this one is similar to the first. The story just doesn't interest me at all and I find myself making excuses to keep playing (e.g I paid a lot of money for the game). The gameplay is somewhat awkward (camera, inventory etc.). So far the game works ok on my comp so no complaints there. I can set everything to high on my 7800GTX 256mb video card. Apparently the better rig you have, the worse the game runs... strange. Another thing that really annoys me is the constant loading and small areas to explore. I mean after Oblivion and Gothic3 this game seems too restricted. The player can't walk across a swamp even if there's a clear path. You MUST stay on the road. The fighting also seems a bit silly. The participants may miss each other for almost a minute (yes I've witnessed it). Looks stupid when you fight against a giant beetle and can't land a single hit on the HUGE insect. I mean even a moron can hit a regular beetle and kill it with a stick, but D&D hero can't hit a GIANT beetle with a bloody longsword. I know this may be irrelevant to many of you, but at least I am rather annoyed by these things.… Expand

This game is poor at best. Counterintuitive, with inexplicably high system requirements but low performance no matter what. D&D deserved a better game. Oh well, so did Neverwinter Nights,actually. The game is rated for pre-teens. I recommend to leave it to them.

Bug-ridden beta of a poor product. Clearly not even a release candidate that people are made to pay for.

There is not one thing in this game that I can say is better than the original aside from the fact that there are more prestige classes. Graphics: Fair. The graphics would be nice if the game performed on anything other than a $5000 machine (I am not kidding). Interfacce: Horrid. Everything that you could do in NWN1 by a single mouse click or two takes at least 2-5 more mouse clicks to do with minimal options for hot-baring things. Party AI and Pathing: Very bad. NPCs will get stuck on a pebble if it is in their path to get to a target. Spell casters will cast an AoE spell on a single target when all other party members are around to get hit too. Gameplay: Fair. The story is very linear and exploration is not a mainstay as it was with NWN1. I can get over this b/c I really will only play the OC once or twice. However, if the world is not flexible because of an inefficient engine (which I suspect it might be) than that will limit any community expansion of the game. Completeness: Very poor. Very, very buggy from top to bottom. It is a very common occurence to have a script no fire and get "stuck" in the game because you didn't complete something that really was completed. There are also many bugs with classes, feats, and spells. I am very disappointed and my optimisim that it will get better is starting to diminish for every unanswered post in the support forum. The worst part, it ruined the first game for me too.… Expand

Seriously this is NOT a good game. Do not be deceived by the Fanboi reviews. Check www.1up.com for an honest "professional" game review. At least gamespot gave it 6 for graphics, so kudos to them for that at least. I will try to be honest here, but where to start? Pretty much everyone knows by now that the graphics are not the best in this game, its not just on account of the obvious lag, poor performance and high specs needed. Graphics are about more than the nuber of Polygons, Shadows, and how many Pixel shaders you support. GRAPHICS Graphics lead to very poor "imersion". Levels are SMALL, tiny, and also animations are very very poor. Your characters will not look very cool while running fighting or doing anything. Customization of look of you char is OK, but not earth shattering. INTERFACE Interface. Very poor, I was getting RSI in the end, right clicking wait for pop-up, drag etc. Camera has numerous faults that others have noted, but I can cope with that at least, you just need to fiddle with it. MULTIPLAYER This game uses Huge walk meshes, that ALL clients MUST download before they can join your world. Upwards of 200-300MB. You will need to find a decent "Paid For" ISP so that each client can download the 100of MB. You are therefore looking at Paying for Terrabytes! of download if you want to host an online world. You have been warned. To host the game you will need to open numerous ports, and know a fair bit about firewalls (ok this does not bug me), but you will likely need XP, or more likely pay for hosting a Windows 2003 server since the server does not support Linux. If you make any small changes to game world, all users will need to re-download those Terabytes. Other online support such as chat is very poorly Supported. Also take note. Online, "If ONE person entersa shop, ALL party members will do so". If ONE person starts a conversation with NPC, the whole party HAS to. This is due to the very small levels (due to insane memory needs), and therefore system can't cope with people in different areas. Toolset is not getting much good feedback from the developer community at the moment. CAMPAIGN This is very linear and is based on very very small levels. MOst levels have very few places you can explore (if any...seriously), and doors, buildings etc are there for scenery. You must "open up" areas on your map before you can go there. Also many doors are super locked on account of the linear scripting not wanting you to go there. There are numerous game breaking bugs that if you take certain choices, will prevnt you from completing the game. Make SURE to patch patch patch before you start this game. SLOWNESS Loading screens are insane, even on the same level. If you go to the shop to buy mats for crafting...load...leave shop...load...walk 20 yard to the "Inn" where your workbench is...load...oops forgot an item...load main area....walk to yards to shop...load. I mean its realy realy bad. Make sure you have a Raptor or other fast disk. pref have 2Gb of RAM. You will also find commands lag, and its very hard to target. Obdsidian have admitted this and suggest you use "Tab" targetting as a work round. If there are 15 monsters you will need to tab though them all. AI Lots of people complain about this, I don't find it as bad as peopel say...simply because there is an option to totaly disable it. You WILL need to do this, or else NPC will do the most stupid things, pull mobs, cast bad spells on you. Also they can de-target and stand there. I micro manage all the fights and control all NPC. Pers I like this since DnD is a pary based game. But if you like to focus on the main charater you have been warned. SOUND This is OK, but be warned a lot of the old sounds have been re-used. I don't mind this so much but some people do PROS The intro scene is very nice. Also the Star Music is good. Some of the cut scenes look OK, and some of the characters are funny (if linear, you can't not have them join your party or it breaks story for example). Shadows can look nice, but this must be disabled on most system unless you want your PC to run real slow, 5fps, some people report overheat and crashed. Dont think that it wont be you...it well could be overheating is chronic in this game, though I have been mostly OK, with only a few 10 minute reboots (including long loading times etc) CONCLUSION Overall this is oviously a flawed release. Unfortnetly I don't think patching will help, since there are flaws right from the early conception of this game (walkmeshes being an example). In my oppinion there is no way that Atari Obsidian can "patch there way out" of this. Also as a bad sign, Atari have removed the development team onto another project, and now the "Live" Team are working on it. With the core developers working on something else it bodes ill, but I don't think even the developers could fix it in a meaningful amount of time. Don't expect to see any good users modules any time soon, and pretty much forget about multiplayer. I'm sorry but this is the truth. I was pretty exited about this release, but I would not say over hyped, I'm 35 and don't realy buy into the hype of games. If if the graphics were dreadful but it was good in other areas I could forgive it seriously. I've played D2, and some Stardock games with terrible graphics, but they all made up for it, sadly NWN2 fails on to broad a front. I would advise you to save you money and not buy this game, but of couse the choice is yours.… Expand

I had high hopes for this game, honestly I did. There are glimmers of where NWN2 could have done well, but sadly the vast majority of it does not live up to its predecessor. The right-click menu is unintuitive and slow, attempting to do anything while your character and/or the target is in motion is impossible. The AI is pathetic. The campaign itself is rather cliched and while some of the characters are interesting, they are never really given a chance to shine beyond a single cutscene each that never really goes anywhere. A host of romance options were promised, yet there are only a single romance path for each gender. And the male path is completely unexpected, especially due to the personality and actions of a couple of the female characters, inclusing the romantic option herself. Alignment has no meaning and alignment shifts are seemingly randomly placed in dialogs. The toolset. Ah, the toolset... what the hell happened? NWN1's toolset was complex, but streamlined. NWN2's is... well, broken, horrific and more complex than anything I've seen before. Plus there are only the bare minimum of creatures/textures/etc to make the campaign itself functional, unlike the original game's toolset that had a considerable segment of the D&D Forgotten Realms pantheon of creatures in it. Combined with the fact that the toolset itself is incredibly unintuitive and that it is difficult or nigh impossible to do anything without fighting it and you have not only a step backwards, but a fall off a cliff backwards. I'd end with the hope that some of this might be patched or at least changed, but considering how significant the problems are and how deep it runs, many of the 'problems' are most likely design decisions rather than simple errors of judgement from Obsidian/Atari. I hope that things improve, but can't see it happening. The only reason I give it as "high" as a 4 is because there is some enjoyment to be had. Otherwise it would be a 0.… Expand

Nice looking, good voice acting, but very buggy, even with patch 1.10. They threw out the good UI of the original NWN and jammed some clunky UI in sideways. The camera angle needs constant adjustment so you can see where your character is going, and that gets in the way of the immersive experience. Still, I'd rate this game highly if it weren't for the frequent crashes and corrupt save files. It's just not worth the frustration. Save your money and replay the original NWN, or drag out that dusty old copy of Baldur's Gate. I know you've got one.… Expand

I love DD and NWN, but this version is too buggy and the graphics are not very good either. 1. Defensive casting gets deselected all the time. 2. Arcane Trickster but no sneak attacks on ranged or meele touch attacks. WTF? 3. The AI for your companions sucks.

Absolutely terrible. Clearly this game was released before completion. It is buggy, has terrible performance and support at Obsidion has been horrendous. Save you money to see if anyone has the balls to correct the issues. If not, it ain't worth owning.

One of the worst yet for me. Absolutely awful camera implementation.

Incredible letdown. While generally well-written, the story is ridiculously linear and it forces you to do so many things just to advance the plot. Very heavy-handed. Maybe play it when it makes it to the 20-dollar bargain bin. Such a waste. Bleh.

Bugs, bugs, and more bugs. NWN2 seems to have it share of bugs, and then some. From problems with the ruleset, to misfiring or unfiring cutscenes, to the atrocious camera, NWN2 has a little bit of everything it shouldn't have. The new OC's story is better than the original NWN's oc, but still leaves a lot to be desired. I was greatly irritated at how many times during playing through the OC that I was forced to revert to a previous save, due to bugs. The multiplayer aspect of the game is all but dead, as with the way modules are handled now has all but killed the persistent world. I'm saddened by what I can only see as the death of a franchise. Good job Obsidian! You're now 2 for 2.… Expand

The game looks really nice and has a reasonably good storyline, but the controls/camera have killed it for me. It's almost a chore to play the game because of the crappy controls. I bought NWN2 a week ago and I've only played one session...I can't bring myself to fight with the camera again.

Currently, the game does not function fully, even with the 1.03 BETA patch that has been released. The original NWN is easier to use (GUI), has better framerates, and more variety, with the exception being character portraits. I have both on my current system (AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Proc, Dual Nvidia SLI enabled GeForce 7800 GT, and 3Gig of 3200 DDR2 RAM), and I know which one runs better. Sure, NWN2 has some nice graphics to look at, but you can't interact with them, you are limited to following a pre-set path like KOTOR or KOTOR2. NWN was similar, could really only go certain places, but the spaces were much larger, NWN2 feels cramped, except in city areas. Although even there it sucks that you can't go into most houses like you could in NWN. Persistent worlds would help this game, but from what I have heard, that route is SOL, because with the graphics hog this game has, and the need to download huge 100MB plus files each time a world is first visited or designer-altered, dial ups would need the patience of a saint to do it. Seems more likely they want to force feed us DDO. Hence the free trial disc which contains the entire game and seven days. Thanks WoTC. Likely the WoTC made sure that NWN2 would not be as good a multiplayer as DDO, both to prevent customer loss and competition, and to make certain that the game didn't outperform DDO. I have tried DDO, and it does run better than NWN2, but the game is very limited in level scope and character creation when last I was on, which is why I stopped playing it. The limitations and expense outweighed anything good it had. Things that should work don't, such as adding spells to an NPC wizards spellbook. Trying to add actions to the action bar for latter rounds, or just the round you are on, can be frustrating and hard on your mouse, requiring multiple clicks and pause/unpause to achieve a desired result, and that includes targeting while moving. So if you want realtime gaming, don't try this one, because in some parts, pause is the only way you can play it, that and nursemaiding the NPC AI. The skills for the most part have little gameplay effect except in a few narrowly controlled (storyline) parts. Only the necessary thief skills offer any real use. Crafting is a joke, altering magic items is easier, and cheaper. I believe it costs more to create some potions than it does to purchase them from a friendly merchant. When was the last time in NWN you set a trap and an enemy walked into it? In NWN2, monsters can see the thief even when hidden and silent, everytime, regardless of the level of the thiefs skill. So scouting is useless, the game sees you and starts the cutscene, even if all you wanted to do was waste them all with a few rounds of fireball before they knew what hit them. You lose all your buffs too when that happens, even the ones that should last HOURS of game time. Picking pockets can be useful, until the game tells you the mark is empty, and profitable when you lift 45000 gp worth of rings in one shot, or 25 bars of adamantine ore. Realism? Not even possible using the 3.5 edition D&D rules the game is purported to be following. Merchants run out of gold to purchase your goods, ruining your ability to make money to create some of the more expensive magical artifacts, as long as you have the recipes, which so far seem to be very repetitive in drops, and I have yet to see anything world shattering like a rod of lordly might, a rod of the python, or a staff of power(although there is one you can loot that I have found. But it's a watered down version of the 3.5 D&D version). Just standard stat adjusting fair like elven cloaks and boots, and spell-to-staff stuff like lightning or fireball. Even a Gem of Brightness (boring, I want a ring of elemental command, sword of dancing, helm of brilliance). Spells don't look as they should when casting. Ice Storm looks more like an Ice Ball, Magic Missile doesn't fire off all at once, even though there is a Missile Storm spell that does shoot multiple missiles, for some reason Magic Missile does not. Spell Buffs for AoE don't show on companions even when you know they should. Circle of Protection from alignment comes to mind. It pops on when you wonder near the center target NPC, but if you cast it on yourself, you don't see it on the NPC when they stand close. Trying to use NPC abilities like talk to animals fails except where the storyline is advanced, so unlike NWN where you could talk to just about all the animals, in NWN2, forget it. Also, the moment you try to get the NPC to do anything of importance, the game warps you to their location and you are now the one doing it. Try winning a bard contest if you aren't a bard. And the bard NPC you have in the party is of no help unless you have influence with him, so you have to get him to do his job by kissing his butt in a big way. So I leave him at the inn, he's so useful. But sometimes the game MAKES you take them, which bites. Maybe I want to be a loaner, hmmm.? You really can't ROLE PLAY the way you want to if the game makes you play a certain way. The AI is more factually referred to as FR, as in functionally retarded. NPCs charge through discovered traps to hit an enemy, cast area spells near party members indiscriminantly, don't always take the crows path to reach a target, activate personal abilities to the detriment of the group as a whole (most notable the druid shapechanger). And if you play in Hardcore D&D, the bard will stun you as well as enemies, even though his abilities might state enemies only; the firebug sorceress will kill you with fireballs and walls of fire before the enemy does; the cleric and druid only cast heal spells when commanded to, and even if you fill up the action bar on NPC's, they will delete those actions in favor of their own unless you turn them into puppets, making the game that much more work. In NWN, all I did was tell the NPC when to use melee or ranged, and how far to follow, and whether to use skills or spells. And it worked! This new way of doing things is too much, and broken. Familiars get lost when zoning, even if they aren't killed or conjured away. Game does not take into account how many doors away from monsters you might be. Some areas of the game you cannot rest in, so you have to leave and return, if it will let you. Why? If I want to risk a random monster encounter, than I should be able to. Oh wait, no random monsters, so I guess they just want to make sure you can't rest. Why are the levels limited to 20, a sequel to NWN should take into account the fact that you could hit epic levels in HoTU. Not here though, got to leave something for an expansion to trick you to buy, right? Why not keep all the original prestige classes and add the new ones as well? Oh yeah, wrote a new game, not upgraded the old one. Upgrading is hard work, half-a$$ing a new one is easy. In essence, it seems they attempted to re-invent the wheel, and doing that ruined the flavor of the game. As it plays out, it's no sequel, it's a stand alone like ToEE. The name was used to make bucks, pure and simple. It gets a 4 because you can play it if you have patience and a robust system like I do, but nothing more because the game is not a sequel, it's factually a step back from the original, a really big Man on the Moon step back. This is not a sequel, sequels are usually at LEAST as good as the original, and for the most part BETTER.… Expand

Shouldn't have been released at this stage. Serious, serious flaws hampers gameplay so much it's very difficult to become immersed in what could have been a great sequel to one of the most loved RPGs in PC history.

I am an avid fan of the Neverwinter Nights game. I thought the first one was awesome, engrossing, and addictive. The second one? I am truly mixed on this, and dissapointed.
Where to start? Well, if i don't truly have a high end computer, but it still runs it, albeit the choppy frame rate. I had to tweak down almost everything on my system settings just to get it to run not as choppy. And to be completely honest, it got to the point that i just stopped playing the game because the graphics just didn't look all that well. i am sure if you have a high end baby, that thing would look stunning but not so much on mine.
The A.I as previously stated, does have flaws in it, ie; getting stuck on objects, not following combat parameters, and the like. The key reason i stopped playing it, was because of the camera angles. Going into a dungeon, i found it hard to keep track of my party and where they were, and on more then several occasions, i had to switch the view around for almost a minute just to see the loot on the floor that i could pick up. One of my friends, a diehard NWN fan, insisted they were coming out with a patch to fix all the camera foul ups, but i when i installed the game for a second time, i did not see any patch and the camera angles were still terrible.
Sound gets a bit tedious, because if you have played the first one, its the same sounds. You figured after x amount of years since the game has been out they could have updated. The soundtrack i liked :) but then again i like weird tunes. CONCLUSION: If you have a high end pc, and its in the bargain bin? Give it a shot. Maybe a better pc would resolve some of the camera issues. But i would still say wait until this baby has some patches which fix the camera… Expand