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!

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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 are good, but animations completely sucks, the story is a little interesting, but the game is full of bugs, the worst control system ever, worst camera modes ever, and really killed the NeverWinter Nights franchise, the first one was so epic and awesome, specially multiplayer, now this one is completely disappointing.

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

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.

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.

I played about 30 minutes into the game had an encounter and saved when it was over. I the event to trigger the next part of the game wouldn't trigger so I had to delete that file. After playing the game for about 30 hours the same thing happened so I deleted the game off my computer. The bugs in the game ruined it for me.

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.

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

Well there went 20 dollars. The game is alright. The story is dull, but I"m only 6 hours in. I"m so bored with listening to my compatriots **** at each other...Probably should have been evil and just told them to shut the hell up more often. Anyways. The missions keep bugging. What was a mediocre game with dull combat and a cliche story now feels like a beta from the 90's. I completed the quests but it glitched out and doesn't know it. It doesn't keep more than one auto-save and leaving and coming back doesn't fix it, so I just have to start back from the last time I saved. But the combat is so easy you never die, so why save every 10 minutes? It's BS. Camera is crap. The sounds are dull. In the the previous iteration when you paried your swords would match and send off a spark. Fighting was faster paced and the pop up directional tool tip menu was awesome> I had a lot of fun disarming, knocking down, then triple jump kicking poeple as a monk. Somehow this game ended up a lot worse in terms of interface and playability. That's where all the points go. No point having all that content if I can't even play it.… 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

There are hardly words for me to describe what a horrible letdown this game was. I was expecting a follow-up to the original, what I got was garbage. Even if you happened to find this game in the bargain bin for $5 bucks it still wouldn't be worth it

Best thing about the game: Character creation
Half assed: very linear campaign with no real motivation for evil characters. Good guy focus
Horribly bad: Toolset. Its the one most important thing in NWN and it sucks. Sure its complex but its just not fun to use in any way. No wizards. They did not even try to make it user friendly.

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

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.

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

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

I'm giving this a 0 because it quite frankly deserves it. Its just so incredibly poorly made, making an attempt at a in-depth rpg is no excuse for Extremely clunkly interface camera and responsiveness.

The voice acting in this game is terrific and when you get far into the campaign there are some scripted scenes between your NPCs that are amusing. That's the good news. /all of it/. The bad news has been repeated here many times before. Many bugs, even at this late date, a horrible camera that has to be seen to be believed, perhaps the worst AI ever invented, the list goes on an on. It's tragic because there is a good story behind it all. But the execution is painful to behold. This game is an excellent reminder that what seems 'cool' to game designers isn't always fun to play. They would have been better off doing less but doing it better rather than trying to cram every cool feature from the D&D rulebook and creating a god awful mess. A serious disappointment, even only paying $10.… Expand

This game has some good features but gets a low score because it is full of game breaking bugs. The pros: It looks ok, even given its age, and you have a very deep combat and character development system that gives you lots of variety in the kind of character you can be. The cons: Where to start? The clunky control system; three camera modes, none of which work properly; lacklustre campaign; really ugly faces for your character; UI is just a total mess, popups all over the place; and it's very possible to ruin your character build from the beginning because you chose the wrong abilities......
But even after all that I would have forgiven it, were it not for the fact that it is just a broken game. It's full of bugs even with all the latest patches, and I mean game ruining bugs like campaign events not triggering. It's totally unreasonable for Bioware to still be selling a game for a not insignificant price (I paid £15 for the platinum edition) which just falls over at random. And then there are the crashes... So really, there are other RPGs out there, and if you want a game that you will actually be able to play then buy something else. But if you are a gambler by nature, then why not try this game. You *might* have fun. But then again you might lose your money and have nothing to show for it.… Expand

I'm not one to usually be rude, but everyone who thinks this game was made by BioWare is an idiot. This game was Developed by Obsidian Entertainment (one of the worst developers to ever be conceived), and Published by Atari (just in case people assume that the Publisher created the game). Of course this game is terrible! It's made by Obsidian Entertainment which is infamous for developing sequels in RPG series going to slow and releasing them with half content and don't bother patching any of the bugs. When they try to create their own games (i.e. Alpha Protocol) It still sucks, they released that game too with half content and many bugs. Also they can never create an original game even if it's a sequel in a series they should add their own touch, but no they don't. The worst part is they fail at playing safe too. Obsidian Entertainment is an abomination that should be purged from existence!… 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

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.

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

It looked great and had a lot of potential, but we don't rate games on "potential," do we? To start, I spent an exhausting amount of time installing patches before I could even play, and even then it's so overridden with bugs that it makes the entire experience feel backwards and cumbersome. It crashes constantly, gameplay is slow and unresponsive, the UI is not intuitive at all, party AI is a joke, and the story is lame.

One bug rendered the game completely unplayable, so I couldn't even make it to the end (my party stopped following the main character, so I had to select each of them one by one to get them to move).

I understand, a lot of love and attention went into this game from countless game developers, so I feel bad giving a game such a bad review, but the fact is that I paid good money for a game that is so bug-ridden that I couldn't finish it. I wish I could ask for my money back.… Expand

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.

NW1 expansions were awesome, and nw1 overall a very good, rpg. This is buggy crap, RUBBISH game, don't buy! More people will be getting sucked in to buying this rubbish on cheap STEAM deals, don't bother its not even worth $5 with the expansions!

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

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Ignore the majority of the nay-sayers.... yes, there are better RPGs around. Yes, sometimes you still run into the odd bug. Yes, the camera-angle can be horrendous at times - especially in the mountains (for example, the githyanki base).
But is it likeable and playable? Certainly. It isn't as hardcore as Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale, nor it is as casual as the most RPGs those days (for example Dragon Age). For it's time it had pretty nice graphics, although those days it may seem a bit dated, although still nice.

The story itself isn't as strong as the original NWN or it's predecessors, but it remains a compelling story, true to the core of D&D: emotion, betrayal, love, hate, etc, it's all in it. At times you'll find yourself wondering 'What will happen now?', while in Neverwinter itself you'll find yourself enjoying the city (till it all goes awry of course).

The thought of a central place to upgrade wasn't new of course, but it remains a likeable idea, and the people who had/have the game whom I spoke and who had finished the game thoroughly enjoyed the Keep.

In the end: this game HAS it's own flaws (hence why no 9/10 or 10/10), but it remains compelling and attractive to the core. One advice: if you liked the essence of this game, get NWN 2: Mask of the Betrayer, which is in essence an better-looking, even better-made game with an story that will strike you in awe. Also, yesterday they released the NWN 2 Platinum Edition on Steam (currently for 9,99 Euro), and I can tell you that it is worth it if you don't have NWN 2 at all yet but like RPGs - since it comes with NWN 2 itself, the toolset, plus the awesome MotB expansion and the relative odd Storm of Zehir expansion.… 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.

Overall, I do not like this game. The graphics feel clunky, especially the melee combat which is unsatisfying and unrealistic looking. To compare, take a game like Icewind Dale (which is a 2D game, but has similar rule sets, many of the same spells, etc). In Icewind Dale, if two opposing warriors attacked each other you either saw the attack animation fail with maybe an appropriate sound (but no specific graphics to differentiate between a block, parry, or dodge) or a successful hit. In a 2D game it is forgivable because you have to use your imagination to an extent. Spell casts in that game were truly magnificent to behold and even the sound of the casting seemed otherworldly. In NWN2 I could not discern any specific graphic for blocking, parrying, dodging, etc. which is unforgivable for a 3D game. A successful attack results in the flinch animation, but other than that I did not notice any other surprises in melee combat, even with different weapons. Combat is therefor dull and boring. I also noted the level of gore and blood. There is none in this game. Icewind Dale 2 had it's fair amount of gore (even exploding bodies), with dead enemies lying in pools of their own blood. NWN2 unfortunately has none of that. Death essentially involves an avatar falling down to the floor unconscious. The bodies quickly disappear after a certain amount of time has passed, but I would have liked the option of seeing them remain. Dropped loot is not accessed by clicking on the dead bodies, instead little bags spawn beside the bodies, which you are forced to click on, as small as they are (why NVN2 degenerated to that style of loot system is beyond me). The spell-casting also looks completely wrong. Some spells fly at strait angles to targets. Take for example acid splash, which looks like a beam of green light emitting from the caster's hand to the target... it just looks so cheap... like the devs took a shortcut in the graphics department. It doesn't look like acid and it's not very satisfying to behold. The sound that the casters make when casting is ridiculous and almost comical, it's like something you might hear out of an poorly translated Japanese anime. Even if you choose your characters voice at the beginning of the game, every spellcaster makes the same sound in exactly the most horrid tone. I find it hard to enjoy any spellcasting class what-so-ever.

A lot of the dialogue in the game is spoken audio, which I think is unfortunate. The audio is too short and precise to give any feel to the game. All spoken audio seems plot driven. The written dialogue is not very clever and I can't help but feel that the game was presented in such a way that young teenagers would "get it". The game is rated T, so go figure. Any brass humor that you may have seen in similar themed 2D RPG's do not exist here. The rating for the game obviously held it back in many regards. The plot and dialogue completely disinterest me as a result.

I was expecting a lot more for an RPG. The graphics totally suck for the requirements and nothing filled me with awe like I have seen in many a 2D RGP such as Baldur's Gate, IceWind Dale, etc. Those games impressed me; this one made me glad that I never bought it full price.… Expand

Obsidian doing what it does best, sloppy seconds. And people wonder why I'm not getting fallout new Vegas. The thing that made the original nwn amazing was the Multiplayer, and they completely killed it.

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.

Looking at how the game is made and not the content, nor the story, nor the mechanics, the programming effort was very poor. One glaring problem the camera-- or rather how objects in the world don't fade out of the way. For example, you'll be navigating the streets of a city with multi-story buildings. The buildings block your view such that the only usable camera angle is directly above or 45 degree angle behind your characters. One would think that if the game system isn't going to fade out buildings, then they would swing the camera around to a usable angle. Another issue is that I found that most of the game I was zoomed out most of the way. A good game system would swap out textures with lower resolution and reduce the polygon complexity of the models. However this system does not do that. In most 3D worlds parts of objects facing away from the camera are not rendered, but I get a strong sense that this system does that and so a unnecessary performance hit occurs. Occasionally I find my keyboard shortcuts to cease functioning. Pressing the console hot key fixes the problem, but I would not expect such a problem in any piece of commercial software these days. Also problem is that the pause option does not realy work. If you pause in the beginning of a round, select a spell to be casted, but then change your mind to cast a different spell, the system will replace the current round with a "do nothing event" instead of casting the spell in the current round as expected. The next round the spell will be cast, a whole round behind from where it should be casted. This could lead to a party member dying or a complete party wipe. The lack of side quests is smaller than what I would thought. I played Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 and Neverwinter Nights 1 and so I expected a bit more atmosphere in the game. I remember how in Baldur's gate there were buildings a thief character could break into and steal items. There were consequences for getting caught, not so much in NWN2. Another severe problem is that if you attempt to talk to NPC with characters only than your main character, your main character will meracrously teleport from wherever he is in the current area/level to the NPC. The same sort of thing happens if your main character is a Wizard and so you are trying to keep him behind the melee fighters in a dungeon. If there happens to be a cut-scene or a NPC interaction followed by a fight your character will also teleport in front of your melee wall and will have little time to cast a protective spell before being swarmed. Unless your know about these interactions ahead of time and cast protective spells before the NPC interaction, then your forced to have your main character be of a class that can take little beating (e.g. not a mage or a thief). The Party AI is worthless. Baldur's Gate 1 had better AI. The AI will cause your mages to burn through spells very fast or cast a high lvl spell to kill of a enemy when magic missile will do just fine. The AI will often just run off to the enemy when one of them sees it and even when you tell it to move away from it to avoid engaging the target, they'll run to where you told them to go, and then go back to the enemy. The only way to prevent this behavior is to issue "guard me" or "follow me" in the dropdown menu (high-leve/coarse grain AI) or turn of the AI. A couple of times I ran into a game stopping bug where I was left in an area without a "world transition". A dialogue event was to occur which would lead to a new area, but it never happened. I had to reload from a previous save. For those who like to explore, there is not exploring. In fact, much of the wilderness areas are not walkable for some reason. Every area seems to have a purpose either to the main story line or a side quest starting in some city or town. There are very few areas if any that are not linked to a quest. Most buildings in towns and cities are what the engine calls "environmental objects", which are static object without any interaction. The manual says that all objects in the editor begin as intractable objects (have inventory or a door..etc), but should be made a "environmental object" to increase or maintain a good performance. It seems that the "environmental object" concept was used to avoid having to sold a difficult problem. This mean years after release and with three expansions, there are no excuses for not fixing these problems because nearly all of the issues I'm mentioned are game engine problems that would carry over to any expansion or user-made content. They just don't care, Obsidian does not have the passion in this as Bioware did in all the previous D&D games.… Expand

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

This game is an insult to our community...I will never pre-order again, nor will I believe the hype from the online reviewers reviews for games from this company until "real" people that are unbiased post theirs after playing. I can't describe how disappointed I am with this game.

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

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

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

The game started off brilliantly. And for a good 10-20 hours depending on how quickly you play it holds a very good quality. But after that bugs started to creep into the game eventually rendering the game unplayable. NWN2 has great potential but I can't see that a game deserves a rating if you can't make it to the half way point. Once Atari get their act together and realise that part of releasing a game involves making sure it works then maybe it'll be worth playing. Until then, spare yourselves the pain.… 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

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

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

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

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

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

What happened with this Game? Obsidian should not be allowed to touch any other RPG's from now on, just look at what they did with KoToR2!

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

I really don't feel it lived up to its name as NWN 2. The graphics are definately a step up, but it lacks polish, and performance is horrible. Spell effects are on the whole unoriginal, uninspiring, and don't really connect with the spell. The user interface is a major step back from the clean, uncluttered, forgiving one of NWN. Trying to quickly navigate a multi level menu where the options are really close together just doesn't work. Unlike the first NWN, its also fairly multiplayer unfriendly. Its only saving grace is that it has a fairly decent story.… 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!

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

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.… Collapse

One of the best rpg I have ever played. The graphic is nice, the plot, as a whole, is outstanding, the ending "cinematic"'s passable, but not great. The voice work and dialogs are absolutely the stunning. Don't be discouraged by the naysayers, this is a great game for those who are NOT D&D hardcore and over skeptical. 10 out of 10.

It is clear that all Obsidian managed to do with this game was to get some quick cash. In general, it stunk! Graphics: Bad, Sound: Worse, Story: idiotic, Bugs: Lots, Replayability: None,Toolset: Destroyed, Community: Gone There ARE worse games, but for it's hype and lazy/incompetent/bad content in the areas described above acompanied with being an insult to NWN 1 and D&D it deserves a big ZERO! In short: BLEH!… Expand

What can I say that hasn't been said already? (the negatives, that is--there are no positives I'll willingly repeat). I had a gut feeling this would be a stinker out of the box, and I wasn't disappointed. I thought the OC (that's original campaign for you noobs) was bad in NWN1, but it least it could be (and was) rescued by the community who saw the potential in the Aurora toolset. That's gone! I have been modding for several years and tried my hand at NWN2 toolset; even with my experience in C++ programming I was at a loss as to how they could...uh hmm...'mess up' the good thing they had in the Aurora's simplicity and ease of use. A module could be created that took up kB of space and distributed to the community, but in NWN2 the same file would take MB. This one died on the vine. I played it about two hours (and messed with the toolset another 20 to 30 hours) before uninstalling it, then reinstalling Baldur's Gate II again. Avoid like the plague.… 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

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 have to admit that I enjoyed NWN 1 a lot better than NWN 2. I don't normally concern myself with graphics, but I must admit that I expected better. The game controls are a little more cumbersome to use than I would like and I sorely miss that radial menu. In addition you have to keep a large number of saves due to a save game problem. Some people (like me) tend to get corrupted saves and must either load a previous save, or attempt to repair the current save game using one of your previous saves. I admit that there are quite a few bugs in the game, but I think that the save game bug alone is more than enough to make me think this game could have used a few more months of beta at least. I know that I , like a lot of people, had high expectations for this game and much to my disappointment it fell far short.… Expand

I've played through the NWN2 title and as a fan of D&D and the other previous titles in this area (such as Balders and NWN1) I'm sorry to say this ones a major dud!! Actually more of a tragedy because there were such hopes. I tried playing it first time through with my friend and it really wasn't fun. Only one character can talk and interact while the other just stands around. You cant look in your inventory or even move you can only stand there. We stopped playing. I played again through solo mode and enjoyed it more, however, the extreme lack of choices and ROLEplaying was apperant. Also I'm not going to get into the bugs and messes cause this would become an essay. But I've read the previous thread above and the high reviews seem to come from solo players that enjoyed the connect the dots orriented campaign. This is where Nwn2 fails though, its a multiplayer game! If it were just another kotor style game I wouldnt really have beef but its not and that is why it has become one of the worst tiles in the D&D gamming family. This game has already recieved a final patch, likely because the dev's are already building its coffin. Anytime trying to figure out how to build an adventure for this game would be time clearly wasted, no ones going to be around to play it.… Expand

Not a good game. It probably had a lot of potential, but the gameplay is an utter drudge. The AI is painfully buggy, and the game's requirements are absolutely not proportinate compared to the graphics. The original release looked like a beta, and the patches didn't help as much as was needed.

Yet another game that needs patching right out of the box. Unlike some of those other games, this one REALLY needs patching! Not that patching will save this game. The graphics on this game are worse than NWN...unless you like near-cartoon graphics. Get close to the trees in NWN and they look somewhat blurry. Some of the modded trees look absolutely great with almost no blur. Look at an NWN2 tree up close. Do you see the resemblance to a piece of paper? The same for the rest of the graphics. In NWN when chickens are running around I feel as if I am looking at real chickens. In NWN2 I was immediately struck by how cartoonish they look. The only real plus to graphics that I noticed was the lack of "fists of doom". I quit playing this game after a short amount of time. I decided my time would be better spent working on my NWN module. Speaking of modules: Why was I most looking forward to this game? Because I thought the toolset would be better than NWN's and not need so much modding. I was sure wrong! The toolset is......let's just say I have spent hundreds of hours with the NWN toolset. I have spent very little time with the NWN2 toolset and will spend no more. The miniscule amount of modding done as of 6-20-'07 tells the story. NWN2 is a complete waste. I am just glad it was given to me as a gift. I was hesitant to buy it as I had read some early reviews by real gamers. If you have not purchased NWN2. Do not! Unless you want to buy my copy… 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 perfect example of the recent trend in game development of releasing pre beta material and expecting the public to do all the QA for the product. Yes 6 months later they're still patching the product, but unfortunately this game is so poorly designed that even a 100 patches and 3 or 4 expansion packs are not going to make this game work. Six months ago the thought among many in the NWN community was that after some patching and maybe an expansion pack the game would finally be a worthy successor to NWN. However now the games main problem the difficulty in creating mods for it versus NWN is clear for all to see.NWN main attraction was the ease to which it could be modded. A 1st time user could easily make a playable area with the tool set in a matter of minutes. With the NWN2 tool set even creating a totally blank area that will load as a module is cumbersome. Creating something you might actually want to play and share others is a major undertaking. That is this games primary fault it is too hard to mod and the mods themselves use to many resources ie megs. This makes it very difficult to create the 30-40 hour campaigns that are commonplace for NWN. This is not something that can be patched around this is a core problem with tool set and how areas are built and used by the game. A look at the amount of content being produced by modders will prove my point. The best modders are still making campaigns for NWN while there is hardly anything for NWN2. Suggestion if your going to buy this game at all wait until it done being patched, bundled with all it's upcoming expansion packs and in the $10 close out bin.… Expand

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

Perfect example of a game shipped before being completed. 6 months after release & it's still not done. Maybe Obsidian will fix enough to make it porperly playable by the time they ship the expansion this fall.

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.

Forget the critics. Unless high resolution "dungeon dressing" is important to you, this game has nothing to offer that 20 or even 40 other games didn't do better. The plot is linear, the terrain (that you can actually go to) is flat, the camera views are difficult to handle, and practically all the fighting can be left on automatic. (Just attack with a fighter, and let the AI handle spells.) Don't worry about interacting with your environment -- just press "w" and you'll be shown all the things you can interact with. I can't remember one genuine moment of fun or amusement in several hours of play.… Expand

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

Quite a disappointing game really. I'm a fan of NWN series (and especially KoTOR series). I don't like the graphics, the storyline is kinda childish, and the action is unnatural (let alone some bugs in quests)... Well, it's unplayable in my opinion. No Bioware, no NWN!

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

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

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

Copyprotection that cannot read correctly in 2 of my 3 Drives. Update theat cannot work due to bugged copyprotection. Bluescreens & Freezes (Havent had a Bluescreen for years) tons of minor bugs and a COMPLETE FREEZE AFTER WINNING TYRS CHALLENGE. Reinstalling wont work. And a "Customer Service" that is typically Anglosaxon - NONEXISTENT!!! (Sorry all you Anglosaxons out there!)

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

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

Potentially a very good game but was released in an extremely buggy state. The camera angles are counter-intuitive, very poor interface, worst control system for an RPG ever. The only way to play without extreme frustration is to use the point and click control but that doesnt even work too well because there are always walls blocking your view space. You'll spend more time rotating your view in a fight then actually controlling your characters because the camera just sucks.… 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)

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

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

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

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

It's a very bad game. I don't understand that even in 2006, a game company still creating a so cheap game... Another D&D poor game. Disapointing in all point. Ai, camera, gui...

Not one good thing to say about the game. The old NWN is even miles better then this one. Sigh. I experienced 4 in game logical bugs,3 of them I managed to find a workaround the last one I have no clue what to do about, and I am stuck. The last straw were when the last patch version crashed every time, and I am unable to patch the game. DOH! Avoid this game at all cost!

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

Extremely poor performance from a graphics engine that is less than impressive. Poor character customization choices. Small areas with virtually no exploration and a decidedly linear storyline. In-game GUI is a step backwards from the original... with a clunky right click context menu, and quick bar that lacks the depth of functionality of the original. Not to mention the horrible implementation of the camera controls. Tool set was completely redone... which may or may not be a good thing... feature and power-wise... too hard to to tell with an interface that is impossibly less than intuitive. Its pretty buggy as well. In fact, its hard to find much to like... It's Forgotten Realms D&D is about all I can think of at present.… Expand

Four years of polishing and fine tunining a great game as NWN was, I was extremely let down and disapointed in the proclaimed sequel. Obsidian/Atari seemed eager to make a quick profit before the end quarter by releasing this beta version at best. I am a gamer, not a beta tester and not a tester paying $50 (not including the 2 vid card upgrades due to faulty information on "supported cards"). The cameras are terrible, the AI will kill your entire party with aoe spells directed at half dead target / targets when single target spells are mem'd in spell book. UI is bulky and quirky at best. Bottom line, all the good things in 1 are missing in 2, actually this game regresses in many aspects and just plain frustrating to play, highly unsatisfied, and misled by pre-release ratings and interviews with OE.… Expand

I cant believe this was released as is...what the heck!? I have a top of the line machine and it still has issues running this sloggy beast.Im going back to playing oblivion now...see ya.

This game is nothing but a cheap rehash of NwN1. The same lame OC storyline, EVEN THE SAME VOICE SETS! This game was cheaply made, and then titled to sell to the existing community. I feel like I've been tricked. This is not worth buying, there is no area in the game where I am satisfied with how it works.

I had more fun trying to get a refund for this game than I did playing it. It has next to nothing in common with NwN1. The interface, the toolset, the ai, the inventory, and the overall game play is all so far from the original, I can only assume the game was made to cash in on the community. This is a sad day for Wizards of the West Coast. This is a game that I would expect to find in a bargain bin. Not as a sequal for the best RPG of the last 10 years.… Expand

This game is a huge disapointment, the first thing you notice is the woeful graphics, even with a high end system it chugs along creating a disjointed feel. The charater choice system is really crap the faces/hair and races look awful. I'm giving the story line a bit more time and this appears to be the obly saving grace. My advice is don't buy this game if you liked NWN1.

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.

What a disappointment. I had been looking forward to this game for years, only to find that it is the worst D&D game in the Black Isle/Bioware/Obsidian line to yet be released. Boring gameplay, lackluster graphics, linear design with virtually no side quests or other optional activities, awful AI, flat, cliched NPCs, counterintuitive interface-- I could go on. The other comments have elaborated on all the problems with this game. I thought that Obsidian showed promise with KOTOR 2, which, despite its obvious flaws and unfinished feel, was a much better game than this one. Hopefully Bioware will do a better job with Dragon Age and Obsidian did with NWN 2. Until then, I'll keep playing Oblivion.… Expand

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