Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Uninspired"

loved NWN and while the interface/game for NWN2 was a disappointment (i.e. no improvements and some things got worse IMHO) this release was even more disappointing.

But, how about the good stuff first? The graphics look great on my PC. They seem to run smoothly and stability is almost an entirely non-issue. You have all of the classes/races you could dream off (sorry Mr. Paladin, still no horses to ride).

Now, the not so good: The story line is uninspired and down-right boring IMHO. No, you don't have to "save the world" every time, but being a caravan guard is not much fun either. The entire "real-time" map idea was (or could have been) a good idea. But, somewhere in the execution it totally fell apart. Contrary to adding to the game, the real-time world map basically is the game now. The characters in the game are as shallow as can be and have I mentioned uninspired/boring and the "dungeons" are for the most part small, boring hack and slash affairs. No kidding many are literally a single room and a vast majority are less than a half-dozen rooms that you just hack your way through.

And there are the bugs. Yes, it would seem that just about every pathing bug that ever reared it's ugly head in NWN or NWN2 is back (party members getting stuck on a fence post, just standing watching you fight after you tell them attack, members that refuse to use a weapon on both hands after you spend days earning them the feats to make it possible/best practice). And, just about every aspect that was added to this game (merchant sales, resources, etc) is buggy in some way or another. Heck, I won't even get into the shear lameness of the wandering hordes of monsters right outside the city gates that pester you and your caravans the entire game. Life as a perpetual caravan guard is a boring slog fest.

I do like a good role-playing game every now and then but the crappy interface and the lame story kept me from enjoying anything like a real role-playing experience entirely. In NWN I would get feel something when my characters died, or did poorly. In this game, nothing. I can honestly say I never felt sucked into this games story line for a single instant. For a "role-playing game" that is a very, very bad thing IMHO.

But, truth be told I am not a hard-core role player. The NWN series and the Morrowind series are the only ones I own. I am actually more of a hard core war gamer player. This is a good thing with this game as IMO, it is closer to a tactical fantasy war game than a role-playing game and is the only reason it gets as high a score from me as it did! So, if you think you might enjoy the tactical situations in a fantasy D&D setting you might enjoy this game a bit (as I did). Just don't expect ANYTHING like the role playing experience you had when you loaded up NWN the first time.

Bottom line: How the heck did they screw up such a ROLE PLAYING franchise so badly? Heck, I have seen modules posted for NWN that were a ton more immersive than this game. And don't even get me started on that HORRID view/interface that teases with really nice graphics until you actually want to zoom in or adjust the view to enjoy... Real, hardcore role players stay away or you will be truly disappointed. You have been warned.