Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Surprisingly good"

Storm of Zehir did something really radical here by taking a deeply-rooted series formula and adding an element that's familiar in other games, the overmap. Personally, I love the FF7 exploring feature complete with random encounters, then, there's this "random" special encounters like in Fallout 2, wow, that's a godsend for me, although not as well implemented. That being said, for fans of the traditional NWN structure, you may find this reliance on the Overland Map annoying, and it does really drag the pacing of either story or leveling.

But what's nice about this exploring feature is that it tweaks and puts previously neglected skills like Survival, Spot and Listen to good use, making the ranger and druid considerable choices finally. Talking about character choices, importing in your epic-level Weaponmaster is gonna spoil your adventure big time, just so to warn you, plus, it will really spoil your chances at the Team Feat minigames anyway.

Some things to note would be that it strangely focuses on trading (not stocks, ha) but in terms of merchants-on-foot. And... arrows/bolts, there's tons of them. Well, in other words, Storm of Zehir may only appeal to hardcore fans of Neverwinter Nights and fans who don't mind an alternative way to enjoy the series.

KingLim