Sci-Fi News and Reviews

'Neverwinter Nights 2' Reviews are Good

I am a big fan of the single player RPG genre. Baldur's Gate was one of my all time favorite games ('Go for the eyes, Boo!'). Even though I never played the original Neverwinter Nights, I have been watching the progress on the sequel, Neverwinter Nights 2, for some time.

The Neverwinter Nights games are designed to be adaptations of the Dungeons & Dragons rulesets. In addition, the games include toolsets to allow game modders to generate additional content that can be shared with other players. This concept has been hugely successful, as the original game is still actively played by many people.

Neverwinter Nights 2 has been recently released and the reviews are now streaming in. Gamespot gives it an 8.6/10, saying "lives up to its pedigree by delivering a captivating story full of exciting twists and characters who you'll grow attached to out of fondness or, perhaps even better, complete loathing." GameDaily gives it a perfect 100/100 and says "Neverwinter Nights 2 is truly one of the most epic adventures found on a PC, and it should be purchased without hesitation."

But, the most helpful review that I found is from Eurogamer, who rates the game an 8 out of 10. This paragraph, in particular, sealed the deal that I will be purchasing NWN2 in the near future:

"...while hugely improved over the original Neverwinter Nights' campaign, this is essentially Baldur's Gate. Shouldn't we be looking for...

Rewind that. This is essentially Baldur's Gate.

While its design is starting to show its age a little, the engine is far from perfect and so on and so forth and so bloody whining, there's still enough of the magic here which will reduce the seasoned PC role-playing gamer to rapture. It's not the future of PC gaming, but a glorious slice of the recent past. This may be the last adventure like this you'll ever go on. And there's a certain style and grandeur to anything like that."

Honestly, they had me at "This is essentially Baldur's Gate." This will be an early Christmas gift to myself!

Posted by Fred on November 7, 2006 2:32 PM
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The only thing that would make this better would be versions for Mac and Linux.

I hope those state-of-the-art graphics are worth it. In my opinion, the decision to exclude a whole gaming community (Mac/Linux gamers) is a poor one.

-- Posted by: Cat at November 7, 2006 9:59 PM

Check out the wikipedia information on neverwinter nights 2. You will find some interesting background information on the development team and the nwn 2 project lifecycle.

For thos looking to purchase nwn2, check Frys. I purchased nwn2 @ frys for $37 on Fri, Nov 3rd.

-- Posted by: chris at November 8, 2006 10:03 AM

I'll check it out- Thanks!

-- Posted by: Fred at November 8, 2006 3:26 PM

This game has been a big disappointment to fans of the original series. It really lags performance wise and the graphics are largely worse than the originals( outside of great scenery). The overall gameplay is much stricter and less fun. I was just down at the offical boards and the place was errupting with protest.

-- Posted by: Eric at November 25, 2006 2:59 AM

Well, I finally purchased the game - only $35 on Amazon! I won't get to play until Christmas (it's 'wrapped')..but, I have started to plan a very nice Fighter/Rogue.

I have been reading the boards and it seems that anyone who liked Baldur's Gate is fine with the game and the people who like TOEE and the others are more upset. Still, overall it is getting pretty solid reviews.

-- Posted by: Fred at December 4, 2006 4:38 PM

Dont buy this game. In order to get it to run you will probably have to uninstall all burning software you own. Thats right. Uninstall NERO, D-Tools, Alcohol etc because if you have them installed the game will complain, telling you: "Youre a pirate! and cant play! Hahah"

Im not joking, the only way i got to play this game was downloading a hacked NO-DVD patch even when i bought it.... no help on forums :( thanks anyway for everyone trying to help, too bad none of you are DEVELOPERS!

When i got it to run.... well... welcome slogginess.... oblivion had 20-40 fps playing... and this has 5-15... ouch. Cant enter any buildings.... about 1/100 of all crates can be opened (no, im serious! not joking). The outside environments are nice but the interials... well... its like NWN1 all over again but with lower framerates.

The camera is AWFUL! Your char cant run while strafing, no no no... Mouse look controls must be middle mouse button (so if you have a 2 button mouse you cant look around properly =P)
The only way i managed to play was using Free Camera, and scroll using the keyboard. If you have played World of Warcraft and wish to set up similar controls you can forget that. Its just not possible =P

Dont buy this game... just dont, its not finished. Lets just hope it will be in the future....

-- Posted by: Nicklas H at December 15, 2006 8:49 AM

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