I was first exposed to this game at a UCLA ID Tech Camp in summer 2011 when we attended a camp for game development. they were using the NWN2's Aurora Toolset as the basis of the training camp. I made my character in their, and got to do some awesome level design! When the camp was over, my dad had wrote back to the one of the camp counselors (Snarf was his name I believe, lol, theI was first exposed to this game at a UCLA ID Tech Camp in summer 2011 when we attended a camp for game development. they were using the NWN2's Aurora Toolset as the basis of the training camp. I made my character in their, and got to do some awesome level design! When the camp was over, my dad had wrote back to the one of the camp counselors (Snarf was his name I believe, lol, the counselors used nicknames) how much I enjoyed the program and the game we learned on, and how much I expressed I wanted to play it. I believe he wrote my dad back that he would let us purchase a copy of the game from him if I wanted to. Of course, I said YES, and they sent us a used copy of NWN2 platinum edition. It was torn and a little chewed, but I didn't care, I wanted to try making worlds again! That's what NWN2 did to me, it allowed my imagination to run wild. I hadn't actually played much of the base game until a few months later, when my middle school gave it's students Dell Latitude laptops with Windows installed.
NWN2 Platinum edition was a mess to install. To be fair, I was only a 13 year old boy, I did NOT know what I was doing. But when I actually managed to get it installed, holy **** was I ever happy. This game brought me so many hours of endless joy and happiness. I didn't know who the characters I was using in the Toolset were back in summer camp, so when I actually met them for the first time on my laptop I was so ecstatic.
A lot of other factors play into this game becoming my all time favorite game, and not just my developing love for the fantasy genre. Firstly, this was probably my first ever "adult" game. By that I mean, it was the first game that I ever played that had adult oriented themes of alcohol references, strong language, sexual themes, and graphic violence. It was a huge shocker to me when (spoiler) in the first couple of hours in the play through one of the MC's childhood friends died right in front of them. That had never happened to me before in a game. I never knew at the time that games could get that dark, it was a lot for my little head to wrap around. I was just excited to play this game, I didn't know I'd get traumatized in the first few hours, lol.
I was also really in love with the cast of characters I met along the way, Khelgar of course being my favorite. But I loved everyone, Neeshka, Elanee, and Khelgar were all my favorites.
I may have spoiled myself a few times when looking this games ending up because I honestly didn't think I'd finish this massive 50 hour campaign. Big mistake, but I still enjoyed myself. And even when I knew the fates and or potential betrayals that were going to happen, it didn't stop me from liking the characters in which those things happen to.
The romance... Oh boy, this is a big one. To veteran RPG players, the fact that male MC's only get one potential love interest was a bad aspect of this game. But I don't care about that stuff...
Elanee was my first ever gaming romance.
And I don't care what anyone says about lack of choices for romance, this was a big moment for me, because it showed me what games could really do.
She had a profound effect on me and what I felt possible for video games, and so anyone else that came after, I always remember Elanee as a template for that. She is a fond memory I have in my life, and I wouldn't trade it in for any other game.
Good things couldn't last forever though. Around 2013 to 2014, my laptop died on me. I didn't have the money to buy a new dell laptop, let alone find one with Windows XP installed on it. My dad got me a MacBook Air, which I still use to this day, to replace the other one that broke down.
And so, for 6 whole years, the game just sat on my shelf, collecting dust. It travelled with me to college, and spent 2 of those years in my droor.
I had changed A LOT since I played that game as a kid. I had gone through many life experiences since then: prom, my first kiss, graduation, college. By then, I was so caught up with school, that I had all but given up on videogames... And yet, it was still always in the back of my head.
Fast forward to 2020 - the pandemic hits - everyone is bunkering up in their homes and the world has become isolated. By this time, I had started to reconnect with my love of video games. I had played the most recent titles... And yet, I felt I was missing something.
Then, my dad gets me an early birthday present, it's a gaming PC Laptop... With Windows XP installed. After all these years, he still remembered how much I wanted to play my old game. I plop my old game disk into the laptop.... And I am hit with a sense of... Nostalgia. And it was powerful.
It was like meeting an old friend for the first time in years, rediscovering your beginnings.
To this day, no other game has made me feel like this, And I owe it all to the people who made this game. Yes, it has it's bugs, and glitches, but this is one of those games that defined me as a person.… Expand
Neverwinter Nights 2 PlatinumYour Score0 out of 10User Score
