Neverwinter Nights 2

 PC
User Score
6.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 674 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 354 out of 674
  2. Mixed: 151 out of 674
  3. Negative: 169 out of 674
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  1. Keron_Heruman
    Aug 23, 2023
    8
    Very underrated cRPG. It's beautiful and solid, with D&D 3,5 mechanics and an acceptable quest design. The history is not bad but the comparative with other previous games is very hard (BG I&II, NWN, DA:O...).
  2. PenetratorGod
    Aug 20, 2023
    7
    Neverwinter Nights 2 offers a fascinating fantasy story full of exciting tactical combat mechanics and deep characters that you will either love or hate. The game is a bit dated and has a lot of technical issues that haven't been fixed in time, but I think it's still a great role-playing adventure that almost anyone can enjoy today.

    The compelling story keeps you hooked to the game and    Neverwinter Nights 2 offers a fascinating fantasy story full of exciting tactical combat mechanics and deep characters that you will either love or hate. The game is a bit dated and has a lot of technical issues that haven't been fixed in time, but I think it's still a great role-playing adventure that almost anyone can enjoy today.

    The compelling story keeps you hooked to the game and the Forgotten Realms universe with a satisfying experience that lasts an average of 100 hours with additional packs to finish the single player campaign. Multiplayer mode support. The full-featured game toolkit allows you to easily create and share custom mods of your own. One of the most original representatives of Dungeons & Dragons. Good soundtrack and mostly well voiced characters compared to the first game.

    Interactive dialog system provides dynamic and fun character interactions. A character-building system where the possibilities are almost endless. Support for dozens of community-created story-based modes, so the adventure never ends. Frustrating camera angles require constant attention while in battle. Optimization and technical issues. Artificial intelligence is very weak. Difficulty can be unbalanced at times.    … Expand
  3. HydrophobikFish
    Jun 9, 2023
    8
    Really excellent RPG with a classic dnd feel. First three acts are impeccable early-mid level adventuring. Very memorable characters that play off of each other in fun ways, a strong and engaging central mystery set in a well-realized and active region. The best base building in any RPG I have ever played, period. Plot goes a bit more off the rails later on but stays relativelyReally excellent RPG with a classic dnd feel. First three acts are impeccable early-mid level adventuring. Very memorable characters that play off of each other in fun ways, a strong and engaging central mystery set in a well-realized and active region. The best base building in any RPG I have ever played, period. Plot goes a bit more off the rails later on but stays relatively interesting, and back end feels short and unfinished. Overall a very fun game, but much stronger earlier than later.… Expand
  4. Holo_0f_Yoitsu
    Sep 2, 2022
    4
    I've tried and failed to play the whole game through three times and I end up bored out of my mind every time. It's just so dull. The AI is trash too, it's poorly optimised and the story sends me to sleep. The only positive is the character creation
  5. Mrki93
    Mar 8, 2022
    10
    I write this today as a chelange to those people that gave it 0s. I just finished my third time playing this game. First was back in 2007. I would like those people that said that this is "not a RPG", that it is "cheap rehash of NwN1", that "Obsidian made all crap". Giving a game that for "10-20 hours depending on how quickly you play it holds a very good quality" 0 is saying more aboutI write this today as a chelange to those people that gave it 0s. I just finished my third time playing this game. First was back in 2007. I would like those people that said that this is "not a RPG", that it is "cheap rehash of NwN1", that "Obsidian made all crap". Giving a game that for "10-20 hours depending on how quickly you play it holds a very good quality" 0 is saying more about you than about a game doesn't it? I don't giva a **** if it is a protest vote. I would like to hear again from "Pike", "SamG", "Wombat" who thinks that "NWN1 was near perfect" and others. The game held it's own for 16 years, show me a 0 game that lasts that long. ****… Expand
  6. Amorph0us
    Jan 7, 2022
    9
    Cannot underrate the second release of these fantastic series. The best part of it is that it uses the 3.5 edition of D&D, maybe the best in the game and too few games used it which is a shame. The worst part is the clunky interface and the poor graphics.
  7. krongos
    Sep 28, 2021
    9
    Still love this game. Not perfect, but it was awesome, I didn't experience any issues with camera. Story was quite cool. Ending was meh, but I have head canon, so its fine.
  8. TsukasaHiiragi
    Aug 20, 2021
    5
    NWN2 has not aged well at all, even back in 2006 it was fairly over-rated but passable for the time even though it was extremely buggy and had some of the worst AI to date that caused no end of frustration for players.

    This game suffers from everything you can expect from a 2006 game ranging from bugs to poor camera angles, and fast forward to 2021 and this game has aged very poorly.
  9. PsychopathicTim
    May 14, 2021
    10
    My favorite game of all time! Warts and all! It's ironic how version 1.0 of the game is the version that is the least broken, at least on all of my play throughs. The game chugged on my old dell latitude laptop, and I still enjoyed it, in spite of how much it bugged out. Now I have a Dell precision laptop with much better stability, and I still love it just as I did back in the day,My favorite game of all time! Warts and all! It's ironic how version 1.0 of the game is the version that is the least broken, at least on all of my play throughs. The game chugged on my old dell latitude laptop, and I still enjoyed it, in spite of how much it bugged out. Now I have a Dell precision laptop with much better stability, and I still love it just as I did back in the day, actually love it even more now! I played this when I was in middle school around 2012- 2013, first introduced to it in summer camp, but see my review of platinum edition as I owned that one before owning the base game by itself.… Expand
  10. Topfpflanze
    Apr 21, 2021
    5
    The base game is one of the worst ever written. The story is long, but completely linear and of crippling dreariness. The implementation is so weird that you can rarely tell if it's a quirk or you just didn't understand the controls. The characters are executed with personalities to some extent, but this changes little in the game. For casual players it probably makes more sense: the flowThe base game is one of the worst ever written. The story is long, but completely linear and of crippling dreariness. The implementation is so weird that you can rarely tell if it's a quirk or you just didn't understand the controls. The characters are executed with personalities to some extent, but this changes little in the game. For casual players it probably makes more sense: the flow of the game doesn't bother much with AD&D rules, and once you've forgotten the old back-and-forth, new back-and-forth isn't so boring anymore. The downsides of AD&D spells are fully implemented: One and the same spell combined with half a dozen mods results in a confusing collection.… Expand
  11. LordHoggington
    Mar 26, 2021
    2
    Boring, generic, uninspired, tedious, and worst of all, NOT satisfying in any way. Being old is no excuse. NWN 1 was 10X better.

    This game is only loved by pseudo-intellectual neckbeards, the type of clowns who listen to bad music just to be different, or pretend crappy tasting beer is an "acquired taste." Game is trash, and it's lauded by those with trash taste.
  12. Steyraus
    Mar 5, 2021
    3
    Boring dry story , clumpsy compat and the game just drags on going no where. I really dont get what people see in this studio..
  13. letefte
    Feb 4, 2021
    9
    Despite it's many technical issues NWN2 still delivers an interesting take on the rpg formula. Be warned though, the game is from a bygone era and it shows. That being said, it is still a game that is worth getting. Especially if you want to see some of Obsidian's early steps (before Fallout: New Vegas).
  14. CarolusX2
    Dec 20, 2020
    6
    If you're expecting a game that is as good as Dragon Age Origins (which is extremely similar) or Knights if the Old Republic, then you will be disappointed. However, if you're willing to compromise on certain aspects then you might find this game enjoyable.
    Note, I have not finished the game, it's incredibly long but I've spent more than a week now on it.
    Story: The story starts out in a    If you're expecting a game that is as good as Dragon Age Origins (which is extremely similar) or Knights if the Old Republic, then you will be disappointed. However, if you're willing to compromise on certain aspects then you might find this game enjoyable.
    Note, I have not finished the game, it's incredibly long but I've spent more than a week now on it.

    Story: The story starts out in a cozy little village where you, an adoptive child, learn the ropes of the game in the Harvest Cup. The village is later on invaded by demonic entities that seek something that is hidden within it, which then becomes your task to transport and investigate once you reach the city of Neverwinter. Along the way you meet companions with interesting personalities and are somewhat vital to the story in certain parts. You and your new buddies are meant to find out the truth about the mysterious shards while roaming around Faerun looking for clues and diving into dungeons.

    The story and the individual sidequests are interesting, no doubt about that, if you're into classic heroic medieval RPGs then this wont be of any surprise. However, some of the quests can get extremely tedious after a while, you rarely feel that what you do holds any weight in the universe. The game tries to be a "choices matter" kind of deal with alignments and branching storylines but it falls flat when nothing seemingly have consequences. On my playthrough I chose to be of the Lawful Evil alignment, for funsies because I usually play the good guy,
    The problem is that none of my actions barely phase my good companions who I might add are the only type of alignment in the beginning. If I'm this enormous dickhead, why would a friendly druid, a decent dwarf and a misunderstood but kind Tiefling not just leave me as soon as possible? Why are there no other choices early on? The first evil guy joins in act II which took me days to start. The lack of sidequests and the game railroading you into a "good" character leaves much to be desired in the story department.

    Gameplay: Its turnbased and it has the rule sets of DnD at the time, which I think was 3rd ed. You basically pick a class in the beginning and there's a lot of classes to pick from, not only that but also prestige classes (superior forms of the original ones) and multi classing is available, which makes it easier to create the character you want to be. Most of the game will be spent dungeondelving and few quests have variation, which would be fine because its DnD after all if the combat was fun... The AI is severely broken, they dont follow you into battle a lot of the times and sometimes just stand around doing nothing, while your pc is getting pummeled. Also you tend to face the same enemy over and over again, the dungeons arent exactly small either and I hope you like the color grey and brown a lot.
    Also stealth, which doesnt work. For two reasons, first one is that you control a whole party at a time where usually only one is proficient with stealth yet the game is based around cooperation? The other reason is that like the combat, it simply doesnt work. One of the missions that requires your npc to be stealthy is broken because the guards notice her regardless of how many points in sneak you put into her. And then once you reach the second floor, your party transports with you (which is weird) and it's impossible to continue to sneak because there's a sequence where a bunch if guards notice your main PC even though hes supposed to be back at the door, but he somehow transported to the cutscene?
    Crafting is... Convoluted and tedious, dont bother with it, the loot is usually good enough to outfit your npcs. Graphics: This game was made in 2006 so maybe dont expect wonders, it's no Oblivion in terms of colors or architecture, actually a lot of it is reused which becomes apparent pretty quickly in both Neverwinter and the unending caves. Characters look okay, especially the main cast. Special-effects can sometimes be cool!

    Audio: VA is sometimes really good, or really bad, not a whole lot in between. The banter between the cast is pretty good but its few and far between. One thing that will get on your nerves though is everytime you select your npcs/pc which happens a lot and having to hear the same recorded lines over and over again. There is one recorded line for each spell, problem is when you're a warlock and use Eldritch blast on repeat. Music was turned down pretty quickly into the game, nothing really memorable there. Overall: Meh.    … Expand
  15. dlcatalin
    Jul 12, 2020
    6
    It starts alright ... nice graphics, funny dialogue and nice adventures. But in the mid to late game it turns into a pile of bugs and unpleasant rushed unfair unplanned combats. Especially the last 2 end game battles, it's a big difference between making a battle challenging and making it entirely UNFAIR. Mine was so bugged and broken i had to just uninstall the game and watch aIt starts alright ... nice graphics, funny dialogue and nice adventures. But in the mid to late game it turns into a pile of bugs and unpleasant rushed unfair unplanned combats. Especially the last 2 end game battles, it's a big difference between making a battle challenging and making it entirely UNFAIR. Mine was so bugged and broken i had to just uninstall the game and watch a walktrough on Youtube to see how it ended. That Black Gaius boss bugged every time i've met him, he never died, i was doing 0 dmg to him with melee. I had to cheat and use the console to kill him the first time. The second time even that didn't work. And to top it off my party was stuck behind energy walls, half of them where paralyzed and couldn't move. I used like 10 immobility spells on the enemy, ZERO worked. Broken or bugged, frustrating experience.… Expand
  16. Terrastro
    Feb 16, 2020
    4
    1. Stupid, childish, boring, predictable and linear as a blackboard plot, in some moments causing an acute negative. Mediocre dialogs with pseudo non-linearity that will not affect anything globally.

    2. With a technically good engine, the developers managed to use it so crookedly and mediocre that there was nowhere else to go. Absolutely empty and poorly detailed locations, there is    1. Stupid, childish, boring, predictable and linear as a blackboard plot, in some moments causing an acute negative. Mediocre dialogs with pseudo non-linearity that will not affect anything globally.

    2. With a technically good engine, the developers managed to use it so crookedly and mediocre that there was nowhere else to go. Absolutely empty and poorly detailed locations, there is almost no interactivity with the environment, and what is available mainly happens according to the plot. Disgusting animations, miserable cutscenes and ridiculous staging in these cutscenes. What else to talk about, even if they could not come up with their own musical accompaniment, they simply took and copied the existing one from the first part.

    3. The combat role-system is made very clumsy and ridiculous, look at these wretched attempts and picking after what was in the first part is simply impossible. It is unclear why they introduced alchemy, which the vast majority of players simply do not use because of its uselessness. Boring and unclear why the introduced micromanagement of the castle, which after a while begins to annoy more and more.

    To summarize: In the second part I was prompted to play NWN1, after passing this masterpiece I decided to go through the second part (although I knew that it was worse in the whole of the first part) and regretted it very much. I look at the ratings of the press and just can’t believe in their objectivity, how could you put more than 6 points to this mediocre craft !! ??    … Expand
  17. elderdragon
    Jan 1, 2020
    9
    I have played NWN2 when it was released. Now, I am replaying it, almost 13 years after the release. All I can say is the game is a classic. There was bugs in the past, but the GoG version is 100% function. I only don't give 10 out 10, because the AI of the characters still a complicated thing. But, overwall, the first campaign and the expansion Mask of the Betrayer are epic.
  18. Mizuiro
    Apr 25, 2019
    6
    A big disappointment. Not even close to the great NWN1. Neverwinter was great for his community and online worlds BECAUSE THE TOOLSET WAS OPTIMIZED AND EASY TO USE, in nwn2 this failed so all the online part of the game failed and it never became a real successor of nwn1.
  19. roachtbp
    Dec 7, 2018
    10
    I didn't play this game at release because I heard so many negative things about it. Mostly, I heard that it was filled with bugs and that the system requirements to play it were so high that most PC's couldn't even run it. However, more than 10 years later (after numerous patches were released and with today's PCs having more than enough power to run the game), I finally decided to playI didn't play this game at release because I heard so many negative things about it. Mostly, I heard that it was filled with bugs and that the system requirements to play it were so high that most PC's couldn't even run it. However, more than 10 years later (after numerous patches were released and with today's PCs having more than enough power to run the game), I finally decided to play it. I played through the original campaign and all 3 expansions (Mask of the Betrayer, the Mysteries of West Gate, and the Storm of Zehir) on the hardest difficulty setting. I was STUNNED at how truly amazing this game was! I had heard so many bad things about this game that my expectations were very low going in (plus I thought NWN 1 was a complete dud, so I had VERY low expectations for the sequel). Man was I in for a surprise! This game is a masterpiece! I think most of the bad reviews are because of how buggy the game was when it was initially released. But now (more than 10 years later) it has been patched many times and most bugs have been eliminated.

    Anyway, here is my opinion of the game:

    The character creation system has so much depth. You can spend hours creating a character because there are so many options - race, class, attributes, skills, feats, deity, etc. Unlike the garbage that was NWN1, in this game you can actually have a full party. You can equip all your party members and have full control over all of your party members during combat. The game uses D&D 3.5 rules and combat is very strategic. The story is good and the companions are well done (for the most part). The graphics are also good for a game that was released back in 2006.

    The original campaign is pretty good, but the 3 expansions are even better! I truly loved this game, and it reminded me of Dragon Age: Origins in so many ways. It is better than Dragon Age: Origins in some ways - the character creation system has so much more depth than DA:O and the combat is a bit more strategic. But DA:O definitely had the better writing, story, and characters. If you are looking for an RPG with great characters and story, DA:O is definitely better. But when it comes to character creation and strategic combat, I feel that NWN 2 wins hands down.

    Don't let all the negative reviews scare you - this game has been patched many times since its initial release way back in 2006, and I can now confidently say that this game is truly a masterpiece! This game should not be missed by any rpg/D&D fan.    … Expand
  20. Zareli
    Nov 28, 2018
    8
    A great game but the story falls short compared to NWN1. Aside from that, everything felt a little stale since it introduced nothing very interesting.
  21. Petrik87
    Aug 25, 2018
    7
    Id give this game 8.5 if It werent for so many bugs.
    It is a shame for such great game to be so bugged and to have so horribly made camera.
  22. RagingPoet
    Aug 6, 2018
    9
    NWN2 is great RPG, main campaign improves the original in every way possible. Not sure what's with all those negative user scores, maybe it was very buggy at launch?
  23. Broyax
    Apr 8, 2017
    2
    Ce jeu, c'est quand même 3 ans de patchs ininterrompus et pourtant... il est resté toujours aussi chiant à jouer. Malgré une histoire qui a été plus soignée ou mieux développée par Obsidian par rapport au premier, il réussit le triste exploit d'être encore plus emmerdant qu'Oblivion : on salue la performance...

    L'interface bordélique à souhait avec les inventaires séparés pour chaque    Ce jeu, c'est quand même 3 ans de patchs ininterrompus et pourtant... il est resté toujours aussi chiant à jouer. Malgré une histoire qui a été plus soignée ou mieux développée par Obsidian par rapport au premier, il réussit le triste exploit d'être encore plus emmerdant qu'Oblivion : on salue la performance...

    L'interface bordélique à souhait avec les inventaires séparés pour chaque personnage file une migraine carabinée, ainsi que les règles de donjon truc avec ses 1d20, 2d8, 1d4... Pour la technique, c'est un sérieux bond en avant cela dit : peu de jeux étaient aussi beaux mais aussi exigeants ! Un coup d'épée dans l'eau donc : se taper 15 im/s ou une version très dégradée à 30-40, ça n'arrange pas les choses. Quant à l'univers de Neverwinter... je préfère qu'on m'enchaîne devant Oblivion, ce sera moins pénible.    … Expand
  24. Horrux
    Feb 3, 2017
    9
    I was a fan of Baldur's Gate 1 & 2. Then Icewind Dale 1 & 2. And so on. When I got this game, over 10 years ago, it wouldn't run well enough to play. I refuse to play any game at 10 fps on low on an up-to-date PC. Zoom forward to 2017, and what do I see, the GOG version with all the patches (and additional work) included. So I bought this game AGAIN.

    Is it worth it? Oh... YES. This    I was a fan of Baldur's Gate 1 & 2. Then Icewind Dale 1 & 2. And so on. When I got this game, over 10 years ago, it wouldn't run well enough to play. I refuse to play any game at 10 fps on low on an up-to-date PC. Zoom forward to 2017, and what do I see, the GOG version with all the patches (and additional work) included. So I bought this game AGAIN.

    Is it worth it? Oh... YES.

    This game has pretty much everything that made the other Forgotten Realms games awesome. The only thing missing being banter and interaction between NPCs. Other negative: the story of the original campaign takes its time getting going.

    Other than that, the action is awesome, the stories are great, the game finally runs decently, there are few game-breaking bugs, and best of all, the campaign creation toolkit: it's awesome. Not that you'll need to use it, because over the last 10 years HUNDREDS of user-created campaigns were collected and posted on mod sites.

    Basically if you like pure RPG games, or if you like D&D, you owe it to yourself to play this. It may be 10 years old, but it looks 5, not 10, and you probably don't play RPGs for stunning graphics. Sure they can be nice, but the roleplaying is where it's at.

    So, discounting -1 for the lack of inter-NPC dialogues, this game gets a solid 9/10.

    It only keeps me wishing that Obsidian would make a NWN3 instead of that Pillars of Eternity stuff... It isn't bad, but it isn't D&D either.    … Expand
  25. Jeb077
    Mar 26, 2016
    6
    One of the most anticipated games ever for me, unfortunately turned out to be a huge disappointment. The original was no standalone masterpiece either but at least was polished with little to no game breaking bugs. NWN2 had serious bugs that lingered for months, some unfixed to this day. Camera was annoying and despite patches still doesn't work quite like the original. While graphics,One of the most anticipated games ever for me, unfortunately turned out to be a huge disappointment. The original was no standalone masterpiece either but at least was polished with little to no game breaking bugs. NWN2 had serious bugs that lingered for months, some unfixed to this day. Camera was annoying and despite patches still doesn't work quite like the original. While graphics, lighting, and textures got an upgrade. Faces, sound, voice acting, and animations did not. And don't get me started on the toolset.

    Performance crawled on the best machines at the time, highly CPU dependent. Somewhere buried was a decent, but linear, RPG. The community abandoned this game pretty quickly. Diehards stuck around for over a year hoping for bug fixes and toolset support, only to learn Obsidian is no Bioware.

    On todays machines the game is playable at least, and a single RPG player fan might want to check it out if they have exhausted better choices. Of course the true value of picking up NWN2 lies in gaining access to the excellent expansion, Mask of the Betrayer. As good as MOB was, it still can't quite fix the disappointment that NWN2 was.    … Expand
  26. Psysiu
    Jan 29, 2016
    3
    I've waited for so long to finally play this and decided to delete it after a few days of constant suffering. I don't think I've ever been this frustrated with any game especially since I really had enjoyed the 1st one.
    AS (Artificial Stupidity) beyond anything I've seen so far (for f... sake, cast this spell I queued 5 times and not stand there for 10 minutes like an efen statue or run    I've waited for so long to finally play this and decided to delete it after a few days of constant suffering. I don't think I've ever been this frustrated with any game especially since I really had enjoyed the 1st one.
    AS (Artificial Stupidity) beyond anything I've seen so far (for f... sake, cast this spell I queued 5 times and not stand there for 10 minutes like an efen statue or run to hit that guy, just efen cast it!),
    forced design choices to make your life more difficult (yes, you can rest before battling this boss or tiny rat, but not in this hour long level of nearly constant fighting. And well, sorry but the last auto save point was 2 hours ago before that insignificant talk with lord Nasher)
    and amount of severe bugs years after release so high, it leaves you amazed that his was made by a pro developer (Hey Psysiu, Ammon Jerro left the keep and we don't know where he went, do you want to add Ammon Jerro to your team and go look for him? Use this scroll or Chain Lightning - aw, you've just casted a spell of Identification, aw, it's still in your inventory - cast again, aw, fireball, aw, Mirrored Image, aw, Light)

    Nice story but the broken game mechanics is not worth the pain.    … Expand
  27. BSim500
    Jan 23, 2016
    1
    I think the most revealing thing about NWN2 is the way the developers quickly abandoned it compared to the "extended treatment" given to every other Bioware / Black Isle "Forgotten Realms" games (eg, 2013 Enhanced Editions of 1998 Baldur's Gate, etc). That's why despite being made 10 years ago, NWN2 STILL has multiple serious unpatched game-breaking bugs (campaign events not triggering,I think the most revealing thing about NWN2 is the way the developers quickly abandoned it compared to the "extended treatment" given to every other Bioware / Black Isle "Forgotten Realms" games (eg, 2013 Enhanced Editions of 1998 Baldur's Gate, etc). That's why despite being made 10 years ago, NWN2 STILL has multiple serious unpatched game-breaking bugs (campaign events not triggering, save-game corruption, frequent crashes, critical NPC's getting "stuck" in combat after death at certain points, etc). The devs literally have no intention of fixing the worst "stopper" bugs. Likewise, support from the modding community is far lower than the original even today.

    Despite being 4 years newer, NWN2 has aged FAR worse than the original. UI & toolset is abysmally convoluted and a huge step back compared to original. Camera control is also worse than original (every mode has something wrong with it). Music & voice sets are largely just copied from the original game. A lot of stuff that "just worked" in the original has been stripped out for no reason. Eg, intelligent right-click "radial-menu" has been nerfed and now takes 4-5 clicks to do the same thing 2-3 clicks used to do. You can no longer assign dual-wield to quickslots (eg, "F3" selects both sword & shield as a pair no longer works).

    Graphically, it's "technically" better but as another reviewer has mentioned it often doesn't feel it due to the graphics style looking more "cartoony". Character faces look hideously ugly. Some of the original game's tilesets actually looked better from an isometric POV. Some inventory icons now look nothing like the item they are supposed to represent. Minimap looks worse. As many have commented, the game's requirements & performance are way out of whack with the graphical "quality". In fact the game somehow manages to run slower than Oblivion with HD textures whilst looking far uglier.

    Selecting targets in combat is slow and unresponsive. Queuing up actions for other party members doesn't always work. Longer load times. NWN 2's "improvement" of bringing back the party based system vs the original's "solo char with hirelings" is rendered pointless with such bad NPC AI. In fact "proper" party members are now more stupid in combat than "simple" animal summons were in NWN1. And it still "meshes" together less well than the much earlier Baldur's Gate / Icewind Dale stuff. Much more claustrophobic maps vs original (presumably due to the massive memory requirements).

    Just go buy the "Diamond Edition" of the original NWN and download some of the epic community mods like "The Aielund Saga". 10x more fun, no game-breaking bugs and double the FPS on hardware half as powerful...    … Expand
  28. jimbobslimbob
    Dec 10, 2014
    10
    This has to be one of my all time favourite games. I have sunk way to much time in it and I still find myself coming back for more. When it first came out it had its share of bugs and issues. Most of these were fixed over time.

    The game is based on D&D 3.5 - and is the closet you will ever come to playing such a ruleset on the PC. The game also features an integrated toolset to create    This has to be one of my all time favourite games. I have sunk way to much time in it and I still find myself coming back for more. When it first came out it had its share of bugs and issues. Most of these were fixed over time.

    The game is based on D&D 3.5 - and is the closet you will ever come to playing such a ruleset on the PC. The game also features an integrated toolset to create your own adventures. The single player is fun and with the huge amount of quality user-created content out there, it will keep you entertained for a long time. Even building your "ultimate character" is like a mini-game in itself. The sheer amount of customisation that can be achieved is mind-boggling.

    For people that do not know much about D&D, it can be a difficult game to master - but it is well worth doing. It is a game that keeps on giving. Simply put, the game is a masterpiece. I wish we would see more of this kind of game these days.

    Jimbo Rating: 10/10    … Expand
  29. Vamrem
    Dec 9, 2014
    5
    I don't know how to rate this game, I really I liked its campaign but at the same time it is what killed it. Obsidian clearly ignored the purpose of this system, leaving the online mode careless by doing whatever they wanted... the same happened to Dungeon Siege 3 and Fallout New Vegas, I only want to say them: do your own game but stop destroying sagas! It seems they thought the same whenI don't know how to rate this game, I really I liked its campaign but at the same time it is what killed it. Obsidian clearly ignored the purpose of this system, leaving the online mode careless by doing whatever they wanted... the same happened to Dungeon Siege 3 and Fallout New Vegas, I only want to say them: do your own game but stop destroying sagas! It seems they thought the same when they've planned Pillars of Eternity, an interesting project 100% Obsidian and I hope the best to this game to keep them far from other sagas!
    The other cause of the fall of this saga would be the MMO system but never will be the same: in NWN you are a hero known by the rest of the server by your feats and your story, while in a MMO you are a number, with lucky you would be known by your guild but never among other players or enemies. NWN is a more close experience, with real DM supervision and a history to share with your community.
    I thank all the gods that the recent MMO was called simply "Neverwinter" without a "3" (Did you see Obsidian?), leaving a different game outside the NWN series, so we can still hoping that someday we will see a NWN3...    … Expand
  30. sidonh
    Nov 22, 2014
    9
    The start is slow, there are some clichés and the ending still makes me want to hunt down Avellone and punch him. So why do I keep returning to this game? It's fun. Its companions are witty and amusing and alive (sometimes). The plot is ...well, Faerun-esque, but enjoyable.

    I believe everyone is familiar with the trial scene (and if not, you should be), some seemingly dull quests    The start is slow, there are some clichés and the ending still makes me want to hunt down Avellone and punch him. So why do I keep returning to this game? It's fun. Its companions are witty and amusing and alive (sometimes). The plot is ...well, Faerun-esque, but enjoyable.

    I believe everyone is familiar with the trial scene (and if not, you should be), some seemingly dull quests provided much amusement and it's a rich trip down the old Forgotten Realms. It may not be to everyone's tastes but for a D&D enthusiast, this is a classic.    … Expand
  31. brindle88
    Oct 25, 2014
    0
    terrible game, best thing about it is the forgotten realms cover that it has, this is probably why they sold half there copies as well. No where near the same level as BG, BG2.

    Forgotten realms and D&D franchise has been ruined
  32. whitepawn
    Oct 23, 2014
    8
    I enjoyed this. 3.5 with the whole warlock thing going on. There's also an ability to take that character to epic if you go on to Mask of the Betrayer.

    PROS: -3.5 D&D character creation -3.5 D&D character creation -great companions with much humor including: crazy overconfident sorcerer, stick up the butt paladin trying hard to be a moral compass for everyone, dwarf on a personal    I enjoyed this. 3.5 with the whole warlock thing going on. There's also an ability to take that character to epic if you go on to Mask of the Betrayer.

    PROS:
    -3.5 D&D character creation
    -3.5 D&D character creation
    -great companions with much humor including: crazy overconfident sorcerer, stick up the butt paladin trying hard to be a moral compass for everyone, dwarf on a personal quest to become a monk, hyper-intelligent snobbish mage, evil and thus sarcastic ranger who spends most of his time arguing with the pally, super perky mechanical minded gnome bard
    -village under attack, oh noes, must go on a journey not just to protect the village but to rout out this great evil
    -romance is lol, goes all love triangle
    -minigame for building/reinforcing your own castle
    -classic style adventure

    CONS:
    -some bugs, still not fixed
    -village under attack, oh noes, must go on a journey not just to protect the village but to rout out this great evil
    -romance is lol, goes all love triangle

    It's pretty standard, but you'll like it because Mask of the Betrayer is even better. Worth the $10 over on GOG.com    … Expand
  33. EUPOLEMOS
    Sep 6, 2014
    9
    Great-great character creation!Nice combat.Not great camera control.For D&D fans a must buy hence the 9 at the score.For normal people I would rate it as an 8.
  34. koval321
    Aug 18, 2014
    0
    Its very poor linear RPG because no matter what you choose it always end the same way, so you may just click any dialog options not even reading them and game play itself. For example I meet dwarf on road and am do everything to kill him or avoid to join my party but he always do it. And worst from that he always resurrect and heal when am throw him into battle, where only one npc I wantIts very poor linear RPG because no matter what you choose it always end the same way, so you may just click any dialog options not even reading them and game play itself. For example I meet dwarf on road and am do everything to kill him or avoid to join my party but he always do it. And worst from that he always resurrect and heal when am throw him into battle, where only one npc I want to have in team died at beginning without any possibility to save her. This completely ruin my concept of how play game, because I don't have any choices. Many things in interface and movement are awkward, sometime am even losing control of movement like this game wants to play itself and you only disturb it. Some dialogs are funny but that is strange dark humor. Definitely I wouldn't say its better from Baldurs Gate heh noo way! When I was on swamp in road to ruins map look like very linear road in shape os circle, when I was inside ruins again map look the same linear circle. First puzzles and maps looks most dumbed down I ever seen. For example somebody give puzzle where are hidden 3 items. And then you not only known and see where it is, but npc even literally tell you that. For example clue say one is in green, and there is person dress in green, obviously right? Well they made it even more obviously because npc from team tell you: look he is dress green and item is hidden in green you see green and green like you are total fool. Or one is hidden in chest and there is only one chest around and npc near it stand and say it is that chest LOL its so dumbed-down cant believe this! Or one is hidden in wood and you don't even have chance to think because when you walk near it npc tells you the answer its here! So whats the point to even have this puzzle and any choices when game lead you all the way in everything? Well after am completed quests in first village this should end as lets say some kind of beginning tutorial training map. Thats ok, but after am leave it in real quest this continued, I was unable to do anything my way and must always joint to team this dwarf. And that false options was just ridiculous like you select something like options: I don't care about him am just walk here, You can kill him its not my business,, I don't want to talk with you, go away.. and it always result that you save him from some villains (and you cant escape from that map) and become friends LOL Its worst RPG moments I ever seen. Its not just linear but dumbed down linear. Like go to that box and there is only one box which you see and when you come closer somebody tell you: look its that box LOL… Expand
  35. Kai82
    Aug 11, 2014
    8
    A great game with some bugs. There are tons of classes and class-combinations which give a huge replayability. Also the side / npc characters are interesting and their motivations / personalities are beliveable. The setting and story are pretty good. There are many side quests and "minor spoilers" you can build your own stronghold later in the game. There were some bugs which prevent aA great game with some bugs. There are tons of classes and class-combinations which give a huge replayability. Also the side / npc characters are interesting and their motivations / personalities are beliveable. The setting and story are pretty good. There are many side quests and "minor spoilers" you can build your own stronghold later in the game. There were some bugs which prevent a higher rating (scripted events did not start and in 2 or 3 times my save file was corrupted).… Expand
  36. Lamps
    Jul 24, 2014
    7
    Overall, this game is not as good as its original, and the gameplay style is annoying to get used to. The whole idea of the different modes is stupid, but if you take some time to get used to the game you can determine a gameplay style that works for you.

    Cinematics are bad.
  37. lutteres
    Jul 17, 2014
    6
    Nw2, the sequel to the critical acclaim NW1 from Bioware, is a RPG developed by Obsidian, the same studio that brought us KOTOR 2, Alpha Protocol, Fallout New Vegas, Dungeon Siege III and South Park the Stick of Truth. So the question is: Is it better than the first one?
    And my answer is: It depends.
    In terms of story, character development, and interesting NPCs to interact with, NW2 is    Nw2, the sequel to the critical acclaim NW1 from Bioware, is a RPG developed by Obsidian, the same studio that brought us KOTOR 2, Alpha Protocol, Fallout New Vegas, Dungeon Siege III and South Park the Stick of Truth. So the question is: Is it better than the first one?
    And my answer is: It depends.
    In terms of story, character development, and interesting NPCs to interact with, NW2 is by far the superior game.
    Although, when it comes to the technical aspect, like performance, stability and gameplay NW1 is the winner.
    So in the end, it comes up to what it’s more important to you in a video game.
    Are you willing to excuse game breaking bugs, fps issues, etc, to experience a good story?
    Because that is what it takes to play the main campaign of NW2 (Note: I’m note reviewing the expansions here).
    If the answer is yes, than Nw2 is an 8/10 game easy.
    Although, if you are like me and are unwilling to excuse game breaking bugs that prevent you from progressing without terminal hacks, constant crashes and frame rate issues, I would skip this one.
    UNLESS…. you buy the game with the Mask of the Betrayer Expansion (Note: the other expansions suck, though).    … Expand
  38. jseph1234
    May 13, 2014
    10
    I was just watching let's play for Might & Magic X and I thought back to one scene in Neverwinter Nights 2 with (2) young adventurers asking you for a quest and I remember HOW MUCH FUN I had playing this.

    The Original Campaign has SO many elements of a fantasy RPG that I love... 1. Great voice acting 2.Character choices that affect your world and your interaction with NPC 3. Great    I was just watching let's play for Might & Magic X and I thought back to one scene in Neverwinter Nights 2 with (2) young adventurers asking you for a quest and I remember HOW MUCH FUN I had playing this.

    The Original Campaign has SO many elements of a fantasy RPG that I love...
    1. Great voice acting
    2.Character choices that affect your world and your interaction with NPC
    3. Great quest with amazing variety
    4. The story draws you in, has twists and turns, as well allowing you to explore the world.
    5. In-depth lore that is given to by the NPC as you go along in the quest
    6. Game length 100+ hours

    PLUS a great modding community with everything from expansion mods to graphics and voice mods. Also, there are 3 DLC's that easily add another 100+ hours. 10/10    … Expand
  39. Skirmisher10
    Dec 29, 2013
    9
    This is my favourite game of all time. But: it was released unfinished, and many features were left out that could not be fixed with patches (for example: lacking companion interaction, dialog, lack of romance options, etc.). The patches fixed many other things, so it is definitely worth a try. The story, the music, the great characters and the atmosphere of the game made me love it withThis is my favourite game of all time. But: it was released unfinished, and many features were left out that could not be fixed with patches (for example: lacking companion interaction, dialog, lack of romance options, etc.). The patches fixed many other things, so it is definitely worth a try. The story, the music, the great characters and the atmosphere of the game made me love it with all my heart. If only this game was in development for 1 more year....… Expand
  40. Shaitan87
    Oct 14, 2013
    6
    I bought this game recently as I was in the mood for an RPG. The main game at least just isn't very good. The story is extremely linear, and in my view not designed very well, as you spend 15 hours doing quests one after another before you get much of an idea about what is happening in the plot. I also feel that combat isn't well designed, playing on hard I can win 90% of battles byI bought this game recently as I was in the mood for an RPG. The main game at least just isn't very good. The story is extremely linear, and in my view not designed very well, as you spend 15 hours doing quests one after another before you get much of an idea about what is happening in the plot. I also feel that combat isn't well designed, playing on hard I can win 90% of battles by clicking once and getting up off my computer. It's made worse by the fact there is a ton of combat, none of it very interesting as you seemingly face the exact same enemies again and again.… Expand
  41. Orctownorc
    Aug 9, 2013
    8
    With NWN 2 Obsidian tweaked the UI, the camera, party size, and toolsets of NWN to "improve the experience". Whether they succeeded is open to debate. The game starts very slow and it takes a long time for the plot to lead anywhere. By this time many would have quit already and maybe added a bad review. I suggest that if you like RPG games be patient with the slow start. This game getsWith NWN 2 Obsidian tweaked the UI, the camera, party size, and toolsets of NWN to "improve the experience". Whether they succeeded is open to debate. The game starts very slow and it takes a long time for the plot to lead anywhere. By this time many would have quit already and maybe added a bad review. I suggest that if you like RPG games be patient with the slow start. This game gets better as your party levels and the storylines start to come together. The whole NWN2 experience can be bought on sale in Steam for a song and includes a LOT of (bug free) RPG gaming. Despite its imperfections this game is great in the end and a must buy for RPG fans.… Expand
  42. KanekoShiori
    Jul 8, 2013
    0
    If Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of The Betrayer gets a 10, the OC gets a 0. It really deserves a -5 since many skipped the great expansions because of it.
  43. DukeRaoul
    Jun 29, 2013
    2
    This game is an insult to what made the original Neverwinter Nights so great.

    The Cons: -Clunky, clunky gameplay -Shoddy camera angles that barely function -An altered toolset that needlessly changed what people were already familiar with from the first game -Weak feeling combat -A host of game-breaking glitches and bugs -Runs poorly on many systems The Pros: -They improved    This game is an insult to what made the original Neverwinter Nights so great.

    The Cons:
    -Clunky, clunky gameplay
    -Shoddy camera angles that barely function
    -An altered toolset that needlessly changed what people were already familiar with from the first game
    -Weak feeling combat
    -A host of game-breaking glitches and bugs
    -Runs poorly on many systems

    The Pros:
    -They improved the graphics, I guess

    The Conclusion:
    Don't buy this. Buy the original, even if that itself is mostly broken due to modern systems conflicting with its age.    … Expand
  44. Wargizmo
    Jun 25, 2013
    4
    Even after 5+ years since its release this game still has so many bugs and glitches it takes away from the overall experience. In my first playthrough I encountered 2 game breaking bugs (one where I had to load from an old save to progress, another where I had to use the console to spawn a particular npc); as well as dozens of small glitches, AI glitches, graphical glitches, questEven after 5+ years since its release this game still has so many bugs and glitches it takes away from the overall experience. In my first playthrough I encountered 2 game breaking bugs (one where I had to load from an old save to progress, another where I had to use the console to spawn a particular npc); as well as dozens of small glitches, AI glitches, graphical glitches, quest glitches. The story and characters are decent enough but this game was clearly not put through enough QA and is essentially a beta build.

    As to gameplay, there are some fundamental flaws with the D&D engine that take away from the fun, for example the massive length of time it takes to buff your characters and the needlessly complex character statistics and crafting system. Yes, the game can be really fun but you have to really work for it. For every awesome battle or story arc there is just as much time spent micromanaging inventory and sitting there waiting for buffs to cast.

    As far as plot goes, some of the characters and store were really well done, but the writing is VERY inconsistent and more than one occasion some of the characters said something that literally made me cringe. At one point a character makes a fart joke and then EXPLAINS the fart joke (apparently the devs thought it was too subtle) and then is lauded by two of the other characters for her wit; also while we're on the subject of writing, can with stop using the phrase "could care less", it's supposed to be "couldn't care less", this was used at least 3 times in the campaign.

    There is the core of a great game here somewhere, and if you have the patience and don't mind using the console occasionally then it's worth putting some time into, but there are MUCH better games you should look at first. If you haven't played the first NWN or Dragonage then you're better off checking those games out first.    … Expand
  45. Volo
    Jun 22, 2013
    8
    While NWN1 was the true classic, NWN2 did very well. One big downfall was the lack of native Linux support like NWN1 had. This immediately lost half the NWN user base, as most NWN servers ran the Linux version. These were the decent ones too the proper gamers. Obsidian also messed up on the DM Client too. making it worse for DMs. With these big downers to start with, there was aWhile NWN1 was the true classic, NWN2 did very well. One big downfall was the lack of native Linux support like NWN1 had. This immediately lost half the NWN user base, as most NWN servers ran the Linux version. These were the decent ones too the proper gamers. Obsidian also messed up on the DM Client too. making it worse for DMs. With these big downers to start with, there was a lacklustre reception to this game. Eventually some expansions came out though, making things slightly better.… Expand
  46. Ghost67
    May 26, 2013
    6
    Nwn 2 is best described as something like a really good looking piece of dessert that smells great and looks great, but when you take a bite, actually tastes rather bland. Nwn2 is one of those games that has so much potential but comes up short in nearly all areas, and is a real shame.

    Clearly, the developers did not finish this game. Even with all final patches installed, there are    Nwn 2 is best described as something like a really good looking piece of dessert that smells great and looks great, but when you take a bite, actually tastes rather bland. Nwn2 is one of those games that has so much potential but comes up short in nearly all areas, and is a real shame.

    Clearly, the developers did not finish this game. Even with all final patches installed, there are still obvious bugs to be found in the OC. The gameplay is decent, but its ruined by how choppy it gets. As other people noted, the difficulty varies wildly throughout the game, sometimes you will have cakewalk battles, and then enter another area and things become very difficult. The "rest" feature is terrible, as you will be resting/fighting/resting. Early in the game this isnt so bad, but it gets very annoying later on in the game, as every time you rest you have to rebuff. Rebuffing takes lots of time and gets very, very annoying. NWN2 certainly has a great selection of character classes and prestige classes for you to get your fingers on.

    The plot starts extremely slowly, and only picks up until you hit Act 2. Yes, its sort of cliche, but its not that bad. My biggest complaint with the story is that, once again, you feel as if the game hasnt really "started" yet until you are almost done with the first act. I think part of the reasons why, is because of the poor character development. Compared to other Bioware games, your companions are not nearly as deep as others in more modern games (or perhaps I've just been spoiled?) Character dialogue is short, sometimes funny, but short nonetheless. Romance is meager, and only picks up into Act 2 or even Act 3.

    Graphics are pretty good for a 2006 game. Its such a shame that the editor just insists on you having the absolute ugliest character you could ever make.

    The problem with NWN2 is that its an almost great game. Sometimes, you feel as if you are indeed playing a classic cRPG, but then you are painfully reminded that NWN2 has some serious flaws. The choppy gameplay of the "rest" feature, and the sometimes-fun battles, makes me want to bang my head against the wall. Its a game that has a great swing, but doesnt follow through. I really wanted to like this game, as it definitely has the RPG charm to it, but its plagued by bad design decisions and rushed development.

    NWN2 does have a fantastic toolset for others to make their own campaigns.

    6/10    … Expand
  47. KillaRiku
    May 18, 2013
    9
    This game is a honorable part two for the neverwinter nights series. There might be some bugs and crashes, but those aren't bad enough to blame the game. The graphics are very good and the story is good, too.
  48. PStakhiv
    May 16, 2013
    8
    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!
  49. grstcl
    Oct 28, 2012
    6
    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.
  50. Biokiipper
    Jul 22, 2012
    10
    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 fullThis 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
  51. Zoso
    Jun 15, 2012
    9
    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.
  52. Ordish
    May 2, 2012
    6
    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.
  53. Bossk-Office
    Mar 28, 2012
    7
    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.
  54. Wulfburk
    Mar 11, 2012
    4
    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.
  55. khemeher
    Mar 7, 2012
    7
    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 toI'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
  56. rotku
    Mar 3, 2012
    6
    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.
  57. EtaYorius
    Dec 21, 2011
    8
    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.
  58. abnoba12
    Dec 11, 2011
    1
    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.
  59. YeshuaAgapao
    Nov 2, 2011
    9
    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.
  60. roboticsun
    Oct 8, 2011
    7
    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 itNeverwinter 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
  61. grok70
    Sep 18, 2011
    4
    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 theWell 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
  62. stinky
    Aug 19, 2011
    8
    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 alooking 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
  63. luveykat
    Aug 9, 2011
    1
    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
  64. Bjorik
    Jul 20, 2011
    3
    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.
  65. KaiEkkrin
    Jun 24, 2011
    8
    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,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
  66. fathergod
    Jun 17, 2011
    10
    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.
  67. Shrouger
    Jun 5, 2011
    8
    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 theWhile 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
  68. Gorath99
    May 13, 2011
    9
    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",    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
  69. noobr
    May 8, 2011
    0
    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.
  70. DantheMan
    Mar 28, 2011
    0
    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.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
  71. buzkashi
    Mar 28, 2011
    4
    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; lacklustreThis 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
  72. PLANETX
    Mar 21, 2011
    3
    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 developingI'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
  73. Underscore
    Mar 15, 2011
    6
    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 sureAnybody 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
  74. Eddyward
    Mar 11, 2011
    5
    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.
  75. monkworks
    Mar 8, 2011
    10
    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 createMan! 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
  76. benjamineheath
    Feb 20, 2011
    2
    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 AIIt 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
  77. Gratson
    Feb 15, 2011
    10
    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.
  78. Fastpoose
    Jan 15, 2011
    0
    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!
  79. mikey42782
    Jan 2, 2011
    4
    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.    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
  80. Hellfire_RWS
    Dec 27, 2010
    9
    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.
  81. peanuts
    Nov 28, 2010
    2
    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 appropriateOverall, 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
  82. Higher_Standard
    Sep 29, 2010
    0
    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.
  83. JamesK.
    Nov 4, 2009
    6
    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.
  84. Gewthen
    Oct 13, 2009
    2
    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 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
  85. FredF
    Aug 28, 2009
    8
    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 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
  86. ChrisQ
    May 23, 2009
    0
    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.
  87. HannaL
    Mar 31, 2009
    6
    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 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
  88. ReneC
    Dec 27, 2008
    6
    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 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
  89. AnthonyB
    Jul 29, 2008
    5
    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 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
  90. Pike
    Jun 13, 2008
    0
    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 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
  91. DewaM
    Jun 11, 2008
    6
    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 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
  92. blakKim
    May 12, 2008
    8
    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 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
  93. BobD
    Apr 17, 2008
    7
    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 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
  94. WolfMan
    Apr 15, 2008
    8
    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 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
  95. BenjaminB
    Mar 12, 2008
    9
    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 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
  96. SeanB.
    Dec 30, 2007
    7
    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 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
  97. EliasO.
    Dec 28, 2007
    1
    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!
  98. OwenT.
    Dec 2, 2007
    7
    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 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
  99. AnonymousMC
    Nov 12, 2007
    1
    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 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
  100. MareusDurante
    Oct 27, 2007
    10
    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!
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Awards & Rankings

26
#26 Best PC Game of 2006
6
#6 Most Discussed PC Game of 2006
7
#7 Most Shared PC Game of 2006

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 46 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 38 out of 46
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 46
  3. Negative: 0 out of 46
  1. Quandary
    80
    So it isn't perfect, particularly not for players who prefer using the mouse, but Neverwinter Nights 2 is nevertheless a hugely enjoyable trip.
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  2. Game Chronicles
    89
    Rich narrative, engaging gameplay, and total attention to role-playing detail.
    Read full review
  3. Digital Entertainment News
    83
    Neverwinter Nights 2 is a strong single-player adventure thoroughly enjoyable in and of itself. That it will serve as a platform for endless mod gaming only makes it that mich more appealing.
    Read full review
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