A Tiny Peek Into Neverwinter Nights 2
Yours Tinily enjoyed some special time with Neverwinter Nights 2 this past week, and I’m pleased as punch to roll the die and share some of it with you. I couldn’t wait to dive right into the game…well, OK, I spent two blissful days just rolling and re-rolling characters because I’m a voracious D&D dork. To which end NWN2 does not fail: if sub-races like Shield Dwarf, Rock Gnome, and Moon Elf make you quiver, then celebrate. The game also offers more Prestige Classes than you can shake a stick at, as well as a new base class, the Warlock – who’s a kind of arcane ranged attacker, using demonic spell-like abilities rather than spells. Fun stuff.
I certainly haven’t come close to finishing the single-player campaign, or delved too deeply into either the toolkit or the DM client (both of which are a huge part of the game’s draw), but what I’ve enjoyed so far is as good as I’d hoped, or better. Overall, the game plays and feels like a much-upgraded version of its predecessor, although the single-player campaign benefits from a lot of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic style in-engine cutscenes and dialogue options, which improve your immersion into the rich Forgotten Realms world.
Make the jump and read on…
The single-player campaign brings more options than did the initial campaign in Neverwinter Nights, both geographically and socially. The game uses a world map similar to that of Baldur’s Gate, letting you choose where to travel rather than simply leading you there, and that opens up a feeling of exploration that was lacking from Neverwinter Nights’ linear play. In terms of interaction with NPCs and party members, your choice of race, class and alignment – not to mention the consequences of your in-game decisions – influence the way the game world responds. For instance, my tiefling warlock was despised by many of his own townsfolk, whereas my charismatic lady-bard talked and shimmied her way out of several strange encounters. While the story doesn’t start with a bang or reinvent the fantasy game set-up formula, it’s clear that Neverwinter Nights 2 succeeds in improving upon its predecessor’s single-player experience.
Another great idea borrowed from the BG and SW:KotR palette is the ability to include up to three companions in your party – and fully manage their inventory, level advancement, and even take direct control over their behavior. (Sweet merciful Gygax, at last!) It makes the game a lot more fun to have several different character types to play with, and gives you the freedom to evolve your main character however you like without the worry that you’ll never be able to pick a lock, cast a spell, or spring into a berserker rage.
Some of my problems with the original game do remain, many of which are attributable to all the many things a game like Neverwinter Nights 2 attempts to do: provide a great single-player campaign, the resources to build and run equally great campaigns of your own, all with relatively seamless multiplayer functionality. The camera and controls can be schizophrenic, as they were in NWN, torn between a Baldur’s Gate style bird’s eye perspective and the fluid, over-the-shoulder perspective many of us have grown accustomed to since things went 3D. Frustratingly, the camera controls in the Neverwinter series remain clunky, and I found myself spending too much time just trying to pan the camera around to the right direction. The first game’s right-click radial menu is replaced by a more straightforward but less responsive right-click drop-down menu, and it can also be awkward to juggle. Luckily the game lets you pause the action whenever you want, ostensibly to issue controls, although I found myself spending much of my paused time just getting my view right and sorting out targets.
I shied away from the toolset, which had never really been the draw for me, although during my cursory exploration it looked like a robust creature that I can imagine really enjoying once one gets past the learning curve. I’m certainly beyond excited to see what kind of great community-generated content starts cropping up over the next few months.
Ultimately, my time with Neverwinter Nights 2 has me thinking of the game as a much-upgraded version of its predecessor. If you liked that game, chances are you’ll love this one. If you wanted a little more depth and choice, you’ll appreciate the sequel all the more. It’s not overwhelmingly different, but it’s bigger, better, prettier, and presents more options. Again, these are merely my first responses to the game after a considerable number of hours monkeying around. But as a big fan of D&D, NWN, Bioware and an admirer of the pedigree of the devs at Obsidian, I was expecting a lot – and I’m hardly disappointed. In fact, it’s been tough tearing myself away long enough to write…so back I go!
tiny dancer
Posted to Video Games on 2 November 2006
· Comments (2)
Other stuff like this: atari, bioware, d&d, forgotten realms, neverwinter nights 2, nwn2, obsidian, pc
Gimme Gimme…I want I want!!
Although I totally loved the first one, some of the graphics and cut-scenes’ rougher moments have made me wary of continuing my love affair with the sequel. I think playing too much World of Warcraft might have also ruined me on the controls, as clicking to move got a little frustrating. That being said, there was a lot to get the D&D goob in me excited. Seeing the warlock and some of the other non-core classes was neat, and having monsters like a githyanki show up early on were both very cool. I also hear that one of the main plots involves the cult of Jergal, the alien-like seneschal of the god of the dead, which alone makes me want to play though.