Best get this in before we all go all ?Gears of War? mental for a while.
Neverwinter Nights II. Developed by Obsidian with a little help from Bioware is an out-and-out old school Role Playing Game which conforms to D&D 3.5 rules. Riddled with quests and sub-quests which open up quests, clich?d tolkien-esque characters, turn-based battles (sort-of) and lots of dungeons filled with the usual suspects including lizardmen and big nasty spiders to beat up on.
If this sounds like it all adds up to another run of the mill dungeon crawler. Nope. The sum of the familiar sounding elements far surpasses that in spades, mainly due to an excellently written and tightly paced storyline which even at the start offers up some unexpected twists and turns which hint at better to come.
Give yourself a good half-hour on the character creation screen!!
You begin by selecting your character?s race - Gnome, Halfling, Half-elf, Half-orc, Dwarf, Elf, Human.
Move on to Sub-Races - Drow, Sun Elves, Moon Elves, Wood Elves, Aasimar, Tiefling.
Choose a class - Barbarian, Druid, Fighter, Wizard, Sorcerer, Monk, Ranger, Bards (more aligned to party play), Cleric, Paladin, Rogue, Warlock. There is also a range of Prestige Classes available too many to list in fact.
Name your poison in your alignment ? Good, Neutral or downright Evil.
All the while your doing the above you?ll be choosing the look of your avatar from a plethora of options. If this was an MMORPG there?d be no terrible twins for sure.
Onto the story proper. You?re given a not-so-brief tutorial at your village?s Summer Fayre which introduces the control system, battle commands and character feats, skills and abilities. You form your first party of NPCs here.
On completion of the tutorial mission the village comes under attack by a wizard and his cronies. This wizard is searching for a silver shard which promises ultimate power if combined with other shards which are to found around the kingdom. The 1st shard is not in the village however and it?s up to you to go and retrieve it from a cave in a nearby swamp. Once that?s done it?s off (alone) on the main quest you go?..cliches still ringing in your ears as you bimble on down the road.
Along the way you?ll meet NPCs who will join your party. 1st up comes a brawling dwarf with aspirations to become a monk, quickly followed by a rogue. Next up as far as I have seen so far is a druid. I do hope a ?proper? healer turns up next.
Characters level in the usual way through gaining experience points for kills and quests points gained can be used to enhance a host of attributes including newly introduced crafting skills.
Graphically speaking NWN2 is a bit of a mixed bag, sometimes beautiful, sometime downright ugly but generally speaking the graphics are of a high quality if your PC can handle it?.Think Oblivion requirements here. There are 4 camera views on offer but I reckon it?s best to stick to the default top-down view. All views have their own problems but the default not as bad as the others on offer.
Sounds are nothing special, the usual grunts and groans, metallic clashes and crunching thumps, the music fares a bit better offering some robust orchestral (more tolkien-esque) romps.
NPC behaviour like the graphics ranges from solid to an exasperating squishy to an annoying nothing at all. Once you really get moving in this game your group will be all you have between winning and losing unfortunately the NPCs are only aware of this every now and again. However all is not lost as you can pause the action at any time and micro-manage each party member?s tactics.
Don?t forget to equip your NPCs accordingly either or they?ll be dropping like flies around you.
As is mandatory these days expect the auto-update to proclaim patch time at first install.
In summary NWN looks to be an expertly crafted adventure wrapped in a slighty old looking engine with niggles and annoyances to contend with along the way but the further you travel down the road the less niggling or annoying it becomes.
Recommend to anyone who enjoys a good ol? fashioned D&D romp.
Neverwinter Nights II. Developed by Obsidian with a little help from Bioware is an out-and-out old school Role Playing Game which conforms to D&D 3.5 rules. Riddled with quests and sub-quests which open up quests, clich?d tolkien-esque characters, turn-based battles (sort-of) and lots of dungeons filled with the usual suspects including lizardmen and big nasty spiders to beat up on.
If this sounds like it all adds up to another run of the mill dungeon crawler. Nope. The sum of the familiar sounding elements far surpasses that in spades, mainly due to an excellently written and tightly paced storyline which even at the start offers up some unexpected twists and turns which hint at better to come.
Give yourself a good half-hour on the character creation screen!!
You begin by selecting your character?s race - Gnome, Halfling, Half-elf, Half-orc, Dwarf, Elf, Human.
Move on to Sub-Races - Drow, Sun Elves, Moon Elves, Wood Elves, Aasimar, Tiefling.
Choose a class - Barbarian, Druid, Fighter, Wizard, Sorcerer, Monk, Ranger, Bards (more aligned to party play), Cleric, Paladin, Rogue, Warlock. There is also a range of Prestige Classes available too many to list in fact.
Name your poison in your alignment ? Good, Neutral or downright Evil.
All the while your doing the above you?ll be choosing the look of your avatar from a plethora of options. If this was an MMORPG there?d be no terrible twins for sure.
Onto the story proper. You?re given a not-so-brief tutorial at your village?s Summer Fayre which introduces the control system, battle commands and character feats, skills and abilities. You form your first party of NPCs here.
On completion of the tutorial mission the village comes under attack by a wizard and his cronies. This wizard is searching for a silver shard which promises ultimate power if combined with other shards which are to found around the kingdom. The 1st shard is not in the village however and it?s up to you to go and retrieve it from a cave in a nearby swamp. Once that?s done it?s off (alone) on the main quest you go?..cliches still ringing in your ears as you bimble on down the road.
Along the way you?ll meet NPCs who will join your party. 1st up comes a brawling dwarf with aspirations to become a monk, quickly followed by a rogue. Next up as far as I have seen so far is a druid. I do hope a ?proper? healer turns up next.
Characters level in the usual way through gaining experience points for kills and quests points gained can be used to enhance a host of attributes including newly introduced crafting skills.
Graphically speaking NWN2 is a bit of a mixed bag, sometimes beautiful, sometime downright ugly but generally speaking the graphics are of a high quality if your PC can handle it?.Think Oblivion requirements here. There are 4 camera views on offer but I reckon it?s best to stick to the default top-down view. All views have their own problems but the default not as bad as the others on offer.
Sounds are nothing special, the usual grunts and groans, metallic clashes and crunching thumps, the music fares a bit better offering some robust orchestral (more tolkien-esque) romps.
NPC behaviour like the graphics ranges from solid to an exasperating squishy to an annoying nothing at all. Once you really get moving in this game your group will be all you have between winning and losing unfortunately the NPCs are only aware of this every now and again. However all is not lost as you can pause the action at any time and micro-manage each party member?s tactics.
Don?t forget to equip your NPCs accordingly either or they?ll be dropping like flies around you.
As is mandatory these days expect the auto-update to proclaim patch time at first install.
In summary NWN looks to be an expertly crafted adventure wrapped in a slighty old looking engine with niggles and annoyances to contend with along the way but the further you travel down the road the less niggling or annoying it becomes.
Recommend to anyone who enjoys a good ol? fashioned D&D romp.
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