Neverwinter Nights 2

[Ombrenuit]

I'm really not one to complain. I had my doubts, Neverwinter Nights 2; but I had played the original. It was less "role-playing" focused than say, Baldur's Gate, but I still enjoyed it (although as with all Bioware games, I got stuck at some point and couldn't finish ; I think for some reason or other I could no longer summon my pet). But I respected the game. I held my breath as the reviews came in, and they were pretty positive. I waited for the player reviews and those were positive. I wasn't planning on buying them, but considering the reviews, I decided to give it a shot.

 

Well, I spent an hour figuring out my character, really getting into his back story, class, race, etc. And when I finally got in...well the first thing I noticed was how ugly it looked (and yes, a common complaint, I can run Oblivion on medium settings, and this is just awful looking. The original was prettier for art style...). Secondly, I still can't figure out how the interface worked (the party system was frustrating as well). I suppose I could sit down with the manual, but entirely, everything was very reverse intuitive, while the original game's interface was actually great for the most part. I really enjoyed it. Secondly, the camera angles pretty much rendered the game unplayable for me. I can't even understand why or how it's so frustrating, but I just can't play a game like this with anything but top down, but even then the camera seems to get in the way and never show me what I want to see. Also, it's a real bitch to adjust. Then when I want to run places, path finding is awful and I often got stuck.

 

I just don't understand, and I really feel...well not cheated, but incredibly disappointed. I wish I could return it, but for some reason it's taboo for PC games to be returned? I don't see how they could take what Neverwinter Nights did right (it's interface, camera angles, etc.) and try to change it (in a backwards direction) for that matter. It felt like an imitation by a third party company, but nothing that would be worthy as a "sequal". Yeah, Neverwinter Nights was a pretty shallow RPG; it wasn't that fantastic. But I've never had technical issues make a game feel unplayable for me (or give me such frustration before). Not ever.

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

Either convince yourself that the original reviewers were right and you are wrong or that you did too little research.

[Ombrenuit]

Either convince yourself that the original reviewers were right and you are wrong or that you did too little research.

 

Granted, I did too little research. This was a case of:

1) The Reviews were generally 8/10

2) A majority of player reviews were 9/10, calling it a masterpiece

3) It's a sequal, so I'm expecting the original game but with added features and better graphics. I liked the first game, I expected to like the second.

4) A friend recommended it

5) Obsidian Entertainment is considered a professional and highly respected company

 

I felt that taking this leap of faith wasn't really that great of a risk.

[oDDity]

Well, to be fair, you have pointed out some very minor superficial 'damage' to the game. I'm not sure how you could dismiss a game based on the camera being a bit wonky and the graphics not being good enough on medium settiings, and the fact that the interface is harder to work out that your thought it would be.

[Ombrenuit]

Well, to be fair, you have pointed out some very minor superficial 'damage' to the game. I'm not sure how you could dismiss a game based on the camera being a bit wonky and the graphics not being good enough on medium settiings, and the fact that the interface is harder to work out that your thought it would be.

 

I agree, I am being too judgmental and far too sensitive to the issues. I'm going to give it another shot and I'll probably enjoy it in the end, but I suppose most of my disappointment is that everything was changed from the first game in that respect. Also, I suppose this is Dungeons and Dragons here (and likewise, Neverwinter Nights here); we aren't usually talking the epitome of story telling. So when I'm having to deal with these issues for the first hours of the game, I suppose it hurts immersion that isn't exactly the easiest to get into.