Topic: NWN2 -- The HUGE, HUGE Thread

[MysterD]

EDIT, 10/22/2006:
I'm going to put in the very front of this thread any reviews for NWN 2.


Reviews
----------------------------
5 stars (out of 5 stars) from GameDaily
92 from GamePyre
91% from PC Format UK...someone was kind enough to type it all up from the magazine...
9.0 from Worthplaying
9.0  from GamesRadar.com
4.5 stars (out of 5 stars) from Yahoo Games
A- from UGO
8.9 from Jolt UK
8.7 from GameBanshee
B+ from GamePlayMonthly
8.6 from GameSpot
8.5 from IGN
8.4 from ActionTrip
8.4 from GamerNode.com
"B" Grade from GameRevolution
8.4 fromJustPressPlay
8.0 from GameInformer Online (out of 10)
8.0 from EuroGamer (out of 10)
8.0 from GCC
4 stars (out of 5 stars) from GameSpy
3½ stars (out of 5 stars) from Uncompressed
6.0 from 1up

JeuxVideo's Review (One Translated In English and the original French language review)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JeuxVideo of France reviewed this -- translated by Google, score of 16 out of 20 -- which comes out to an 80%

JeuxVideo's original French review, in French....

[MysterD]

Here's some info on some of the characters and NPC's involved in NWN2 from IGN:
http://pc.ign.com/articles/734/734019p1.html

Here are some of the baddies in NWN 2:
http://pc.ign.com/articles/737/737114p1.html

The Villains of Neverwinter
Making the world a gloomier place one murder at a time.
by Obsidian Entertainment

October 3, 2006 - What would an adventure be without someone to egg on the hero with insults and wanton destruction? There would be no reason for any young hero to decide to up and become one of the most powerful people on the planet and no reason for an awesome RPG experience that Obsidian is hoping to bring to players this fall in Neverwinter Nights 2.

Creating good villains is an art form. They have to be interesting enough that players care, powerful enough that the odds seem stacked against the plucky hero, and have a hook that just makes them that much easier to hate, fear, or both.

There are a lot of enemies in Neverwinter Nights 2 but in order to become a true villain, they have to be towards the top of the food chain of evil, have some kick ass powers, and more than just a passing interest in causing problems for the band of heroes trying to solve the world's problems. Today Obsidian is giving us a first look at three of these baddies. Expect to see some more in the final game, but this should give you a good idea of what to expect with the sequel releases later this month.

Lorne
Typically, if a person is going to go bald, it will be because of old age, or overwhelming amounts of stress. Neither of those accounts for Lorne Starling, an enormous and brutish assassin who hails from the same hometown as the PC. There are two likely possibilities for why Lorne is bald. I imagine he headbutts a lot of people. I could see that as probably, over time, causing a fair bit of rubbing and tugging on the scalp. Follicle erosion, we'll call it.

The other possibility is that he is such an angry and volatile person that one day his hair became so afraid of him that it packed up and left his head for good, probably under cover of night. Personally I like the second explanation better, because it also accounts for why his goatee is just a tattoo of a goatee.

Lorne is a Frenzied Berserker, which is the D&D equivalent of the Tasmanian Devil. If he gets set off (say, his dinner is cold), he unleashes a whirlwind of limbs, weapons, and completely unintelligible cuss words - a "frenzy" - until everyone around him (enemies, friends, people shouting, "Can't we talk about this?" etc.) is dead, or until he gets very, very tired. His powerful ability Deathless Frenzy ensures that he cannot be killed while in one of his tirades, not even with kindness. And that prospect is scary enough for anyone to lose hair over. Even Lorne himself.

Pic of Lorne below:

Torio
How do you like your femmes? I bet a lot of you out there are saying "fatale" right now. A few of you are saying "not fatale, because that's overdone," but I don't see you coming up with any better ideas. Torio Claven, a manipulative Luskan diplomat skilled at rhetorical swordplay who bears no relation to the lovable Cheers character of the same last name, puts the "femme" into "femme fatale." Or the "fatale." Maybe both. Whereas Lorne would antagonize the PC by tearing off his or her head and dribbling it like a basketball (angrily), Torio's style is more to rip off the PC's head and dribble it like a basketball, but with words, and only figuratively.

There are some villains you just hate, but some you love to hate. Torio is a villain that you initially hate to love, but later on find yourself hating but not quite loving, and then finally you cave in and love the hating but in a "just friends" sort of way, because you don't want it to get weird. Sure she just said something about your mother. But the way she said it was so clever. How can you not love hating a woman like that?

Pic of Torio:

Zeeaire (zee - AIR - ee)
Zeeaire is a highly ranked and fanatical follower of the Lich Queen, tasked with commanding the Githyanki forces sent to the Forgotten Realms to seek out something they call the "Kalach-cha." She is a powerful and ambitious mage, willing to order extreme actions to accomplish her mission.

Zeeaire is reluctant to enter the Forgotten Realms. Though she appears to be young and at the peak of her powers, she is quite ancient and would age rapidly were she to leave her own plane. Her powers, linked as they are to the Lich Queen, would also fade were she to enter the lands of Neverwinter. Thus, she has opened a portal linking her to the Realms, which allows her to communicate with her captains without risk to herself.

Zeeaire is remarkable in that her character has undergone remarkably little change from when she was initially conceived. Minor adjustments have been made to her appearances in the campaign, but as a whole she is nearly identical to her initial implementation.

Her portal proved to be a bigger challenge to create than we anticipated. Working very closely with the scripter tasked with implementing the final battle involving Zeeaire, the artists were able to find a solution to some of the technical challenges that the battle's design exposed.

Pic of Zeeaire:

[Xessive]

Not bad! I'm getting pretty antsy

[MysterD]

Not bad! I'm getting pretty antsy

I can't wait for this one myself.
I been waiting for this one for quite some time.

[MysterD]

This is from GameSpot, another NWN 2 preview:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/neverwinternights2/news.html?sid=6159142&tag=topslot;action;3&om_act=convert&click=topslot

The story in Neverwinter Nights 2 begins with a series of brutal attacks in the Mere of Dead Men, including your home of West Harbor. These attacks begin to escalate up and down the Sword Coast, and you find yourself in the middle not just of a growing war in the Forgotten Realms, but a battle that has been raging across the dimensional planes for centuries. To make matters worse, you find yourself fighting wars not on just one but several fronts. There's the politics of Neverwinter and the challenges of fortifying your own stronghold, as well as enemies from Luskan in the North and the extraplanar githyanki that have declared a crusade on you. You find yourself locked in battle with all these factions, but you're in a position to play them off against each other to buy time and learn more of the events and history that led up to this conflict, and how to end it once and for all.

But fortunately, your character isn't alone in this fight. The companions in Neverwinter Nights 2 have undergone an overhaul from the first game. Not only do they play more of a crucial role in the storyline, but they also have a depth to them that you can choose to explore over the course of the game depending on your interest. They have been revised in terms of game mechanics, as well, and while you can allow them to act on their own (as a personal frustration of mine, ally spellcasters often act much smarter than my own character does in combat), you can command them and issue them direct orders, equipment transfers, and even guide their level-up decisions, as well. At times, you may even be able to convince them to change their class over the course of the game, although this may involve finishing a vision quest or two and gaining their trust through the influence system.

Our influence mechanics system is based on the one we set up for Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. While Neverwinter Nights 2 does offer a range of alignment options for your good, evil, lawful, and chaotic actions, the influence system also allows for an additional level of repercussions for decisions you make that are not on the alignment axis. For example, contrasting opinions on magical theory, nature versus civilization, and even how much of a rein you put on creativity itself in light of threats you and your characters face. Each of these actions can cause your influence with certain companions to go up or down over the course of the game and govern how much they involve themselves (or leave) at certain points in the game.

Cool.

This is an interesting "background" (which is like a PERK in Fallout games) that you can have in NWN 2, hehe:

[Xessive]

Yeah, I'm glad they implemented the "Background" aspect to the character. It adds a bit of depth to your characters, and makes a bit of sense of how you interact with other characters and how they react to you.

[MysterD]

Yeah, I'm glad they implemented the "Background" aspect to the character. It adds a bit of depth to your characters, and makes a bit of sense of how you interact with other characters and how they react to you.

Agreed. It sounds cool -- just like how I always liked the whole "perks" stuff from Fallout's "SPECIAL" system.

[Pugnate]

This thread makes me happy.

[MysterD]

This thread makes me happy.

I figured as much.

[MysterD]

Preview from NWNVault on Prestige Races in NWN2. This one featired in this preview is the Tiefling.
For all you PS:T'ers, yeah -- Annah was a tiefling.

Link:
http://nwvault.ign.com/fullstory.php?id=21796

Neverwinter Nights 2 Elite Races - Tieflings  [ Comment  ]
Print News | Mail News

Thanks to Obisidian Community Manager Brandon Smith for sending along part one of a feature on the "Elite Races" of Neverwinter Nights 2 where we take a look at the Tieflings. Here's a short summary on what makes them special along with some screenshots.

    In Neverwinter Nights 2, not everyone is created equal. Each race has its own flavor as well as a unique set of abilities and penalties. The most powerful races actually advance in level more slowly to compensate for their incredible ability score bonuses and powers. Four of the most powerful races you can play in Neverwinter Nights 2 are the Drow, the Aasimar, the Tiefling, and the unassuming Svirfneblin.

    Tiefling
    What the aasimar is to celestials, the tiefling is to demons. Spawn from evil outsiders, tieflings are often persecuted by the ignorant. They are not necessarily evil, though many are, and their supernatural abilities and power cause the weak to fear them. Like the aasimar, they lack a cultural identity. Tieflings can be identified by demonic physical features, such as horns or a tail.

    Stats: +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma

    Spells: Darkness
    Special abilities: Darkvision, resistance to cold, fire, and electricity.
    Level adjustment: +1

    These elite races are just one of the many new character options available in Neverwinter Nights 2. Their unique abilities – and the corresponding handicap – make them ideal for the truly hardcore player looking for a new and exciting challenge.

Screenies of Tieflings:

[Xessive]

Sweet! The variety of new races that have been is amazing! I had no idea they were going to add Tiefling as a playable race Awesome!

I'd love to see some sample shots of all the races and how they're depicted in the game.

[MysterD]

High-res 24 MB video, which is 2mins 20 secs short or so, w/ Chris Avellone speaking on it, which looks great:

And the dragon at the end of the vid looks bad-ass:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2Movies.Detail&id=63

[MysterD]

G-Spot w/ a preview on what Josh Sawyer of Obsidian feel are the top 10 things to do in NWN2 are, so click here y'all!

10 Things to Do in Neverwinter 2
By Josh Sawyer
Lead Designer, Obsidian Entertainment

When developing a game, it's important for the developers to play the game. This might seem obvious, but it's easy to lose sight of the fact that we're making something that other people are going to use. We're making entertainment appliances, and a user's experience goes beyond what can be imagined, expressed in an area document, or visualized in an editor. It's a series of moments made up of their interactions and reactions to what the game gives them. It can't be expressed as some sort of abstracted arithmetic, despite the fact that it's composed of things that can be easily listed and understood: accessibility, curiosity, wonder, fear, anger, excitement, disappointment, satisfaction, pacing, frustration, amusement, and so on.


There will be lots to see and do in Neverwinter Nights 2, the follow-up to 2002's acclaimed RPG.

To understand why anyone would pick our game up or put it down, I set out on a three-week adventure through the highs and lows of the Neverwinter Nights 2 official campaign. There were, in fact, some lows. But, guess what, this article is meant to entice you to buy the game, so we'll skip the lows and go right to the highs. You should rest assured, though, as Obsidian's bug-fixing gnomes have constructed an antibug golem to automagically fix any and all problems I experienced during the course of my play-through. With that in mind, please join me as I recount my top 10 coolest things in the Neverwinter Nights 2 official campaign.

Okay...

2. Role-Playing - When I made my character, Sass Afrass, I gave her the tale-teller background trait. I decided to role-play this by "bluffing" (lying) any time I had the [LIE] or [BLUFF] options in dialogue, regardless of how terrible the results of failure might be. I had a lot of opportunity to do this! Also, I had a lot of opportunity to fail my bluff checks because I didn't put many points into bluff. Often, people got mad at me and attacked me with magic missiles, and my character slowly started telling the truth. I think my character learned a little something about honesty and I learned a little something about life!

3. Guyven of the Road - Who is this dude? Why is he hiding in the grass all over the Sword Coast? What secrets does he know? These are mysteries you can solve if you find this discrete halfling during your travels. Then again, maybe you aren't a cool enough explorer to be Guyven's pal. Find him, before it's too late!

Interesting...

5. Take Back the Streets! With Money! And Fire! - One of the routes through the game can be achieved by joining the city watch of Neverwinter. However, you can be a really corrupt watchman, which is pretty sweet. Bribery and graft are awesome! Alternately, you can side with the thugs and burn down the watch headquarters. Arson is awesome! If you're a pyromaniac with a heart of gold, you even have the option of burning down the watch headquarters and going inside to warn the residents so they don't get roasted alive. Merciful criminal torch-jobs are awesome!

Sweet.

7. Crossroad Keep - In case you haven't been following NWN2's development, you can get a keep in the official campaign. Crossroad Keep starts out as a run-down rubble-littered dump where no one wants to live or work. By directing your staff of cool dudes, you can build it up and make it fancy again. You can recruit folks from all over the place to work at the keep, including a dimensional planes-hopping wizard and an aasimar fighter called Light of Heavens. The latter has a sister who will dance in your tavern if you can find her. What other games let you have aasimar dancers in your personal tavern, huh?! Huh?!

Yay @ owning a keep!

Pic of what a mage can do at their workbench:


Pic of dragons!!

[Xessive]

Sexy!

[MysterD]

Nice new video on Gamespot now anbout the environments from the Lead Environment Artist, Tim Donley, of Obsidian.

And new written preview on the Toolset on G-Spot:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/neverwinternights2/news.html?sid=6160118

The Neverwinter Nights 2 Toolset
By Tony Evans
Senior Designer, Obsidian Entertainment

There are far too many great things about Obsidian's Neverwinter Nights 2 toolset to list in a mere developer diary, so I'll restrain myself and list only what I think are the toolset's most exciting features.

Okay.

10. Waypoint Paths - The toolset has many options to allow you to create living, breathing environments with ambient life that goes about its business. Using waypoint sets is one of the simplest ways of adding ambient life to an area, and it requires no scripting. Using waypoint sets, you can diabolically make peasants walk continuous circles.

I'd love to create a character named Que in my mod and just make it walk in circles forever, spitting dialogue about how his soul is being consumed in circles!

5. Static Cameras - Using static cameras in conjunction with Neverwinter Nights 2-style cutscenes creates impressive cinematics, such as the ones featured in the Neverwinter Nights 2 campaign. Adding a static camera is easy. Drop down the camera object and adjust its location and facing so that it points at what you want to show. You can use the preview window to see what your shot will look like in the game. Once your camera is placed, you can plug it into any dialogue node in a conversation.

Sweet. That sounds a lot easier than NWN1's method, if you have Stageplay (which simplified cut-scene making quite a bit) mod installed.

2. Conversation Editor - There are enough cool things in the conversation editor that it could easily fill a developer diary of its own, so I will briefly describe a few or the more revolutionary things:

You can specify parameters on action and condition scripts. This means that many users can avoid having to write custom scripts of their own and can instead take advantage of the hundreds of multipurpose global scripts provided by Obsidian.

Instead of laboriously copying and pasting individual links in a conversation, you can use the "link to main question node" feature, which creates a set of several links that can be copied. The link will automatically update if you add or delete nodes in your conversation.

And if you need your NPCs to cycle through random lines of dialogue, you can use "make bark cycle" and it will automatically fill in the scripts for you.

Cool.

1. Customizable Layout - If you don't like the way the toolset is laid out by default, you can change it however you like. Almost all of the windows in the toolset are mode-less, which means that you can, for example, have an area (or two or three), conversations, and scripts all open at the same time. Customizing your toolset is as simple as drag and drop. If you prefer a more streamlined appearance, you can easily hide window tabs and bring them back again with a single click.

Nice.....

[MysterD]

About # of campanions being capped or not:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=504182&forum=100

Someone asked if there is a cap on the number of companions you can have in the game engine or is it for just the NWN2 campaign.

Charles Meads of Obsidian said:

It's just a cap for the OC. There's no hard limit.

[MysterD]

GameStar of Germany has reviewed NWN2, giving it an 85:
http://www.gamestar.de/magazin/heft/thumbnails/

Too bad I can't read German and that the review is too small to read, since they probably want you to buy the mag and all, since they reviewed it first; hehe.

[MysterD]

Previews on IGN about one of the enemies in NWN2 -- The Balor!

Of the millions of demons swarming the layers of the Abyss, none are more terrifying than the balor. Often in command of mighty demon armies, balors possess immense physical and magical power. With a flaming whip that can trip and disarm enemies and a massive longsword that can instantly decapitate a foe, the balor is very versatile in melee. At a distance, it can employ numerous powerful spells, from bathing opponents with a torrent of flames to dominating their minds and demanding their capitulation.

The balor's two ton body looms 12 feet tall and emanates intense heat, scorching anyone unfortunate enough to touch it. They are more intelligent than the most powerful wizards and stronger than most giants. Among their wide array of powers, however, perhaps the most feared is their ability to summon forth other demons to serve them: dozens of foul dretches or even another of their kind!

In Neverwinter Nights 2, you will encounter at least one balor. Should you be fortunate enough to survive the encounter, you'll quickly find that even such a powerful being is not the worst foe you'll face...

Sounds cool.

Balor screenies:




And a poem on The Balor

My Balor - A Love Poem

In this empty Abyss of life
        I searched for meaning,
        trudging through chaos and despair
        for what seemed eternity.
But then, I gazed upon your blazing
        hot body.
I would never be the same.

You were alert
        (+8 Spot and Listen)
        and noticed me too.
        You saw right through me (truly)
        and quickly dispelled my fears
(quite the feat)
with a mere gesture.

I opened my mouth to speak,
        but with
                a single, powerful word
                you stunned me
into silence.

You took the initiative (+11) and
entangled me with flames of desire.
        I was disarmed
        and could not escape your
        hot embrace (6d6 fire damage).

You dominated me (at will),
driving me insane
        with passion.

But such passion cannot last forever.
In an instant you were gone.
I thought perhaps you had
        teleported away,
        planning to return to me.
But then
a blinding flash of painful light
        swept through my mind
        severed from my body),
        and I knew you were gone
forever.

I was alone again.
But I would never be the same.
        for I had experienced you -
you the Balor in my Abyss.

[MysterD]

This is a thread on QuarterToThree.com, where Desslock of PC Gamer has been speaking about a number of things on NWN 2, since he's been playing it.

Looks like he'll be doing the review for PC Gamer on it, as well.

Linky:
http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=30106


Desslock on how party-based this game really is:

It's definitely party-based - up to 3 companions, plus familiars/animal companions. It's more like the Knights of the Old Republic games than the original NWN in terms of party dynamics.

Sweet.


Desslock on AI:

Yes, you can pause and issue orders. The default companion AI is o.k., but you'll most likely want to turn it off and manually control all the party members except in easy battles. It's much more like the Knights of the Old Republic system than the original Neverwinter Nights (i.e., much improved).

....

You can issue a broadcast command to tell your companions to stay in place, which is "prudent" when you're scouting for traps.

If it's more like the KOTOR system, than that's probably a damn good thing.


Desslock on playing the campaign even on Multiplayer, as Coop:

Yes, you can play the campaign in coop multiplayer.

That's sweet.


Desslock on Oblivion and NWN2 improving over their prodecessors:

I liked both Neverwinter Nights and Morrowind, and think Neverwinter Nights 2 and Oblivion are both improvements on their predecessors in a lot of ways.

Yeah, Oblivion is definitely an improvement over Morrowind -- and I loved Morrowind. Oblivion was just amazing and fixed many of my gripes w/ Morrowind, basically.

I can't wait to see how much NWN 2 improved over the original....


Desslock on NWN2's camera:

The big change made to the engine for the original KOTOR was to move the camera perspective, to allow for horizon shots, etc. The NWN2 engine has a lot more in common with the KOTOR engine than the original NWN engine in terms of look/feel. I'm sure there's licensing reasons for the different names (which is not to diminish the considerable amount of customized work done for each game's specific engine). Anyway, trust me that when you play it, it feels a lot more like KOTOR 2 than any of those other games.

....

You can definitely play NWN2 from a party-based, isometric perspective, if you want. It's just helpful to zoom in to give certain combat orders.

I'm glad we still have that floating NWN-style camera in NWN2, an the ability to go "isometric" if we so choose.


Desslock on NWN2's technical issues:

I will say that I encountered no major bugs - just a bunch of minor graphical glitches, or errors in text descriptions (and I doubt most players would have even noticed a lot of those - I just tend to do crazy things like have my weasel pull up descriptions of different enemies).

....

That said, its system requirements are even higher than Oblivion's, so it's pretty easy to get skipping around if you're playing it on settings your system can't handle. That actually seems worse walking around than in combat, however, which is good.

Higher than Oblivion....oh, boy....


Desslock on the system requirements for NWN2:

No, the requirements at the link you provided for NWN2 are wrong. It now requires at least a 128 MB pixel shader 2.0 video card (ATI 9700 Pro or nVidea 6600 or better), and recommends a 256 MB pixel shader model 3.0 (ATI x1600 or nVidea 6800 GT/GS).

That's from the box cover, which supersedes what's actually printed in the manual -- the requirements listed in the manual are even higher (1 GB system RAM/a 256 MB Video card required/2GB system RAM/512 MB video card recommended) but those were made based upon testing an unoptimized build, and so were replaced by the box cover's. In any event, the requirements are very high, and definitely higher than Oblivions.

Damn.....Higher than Oblivion, eh?
That's quite stiff....


Desslock on the graphics not being spectacular for such stiff requirements:

The graphics are pretty good, but frankly I don't think those requirements are justified, and it's one of the things I dinged the game for in my review. Even worse, the first few areas are really not flattering for the graphics engine, because they're in dimly lit swamps (which are also very linear and restrictive) -- so I think some gamers will be turned off by the slow start.

But this is a massive game that just gets better than better as you play it (and the graphics are definitely more impressive in later areas).

...

And to be clear, I did not "ding" the game because the system requirements were "high", but rather because the quality of the graphics don't seem to merit such requirements combined with other technical aspects of the game feeling unpolished.

Sounds like it could really could use some patches, to help out w/ performance issues and all.


Desslock on NWN2, comparisons w/ BG2 and PS:T...

That's said, and I don't really want to pre-empt my review, so I'll just say that I think it's the best game these guys have done since Planescape Torment - the story aspects, and use of the D&D system, are that good. Easily the best D&D game since BG2.

Desslock on NWN2's size and its KOTOR II style in the Influence System for NPC's:

I love TOEE (even devoted another PC Gamer column to it last month), but it's obviously got its share of flaws, and has nowhere near the epic scope/grand scale of Baldur's Gate 2 - this is really the first D&D game to have a similarly huge scope.

....

NWN2 is also just a much bigger game - at least twice the size of KOTOR2.

The NPC/influence system is pulled right out of KOTOR2, but better handled this time (you're not stuck using characters you might not have developed, and there's reasons to take along all of the characters, while in KOTOR2 having an all-Jedi party was an obvious advantage). I think the more complex rules of D&D make the companion AI less self-sufficient, however - you really have to manually control these guys - so some of the technical issues drag it below KOTOR2 in some respects, but the story/dialogue stuff is very polished this time.

[Pugnate]

That's said, and I don't really want to pre-empt my review, so I'll just say that I think it's the best game these guys have done since Planescape Torment - the story aspects, and use of the D&D system, are that good. Easily the best D&D game since BG2.

I don't know what to say... those lines literally made the little hairs on neck stand up. I read the Desslock thing twice, D, thanks for this thread. 

[MysterD]

I don't know what to say... those lines literally made the little hairs on neck stand up. I read the Desslock thing twice, D, thanks for this thread. 

Though, the requirements being stiffer than Oblivion -- and not nearly looking as good -- does kind of worry me.

Given what Desslock said about the specs and performance, I will be interested to see how well (or how not so well) NWN 2 will run on my rig. I also wonder what settings I'll be able to run this thing at, myself.

Oh -- and I can't wait to play w/ the Toolkit.

[poomcgoo]

That screenshot with the dragon and the huge floating emerald thing is awesome.  I can't say I'm that excited about the game, but I almost want to play it just to get to that part.

[MysterD]

NWN 2 Manual is available for download now. News link:
http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=2391

If you need to download a manual, click below in the quote for the manual you'd like.

Atari's German reps have pointed out the German NWN2 manual is available for download.  After experimenting, Avantenor let us know several others can also be accessed:

English

German

Spanish

French

Italian

Thanks, Avantenor!

[MysterD]

New screenies below:
http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/static/EEyEAEyyFEACRDAWXk.php#null

[MysterD]

8.0 from GameInformer Online (out of 10)

My inner dork loves nothing better than building the most efficient and powerful character possible within any given ruleset, and then utilizing my hero’s power to beat up on some bad guys and probably save the world in the process. Neverwinter Nights 2, for all of its flaws, does an excellent job of providing a framework for me to indulge in that, and for that I’m grateful. I just wish that it wasn’t so freaking frustrating some of the time.

With a few rare exceptions, NWN 2 is an even better translation of the tabletop Dungeons & Dragons ruleset into the virtual space than its predecessor. This title easily trumps the original NWN’s campaign with a vastly superior story and characters – not to mention the Knights of the Old Republic-like party system that takes the place of overpowered summons and hirelings.

Yeah, I do expect the NWN2: OC to be better than NWN1: OC -- should be, since more work went into the OC this time, since that was the focus for NWN2. NWN2 really don't need to focus much on the MP side, since it was already great from NWN1 right out the box.

Developer Obsidian has created one of the best single-player fantasy tales around, with numerous branching paths and side missions to explore.

That sounds what I was expecting w/ NWN1.

Desslock did compare NWN2: OC a lot to PS:T and BG2 -- yeah, that's a good thing.

NWN 2’s modular nature also means that you can play through the official campaign (or most any downloaded module) cooperatively with a friend or two.

That's sweet.

The included campaign blows the first game’s story out of the water with a gripping tale of an evil cult that seeks Neverwinter’s destruction along the path to domination of all of Faerun. Players even have a decent amount of input, through the choices they make, over how the plot unfolds.

I like the sound of this.

However, the gameplay has a tendency to feel disturbingly similar to the original’s clunky framework. The interface is noticeably improved, but the odd way the engine assigns attacks of opportunity, as well as the horrid pathfinding and AI for both allies and enemies, are entirely unchanged. Under the hood, NWN 2 is almost identical to the original. While that’s not the worst thing in the world, asking for a little evolution in gameplay for a five-years-in-the-making sequel isn’t exactly unreasonable.

Makes sense.

The true test of this title’s worth, however, is whether or not the online mod community embraces it with the fervor that keeps its predecessor popular to this day. The tools certainly won’t hold amateur creators back; Obsidian is kind enough to ship the tools that were used internally to make the official campaign. Which, of course, makes NWN 2 one of the very best titles available for modders’ purposes.

I'm betting NWN2 will be embraced by the mod community as amazingly as the original was.

There's already a bunch of mods out right now, since the Toolkit was released early, if you check NWVault, from newly made "prefab" (prefabricated) lands/items/areas to mods to add features to the Toolkit -- yet, the game just came out!

All that being said, the score reflects what comes in the box: a very entertaining, classic D&D tale that will provide dozens of hours of entertainment to RPG fans, as well as some mod tools with great potential. If the online scene takes off, though, you can expect many years of outstanding gaming out of this little package.
  -ADAM

Sounds good to me.

[MysterD]

RPGVault @ IGN gives some impressions on the new NWN2

As a still somewhat early impression based on around 12 hours of play, the story, characters and overall writing appear first-rate. The narrative seems suitably epic in scope; you rise from humble beginnings as an ordinary citizen of a remote village to become a mighty champion. An initial look at the editor suggests that we can probably expect to see lots of modules from the user community before very long.

Sounds good to me.

Reservations
Players who aren't familiar with the D&D 3.5 rules may find themselves facing a bit of a learning curve due to all the new races and classes. Those used to action RPGs will have to make many more decisions. The first several places you visit are all dark and gloomy, which can make them seem less different than they really are. If you use the free camera option, controlling it may not be completely intuitive.

Hmmmmmm....

The Bottom Line
Neverwinter Nights 2 will undoubtedly be compared to its distinguished predecessor. In that regard, it gives every indication of being a very worthy successor. It also deserves to be evaluated on its own merits, which appear to be more than enough to reinforce Obsidian's status as a leading CRPG developer.

Sounds good to me. I can't wait for a full NWN2 review from IGN.
And of course, one from GameSpot, even more so....

[Minute Views are so named for their size and the approximate amount of time it takes to read them. They are intended to provide initial impressions only; they may be based on limited play, and do not require the use of different characters and strategies. - Ed.]

Makes sense.

Some screenies below from IGN's Vault for NWN2....

[MysterD]

IGN's Charles Onyett gives a lot of Impressions on the game

Neverwinter Nights 2 First Impressions
Obsidian's monster RPG finally arrives. Our initial thoughts, direct-feed, and screens.
by Charles Onyett

October 31, 2006 - Playing Neverwinter Nights 2 is more akin to playing Baldur's Gate II or Planescape: Torment than the original Neverwinter Nights. Fully controllable and equippable party members make a return, which makes a big difference for the single player portion of the game. We'd been told a significant chunk of developmental focus was being given to making NWN2's solo campaign more involved and after playing it for around 20 hours, it's proven to be a more entertaining experience.

That's a good sign. I was not too thrilled w/ NWN1's Original Campaign (Single player).

The game starts off in the town of West Harbor with a brief tutorial sequence centered around winning a town festival. Before long disaster strikes and the main questline is engaged. While the first Neverwinter Nights confined the player to the city of Neverwinter for a significant number of hours at its outset, the sequel gives players the freedom to hop between a number of towns before reaching the city.

A little more open-ended of a world. Nice.

NWN 2 starts off after the events of the first game with the city rebuilt and refashioned since the plague. Even after reaching the city, you won't be confined within for very long. A few of the missions, depending on which questline you choose to follow, are set outside Neverwinter's walls in outlying areas. It helps keep things from getting stagnant by introducing new characters, questlines, and environments.

You'll pick up new characters frequently as you journey across the world map. Each comes with their own history and motivations. Their stories are partially revealed when you first meet a character but are much more detailed when you take a break from adventuring to talk with them individually. Here you can ask a bunch of questions like where they came from, what they're looking for, and what they think about the game's events. So far they're all fully voiced and quite lengthy. A few conversations with our companions lasted upwards of ten minutes if we listened to all the voice acting. By talking to a certain character early on, we were even able to acquire a quest to unlock a Prestige Class.

Very nice.

Your own character won't pipe up with sound, you just input text responses, but his or her race will be properly identified by NPCs. Depending on who you've chosen, this can induce negative or positive reactions. As conversations with various NPCs are engaged, you'll have neutral, positive, and antagonistic response options. For instance, if someone's trying to give you a quest, you can tell them you'd be honored to accept, you expect a reward, or you think they're annoying and wish they'd shut up. Responses affect your alignment, which can sway toward good, evil, chaotic, and neutral. Depending on who you've brought along, your companions will chime in occasionally with their thoughts. If they disagree strongly with something you've said to another, they'll not only yell at you but you'll lose a point in your relationship status. Conversely, you can gain points with companions by making decisions they agree with.

Sounds a lot like SW: KOTOR series and PS:T. Nice.

Though we haven't actually had anyone leave the party yet, this is apparently possible. We thought it might happen with a Druid we picked up since we kept telling NPCs to shut up or flat out killed them. She kept tagging along, though when we tried to ask her about her history she wasn't willing to divulge any personal information. Depending on how you've set up your skill point allotment, you can also try out lie/bluff, intimidation, and diplomacy conversation options to talk your way out of some battles or ingratiate yourself to certain NPCs who'd normally be more than happy to cleave your face off.

That Druid character must be patient...or something, hehe.

Maybe he should've tried that tactic to some other NPC.

Only four characters including yourself can be in the active party at any time. After playing for a little while, you'll have to start making decisions as to who to keep in and who to leave behind. Thankfully, NPCs not currently in the active party are stored at an inn in Neverwinter's Docks District. Should you return to the inn, the party configuration can be reorganized as you see fit. While this is convenient, we wish there was some kind of global inventory management system in the game. There are a lot of items to collect in NWN2. From magical weapons, armor pieces, and jewelry to the enormous amount of reagents required for crafting armor, potions, scrolls, and weapons, it won't take long for each character's inventory to get crowded. When switching out companions for your current party, a significant amount of time can be spent swapping them around to make sure the right items accompany the right characters.

DS2 was another RPG like that -- where your inventory can get clogged up fast.
As a matter of fact, NWN1 was like that, too. Actually, many RPG's that are party based are.

As you embroil yourself and companions in combat, they'll gain experience and level up. You're in charge of exactly how a character levels up, meaning you manually distribute and assign skill points, feats, and spells for everyone. Characters that weren't in your company while a level occurred will still level up while sitting at the inn. This means when you switch in a new character, they'll automatically be at the experience level of the other active characters. Once the previously inactive character joins, they can then be leveled up however many levels they are behind so everyone's always at the same stage of progression. This eliminates the worry of having to manage a team of characters at widely varying experience levels.

Sweet!!!

How companions act on the battlefield is customizable through a behavior modification tab in the character pane. They can be set to cast spells, use items, and protect the party leader automatically, or be told to do nothing but obey your direct commands. Abilities can be executed via a quick cast popup on the left of the screen or on a skill bar at the screen's bottom. Like the previous game, the action can be paused at any time with the space bar. Spells and abilities can be queued up to make micromanagement more feasible. The game displays up to four queued actions, though more can be inputted.

Okay.

So far the game seems fairly linear in its progression, though how you go about completing quests is more varied. Side quests can be picked up from a few NPCs in the early towns, though not quite on the scale of something like Baldur's Gate II (at least not yet).

Okay.

What's more interesting are the multiple paths the main narrative can take. Without spoiling too much, we've come across two major instances where the plot can be affected dramatically. Some major characters can be killed, run off, or left in place, and this affects what kinds of quests are available afterwards. Once in Neverwinter, you'll be given a major choice between two paths. Choosing one precludes access to the other, meaning there's an incentive to go back through and discover what was missed. This was especially apparent when at the end of the chosen story path we unlocked a Prestige Class, which are more powerful types of character classes available only when certain conditions are met. We can't be sure what kind of Prestige Class we missed out on by passing on the other progression line, if there was one at all.

Very interesting.

I wonder if it's a good path vs. evil path...hmmmm....

While there is a choice on the player's part regarding which path to follow, the path is linear once chosen. We have yet to encounter any kind of open-ended wandering to discover new quests, though this may in fact open up as we continue through the game. So far, each map area has been fairly small in terms of explorable area. It's generally just a path with a beginning and end. Even in Neverwinter, there aren't all that many side quests to pick up. We're not saying there aren't side quests, but there just don't seem to be that many. Also, the side quest goals so far are almost unavoidable as you follow the path prescribed by the main quest. The game seems more focused on the main narrative that opening up and letting the player roam the countryside in search of new adventures. We're still waiting to acquire our own stronghold, however, and like we said before, the game could open up at some point. Even if it doesn't, it's still been a lot of fun to play through so far.

I hope it does open up at least somewhat, more so....

All this said, we're having a much better time with Neverwinter Nights 2's single player mode than its predecessor's. It's a lot more involved and more strategic due to the fully controllable and equippable party members, and overall more interesting in terms of what happens. It's also more dynamic, shifting the player between different settings regularly. If you're one of those gamers looking to delve into an enjoyable single player experience on your PC, this is a good choice so far. We'll have to check out more of the game to get a better idea of how things turn out.

Sounds good.

Graphically the game looks pretty good, but it's not going to blow anyone away. If you're not tossing around flashy spell effects, some of the environments can look rather mundane. Though of the armor and weaponry have interesting designs, none of the character models are particularly interesting to look at. Some of the enemies, like a blade golem we fought, were much more visually engaging.

Okay. NWN 1 wasn't the best looking game when it came out and it look like NWN 2 will follow in suit.

The voice acting is generally solid though some are significantly better than others. We've so far been treated to an excellent soundtrack and some especially good battle music.

Sweet.

Some of the sound effects on the other hand, particularly the sound of crackling fire, come off as harsh and rudimentary.

Okay.

Our experience with Neverwinter Nights 2 at this point has been hampered by a few odd bugs. There were a few instances of cutscenes not triggering, preventing our progress throughout the rest of the game and forcing a reload.

Ick.

Sometimes when a cut scene triggers after a boss character has been reduced to a certain amount of health, our characters kept attacking while we were in mid conversation. As a result, it'd be a wise choice to take the game's advice it offers during loading screens: "Save early, save often."

Attacking in mid-conversation....not good....

Though, yeah -- I always do save like crazy.

Neverwinter Nights 2 ships today. If you're an RPG fan you likely had this one on preorder, but if not, you should know that what we've played so far has been good. We'll have a full review once we've put enough hours into this monster. For now, enjoy the new screens and video viewable below.

Yay!

Screenies:

[MysterD]

GameSpy's first impressions....they seem impressed, so far....

[MysterD]

GameSpot's review added to the top of the thread; 8.6 from GameSpot, in which they praise the game a lot saying it's the "most authentic representation of D&D", but say that's unfortunately dragged down due to one thing: minor technical issues.

In short (and to sum it all up), GameSpot's technical issues that bring it down are:
1.Very high system requirements for a game that doesn't look that great
2.All FOUR Camera angle modes are not so hot, always needing camera adjustment on your part
3.The AI and pathfinding is not so great

[MysterD]

8.5 from IGN; review added to the top of the thread, as well

[Xessive]

Just picked it up at Futureshop! They had a special $15 off just for today, so it was $45 CDN (~$40 USD), so I was happy as can be

I'll let you all know how it is once it's done installing

[MysterD]

Just picked it up at Futureshop! They had a special $15 off just for today, so it was $45 CDN (~$40 USD), so I was happy as can be

I'll let you all know how it is once it's done installing

Ok, I wanna know more...and soon....

I expect NWN2 to rule, despite its issues.

I am really curious, given the complaints from gamers and critics, about the AI and camera.

[Xessive]

Well, so far so good!

As soon as I finished installing the game, the updater detected a patch (v1.01), which was about 80mb. Obsidian has a done a good job of quickly resolving some of the bigger issues that were discussed. I haven't experienced any major issues yet.

I was expecting the camera and the game mechanics to be just like KotOR, but it's all just like NWN1! You get 4 camera modes: Top-down, Chase, Free, and Driving mode. I like having the different modes, but I really Driving mode was improved. Driving mode keeps the camera behind the selected character, close to KotOR's camera style except due to the keyboard controls it doesn't work the same way. The WASD controls are simple enough (forward, backward, rotate left and right), but I wish they had done it like KotOR where the left and right were camera relative directions rather than rotation. I think in general people would have complained less if the controls were as easy as KotOR.

The only issue I've experienced with the A.I. so far is that they can be a little slow. Sometimes it takes them a while to start following me, and other times it takes them a while to acknowledge that I'm in a fight and could really use their help! Other than that they're not too bad.

I can see Gamespot's remarks on the graphics not being good enough to warrant the steep requirements. They're decent, but not ground-breaking by today's standards. Although the game is running well (probably due to the prompt patch).

Overall I'd say the game really comes off as a super tuned-up classic NWN. It even has a lot of the same sound effects and music. Some might be pleased that it retains a lot of the classic qualities and feel of NWN, while others might be disappointed that the game didn't adopt the KotOR style. I can safely say I would have been happy either way! I'm really looking forward to adventuring in Neverwinter!

[MysterD]

Well, so far so good!

As soon as I finished installing the game, the updater detected a patch (v1.01), which was about 80mb. Obsidian has a done a good job of quickly resolving some of the bigger issues that were discussed. I haven't experienced any major issues yet.

Sweet.

I was expecting the camera and the game mechanics to be just like KotOR, but it's all just like NWN1! You get 4 camera modes: Top-down, Chase, Free, and Driving mode. I like having the different modes, but I really Driving mode was improved. Driving mode keeps the camera behind the selected character, close to KotOR's camera style except due to the keyboard controls it doesn't work the same way. The WASD controls are simple enough (forward, backward, rotate left and right), but I wish they had done it like KotOR where the left and right were camera relative directions rather than rotation. I think in general people would have complained less if the controls were as easy as KotOR.

Can you change the controls WASD controls to where it can be strafe left and right, instead of rotate left and right???

The only issue I've experienced with the A.I. so far is that they can be a little slow. Sometimes it takes them a while to start following me, and other times it takes them a while to acknowledge that I'm in a fight and could really use their help! Other than that they're not too bad.

Sounds a lot like NWN1.

I can see Gamespot's remarks on the graphics not being good enough to warrant the steep requirements. They're decent, but not ground-breaking by today's standards. Although the game is running well (probably due to the prompt patch).

Glad to hear the patch improved some performance issues.

Overall I'd say the game really comes off as a super tuned-up classic NWN. It even has a lot of the same sound effects and music. Some might be pleased that it retains a lot of the classic qualities and feel of NWN, while others might be disappointed that the game didn't adopt the KotOR style. I can safely say I would have been happy either way! I'm really looking forward to adventuring in Neverwinter!

I dunno', but I played the original KOTOR (I have KOTOR, just ain't began it) and NWN -- there are some things I prefer about NWN, yet other things I prefer in KOTOR.

If NWN2 can combo the strengths of NWN (such as the free floating camera) along w/ the KOTOR strengths (character interaction), I'd be very happy.

Have you played w/ the Toolset yet?

[MysterD]

GameSpot releases part their NWN2 Game guide, which they will add more to:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6161016/index.html?tag=topslot;action;1

[Xessive]

Can you change the controls WASD controls to where it can be strafe left and right, instead of rotate left and right???

There is an option for strafing, but the problem is that the camera does not affect your direction, it's just for the view. I've set it up so that A and D are strafe (the character doesn't run in that direction he simply side steps), but I still need two other keys to rotate (Q and E). I was hoping that in "Driving mode" I'd be able to point with the mouse and move with the keyboard, but the only difference between "driving mode" and any other camera mode is that the cam will always stick to the character's back. When I use the mouse to look around, as soon as I move the camera resets. So the only complaint I have is that the controls are either point & click or keyboard only. You can't have a mouse+keys combo like in KotOR. It's funny because it completely devalues the "driving" camera mode. It's kind of a disappointment, but I've been playing the game just like classic NWN anyway.

Have you played w/ the Toolset yet?

Not yet, but I plan to take a look at it soon.

There is one thing I noticed in particular about the characters. The character design seems very limited. I mean, they look pretty decent, but it's still just a basic choose a head, choose a hair style, and some colours. Actually now you can't even pick a body type. Everyone in the game looks fit.. There are no more fat/chunky people. Even worse, the character creation is so limited you can't choose what type of facial hair you want. Each "head" comes with a preset facial hair type which you can switch on/off. The heads don't offer much selection, and the hairstyles are relatively crap. They completely fudged it up on the visual side of character design. I'm not happy with how my character looks, but it's the best I could do given the severe limitations. Right now, this is my only real beef with the game.

I'm gonna make myself heard on their boards and see if that part of the game can be fixed. At the very least I hope they can make a plugin for the toolset which offers a dramatically more detailed character creation.

[MysterD]

Wow...that doesn't make the character creation system sound as robust as like say an Oblivion. Even The Godfather has a better system w/ the looks department, it sounds like....

So, yeah -- how's the game itself going???

How is the story itself? And the interaction w/ other NPC's -- namely, how's the dialogue, voice-acting, and writing itself?

[Xessive]

Wow...that doesn't make the character creation system sound as robust as like say an Oblivion. Even The Godfather has a better system w/ the looks department, it sounds like....

So, yeah -- how's the game itself going???

How is the story itself? And the interaction w/ other NPC's -- namely, how's the dialogue, voice-acting, and writing itself?

Yeah, the visual side of character creation is no better than the original NWN. The only new addition is the 'hair highlights' and everything else is just like before, except no body types. I'm really, really unimpressed with it, and it's like a nagging itch at the back of my mind. I wasn't expecting anything as complex as Oblivion's character creation (that one competed with the Sims!), but at least something that could let me build MY character MY way would be nice. The Godfather's character creator was great too!

Anyway, the game itself is fantastic. The voice acting is great, although you may come across a few annoying voices, they're still well-performed. The story seems to be quite compelling so far. Seems to have some pretty solid writing.

I guess I wouldn't say NWN2 is 'better' than the original. The only thing that is dramatically different are the graphics. The UI and inventory system have been redone as well, and while I like the inventory's almost unlimited space (now the limitation is based on weight), I don't like the new and apparently "cheap" item graphics. Every item only uses a single slot now, which is fine, but the icons just look like cheap (and often ambiguous) graphics. I find myself opening the inventory and feeling confused way too often. To top it off, when you highlight an item you only see its name and cost, to see its properties you have to right-click and Examine it. Thanks to that you cannot compare items side by side! Which is pretty retarded! Half the time I can't tell which item is "better" and I just go by price. Besides that the UI doesn't scale; it looks like it was made for pretty high resolutions. I'm currently playing at 1024x768 and it feels like it's bulking up on the screen. I tried running at 1280x1024, it looks and fits a lot better, but the game performance cost is noticeable.  The interface and inventory give the game a very cheap and underdeveloped feel, which is a shame especially when compared to the original NWN which practically oozed quality! Don't get me started on the texture quality.. Let's just say KotOR's (1 & 2) textures were of significantly higher quality.

I think Obsidian did a great job developing the story and system of the game, but a horrible job developing the visual side (on all the visual fronts). The more I play the more bugs I notice, but they're mostly visual issues (i.e. helmets/hats don't show on party members, and when I wear a hat my character's ponytail is now ridiculously long, etc.). They seem to be tiny bugs that can be resolved with patches. The game is great, but I feel like I always have to look past the visual flaws to enjoy it.

EDIT:
I really wish Bioware developed NWN2.

[MysterD]

Yeah, the visual side of character creation is no better than the original NWN. The only new addition is the 'hair highlights' and everything else is just like before, except no body types. I'm really, really unimpressed with it, and it's like a nagging itch at the back of my mind. I wasn't expecting anything as complex as Oblivion's character creation (that one competed with the Sims!), but at least something that could let me build MY character MY way would be nice. The Godfather's character creator was great too!

I was shocked at, of all games, The Godfather's character creator, for the character's look. You can really mold it to look like yourself or anyone you pretty much can dream up, if you try to.

Anyway, the game itself is fantastic. The voice acting is great, although you may come across a few annoying voices, they're still well-performed. The story seems to be quite compelling so far. Seems to have some pretty solid writing.

Glad to hear that.

I guess I wouldn't say NWN2 is 'better' than the original. The only thing that is dramatically different are the graphics. The UI and inventory system have been redone as well, and while I like the inventory's almost unlimited space (now the limitation is based on weight), I don't like the new and apparently "cheap" item graphics. Every item only uses a single slot now, which is fine, but the icons just look like cheap (and often ambiguous) graphics. I find myself opening the inventory and feeling confused way too often. To top it off, when you highlight an item you only see its name and cost, to see its properties you have to right-click and Examine it.

DS2 was better on that -- highlight an item, you see its properties, enchantments, and everything.

Oblivion's was nice too, as you saw it's price and power right in the entire Inventory screen. You could even sort by it. Roll mouse over an item, it'll tell you the enchantments on the item.

Thanks to that you can compare items side by side!

That's cool.

Which is pretty retarded! Half the time I can't tell which item is "better" and I just go by price.

That's not so good.

Besides that the UI doesn't scale; it looks like it was made for pretty high resolutions. I'm currently playing at 1024x768 and it feels like it's bulking up on the screen. I tried running at 1280x1024, it looks and fits a lot better, but the game performance cost is noticeable.  The interface and inventory give the game a very cheap and underdeveloped feel, which is a shame especially when compared to the original NWN which practically oozed quality!

When it comes to interface, more games need to take lessons from Dungeon Siege 2. I love the way the game sorts Journal Entries -- divides it up by Act number, whether it's a Primary Versus Secondary, etc etc. They even suggest what Level you should be to take a quest on.

I did like the way the original NWN was laid out w/ the interface and everything. Why'd Obsidian change it so much, if it was going to cause that much of an issue?

Don't get me started on the texture quality.. Let's just say KotOR's (1 & 2) textures were of significantly higher quality.

Wow....and I'm not super thrilled w/ KOTOR 1's graphical quality, technically.....Hmmm.....
Though, the gameplay's quite good....

I think Obsidian did a great job developing the story and system of the game, but a horrible job developing the visual side (on all the visual fronts). The more I play the more bugs I notice, but they're mostly visual issues (i.e. helmets/hats don't show on party members, and when I wear a hat my character's ponytail is now ridiculously long, etc.). They seem to be tiny bugs that can be resolved with patches. The game is great, but I feel like I always have to look past the visual flaws to enjoy it.

That's a bummer.

Though, I can deal w/ lack of graphics in return for some gameplay quality; as long as the gameplay quality is insanely good. Though, from what I heard, I wish at that cost, the performance of the game was much better.

Though, Oblivion hit the real nail in the coffin w/ both great graphics and gameplay.

EDIT:
I really wish Bioware developed NWN2.

Actually, I'm glad BioWare didn't -- b/c they should be making their own IP's and not worrying about other poeple's licenses -- like Hasbro and LucasArts, who they got into some arguements w/; LucasArts b/c Bioware wanted to release a Toolkit for KOTOR (L.A. said "No") and Hasbro wanted them to tone down the Witch's Wake content so it wasn't so "evil and risque."

Personally, I like the way Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age happen to look and all.

[Xessive]

Sorry MyD, I had a typo in there.. I meant to say "Thanks to that [Examine item window] you cannot compare items side by side."

I agree that DS2 did a great job with their interface all-round. The journal in NWN2 is not bad, but the remainder of the UI is ~meh. I also realized that most of the windows will require a bit of scrolling.

The way Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age are turning out is exactly why I wish Bioware did NWN2! They would have done an exemplary job! Like I mentioned in the review thread, it just feels like Obsidian were trying to imitate Bioware's effort in NWN1, rather than actually making NWN2 unique and innovative. I have to agree that it is nice to see Bioware coming up with their own amazing creations.

Considering the only two games I've played for Obsidian are KotOR II and NWN2, I'm not impressed. KotOR II was basically KotOR (exactly the same graphics too) with a slightly different story, and a bit of an influence system. Granted it was a good game (though not GREAT like the original), it was not 'unique' and didn't step further away from the original KotOR. The least they could have done was give it a graphical facelift.

Now that I see how NWN2 turned out, I don't really care to see any more titles from Obsidian. They're just going to plagiarize off Bioware again. I'd rather wait for Bioware titles.

EDIT:
I just got my hands on the UI image files! I just found out one of the reasons why the UI looks so cheapass! A lot of the images are pretty blurry, giving them a very low quality effect. I'm gonna try enhancing some of the images and testing them. If it works I might upload my version (if the file sizes permit). Man, I really wish I was working with Obsidian on this.. I would have made sure they got the UI just right. Ungh those idiots!