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Home : Games : Reviews : PC / Windows : Neverwinter Nights 2
A great sequel that doesn't stray from what made the original so much fun, though it's not perfect.
When I first learned that BioWare, developer of Neverwinter Nights, released back in 2002, was handing the reigns over to Obsidian Entertainment for the sequel, I was a bit skeptical. I mean, it seemed that every game BioWare has released has been from the very good to great range. Titles like the Baldur's Gate series, the first Neverwinter Nights and its expansions, Jade Empire, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic were all given great reviews and remain highly enjoyable and fun, even years later.
Neverwinter Nights is one of my favorite games, and I was a little worried when I found out BioWare wouldn't be developing its sequel. Thankfully, my worries turned out to be unfounded, as Obsidian Entertainment (who also collaborated with BioWare on Knights of the Old Republic II), stuck with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" formula for Neverwinter Nights 2, and added a few new features to make this an enjoyable game for both fans of the original Neverwinter Nights, as well as RPG fans in general.
One of the main things that made Neverwinter Nights stand out was its deep character customization, and NWN2 is no different. Using the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 rules, NWN2 offers all of the races and classes from the original, as well as a few new ones. The first thing you do when creating a new character is to choose his or her race. In addition to the standard human, half-elf, gnome, dwarf, and half-orc, NWN2 introduces new races and sub-races including: tieflings, aasimars; sun, wood, and dark elves; and gold and dark dwarves, among others. 
After choosing a race, you must choose a character class. Character classes range from combat classes like barbarian and monk, to spellcasting classes like druid and sorcerer. While most races are better suited for certain classes (elves make good mages, half-orcs make good barbarians, for example), you can choose any combination of race and class. Want to make a dwarven mage? You can. Want to create a gnome fighter? You can do that, too. As you level up, you can also choose to add a new class to your character, meaning if you start with a wizard, you can add some of the benefits of the warrior class later on, if you so desire. The Shadows of Undrentide, which was an expansion to the original Neverwinter Nights, introduced prestige classes, and they are available here in NWN2. Prestige classes are advanced character classes, and are usually just a combination of two other classes. All have requirements that must be met before you can switch to them, however.
When creating your character, you must also choose his/her alignment. Choices range from Good to Neutral to Evil, and there are variations of each. Alignment restricts what type of class you can choose for your character, as well as how other characters in the game world view you. What made Neverwinter Nights so good, and it returns here in the sequel, is the amount of choices available throughout the story for your character. There are almost always multiple different ways to go about solving a quest. For example, a quest early on in the game involves two different races fighting for control over some land. You can side with one race, and kill every member of the other race, or try to negotiate a peace settlement between the two. Upon completion of a quest, Evil characters might try to intimidate NPC's into giving them more reward money, while Good characters might choose to not receive any reward at all.
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