14 DAY TRIAL // 
The fantasy world of the Forgotten Realms knows no bounds. Here, everything is possible as it is the home of the tabletop RPG Dungeons & Dragons. For more than 30 years the Realms obeyed precise rules, offered shelter to memorable races and allowed the creation of notable characters to the world of Forgotten Realms novels and RPGs. One of the players' favorite locations is the Faerun continent which resembles the Middle Age Western Europe. The fictional continent was the primary setting for games such as Baldur's Gate (West), Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights (the Northwest generally referred to as "The North").
Four years after the release of one of the most appreciated RPGs ever, the inhabitants of the magical realm call again for the help of a hero. They promise a new epic adventure in a quest for everlasting glory and the survival of an already shaken by war land. Will the sequel rise to the splendor of its predecessor? We'll find out in Neverwinter Nights 2.
Concept Based on the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Edition rules developed by Wizards of the Coast, the Neverwinter Nights 2 offers a wide variety of choices when it comes to character customization. There are 8 races (out of which 5 come with sub-races too), 12 classes to choose from at the beginning of the adventure and 17 prestige classes to be unlocked by achieving special requirements each coming with its own outfit (tailored to meet all of the class necessities). Aside from appearance options (skin color, hair and facial traits) there's also the selection of moral alignment (nine alternatives that mix good, evil, neutral, lawful and chaotic traits that shift during the game according to the players' actions), background, voice (mostly for the fun of customizing even more the character as you barely notice its voice acting as it engages in combat) and a long list of skills that influence the character's every action - from battles to pick pocketing deeds. These are specific to certain classes, thus a rogue, let's say, will have a harder time learning a wizardry skill (2 points needed instead of 1). Of course there wouldn't be much of a RPG game if there were no abilities set. So the producers award the promising hero with 32 points to be distributed anyway the player wants among strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom and charisma in addition to the preexisting race set abilities.
To deal with its foul enemies, the hero can team up with up to 3 companions that will fight by his side and share their life stories if asked giving a plus of complexity to the already intricate main story. Especially important is that you can also take control of your companions, give them some things to carry for you or just have a little chat with them. What's more, some of your actions will also have an influence on them and if you constantly go up against their desires, they may turn against you. If feel the need to tell everybody what to do (up to a maximum of 5 actions) you can just pause the game (spacebar - easy isn't it?) and take your time or broadcast commands. Unfortunately, the AI sometimes loses it when traveling through narrow cavern corridors (well, more action for you).
In battle, the promising team can make use of close combat or range weapons as well as magic and potions. Each character needs a few moments to regain its strengths after each attack, offering the game a fade trace of a turn based game combat system. Of course as you level up (and all your companions level up with you) there are less seconds of waiting and more powerful blows and spells.
The game continues the tales of its predecessor so expect to encounter familiar faces and places. No matter how good a fighting team is, the player should also keep in mind that some missions are unlocked only with the help of a less combative character, like a bard, rogue or druid. If you're new to the series, just go with the recommended abilities (big "recommend" button in the lower right corner) and you'll have yourself a worthy neutral fighter - you'll have the chance of rating the other classes as you meet up with possible companions. To prevent any unnecessary problems that may appear along the way, restrain any customization for after you get a clue on the story and get better acquainted with the gameplay and the most important thing - SAVE a lot and on different slots cause there is more than one way a short action can go (yeap, dialogs in particular).
Story The complex and dangerous fantasy world of Forgotten Realms is once again the set for amazing adventures. Just when you'd think the cities recovered from the war with the Luskans, a new threat unleashes. Deep in the Mere of Dead Men almost all the dark forces within the Realms gather to serve a legendary evil. Five generals of destruction are summoned to lead their attacks in an attempt to deal with Lord Nasher and his elite warriors, the Neverwinter Nine and in the process bring the Neverwinter city to its knees.
From the small village of West Harbor comes the hope of the North. A mysterious relic may be the key to survival and a promising hero (who else?) is asked to make good use of it. Hence begins an epic tale of noble, devious and evil actions. Many will try to stand in the way of the hero, but some will put their skills in his service and follow him in battle, adding up to the complexity of the already intricate story with their tales. Starting on a path that leads to the capital city, the not fully trained hero discovers the plot one step at a time and sometimes is offered short glimpses of the future dangers that lurk in caves, on mountain trails, back alleys and such.
Gameplay The biggest challenge in the beginning of the game is to customize your character. There are so many options and it would take you hours just to get a clue of what they are all doing. Stay focused, don't loose it. If you aren't exactly new to the Forgotten Realms then you may stand a chance ending up with a close enough to your dreams hero. But if it's your first experience here? just take the time to introduce yourself to the world under default appearances and features.
The second shock you'll most likely suffer will be the one caused by the camera controls. Now this was absolutely driving me crazy. In the half of hour that I tried to find a way of positioning it in a convenient, modern looking way, I felt like giving everything up at least 4 times. But then it struck me: the old RPG camera angle was to be perfect (as no other could offer a far-ranging view while also allowing easy movement, yet these are awesome when it comes to screenshots). With the camera angle now set, I was finally able to enjoy the pleasant aspects of the game.
As a short training, you get to participate in the annual competition of the High Harvest Fair. The contest involves 4 events - fighting (the Brawl), bow shooting (Archery Competition), using magic and finding three hidden feathers guided by the verse of a short poem (the Knaves' Challenge). You are to win 3 out of 4 events so don't worry about not having thief skills yet, although these prove rather useful later as you'll encounter traps and locked chests. With the Harvest Cup won, you're finally on the way to inspire new tales for the bards of the realm to tell for years to come.
Long loading times may hinder your adventures (fortunately that only happens when entering a new area, unfortunately, any building is also considered a new area, but there aren't too many that you can visit right away). For the main quest and the companion stories you will be granted with cinematic moments including dialogs and hints on the story that slowly unravels. The downside to this is that these also involve the loadings. Yet the story soon captivates you and you tend to accept them as short well deserved breaks, just like you'll also get over the curious save system that always asks you to enter a name for the game even if you overwrite an existing one. Oh well, F12 (quicksaving) will have to do.
As you fight your way through the lands of the Forgotten Realms, you come across interesting characters that want to accompany you for a while until they find their own way in the immense world (or you decide to give up on their services). These are all different, unique even, and they all offer you a glimpse of what the rest of the classes and races do best. Don't be scared of loosing them in battle, for as long as one of the characters in the party survives a battle, the others will be brought back to life as soon (well one or two seconds after) as the fight is over and you can use the resting option to heal them all up in no time (ok, ok - five seconds).
Although the game follows sometimes a linear gameplay when it comes to discovered locations (yes, your map gets updated with every new place you find out about, you can't just go wherever you wish), it offers quite a few totally different paths for your hero to take, from the choice of companions to opposing solutions to advance through the main story. The best freedom feeling is offered by your choice in words. You can use the diplomacy skill, try to intimidate others or just decide to kill them. Of course there's also the chance to let things go as naturally as possible, but you know what they say "No pain, no gain".
The complexity of the world is beautifully enhanced and put into the light by the multitude of side missions. As any self-respecting hero, you are asked to take care of tons of the problems the common people have and in a way, make everything right in the entire region. Every action has repercussions so the more you do for the world, the more people know about you and praise you. Too bad these stories are not supported with in-engine videos or even voice acting, but these are nevertheless exciting adventures (most challenging at times).
Weapons, armor pieces, magical jewelry are abundant and there is a wide variety to choose from and even the possibility of creating your own (although you do have to use a known recipe). I found most useful the magic recipients - although they are extremely expensive to buy - as they can reduce the weight of the object they contain. You most definitely won't be disappointed by the spells available. Every level gained as a practitioner in the art of magic unlocks new, more powerful spells. If no new spell appeals to you, you can simply charge a known one to a higher level that offers an enhanced effect. There are even classes that have specific spells (such as the Warlock) so there is no chance you can't find a suitable magical incantation from the list of different magic schools.
Video Aurora is no more. Long live Electron! To tell the truth, the Neverwinter Night's engine Aurora was merely upgraded to keep up with the new technological developments in terms of hardware. However, the result was not the most spectacular one. The game offers reasonably looking characters and landscapes, but nothing to compensate for the high system requirements.
Nevertheless, I have to admit there are some huge regions (caves mostly) that are pretty impressive in terms of level design. And there are the spell effects. Now this is what really drags the visual aspect up. Aside from the looks of it, the magical abilities also deal a good amount of damage so I'm sure you can't miss this aspect.
Sound What can I say? The game sounds good. It could have been better but as long as you stick to the main story and companions' troubles you'll enjoy excellent voice acting (not that it sounds bad in side missions? it's just not there). Not hearing your so carefully selected character's voice, except from the raging into battle, may hurt your pride, but I'm sure you'll survive as the dialogs tend to go on and on and hearing what you just read would only make you waste more time (and believe me the story is very catchy). The whole atmosphere of the game is beautifully completed with appropriate orchestral music that keeps up with the pace of the action.
Multiplayer As within the first title of the series, the player is offered the possibility of using the multiplayer option of the game to enjoy the story of the single player campaign along with up to 3 human companions (of course everybody will only be in charge with his own character so be careful and practice before venturing into the online game). If the original campaign is not enough, Obsidian Entertainment provided the Toolset Box to create your own adventures and map designs, adding up to the replay possibilities of the game. Surely the MODing community will have its hands full for a while.
Conclusion I still wonder whether BioWare would have done a better job at this or not. Then again, probably not seeing they have other titles on their mind. After all Obsidian Entertainment did continue accordingly the Neverwinter legacy. It's only fair to appreciate their efforts to come up with such an elaborated story and dozens of captivating side quests. The videos that accompany the main story dialogs resemble cutscenes, adding the much needed dramatic aspect to the gameplay (their experience with Knights of the Old Republic: The Sith Lords pays off). The control of party members is not something revolutionary, yet it was a big disadvantage to the previous games in the series, hence a necessary thing to be implemented here.
Neverwinter Nights 2 is definitely (thus far) the best game based on the universe of D&D. The fan community will certainly welcome the new addition to the epic RPG family. Now I'm not so sure about the potential newcomers in this field. You'd need a lot of understanding to go with the flow in the beginning, yet with a fairly big amount of patience the official campaign presents a surprisingly fascinating epic adventure that follows the evolution of a farmer to a renown, tale inspiring hero.
