GamingTrend Gives Neverwinter Nights 2 80% for Being Fixable

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Without further ado, here's an excerpt:

These requirements are obviously pretty steep, and even if you have the hardware to handle the game, there are still some pretty significant framerate hits that defy explanation. Despite several patches to resolve this, the issues still persist as well. The texture work in the game varies wildly, as does the environmental looks and effects. Put simply, this game wants you to drive a Ferrari, but will only give you the speed of a Mustang.

Despite some of the flat and lifeless character models, some areas of the game will really wow you. For instance, the foliage in the game looks pretty fantastic in some areas, as do some of the larger beasts and the effects they unleash on your party. In fact, the spell lighting effects are probably the best looking portion of the game. As casters face off against each other, the spell effects really kick into high gear. Fire will fill a corridor, only to be ablated against your protective spells. Magic missiles cast off a blue light as they whip around, unerringly hitting their target, creating a splash effect on impact. If you are a caster class, you’ll love the spell effects in this game. Similarly, some of the armor and weapon designs in the game are top notch, with intricate detail on every facet. The problem is that the graphics just feel half finished. It is as if some of the graphics got the full treatment, and others are simply placeholder. I shudder to think that is the case, but given the mismatched system requirements and the mismatched results, it is almost the only conclusion.

The nice part about Neverwinter Nights 2 is that the graphics can be fixed. All of the graphics can be modded, and even the camera can be tamed to a degree (we will talk about the camera in-depth shortly). With enough time either the modders or Obsidian will fix the game.

So the graphics sucks but can be fixed by modders, so let's give it 80%, right? Rubbish. That's just illogical, no matter what we think of the graphics itself. Right. Fixable games are rated 80% these days. I remember the times when an 80% score was a reason to brag on the box in some publishers' minds. These days they will say it sucks and still give 80%.

Read the rest at GamingTrend.

 

Perhaps they gave it and 80% because they knew that there would be tons of modders willing to try to fix it?

 

Wouldn't that belong in a different category, such as "being attractive to modders willing to fix the game?" Some reviewers are afraid to say a bad word about the game, even if they give a bad rating. Others will point out the flaws but minimise the impact by still giving a high rating. The latter is the case with GamingTrend, it seems.

 

I don't care so much about the graphics, but some other things in this review made me laugh out. They gave Controls 80/100, which in my opinion is more like 50/100. You have to click 3 times to give a companion a simple command like "stand you ground" - which you have to do frequently, because the AI is really far from being "thankfully-competent". Let's not even mention the crappy inventory system; trying to find something you vaguely remember aquiring earlier through four pages of undifferentiable icons is almost an exercise in futility. Or the stupid spell autotargetting system; countless times I cast buffs on different party members than the one I was aiming for, or even on enemies. I wonder who cameup with that brilliant invention.

As about the game being "a true role playing game" ... maybe in comparision with Diablo. No time in game, this already kills a lot of immersion. The rest system... I understand that in multiplayer it has to be instantaneous, but there was no reason for such in the single player campaign. At least provide 8 hour rest as an option, even if it is not the default one. Oh, wait, there is no way to tell the time in game, I guess you cannot implement this. Moreover, the game is apparently balanced with the idea that you will rest after each encounter, otherwise I cannot explain the failure to include healing kits in the merchant's inventory, or the relative scarcity of healing potions. Max hit points on level-up, without even the option of rolling ... so now all the characters with the same class and con have the same number of hitpoints. That really creates scope for role-playing. The list could go on and on.

Let's not even go into the incredibly stupid dialogue setup... come on, how hard can it be to flag a certain conversation path in the companion dialogue as already taken, so they do not sound like broken toys repeating the same things all the time? I gave up trying to talk to the companions early in the game, since it seems there is no point, really, all have the same conversation options they had to start with. I heard claims that the party interaction is better than that in BG2... yeah, right, IMHO is not even as good as in the first NWN expansions (HotU, particularly).

Well, I like the game enough to play it, but I cannot feel but that it could have been a lot better; if only some thought had been put into some simple things. As it is, I hope the user created modules will shine in the comparison to the OC, because I think that the potential is there.

 

Unfortunately I just can't see enough good in the various posts on NWN2 to actually spend the money to buy it. "Bummer" I was really looking forward to NWN2, but with all of the problems and low opinions, poor reviews by some of those whom I respect, I will just give it a pass, and stay with Oblivion untill something else good comes along.