It has good solo campaigns, with engaging stories, exception with the exception of mask of the betrayer which is awesome enough to come close to the level of a Planescape Torment. It has a lot of classes, different builds etc... which make it very interesting gameplay wise. Though if you played PnP D&D you'll feel quite unsatisfied with some classes choices and their implementation, hopefully the community has tried to fix it over time. However... This game is ridden with bugs and glitches that Obsidian (thanks probably to atari) wasn't able to fix. Some feats aren't working and cannot be fixed by modders, movement isn't always responsive, camera remains quite terrible, the UI is average at best, some models are truly ugly and so are textures. The toolset is quite hard to handle and bugy as well. Overall the game leaves a taste of something that could have been legendary and awesome, but that was rushed out and never polished as it should have deserved, which is quite a shame. The multiplayer is quite ambiguous, if you like competition and a balanced game for PvP you'll soon find out that the game is poorly balanced. On the other side like its PnP model, the game shines in cooperative gameplay. If you want to get online, it still have an active community, but mostly based on roleplay servers. I love this game and played it to death but its never worth 5 stars. You've been warned.

I was a bit hesitant after reading the reviews about bugs. I modded the game based on the very helpful Lilura blog (https://lilura1.blogspot.com/p/neverwinter-nights-2-mods.html) and it works like a charm. My character has reached Neverwinter and started doing a few quests there; not sure how advanced in the game I am but probably not much (level 6). Only bugs encountered so far: freeze at times during geographical transfers (reload last save, works fine). Now for the good: - story is well done and well-narrated - NPCs are believable, their personalities and motivations clear and logical - companions are amazing: watching the arguments between them is great fun. Dialogues are witty, characters have depth and their personalities are very well done and diverse. As a leader, you feel challenged by their opposing viewpoints and by the need to manage their conflicting opinions. - sure, graphics are older, but that does not prevent immersion; the mods make them better and honestly, they are quite decent to start with. Night-day cycle is nice to watch. - it seems choices are available to deal with certain situations, no hack & slash, which helps the RPG side of the game - full D&D 3.5 rules, which allow for amazing customization: tons of classes and skills When comparing to my favorites RPG games (Skyrim, Oblivion, and Morrowind), which I really love because of the open world nature, I was shocked to realize how much Neverwinter Nights is superior in many aspects, in spite of the more linear game system: - the complexity of the game system itself is vastly superior; where the Elder Scrolls have limited variables (attributes and skills), NWN 2 has many. - the story is much better than Skyrim's (Morrowind was equally great and Oblivion was ok. Skyrim was definitely inferior to previous Elder Scrolls games). This game just made me realize that storytelling and depth have unfortunately been substituted for graphics and gameplay. Not a sign of progress in my opinion.

Let's get one thing straight. The original campaign for this game is full of stock RPG tropes that haven't been taken seriously since the 16-bit era: A stereotypical villain, the doomed hometown, A loudmouthed drunken dwarf, a "cute" demon girl, everything. It also has some of the worst voice acting this side of Trolls 2... And it is so glorious. I'm serious, this game is great, it packs in so many cliches that it crosses into total self-awareness. This game is a fantasy romp that is nearly impossible to take seriously, like an actual D&D campaign. And then the expansion hits. I won't dare spoil it, it'd be like spoiling Planescape:Torment for someone. All I will say is get ready for a hell of a mood whiplash. If you played NWN1 and thought your customization options were too limited, you'll love this game. 15 base classes and 24 prestige classes ensure you'll never run out of builds, though, sadly, the adventures you can take them through are pretty limited. Here's hoping this re-release might bring some life to the modding community. So for all my gushing why only 4 stars? Well, this game suffers from, even on it's final build, a myriad of bugs. Honestly, expect crashes. But I never hesitated to boot it back up and keep going where I left off. I'd say get this game, and to any prospective module creators out there, I'd be happy to test your creations out. With all the other fondly remembered D&D adaptations. It seems a shame to let this one be overlooked.

In many ways NWN2 exceeds what NWN1 did as far as mechanics, graphics, and game play in the best way possible that still gives many modern games a run for it's money. However, it also makes everything that was terrible in NWN1 worse in ways that should never have allowed the game to be released in the first place. Network issues, ATI graphic card incompatibility, unfixable jittery camera issues, and the worst player/camera control that will cause you to kick a small puppy in frustration. There are 3rd party fixes that take care of everything but the horrible player control. Unfortunately none have been modified to be compatible with the GOG release... yet. It's a great game with some fantastic expansion and if you can get around the gaping flaws, you will be able to enjoy it.

I cannot even begin to guess the number of hours I've put into NWN2. The OC is enjoyable, MotB is one of the best CRPG experiences you will ever have. SoZ introduces the 'create your own party' feature which adds much to gameplay; and MoW is an enjoyable adventure with well written companions and an interesting 'evil' path through the story. But where this game shines is in the mods over on NWVault and Neverwinter Nexus. There aren't as many as there are for the original NWN, but there are some of outstanding quality. Make the game look gorgeous with better trees, landscapes, cloaks, better looking weapons and Xaltar's Facelift Pack. Add more romance to the OC with the Gibberling 3's pack. More variety with class packs, more animal companions, United Colours, and Charlie's Item and Appearance Changer. Then load up the game, and enjoy some superb content from a small but still active building community - Tales from the Lake of Sorrows campaign, Wizard's Apprentice, Path of Evil, North of the Moonsea, and The Maimed God's Saga. Then there's Isle of Shrines, Fanglewood, Trinity, Traveller, The CrystalMist Campaign, Icewind Dale, and so, so many more that I feel bad for not mentioning them all. Dive in, you seriously won't regret it :)