And for the rest, an excellent RPG with a fairly decent system regardless. I bought the Diamond Edition a long time ago. I really wish they didn't change the title screen's music, the original Neverwinter Nights game had a much more engaging theme. That minor gripe aside, everything about the 3 campaigns the game puts you through are suitably epic in every scenario. Your character grows throughout the campaigns relevant to the difficulty, and depending on the class you pick the challenge is always in the sweet spot. They're long journeys, with winding plots and sidequests that give your character more depth. Shadows of the Underdark puts you right into a high level campaign, with either a character you've played before or one you can create on the spot; so if you've spent time and effort into either of the previous two campaigns, you can carry your character over into the next big adventure. Thats the big thing I like about this game. It feels like a proper adventure. You can find subtle clues as one class, hidden doors as another. Locations are optional, but the rewards are usually worth it. You can pick and choose how to play the game, and replay them to discover something new as another class. An evil sorcerer and a good paladin can have different options in conversations. A smarter character can do things differently than a dumb brute. That gives the game tons of depth and re-playability. This game is only ten bucks, and its definitely worth every penny. And if you can find modules made by people to play, you can have endless fun with this. Or...you can cut out the middleman, use the Kingmaker program, and make your own epic tale. Its like the garry's mod of D&D RPG's. Highly recommended.
I've bought and played both Pandora Directive and Under a Killing Moon; the differences are more apparent once you've played both for yourself. In Under a Killing Moon, interaction between you and characters is a bit more streamlined, intended to reach a single ending. Here, its turned into a morality system, and definitely makes you think about your conversation choices. Getting the best ending is determined by your beginning conversation choices, so bear that in mind. The jokes are back, full force, and the new characters happily replace some of the ones that have left since. Tex's choices are always a riot, and you can spend a good chunk of playing this game reloading saves just to take different conversation choices to see how characters react to what you say. The tone in the second half of the game is heavily shifted; in UAKM, it felt it didn't take itself seriously. Here, it gets REALLY serious midway through. The game is also less cheap about finding things (where in UAKM, things could be REALLY hidden from view) and does have less "Open door, instantly die" cheapness. However, one particular section is UTTERLY tedious due to this. The puzzles are more fair, and there is less "assemble the annoyingly hard picture puzzle"...unfortunately, there are other annoyingly hard puzzles to balance this out. Is Pandora Directive a perfect game? No. At times you'll hate the moving controls (a bit improved over the last game, but still wretched for precise movements), and you still have to shift your perspectives often to find an object or two. Puzzles will require some patience (but the hint system has thankfully become merciful to the stupid), and saving whenever you can will become apparent soon enough. Is it a good game? Undoubtedly so. Almost the entire cast of characters pulls off a solid performance, and some have vastly improved. The atmosphere is everywhere you want it to be in a good detective story. The one-liners by Tex are still as excellent as ever, and he actually becomes less of a comedic relief (in the slapstick sense too) as he was in the last game, showing good character development. Well worth the money you put toward this one, and the same applies to UAKM (But if you wanted one where you play the underdog to the extreme, UAKM is where you should start). Highly recommended FMV gaming at its finest.
