I was a pretty big fan of Baldur’s Gate 2 and Icewind Dale, and have been recently looking for a new party-based off-line RPG. Neverwinter Nights 2 just came out for the Mac, and I’ve been eyeing it. Has anyone here played it? How does it compare to other computer RPGs?
I love both NWN and NWN2 (NWN is better, assuming the Diamond version, but NWN2 is still a very good game).
But I was mediocre-at-best towards BG and BG2 so I may (or may not) have slightly different tastes than you. Never played Icewind Dale.
If you’ve played the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games, you’ll notice a similarity between them and NWN2.
The game has a great deal of “multiple choice” dialogue with quasi-cinematic camera angles. What you say and the decisions you make affect your influence with the different characters in your party, and you’ll often have to side with one character over another.
You generally just control your main character, and the other party members who join you can fight fairly well without your commands. You can take control of them and issue new commands, and even set them to “puppet mode” if you like, but it generally isn’t necessary (only the sorceress keeps doing stupid things without supervision, but I never bring her along). Combat goes pretty quickly as a result.
Overall I like the game. It doesn’t have a lot of replay value, but I really enjoyed the first run through.
By the way, there was a limited edition version when it was first released for the PC in which your main character would get a couple of bonus feats that allow him to buy special items from certain NPCs. Turns out that in the vanilla version, you can just use a couple of console commands (read: cheats) to give your character these feats anyway. GameFAQs has details.
NWN 2 is a great game, It’s been 2 years since release and I’m still playing it. I don’t know the state of it on the mac, but on PC there’s an expansion - Mask of the Betrayer which adds what is an incredible new high level campaign and epic level goodies.
The replayability lies mostly in the different type of characters you can build and play through and the community made adventures or mods. When the game came out I played through the OC (It’s a massive 40 hours or so). Took a break, and came back to play through the Pool of Radiance community mod. Took another break and played through the expansion, and I’m now playing through a few other community created mods.
The game keeps growing and getting better. Additionally there is a new premium module coming out for it in a few days - Mysteries of Westgate Looks very promising: PC Games, Wikis, Cheats, Walkthroughs, News, Reviews & Videos - IGN
I liked it. My save game saved me in a VERY crappy spot. I wish they gave more information on what prestige class you were headed towards.
I liked it. In general I found it easier than NWN, although that can change a lot depending on your class (I go for paladins, Bro for tri-classers).
Since you liked BG2 and ID, my guess is you’ll like NWN2.
I am having a lot of fun in Mask of the Betrayer. My Paladin 6, Sor 1, Red Dragon Disciple 10, Divine CHampion something is currently capable of dishing out upwards of 400 damage a round… with just the junk weapons lying around. My saves are all in the 30-50 range. 
I haven’t gotten into the weapon crafting because, well, it just might make it too easy.
But that’
s really what you get out of it. The character interactions seem pretty cool at first, but they do start getting a little simple later on. The plot is, well, actually pretty rail-roady by the end. Still fun to blast through.
Also, to really get that BG feel going, use the asterisk ‘*’ key to switch between character and strategic camera modes. Strategic camera mode works just like BG with the isometric top down view where you can scroll the camera around the area. Works specially well for cramped indoor areas, or where you need to know exactly where each PC/Enemy is located.
Parts of NWN 2 just seemed incomplete. The subplots involving some of the other characters were hinted at but basically didn’t go anywhere. I was especially disappointed in the ending of the game because it seemed so rushed and the production values were so poorly done. The end voice over sounds like something I could do here at home on my laptop with Windows recording and a cheap microphone. Even accounting for the poor production values the ending is so unsatisfying that it’s frustrating.
Masks of the Betrayer does have a better ending at least. Though the NPCs you get attached to barely make an appearance in MotB. In fact there’s only one NPC who makes an appearance worthy of his actions in NWN 2. I really hated learning second hand the fates of some of my favorite NPCs from the NWN 2. Really disappointing. Though having an anthropomorphic bear as a member of my party kind of made up for it.
Marc
I think I’ll start Neverwinter Nights over again when I get some free time. I liked it and got stuck at that crappy save game.
I never got into weapon crafting, though. So many REALLY good weapons lying about, I didn’t know what to throw away and what to keep and how or what to craft it with.
NWN2 is fine if you like to play the classic hero. If you want to play neutral or evil, you’re pretty much out of luck. NWN2 is absolutely balls if you want to actually play your own way. Many integral “choices” aren’t actually choices at all. You’re either a cutthroat thief/greedy bastard, or a psychotic thug. If you’re not one of those, there’s no avenue for a believable storyline beyond the typical “good guy” story choices.
In fact, quite often, the game forces you to choose dialogue options that an evil or greedy character would never pick. I believe after the 4th time my lawful evil character was forced to do some act of altruism while not given the option of [Lie] or anything like that, I quit trying to be evil. It was very disappointing.
Otherwise, it’s a pretty good game.
I agree, there’s not much room for evil. I always play a lawful good character in computer/console games because of this. I feel bad with the “murder everyone” options when “tell blatant lies and extort them out of all their money, build a wizards tower and take over the world” is a perfect option (yeah I took taht one a little too far but you get the point). I like to play the cunning evil character that manipulates things behind the scenes and then gets sneaks himself into the situation right when he can sway it to his benefit. Unfortunately making campaigns like that is a bitch (I know, I tried, so many variables to deal with).
But either way NWN2 is a really good game, if you played NWN1 (note really a spoiler but) deekin makes a guest appearence in Neverwinter, which is cool to me at least.
MOTB is even better… even if it does feel like a retweaked version of Planescape: Torment at some points.