World Famous Comics: Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir Expansion
Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir Expansion
From: Atari Average Rating: Binding: DVD-ROM ESRB Age Rating: Teen Format: DVD-ROM Label: Atari Model: 27711 Release Date: November 18, 2008 Special Features: Direct Download Release
Product Description: Neverwinter Nights 2 (NWN2) is a computer role-playing game set in the fantasy world of the Forgotten Realms, one of the popular campaign settings of Dungeons and Dragons. It takes the player from the tiniest of villages into a sweeping tale of danger and war, chronicling their rise from a peasant to a full-fledged hero of the Realms, defending it against one of the greatest threats of the age. Build a character that suits your style of play - good or evil, chaotic or lawful, with any number of skills, feats and professions available at the click of a button. Whether lobbing fireballs and researching forgotten spells as a powerful Wizard, hacking a trail through legions of orcs as a Fighter armed only with a battle axe and your courage, or taking on the role of a Rogue that can slip into the shadows at a moment's notice, the choice is yours. Choose your alignment, your allies, your companions, and how you want your character to develop... design the character you want, role-play the way you want, and carry the battle to the enemy.
good expansion to a great game The game adds some interesting features enriching the D&D flavor, and will definately add to the creative outlet for the community to work with. while slow at times, I expect it will be a must have for those who like the community mods.
a pleasing departure in gaming I haven't played far in this game yet, but I love the fact that you can create your own characters for the multi person team. I have wanted this feature forever! I KNOW (blind faith) that I can create a perfect party, and now I can do it instead of just using NPC's...
More on the gameplay later...
Could have been so much better I recently finished playing Storm of Zehir and I have to say that I was disappointed. I was expecting an expansion along the lines of Mask of the Betrayer (detailed storyline, well fleshed out NPC's, gorgeous graphics, etc) and Zehir disappointed me quite a bit. In a nutshell:
The overland map concept is fun and it provides a really unique way of getting from point A to point B but whoever decided to incorporate random encounters needs to have their head examined. One of the reasons I loved the other NWN games is because they didn't have those types of pointless fights. And let me tell you, when you get stuck fighting 8 random battles in a row it gets extremely tedious. It also decreases the "repeat play" value (for me) because there is no way on earth that I want to waste 30 minutes fighting Batiri or Kobolds (or whatever) a second time around.
I enjoyed the trading aspect of it although I personally felt that it didn't add much to the game as a whole. If I need gold to buy almost any item of consequence then why complicate things by adding trade bars? Just stick with gold! Setting up trade routes and caravans is fun but not THAT fun.
Another disappointment was the storyline. When compared to the original NWN2 or even MOTB, Storm of Zehir just falls flat. There was very little dialogue with most NPC's and virtually no cut-scenes or inter character chatting / bickering that made NWN so much fun. You can create all of your "teammates" this time around, though, which is cool because you can really set yourself up with a well rounded group...no relying on encountering a needed mage / rogue / etc because you already have them!
One aside, before I forget: I didn't have any issues with load times. It got a little slow now and then but overall I didn't find it too bad. I did patch my game before playing it, though, so perhaps that helped.
So overall, I'd say Storm of Zehir was incredibly average...it could have been so much better than it was with just a little more effort put into it. If I could, I would have given it 2.5 stars and not 3. Here's hoping the next offering is a lot better!
Good tools, but how will they be used? Historically, Neverwinter Nights expansion packs are designed to enhance the single player experience. The original Neverwinter Nights shipped with a fairly mediocre single-player campaign, but then got two expansion packs with better single player campaigns. Similarly, Neverwinter Nights 2's first expansion pack was Mask of the Betrayer, which has one of the best single-player RPG stories out there. Storm of Zehir, the second expansion pack to Neverwinter Nights 2, bucks that trend by focusing on the toolset rather than the campaign. While it does include a single-player campaign, the real draw of this expansion pack is the innovative new uses for the game engine.
Like other expansion packs, Storm of Zehir does include a campaign with about 20-25 gameplay hours. The campaign itself is entertaining but never great, focusing more on travel, random encounters, and "FedEx" missions. There are no dialgue-based cut scenes like in previous adventures, and the missions are usually some variety of "go there, kill/retrieve that." It's an okay adventure - the type you might find for free through the Neverwinter Nights 2 community but certainly not the high quality that Obsidian has done in the past.
The real draw of Storm of Zehir is the toolset modifications. The game pushes the Neverwinter Nights 2 engine in a lot of new directions. You can now create a full party of four characters and have each of them interject their own banter in conversations with NPCs. The biggest modification is the overland map, which allows you to travel the world like an old-school RPG, dodging enemies and finding treasures as you explore the map. All of these are great tools for modders, but that's not enough to get me to increase the rating for this expansion pack. At the moment, Storm of Zehir has a lot of potential. It could revolutionize Neverwinter Nights 2 and extend the game's life for years, but it all depends on how the community uses these tools. Obsidian has provided the framework for the community to tell some great stories. Where it goes from there is up to the users.
Average Expanshion This Expansion builds up an interesting story line, but saddly Bioware spends too much time developing new content for better game imergance then making interesting npc characters and story driven "epic" events.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
