Yet another AD&D based RPG...

User Rating: 6.5 | Neverwinter Nights 2 (CD-ROM) PC
I really wanted to love Neverwinter Nights 2. I was excited when I started playing, but suddenly lost all interest. Various reviews point out how great the "story" is. Really? Don't you get to a point when one RPG (especially from Bioware) is just like the last one? I guess if you can actually read straight forward fantasy novels (like Terry Brooks, Harry Potter), than this can be interesting. But I really don't care anymore about the Great War of So-and-So, and the terrible Wizard of Yzen or something. The plots are always the same, they just change around the ridiculous fantasy names. And, in the end, you are either fetching something, or killing someone. Do people actually read all the books laying around in this game?? And if so, why?? Try something that is worthwhile like Faulkner, or Tolstoy, or anything else.

The game tries, like KOTR, to have the player make decisions that "affect the story", but they never do. If you are told about the evil Goblin King terrorizing yet another boring village you've stumbled into, you are going to kill that Goblin King. Maybe from your sense of duty, or maybe just to get the big payment from the town, but you are going to kill the Goblin King. Or maybe, just maybe, instead, you just steal something, or some other dumb way around the problem.

Half-life 2 has had a better "story" so far. I, at least, care a little for Alex Vance.

And then there's the battle system. I really cannot understand why every year we get a new batch of games built on the AD&D system. With all that computer power, can't they come up with something better than rolling dice for you?? The system is just boring now, and it's often unnecesarily hard to figure out what's going on.

Anyway, if you love generic fantasy plots, and the same old battle system that's been around for, like, 30 years, this is your game. Otherwise, just keep hoping someone can revive the RPG genre.