A pretty great game overall, but not without its flaws
There's the great, the bad, and the ugly. For some reason, NW2 (to me) is full of extremes. For every great moment, there is an equally 'silly' moment. But for every flawed gameplay mechanic, there's something to be liked.
If I were to visualize NW2 as a pie chart, the most significant aspects for review would probably be story, gameplay, appearance, and overall-experience. Story-wise, this game, like most of everything else, is a hit or miss. Akin to what I previously mentioned, there were times in the game when I absolutely loved what was going on. At the same time, however, there were certain parts where I was displeased with story/character direction.
Gameplay rings a similar tone. Item customization, a great level-up template, and some great items/spells made the experience rather fun. Also, however, were portions in the game that felt a tad...'awkward'. For 'one fight' in particular, for instance, you are expected to control around 7-8 individual characters. Given the somewhat incompetent AI (and the nature of the combat system in general), this seemed unreasonable, and quite frankly, a bit sloppy.
My biggest complaints with the game would probably include some moments in story direction, bugs/glitches (though currently, they are fixed with the autopatcher), and the graphics. In short, NW2 is -not- a pretty game, yet at the same time, it devours your system requirements. Honestly from start to finish, there just wasn't anything really pretty about the game (spells withstanding). I'd like to emphasize here, however, that 'ambiance' is really more important to me than 'pretty graphics'. In other words, stiff-character-models really do serve to hamper overall immersion (in my opinion).
Overall, as I've previously mentioned, the game is rather good. I enjoyed much of it, and there's a definitely a lot to like (especially since it is so lengthy). Despite the faults I've listed, ultimately, I did not feel that they were significant enough to ruin the overall experience. I do have to admit, however, that the 'aftertaste' of NW2 is not quite as 'sweet' as I'd have hoped, though admittedly, at the same time, it really wasn't all that bad.