There is an illusion covering your eyes and it just won't go away
Finished the game with
Character: Wizard, Eldritch Knight
Difficulty: Very Difficult
Usually, I start with the gameplay but there is something in the story and how the branches are handled that really bothered me up to the expansion "Mask of the Betrayer"
Story
Now, this is an age old problem for game developers for this kind of genre. How do you maintain the illusion that the character is in control while in actuality, the whole game is linear in most respects. You have a cpu instead of a Dungeon Master, and that is the first limitation. Therefore, what we have here is a branching story line. You make choices and the branch goes on and on depending upon your choice. Unlike in the previous game NWN 1, you cannot jump into a certain chapter because of one obvious reason: The development of the story depends upon your decisions going back to the start of the game.
Seems a novel idea but it just looks good on paper. The developers opted for an easy approach and it mars the whole game to the core. The illusion is this, "You make choices that will determine your character's fate." but in reality "It just seems that your choices determine your character's fate." Indeed, if you're evil, the npc's predisposition and attitude towards you will be different but that's not the point. You go through these trials, these accusations, the match in the arena, but you can't be involved in your choices because deep down inside you know that if you chose the "other" path you'll still wind up in the same place albeit with a different dialogue.
Instead of creating a totally different path, they recycled some the main story to direct the branches into the same plot point. Each choice you make, you can't help but feel, "Evil or not, this will happen, but with a different twist." Yes, there are differences but the feeling that the fate of the "whatever world" rests in your hands feels artificial at best.
Gameplay
I'm really at a loss here. I don't know exactly what they did wrong that made the gameplay a bit clunky compared to the original. Perhaps it is because NWN 2 is much more focused on the story and character development than in the hack/slash department. The fluidity of the fights in the original is really missing here.
Graphics
The art style is something that I had to get used to and in the end it is immersive in its own respect.
Overall
Flawed but satisfying nonetheless.