First act was pretty solid all around: strong ambiance, good change of scenery with some fun distractions ( arena, Never's tomb, etc). But it wen't downhill from there with overdone collect x plot devices structure for each act and fighting scores of enemies with little else in between.
Main story was no worse than any other standard in BW game: return of the Ancient evil ( main) aided by Betrayer ( secondary), which somehow makes more compelling antagonist than the former, even with motivations that end up falling apart under scrutiny.
Visuals and art were weaker than Infinity games, but this mostly falls into that rough period of transition 2D->3D.
OST was excellent, especially the main theme ( the best for Any rpg char creator)
Companions were no worse off: one dimensional, but amusing, memorable caricatures: death worshiping dwarven monk, clumsy elf, noble half orc, etc.
And for some reason, the game had less "explicit" romances, which at least added less cringe.
NWN would've been far better "trimmed down" with less dungeon delving, use of more interesting combat scenarios and removal of obsolete third act.
That said, I never got why people see "masterpieces" like KOTOR or Dragon Age as superior to it, especially by more "traditional" rpg fans.
This is the first ( and only) Bioware game where:
- stats mattered and you even had entirely different dialogue for low Int character( pretty damn hillarious at times, perfect for barbarian builds
)
- non combat skills had actual use
- good amount of character builds, with clear structure and good balance of defining/flexibility ( what PoE failed at), especially with added prestige classes
- great modding tools
