1UP torpedoes NWN2 - 5/10
1UP torpedoes NWN2 - 5/10
Review - posted by Vault Dweller on Fri 3 November 2006, 15:34:20
Tags: Neverwinter Nights 2; Obsidian Entertainment1UP has posted an overly negative and idiotic review of Neverwinter Nights 2, giving it 5/10 because, apparently, the game has rules and that's, like, not cool and all.
As a contemporary CRPG, on the other hand, NWN2 leaves a lot to be de-sired, and that's too bad, because these are the guys who brought us Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale 2 therefore they are the guys I'm least inclined to take issue with.
But issues exist, and defining them is really no more complex than saying, "Hello D&D superchrome, buh-bye storytelling and character development (you know, those things you're supposed to "immerse" yourself in)." The idea seems to be that we're meant to rah-rah about a superabundance of feats, spells, races, prestige (advanced) classes, and math-equation tickers full of the usual "I attack you with a +4 sword of --" booooooring. Fine, sure, dandy&but when is a "role" not a "role"? Simple: when it's a rule to a fault.Icewind Dale 2 was an amazing role-playing achievement indeed. Didn't it use the same rule system, btw? Anyway...
Worse -- and blame this on games like Oblivion -- NWN2's levels feel pint-sized: Peewee zones inhabited by pull-string NPCs with no existence to speak of beyond their little playpens. Wander and you'll wonder why the forests, towns, and dungeons are like movie lots with lay-about monsters wait-ing patiently for you to trip their arbitrary triggers. As if the pencil and paper "module" approach were a virtue that computers -- by now demonstrably capable of simulating entire worlds with considerably more depth -- should emulate.That could be a valid complaint, but it's hardly enough to give the game 5/10.
In all fairness, it's not entirely developer Obsidian's fault. D&D certainly puts the "rule" in role-playing, and a madcap base of D&D aficionados is no doubt ready to string me up for suggesting that faithful is here tantamount to folly (to these people, I say: "Go for it, NWN2's all you've ever wanted and more"). Call me crazy -- I guess I'm just finally weary of being led around on a pencil-and-paper leash and batting numbers around a glorified three-dimensional spreadsheet in a computer translation that should have synthesized, not forklifted.Well, Matt, we are going to call you a moron instead. You were supposed to write a review, not to post a rant about your dislike of numbers and spreadsheets. It's possible that NWN2 is a mediocre game, but there was nothing in your "review" proving this fact.
Thanks, Noceur.
As a contemporary CRPG, on the other hand, NWN2 leaves a lot to be de-sired, and that's too bad, because these are the guys who brought us Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale 2 therefore they are the guys I'm least inclined to take issue with.
But issues exist, and defining them is really no more complex than saying, "Hello D&D superchrome, buh-bye storytelling and character development (you know, those things you're supposed to "immerse" yourself in)." The idea seems to be that we're meant to rah-rah about a superabundance of feats, spells, races, prestige (advanced) classes, and math-equation tickers full of the usual "I attack you with a +4 sword of --" booooooring. Fine, sure, dandy&but when is a "role" not a "role"? Simple: when it's a rule to a fault.
Worse -- and blame this on games like Oblivion -- NWN2's levels feel pint-sized: Peewee zones inhabited by pull-string NPCs with no existence to speak of beyond their little playpens. Wander and you'll wonder why the forests, towns, and dungeons are like movie lots with lay-about monsters wait-ing patiently for you to trip their arbitrary triggers. As if the pencil and paper "module" approach were a virtue that computers -- by now demonstrably capable of simulating entire worlds with considerably more depth -- should emulate.
In all fairness, it's not entirely developer Obsidian's fault. D&D certainly puts the "rule" in role-playing, and a madcap base of D&D aficionados is no doubt ready to string me up for suggesting that faithful is here tantamount to folly (to these people, I say: "Go for it, NWN2's all you've ever wanted and more"). Call me crazy -- I guess I'm just finally weary of being led around on a pencil-and-paper leash and batting numbers around a glorified three-dimensional spreadsheet in a computer translation that should have synthesized, not forklifted.
Thanks, Noceur.
