You're right, but you've missed the point...
Ok, so I've just reached Act III and tried to complete every quest so far, so I think I can now comment on this...
Graphics?
Dungeon Siege is sooo pretty compared to NWN, but that's all it is... there's no substance to it. The engine for NWN is far better than the Seige Editor, most likely becuase of the tiled use of graphics in NWN. Also NWN allows for far more character actions the DS (i.e. spells, thievery, etc) and can be expanded on. So you take the good with the bad.
Gameplay/Story?
NWN is a story RPG in the grand sense. DnD was always meant to be played as a heroic campaign and you and your party being the hero(s). There's always an evil bad guy (i.e. foozle) and your job is to go take him out, be it for good, money, etc. (At least in the circles I play in.) Going around and killing random people and just generally running amok pretty much ruined the game and destroyed any sense of story the DM was trying to convey. Also, how many DnD campaigns have you ever played "twice". There's no going back once you've done it. Same here.
Now if you've ever played a module in DND (not little story idea campaigns, but the actual modules), then you know they are very linear. Anybody that goes too outside the box, and the modules over. Done with. It's up to the DM to see if he can recover, but in most cases, the adventure is over. In fact I remember one module where one of the players was upset that item A wasn't in box B. He was one of these guys that memorized every module and would throw a fit if you changed stuff around. He would always make a beeline to the best item, always avoid the trap in Room AA, (becuase "he" knew where it was, not his character) and pretty much ruining it for everyone else.
In NWN, there is no DM to put you back on track when you start doing things you shouldn't. Therefore there is no context to allow for this within the game. (DM Mode/MP changes all this, but we're focussing on the SP here.) Given the vast scope of what the game "does" allow you to do, you have to allow for the fact that it needs to point you in the general direction of the story, however forceful that needs to be. If you don't like the story, stop playing. You can't change it, and even if you could, what would it be changed to? Bioware put in a lot of content (what at least 20-30 main and sub quests in each chapter?) which your character can choose to do or not. Some of it is aimed for specific character classes so it's impossible to do the Wizards Quest in Act 1 unless you're a Wizard. Also, exploring the dialogue trees and gaining insight to Aribeths dilema on recent events and how she deals with it is well thought out.
Ok I've written a lot and if you're still with me, cool.
So to wrap it up:
Yes, it's total Monty Haul.
Yes, there are alot of lameoids who want the head of something or other.
Yes, Good vs Evil/Chaotic vs Lawfull could have been much better implemented.
Yes, the story/dialogue is "fixed", but then it wouldn't be a module.
However, if you're looking for a good roleplaying experiencing with a grand scope of a story and actual character development and change, you'll enjoy playing this game.
In MP mode with a DM to address the points above, and new modules/adventures to romp around in, it completely changes the game and is almost transcendental in it's RPG fun factor.
- Evil Homer
