Neverwinter Nights 2 – The second independent project of the company Obsidian Entertainment, whose staff is listed Black Isle Studios And Blizzard Entertainment. The first, I recall, was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, It turned out, to put it mildly, not too good. Order -bearing BioWare, He created the first part of the hit about the Jedi, helped in the development of continuation, but the result was deplorable: a poorly elaborated plot, poor level design, boring quests and backward graphics completely ruined the impression of gameplay. The developers undertook a new attempt to gain a foothold in the RPG-IGR market by making the second part of another brainchild of Canadian craftsmen- Neverwinter Nights. Instead of space bases, it will now have to protect the dungeons, and necromancers will play the role of evil Siths. However, in the universe Star Wars, that in Forgotten Realms, Evil does not doze off and makes plans, how to capture this world, simultaneously making bastards to everyone.
Hero from the swamp
Of course, it depends only on us whether the evil will be stopped or the local end of the world will come. Quite familiar scenario for most games. Only now, on its basis, sometimes it is possible to come up with a story from which it is impossible to tear yourself away until you know everything to the end. Unfortunately, K Neverwinter Nights 2 This does not apply. The local story cannot offer anything but the standard set of plot moves.
Take at least the WG Casino review very beginning. The native village of the protagonist celebrates the holiday of the crop;Everyone has fun, rejoice, the mayor of the settlement gives the awards to the winners of the competitions. And suddenly a horde of bloodthirsty dwarfs, killing everyone unpronunciations, flies from nowhere (I’m afraid to even remember how much RPG began in this way). As always, the salvation of a small homeland in your hands. The location is methodically cleaned from enemies, and all action is crowned with a heroic fight on the bread field. But it looks like this: a script video shows a line of 10 monsters crawling out of the forest. As soon as the entire detachment going into a suicidal attack will be destroyed, you will be shown the second same party of cannon fodder, then the third … In theory, an atmosphere of an unequal battle with a numerically superior enemy should be created, which wants to destroy the remnants of the local militia with you. In fact, this all turns into a beating of three dozen stupid clones. Further – more. It turns out that evil spirits ran in for a reason, but in search of a certain silver fragment. Allegedly he was found after the battle that destroyed the village several years ago. After this cradle is in your hands, it’s time to go to the city of Neverwinter. It is there that the secret of the ancient artifact will be to solve.
In their interviews, the authors made the main emphasis that in all modern RPG the plot is built on the principle of the original chosenness of the protagonist. Like, he gets the opportunity to believe the fate of the world too early. “This is unrealistic! But in our game you are from a simple resident of a provincial village located next door to the swamp, you will gradually raise a real hero!” – Paphino assured us at Obsidian Entertainment. How their offspring differs from other similar games in practice, it is impossible to understand. Awareness of chosenness comes after you almost cut off the entire army that has attacked the settlement, and does not leave until the end.
Quests are divided into basic (plot) and optional. However, both are equally boring and secondary. Tasks can be very different: find a stolen thing, save hostages, knock out money from the debtor. However, as a rule, everything comes down to a fight. Finding a quest item means cleaning the entire dungeon or mansion and in the farthest room to discover the coveted chest. Free the captured refugees – please! It is only necessary to kill all the bandits in the camp, talk to the leader of the saved peasants and destroy a new portion of villains, materialized from nowhere. This is of course very realistic.
By the way, to the question of believability – many events in Neverwinter Nights 2 occur bypassing any logic. For example, in the middle of white day you may attack in the city center of the city from the same gang that attacked a native swamp at the beginning of the game. There is a furious battle, and at a distance of a couple of meters stand and calmly talks, the guards, completely indifferent to what is happening. Citizens pass by, without even turning their heads to the sounds of the battle. And they go, I must say, not in their pressing affairs, but obeying the will of a simple script, which sets movement from point A to point B. The daily routine? Imitation of real life? Have mercy, for these fashionable “features” contact Oblivion or Gothic 3, And we have everything in the old fashioned way!
Wherever you come with your party, they will constantly want to kill you. To the phrase “I will kill you!”, Used in various variations, you get used to the second hour of the game. It is said by everyone who is not lazy, and the formidable appearance of the four armed to the teeth of the heroes does not bother anyone. Offenders are either desperately brave, or freely stupid. The second assumption is confirmed directly in the fight when the enemy surrounds your warrior, allowing archers and magicians to shoot themselves from a safe distance. Other adversaries, standing at a distance, will humbly wait for their fate, instead of resorting to helping comrades.
Ultimately, the whole heroic story is quickly boring and begins to call the heroic yawning. Having not yet reached Neverwinter, you will not care that there were necromancers with these silver fragments and why suddenly, gathering units of undead. The situation is somewhat saved by the characters traveling with you. What is worth at least a nyesh (neeshka)-a thief-ditch with a cute face and a bore. She is constantly humiliated because of the horns on her head, and she does not remain in debt, generously talking towards others “compliments”. The stupid dwarf Helgar (Khelgar Ironfist), who simply can’t wait to break someone to a couple of ribs. When the elders talk, he always inserts something inappropriate, and this leads to a fight. Nickname does not like the face, but not because she is against bloodshed. Just does not want unnecessary troubles, which I got used to, wandering one. This couple, and even you themselves, from time to time, is trying to instruct the true Druid Elani (Elanee). She is the very personification of goodness and justice and from the heart is indignant whenever you act badly. Actually, it is precisely that each of the characters participates in a conversation makes even an empty skirmish with the next robbers interesting and lively. The structure of the dialogs themselves is also pleasing, there are many answer options, as in the first part Neverwinter Nights. Usually any conflict can be solved using your eloquence (unless, of course, the charisma parameter is well pumped, as well as the corresponding skills): diplomacy, lies, bluff or banal threats. Another thing is that after a dozen almost identical situations, peaceful methods are bored and you just begin to destroy aggressors.
Potemkin dungeons
The whole game does not leave the feeling of non -naturalness, the artificiality of everything that is happening. It seems that the world around us is not a world at all, but cardboard scenery that decorates the scene. From the path laid by the developers, you can not go into the forest and hunt animals – the cursor will take the shape of a crossed out circle. Better not get distracted and go out into that abandoned fortress, 30 meters from you at the other end of the level. Yes, the locations here are not just small, but very small. And they serve any one goal (you thought you can just go and look for ancient artifacts in the mentioned ruins? Whatever the wrong way – their visit is a purely plot). I understand that we are spoiled by multi -kilometer expanses Oblivion And the richness of the world Gothic, But even in the original Neverwinter Nights There was more game space!
Unfortunately, the local “cardboard” is expressed not only in this. For example, you stand next to the mansion: the usual such a two -story cottage. But you just have to go inside, as you, to your surprise, will find an extensive system of corridors and rooms, more corresponding to some kind of castle. Who stuttered about realism there? The interior decoration of the premises, however, looks good. Obsidian decided to improve after disgrace from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, And we will no longer see naked cubic halls. On the contrary, each room is forced by different furniture, the walls are decorated with paintings, and many all sorts of little things are lying on the tables. But all this is dead, non -interactive. The maximum that can be searched for some chests and cabinets, the rest of the items perform a decorative function. Although, probably, it is for the better, for in closed spaces the game begins to brake terribly. In such a situation I would like not to admire the interior, but rather get out.
Here on the surface, the engine shows miracles of performance, without problems drawing cute landscapes. Visually, everything looks at the hard four. High resolution textures, neat models of characters, armor sparkling in the sun. But when it comes to the battle … Alas, colorfully set fights from Neverwinter Nights Stayed in the past. You will no longer see how your warrior bounces, dodging the enemy’s attack, or substitutes the shield, blocking the blow. The close battle boils down to the methodical wave of weapons, no parrying, combat receptions are absolutely monotonous. Previously, the illusion of a real fight was created, now she migrated to the category of conventions.
With a good woman no better. A pair of sounds such as “a shock on a pan” is all that you can hear in a hand -to -hand combat, regardless of what the fighters are dressed in and what weapons are fighting. Plus constant ohi, ahi, roar and dying cries. If you do not think about all this, then the sound design seems quite tolerable. Only in the end you understand that there is no feeling of drive, everything is monotonous somehow.
But for dialogs you can forgive a lot, although not all. Most of the votes are picked up almost perfectly. And the actors are struggling to convey the character of the characters, their emotions.
Music … she is here. And as a background is completely not bad, does not bother, but does not claim anything else. Even the melody that sounds in the main menu does not catch. But musical accompaniment is perhaps the most important part in creating the right atmosphere! With longing I recall the march of the republic or the theme of Darth Malak from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic..
Pleases the almost complete absence of bugs, which is becoming increasingly rare for modern projects (stone in a caustic garden on both legs Gothic 3). The only serious mistake that managed to find is a font problem. Sometimes after a few hours of game, hieroglyphs appear instead of normal text. It is enough to restart and everything returns to normal. However, the patch must fix these flaws.
Final comments:
Neverwinter Nights 2 – Very good RPG, clearly following the canons of the genre, but completely deprived of highlights, originality. At the same time, she refuses to recognize the gameplay achievements of recent years, stuck somewhere at the level of 2000. The boring plot is slightly brightened up by the studied characters and interesting dialogs. And cute graphics and special effects are trying to hide the miserable animation. Sometimes playing becomes interesting, but most of the time you will most likely get bored, distributing kicks to dozens of people. Hope remains only on a multiplayer and a built -in designer, with the help of which anyone can create their own level or even a full -fledged game. Who knows, perhaps fans will be able to achieve what Obsidian Entertainment could not once again.
Gameplay: old-per-bosse RPG, not claiming originality. Stripping dungeons from monsters, performing simple quests and interesting dialogs.
Graphics: high -quality textures, bright special effects, clumsy animation and engine inhibitory in the rooms.
Sound: Great voice acting characters. Everything else is notorious.