Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir Review - PC

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir Review

There's not much new to say about Neverwinter Nights 2 at this point; love it or ignore it you probably made up your mind long ago. While many just didn't see the appeal, D&D faithful overlooked the game's initial faults, downloaded and installed a long string of updates, and by the time Mask of the Betrayer came around had an addictive and reasonably polished RPG on their hands. For those out there looking for still more questing, Obsidian has your number with Storm of Zehir, the second expansion for the game. It adds even more polish, greater challenge, and, most importantly, a taste of exploration.

Over Sea to Over Land

Storm of Zehir starts on the sea but, in a twist most RPG fans will see coming a mile away, it's not long before your ship's hull has been smashed on the coast and you're left with nothing but the robes (or leather armor, etc.) on your back. It's up to your wits and those of your party-mates to rise up from the wreckage and make a name for yourselves through a lengthy and challenging quest, and though you'll probably favor one character as you go roam through it, this iteration of the game really is all about teamwork.

From the beginning you're given a chance to augment your main character with three compatriots. You can take your time and painstakingly create each one, allocating every attribute point with care... or you can just load up one of a couple-dozen token characters and throw them into your party. Once created, your four amigos travel and work as a team, enabling you to explore niche specializations with each so long as the party works well as a whole. If it doesn't, it's easy enough to give one character the boot and add a new one to the mix at any town you visit.

Naturally all of the characters will be needed in combat, but the party-based aspect extends throughout the game. For example, when engaging in conversations with NPCs, if one of your characters is particularly intimidating you can choose to have him reply to a given question, or if another is particularly charming she can speak up instead, swaying the discussion however you like. You'll also rely on your teams skills when exploring the new "Over Land" map; the biggest addition to the title. Now, when you leave a town or dungeon you're thrown onto a 3-D world which you must traverse to get to your next destination.

Along the way your team's abilities will be put to the test detecting, avoiding, and ultimately fighting enemies in a series of mostly random encounters. You can attempt to avoid roaming bands of baddies, but battle will be frequent, which can make a simple trip from town-to-town a bit of a challenge. When health and spells run low you can camp out in the wilderness to recover, but you're quite likely to have your beauty sleep interrupted by a pack of ogres or the like... and we all know how that can ruin a peaceful night.

So What Else is New

Thankfully the iffy vampire-like mechanic found in Mask of the Betrayer has been done away with, but it's been replaced by a new gameplay angle that seems equally out of place. In Zehir you can start a trade route and get into the merchant business, loading up a cart with goods in one town then sending it off to another, where those goods will hopefully go for a profit. You can spend your days escorting your cart from place to place if you like, or you can leave it be and hope the roving bands of greedy miscreants leave it alone.

Somewhat more interesting are the two new races and three new classes here. Granted, most probably found the eight existing races to be plenty, so there wasn't exactly a need for two more. If you want to be a snake-person or an orc that's slightly taller, quicker, and grayer than the rest, now's your chance. The three new classes are a little more likely to pique your interest, including armor-forsaking swashbucklers, pyrotechnic-loving hellfire warlocks, and the undead-hating doomguides. They're all high-level, niche classes, but they're all a lot of fun.

Augmenting the experience is a superb soundtrack that, for once, you won't want to just put on mute. Graphically the game is much the same as it was before, and while it's not a lightweight when it comes to system demands by any means, it is running a good bit better than it did when we first reviewed it. However, we still can't get too comfortable with any of the three camera modes on offer. The RTS-like strategy view is best in battle, but won't let you scroll far enough. The over-the-shoulder character view is most immersive, but also the most constrictive. The default "exploration" view loosens things up a bit and is the best, but none are "just right."

Go Get a Questin'

If you're a fan of Neverwinter Nights 2 then this is a no-brainer purchase. The over land map section of the game is hardly revolutionary but does add a much more open feeling to the game - and finding random magic weapons and toys hiding in the trees on the way to town is always a nice bonus. Obviously if the original game and its first expansion bored you to tears this will as well, but we don't figure you'd have read this far if that were the case. 

Article by: Tim Stevens