Ahh this takes me back.
Neverwinter Nights 2 is probably as close as we will get to a true follow-up to the Baldurs Gate series. It’s surprising, unexpected but deeply satisfying that this is the case.
Many people (myself included) expected a single player campaign that had more in common with its prequel than Bioware’s earlier games. The original campaign, while lengthy, served as more of an example of what the toolset could do rather than the epic tale across the Forbidden Realms that many fans were hoping for. Here we have quite the opposite.
While Neverwinter Nights peaked after it was released in subsequent expansions and community developed modules, here Obsidian have unloaded everything and developed an engaging plot driven CRPG to rival Knights of the Old Republic.
Sure it has well documented issues such as a poor camera and performance problems but these fall away and become secondary as you begin to get deeper into the game. One thing that has given me confidence is Obsidian’s commitment to produce patches, something I wasn’t so sure about after their last game (blame Lucasarts).
For me it takes the best parts of Baldurs Gate (party based combat), Knights of the Old Republic (story and characters) and the original Neverwinter Nights (toolkit and multiplayer) to create a game that’s compelling, fun and hard to close down. And the best thing of all? Open up the toolkit and it’s just the beginning.