Neverwinter Nights 2 comes to OS X

A true RPG stays faithful to the D&D history with a beautiful build on the Mac

By Steve Toyama

There have been countless games that have been loosely based or strongly influenced by the medieval world of Dungeons & Dragons but there are only a handful that adhere to the rules governed by the official D&D and Forgotten Realms ruleset. Neverwinter Nights 2 is one of these games and perhaps this fact alone makes it more appealing than your average RPG.  Now that NeverWinter Nights 2 is available on the Mac OS, everyone on Mac and/or PC can play.

At first glance, especially if you've never touched a players handbook, chances are you'll be overwhelmed by the amount of depth and scope a game like this offers. This, though, is the reason why the creators of Dungeons & Dragons have been able to generate and maintain such a loyal fan base.

The adventure that awaits you in Neverwinter Nights 2 starts right at character creation. Will you choose to be a noble Paladin fighting evil with a merciless sense of justice? Or will you create a cunning Rogue looking for the next opportunity to backstab, steal, and vanish? These are the types of choices that you will be making right at the beginning, even before the primary story begins.


The story within Neverwinter Nights 2 is extremely engaging whether or not you're a veteran of D&D or have played Neverwinter Nights before, you'll be pulled in. The decisions you make along your journey will ultimately affect not only the outcome of the story itself but your relationship with the companions you encounter along the way. It allows you to truly role-play your character in the traditional sense.




The game will always give you the option to use skills such as diplomacy, intimidation, or bluff when communicating with the various characters in the game. These skills are actual numbers which you can increase with the amount of skill points you gain as you level up your character and you will succeed or fail depending on how strong your character is in these areas.



Combat is also dependent on how you want to play your character. If you want to pluck away enemies as a Ranger, using your bow from far away while your allies take the front lines, you can. If you would rather cast spells to strengthen your comrades and weaken your enemies, you can. Or if you like to get in the thick of things and swing your Greataxe, the choice is yours.


There are two general approaches you can take towards the gameplay within Neverwinter Nights 2. The first is the traditional point and click. You can simply run into a group of enemies and click the one you want to attack, and your allies will automatically target an enemy and assist you utilizing the game`s AI. The interface provides you with the familiar quickbar for easy access to potions and special attacks and the quickcast menu will allow you to click and cast your repertoire of spells.  The AI for your allies have the option to automatically make use of potions and special items that they have in their inventory.  If you would rather decide when to make use of these items you can pause the game and issue up to 5 commands that they will carry out in succession. This is the second approach to combat. You can continually pause and unpause the game and issue specific tactics you may come up with until all actions have been completed. You may then pause the game again and repeat the process. For most encounters, though, this approach is unnecessary as you might easily come out the victor in small skirmishes. In a large battle with multiple enemies or an epic boss fight, though, each decision you make may be the difference between victory and defeat.

There seem to be a few issues with the AI system within the game which slows gameplay on the Mac.  Sometimes the leader of the group will start walking, and it will take a few seconds for your party to start following you creating a sort of lag. This is fine in wide open spaces but inside a dungeon with many walls and rooms your party members can get stuck while you are already engaging the next batch of creatures. You can always stop your character for a second and make sure they`re with you, but this gets tiresome - definitely something that needs to be addressed in the next version.
    
The graphics within the game are pretty standard for the franchise. The art style is very similar to the first Neverwinter Nights with a few upgrades. The close up dialogue shots with letterboxing make for a more interesting perspective compared to just a portrait of your NPC with text, but the downside to this is that you will be able to pick apart the details of the models and see textures up close, which look a lot more impressive from a medium to long range distance. The effects for the spells and potions, on the other hand, are very cool and look great, even on the Mac platform under standard graphics card setups.   If you have more than one wizard casting area effect spells or a character tossing a grenade-like item; be ready for some fireworks.

The background music is very well composed and the ambient sound effects are just as engaging. Both combined create a rich soundscape worthy of an adventure set within this world. The voiceover acting is actually quite effective in conveying the different personalities in your party as well as the non-player characters.    

If you throw in the intense crafting aspect of the game along with the toolset for custom levels, you have a release that has the potential for an immensely long lasting experience with endless possibilities.  Almost everything in Neverwinter Nights 2 is about choice, and this is what makes the game fun. The game is so immersive that you'll find yourself contemplating where to allocate "those last two skill points", or whether you should start with a different character, even when you're miles away from the game and computer.

See more for yourself at the OFFICIAL NEVERWINTER NIGHTS 2 WEBSITE



For rants, ramblings and general announcements - check out a chaotic blog in the BlogZone:
http://blogs.digitalmediaonlineinc.com/ninjacrayon/

For more articles like these, be sure to subscribe to RENDERS
A free online reminder of all of the top tutorials and stories.

---