Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir Reviews
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The bad: besides the loading times, which I've already mentioned but should be mentioned again, the area design for exteriors (excluding Samargol and Neverwinter) ranges from fair to poor. The shipwreck beach (one of the first areas in the game!) has dunes that seem to be the product of someone's first go with the raise terrain brush--with texturing to match. The random encounter areas needed to be simple and small so that the loading times wouldn't be more excruciating than they already are, but that doesn't mean they have to be ugly. Guessing, perhaps, that exteriors are not its strong suit, Obsidian didn't include many in the game. Interiors are another story. There are tons of them, and while some don't look great, and Obsidian definitely went overboard putting plants in caves, some are spectacular. The Umberlee temple and the new yuan-ti interiors are gorgeous--Though this means that the Temple of the World Serpent would have been equally serviceable as a swank hotel.
But the pacing of SoZ is great, its mercantile system--though not particularly difficult to manage (hint: pour money into it, get money out of it)--pretty fun; meanwhile, the new features (companion creation, party conversation, teamwork feats, recognition of the character skills) perfectly suit it. But most importantly it shows just how much can be done with NWN2. Obsidian could have done something in the mold of the OC or MotB (with MotB, at least, they had a success); but they chose to reinvent the game. It turned out to be a good move.
While the other is at GamingHeaven with a score of 84/100:
Storm Of Zehir is a trip back to older RPG territory with much of the focus on the wide open and expansive nature of the game. There is not a reliance on a tightly scripted story based interface like KOTOR or Mass Effect which seems to be the style of choice today. This will be a refreshing change for many and a fun experience, after all its not always realistic to assume that the character(s) we play can change the fate of the world we are in !
