Neverwinter Nights 2

Did You Know?

• Official multiplayer support was suspended in December 2012, leading the community to develop initiatives for continued online play.
• The expansion Storm of Zehir was released after the introduction of D&D 4th edition but still used the 3.5 ruleset.

Story

The game takes place in and around the city of Neverwinter on the Sword Coast of Faerûn. The first part is set in the village of West Harbor, site of a past battle between an evil host led by the King of Shadows and warriors aligned with Neverwinter. The player character's mother was killed in that battle. The campaign is divided into three acts.

In Act I, the orphaned protagonist, raised by the elven ranger Daeghun, retrieves a silver shard from a cave after the village is attacked by githyanki. The character travels to Neverwinter, where Daeghun's half-brother Duncan and the sage Aldanon reveal the shard's connection to a dead warlock and his descendant, Shandra Jerro. The githyanki kidnap Shandra, and the party rescues her, learning the origin of the shards. Antagonists include the King of Shadows, the Luskan diplomat Torio, and the warlock Ammon Jerro. Recruitable party members include the dwarf Khelgar and the tiefling Neeshka.

Development

Neverwinter Nights 2 was unofficially announced on April 1, 2004, after an Atari employee listed it in a forum response, and officially announced on August 4, 2004. Obsidian Entertainment developed the game, with support from BioWare, which had created the first Neverwinter Nights. Obsidian employed several designers from the defunct Black Isle Studios, including Darren Monahan, Marc Holmes, and Chris Avellone. Development began in July 2004.

The game used BioWare's Aurora Engine, upgraded and renamed Electron, with improvements to lighting and textures. The engine was designed to incorporate DirectX for a potential Xbox 360 port, but financial reasons led Obsidian to abandon that plan. The toolset was revamped with a customizable interface, a new dialogue format, and building assistants similar to wizards in Microsoft Word and Excel. The toolset was included with the game's release so players could create their own content.

BioWare provided technical support on the engine, but Obsidian planned a complete overhaul of its code. The design team drew on older role-playing video games and decided the player character would earn respect through actions. The game was designed for cooperative online play.

Reception

When Neverwinter Nights 2 hit store shelves, it did well enough to land at number six on Amazon's pre-order list and stayed a best-seller for weeks after launch. Critics gave it a warm reception, with GameSpot handing it the Best Story award for 2006 over The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and a Golden Joystick nomination for Best PC Game followed. Computer Games Magazine also praised its writing. Though some felt it outshone the original Neverwinter Nights, the sequel's overall review scores ended up lower.

The Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 ruleset was a hit for its faithful adaptation, and the Forgotten Realms setting got good marks. The story itself was widely seen as a major upgrade, with GameSpy calling the single-player campaign worthy of its legacy and Game Informer saying it easily beat the first game's plot and characters. One reviewer even declared it among the best-written games ever. That said, the early chapters were slow, but once the party reached Neverwinter around level seven, things picked up, especially in character development. Reviewers also liked that diplomacy could often work just as well as fighting, giving players real ethical choices.