Well my first reaction is one of deja vu, particularly at the 100Mb of patches that were downloaded within a couple of days of the release. Then there is the click issue whereby instead of attacking someone you find out that you’ve actually told your character to run right past them. There is once again the panicked keyboard mashing as a door or chest flags red just as you’ve clicked on open. Doorways prove to be the most dangerous obstacles you can put in a dungeon and pathing still seems questionable.

The game is right at the edge of what my PC will comfortably run but the graphics (while better than NWN1) do not seem to be in the same league as something like Oblivion so I assume that the game engine is a lot more demanding. I have to say that settlements seem more populated and it is good to be able to have a big party again after the slightly claustrophobic experience of NWN1.

The key thing though is story and in the first chapter alone I have already had a big hiccup. The story starts off pretty well but there are a number of false starts. For example your companions are replaced between the tutorial section and the first chapter. The story trail also failed for me slightly as I was repeatedly defeated in the undead section which seemed to be the logical progression. Instead I had to gain another level through the atmosphere destroying repetition of an earlier sector and skip the undead in favour of attacking bandits who were more susceptible to rogue sneak attacking. It all felt like I was playing the mechanics of the game rather than the game itself.

There was a shockingly bland side trip level and some pretty transparent NPC saving which indicates some design issues but you know overall, I would rather have it than have nothing.

I’m now onto Chapter 2 and hopefully things will settle down, the party is established. The Neverwinter setting is more compact and the storylines seem a bit more focussed.