A collaborative review by Jonny Ree and Michele aka Liso66

The long awaited Storm of Zehir , the second expansion for Obsidian’s Neverwinter Nights 2, has arrived a year after the game’s first expansion, Mask of the Betrayer (MotB). Storm of Zehir appears to polarize CRPG players as did its predecessor. It’s either loved or loathed. This time they’ve done a complete 180 catering to those they disappointed with MotB.

So, with that in mind, how does this expansion measure up?

Story:

If you are the sort of person who lives for a deep story where you can immerse yourself into a world of interesting, dynamic characters; be thrown off by unexpected twists and turns; die to see where the plot will take you next, and perhaps even have someone you can flirt with, then this is definitely not a game for you. I can honestly say I had serious issues staying motivated through most of it because of feeling disconnected from my own party as well as my surroundings.

The story is told through the famous Forgotten Realms author Volothamp Geddarm, Volo for short, whom you’ll be introduced to at the very beginning.

You start on board a ship named the Vigilant where you are asked to sign the passenger log for the sake of creating your party. You have the ability to either create new characters which will bring you to the familiar character creation screen, or you can chose to make use of the characters stored in your vault. The adventure starts at the wreck of the Vigilant as it hits the shores of a tropical nation where you meet some of the local creatures as well as a party soldiers who doesn’t look very kindly upon people entering the nation without permission.

Next, you are taken to the main city in the area for questioning, etc. You are saved from a date with death by a powerful merchant, Lady Sa’Sani, who grants you passage through the city gates by putting you under her employ. This doesn’t sound too bad for an opening however, no further motivation is given to the player. I had no idea why I was going to this new land, as they obviously hate and despise outsiders. It frequently placed me out of the game and back into my computer chair due to no attempts to motivate the player. Either you have a natural urge to explore, or you’ll find the only reason you keep going through quests is for the sake of progress alone.

Overland map.

This is where you’ll spend most of your time during this expansion. You can explore the map for cities, treasure resources, ruins, caves ect. This is also where you’ll end up in most of the battles. The overland map is filled with groups of creatures that would love to nibble on your leg or fondle your loot. Here is where some rather untraditional skills (as far as the Neverwinter Night series goes) become really important. You’ll need Survival to move quickly through the map, Spot/Listen to see/hear creatures before they’re looking up your nose, and Hide for the sake of getting around them. If you avoid all creatures, you will end up having to grind for experience later in the game so this needs to be balanced. These types of battles get old rather quickly as there is very little variation to the type of groups as well as the location these battles take place.

You also need to go through two loading screens for every battle you fall into. You have the ability to evade (which gives you some more time to run away) or in some cases bribe them to leave you alone. There will come scenarios where you go into a battle knowing that, once you get out, there is one or even two waiting for you.

The amount of time spent in loading screens at this point is a bit nerve-wracking. Search also comes in handy to find goods, loot, as well as hidden locations around the map. These hidden locations are more often than not just another combat situation with some loot thrown in which may be disappointing for people looking for some interesting side stories. Exploring such locations does give you some rewards in the sense of experience and bonus feats (for use in further exploration) from Volo, who is writing a book on whatever locations you come by.

Party chat system (Your Party):

With the party chat system, OEI omitted the cut-scenes for this new dialog box. Each created npc or cohort can be selected via an icon in the chat box. Depending on each created characters/cohorts skills, the player can end up with several responses and dialog options. I.e Bluff, Diplomacy, Taunt, Spot and so on.

I am really still on the fence with this one. I think I could have enjoyed this feature if I did not feel my party was just an extension of my main PC.

Cohorts:

As you can see, the name has changed from Companions to Cohorts. The key reason? They are not the companions we all know from the OC, or MoTB. Other than some comments scattered about the story, the cohorts have no real depth to them. I really get a sense that they were thrown out there for some diversity attempting to make up for the lack of the companions players were accustomed to.

Trading System:

You get introduced to the Trading system early on in the game. Although it can be ignored, if you wish, during the first couple of hours of the game, it quickly becomes the games main hub of progression. You will be choosing which allies you want to deal with, each of which will provide some different quests as well as access to different types of equipment. The system may appear a bit overwhelming at first, but it will progressively introduce you to it’s features as you get set up in the various cities around the area. There is no option to skip this part as the continuation the game is finely woven within it and it may actually end up feeling a bit shallow if you end up getting engaged in the running of the economy. If you enjoyed upgrading and building the keep in the OC, you are likely to get the same type of enjoyment out of this.

Jonny and I both felt this could have been done nicely and maybe even a bit fun if it was not such a main feature in the game.  You can not progress with out it.

Combat:

This is where Storm of Zehir does well. If you can get past all the tedium of loading screens and lack of motivation, you’ll find that building your own party for the sake of hitting people hard over the head can be rewarding at times as you truly need to work hard to get through some of the more difficult battles and encounters you’ll face in the game. There are several instances where you may have to step back a bit, go rethink your party, and upgrade your equipment to come out on top. If you know much about the system this game runs on, you’ll have loads of fun coming up with different combinations of both likely and unlikely solutions to combat related problems. You have the ability to go to a tavern at any time to change the members of your party as well as to add and remove cohorts. This makes for a very dynamic approach to battles. You’ll experience a lot of combat on the overland map. Loads and loads, in fact, and these will quickly become old and repetitive.

Presentation:

The music is excellent. Probably the most powerful music I’ve heard in a Neverwinter Nights game. It does come across a bit too epic at times. But, I believe thats because I wasn’t fully immersed into the game at all times. While some variation to the combat music would have been welcomed, the music is definitely one of the strong features within this package.

The visuals varied in quality. Being an artist, I’m very picky about these things. The overall appearance of the game isn’t bad. The jungle theme introduced in the start of the game comes across as just that: a jungle. It’s the individual assets that lack the quality we’re used to in today’s games. Some placeables have nice detail and overall design while others appear rushed and fall short. The creatures are much the same. A lot of them look rather blocky even with a decent number of polygons. The tilesets feel all too familiar. However, there are some very nice placeables associated with them.

The voice acting was sketchy at best. Not only was the sound quality less than professional,  I believe these actors could have been hindered by dialog that had very little flow to it.

The lack of voice acting was a disappointment. After taking away fully fleshed out companions, minimizing the voice acting only made the experience less interesting.

Conclusion:

If you play NWN2 for its combat engine, crafting perfect weapons, challenging encounters, and tweaking out all that the D&D system has to offer, then you are very likely to enjoy Storm of Zehir.

On the flip side, if you desire interesting characters, a deep engaging story and a motivation greater than slaughtering fiendish-looking creatures, you probably want to look somewhere else.

Another aspect I am looking forward to! All the builders taking these new tools, fixes and placeables, then turning them into fun filled hours of community made modules!

Special thanks to:

Dave/Eat2Surf (review & editing)

this review is solely the opinion of:

Michele aka Liso

& Jonny Ree

In no way does this reflect the views of the other host of NWNP