Neverwinter Nights 2: Overview
Neverwinter Nights 2 was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and is a sequel to Bioware’s original Neverwinter Nights role playing game. Set in the Dungeons & Dragons environment of the Forgotten Realms, NWN 2 remains faithful to its D&D roots. NWN 2 was developed under the auspices of Wizards of the Coast using the ‘enhanced v3.0 (3.5) rules. Neverwinter Nights 2 was released in 2006 with an expansion, Mask of the Betrayer, being released in 2007.
NWN 2 gives players the unique opportunity to develop a character from scratch. Players begin in a village with no prior ‘heroic’ acts on which to rely for background. Using a unique reputation system, a player’s deeds determine the story arc and the reaction of others around him/her. In-game actions determine a player’s alignment and a plethora of possible companions allows greater freedom of role-playing.
NWN 2 also gives potential builders powerful tools with which to build their own adventures. Obsidian chose to release the same builder’s toolset developers used in the creation of NWN 2. Obsidian Entertainment has worked hard through the patching process to improve the tools to allow builders even more freedom and ease of use.
In late 2007, Obsidian released the first expansion to Neverwinter Nights 2. Entitled, Mask of the Betrayer, the story begins where the original campaign left off. The story takes place in Rashemen near Thay. The expansion features an additional 20-30 hours of game play. MotB allows players to achieve epic levels and find/create epic weapons and spells.
It is unknown at this time whether or not there will be a second sequel to NWN 2 or whether an NWN 3 will be developed despite the popularity of the series.
