NWN2 - Mysteries of Westgate Preview Roundup

Shady hucksters, annoying beggars, threatening folk and comic relief aside, walking around the city of Westgate is a treat in and of itself. There is lots of eye candy and the small touches truly bring the city to life. Plan to spend time doing this before launching into game play. In a very cool and innovative touch, Ossian has reached out to the "tourists" who will play MoW. Visiting such city locations such as the Dragon Statue will not only reveal lore about the city and past events, but, eventually, if one visits ALL of these monuments and locations, a reward is forthcoming. The city is highly interactive in this manner and Ossian has also given the 'door openers' something to do by allowing 30-40% of the city's buildings to be explored.

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The attention to detail doesn't stop with the visual effects. The writing and dialogues are extremely well done with liberal doses of humor and sarcasm thrown in, and show the same attention to detail found throughout other aspects of the game. Some of the dialogue exchanges are simply inspired while others had me almost convulsing in laughter. Dialogues frequently offer more than just the simple "yes, no, let me think about it, let's fight" options with some branches showing 7 or 8 possible choices. Various Skills, beyond the simple "talk" options of diplomacy et al, can open a number of potential dialogue paths.

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