Like crpgnut, I've put in more than 50 hours so far and am still spellbound by this game/mod. It truly is like having a complete, free and quality game to devour. I've got the Arcania (Gothic IV) demo just sitting on my drive uninstalled because I can't bothered to be pulled away from Nehrim.
Plot-wise I am early in Chapter 2. I've spent most of my time doing sidequests & exploring but am now devoting more time to the main plot. I am playing as a sneaking bow thief and master alchemist. I am level 20 right now.
What I like:
1. Absolutely convincing and detailed world design. I disagree with the 'nut about the lack of "Gothic"-ness here. There is a seamless and natural beauty to the way they have built the landscapes. There is also a logic to where things are placed that fits with the narrative of the story and quests. For instance, one town in the central valley is a mining town. You can actually follow a mining rail that begins in the town all the way through the forest, up the mountain, and right up to the entrance to the mine itself.
2. Unique and tantalizing dungeon design. There are fewer dungeons than Oblivion (not a bad thing), but all this means is that each one has it's own distinct flavor and challenges. There are the usual traps but also some puzzles, hidden areas, breakable boards that reveal loot — really all the stuff that Bethesda didn't have time to put in Oblivion because they chose the quantity over quality route. Every bit of polish you see in the overworld is also there in the dungeons & caves.
3. The right level of challenge. There are always some enemies that seem hard to me along with those that I just plow through like butter. I decided to go further in the main quest now because I feared my level was getting out of sync with the main plot challenges. Things seem to be on the proper "track" now.
4. Main quests keep you engaged by mixing up exploring, fighting and scripted sequences. Of course I'm only early in the 2nd chapter in this regard but these are my impressions of it so far.
5. "Alive" world. OK, I know it's a cliche to keep using that phrase but they really took a page from Gothic and the Ultimas and spruced up the living details. As expected townfolks follow their usual schedules. Roads between towns are not empty, but populated (sparsely) with traveling merchants, random travelers, destroyed merchant carts, etc. Wildlife behaves appropriately. Wolves, bears, and other predators attack you on sight. Boars & crabs will not attack unless provoked. Deer run from you and are also pursued by other predator animals. Furthermore, animals can get distracted by other foes even while chasing you. There is no enemy "tunnel vision" where you have groups of humans and animals pursuing only YOU while ignoring each other.
6. Music score hits the rights emotional lever without being completely overbearing.
A few dislikes:
1. Obviously, when so many other aspects are so well done, it is easy to see certain other flaws in contrast. One is the rather sparse and sterile dialogue for what I'll call "ancillary" characters. These are the trainers & merchants that may not have a pivotal role in the plot, but you nonetheless interact with them on a regular basis. Many of them so far simply repeat a canned phrase before going into the merchant/training dialogues. "What do you want to learn?" or "What do you want to purchase?". There is no unique "background" dialogue that is said initially when you first talk to the character.
Yes, I know this is minor but you'd be surprised how much that sort of breaks the "spell" for me. For instance, there is a hunter located way up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. He's sitting there perched on his stool and reading a book in his makeshift camp. Instead of allowing you to ask him what his story is, he just immediately goes into the training dialog when you click on him.
Now I'm not knocking SureAI here. It is clear to me that they probably had to maximize the time they could spend with these professional voice actors. So understandably the focus of the unique dialogues was on the main plot and major sidequests. All the other stuff was probably deemed nice-to-have but not necessary for release.
2. Finally there are some translation quirks. Nothing that distracts too much from the core gameplay but some things could be redone. For instance, the lowest potentcy level of potions are labeled "rancid" when a better word might have been "tepid" or "weak".
3. And even though this is a near total conversion of Oblivion, some of the same problems I had with Oblivion remain here: The clumsy melee combat, too few quickslots, selling and buying items is tedious, the UI requires to many clicks and key presses to get to basic information, etc. This is the console disease that Oblivion just cannot shake. And while some mods might fix this, I am afraid to install them on top of Nehrim for fear of breaking the game.
All in all — it is absolutely worth re-installing Oblivion to play this. I'm in awe of what SureAI has put together. No doubt the members of this team have a bright future in game design.
