Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition - Xbox Review

Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition is developed and published by Aspyr—Microsoft Xbox Series X review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes.

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Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition is a valiant attempt at resurrecting what was a fantastic game from nearly two decades ago, but the actual enhancements feel somewhat spartan at times. There’s a handful of welcome updates, but this title seems to miss the mark, as I think it will at times frustrate original fans of the title while doing little to pull in new fans as well.

The original Neverwinter Nights was one of the most memorable games I have experienced in my four-plus decades of video gaming. I was in love with the story, the soundtrack continues to be one of my favorites even today and I spent oodles of time scratching my creative itch playing in its module community back in the day. Oddly enough, the sequel and I never quite developed that same relationship. I thoroughly enjoyed it but never quite completed the story. I am a bit foggy on the details (as it’s been nineteen years), but I believe that I picked it up right about the time I took a new job and moved to a different part of the state. So my guess is ‘real life happened’ and something else caught my attention once things settled down again.

So, I was eager to dive back into it once again with this new release of Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition. The interesting thing is that I am probably the perfect audience for this release. I have reason to go back to it since I never completed it. Computer RPGs are among my favorite genres (I still fire up older titles and enjoy them), and there are a handful of notable updates here that are worth calling out. 

So what makes this an ‘Enhanced Edition’? Probably the most notable are the improvements to the textures. There will inevitably be people who say it doesn’t look any better than the original, but I would disagree with that. Does it look good? Not really, but it looks better on a sixty-inch television than it would using the old game, where it was played in much closer proximity on smaller computer monitors. I will call out that textures don’t seem to always load quite right. In general optimization could be better. The camera controls were pretty finicky, but I appreciate the ability to adjust them and get things more to my liking. I had a handful of crashes during longer play sessions (admittedly hours long without a break), and it sure feels like it loads pretty slowly for a game this old.

However, the transition to controller support on the console has been rather solid. There’s a quick toggleable ability to simply walk around with your character and interact with the environment, but also a more strategic semi-overhead view that works well for combat. Interfaces for RPGs (especially inventory management) could be pretty gnarly back then, but by and large once I got used to the button layout, it worked pretty smoothly with a controller. In fact, I think those who are console-first will find the most value in this release. There is a ton of content here as well, as the base game was quite a massive experience in and of itself, but this version of the title also comes with some extra expansions: Mask of the Betrayer, Storm of Zehir and Mysteries of Westgate. 

The music still holds up beautifully, even if the visuals are clearly dated despite their touch-up for this release. Where Neverwinter Nights 2 stands out is its story. True to form for the Dungeons & Dragons games of yesteryear, there’s a deep, interesting narrative here that sells the feeling of an epic adventure. Sure, there’s plenty of familiar genre tropes to be found. For example, you’re an orphaned child being raised by a man in a village that experiences a major event that causes you to set out on your path.

Still, I wonder who this title is going to appeal to the most. Fans of the original game may still own it via Good Old Games, and the like may be disappointed by the lack of 'new' features and content. Sure, there is value in having a ready-to-play version of the game that doesn't require any configuration to try and make it work on current hardware. But those who have played the game through and experienced most of what is here might feel that the term 'Enhanced Edition' is a bit of an exaggeration. Newer players who have never experienced this title in the past might be curious due to the success of Baldur’s Gate 3, but will likely find Neverwinter Nights 2’s pacing, visuals and camera frustrating by comparison. That leaves something of a narrow target audience.

That being said, there’s certainly an audience for this game and I’m part of it. I enjoyed my time with Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition. It’s an earnest re-release of an already very good game with a ton of content. It is dated, and its age shows time and again with minor bugs and gameplay mechanics that can be somewhat unflattering when compared to the quality of life options found in modern RPGs. However, the story is rich, and the gameplay itself can be quite varied depending on your characters and how you tune your party. The amount of agency you have with the detailed character customization and progression is a hallmark of Dungeons & Dragons games and Neverwinter Nights 2 does not disappoint. With well over one hundred hours of content, Neverwinter Nights 2 is an excellent value, assuming you enjoy the gameplay itself and don’t mind the minor issues that persist. I feel as though console players will get more out of this than PC ones. 

Score: 6.5 / 10

 

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Sengoku Dynasty Review

Sengoku Dynasty by developer Superkami and publisher Toplitz Productions—PC (Steam) review written by Susan N. with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

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Introduction

As one would expect, Sengoku Dynasty is a survival colony builder set in Feudal Japan during the Sengoku Period which was a major turning point in history. Shogun rule was out of hand and the provinces erupted into civil war over the course of many years. Notably three figures stand out as the ones who paved the way to Japan's unification. Knowing this, Sengoku Dynasty is set during a time period that is tumultuous, but was the birth of modern day Japan. And for the most part, the game has a great foundation and I enjoyed my time with it.  

Gameplay

Upon loading the game, I was greeted with a beautiful cutscene that was brilliantly voice acted in Japanese accompanied by sub-titles in English. My character ends up shipwrecked on the shores of what is referred to as the 'peasant kingdom'. My shipmate, Ako, washed up elsewhere. First, I looted the wreckage for supplies and set out to find the other survivor. She is not far down the beach and my journey begins.

Like many survival games, it is paramount to find shelter, food, and water, which is thankfully abundant in the area. I grabbed a bunch of resources and headed to the nearest town. Once there, I set out to build a new set of buildings that aren't charred husks. As I've played a bunch of colony building games, I began building a house and a foraging hut in preparation of amassing other townspeople. Though, I may have jumped the gun a bit because the quests take you through the whole process. 

As I explored more of the map, I found some merchants and stumbled upon a shrine or two, both of which are integral to the prosperity of my village. Merchants have resources that might not be attainable in the beginning, while shrines impress the importance of faith in Japanese culture. If given the correct offering, they will give experience towards one of the skill trees that have various boosts I could use. 

Overall, I love the direction of the game as it has a solid foundation in the genre. But I do have some gripes with it as I started building a Dynasty from the ground up, literally. The time period is appropriate for this genre as it doesn't have a grim dark theme like other survival games. The characters, while they aren't the most fleshed out, each have their own wishes. And the atmosphere created by the sound effects and scenery is spectacular. It is a promising and fun title that I both enjoy and also feel conflicted about. However, as the game is still very much in Early Access, there are some quality of life features that the developers might consider addressing. I'll get to those later. 

Graphics and UI

Sengoku Dynasty is a graphically beautiful game. Its water effects are quite stunning, the characters are well drawn, and the peasant kingdom is lush with trees and berries. The options menu which allows adjustment for graphics settings has a decent amount of customization, but unfortunately does not allow for reduction of some of the more graphically intensive events like rain effects. 

The UI design for the game holds a bunch of minor frustrations. While many of them are not game breaking, the UI has a ton of clunky elements that could break the experience for players. Starting with the basics, I like that the look is simple. On the bottom left is the Sengoku icon with bars that display your food consumption, health bar, and energy. It takes a ton of basic foods to fill up, yet the NPC's need a fraction of food for the same effect. In the middle on the left, you will see the actively set quest along with a strike-through if a step has been completed. On the right of the screen is an icon displaying the tool you have active. Tools can be active once you assign them to the hotbar in the character menu by hitting 'tab.' If a tool is active, a durability bar will appear on the right-hand side of it. While I like the simplistic design, I'd much rather be able to see the whole hotbar. 

At the top of the screen is a compass which will show nearby points of interest, direction, and a smaller bar. The bar indicates how much time has passed during the day, but since there is no specific value, it's easy to lose track of the time. Overall, the on screen UI is solid but has minor gripes.

When in the other screens, and more specifically the Dynasty screen, the design is not ideal. Each tab on the left displays information about your villages, population, and jobs of your people. They give you information regarding total population, what jobs the people have, their happiness levels, etc... Other tabs display more specific information related to the types of storage buildings erected, village names, and if your people have houses. While these tabs contain valuable information that contribute to the success and prosperity of your villages, it is unclear how to assign people to houses or jobs. 

Pros and Cons

To simplify my thoughts on Sengoku Dynasty, I'll give a list of pros and cons I found with the game. In future, I hope that some of the issues will be addressed during the early access phase so that other players will have an enjoyable experience.

Among the good qualities are:

• Stunning graphics. Everything from the foliage to the water effects are incredibly well done for a survival sandbox game. There are some amazing shrines, character models, and animations that enhance the gameplay experience with its realism.
• Land size. As the game is an open-world sandbox that can be explored, the large landmass that you have to build on is fantastic. Having to run around for resources illustrates the vastness of the island without being too large that it feels prohibitive. 
• Co-op capabilities. Sengoku Dynasty can be played with friends! Feel free to message a gaming buddy and set your sights on building an epic empire together. No more having to wait on slow moving NPC's to do the job for you!
• Sound design. I must admit that the audio is immersive. While there is no voice acting in the game, the ambient sounds draw you in. Birds are chirping, trees are shifting, and rain falls. The attention to detail in the sound design is nothing short of amazing and I love the atmosphere it creates.
• Hotkey customization. It goes without saying that a game which allows the player the ability to modify hotkeys is a wonderful decision. Not only does it provide a bit of accessibility, but it gives people the freedom to use a combination they are accustomed to.

Some of the less than desired qualities are:

• Unintuitive UI. The menus under the Dynasty tab are among the largest offenders in my opinion. It wouldn't take much to add a border or something to indicate that a specific portion can be interacted with. It's only after scrolling over text that players see that there is an interactable area.
• The map. Overall, I like that the map has a legend that indicates important places of note. However, the two gripes I have with it are: the inability to re-press 'M' to close the map and the inability to zoom in. Many games allow for people to press the same button to open and close a window, not one way. As for the zooming, it would be much easier to plot your exploration route if you can see more specifically where you are. Plus, I dislike the overlaid text when you are in a village and the 'you' text muddles the village name.
• No pause button. I understand that in a co-op game mode there should be no ability to pause (or it pauses for everyone). In a single player game, pausing the game on the options screen would be a great quality of life feature. Personally, I wouldn't want my village to be attacked while I'm grabbing some food in another room. 
• Lack of refined video options. Mainly the issue I have with this is the inability to reduce the weather effects. It is part of the reason that Sengoku Dynasty eats a lot of RAM and can lessen the great gameplay experience for some of your players. Even on medium graphics settings, the game struggled at points, and that sucked. Nothing was more frustrating than the amount of issues other players had in a co-op game.
• Locked buildables. I'm completely fine with having a progression system, especially in a survival sandbox game, but the icon that shows the lock button is not prominent enough, in my opinion. It is clearly a padlock, yet the color needs to be more striking as it is unclear to some. Most other colors are contrasted well enough with the game palette that this isn't a major issue.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Sengoku Dynasty is a great entry into the survival and colony builder genres. It is set during an important period in history for Japan which adds to the appeal of playing the game. The developers have done a fantastic job with the sound design, visuals, and overall gameplay which captivates players for hours on end. Even with the minor issues that I found with the game like strange UI choices or lack of handy features like a pause option, I found myself having fun! So long as the developers consider optimizing the game before its full launch as I found the load time to be ridiculous, survival fans will likely have a great time. Despite that fact, I enjoyed my time with Sengoku Dynasty enough to give it a solid 8 out of 10. 

Score: 8 / 10

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Fate/Grand Order - News

• The English version of the hit mobile game, Fate/Grand Order has surpassed 5 million downloads since its release in June of 2017.
  • Initially released in the U.S. and Canada, has since expanded to Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
  • Fate/Grand Order is currently available in over ten regions and five languages after overwhelming demand from fans across the globe.
• The mobile game will be kicking off its own special Fate/Grand Order U.S.A. Tour 2019
  • Beginning in Los Angeles
  • Featuring special guests and never-before-seen exhibits.
• The game received an award for excellence in the “Games of the Year” category at the Japan Game Awards 2018 organized by the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA) this past September.
• To celebrate this milestone, Fate/Grand Order has embarked on a “5 Million Downloads Campaign” featuring an array of gifts and rewards for players beginning January 30, 2019.
  • Rewards include:
    • Daily login bonuses
    • Increased success rates for Servant and Craft Essence enhancements
    • The return of the acquisition quest of the Royal Brand Mystic Code.
    • The return of the limited time ★5 (SSR) Caster-class Servant, Leonardo da Vinci
    • And more!

About Fate / Grand Order:

One of the most successful mobile games in the world, Fate/Grand Order has players embark on an epic quest known as the Grand Order to prevent the extinction of humanity with help from powerful Heroic Spirits, or Servants, who are based on popular historical, literary, and mythological figures. The game features strategic, turn-based gameplay, which requires players to assemble powerful teams in order to advance through the story. A joint project between TYPE-MOON, Aniplex Inc., and DELiGHTWORKS Inc., Fate/Grand Order is considered one of the most story-driven mobile games ever produced, featuring an expansive main story and side stories in addition to frequent in-game events. Together with its compelling narratives and characters, the game has captivated players worldwide and inspired countless cosplays, an original anime special, and the tabletop game, Fate/Grand Order Duel -collection figures-. In addition to being featured on Android Authority’s “10 Best Gacha Games and Mobile RPGs for Android” article, the game received praise from the official Apple App Store Games Twitter account, which posted: “We were curious why Fate/Grand Order was so popular. Now we can’t stop playing it.”

• Title: Fate/Grand Order (English)
• Genre: Role-Playing Game
• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Release Date: June 25, 2017
• URL: https://fate-go.us
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FateGO.USA/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/FateGO_USA

Article by Susan N.

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Warsong - Sega Genesis: Possibly the best strategy game you never played - Retro Reflections

Given my recent article about the Sega Genesis, I thought it only appropriate to discuss one of my favorite Genesis games of all-time.

Okay, there is a chance you played it - but I would guess it's unlikely.  This gem of a game came out for the Sega Genesis (and was called Langrisser overseas).  I am not sure what inspired me to pick it up at the time.  I had heard nothing about this game in any of the magazines I read, none of my friends had played it, but something about it caught my eye when I was mulling what game to purchase next.

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Gaming thoughts 12/9/11 - RPG's...

Buckle up - this is going to be a longer one. :)

So my game playing volume has been down quite a bit of late. I still have a huge backlog of games to try and get through in the near future, but of late my playlist has largely been comprised of:

- Record of Agarest War
- Risen
- Neverwinter Nights 2
- Lunar: Silver Star Harmony
- King's Bounty: Crossworlds
- Gyromancer
- Skyrim

Pretty healthy list of games really, but what do they all have in common? They're RPG's - or perhaps, they have RPG elements to them. I've been thinking about this topic since Dragon Age 2 came out (a game I bought immediately, played, thoroughly enjoyed though perhaps not quite as much as the original, which I am playing now again).

Ultima: Exodus and Dragon Warrior were my first two RPG titles back on the NES. I was hooked. This was back before I had played tabletop RPGs or even collectible card games. There was something I found very addicting to the entire system though - I loved the fact that storylines were a part of the game itself and not just some filler in an instruction manual. I got every excited when I gained levels and gear - feeling that there was a true sense of progression beyond just improvement of my own skills or the temporary powerups found in action or shooter titles. I was someone who played and beat some of the tougher games out that generation that tested my reflexes and memorization - titles like Contra or Ghosts n' Goblins. But I appreciated the strategic, slower pace of RPGs.

Ultima: Exodus - one of my first RPG experiences. Turns out, it was lacking in RP

Thing is, it was not until much later that I realized the RPG titles I loved were lacking something. Turned out, the role-playing games lacked... role-playing for the most part. Sure, you could walk around different areas, maybe do this side objective or that one, but the storyline was a very static thing - you were just along for the ride and there were no consequences of weight. I think one of the first titles I played that really made me feel like I have choices that could impact things was Neverwinter Nights on my PC.

I spent a lot of time doing this in college

Other titles have certainly taken this to heart, such as Dragon Age and Mass Effect - and I find myself absolutely fascinated with seeing where stories might go or what alternate choices may do. It's amusing, because I've always been someone who saves lots of game states. I used to do it to help in case of a corrupted save file. Now? Now I do it so I can load up a prior save state and try something different.

The conversation wheel of Mass Effect gives you actual choices to make

The best strategy games seem to have adopted this sense of choice as well. Record of Agarest War is a title I was a bit hard on when I first reviewed it, and I've since come around quite a bit. I like that my choices have an affect on the end game. Titles like the Witcher did a great job of incorporating choice into the narrative and I'm looking forward to eventually trying its sequel.

RPG elements have found their way into a lot of games, most commonly through progression systems. Even first-person shooters like Modern Warfare have a leveling/unlocking progression system in place for online play, and I think it is awesome. I still enjoy a traditional RPG title like Lost Odyssey now and then, but once I beat those titles, I seldom play them again. They usually wind up traded or sold. It occurred to me that the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games are still on my shelf though, and still get played through multiple times. Some would argue that Mass Effect is more 3rd person shooter than a true RPG, but I suspect that depends on what you find more defining to the genre - and for me it's the weight of choices, immersion in the world and the feeling that I am impacting the world myself - not just my character.

This text-based beauty is the MUD my wife and I have run for over 12 years.
So much freedom of choice. No real graphics. Not for everyone, unfortunately.

This desire to create and to role-play and to have freedom of choice was a large part of what my wife and I both loved about the MUD community. Most people do not realize just how heavily the MUD community has influenced modern video games, but if you look closely enough at Everquest, World of Warcraft, Dragon Age, Ultima and more, you can see the DNA of MUDing in there. MUDs are a topic I could go on and on about - over a decade of running one will do that to a fellow. If you're curious? Our website's here, and I can answer any questions you'd have on it. For me personally? This is the truest video game forum for role-playing I have been exposed to, but so many other games like Dragon Age: Origins and Neverwinter Nights do an exceptional job as well.

That is why a title like Final Fantasy XIII was one I enjoyed thoroughly but traded away nearly a year ago, while I'm still planning to put in Dragon Age 2 (again)after I clean up a few of the games on my backlog soon.

What about you? Are you a fan of RPGs? If so, what about them most appeals to you? Do you prefer more linear titles, or ones with choices? Turn or action-based?

Game Deal I figured I would share:

And on a related note, while I am talking about RPG titles and choices - Good old Games has a deal right now for the well-reviewed Witcher 2 and Witcher Enhanced Edition for $23.99. I have not yet played the sequel, but I was quite fond of the original which I reviewed here for those who missed it. I figured I would go ahead and put this out there for anyone who might be interested - the deal is only good through Dec 10th, 10:59 GMT.

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