Rating: 
Summary: Certain Warnings to heed
Review: This is a great game, however, if you are someone unlucky (like a lot of us), you might encounter a range of problems. Only after a day of its offical North America release, I visited the Bioware Self-help fourm and there was TONs of little (and major) problems people have encountered.For example, lots of people ran their game CD on a RW drive and encountered start-up stalls which is because of the security measures on the CDis interfereing with data transfer. Or "pointer errors" with the launcher (fortunately Bioware posted things about that). Also, I have obsvered that majority of these problems are NEW, you might have your old NWN working one day and as soon as your install SoU it stops working, which is intensely frustrating. Plus, you need a rather new vid card that's not from a outdated company to full take advantage of the expension, which require better system specs than NWN itself. This might not make so much a difference to people with good computers but for those with low or middle ends (like mine), might need to *upgrade*. The biggest problem you will encounter will have to do with your video card. Many people have top of the line video cards stilled countered problem from "stuttering" to square leaves to not being able to play at all. Be perpared to navaigate through video driver sites or worse yet going out to buy yourself another video card just so you can play the game you paid 30 dollars for. Well, enough peismism, just hope you are one of the lucky ones. I gave the rating as a 3 (netural) because I do not know how the gaming experience will turn out (mine is being shipped), but do not have your hopes up too high and be perpared for frustration! (not what you paid for eh?)
Rating: 
Summary: What to expect (A preview)
Review: Unfortunately my previous "preview" (which contained the same title) is mostly false: indeed there won't be level 35 characters (at least not for XP1, possibilly XP2) nor any "Epic" levels. However, new and improved classes will be added and along with many new type of skills [...] Even though there seem to be a ton of addons, most of them are not as extraordinary. For example, I have not heard anything about exciting new multiplayer options or Bioware hosted servers (which would be immensely popular if one ever comes up) nor any fantastic add-ons to the new 40 hour single-player quest. NEVERTHELESS, there are plenty of new options for DMs and Mod Designers, and player-incorporated items (such as sittable chairs and tons of others) will be in the game. There will also be cool new spells, new and better looking (hopefully) armors and weapons and plenty of side quests and better henchmen for the XP. Also, the desert tile set looks promising, and so does the snow (?) tile set. Buy this if you are actively partispating in the mutiplayer aspect of NWN (else you won't be able to play in some of your favourite servers (mine being Aventia)) However, if you are a single-player guy, its greatly suggested you buy Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (also by Bioware) instead or Rise of Nations (Microsoft). Overall, there are plenty of good games that are due to hit this summer, and this is surely one of them.
Rating:
Summary: decent
Review: well, i got it to run on my computer no problems, so i didn't encounter that problem, but i imagine that others may be having similar problems to what someone else wrote in their review of the game. i thought the game was just ok, only two henchmen to choose from a dwarf rogue/cleric, which is just alright....the rogue portion of that character is not good enough to take care of all the traps or all of the doors....and then a half-orc sorcerer, which is just about the worst race-class design possible, and although i do like the idea for its orriginality, it would have been nicer to have had as many potential henchmen as there were in the original neverwinter nights. the story line is similar to that of neverwinter nights, in that a couple artifacts have been stolen you have to recoup them, and save the day. i found the game to be harder than the original, so it did get a little frustrating at times from that stand point, but it didn't take as long to get to the conclusion. overall, it was alright, nothing to scream about. i thought what it added for the toolset and the ability to now add things to your henchmens inventory and have a little more control over which weapons they use to be very useful. the one thing i would like to see added to a future expansion is the ability to get your henchmen to use their move silently/hide skills, that way you and your henchmen can sneak up on enemies.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent expansion for those who liked the original
Review: While it is true that the re-addition of SecuROM has caused some computers some problems, this was also an issue when NWN first shipped. If you were able to play before patching originally, you will be able to play the expansion as well. The campaign included is not an extension of the original campaign, but is instead a new campaign for new characters. Starting at any level above first is bound to disappoint. It is, however, more challenging than the original campaign if you start with a recommended first level character. The campaign also addresses some of the complaints that those who prefer singelplayer had with the original campaign - more choices for different ways to solve quests, more interactive NPCs and henchmen, some control over how your henchman levels up as well as the ability to have them cast support/"buffing" spells before battle. Although the game advertises 20 hours, this varies according to your playing style, and it isn't unusual for those who enjoy engaging in conversations and exploring to have over 30 hours in a single play through of the game. Not too bad for an expansion. Also, they have added the ability to control your henchman's inventory and what they have equipped, many new spells and feats, and prestige classes - five new classes that you must level up and qualify for in order to attain. For builders, there are two brand new tilesets (desert and ruins) as well as a nicely reskinned rural tileset in winter clothes. They've also added several new groups to the existing tilesets, many, many new placeables, and a large amount of scripting commands. As with the original, although I think the game is worth the money for what it was packaged with, the value really shines when you download the user created modules and/or play online. There are over 2500 modules to download, and growing. Personally, I think only about 5% are worth playing, but that still is about 125 modules and hundreds of additional game hours. This does not take into account the possibilites for playing with friends online that can change the game onthe fly with the DM Client.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Game-highly anticipated Expansion
Review: Wonderfull game for folks like me, wife, kids, no time to sit around a table, throw dice, scarf cheetos and mountaindew...sadly, those occasions come rarely, if at all. Despair not, if you geek on D&D, this game and expansion pack are for you. Remember its 3rd edition, so throw that 2nd edition...out the window...well, put it on the shelf for refrence. New feats, new spells, the "core" prestige classes...with the codes available to do a .hak and create custom prestige classes... Anyway, as awesome as it all is, I admit to a hankering for Psionics...but oh well...
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