What character class are you? It's important to pick an appropriate companion.
I found it easier playing as a Sorceror, with Panther familiar, Tomi Undergallows (thief) and later on a summoned creature too.

Yeah, since NWN1 is based on 3rd edition DnD, the summon spells are extremely useful and last a long time (24 hours, IIRC?). Not so much in NWN2, since 3.5 edition nerfed the summon duration to only a few seconds. D-:<
As for henchmen, I've found the evil dwarf monk to be the best tank.

Nice, I bit for a copy at $9.99 then!

okay, I've been playing it all wrong I see. I did play it like diablo and did'nt have any problem as a tank without a henchman (except for the bosses, those are hell). But I guess I have to find a spellcaster to heal and buff me and such..

One important tip for NWN, everyone buykiing it should check their discs, the play disc in particular. Atari went cheap for some runs of the discs and they lacked the centre reenforcement. I played the game so much that my play disc has spider cracks that almost reach the foil, I ended up burning it all to a dvd
Deekin is unexpectedly awesome at the epic levels I agree but I can't go by Nathyrra as my favourite

Considering the game now comes on a single DVD and you don't need the disk beyond the initial installation (DRM disk check was removed), that shouldn't be much of an issue anymore.

If you want to play more like diablo, try playing a cleric or a paladin (if you can tolerate RPing Lawful Good) and bring along a bard (Deekin or someone else) a druid or someone with buffs and summons. You need healing spells and buffs or you'll get abused by bosses. It plays more like an MMO than a diablo game. You need to use a party to take down a boss on the first playthrough. Tanks are meat shields. Spellcasters do the heavy damage (well, aside from monks, which are just ridiculously overpowered).
You can solo the game with a cleric relatively easily (IMO the best solo character besides a monk and followed by a sorc - good solo character but works much better with a meat shield). I wouldn't recommend it on a first playthrough though.

Neverwinter Nights was actually the game that got me into the D&D CRPG's, I only played Baldur's Gate, Planescape and Icewind Dale later, after first being hooked on Neverwinter Nights for months on end. It still remains one of my favourite RPG's, and I think it is an excellent entry-level game which is much easier to pick up and play than its forebears, and it is a game I still enjoy to revisit every now and again.
Of course, to each his own. I know I liked it. Others didn't. Different people, different tastes. I for one would recommend it heartily.

I'm inclined to agree. I love NWN - so much content. I don't know why in some sectors it's fasionable to bash it. It's a really good game. The OC isn't best RPG ever, but it's pretty good - and DnD done beardy as all hell. You literally are bound to find a campaign you like when you buy it. There are just too many not to because the toolset is one of the best ever made. Plus, replay value is insane. Like I said, best value besides Morrowind.
Also, in terms of the official campaigns, HotU is easily one of the all-time great CRPGs.

wow I got my copy in the mail today already. That was unbelievably quick

Thats some pretty good service

lol as far as I recall, Neverwinter Nights was only excellent for it's multiplayer and mod support. The singleplayer? Crap, imho. It's basically run there, collect stuff, give to Zerblik or whoever ah wtf does it matter since it takes place in ugly generic looking city with people who all look alike and very shitty voice acting.
Multiplayer is what you want to be getting NWN for, bro :)

There's also the talk-to-this-guy quest. Perhaps that's a sub-type to the FedEx quest though.

Yeah its just that package delivered is words rather than a physical object