Although it had generally favorable reviews when it came out, the OC of NWN has earned the undeserved reputation of being boring. Even here on GOG, at least one user's review was merciless: the OC "was the most boring adventure Bioware ever created". Hell, I'm just finishing the third chapter, and no, the game is far from boring. Actually, it's anything but. Once you get used to the Aurora Engine, the OC is as addictive as any strategy game. It's a gamer's game, much better than its more action-oriented counterparts which used the same engine, namely KOTOR, and sorry you guys who own the place, The Witcher. Sorry for the broken English, it's not my first language.

I actually had no problem with the OC either. HotU was just better though.

I think the main problem people have with the OC is that it follows the generic Bioware cookie-cutter story that they use in many games. "Go to area, fight enemies, get to end of area, get item, rinse and repeat" over and over, which to some can be fun, but others dislike it a lot.

(it may change after the 2nd chapter as that is as far as I've played it.)

I can hardly wait. But I'll play SoU first.

True, but as you mentioned, the same can be said about KOTOR, Dragon Age, even Baldur's Gate. I wonder why the boring rep stuck with NWN though. Talk about unfair. Of course, my bad. But I'm not in a hurry, anyway, if SoU is as "boring" as the OC, I'm in for a great time.

I remember it starting off kinda boring, but then I hit a bug I think and I couldn't continue, so I saved my character and since my dad had beaten it already I just jumped ahead. It gets pretty awesome.

Exactly, from Baldur's Gate to Dragon Age, the formula is the same, so why just NWN got the boring rep?

Most likely because people had already played through the two baulders gates and were already used to it, and I have found that Dragon Age actually mixes it up a bit later in the game(NWN may as well, I'm not sure), and the fact that Dragon Age is voiced over helps a lot.

Agreed, OC doesn't deserve it's poor rep. It does repeat a lot of the same story elements bioware always repeats, but why single it out? I'd guess KOTOR (which I love) got away with it because the new setting and better graphics were a suitable distraction, Jade Empire likewise. One major plot twist involving a lady was directly lifted from OC to KOTOR and nobody complained the second time...

Actually, I'd assume it's more to do with the graphics and presentation. Compared to Icewind Dale 2, NWN was blocky and obviously pieced together from recyclable elements. It's a lot less fulfilling exploring a dungeon when you come across the same copy/paste storage room for the seventh time. At the time you could do much finer scenery with 2d backdrops than with a 3d engine, especially a 3d engine designed for easy world building from ready blocks.

Chapter 2 of OC is my personal favourite, with couple of really different areas (snowglobe <3). The action does get repetitive towards the end, make no mistake. The companions are not what they could be either, being simply substitutes for the intended multiplayer playthrough experience.

Story is pretty straightforward. And maybe boring and maybe it depends on character you have created. But for me is very amusing dungeon crawling. Story isn't everything. TOEE eg. story very poor but game very very good. Maybe I will not play BG2 or Planescape torment again. I liked them because of story and characters met there... but I'm sure I will play TOEE again. Each play can be another D&D story :-). ( I'm playing NWN right now and I'm in 2nd chapter)

When you're done with the OC...

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I enjoyed a lot the OC of NWN 1, with my half-orc paladin (yeah, I know ^_^)

So far, I can't say I'm enjoying much the OC of NWN2...

NWN2 campaign gets good once you reach the city and there's more plot involved than just getting to the city. The gameplay wasn't as enjoyable, camera and sticky floor tiles being the worst opponents. But the plot was real fine!

I'm now far beyond my "trial" in the city of Neverwinter, even "killed" Garius, and i still find the story boring. Maybe it's because of those bloody cameras, and the feeling that 9 times out of 10, the clutter dropped by monsters is worthless except being sold to the next merchant...