History YMMV / NeverwinterNights2

* CompleteMonster: [[OurLichesAreDifferent Black Garius]], the self-proclaimed "Master of the Fifth Tower," is the leader of the [[ReligionOfEvil Cult of Shadow]], a group of necromancers that plunders grave sites and old battle sites for corpses to their army and tries to free the [[BigBad King of Shadows]]. Or so it seems. In reality, [[TheStarscream he wants to exploit the King for power]], something he can't get enough of; [[BadBoss treats his subordinates as expendable pawns]] (even his own [[TheDragon Dragon]] admits this if you spare her after his death) and was ready to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness wipe out the remaining cultists as soon as he was done with the ritual to bind the King]]. However, [[EvilIsNotAToy the ritual is botched and he dies]], only to [[CameBackWrong be revived]] as a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Shadow Reaver]], a slave to the King. Even after that, he's perfectly fine with his state, as he has more magical powers than he had in life. His greatest atrocity in the game was ordering the massacre of a peaceful village in order to {{Frame|Up}} the PlayerCharacter, who had thwarted his efforts. If you prove yourself innocent in the court, he shows no regret over the people that died, but is enraged over his minions for [[YouHaveFailedMe failing him]] and kills Lorne on the spot if you didn't do it yourself. Garius was all in all a [[SmugSnake smug]], power-hungry backstabber with no redeeming features whatsoever.

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** The PC and Shandra Jerro, which seemed to be shaping up to be an OfficialCouple [[spoiler:before Shandra's horrible death]].

* Sequelitis: Rarely to the point of FanonDiscontinuity (bar the abovementioned plot points), but very, very few people would consider it a worthy followup to ''Mask'', or even the original, mainly by virtue of [[UnexpectedGenreShift completely changing focus]] from a tightly-wound story-driven adventure to a barely-plotted retro dungeon-crawler. In fairness, there wouldn't really have been anywhere for the Knight-Captain's story to go, but even then, it gets brought up far less frequently than either of its predecessors. It's not considered ''bad'', for what it is, though.

** The male PC and Shandra Jerro, which seemed to be shaping up to be an OfficialCouple [[spoiler:before Shandra's horrible death]].

** One notable LP pointed out that the game has a number of interesting stories running through it (the Watch/Thieves conflict, the politics between Neverwinter and Luskan, the Githyanki hunting the protagonist, the Jerro family), but they all ultimately tie back to the King of Shadows and Black Garius plot, which is easily the most cliched and uninteresting, and end up fighting for room. The biggest one is likely the Crossroad Keep arc, a deep and intricate minigame with a lot of interesting things to do, from training up soldiers to rebuilding defenses... but its only impact is making the Garius siege missions easier.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Regardless of alignment, Suppression playthroughs are a lot more common than Devour playthroughs, as Suppressing is a lot easier to pace, regardless of alignment (just summon a few elementals and cast it once per day), while Devour can practically hit SpeedRun territory at times.

** Indeed, ''Mask of the Betrayer'' is fairly notable for its ability to make the player do some [[KickTheDog absolutely terrible things]], well beyond the previous game's "ask people for more money when rescuing them." [[spoiler:Devouring the soul of the Founder]] is another big one - notably, it's the only thing that can cause Safiya to turn on you.

** Speaking of, cleric Knight-Captain. A wizard or sorcerer has the EarlyGameHell to worry about, but a cleric has reasonable HP and armor, melee skills, and access to healing magic to get them through it. Roundabouts the midgame, you have Harm to inflict HPToOne on most enemies, Divine Power and Righteous Might to out-damage the fighters, and Turn Undead in a game where it feels like 80% of endgame opponents are affected by it. And to cap it off, the only cleric companion shows up pretty late and isn't too well-built.

* GameBreaker: Resting. It takes about five seconds, has no cost, fills up all your health, restores your spells, and can even help you recover from diseases or poisons. This has the side effect of making classes who balance weaker attacks with not being limited in how many they can use (Warlocks especially) pretty much useless while greatly enhancing the LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards divide. Only a handful of areas don't allow you to rest, and they're considered some of the hardest in the game for it. It was heavily nerfed in both expansions.

** Some view Casavir as a cool, somewhat suave KnightInSourArmour who makes for a [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan touching]] LoveInterest. Others see him as dull and rather bland, and many, many women wish his romance had not received priority over that of Bishop. There's also a middle ground.

** Male Knight Captain/Neeshka and Female Knight Captain/Bishop or Sand. Neeshka was an option but cut due to time; even so, the leftovers have several flirtatious lines that, to some people, flow better than the sudden confessions of [[spoiler:stalking and JailbaitWait]] from the actual love interest. This hit such a level that one of the developers tried to defend the game's OfficialCouple, claiming that Neeshka was never intended to be anyone's love interest, and that the devs didn't understand nor appreciate the fans' fervor along such lines. [[ForegoneConclusion No one believed a word of it.]]

** Female Knight Captain/Bishop, by a slight majority. The fact that Casavir's romance may come across as a poor substitute left some fans a little bitter.

* ThatOneLevel:
** The final area can be this to some, since it's filled with a large number of powerful undead and golems, and also adds a high chance of being attacked while resting, unlike with any other dungeon in the game. It's also filled with traps, which can make things difficult since it's the point where the party is unlikely to have a rogue unless the player character is one.
** The Orc Caves. They're full of hidden traps, [[FakeLongevity seem to go on forever]] and mostly contain hordes of similar groups of orcs that can can quickly overwhelm you, with some groups spawning at trigger points, meaning you could be dealing with more than one group if you're not mindful of where you step. The fact that Casavir muscles his way into the party at this juncture really doesn't help matters, nor does the fact that [[{{Padding}} it has almost nothing at all to do with the overall story]].
** The entirety of Moire's quest in the Docks, if you choose to side with her instead of the City Watch. You have to swim through hordes of rival thugs (that love to BackStab you) to get to the guardposts of the city guard and try to get them on your side. And fight them if you fail. After that, and a brief filler mission, you have to escort a wagon through a long street chock full of rival thugs (So much for Moire ruling over the docks) and heavily armored city guards, [[GangUpOnTheHuman which will eagerly team up on you]]. After a forced ambush by the thugs (SoMuchForStealth), you arrive on the warehouse only to find the City Guard waiting for you inside, complete with clerics that love to curse and lower your stats for the remainder of the scenario, as this last area has no exit.

** Qara, for being a {{pyromaniac}} sorceress with an [[SmallNameBigEgo overinflated sense of importance]] and a tendency to destroy loot chests with her splash damage. Her rivalry with fan favorite Sand doesn't help matters, and the fact that she is ''so'' ''frickin'' petty really annoys some players.

* TooCoolToLive:
** [[spoiler:Shandra]] stands out among a party otherwise exclusively made up of very unoriginal characters as a DeadpanSnarker (not unlike [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic Jolee Bindo]] for that matter) and master of WhoWritesThisCrap and dies. The setting allows resurrection easily and unlike the other time an ally dies, you are ''easily'' of sufficient level and wealth to bring her back.
** Possibly justified by the setting requirements for resurrection. In 3.5 D&D, nobody can be raised from the dead against their will, and [[spoiler: Shandra was only ever a reluctant participant in the storyline. There's also a possibility someone was preventing her from coming back -- Shandra's final acts did, after all, involve at least one bargain with a devil.]]

** Parries, cleaves and attack of opportunities do not have any animation. A colored line will show-up and a floating text will display what the character have just done. A fan-made script can partially fix this.

** Whenever you move something in or out of a bag, the list of items will reset all the way back to the top of the list. Why on Earth?! And why do items of the same type don't stack on each others inside a bag?! ARGH!!

** Shandra's only in the party for one chapter and is more or less a bonus character in terms of her party role, but she makes a great impression from start to finish and is generally regarded as the most interesting of the bunch.

* GameBreaker: Resting. It takes about five seconds, has no cost, fills up all your health, restores your spells, and can even help you recover from diseases or poisons. Only a handful of areas don't allow you to rest, and they're considered some of the hardest in the game for it. It was heavily nerfed in both expansions.

** Sand. Proponents say he is a very useful wizard with a knack for crafting magic items and an endless stream of witty one-liners. Detractors complain about his [[SquishyWizard fragility]], his WhatAnIdiot decision to betray you if you have more influence with Qara than him and that his [[SmallNameBigEo constant arrogance]] is at least as annoying as that of Qara, if not moreso.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Some view Casavir as a cool, somewhat suave KnightInSourArmour who makes for a [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan touching]] LoveInterest. Others see him as dull and rather bland, and many, many women wish his romance had not received priority over that of Bishop. There's also a middle ground.

* ClicheStorm: It's a game where the main character is an orphan who grew up in a small town, which is attacked near the beginning of the game by the forces of evil, gives its main villains names like [[ObviouslyEvil Black Garius and The King of Shadows]], and later becomes a quest for a mystical InfinityPlusOneSword. Most of the companions also fall into this ([[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame aggressive dwarf who likes ale and hammers,]] [[OurElvesAreBetter preachy elf]] [[InHarmonyWithNature with nature abilities]], [[OurGnomesAreWeirder comic-relief gnome bard]], [[UnskilledButStrong impulsive fire sorcerer with hidden power]], [[GoodIsBoring stick-in-the-mud paladin]] [[ToBeLawfulOrGood who occasionally struggles with the code]]).

--> '''Sand''': "I am ''not'' a pack mule and I can't move carrying all this stuff!"

* CatharsisFactor:
** After all his transgressions, after all his smug, self-satisfied taunting, the player finally gets to [[spoiler:kill Black Garius off for real]] -- and boy howdy is it satisfying.
** Same goes for [[spoiler:killing Qara. After having to put up with her idiocy, arrogance and verbal abuse, players were all too glad to see her make a FaceHeelTurn. This allow you to beat her to death along with the combined might of ''all nine party members''.]]

** Same goes for [[spoiler:killing Qara. After having to put up with her idiocy, arrogance and verbal abuse, players were all too glad to see her make FaceHeelTurn. This allow you to beat her to death along with the combine might of ''all nine party members''.]]
* ClicheStorm: It's a game where the main character is an orphan who grew up in a small town, which is attacked near the beginning of the game, has a villain named [[ObviouslyEvil The King of Shadows]], and later becomes a quest for a mystical InfinityPlusOneSword.

** The male PC and Shandra Jerro, which may have been shaped to look like an OfficialCouple [[spoiler:before Shandra's horrible death]].

** The air elemental's constant wind blowing sound its making, even when standing still.

** The Orc Caves. They're full of hidden traps, [[FakeLongevity seem to go on forever]] and mostly contain hordes of similar groups of orcs that can can quickly overwhelm you, with some groups spawning at trigger points, meaning you could be dealing with more than one group if you're not mindful of where you step. The fact that Casavir muscles his way into the party at this juncture really doesn't help matters.

** When making 360 degrees turns, monsters and characters will sometime awkwardly go in their "walking forward animation" and spin around, while they should really be side-stepping.

** When making 360 degrees turns, monsters and characters will sometime awkwardly go in their walking animation and spin around, while they should really be side-stepping.

** When a character is knocked down, he will fly up unrealistically in the air a long time before finally falling down.

** When making 360 degrees turns, monsters and characters will awkwardly go in their walking animation and spin around, while they should really be side-stepping.

** Parry, cleave and attack of opportunities do not have any animation. A colored line will show-up and a float text will display what the character have just done. A fan-made script can partially fix this.

** When turning around or moving in the battlefield, animation will sometime not trigger properly. Characters and monsters will glide like chess pieces rather than walking.

** Crafting in the OC. You need to fulfill several requirements to craft or enchant items. It's very difficult and frustrating to keep track of the needed components and spells levels as you need to navigate several windows (inventory, receipe books, spellbooks, character sheet, etc) and there's no check list.

* CatharsisFactor: After all his transgressions, after all his smug, self-satisfied taunting, the player finally gets to [[spoiler:kill Black Garius off for real]] -- and boy howdy is it satisfying.

* GoodBadBugs: Just before entering Orbakh's Inner Sanctum, can just leave the winery and go to the Undergate and receive XP everytime you enter it.

* ScrappyMechanic: Crafting in the OC. You need to fulfill several requirements to craft or enchant items. It's very difficult and frustrating to keep track of the needed components and spells levels as you need to navigate several windows (inventory, receipe books, spellbooks, character sheet, etc) and there's no check list.