Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate - Reception

Reception

Reviews of Mysteries of Westgate were mixed. 1UP.com's Jason Wilson said that the game's plot is "an intriguing tale, and even after finishing the game, a number of encounters and plot points ring in my head ... but the story's poor stitching distracts from its arc—I felt like a great hand ... was pushing me through the plot, and the tale felt a bit muddled toward the end." Brett Todd of GameSpot called the plot "rough around the edges", while GameZone reviewer Michael Lafferty said, "The game may have a disjointed storyline, but there are moments where humor shines through, and the game does take a few interesting plot twists. And the exploration of the city zones, the underground areas where the trolls abound, hold that sense of joyful discovery that make an RPG worth playing." Numerous reviewers mentioned that the impact of the mask which drives the story is minimal, having little effect on the actual gameplay. Lafferty said the side quests were not necessarily optional, as they were often a source of additional gold, and a certain point in the game's plot required a substantial sum of it to proceed. GamesRadar's Rich McCormick praised the game's storyline and main quest as some of its best points. In a review for GameStar, Christian Schmidt thought that the game's appearance and humor were poor, but recommended it because of its strong storyline.

Todd found the pack's difficulty to be "wildly careening" and stated, "Some battles are amazingly easy. You can soar through many scraps in moments, with your party carving up the opposition before you can tell if you're fighting a mummy or a zombie. However, others are absolutely brutal ... There are more than a couple of moments in the game in which your party is ambushed by enemy spellcasters that rip you to pieces before you can even think about a proper response." He praised the game's music as blending in seamlessly with that of the original game, but criticized it for a having minimal amount of voice acting, with sequences of dialogue that begin with audio and transition into text. Steve Butts commented on this, saying, "the dialogue here really needs some work ... you'll even be treated to some truly tortured sentences. 'Wait till you see how deep into the backside of evil I insert my boot in the name of justice!' is probably my favorite. It's too bad there's not more voice acting in the game, because hearing someone speak lines like that out loud may have given the developers an opportunity to edit some of the worst offenders."

As a result of Mysteries of Westgate's 2007 completion and 2009 release, it did not feature the improvements present in the two previous Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion packs, and received criticism because of this. Todd stated that the game lacks the artistic improvements of Mask of the Betrayer and Storm of Zehir, a sentiment echoed by Lafferty's review. However, Butts stated that "Westgate delivers enough engaging content that the absence of all the latest improvements isn't "too agonizing." Several reviews noted that the fifteen hours of story and the new objects in the adventure pack make the expansion worth its US$9.99 cost.