NWN2 and MotB had a limited collection of premade NPC's you could recruit who might not fit your combat preferences. Every inn has a logbook that allows you to swap out any party member except your leader with a new/imported character in case you're not happy with your group's current composition. It allows you to fine-tune your party so it exactly fits your playstyle.

Creating an entire party might be daunting for new players but it's likely most people playing Zehir are veterans of the series. Having a full party at the beginning of the Zehir means there's no plodding solo segments to start off the game battles are large and strategic from the outset. Eventually you gain the ability to travel back and forth between Samarach and the Sword Coast and you'll get opportunities to revisit some of the locales from NWN2 but if you're hoping for an extension of the storyline from the previous two games, you'll be disappointed. Regardless, you're not actually your character from MoTB/ NWN2 from a story perspective - you and the three other characters you create/import to fill out your party are common adventurers whose ship crashes on the shores of Samarach, a jungle nation far from the Sword Coast. The game places no restrictions on importing characters, though, so you can actually use the level 30 juggernaut that you beat MotB with if you're in the mood to steamroll the game. Whereas the previous NWN2 expansion, Mask of the Betrayer, was an epic level (20-30) adventure and a direct continuation of the original NWN2's storyline, Zehir is a new level 1-15 adventure. While it's heartening to know that Obsidian has future plans for the series and that they're willing to make bold changes to the series' formula, SoZ's innovation has a price and many of the NWN2's previous strengths are less evident here.

It's more of an introduction than a conclusion really, with broad new gameplay features and a story that serves as a prelude to a much larger tale in Dungeon & Dragon's Forgotten Realms setting. Storm of Zehir is perhaps the final expansion to Neverwinter Nights 2 but there's nothing valedictory about it.

Neverwinter nights 2