From what I've heard, this is the most anticipated D&D game ever released. If that's true, there's no way it deserves that.
Okay, I think it's time I listed my biases: I played this game mostly single-player. It sucks in single-player. Maybe if I played with a full party and everyone roleplayed their characters and stuff, it would be a better game. But don't bet on it.
First off, this game plays like the bastard son of Diablo and Baldur's Gate. It has the worst aspects of Diablo without the advantages. It focuses almost exclusively on combat, without the cool combat system Diablo has. And what puzzle solving it has is laughable, since it usually resorts to the incredibly lame system of putting the puzzle answers into chests or pillars or stuff.
The plot of the main campaign is pretty sad. Okay, then the modules might be better, but the main campaign is what people are gonna judge this game on. The campaign gives no chance for evil characters, and very little for alternative player classes like rogues to play single player.
So what do I want to do? Play this damn game multiplayer. If you're reading this, you probably have NWN too. That means that I want to play this game with you, maybe at a LAN party if your internet happens to suck.
Okay, then there are some things that are very cool about this game. First off, it makes a great intro to D&D 3rd Edition because it gives you all the rules in an easy-to-understand way. Second, the graphics are, admittedly, dead 'ard. Fully 3-D and rotatable, zoomable, and with multiple camera angles, this game is visually awesome. (Which remind me of another thing: you have to run around everywhere, making going to farther-away zones quite boring. I hear they're making horses in a new mod... about time!)
Neverwinter Nights is also cool because of the emotes and movements that your character makes. It's fun to bow, threaten, scratch your head, and of course talk. The voices however remind me of another problem... the worst one, in my opinion.
I'm convinced that when they were making NWN the designers split their employees into three teams: one for character portraits, one for GUI characters, and one for the voices. The teams didn't collaborate at all. Finally, the finished products were just lumped together. If you think this is bad when trying to make your character--half the male human GUI faces have massive handlebar mustaches--try talking to the NPC. The faces of everyone but the main characters (Aribeth and crew) look NOTHING like their portraits. Even poor Lord Nasher looks different. I know, I know, you can import your own portraits and supposedly even GUI pictures, but I don't feel like going through all that just to fix their mistake. Maybe some day when I actually have a reason to (like an extended period of multiplayer sessions) I'll learn how to do that.
Final note: get the AFNORTH campaign done please. I want to sell lotus.