I can sum up this game very easily with two words: Old School. This expansion abandons the cinematic approach of past games and instead adopts a style that reminds me a lot of a good ol' pen and paper session of D&D.

No longer the story of one orphan and the mystical sword that repeatedly destroyed his life, this expansion follows the survivors of a shipwreck in a xenophobic nation to the south of Neverwinter. Foreigners trapped in a realm that despises foreigners, these adventurers are forced to rely on a powerful local merchant for their release, their continued freedom, and their employment.

New Features:
Overland Map: A very nice addition with some very frustrating caveats, the overland map is likely where you'll be spending most of your time. It feels a lot like an RTS map, and even the initial region is quite large. I would strongly suggest you have someone with high ranks in spot, listen, and survival to lead when on the map. Rangers in particular are very valuable. Fortunately there is a druid you can enlist in the first town who can provide these skills. In fact, you may want to enlist him anyway, as his dinosaur companion, Yushai, is a remarkably effective tank. And no, Yushai does not attack with his tongue or by throwing eggs.

Unfortunately there are some problems to mention here. First, "toggle" type powers (bardic inspirations and passive warlock invocations) are turned off when entering the overland map, so remember to turn them back on at the start of any random encounter. Also, be sure to pause the game before doing any menu diving while on the world map. I learned this the hard way by being attacked by ogres while in the level up screen for one of my characters.

Conversation: The party conversation system is remarkably well done. If anyone in the party has dialogue options the current speaker does not, a speech bubble will appear on their portrait, and you can click on them to see what they have to say. Much of the time these options are skill related (ranging from bluff and diplomacy to craft and use magic device), but other factors provide their own options. Two of my characters, a LG doomguide and a CN warlock, often have a different response to given circumstances. When talking to a particularly polite servant, for instance, the doomguide would remark on the honor the servant was showing her while the warlock bluntly told the servant that there was no need for his toadying.

I was also pleased to find that the cohorts aren't quite as soulless as we've been lead to believe. While they behave exactly like PCs for the most part, they also seem to have personal responses to certain situations. The druid, for instance, seems to always defend dinosaurs when other people complain about them. In one particular instance, he brags that he and Yushai know a great deal about the surroundings when an NPC enlists the party to explore the region.

Death: For those of you woried about the new death system, they've also added an additional touch to lighten the blow. Waukeen, god of commerce, has been enterprising enough to start selling "coins of life". While more expensive than simple raise dead scrolls, these coins can be used by anyone with a pulse to restore anyone without one. They are very handy to have and I suggest you keep at least one of these bad boys on each character at any given time.

Challenge: The random encounters don't seem to care at all about your level or how many friends you got. You can stumble upon a level 9 encounter with wyverns while you're still level 4. It's a little embarassing how many times I had to run for my lives from things that would have (and sometimes still did) stomped my party flat.

Epic Skill Focus: You will be amazed at how much skill influences the game. Whether it was my craftsman warlock talking shop with a Lantanese golem builder or my bard using alchemy to create healing potions from the leaves of a random bush, having the right skills can really effect how things turn out.

All in all, I've greatly enjoyed the game so far. After six straight hours of play, I still feel like I've only scratched the surface. Like I already said, it feels a lot like an old fashioned D&D session, lacking only the Cheetos, the Mountain Dew, and the constant pop culture references being bantered about by the warlock and the ranger.

Good times. Good times.