My issue with NWN is that it seems to try to exist in this nebulous space between being a party-oriented tactical RPG a la Baldur's Gate and point and click 'action' RPG a la Diablo, the latter of which I'm not really into. In the end this seems to amount to clicking on something then sitting back as a series of rolls are made, the outcomes of which determine whether you win the battle or die.
This is of course how games like Baldur's Gate work, fundamentally, but in BG you can control your entire party of six which provides many, many variables over which to influence the outcome of the combat. The inability to control party members in NWN even makes things as simple as having an ally drink a potion tedious. Whilst fighting Cailik in the aqueducts my PCs job in the battle was to stand by my barbarian henchman and dole out potions one at a time. (!?!?)
Having so little control over the party basically makes each encounter a game a chance.
Not every game works for everyone. As a player of AD&D in the 1980's I find NWN better replicates that experience than any CRPG I have ever played.
NWN is primarily a story telling engine with single/multiplayer opportunities, with you essentially controlling your hero, either solo, with weak AI sidekick or real human companions. But it is all about controlling ONE character.
Obviously if you want a party based CRPG, NWN is not for you, it is essentially intended to be one hero with OPTIONAL sidekick. I actually prefer this as I really don't care for micromanaging a whole party of characters. Back when I played PnP, I really hated it when someone didn't show up and I got stuck, playing their character as well. Controling any other character besides my own, detracts from attachment/identification with that character.
Unfortunately sidekick AI is weak, and there are some things you can do to mitigate:
1) Tony K AI patch helps.
2) Play they Hero, not the sidekick. If you are playing a weak class and counting on a stronger AI sidekick, that isn't optimal in the NWN engine and less fun anyway.
3) Play modules with a better sidekick.
4) Play solo without a sidekick.
5) Play real multi-player with real human counterparts.
Some examples where this worked well.
1) In Hordes of the Underdark with Deakin as sidekick. He is very funny, does decent support with bard songs and tends to avoid getting himself killed.
2) As I fighter/Rogue in Prophet (third party module) I really enjoyed that the companions were stealth capable, so you could stealth into or around battles and they were also range friendly so we had some great archery battles with goblins in the mountains and they were integral to the story...
3) I was playing a fighter/rogue on persistent world and while clearing a dungeon with 2 real live humans as companions, we worked great as a team, I would stealth ahead into every room and backstab any spellcaster, to shift the fights dramatically in our favor. This is where the game really is awesome.
It kind of looks like you were trying to play Robin to your "sidekicks" Batman. That definitely isn't the way to go. You are always Batman and if you are dragging around Robin, you always have to look out for him. Best to give him ranged weapons to stay out of trouble as much as possible.
But it also sounds like you don't enjoy being batman, because you don't think there is enough to do? Again NWN doesn't appear to be the game for you. I really don't want to be button mashing, but I still find myself engaged in cotrolling the battlefield unless it is down to just one enemy left. Deciding who to attack next, how to get them off my sidekick. Even when down to 1vs1 you have combat moves you can use like Knockdown, called shot.
Bottom line NWN may not be for you. If you are looking for a tactical multicharacter battle sim, this is not it. If you are looking for beat em fighting game with endless special moves, this is not it.
