Could you see Mask of the Betrayer plot twists coming?

v1rus · Jan 14, 2017

First, lets get obvious out on the table - shitton of fuckin' spoilers ahead.

Now, I'm talking about the whole Spirit-Eater curse and Akachi/the crusades connection. First time I step in one of those temples and got the very first journal log on the crusades, I knew it - this shit was connected with the main plot. It was just blatantly obvious to me. The quest stood out in the journal, and it was clear on the first sight that shit ton of work went towards it. Ofc, I didnt figure out the whole thing right away, but that didnt take that long, either.

Also, in case you are wondering, yes, i think MotB is a masterpiece

Predictability is actually a quality, not a flaw.

Jaesun · Jan 14, 2017

I saw your Mom coming....

Projas · Jan 14, 2017

Yeah, it was fairly obvious. Not that it's a bad thing. There is actually a mention of the crusade right in the beginning in a book in Okku's barrow.

Bound in blackened leather, the pages of this tome are brittle and cracked. The text is barely legible, faded and written in a spidery hand:

In my dream I saw a city, gray and forbidding, beneath an empty sky. Before its gates came a hideous procession - all the dead of the world, of a hundred worlds, awaiting the judgement of the gods.

And around the gray city loomed the Wall. Its bricks were souls, mortared by a foul green mold. These souls were the Faithless, who had denied the gods in life, or had never truly believed.

I drew nearer the Wall, and at once I heard the screams of those Faithless souls. "Cursed are we," they cried, "who denied the jealous gods, and now are forsaken." And other voices answered them, saying "Remember the Betrayer's Crusade. Remember the Betrayer, who swore to bring down the Wall. Have patience, for the Betrayer may yet return..."

After this, the original text has faded so badly that it is illegible. But someone has scribbed feverishly in the margin: Another reference to the Betrayer's Crusade... though Myrkul's priests deny its existence. The truth is in their vaults... in the whispering scrolls... the Lamentations of the Dead...

FeelTheRads · Jan 14, 2017

Didn't even know there was a twist.

Sceptic · Jan 29, 2017

Spoilers galore obviously.

That's not a twist though. The journal log is there precisely to establish a connection after all. And of course you don't figure out the details of the connection right away, but the game parcels out the information at a steady rate, which again isn't how a twist is supposed to work. Twist is the sudden introduction of a plot element that throws things on their head or makes you see the plot in a completely different light. I think the strength of MotB's plot is actually that it doesn't rely on a twist, but on the gradual buildup of information - you start knowing absolutely nothing about what's going on and slowly put together what's happening to you, what happened in the past with Akachi and Myrkul, and how the the history is connected to your current predicament.

There are 2 points in the game that I think are the highlight of the plot. The first is the conversation with Myrkul. That one did come as a surprise to me (not quite a twist though), because even though there was some foreshadowing I didn't think we'd actually get to talk to him, so it was a very cool moment, especially since he lies to you and you can only see through the lies if you have the stats. The second point, and the one that's closest to a twist in the game, is when you find out that the Founder and Safiyah and Akachi's lover are all the same person. That one I thought was super cool and well done because I did guess it ahead of time, but not by much - I finally made the link when talking to Araman. It's also well-written because the game isn't condescending to you and doesn't assume that there's no way a player would guess it. Too many writers think they're more clever than they are and assume they're surprising you with the twist, and it reads completely stupid if you did guess the twist (KOTOR is pretty bad with this, f.e.)

TalesfromtheCrypt · Jan 29, 2017

"Twists" are overrated. It's easy to implement cheap twists in games and movies, like your favourite symathetic character suddenly turning out to be the evil one 20 minutes before the thing ends with little to no prior build up or hints for the audience. In General, a Twist that can't be anticipated by the observant viewer is a cheap-ass trick, nothing more.

Betrayer did it perfectly, the big reveal emerges organically from the story so it becoming predictable at some point of the game is a sign of quality, really.

Dann, now I to replay this glorious gem.