Review 1UP reviews Mask of the Betrayer - 8/10

[JeffGreen]

Bah. You guys aren't so tough or scary. I'm a vateran of the comp.sys boards! Now there was a tough crowd!

Couple other thoughts on the game:

I enjoyed the dialog a lot--Obsidian always writes well--but I found it a little lacking in the humor department this time around. Granted, the story was heavier, but they usually do a good job of providing that last dialog choice in the tree that is played more for laughs than anything else, and while it IS there, it felt drier to me this time.

Related to that, I really didn't find any of the party NPCs overly memorable this time around. There was no one like Khelgar or Bishop, to me anyway, that I just loved having around, no one that feels to me will retain in our collective memories the way Minsc or Morte have. Honestly, I finished the game not too long ago and have started on a second run-through, and I can barely remember any of the NPCs names.

That said, this is the first RPG in awhile where I really was paying attention to the story, where I wanted to see it through not just so I could say I finished the game, but because I genuinely wanted to know what was going to happen. All that plus NPCs who actually attacked and cast their spells somewhat intelligently, without me having to micromanage, made this game a real pleasant surprise for me given my disappointment with the OC. Actually, it made me want to replay the OC, which I'm going to do right after I finish Portal.

--Jeff

 

[deuxhero]

'Cause, IIRC, they're really nothing but a sorcerer type class for clerics and druids respectively. *yawn*

I thought Favored souls were broken, being one of the few classes to have all there saves good, plus nearly everything that makes regular CoDzilla broken, they also get wings as a lvl 20 cap ability, but they get overland flight alot earlier then that, so it doesn't matter.

 

[cardtrick]

Another minor pet peeve of mine (which Obsidian has heard me whine about for forever), is the lack of an auto-pause after each round, ala Baldur's Gate and earlier Infinity Engine games.

With you there, man. It might seem like a small thing, but this alone would bump MOTB from an 8.5 to a 9 for me. It was less of a big deal with NWN2, where you really didn't need to worry too much about micromanaging your characters, but with the somewhat harder fights of MOTB, this would be a huge help.

'Cause, IIRC, they're really nothing but a sorcerer type class for clerics and druids respectively. *yawn*

I thought Favored souls were broken, being one of the few classes to have all there saves good, plus nearly everything that makes regular CoDzilla broken, they also get wings as a lvl 20 cap ability, but they get overland flight alot earlier then that, so it doesn't matter.

Not sure exactly what you're saying here, but favored souls and spirit shamans are both crippled by the fact that they require high values in two different stats, unlike all other casters. (Both require high values in charisma and wisdom, one to learn spells and one for spell DC.) This means that their spells will always be much easier to save against than a corresponding cleric or druid. This makes a much bigger difference than it might seem at first. Also, of course, the two new classes lack the old class abilities; not as big a deal for favored souls, but spirit shamans don't have animal companions which puts them at something of a disadvantage compared to druids (especially considering that several of their better spells are buffs for their nonexistent companion).

 

[AlanC9]

Another minor pet peeve of mine (which Obsidian has heard me whine about for forever), is the lack of an auto-pause after each round, ala Baldur's Gate and earlier Infinity Engine games.

With you there, man. It might seem like a small thing, but this alone would bump MOTB from an 8.5 to a 9 for me. It was less of a big deal with NWN2, where you really didn't need to worry too much about micromanaging your characters, but with the somewhat harder fights of MOTB, this would be a huge help.

I don't want to sound snarky here, but when you have a spacebar, what's so important about an autopause?

 

[Texas Red]

"Not sure exactly what you're saying here, but favored souls and spirit shamans are both crippled by the fact that they require high values in two different stats, unlike all other casters. (Both require high values in charisma and wisdom, one to learn spells and one for spell DC.) This means that their spells will always be much easier to save against than a corresponding cleric or druid. This makes a much bigger difference than it might seem at first. Also, of course, the two new classes lack the old class abilities; not as big a deal for favored souls, but spirit shamans don't have animal companions which puts them at something of a disadvantage compared to druids (especially considering that several of their better spells are buffs for their nonexistent companion)."

In any way there are hordes of pointless spells for both druids and clerics. When getting a new spell level, the favored soul and the shaman get not 1 but *3* spells that they can cast like Sorcerers and more times than druids and clerics. A few DC points for more spells is a worthy trade, imo.

Also, animal companion has been crippled in NWN 2/3.5 rules. They are now always several levels behind the party and dont level up when everyone else does. Both the shaman and the favored soul have nifty abilities to compensate for the feats that clerics and druids can perform, for example 50% concealment and damage reduction.

 

[Bloodeyes]

I enjoyed the dialog a lot--Obsidian always writes well--but I found it a little lacking in the humor department this time around.

I can only see this as a positive. I am currently playing through the official campaign, and so far it has been absolutely drenched in lame, childish "humour" that makes me feel like I am a lot older than the target demographic, and bloody hell I'm only 20.

Can't we all agree on not telling "outsiders" how "tough" the Codex is? It seems to happen every time a dev or game reviewer shows up, and it's fucking silly.

I was going to argue against such an agreement on the grounds that not doing so might scare off " important" posters, but it sounded like bullshit to me. Anyone posting here in an official capacity would skim the place a bit before posting, and any who don't deserve what they get. So yeah, it is a bit silly.

 

[pug987]

Another minor pet peeve of mine (which Obsidian has heard me whine about for forever), is the lack of an auto-pause after each round, ala Baldur's Gate and earlier Infinity Engine games.

With you there, man. It might seem like a small thing, but this alone would bump MOTB from an 8.5 to a 9 for me. It was less of a big deal with NWN2, where you really didn't need to worry too much about micromanaging your characters, but with the somewhat harder fights of MOTB, this would be a huge help.

Since this is the codex, I'm sure everybody would like an autopause faction. I think when asked Obsidian, they said that they never thought that an autopause fanction would be so wanted by the players, especially since NWN1 didn't have one and almost noone seemed to care, and so they built the game in a way that it wasn't possible to implement it, not even for the expansion. Of course in NWN 1 you had to care for just one character while here you have to micromanage 4 (or 5 in the second act of the OC) characters.

That said, it isn't actually that bad. Yes, it misses the feel of a turn based game (it was nice that you could play Baldur's Gate 2 as a turn based game, even if you would probably not check autopause at end of round for any but the toughest fights) but a 6 second round gives you plenty of time to pause and set your orders. Moreover queuing actions lets you give orders to a character in your party and not have to care about her for a few rounds. Of course it's best to turn the AI off for the more difficult fights and play all characters yourself.

All in all, it'd be nice to have autopause at end of round options for several reasons varying from micromanaging to being able to play NWN2 as a turned based game, but the current system is sufficient and it doesn't hinder you in any way from playing a battle exactly as you want to.

 

[OSK]

Since this is the codex, I'm sure everybody would like an autopause faction.

No, the hivemind would want it turn-based!

 

[ixg]

Hey why do so many retards have huge signatures?