Review Eurogamer reviews MotB - 7/10

[Pegultagol]

More or less it is how it rates from a perspective of reviewer who just finished what amounts to 60 hours of pure D&D roleplaying experience. It also may tend to affect one's standard a bit when one has just reviewed Bioshock and Halo 3 for a gaming publication. He just did not enjoy the game as much as even NWN2 for reasons given including its difficulty, and how could anyone be expected to quantify the entire experience into a single digit?

He mentions some of his misgivings as being not well adjusted to higher difficulty (even 'easy' does not translate into beating opponents handily), more strict resting system, and of course the influence system that quantifies the level of relationship and announces its changes in big bold yellow letters. He also does not like how 'serious' and deadpan some of the party characters are, and how 'unpowerful' he feels, which leads me to believe that RPGs more than any game requires more effort on the part of player into reaping what it offers as enjoyment than other genres that offer more rapid gratification. It also more than any other genre cannot rely on gameplay alone for a positive review as much as its content, which tends to bring out more subjective views that can sometimes get personal (Games for Windows review for NWN2 lambasting D&D in general, for instance).

edit: grammar mistakes

 

[aweigh]

You just described a douchebag.

 

[Joe Krow]

They put in to much rpg stuff. Next time the should leave out the confusing part. DnD has too many ruls. My guy sux anyway. lol. 7/10

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

He also does not like how 'serious' and deadpan some of the party characters are, and how 'unpowerful' he feels,

Which makes sense, because struggling to beat gnolls and student wizards at level 21 is retarded.

 

[Jasede]

Well, it could be a rare tribe of killer-gnoll elites, with class levels, though that would admittedly be, indeed, very rare.

 

[Texas Red]

Yeah, and even Larloch has arcane students, though they are epic level liches .

 

[ricolikesrice]

He also does not like how 'serious' and deadpan some of the party characters are, and how 'unpowerful' he feels,

Which makes sense, because struggling to beat gnolls and student wizards at level 21 is retarded.

yeah, i hated that unpowerful feeling too, becomming arena grandmaster of cyrodil at level 1 ... now THAT was a feeling of power ! ^^

...

i can agree with some parts of what he said, hell there s really not much good to say about combat in NWN2 on its own or the monty haul thing with 1000s of gold lieing on the streets.........

....... then again how does that make a valid critic point for NWN2 / MOTB when its not a valid critic point for other "RPGs" ???

all the mainstream wankers are over shit like epic gnolls, too much money , too unbalanced combat.... and while they are basically right..... why wasnt stuff like that - if its soo important - mentioned with games like oblivion, eh ?

-becomming the arena grand champion of cyrodill at lvl 1 sure beats fighting lvl 21 gnolls in terms of stupidity, doesnt it ?
-the game becomming ridicoulusly hard if you "level up wrong" is true for both NWN2 and oblivion .
-the game becomming ridicoulusly easy if you "level up right" is true for both NWN2 and oblivion.
-finding epic uberitem of awesomeness in a barell in a stinking cave between a few animals is true for both NWN2 and oblivion....

i m not trying to excuse obsidians shitty implentation of combat/challenge , but it strikes me as really odd that they get bashed for it, while everyone else gets away.

at least in MOTB you have shitloads of fun outside of combat, something that cant be said about oblivion ..... or most other recent games.

 

[The Lord Of The Flames]

A quote from Rock Paper Shotgun where the reviewer expleins himself:

I do like the team-mates - I think I may have fluffed the paragraph a little by lobbing that note in with serious criticisms. The key bit was noting that they were the opposite of the NWN2 cast - in fact, arguably, the NWN2 cast were too fluffy and giddy while the MoTB are too solemn. There’s a middle line - something like Planescape to choose an obvious example managed to walk - and I think that is the ideal note to strike.

(I mean, it’s worth noting that both Madness and Joy Division are brilliant bands)

Regarding the trees… yeah. It’s something I’ve been thinking about recently. Having it as a BIG STATEMENT that you’ve changed influence makes it feel as if gaining influence is the point of the game, rather than the side-effect of the game. And - hell! - that saying “I like your hair” or whatever makes someone care more about you than you saving their life repeatedly in battle… well, it’s wrong.

I think the system needs a rethink, basically. That said, there’s much in D&D per se which sits increasingly badly with me. Even old standards like the Alignment system just seem… well, dumb.

KG

(http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=433

Ignoring the score and considering the target group of the review, I think it is quite fine. And it is clear that he likes it - more then NWN2 itself.

And here is what the man says about Planescape Torment: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=305

 

[Claw]

You just described a game reviewer.

Fixed.

 

[Solaris]

I agree that some of the foes/loot is dumb. It would be more obvious bringing a character from the OC but playing Motb fresh with a new leveled up character I could pretend its not a continuation but a new campaign and ignore the level and ridicoulous loot. Oh that 1K gold I just found in a barrel is only really 10g....etc :D

 

[Texas Red]

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=70413

I rest my case.

So if you, like young Jedi Learner, have a choise to buy either MotB or Knights of the Nine, go for the latter :wink: