Helton said:
Yes, and I disagree with the sentiment that the people who complain about the Spirit Meter "refuse to think".
So, what do you think of people who claim that evil path is almost unplayable because of the spirit meter?
B) The meter itself? No. The related plot device is the game, and that does add a lot. The meter didn't add much else than a minor annoyance to my game.
1) The meter makes you mortal in a game where for all intents and purposes you are immortal. Therefore it's a good thing.
2) The meter is a ration system equivalent, especially if you are playing evil. You go down into a dungeon. Do you have enough spirit energy to fight efficiently (without severe penalties)? Would you be able to find something to feed on down there or should you take care of your hunger now?
3) The meter is the balance to your uber evil powers. It's the price you pay for what you gained. That's the part I like the most. We've had several discussions here about things that affect your character. For example, I easily sent the merchants to their death to gain a new evil power. I just killed a family, basically, but needless to say it didn't affect me as much as a real life situation would. So, how do you represent a personal sacrifice, a price you must pay for something in a video game? The meter is a pretty damn good idea. While most people wouldn't care about the lives of a few pixels, they would care a lot about anything that affect their own pile of pixels negatively.
C) That's bullshit. But if they take from the complaining "let's never take risks again" instead of "maybe we should have done that differently" then fuck them.
Yeah, fuck 'em. Can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. M I RIGHT? *sigh*
I'm sure they will try to improve things as MotB shows a lot of improvements. However, a lot of reviews stated that the spirit meter sucked, made the game unplayable, and was a bad idea in general. From the last 3 reviews:
"....there is one element that left me ping-ponging between
outright hatred and resigned annoyance: the spirit-meter. Without getting into story details, it essentially turns you into a drug addict. <snip> This sounds interesting in theory, but
I got annoyed that when I would rest to recover life and magic, the spirit meter still drains. My evil character was forced to "eat" to raise the meter, as the other way of combating the hunger results in your character becoming good, which can screw with certain classes that have alignment restrictions. And because you're forced to wait five minutes between "eatings," I found myself not "eating" fast enough due to the cooldown period, and was even forced to give up experience points to stave off my hunger.
Sometimes, it's a mild nuisance, but for me, it was a major headache."
...
"Not every new feature in Mask of the Betrayer is a home run. The game's most controversial addition is undoubtedly the spirit hunger that consumes your character. This hunger acts like a drug addiction, and it can be
completely frustrating at first because the mechanics are confusing. It's too bad that developer Obsidian doesn't let players opt out of this mechanic entirely. This hunger system is probably a boon to hardcore role-playing fans who enjoy making tough decisions, but those who enjoyed NWN2 as a fun romp are apt to be frustrated."
...
"On a purely mechanical level, the spirit meter ends up being more annoyance than fun. First, unintended loops in the mechanics make it much easier to control the meter by doing things that would be classified as "good."
That puts evil characters at a tremendous disadvantage as they are forced to choose between playing their alignment and staying alive. Not only does that unfairly advantage one set of player choices, from a role-playing/story standpoint it's actually the reverse of what the mechanic was supposed to accomplish."
Who "failed to understand" the Spirit Meter?
90% of the reviewers. See above. Especially the last paragraph.
-SPOILERS-
Playing a Lawful Good character: the Spirit Meter was, of course, easy to deal with. But everything's ass backwards about it. Everything's too fast.
I take a six day trip to Ashenwood and lose, what, six points on the meter? After an hour of play I've lost another 15 or 20, I think. I have four options:
1) Take a stat penalty for a while and just play through it.
2) Devour some innocent spirits; changing my allignment and increasing my hunger which has distasteful long term consequences.
Those are fine options, nothing wrong with them.
3) Camp out by some spirits, summon a few elementals, and "supress-rest-repeat" several times to get my meter up.
4) Go back to Shadow Mulsantir and "Eternal Rest" the undead spirits.
These are meta-gaming. They break character. There's no way I'd make a two-way six day journey to replenish the energy I lost in an hour. I shouldn't be able to "supress-rest-repeat", it's a bloody curse. I could survive forever doing that. But these last two options are the more appealing.
First, there is nothing wrong with a -1 stat penalty. End of the world it's not. Second, you can suppress your hunger once, without camping or summoning. There are plenty of spirits in the forest and suppressing in front of them increases your spirit energy. Third, there is a human spirit you can devour via a dialogue option in a non-evil way - he will offer to sacrifice himself to help you replenish the sacred pool.
