Review GameTap praises MotB - 7/10

[Oarfish]

Satiate or suppress?

Satiate, can't use it above 5 spirit points.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Why would you use satiate? Isn't that a last resort option for all builds? Just curious as I never had to use it.

 

[Oarfish]

Because you are stuck out in the wilderness with a high craving and nothing else to eat - you need at least 40 spirit points for 2 days travel if your craving is all the way to the right. It's quite easy to get stuck in the nymph grove as there are no neutral spirits (or at least I didn't find them).

 

[MountainWest]

I've never used it so I'm by no means sure, but isn't there an 'advance time' option in the rest window? Below the 'rest'-icon?

 

[Oarfish]

I've never used it so I'm by no means sure, but isn't there an 'advance time' option in the rest window? Below the 'rest'-icon?

Not sure, but if there is :head smacking noise: and I'll stop the bitching.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Yep. There is.

 

[Oarfish]

Bollocks, time for me to go to the stupid corner.

 

[Helton]

So, what do you think of people who claim that evil path is almost unplayable because of the spirit meter?

I haven't played the evil path. I figure it hurt their enjoyment of the game and they're blowing it out of proportion, as is standard when talking about games.

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.

So is it an "evil character only" feature? Like I said: In my game it was nothing but a minor annoyance a few times. The biggest impact it had is when I walked away to take a piss or because someone called I had to pause the game instead of just going. That and this Ashenwood example.

Yeah, fuck 'em. Can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. M I RIGHT? *sigh*

If they respond how you're implying they'll respond then yeah, pretty much.

90% of the reviewers. See above. Especially the last paragraph.

To be honest: The only person I've seen brush the evil path off like a walk through candy-land is you. I'll usually take your word over some random reviewer, but come on. You really think they didn't understand it? Seems to me they just didn't like it. Which, apparently, makes them morons.

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.

Missing the point? When I play a game I'm going to pick the path of least resistance for what I want to accomplish. Why would I do any of that when it's easier to do option 3 or 4? I didn't want to devour the spirit berserker and there were other, more appealing options. So why would I?

I'm not complaining that there was no solution, woe it me. No. Just that because of the way it was implemented the wrong solutions were the best.

 

[ricolikesrice]

i dont get what "war" you are fighting. VD likes the spirit meter and you dont. some others like it, other dont.

different people, different opinions, meh ..... i dont actually agree totally with VD either because i am not seeing any big benefits to giving into your hunger. i mean the items you can craft with the essences from killed companions arent THAT good and horribly suck compared to the stats you can get by having 100 influence with all the good guys, which isnt possible if you kill them ^^

but minmaxing things aside (and OE really has absolutely no talent to BALANCE their games, look at the horrible overpowered crafting from kotor2 over nwn2 to now -worse than ever- MOTB ) the spirit meter was fun - for me. it added some more flair to the curse, though it could have been done better - which even VD agreed to.

but where you get the whole "its not allowed to criticise MOTB " thing from, i dont understand.... nothing like that been said in this thread. maybe save those comment for when VDs review is up and is all raving about MOTB not mentioning its flaws, IF that happens ever.

but so far almost every post concerning MOTB on these forums, while they were mostly praise in general... also mentioned the lowpoints (for some the spirit meters implementation, for many the whole EPIC deal, crafting, etc.).

some people here are just pissed that the professional morons rate a game that (even by their own words) is one of the greatest cRPGs of the last years like mediocre crap (rating inflation)... just because of things like the spirit meter.... i dunno, but i seen A LOT more hate about level-scaling even from beths biggest fanboys, yet hardly any reviewever mentioned, or even reduced ratings because of that alot more gamebreaking/controverisal if thats the word... feature.

for the SM you can check any forums from codex over bioware to whatever mainstream crap board and the opinions about it are pretty well spread between "gamedestroying" and "pretty cool" with the average probably beeing "good idea but could have been implemented better".
so its a bit dubious at best that "normal" guys have mixed opinions about it while the gaming media is united in "it makes an otherwise great game just mediocre"

 

[pug987]

different people, different opinions, meh ..... i dont actually agree totally with VD either because i am not seeing any big benefits to giving into your hunger. i mean the items you can craft with the essences from killed companions arent THAT good and horribly suck compared to the stats you can get by having 100 influence with all the good guys, which isnt possible if you kill them ^^

The amulet of the betrayer gives +12 to all stats plus some more bonuses and I think it lowers your saving throws. You can have the feats from both Safiya and One-of-Many as the game gives you an oportunity to kill them even if you have max influence with them so you don't lose that much.
Also you can make Eyes of the Coven if you have the devour soul ability and you don't have to lose any companions. It's a mask and it gives +8 to intelligence, charisma and wisdom plus some more cool bonuses.

As for the spirit meter I didn't say that the people who have trouble dealing with it are stupid. They just refuse to think, there's a great difference. My problem is that the reviews bash this feature which is actually a very good addition to the game instead of focusing on the real problems of MotB (yeah, it has some) like some story issues or one of the biggest problem of all rpgs made by Bioware and Obsidian after BG2 (or possibly NWN1, I don't remember it very well), that it's too easy.

 

[Vault Dweller]

different people, different opinions, meh ..... i dont actually agree totally with VD either because i am not seeing any big benefits to giving into your hunger. i mean the items you can craft with the essences from killed companions arent THAT good and horribly suck compared to the stats you can get by having 100 influence with all the good guys, which isnt possible if you kill them ^^

It's not just the items, which are way more powerful than anything else you can create. It's the abilities like Ravenous Incarnation and combat bonuses.

 

[Vault Dweller]

So is it an "evil character only" feature?

Well, if you are good, you can reduce your hunger to zero very quickly and then the spirit meter becomes a non-issue.

To be honest: The only person I've seen brush the evil path off like a walk through candy-land is you. I'll usually take your word over some random reviewer, but come on. You really think they didn't understand it? Seems to me they just didn't like it. Which, apparently, makes them morons.

Apparently, it does Anyway, you've seen my points. It's easy to see that some people will hate the feature for the same reason I liked it - it makes the game harder, less casual; it's the price you pay for having powers and most people will prefer to have powers without any strings attached.

I'm on the evil path now. It's not easy, but it's not hard either. The game offers you plenty of opportunities to replenish your energies: two human spirits near that glowing tree in the forest and those spirit rats near the sunken city. When I went to that place I arrived barely alive with huge penalties. The rats quickly restored my energy. Like I said, not a big deal.

Anyway, my glowing review is done. I'll sit on it for a day or two, considering some points and then post it so that can people throw things at it.