Review Mask of the Betrayer Review

[Jasede]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll get the Sapphire X1550 this winter, along with MotB and maybe Gothic 3 and Twitcher in the new year.

Thanks again.

 

[Longshanks]

Everything I've read about this game (especially the good c&c and story) certainly makes it sound worth playing, guess I'll have to buy it.

Wanted to buy NWN2 when it came out to see what Obisdian would do with it, but never bothered as it sounded so uninspired.

With the reactions to MotB it seems that Obsidian have a game worth supporting, and I'm happy to do so. As long as all of you who have played it aren't lying your asses off or fallen foul to some kind of group think, the game should be a safe bet.

Think this will be the first RPG I've bought since VtmB, excluding indies.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Everything I've read about this game (especially the good c&c and story) certainly makes it sound worth playing, guess I'll have to buy it.

Wanted to buy NWN2 when it came out to see what Obisdian would do with it, but never bothered as it sounded so uninspired.

With the reactions to MotB it seems that Obsidian have a game worth supporting, and I'm happy to do so. As long as all of you who have played it aren't lying your asses off or fallen foul to some kind of group think, the game should be a safe bet.

Think this will be the first RPG I've bought since VtmB, excluding indies.

You'll need to buy NWN2 in order to play it.

 

[Futile Rhetoric]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll get the Sapphire X1550 this winter, along with MotB and maybe Gothic 3 and Twitcher in the new year.

Thanks again.

Please don't. If you want a budget card, get a 512MB X1950PRO AGP. It's not as cheap, but you get a whole lot more bang for your buck. It's worth it.

 

[Longshanks]

You'll need to buy NWN2 in order to play it.

Yeah I know. Will play the OC as well. From what I've read it's possible I'll enjoy it, there seems to be some good aspects and I have quite a high tolerance for boring bits (combat heavy areas etc, though forced NPCs can irritate). Would have got around to playing it evenutally, even without the positivity around MotB, as I have a strong interest in Obsidian's games.

 

[fastpunk]

You'll need to buy NWN2 in order to play it.

Yeah I know. Will play the OC as well. From what I've read it's possible I'll enjoy it, there seems to be some good aspects and I have quite a high tolerance for boring bits (combat heavy areas etc, though forced NPCs can irritate). Would have got around to playing it evenutally, even without the positivity around MotB, as I have a strong interest in Obsidian's games.

It has a few interesting aspects indeed but I hope you're the patient type, cause Act I is long and tedious.

 

[Jasede]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll get the Sapphire X1550 this winter, along with MotB and maybe Gothic 3 and Twitcher in the new year.

Thanks again.

Please don't. If you want a budget card, get a 512MB X1950PRO AGP. It's not as cheap, but you get a whole lot more bang for your buck. It's worth it.

That one is way too expensive. I am not ready to spend more than 70$ on a graphics card.

 

[Ladonna]

Yeah I know. Will play the OC as well. From what I've read it's possible I'll enjoy it, there seems to be some good aspects and I have quite a high tolerance for boring bits (combat heavy areas etc, though forced NPCs can irritate). Would have got around to playing it evenutally, even without the positivity around MotB, as I have a strong interest in Obsidian's games.

There are worse games. I think you will have some fun with it.

 

[JuJu]

Whythe fuck is there a gay mexican wrestler in the screenshots?

 

[Vault Dweller]

On the subject of the spirit-meter:

The spirit meter is a nuisance. No one likes plot devices that hamstring gameplay.

At the very least you should have been able to feed on anyone's spirit, not just the blue glowy things you desperatelt run around trying to find. Maybe not in agreement with the premise of the plot, but, who cares.

The special abilities associated with the curse aren't fun to use either, if you play as a caster you can just ignore the meter and use the satiate ability once in a while, you will hardly know the difference, but a mele character is seriously hampered by a forced plot device. That is a really stupid idea.

And consider the way it was introduced, here's 6 pages of special rules and abilities regarding your curse and something else to clog up your HUD. I bet a lot of people where underwhelmed. Would have been a better idea to introduce in stages, as the curse strengtened.

Outline:

- I just want to have fun and kill monsters. Why do I have to think?
- Why can't I feed on humans?
- The penalties are not fun. I just want to kill monsters, but when I have penalties, I can't!
- The game explained the spirit-meter in 6 paragraphs! Six! It's overwhelming. It doesn't warn you on the box that you should be able to read to enjoy the game.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Not bad; but it ultimately came across as 'If you diasagree with me, you are stupid." kind of diatribe. That works fine on message boards (hell, I'm a master of that kind of posting, L0L...

You taught me everything I know. *bows*

...but for an 'official' review; it hurts what crediibility the reviewer could have.

If I cared about my credibility I would have joined GameSpot.

That said, I agree with some things you said and disagreed with others.

Such are the ways of good discussions.

And, despite your silly examples (which you used to 'prove your point' ala a politician), the game and powers to do change when your reach epic levels with such things as epic spells, and certain feats (rescue, dragon summon/shape).

Sure, there are a few different things like Epic Precision or Expose Weakness, but they represent 5-10% of the epic pool filled with "Really awesome [insert ability]".

Let's say I'm an epic fighter as silly as that sounds. What do I get? Overwhelming Critical! (disclaimer: must have Underwhelming Critical, Nice Critical, Awesome Critical, and Absolutely Fucking Amazing Critical). It adds 1d6 points of damage! So, again, I'm an epic fighter. I fight things that have hundreds of hit points, but now I can add up to 6 points of damage to my critical hits!

Still, ultimately, like 90% of Codexian 'official' reviews, it was well written. Thumbs up for that.

Thanks, doll.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I was almost shocked last night when I went to the World map and discovered a bunch of travel options...and no big clues saying "GO HERE FIRST". It's really quite weird to have that kind of freedom again...

It's definitely nice.

... MotB's choices often need to be sought out...

That's the best part. They are very easy to miss. Before writing my review I looked at several walkthroughs. In every one I saw plenty of stuff that they missed and had no clue that an alternative path/outcome exists.

Wow. I played through as goodish, but you've convinced me to start again for One of Many. A bear god is a pretty cool companion, but an undead construct who kicks ass and chews souls?

Brilliant.

Indeed. That line about showing itself to the lich so that it can know fear for the first time was pretty fucking awesome.

DnD, as most other game systems, is at its best during the early levels and start loosing its appeal after lvl 18.

VD said loosing instead of losing? Gasp.

I had a really long week. I'm surprised the review is even readable. Thanks for catching it.

Out of curiosity, I've noticed articles are not put up as news items. Why's that? It seems that would be an ideal place to stick 'em, or at least a blurb about them.

Didn't have time to make a news post, will do it now.

Since it wasnt mentioned in the review, Il ask here. Do the endings depend through SEVERAL choises during the whole game or just in the end ala KotOR 1?

Choices made earlier. I should have mentioned it. Good point.

Also, can you refuse all of the companions and just travel alone?

I'm pretty sure you can. You start with the red wizard, but you can tell her to leave the party. Other companions are completely optional.

EDIT: I thought you were supposed to review both the OC and MotB, VD.

The original idea was to replay NWN2 with the expansion. I tried MotB just to see what it's like and lost any remaining interest in replaying NWN2 ever again, so all I can offer people is this paragraph from the "Year in review" article:

"Bioware's younger brother kinda saved the year with Neverwinter Nights 2, which could be described as Baldur's Gate 2 meets Icewind Dale 2, which is great, because these are my favourite games. From Baldur's Gate we've got the epic story reflecting the choiceless life of the Chosen One, and from Icewind Dale 2 we've got endless waves of enemies and more combat than in Halo, which is another of my favourite games, so I'm pretty sure we are dealing with an instant classic and a game of the year material here. Any game that features a githyanki proctologist

Spoiler

who will remove a two handed sword that got stuck in your ass during a questionable anal game when you were a child

has gotta be good. Don't worry about getting lost in the game though, it's one of the most linear games I've ever seen, and even individual maps feature super linear maze-like designs, firmly leading you in circles to your destinations through waves of unavoidable enemies. Every now and then you are given a dialogue option that can help you avoid 5% of combat in an area, to remind you that it's not a Diablo clone, but a fully blown role-playing game."

 

[Vault Dweller]

The review is now on the Obsidian front page. A brave choice considering the language.

 

[Krokar]

After reading the review I decided that I just have to replay MotB with evil character, cause One-of-Many sound like a lot of fun.

Anyway, great review as always VD. I enjoy reading your work.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Thanks.

 

[Elhoim]

The review is now on the Obsidian front page. A brave choice considering the language.

Yeah, a really brave one.

 

[barzam]

Thanks for the review, from now on it actually makes sense to buy NWN2.

 

[sqeecoo]

The review is now on the Obsidian front page. A brave choice considering the language.

Wow! How did that happen? Did you send it or did they ask? Whatever the case, that's great!

 

[Vault Dweller]

I emailed the review to MCA to take a look, which is what I usually do. Yes, I did email the Oblivion review to a few Bethesda folks. Anyway, Chris said "Thanks, Serge - we were actually surprised RPG Codex liked it, but maybe we shouldn't have been. I passed your thanks onto the team (I only worked on a very small part of it - just Gann and Kaelyn)...", and I guess then someone added it to the front page.

 

[Futile Rhetoric]

I emailed the review to MCA to take a look, which is what I usually do. Yes, I did email the Oblivion review to a few Bethesda folks. Anyway, Chris said "Thanks, Serge - we were actually surprised RPG Codex liked it, but maybe we shouldn't have been. I passed your thanks onto the team (I only worked on a very small part of it - just Gann and Kaelyn)...", and I guess then someone added it to the front page.

VD, stop posting other people's PMs, you unprofessional sod!

Nice review. Covers my feelings on the game quite adequately, although I haven't had the time to play the evil path yet.

 

[Texas Red]

I have to say that I agree with others that the 1st Act of the original campaign is damned awful, but Im currently in the 3rd Act and, imo, it is really, really good. If you would start as a lord of a keep from the beginning and leave the hack-n-slash tunnels to the end as most other games do, then the impressions would be much more favorable(see Vampire Bloodlines). NWN 2 is like a flawed gem. If you get past the 1st Act you will find a great RPG.

 

[Marsal]

AGP right? I got a Sapphire Radeon X1550 AGP card when I upgraded for NWN2, it works great with the game and it's really cheap. You should consider it if you upgrade, you rarely find a low-end card with 256MB memory and 256bit memory bus these days, plus it has SM3.0 and AVIVO.

256bit memory bus?

@Jasede:
You are NOT going to be playing either Witcher nor Gothic 3 on X1550, unless you plan on watching a slide show. Also, you'll need at least 1.5GB RAM to play G3 without pulling your hair out (and Witcher too, judging by first reports). List your full configuration.

Futile Rhetoric gave a sound advice (although you don't need a 512 MB graphic card, 256 MB would suffice or even 128, depending on the model). Considering your limited budget, try finding a used card. 6600GT or X1650 Pro would be minimum recommended.

@VD:
Good work!

 

[Relayer71]

I haven't played it yet, but judging from the positive vibrations on the COdex regarding MOTB I have to say I knew all along Obsidian would one day do the RPG genre proud.

KOTOR 2 had a good story, excellent writing and some more involved/interesting quests than KOTOR had.

And NWN2 was far from perfect but trounced the first NWN. All in all, it was a decent game - nothing special but not as atrocious as some of the games released the last couple of years and it managed to merge the flavors of the classic IE games with KOTOR 2.

I am now really looking forward to something new from these guys.

No more sequels, we know they're more competent than Bioware (which to me peaked with BG2) so they really should give us a totally new game/universe, please!!

And this is really a stretch too but I really think they could pull off an Arcanium sequel which we'll probably never see.

 

[Relayer71]

Yeah I know. Will play the OC as well. From what I've read it's possible I'll enjoy it, there seems to be some good aspects and I have quite a high tolerance for boring bits (combat heavy areas etc, though forced NPCs can irritate). Would have got around to playing it evenutally, even without the positivity around MotB, as I have a strong interest in Obsidian's games.

There are worse games. I think you will have some fun with it.

Ditto.

Some things bothered me and it certainly wasn't the most exciting story/RPG but it wasn't bad either. I actually enjoyed some of the banter between NPCs in your party. There were a few humorus bits as well.

The first Act does get a bit tedious at times but nowhere near as bad as Icewind Dale 2.

 

[Jasede]

AGP right? I got a Sapphire Radeon X1550 AGP card when I upgraded for NWN2, it works great with the game and it's really cheap. You should consider it if you upgrade, you rarely find a low-end card with 256MB memory and 256bit memory bus these days, plus it has SM3.0 and AVIVO.

256bit memory bus?

@Jasede:
You are NOT going to be playing either Witcher nor Gothic 3 on X1550, unless you plan on watching a slide show. Also, you'll need at least 1.5GB RAM to play G3 without pulling your hair out (and Witcher too, judging by first reports). List your full configuration.

Futile Rhetoric gave a sound advice (although you don't need a 512 MB graphic card, 256 MB would suffice or even 128, depending on the model). Considering your limited budget, try finding a used card. 6600GT or X1650 Pro would be minimum recommended.

I don't know, I am a patient sort. Gothic 3 runs... okay on my Radeon 9600 SE with 64 MB, at least the demo did.

I have an AMD 3400+ 64. 1024 DDR 1 ram and a 250 Watts (I think) powersource which is sadly integrated into my really nice PC case so I'd have to buy a new once were I to upgrade it. I'd be happy with solid 10 to 15 FPS and half-hour long loading times, and I set all my graphics to lowest if I can in games because all those modern effects are distracting.

If there's no okay card you know for less than 100$, I'll build a new PC from scratch for 750$ since I have a minor stipend coming up.

Anyway, back to MotB. Nice work getting us on the frontpage, VD, Obsidian's I mean. Gives me hope that maybe we encouraged Obsidian to make a "niche" RPG every once in a while.