Community MotB walkthrough at Sorcerer's

[Calis]

Tags: Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer

Now we normally don't link to walkthroughs in the news, but we'll make an exception for <A HREF="http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/NWN2/Walkthrough/Expansions/MotB/index.php" target="_blank">this Mask of the Betrayer walkthrough</A> over at Sorcerer's. Just this once. Since they let us use their server and all that. <A HREF="http://www.rpgcodex.net/newsarchive.php?words=sorcerers%20walkthrough">Besides, last time was in 2004</A>.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Maybe this is OT - but are there any mods for Motb that reduce the amount of loot to acceptable levels? I ask because I really like the story in Motb but the insane loot ruins the game. To some extent this also goes for spells.

 

[Dementia Praecox]

Nothing is OT on the Codex.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I'm sorry.

 

[Dementia Praecox]

Never be sorry.

 

[mjorkerina]

I'm sorry.

Holy fuck, dude, the internet is serious business. Now you have to sacrifice a fellow human being in the name of our glorious leader the Devil. Maybe your journey to the RPG hell will be a little less painful and we won't coerce you into playing Oblivion day and night. Repent !

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

Wow. An apology.

As I am often told, "Don't be sorry - don't do it again!"

 

[Digitalos]

So does anyone have an answer to his question? I was interested in this, but it's all coming back now. Over-loot(tm) killed NWN for me too. >_>

 

[Nightjed]

the walkthrough is kinda crappy, its missing many alternative options (SPOILER: like using the rod to dispel the wall in the barrow or that you can get the warlock form for one-of-many from gann's mom as well as the sleeper) for quests and doesnt mention the consequences of most of them

about the loot, i have a suggestion, if you dont want to use it just drop it/dont pick it up, money is useless other than at the very begining (if you have a fresh character, if you come from the OC its useless for anything other than base items to enchant and heal potions), the only items actually better than the oc's one are the ones you make yourself (but this is actually masturbatory because you dont really need them at all, all fights are pretty easy with the incredible annoying exception of the last "boss" that i havent found any way to avoid fighting no matter what i say or choose)

i found spells to be a lot more annoying than the loot, with 9 levels and 3 casters they are just too many to handle, the ai blows and doesnt use a lot of them even with the "fanmade" upgrade, too many items have abilities that need activation/casting and the ai wont use them (they drink potions like pigs tho, gann took a shower with 10 heal potions in a simple fight against a greater shadow, damn...), and they are all pointless other than summoning ones because enemies go down so fast you wont have any chance to aim them, what motb really needs is a mod that takes it down to the lvl5-lvl15 range

 

[mjorkerina]

but this is actually masturbatory because you dont really need them at all, all fights are pretty easy

To the contrary, because the fights are so easy and stupid but the monsters have so many hitpoints, it makes it less of a chore to enchant a powerful weapon and slay them as fast as possible. Monsters in MoTB are not powerful but they stay up for way too long because of their ability to take so many hits and I'd rather not spam great spells on small fry. The dudes at Obsidian obviously never knew how to make combat fun when you look at their pedigree.

 

[Nightjed]

you can make a +5 +2 elemental dmg vorpal (dc14 by that point if i remember correctly) after leaving the barrow that will kill almost everything in 1 round in the hands of anything other than a class with weak base attack bonus

or just a +5 +3 elemental dmg weapon if you want to keep it simple

thats a one time only enchant at the very beginning of the game, thats it, further ultra high level enchanting is completely useless

 

[Texas Red]

Call me a blasphemer, but I can't force myself to play MotB. The epic loot, meaningless combat and epic levels are just too unappealing. Gosh darn it, epic levels are the opposite of RPG since they remove any desire to improve your character.

 

[mjorkerina]

Yeah, I always hated epic levels and would have liked it better if "epic" could only apply to truly magical creatures like Dragon and no humans, not even NPCs in the setting, could attain this kind of powers unless there was the intervention of a God or something.

When even a human can get enough power to best a dragon, even if it is a lesser one, all by himself, you know there is something deeply wrong with the game. Actually, it doesn't feel "epic" at all, no matter they have chosen this word to describe it. Epic for me is when your party of adventurers have to come up with great tactics to defeat such legendary beasts. Defeating a legendary beast should require a quest of its own with information gathering, planning and so on.

 

[Burning Bridges]

about the loot, i have a suggestion, if you dont want to use it just drop it/dont pick it up, money is useless other than at the very begining (if you have a fresh character,

Sure thought about that but if I ignored combat and money, effectively played Motb just for the dialogs wouldnt I be better off to read a book / watched a movie?

I am more of a strategy player and a rpg is only fun to me if it is rewarding to find better weapons / equipment, and difficult to use it effectively. The major requirement therefore is that equipment has to be scarce. Think of JA2 which was almost perfect in that respect.

 

[Nightjed]

Sure thought about that but if I ignored combat and money, effectively played Motb just for the dialogs wouldnt I be better off to read a book / watched a movie?

im not defending nwn2's engine, i think its a POS, its almost unbearable depending on the player, if you have a good book or movie (are there good movies these days ?) you should go with that, but isnt that statement true for almost every game these days ?

 

[Burning Bridges]

*runs away to find a book*

 

[Taluntain]

Nightjed, how about putting together a list of anything you spot missing from the walkthrough and sending it over to me for inclusion? That'd be welcome, helpful and productive.

 

[Jeff Graw]

Nothing is OT on the Codex.

Everything is OT on the Codex.

 

[Texas Red]

Nightjed, how about putting together a list of anything you spot missing from the walkthrough and sending it over to me for inclusion? That'd be welcome, helpful and productive.

The Lord speaks with us :shock:

 

[RK47]

Call me a blasphemer, but I can't force myself to play MotB. The epic loot, meaningless combat and epic levels are just too unappealing. Gosh darn it, epic levels are the opposite of RPG since they remove any desire to improve your character.

you're not alone with this, One day when I'm ready to reinstall MOTB again , i'm going to turn on god mode to try and finish it without worrying about numbers and spells to cast. As well as everyone's issue with 'Epic'-ness that felt like a complete miss. I can understand Jedis wtfpwning everyone in KOTOR, but in D&D where every dude and his gnoll gets +100 HP and +3 axes it just tires me out to be honest.

 

[bozia2012]

Call me a blasphemer, but I can't force myself to play MotB. The epic loot, meaningless combat and epic levels are just too unappealing. Gosh darn it, epic levels are the opposite of RPG since they remove any desire to improve your character.

you're not alone with this, One day when I'm ready to reinstall MOTB again , i'm going to turn on god mode to try and finish it without worrying about numbers and spells to cast. As well as everyone's issue with 'Epic'-ness that felt like a complete miss. I can understand Jedis wtfpwning everyone in KOTOR, but in D&D where every dude and his gnoll gets +100 HP and +3 axes it just tires me out to be honest.

I lub you guys

I'll add to this the Disney-like combat animations. Was it done to lower the ESRB rating (fantasy violence)? This combined with epic levels, hundreds of HPs, "unhittable" AC makes the fights sooooo abstract.

Also: I would like to play an arpeegee where you're just a commoner (or someone slightly better) but one of your companions is an ubermensch. So learning how to handle weapons would be something noticeable. And your super-companion would be the one giving the orders but this could change depending on your input or some random events.... *drool* (NOT-JRPG)

 

[mjorkerina]

While arcanum combat isn't really good something that could be learned and improved from was its skill system. To achieve mastery in a skill you had to complete a quest for it. They were rather short but it was still better than growing mastery out of thin air and XP points.

To improve upon that it would get better if they required a quest for every XP point spent. Like, you spend the point on a skill but it doesn't make you better at all unless you do a quest related to it.

 

[Nightjed]

Nightjed, how about putting together a list of anything you spot missing from the walkthrough and sending it over to me for inclusion? That'd be welcome, helpful and productive.

If i get myself to start the game again ill try, but so far i get bored before i leave the barrow, with a quick look i see these :
*you can get the one-of-many's warlock form eating gann's mom as well as the sleeper
*eating the sleeper gives the pc the ability to haunt dreams (you dont need the Hag’s Eye, but giving that item to another npc doesnt give the npc the power tho)
*draining the water in the skein allows you to pick up a LOT of loot (probably the best loot of the game is here, if you care about that, there are also a few enhanced golem parts for the golem quest)
*eating the badger outside the ice troll lodge (by luring him to the other side of the hut and then talking to it you get the choice to eat him) will prevent it from appearing in the ass kicking form when you attack the ppl inside, youll lose the chance of getting his items tho
*you can also dispel the wall in the barrow with a dispel rod you pick around there, i havent tried it but in the codex motd contest someone said that a lich would come out and help you in some fight later on

if i find more ill post again later

 

[Taluntain]

Thanks, we'll look into this.

 

[Starwars]

The Lich shows up again outside the Sunken Coven, where you can get him to join your party for a short time. If you have One-of-Many in the party as well, you can do some rather amusing things when you encounter the undead party who're waiting to see the Coven.