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Neverwinter Nights 2 Expansion Pack: Mask of the Betrayer
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Sales Rank: 1343
Atari
Released: 2007-10-09 |
Avg. Customer Review: 
Media: DVD-ROM
Platforms: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 98
ESRB Rating: Teen
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Neverwinter Nights 2 Expansion Pack: Mask of the Betrayer
- Neverwinter Nights 2 Expansion Pack 1 Mask of the Betrayer
Product Description
Neverwinter Nights 2 (NWN2) is a computer role-playing game set in the fantasy world of the Forgotten Realms, one of the popular campaign settings of Dungeons and Dragons. It takes the player from the tiniest of villages into a sweeping tale of danger and war, chronicling their rise from a peasant to a full-fledged hero of the Realms, defending it against one of the greatest threats of the age.
In Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, players are transported back to the Forgotten Realms shortly after the events detailed in the original Neverwinter Nights 2. Following the climactic battle against the King of Shadows, the player awakens alone and stranded deep beneath the earth. Surrounded by a horde of evil spirits, the player embarks on an epic adventure that reveals his true destiny. Set in harsh, spirit-rich Rashemen, near the powerful nation of Thay, Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer will present players with an exciting new campaign; epic levels; dozens of new feats and spells; new races, base classes and prestige classes; new companions; new weapons, armour and crafting options; hordes of new monsters; and enhanced modding tools.
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Neverwinter Nights 2 Expansion Pack: Mask of the Betrayer
- DVD-ROM: 0 pages (2007-10-09)
- Platforms: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 98
- Publisher: Atari
- Label: Atari
- Studio: Atari
- Our Recommended Age: 12 - 20 years
- Average Customer Review: based on 30 reviews
- Sales Rank in Video Games: #1343
Click on Product Listings for Details!
Avg. Customer Review:
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: A great game marred by a silly "feature" 2008-10-22
Comment: I have mixed feelings about this expansion. Mask Of the Betrayer has caused me to do something I haven't done since the nintendo days, cheat. I've never used 'cheats' for a game. But when mask of the betrayer introduced the ridiculous spirit meter system, causing me literally hours of pure frustration, I resorted to the only thing that would allow me to experience the game.
The spirit meter looks good on paper - introduce a system that makes your choices and tactics more meaningful by restricting resting,and providing a new "twist" on gameplay. Sadly, it was poorly implemented. There are so many restrictions on NWN gameplay staples like resting and traveling that instead of adding a tactiful twist it's been mindbogglingly frustrating.
For instance, time depletes your spirit meter, requiring you to either consume spirits or "suppress" your hunger to raise it. The thing is actually eating spirits causes what's called your "craving" to rise, which in turn makes you need to eat spirits more frequently. Sounds not so bad so far right? Well the whole time this is going on, you slowly lose your abilities and health. Im a warrior/cleric, and simply traveling to another destination causes me to deplete my spirit energy by half, causing me to lose my entire list of spells because i've lost my wisdom points. Compounded with the fact that MotB is immensly more difficult: enemies are stronger, have stronger spells, etc. So the entire time I'm handicapped by a silly system that does not take into account little aspects like not being able to use my entire spell list.
So you figure just devour more spirits right? Well that sounds good but in practice itself is also frustrating. You have to wait till an enemy gets to 'Near Death' before you can devour him. It becomes a frustrating effort in micro management to tell your companions to stop fighting or attack different people while your trying to time a "devour" spell. Top it off each devour only restores a handful of points, but still puts your craving meter up, further debilitaing you.
So there is the option to 'suppress' your craving. Nice thing but everytime you use it, you gain +2 lawful points. So when it comes time to level up my barbarian, I can't because i've now become a lawfull good character, and my barbarian can't level being lawful good. So now I have to try to go around doing evil things to get back into chaotic status completely disrupting my role playing experience. I'm not an evil character so why would I kill a family of trolls just to try and hack a poorly implemented gameplay "feature".
The whole system had me pulling my hair out in frustration at how absolutly ridiculous it all was. Cursing the developer for allowing such a poorly tested, poorly thought out feature just for the sake of a bullet point on the box. So the only way I could enjoy the game for what it was was to cheat. And cheat you have to. Every other destination I have to replinish my spirit meter by appplying the cheat, further taking me out of the immersion. A true waste of gaming resources that could have been spent adding quests or making the game longer.
With all that being said, once you finally get to enjoy the game, it's actually the best NWN I've ever played. The mood and atmosphere is much more engaging that the main campaign. The characters are unique and more likeable than typical cast of characters that was Kheglar and the rest. The music is great and atmosphereic, the voice acting is suitable and makes you feel for characters like Kaelyn and Gann.
Once you disable the ridiculous spirit meter, the game is great. Storm of the Zehir looks to continue what they started with MotB and hopefully will be another stellar entry.
I shoudl also mention that the game runs better than it did with the OC, and it looks better too. If you're looking for a great RPG you should pick up the Gold version with both the OC and this game.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Wheres Bioware when you need them 2008-08-09
Comment: the spirit energy angle ruined it for me. Would like to have spent more time in the adventure and less time looking for spirit energy.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: I thought it was actually better than the original campaign 2008-07-24
Comment: I've played most of the major BioWare (as well as others') RPGs -- Baldur's Gate, Planescape, even the most of the original Ultima series -- and really enjoyed this game. Engaging story line, rich characterizations, good NPC AI, immersive environments.
In many ways I found this even better than NWN2 OC, because frankly, I found all the empire-building aspects of that game very tedious after a while, what with building the castle, etc.
The thematic plot of the game really played on the good versus evil aspect that's so much a part of the series (as evidenced by the stress on character alignment) and though the nature of the ultimate foe wasn't a surprise (and I won't say more to avoid spoiling) I think it was very well executed, and a lot of fun.
The side quests aren't just go-fetch, either. They add a lot to the game, and are fun in and of themselves.
Buy it and enjoy!
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Not As Good As The Other Packs 2008-06-09
Comment: I am writing this review for my husband, as he is the player of this game.
He told me to say that he has always liked (very much ) the rest of the NeverWinter Nights series. He has about everything from the start.
He said they changed some things in this one that made it more difficult to play, also a little boring in spots. Wish I could be a little more specific, but I don't play this one myself.
He just said suffice it to say it is quite a bit different than the other packs, and he personally did not care for the changes.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Interesting story, problematic curse. 2008-05-29
Comment: PROS:
Number one pro would have to be the feeling of continuity. If you carry over a character from NNW 2, you keep all the titles (with pertaining plusses or minus') you earned. While, if you generate a character from scratch, you have none of these. I also like how all these little bonus' gave you a little something here, a little something there, to add up into some truly worthy gifts.
At first, I found the spiriteater meter novel and entertaining...that quickly changed, though (see CONS below).
Much improved, and much more entertaining, is the new character influence system. In NWN 2, it was easy to deduce what an NPC wanted to hear, and respond accordingly. On the other hand, in MotB, it kept me guessing. One example that comes to mind was when my female character attempted to sympathize with one of the NPC's (Gann, a half-hagspawn). Turns out that I wound up offending him and losing influence. Just out of curiosity, I went back and insulted his plight with his mother, and gained because! I had the hardest time with the half-celestial. Perhaps I just have a natural bend towards chaos and evil =P.
Next would be the wonderful and sharp dialog. Not once was I bored (the first time around!) with sections where you stop to converse for extended periods of time. Especially the dialog with Gann, who I found to be the most interesting NPC in the entire game.
Lastly, I just have to comment on the story: Who wouldn't love mincing it up with spirits, witches, and dead gods? The mood remains dark and brooding throughout, helped by the tilesets and music. When you find yourself in the hag's underwater city, tell me you weren't first a little creeped out by that exiled hags rantings (then slightly annoyed, and finally, driven just a touch mad?)? And I won't spoil it, but the whole thing with Gann and his mother? Whoo! Talked about messed up. Brings to mind visions of Dexter's childhood.
CONS:
Let me start off by saying that, at first, I found the whole "spirit meter" thing interesting and challanging...but that changed about 4 hours into the game. I spent a great deal of time, initially, just trying to stay alive, not having my own soul devoured. My suggestion is to allow the bear-god to live and travel with you. From there, head straight to The Woodman and clean up the woods. Afterwards, fuel The Woodman with some of your essense instead of eating him. Along the way, make nicey-nicey with Ozzie (can't remember the d@mn bears name). Between the two of them, by the end of act 2, you should have enough soul fortifying abilities to not have to constantly focus on just staying alive. At this point, it's safe to go back and cover skipped ground. Until this time, fly like a bullet to this goal, or you'll find yourself seriously hobbled.
Next is the selection of faces for some of the new races. I was disappointed with the face selection of NWN2, but completely disgusted with MotB. An average of 3 faces to choose from with the new races? I can't help but compare this to NWN and Elder Scrolls, both games you could seriously spend 30 minutes just trying to figure out what you wanted to look like. Some may say "so what?", but I must point out that I'm a serious story/character development kinda guy. I wan't to care about the character I'm playing, like some omnipowerful caring god =P. Part of this is choosing the look for your alter-ego.
The angles still blow, but at least the camera doesn't phase into walls and faces this time around.
Finally, I carried over my Warlock from the first game, even though I found her weak and one-dimensional. With some extra epic improvements, I can now burn the average baddy into oblivion. My eldrich blast now smacks 10 or so baddies, at once, for about 100+/- points each in the space of a few seconds. Such amazing power comes at a price, though. If an enemy combantant has any kind of spell protection versus spells 4th level or lower (it just so happens, all of your eldrich abilities don't pass 4th), you might as well throw rocks at them. Two troublesome individuals that come to mind are the Ancient Vampire, and any Paragon beasts. Who thought up these @ssbiters? You can avoid the Paragon beasts, who take almost no damage and regenerate 100 or so ridiculous points per round, but the Ancient Vampires? Well, better hope your clerics high enough to burn out their retinas with holy light, because your going to spend the next 20 minutes timming these @-holes back to death. Hope you find this review helpful!
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