Neverwinter Nights 2 Expansion Pack: Mask of the Betrayer Reviews

• Stab the Betrayer...

  
  By A26PAN8REXYBYH on 2007-11-15
  ...An Epic Adventure with Sneak Attacks
  
  UPDATED: 28 Jan 2008
  
  As buggy as it was, initially, *Neverwinter Nights 2* brought together some of the best elements of the first series into an involved adventure. Now Obsidian Entertainment brings us *Mask of the Betrayer*, which extends both the story and the life of player characters. Though it does suffer from some balance issues.
  
  Unlike the expansions in the first series, *Mask* is an actual sequel. After the climactic events of NWN2, your character awakes deep within a haunted barrow. Your inventory has been stripped of everything other than the armor and jewelry you wore. And the wizard in red isn't forthcoming with answers, as she approaches your stricken form...
  
  Otherwise, MOTB feels a lot like those older expansions, particularly *Hordes of the Underdark*. It's a moodier, more mystical journey than NWN2. And no wonder--your character talks to gods, deals with witches, and exorcises ghosts. The undead play a much bigger role, as do spell casters, and players should invest in silver and adamantine weapons immediately. Paladins and clerics will perform well here.
  
  The engine performs better too; with the 1.10 series patches, the memory leaks and frame-rate issues have been resolved on my power rig. However, it might be necessary to reinstall NWN2 before loading up MOTB--otherwise the Official Campaign (OC) might suffer some quest bugs.
  
  The expansion enjoys more graphical options. Characters trip through monochromatic Planes, dank dungeons, and fuzzy dreams. Spot lighting also sees more use, and objects appear to cast stronger, more impressive shadows.
  
  These colors cast upon new tile sets, including: a richly textured estate and a sewer-like underwater city. But the main setting is the cold, gray nation of Rashomen, styled on a combination of Native American and Scandinavian culture. It's not glacial like the lands in the original series expansions, but the landscape is not for those who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder!
  
  Nor is the soundtrack. Obsidian introduces a ton of dreamy, often somber scores, both for Areas and for Battles. As far as sound effects go, MOTB reuses the files of NWN1 and 2, but it also uses a few custom creepy tracks.
  
  Ultimately, however, the effects rest upon the story. And *Mask* is an odd one. The character falls into a maelstrom of curses and conspiracies culminating into a confrontation with Death itself. Along the way it questions both religion and nature, while the player puzzles together a mystery to the bitter end. To this end, the story entwines in themes of masks, costumes and theater. By afflicting the player with a curse, which affects a much wider conflict, the expansion also expresses a dramatic urgency in place of NWN2's casual journey.
  
  But in achieving that drama, MOTB is also more linear than the OC. To navigate it, I was able to call upon a much smaller band of companions, and the four-member limit is rigidly enforced. At 25 hours in length, I beat it in about three days.
  
  This can assure customers worried about the curse. Because the expansion is so straight-forward, there's not much to explore. Also, companions and items retard the curse anyways. Thus, only an incompetent player is going to have difficulty managing it.
  
  Managing character itself is another matter. Prior to the latest patch, *Mask of the Betrayer* forced characters towards Lawful Good or Chaotic Evil alignments. Whenever the character acted upon the curse, it assigned a minimum two-point shift in lawfulness--shifts which rapidly add up. Bonuses come with these extremes, including uber weapons or stat-boosting feats.
  
  Otherwise, this conflicts with most alignment-restricted classes.Thus the 1.11 patch removed the alignement shift entirely.
  
  Another balance issue--the expansion is too short to justify its rewards. Nearly every chest bulges with thousands of gold pieces. While nearly every quest awards thousands of xp. This is out of scale with the OC, and causes characters to become too powerful too quickly.
  
  Speaking of power, I come at last to the revised item enchanting system for *Mask*. Gone are the need for recipe books, ingredients, and even magician benches. With a few exceptions, every "recipe" is found in the item description for three new classes of essence: Volatile, Brilliant, and Pristine. The multitudes of undead drop these by the bucket load--no distillation required. There are also a handful of superduper essences that boost your weapons to absurd levels of elemental damage.
  
  The enchantments focus heavily on elemental damage and stat-boosting. So you can forget about making Holy Avengers or Fortified Armor. You can boost weapons, armor, gloves, and shields up to +10 if you've acquired the right stuff from the Evil game path. And epic casters increase the maximum number of enchantments to four. But for some reason you can't enchant bracers, and there are no ingredients for bomb flasks or traps. While I appreciate the big boosts overall, I don't appreciate the limited selection of recipes.
  
  But apart from these funky balance issues, I enjoyed playing this epic in a small package. Bioware never published a follow-up for veteran characters of the first NWN, so I'm glad Obsidian took on an actual sequel. A lot of performance issues are resolved and the enchanting system is simple and powerful. Obsidian also gave me a powerful character, and I hope another expansion comes along which can put it to the test.
  
  -* for play balance problems.
  
  
  

• I like it, except...

  
  By A1U5WMOBLQQLDT on 2007-10-18
  I was late getting Neverwinter Nights 2, and I was very happy with it. I'm running Vista with an NVIDIA 8500 graphics card, and it's super smooth. The look and feel and play of the game is great. I have to say that I haven't played any other games since I loaded this on my computer about a month ago.
  
  For the expansion, there are some new races, new classes, new feats, new spells, and new areas to explore. These are all top notch. I love most of the game. My only real beef with the game is that they did not really stick to the 3.5 D&D rules, but came up with a different rule set where the player is cursed with a spirit energy addiction that requires feeding on the energy of spirits and undead. It forces the player to either suppress the addiction, making your character more LG, or indulge in the addiction and eventually need to kill everything that moves to live and feed your addiction. It doesn't really support LE, CG or TN alignments very well, since there is not much middle ground due to this spirit eating addiction. If you normally like to play as LG or CE, then you will love this game. I prefer more middle ground, frankly, but I still give it 4 stars. There are plenty of mods and other things available with the gaming community. After you have finished the official campaign, if you want you can download modules created by other players. Many of them are very good.
  
  

• Improves the Original by Leaps and Bounds

  
  By A1TYLUMMN3SDGI on 2007-10-15
  As one of the many who were somewhat disappointed with NWN 2, I approached this expansion with a little hesitation. Deciding to let this be the make-or-break game for me in regards to Obsidian Entertainment (the developers of this game), I went ahead and bought it. And boy, am I glad I did.
  
  This expansion tremendously improves the original NWN 2. I loved the story of the campaign - it's more mature, the writing is better, the pacing is better, and the characters are all more enjoyable. I wasn't sure how they were going to incorporate the story of the first campaign into this one, but they managed it quite well. If you miss some of the dialog it may not seem to mesh, but trust me, there are explanations in-game.
  
  The environments are absolutely great. Some of the new tilesets and placeables should add a lot to those that are making modules. The music is fantastic as well; each piece suits its location perfectly, and really helps add to the atmosphere.
  
  The additions are both good and bad. As the other reviewer noted, the Genasi race are pretty crummy, and the half-drow are basically half-elves with darkvision instead of low-light vision. The new base classes are interesting, but the prestige classes are where the new additions really shine. Sacred Fist, Stormlord, and the Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep really add options to some base characters in regards to builds. There are some others as well, but I'm typing this review too early in the morning to remember 'em. :-p There are also new feats (epic, mostly) and a lot of new spells, some of which come in really handy during the tougher fights.
  
  As for performance and mechanics, it's much improved. The gameplay is smoother, the graphics are better, and overall it's got all of the polish that NWN 2 should have had. The new camera takes getting used to, but once you do it actually comes in quite handy.
  
  Before this gets too long (Amazon recommends between 75-300 words...hah), let me close up by saying that if you thought the original NWN 2 was even halfway decent but were annoyed due to its feeling rushed and the myriad bugs and issues, you really should get this. It's a fantastic RPG, and it's one of the best new RPGs I've played in years.
  
  

• Buyer beware!

  
  By A2G6AYWJ8NX0TS on 2007-10-26
  I have played and enjoyed Neverwinter Nights 2, so I was looking forward to this expansion. First of all, I need to point out that it does not come on PC CD-ROM, as Amazon advertises--the only PC version is DVD-ROM.
  
  After I installed the game, the first thing I noticed is that the camera is much harder to control--a real challenge. Graphics are somewhat improved, and the occasional jerkiness of the animations in the original game have been corrected.
  
  But (and this is a BIG but) the Mask of the Betrayer expansion messed up the original install of my game! As the expansion provides new starting options, I designed a new character to play from the beginning. When I reached a critical plot point early in chapter 1, the game refused to acknowledge that I had achieved the goal needed to proceed. Loading an old saved game from later on in the story, I found more game-stopping bugs that had not existed before. I uninstalled the game, thinking to just reinstall the original MWN 2, but that game will no longer install properly. As a result, I cannot play any version of the game now (and my computer more than meets the specs for optimal performance).
  
  My advice is this--don't risk the expansion until you have are thoroughly played out using the original campaign!
  
  

• Entertaining

  
  By ANEDXRFDZDL18 on 2007-11-26
  This was a fun expansion where you play the victim of a curse trying to find out how and why you are cursed. I (like others) found the curse to be a bit of a drag and spent most of my time suppressing, the evil hunger. I kind of wish there was a way to auto-manage that since I spent a great deal of time dealing with it. I enjoyed the NPC's, Gann (a half-hag), and Safiya (a red wizard). I didn't take Okku, (I'm not a big fan of talking animals).
  
  The quests were decent, but I felt the storyline was a tad dark. The wall was portrayed as the ultimate injustice and the dialog eggs you to destroy it. I was disappointed with the way this ended.
  
  Cons: I didn't like the academy and wished there was an option to destroy the library and free the souls. Likewise the dark mulsantir was cool looking at first, but I missed the color. Didn't care for the Furnace plot or the evil ghost kid.
  
  I found part 3 to be a bit rushed. The city wasn't fleshed out, and you pretty much are railroaded through it.
  
  The half-elf head models are still seriously fugly. But now they have drow half-elves which look like liverish old men.
  
  On the plus side, I enjoyed the pc's relationship with Gann (I never cared for Casavir), I liked the Hag city it was cool... I liked the new models and the Genasi, particularly the air and water ones were awesome.
  
  Overall this was a fun game with some great new content I hope modders will utilize.
  
  
• Great expansion, somewhat annoying gameplay...
  By A2O8RIDCJ0H83V on 2007-10-21
  Firstly, I played this on a dual-core 2.13ghz pentium, 2gb ram with a Nvidia 8600 GTS on Vista 32-bit.
  
  Okay, I loved the vanilla Neverwinter Nights 2 and the expansion is great in terms of storylines and the involvement with your new buddies is superb. Rather than have a variety of NPCs that travel with you following traditional race/class lines you will gain very distinct and original companions, I'd say more but I wouldn't want to spoil anything!
  
  One of the bad things mentioned countless places is the Soul-Eater "feature" that rears its ugly head at the end of ACT I. I have mixed feelings, in that it makes the game more challenging but really detracts from your ability to explore freely, talk to NPCs because you are constantly watching your soul meter. Also, if you deviate from any extreme alignment like Chaotic Evil or Lawful Good, you are going to have a heck of a time.
  
  The gameplay overall is fun and challenging, with a big increase in difficulty level for the fights you will have. Unless you are a melee fighter type its going to be pretty rough for you initially, especially if you don't import your 20ish level character from the original Neverwinter Nights 2 as you only start at level 18. Granted that's not a huge leap, but its enough to feel it at the beginning especially if you are a caster type character.
  
  There isn't much of a frivolous atmosphere in Mask of the Betrayer, from the areas you visit, the NPCs you encounter and the story you traverse...everything has a sinister and dark nature to it. There are some good fights and action in this, but expect lots of dialogue, reading and choices in terms of Good and Evil.
  
  Pros:
  - Everything that was good about NWN2 and removed some of the bad!
  - Great Music
  - Good storyline
  - Wide variety of class/race combinations
  
  Cons:
  - Spirit Eater Meter sucks
  - Might be annoyingly challenging for non-imported characters/casters.
  
  
• Say it isn't so!
  By A3UYQWTVZAOHM0 on 2007-10-18
  First off, let me say I was really pulling for this game. Despite the bugs that the original had, I have a solidly entertaining run through, both times I played it from start to finish. I was really looking foward to picking up my old character and making a new run through the NWN universe.
  
  That hope quickly died as I started my first run through. I opted to create a new character, as I was anxious to take the new genasi out for a spin. A few min later my fighter/duelist walked out onto the scene. Over the next few hours I found my anger and frustration growing. First to rear it's head was AI issues, which had supposedly been worked on. My wizard buddy still loves to both overspell, and cast spell types inappropriate for the situation (ex, spell resistance in a fight with all melee types).
  
  I also seem to be having some issues with the scaling of combat. Now, it's possible that it's because I made a new character (18) instead of importing my old one (20). I'm starting over with the import, but even so, the fights seem incredibly difficult in places. This almost makes the game unplayable.
  
  So, I am going 3 stars because it's a blend of a 5 star plot (so far), and a 1 star implimentation.
  
  
• Good but not perfect
  By A1HBC0NBQJHT7X on 2007-11-09
  Overall, I really like this game. The writing has improved from the OC and I was very glad to see that because I felt the OC had potential that wasn't fully realized. I don't know if I'd say that it's fully realized with this expansion either but it's stronger than before and leaves me anticipating the next expansion. I just really liked the overall story and how it looped back to the OC. I also really enjoyed my companions and found them all very interesting. It was nice for my character to have a friend in Safiya and I give a big thumbs up to the Influence-based feats--what a great idea!
  
  The music was really nice in this game. It contributes a great deal to the ambiance and I actually enjoyed listening to it. This was an extremely pleasant change from my usual habit of turning the background music down so that it will annoy me less.
  
  I give the voice acting high marks. All of the characters had nice voices and I really liked the rumbling tone to Okku's voice. The characters sounded more natural in this expansion, as if they were real people talking and that's definitely a plus. The lack of hysteria and grating voices was most welcome.
  
  I do have some gripes, though. For one, I ran into a very major bug in the Academy of Shapers and Binders, one that would have ruined my game if not for the console cheats. Frankly, I think this is unforgivable. All games have bugs but it's unacceptable for there to be one that would result in a player reaching a total impasse in the game. Because I could not get one of the conversation options, I ended up having to cheat an item into my inventory in order to progress in the game. There's no way this should have been allowed to happen and if the story wasn't so strong I would have been very angry about spending the money on a game that is basically rendered useless by this bug.
  
  The romance in the game was okay but could definitely use some work. If there's one thing that most developers could learn it is how to dole such plot points out over time. Instead, I spent the whole game building Gann's trust up in my character to finally have the whole romance played out over two dialogs at the end of the game. That's less than impressive. I would have liked for there to have been at least a hint of romantic tension there. On the plus side, though, was the romance feat. I thought this was a very nice touch. Still, in the epilogue it basically becomes apparent that despite all the passionate vows of happiness and love the romance doesn't work out at all in the end. My impression is that this is a stock ending so regardless of which sex you play as a PC you get the same ending. Why couldn't Obsidian have created separate endings? It would only have required changing a few lines of text and having the voice actor read some additional lines. What's the point of even having this plot point if there won't be any continuity to it?
  
  Last but not least, I really hate the way the camera works in this game. I'm not sure which mode is which but both had major downfalls that I found extremely annoying. I hated how the one view did not allow you to turn the screen by scrolling to the corners and I hated how the other forced you to be so zoomed in that you could barely make your way through the dungeons.
  
  All in all, though, I had fun and feel that the expansion was worth the money I paid for it. I'm certainly interested in another expansion.
  
  
• Some differences between the original
  By A181DUB4J165HK on 2007-10-22
  Let me start off by saying that I was... am a big fan of Neverwinter Nights 2. Great storyline, cliffhanger ending. I looked forward to this expansion.
  
  The storyline here continues on where the NWN2 left off. You wake up in a strange land on the other side of the continent from where you ended NWN2. There is no trace of your allies from that game, and you have a gaping wound in your chest...
  
  The story takes off from there.
  
  The allies/friends you gain in this new realm are intriguing. Each has their own reason for wanting to help you as well as some pretty strong powers. It's up to you to figure out how to get them to trust you enough to help them. And when they do begin to trust you, they'll share their power with you.
  
  OK, pros and cons of the game, the stuff everyone wants to know about:
  
  Pros - Story. Graphics.
  
  Cons - Camera angles. They've changed the camera controls from the original NWN2. In this game there are only two camera controls that equate to "chasing camera" and "free camera" in the original NWN2. Personally, I can't really stand either. I wish they had kept the camera styles/choices from the original game.
  
  Another con is the "plot device" that they've added. Yes, I get it. This game is for characters 18+ levels, so things are needed to balance gameplay so that you're not a god among mortals. But this... affliction they've chosen to add to the character is annoying. I know character development/stories are best when the main character is twisting on the horns of a dilemma, but this just seems contrived, as if it was added at the 11th hour. The affliction is not unlike a drug addiction. The story unfolds as you figure out what's happened to you and why.
  
  But, all things aside, I'm enjoying this game. The story slowly unfolds where you find out little snippets of what happened to your past allies (who survived, who didn't...) as you deal with you affliction. You help your new allies with their problems and receiving their help with yours.
  
  Much like the first game, this one starts off slowly, allowing you to get a feel for the game before things take off.
  
  If only they'd fix the camera controls...
  
  
  
  
• What NWN2 should have been to start with
  By A5PX05RNW3WBL on 2007-10-14
  Many new things are added in this expansion. The plot for the new campaign is interesting, but seems a bit forced. The new races, which consist primarily of the various types of genesai, are absolutley terrible, as is the half drow. The epic levels are good and seem well thought out, although it only goes to level 30, rather than 40, like it was in the original NWN. The new prestige classes are average to poor, but the new primary class, the favored soul, is a good option for people wanting both melee skill and the versatility of a sorcerer.
  
  In addition, several tweaks seem to have been made to the game engine. The game runs much more smoothly, and cut scenes no longer suffer from glitches. This greatly improves the experience.
  
  
• MotB: Great product, not-so-great technical implementation
  By A1JF2TVHLWD6PM on 2007-11-06
  If you are lucky enough to play this game without any technical issues and you like games like Fallout, Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape: Torment, Knights of the Old Republic and so on, you probably won't be disappointed. It has a good story and is quite non-linear. That is, your choices actually matter (not always, but far more often than in any game I can remember). There are many instances with multiple paths and there are multiple endings for your character and all of the companions. There weren't many companions (5 total + some temporary), but I really liked the ones I found (didn't get the Evil one). They're very much integrated into the story and often have things to say. Also, if you make friends with them, you get some very useful bonuses. The difficulty is reasonable as long as you pay attention, though unlike many other games, it is possible to play yourself into a corner.
  
  In short, it is an excellent game; my favorite since BG2... or it would be if not for the bugs and technical issues. First, if you're buying it for a laptop, be warned: they simply do not officially support laptop video cards (Mobility Radeons and GeForce Gos). The box says one thing and once you've bought the game, the Readme says quite another (you can find the real requirements on the Tech Support forum at Bioware's site). That said, after creating a custom driver for my machine with extremely helpful third party tools, I was able to play it on my laptop and it ran quite well. Neither Obsidian nor Atari were of any help (beyond saying "Update your driver") with this or any other issue I encountered (and there were quite a few) -- all tech support I received was from fellow players.
  
  Ultimately, I do recommend people who are into Western single-player CRPGs to try this game -- there are precious few that reach this level of sophistication. Hopefully, they'll eventually patch the majority of the bugs and I'll be able to recommend it unconditionally.
  
  
• At least as good as Fallout, Deus Ex, and HotU...
  By A2ZMN6RBT2AP16 on 2008-02-27
  Just as Hordes of the Underdark was much better than the original campaign of Neverwinter Nights, so is Mask of the Betrayer everything the original campaign of Neverwinter Nights 2 should have been, but wasn't. In NWN 2, whatever you chose to do in almost whichever situation, the result was always the same. In the trial episode, for example, you always ended up fighting in the arena, the outcome of the trial had no consequences. In Mask of the Betrayer, real choices with consequences abound. The story itself is much more imaginative. The milieu has some magic in it (though it's not as enchanting as much of Hordes of the Underdark). The combat is more difficult than in NWN 2, though still perhaps too easy. The curse that some reviewers have complained about can make things very interesting for you. I tried to beat the game as fast as I could, so I never learned to control my spirit hunger, and by the time I got to visit what was left of the former God of Death, I had to devour him to satisfy my spirit hunger (the meter was close to zero, and I was about to perish). Succumbing to hunger in such a grand way turned me into a ravening spirit eater for the rest of the game. This path had its good sides, such as continuous True Seeing, but it also made resting more difficult (resting for 8 hours would take away half of my spirit energy, when it previously had taken much less). In the end, the Betrayer's mask remained broken, most of its pieces hidden, and I chose to turn on gods themselves. Well, it's an immersive game. They should make more of these, not the garbage that the original campaign was. The curse was a great idea, and very well implemented.
  
  
• Atari is on the right track!
  By AZ0K520DDBHLX on 2007-10-16
  I'm very excited with this title as i've waited forever for this expansion pack to come out. Great graphics, great sound, and overall great overall gameplay. I haven't put this game down since i got it the other day.
  
  I love Atari
  
  
• A game that ended a 4-year slump on the RPG market
  By A13YR6Y61XIQ99 on 2008-03-29
  21st century hasn't been a particularly good era for RPGs. Despite its fast start (Baldur's Gate 2 and Arcanum) a downhill trend as far as RPG quality is concerned soon became apparent. With Vampire: Bloodlines (2004) being the last quality RPG and still failing to achieve commercial success, followed by demise of Troika games, RPG market became dominated by generic RPGs, exploring generic setting, with generic protagonist and generic NPCs, generic plots and generic dialogues suitable for cerebrally challenged audience. Paragons of RPG dumbification were Morrowind and especially Oblivion, where the essence of RPG, choice and consequence, was utterly lost and dialogues were, to say it mildly, retarded (so they can match Radiant AI). Unfortunately, since both mentioned games were appealing to a wider, less demanding audience, other developers followed suit and quality on the RPG market was nowhere to be found.
  
  Unlike its predecessor (the original NWN 2 campaign), which was a huge disappointment, Mask of the Betrayer excells in almost every RPG aspect. A very interesting plot takes place in a rarely explored setting of Rashemen, with its unique connection to the world of spirits and the main theme. NPCs and the main characters are well developed through dialogues and plot advancement, with NPCs motives and personalities exposed clearly and in an intriguing manner. I haven't encountered such well written dialogue, interesting plot and compelling characters since Planescape: Torment (1999). Main theme represents a refreshing addition to the game mechanics as well. There are plenty of choices, both those regarding the main theme and those not directly connected to it, and naturally, most of those choices entail distinct consequences for the game world and the player.
  
  So, this game has managed to capture the essence of RPG gaming on PC and hopefully it will help reverse the trend of simplification of RPGs. I consider it among the top 10 games I've ever played.
  
  
• F@#$
  By AQOCU4H3V27H8 on 2007-11-24
  With this expansion, the curse you get is lame, and makes the game almost annoying instead of fun. I feel rushed. I don't recommend playing any class that requires resting to cast spells. I learned this after investing 4 hours of time with an Eldritch knight. Rest = die. It will likely piss you off. Other than that, mostly fun.
  
  
• not too happy with it
  By A2A968SW5SCMW4 on 2007-12-26
  I was hoping they would fix the camera problems in the expansion pack but they didn't! So you have to deal with the camera swinging all over the place. I didn't really like the whole spirit-eater thing...not enough instruction on how to use it so you just kind of fumble through. The ending battle is so long I wondered if I had somehow gotten into a loop and if I should reload my game. All in all...not very satisfying.
  
  
• high degree of difficulty and frustration outweigh depth, fun
  By AR9Y9SHFFA1ZP on 2008-01-29
  The "spirit-eater" aspect to this game makes it ridiculously, rigidly difficult to do anything, get anywhere, without backing yourself into a dire situation you can't escape from, much less function in. Fortunately, online I found a cheat code to turn it off, and then the game became enjoyable. Either I'm a total RPG wimp, or else this game is for a more hardcore type of player.
  
  
• Mask of Boredom
  By A1SRJSP3K6DP6C on 2008-04-23
  Mask of Boredom
  
  (Note this main contain Spoilers')
  
  I'm not exactly sure why this game received a higher rating then NWN2-baffles me really. MOB is a terrible game with a boring storyline. The companions in this game were just as boring. They didn't interact with each other like in NWN2. Most of your companions were way too serious and acted more like stone animations then letting them come off as real people.
  
  Furthermore later on in the game you soon find out about most of your former companions in NWN2. Most are either dead or missing. I found this to be a rather brutal way of just eliminating them. The companions in NWN2 I grew quite fond of them because of how much they interacted with each other and they really came off as if they had real feelings. With that I was really ticked off Ammon came up and said, "Oh by the way your former lover, Casivir is dead." This was rather heartless of the developers. You're only able to interact and grow your relationship with him towards the end of the game and now you found out he is dead. I really did enjoy my female character being involved with Casivir. They should have allowed him to live and allowed you to try and find him at some point. Maybe in the future they will bring him and have more adventures with more of your former companions.
  
  The world you are in this game looks too dark and depressing and you're forced on some quest that in the end doesn't make any sense, leaving numerous questions unanswered.
  
  Again I still say they should have allowed your character to continue on adventuring through Neverwinter instead of being in this boring land and with this boring story arch.
  
  I do have to agree with people the spirit eating bar is rather annoying and really becomes the focus of your game then actually being able to do other things. Also the "new" Rest system they have in the game ticked me off, I preferred the rest in NWN2.
  
  Looting is this game was crap, most of the time you end up getting essences off the enemies' you defeat, basically forcing you to craft items. Look I don't like crafting, it's too time consuming. I guess the developers were taking the lazy route and didn't want to come up with any new items for the game.
  
  The end of the game made me somewhat happy (I got the good ending) seeing as to how I finally was able to go back to West Harbor. But once again it didn't make sense. It said at the end if you choose to take back up the role of Knight-Captain or find some other adventure is a tale for another time. Oh yeah my character just saved all of Fauren, got a sliver shard ripped from her chest, got some spirit eating curse on her and nearly died because of it and too add found out most of her companions are either dead or missing, including her former lover. Yeah, I'm sure my female character is so looking forward to finding something else to screw her over.
  
  Bottom line watching paint dry is more fun than this Game. The developers need to look at Fable and Oblivion for references. I know they're trying something new, but honestly, it's just not working for me.
  
  
  
• NWN 2 - fun for old-time D&Ders
  By AWN3CWJTUAE2Y on 2007-11-07
  I played Advanced D&D through my teen years, but stopped getting together with other players in late-night dice-rolling sessions when I "grew up". The NWN series (going back to the oringinal NWN on AOL) rekindled my interest in the game. The computer acts as the DM, which is fine with me. Anytime I want to play the game and just engage my imagination, I can hop onto my computer. The online NWN2 world is getting better all the time, as more people write better mods, but it has yet to catch up to NWN1 in the variety of mods you can download and play. On the other hand, it hasn't been around as long.
  Anyway, NWN2 and its expansion, Mask of the Betrayer, are a lot of fun. You need a good video card, though!
  
  
• Should be Rashaman Nights, not Neverwinter Nights
  By A39X3BIXMWVFSI on 2007-11-09
  Its a LOT harder than any of the previous games, its a good game but I had to switch from normal to easy play to be able to complete it for my cleric, but the game did arrive as scheduled and I have no problems with the shipper/seller.
  
  
• 3.5 stars
  By A2UPDLK21I3TGJ on 2008-01-18
  I loved the original NW2. I thought it was a fabulous game with a great story line. This game continues the tradition of great storytelling and I really enjoy the fact that it is a direct sequel. It's always nice to watch your character that could barely take on lizardmen, now tackling spirit gods and other formidable creatures. The one drawback in this game is the spirit eater component. Personally I find that it detracts from the enjoyment of the game and makes me want to play it less. I think the concept is good, but not executed well. But despite this, the game is still enjoyable to play.
  
  
• worth the wait, not worth the hassle
  By ANI18656R34OC on 2008-05-12
  i put this game on pre-order the moment that i heard they were coming out with it. after months of anticipation, it arrived and i immediately installed it, and played it for a few hours. when i loaded it up again, it would not work. after combing through the Atari forums, i was able to discern that the product had some bugs that could be fixed via patch. the automatic updater would not work, so i had to download all of the patches individually, un-install then re-install both the base game and the expansion, and finally was able to play the game normally.
  
  having such problems in the beginning put me off, naturally, but the game once working properly was well worth the wait - and it made the hoop jumping only just tolerable enough. a good game nonetheless, and newer versions of the expansion being made today have the patches included. i wish they had worked through the problems before mine shipped.
  
  
• Interesting story, problematic curse.
  By A1MBMUB1GLLU87 on 2008-05-29
  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!
  
  
• Not As Good As The Other Packs
  By A1V68CETC0BXV7 on 2008-06-09
  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.
  
  
• Pretty Good Add-on
  By AVP1NL6GYMVR on 2008-01-24
  As most of you know, I'm a huge fan of RPG PC Games, and NWN2 is no exception. MOTB is a good add-on that gives you 10 to 20 hours more gaming fun. The story is great, but it was very frustrating in some ways, as you were forced to follow a path that, to me, seemed kind of evil (I usually play nuetral, lawful good, good, etc characters). Other than that, it was nice to see the creator of the game push the limits of what is acceptable in RPG's without turning too many people off completely. I'm not sorry I bought the add on, and if you are a fan of the NWN series you must have this for your collection.
  
  
• A great game marred by a silly "feature"
  By A2VCC9UVM30151 on 2008-10-22
  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.
  
  
• A Rough Start
  By A3IUVPECD2DR1Y on 2008-01-17
  Its a tough go from the start without the right build. My imported Arcane Archer/Wizard is cannon fodder and nearly worthless unless buffed up just right. Which I find annoying. The cave you wake up in is stupid. There's +4 magic weapons laying all over the place. Citizens leave 1200GP in crates outside their homes. Evidently, I could care less about my former fellow travelers. Also, Thayan Gnolls are tougher than the Shadow
  KIng but are servants to Thayan Wizards. At least Gann is with me now so I'm only the second easiest person to kill in my party. Some common pirates just killed me in three rounds in a bar brawl. This game is requiring a lot of suspended disbelief. Aside from that I agree with all the good things other people say and think its a must own if you got the first one, for future mods if nothing else. I'm expecting this will grow on me after I start over with another character, just don't expect love at first sight unless you're a half-orc barbarian.
  
  
• Great Engine Bad Story
  By A1ETQ6X1HN4Z6L on 2008-02-13
  Neverwinter Nights 2 MotB Has a great engine battles are fun. Bad guys use decent tactics they attack your healers and swarm to your offensive casters.
  
  The Plot however leaves much to be desired. With out giving away to much your end choices much like the end of the first game leave you ruined. (Unless you decide to go evil in which case you become a world killer)
  
  Sorry just not my cup of tea.
  
  
• I thought it was actually better than the original campaign
  By A2U83VDVJMAB2U on 2008-07-24
  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!
  
  
  
  
• Wheres Bioware when you need them
  By A2G9T32A4HP33L on 2008-08-09
  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.
  
  

• PC Gamer (1-year)

• Neverwinter Nights 2
• The Witcher
• Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir Expansion
• Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles
• Neverwinter Nights Diamond