64 replies to this topic

[DiamondSkinned]

Not that I'm dissing anyone who liked it, but as someone who's never played it, I have completed the main campaign and some of Storm of Zehir, so is the campaign in the midddle worth taking too? And if so, why?

[kevL]

1. no bugs

2. doesn't treat the player like an moran

3. story is 'over the top' but not as over-the-top as the OC

[Dann-J]

1. no bugs

2. doesn't treat the player like an moran

3. story is 'over the top' but not as over-the-top as the OC

 

There's nothing worse than being treated like a Moran.

 

 

 

To add to the list:

• Better companions. They're fewer in number, but I'll take quality over quantity any day.
• Epic character levels (although you can achieve that in SoZ if you farm the crap out of the overland map)
• Adventuring beyond the Prime Plane

[Tchos]

More reasons:

• Good music (I love the songs "Mulsantir", and "Mulsantir Gate")
• Some really nice locations
• General consensus is that it has the best story of all of them, akin to PS:T

[Thorsson64]

Each to his own. I never really liked it that much. I'll quote the Wiki:

 

The new "spirit eating" mechanic, which forces players to constantly replenish the main character's life force by sucking out the force of spirits, undead, and gods was not appreciated by many reviewers.

 

 

Not this reviewer, certainly. It didn't feel like D&D to me as well as being a PITA.

[4760]

I fully agree with Thorsson64: I didn't like the "spirit eating" concept at all.

[Arkalezth]

Same here, but there are mods that remove it.

Another factor that some people may find appealing is the level range. Multiplayer aside, epic level modules, official or not, are extremely rare.

[unclejoe1917]

Each to his own. I never really liked it that much. I'll quote the Wiki:

 

 

Not this reviewer, certainly. It didn't feel like D&D to me as well as being a PITA.

It's the reason that I've never finished MotB even though I've owned it for the better part of six years now. I'm going to have to check out these mods that Arkalezth mentioned. 

[Tchos]

I didn't mention the spirit eater mechanic because I don't consider it part of the appeal of MotB.  I didn't like it either, and would rather it not have been in there, and it was the reason I played MotB last, because I prefer not to be rushed and have time to explore.  However, I learned of techniques without mods that made it manageable, and the rest of the game more than made up for it for me.

[kamal_]

Grrrr

[Kaldor Silverwand]

What bothered me the most about the Spirit Eater mechanic was that it was in effect even when you were in doing meta-game functions such as leveling up and reorganizing your inventory. My fix for that is included in my MotB Makeover as well as being available as a stand alone mod. I also have an item available for recharging spirit energy (i used it when testing) and the MotB Makeover allows spirit energy to be regained by consuming spirit essences (which i think makes sense and is not uber cheesy) .All of these are explained on my blog.

Regards

[Axe_Edge]

"The Dove"

[Arkalezth]

However, I learned of techniques without mods that made it manageable

It is manageable, but I still find it unnecessary, a pain in the ass and possibly a distraction (i.e. a player may be paying more attention to the spirit bar than to the dialogue, pausing all the time, etc.). It's also easier to manage for certain alignments, which is unfair, IMO.

I can understand the devs wanting to experiment with new and original mechanics, but I think they failed in the execution here. Besides, the story alone can already impose a sense of urgency; I don't need a constant reminder in the form of a sign on my face reading: "RUN AND EAT SPIRITS OR YOU'LL DIE HORRIBLY!".

If I play MotB again, I'll most certainly be using a mod and playing at my own pace.

[Axe_Edge]

Second that it has some fantastic areas.

There are puzzles that will have you breaking out a pencil and paper.

[Dann-J]

The spirit eater meter was an integral part of Mask of the Betrayer. I for one enjoyed the challenge, and considered the many benefits of being a spirit eater to have outweighed any inconvenience. If you ever got into trouble you could always use Suppress - although I found it was easier to play as an evil character and just gorge on anything that couldn't outrun you. There are more than enough spirits and elementals (and undead or living souls) to keep you sated.

 

It might help to play a non-casting class (or a warlock) that doesn't need to rest to replenish spells. Even then, I played as a cleric / war priest / storm lord and I never ran out of spells. I never even had to resort to casting low-level spells. I don't recall resting very frequently, so I'm guessing some transitions in the game might auto-rest you.

[Dann-J]

Second that it has some fantastic areas.

There are puzzles that will have you breaking out a pencil and paper.

 

Ah yes - now I remember all those gridded pieces of paper I kept handy to play a certain conversation-based game.

[earymir]

The atmosphere of this game was great.  And the story I remembering being pretty decent, although I think I remember mostly liking the mood of the whole thing.  Very dark, but not in the "dark=violent/shocking" kind of way.  

[GCoyote]

It was/is epic in the original sense; the repercussions of dealing directly with gods and those who would challenge them on their own plane are literally world breaking. It isn't just about killing the biggest thing out there or massive treasure hauls. At the end, you play your chosen alignment and the outcomes mostly make sense. For what it's worth, did the MotB Romance Pack(?) mod on my last play through and it was more satisfying. The tweaks smoothed out a lot of little things that annoyed me the first time through.

 

Edit: Okay, I'm now getting the urge to replay this as a FS of Kelemvor. 

[Pacman]

Just finished MotB - it was in every way superior to the original campaign. While the only thing that kept me playing through the OC were the first two companions and the need to know how relationship between them will culminate, MotB captured me in every aspect of the story from the very beginning till the end.

 

The whole gloomy feel was just the right way to do it and I love mystery and going into the unknown.

 

I loved two companions (Gann and Safiya), hated one (Kaelyn) and had no opinion on the last (Okku) - with such a small cast I'm amazed this happened. I never once felt like I'm a therapist of the team. Companions were actually helping me through my journey.

 

Loved the introduction, premise and culmination of the story - I was able to play through the game the way I want, not once hitting a spot where I didn't have a favorite dialog option to chose and the way companion relationships culminated left me greatly satisfied.

 

10/10 would recommend to any RPG fan. Not sure how I managed to skip this amazing game until now.

[Snowdog65]

Not that I'm dissing anyone who liked it, but as someone who's never played it, I have completed the main campaign and some of Storm of Zehir, so is the campaign in the midddle worth taking too? And if so, why?

 

 

After playing all 4 official modules IMO, they rate from best to worse as :

 

Mysteries of Westgate

Mask of the Betrayer

Original Campaign

Storm of Zehir

 

 

MOTB is better than the ones below because it has a decent story, and better ending. 

 

Spirit eater meter is kind of annoying, but if you only use Suppress and Eternal rest, your Craving  meter will go essentially to zero and it gets very manageable.

The ending also reminds of another old time classic: Planescape Torment.

[Thorsson64]

It's good that there are different strokes... SoZ would be at the top of my list, despite its many flaws, and MotB at the very bottom, because the spirit eater crap just annoyed me so much. I can't even contemplate replaying it with a mod, it pissed me off so much that two playthroughs was more than enough.

[Lilura]

I've never understood how people can dislike the Spirit Meter thing...

One positive side effect, to my mind, is that it restricts resting (to recuperate spells and health) - though there do still exist loopholes/exploits

[Arkalezth]

I've never understood how people can dislike the Spirit Meter thing...

One positive side effect, to my mind, is that it restricts resting (to recuperate spells and health) - though there do still exist loopholes/exploits

 

I've never understood how people can like it. It's like having a timer, which was OK in Sonic, but not so much in a dialogue-heavy RPG, IMO.

 

You can have resting restrictions without the spirit meter. Many modules do.

[Dann-J]

I generally liked the spirit meter. The one downside was that you couldn't stop to admire the area designs in any detail.

 

I liked to see how high I could get the craving level to. I'm not what you would call an 'ectoplasmic girlie man' when it comes to spirit eating.

[Tchos]

I didn't like the meter, and I paused a lot more because of it, but I liked the rest of the game so much that it made up for it.