Mask of the Betrayer, my personal review Options

[Cantousent]

I’ve been trying to think of a way to describe Mask of the Betrayer that’s useful to you guys but doesn’t give away any information that Obsidz and Atari don’t want you to have. At this point, I think most of you, who have been following the game, know quite a bit about the story, the characters, and the setting. That works in my favor, since it frees me to step back and assess the game from a distance. For example, I don’t need to focus on Rashemen. You guys know that the story is set in Rashemen, at least in part, and most of you can make your own judgment about the setting.

For my part, setting isn’t really important. I prefer some settings to others, but a good story will shine in virtually any setting. Since I’ve already mentioned Rashemen, however, I will point out that I’m not a fan of the region, which only serves to highlight the fact that I’m not a Forgotten Realms fan in the first place. How many times has Thay invaded Rashemen? How many times has Rashemen killed the invaders or driven them back to Thay? If Rashemen has had the strength to overcome so many invasions, it surely has the power to go into Thay and take care of the problem altogether, right? …But nooo, they don’t. Believe me, I don’t praise MotB for the Forgotten Realms setting and I certainly don’t praise it for the particular area of the Forgotten Realms in which the story takes place.

Likewise, I’m not advocating the game because it’s part of the Neverwinter Nights franchise. Frankly, I was disappointed when I discovered that I’d be working on the expansion. I’ve had mixed feelings about NWN since the very first game hit the shelves. I’ve enjoyed it and hated it in varying degrees since I received my pre-ordered copy of NWN. I had this crazy hope, against all odds, that I would get a chance to see Aliens or one of the other projects under development at Obsidz. As it happened, the folks on different projects at Obsidz showed me the other games, but I only worked on one. Of all the games, MotB is the one I was least enthusiastic to see.

So, how did I go from a decided lack of enthusiasm to singing the holy praises of gamer geekdom? That will follow below. Right now, as is my custom, I will discuss the aspects that I didn’t like. I guess I could say… I dunno…. maybe, “I will discuss the aspect that needed the most improvement.” I won’t insult your intelligence. There were aspects I didn’t like about MotB. Nonetheless, I’ve never preferred to end any discussion on a bad note, so I’ll have my say about the “bad” and then get on to the “good.” Just keep in mind that some of the things I dislike about the game might actually be improved before it ships. I know the team was still working to fine tune the package when I headed up to Northern California.

Probably my biggest beef is engine optimization. Sure, MotB runs better than NWN2. It runs better by a lot, really. Translate: NWN2 was extremely bad where MotB is merely bad. The loading times, on the computer I was running, were less than stellar, but running around within the areas was smoother than NWN2. Overall, on a machine running Vista with one gig of memory and a mediocre video card, the engine feels… clunky? I don’t know how else to describe it, but it’s not as stable as WoW. Of course, WoW hasn’t been as stable as WoW lately, so maybe it’s an industry trend. For those of you who have played them, MotB compares favorably against S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and NWN2. I won’t blame you if you accuse me of damning it with faint praise.

The camera angles are improved over NWN2, but I would rather have finer control over the camera. It seemed a little erratic to me, and that’s largely unchanged from the first title. The camera issue is always a favorite topic for argument, and everyone seems to have his own take. My point is that I want the camera controls to be more fluid than fast, and that has not been the case for either NWN2 or MotB. Fiddling with the settings doesn’t help much, and so I’ve gotten used to it. Getting used to a feature is simply not the same as liking it.

Graphics impacts both the engine and the camera, to be sure. MotB does not represent the pinnacle of gaming graphics, either. At work, on my one gig Vista system, I was forced to reduce the graphics settings in a variety of ways, from shadows to resolution to anisotropic filtering. I’m sure NWN2 would have entailed some of the same tweaking, or worse, but I’ve only played NWN2 on my home computer, and I have the settings there maxed in every category. What I can say is that the MotB graphics are roughly equivalent to the graphics for NWN2. I prefer some of the scenes in MotB, and I think the artwork is better, which makes the game more aesthetically appealing to me. The spooky areas are spooky, the large outdoor scenes are pretty, and the game, with all the bells ringing and whistles blowing, is much more enticing to the eye than NWN2. I would not describe any area as “breathtaking,” but the graphics are sufficient to do the job, just as they were with NWN2. As an aside, I was more impressed with the Aliens graphics, although that might have been the coolness factor of getting to see the game.

Since I’ve commented often on the story, I’d like to cite the less than stellar aspect of the writing (there I go again, insulting your intelligence). MotB pits itself against any game in the genre, and stacks up very well against the best the genre has to offer. Nevertheless, it is simply not a book. I know many of you will revile me for making this statement, but games are inferior literary devices. Sure, I can understand the hostility against Ebert, but games lack the sort of long term impact of literature or film. When a game, such as PS:T, tries to rise above its third class standing, a number of people in the gaming community pillory the effort as “pseudo-philosophical” or “quasi-intellectual.” PS:T was “pseudo-philosophical,” but only inasmuch as it introduced philosophical notions in order to further the story. …And those elements, no matter how we describe them, served as the basis for understanding the game itself. MotB, on the other hand, gives the same superficial treatment to the larger issues as virtually every other game in the genre. There are important questions, such as faith and trust and morality, that barely get a nod from the design team, and sometimes not even that.

On that note, I can switch gears, because MotB tells an excellent story. Like I’ve said previously, I prefer PS:T to MotB, but the two games are similar. Both tell a personal story. However, the point of PS:T is to discover something about yourself. You must understand the things you’ve done in the past and decipher the activities of your previous “incarnations.” In MotB, the game is refreshingly centered on something (and someone) other than yourself. Sure, the game revolves around the PC and his actions, but the point of every endeavor is to understand something that happened in the far distant past. If PS:T were a story of self discovery, then MotB is a story of other discovery. The PC learns something of himself along the way, of course, but MotB serves as the final chapter in a very long book. It is an important chapter, to be sure, but most of the book was written well before the PC enters the story.

Not only that, but the issues are not nearly so driven by philosophical underpinnings. In that regard, MotB does much better than other RPGs in that the design team, deciding not to tackle philosophical issues, crafted a much more personal story. This isn’t a game about the PC finding his mortality. It’s a game of survival. There’s not a lot of navel gazing in this game. It’s a gritty battle, and sometimes the enemy is the PC himself.

By now most of the folks following MotB have heard at least something of the spirit eater mechanic. Let me warn you right away that the spirit eater curse will cause the player some heartache and grief. It is not something to take lightly. Because of the curse, the PC will face a variety of dilemmas. The condition, and how the PC deals with it, will shape the game. It is that important.

The spirit eater mechanic has many ramifications for morality, but even these moral questions are more personal than most other games out there. The spirit eater curse is a hard companion, and the PC must bear it under his skin at all times. For that reason, many PCs will commit acts that tear at the heart of their moral compass. Only the most dedicated and determined (and clever) will be able to avoid acts of atrocity. However, the curse grants the PC several opportunities to commit acts of genuine goodness. It is a curse, to be sure, but the manner in which the PC deals with the curse makes MotB an excellent game. Player choices aren’t just immediate and often, but they’re meaningful as well.

I’ve not seen a game that so thoroughly rewards the player for such an assortment of decisions. I’ve always hated the idea of alignment, but if we simply ignored the swinging pendulum of alignment scores and shifts, the story itself recognizes the impact of the PC’s decisions, and I don’t just mean the end game. I’m not prepared to cite an instance right now, but there are wonderful examples of how the design team made good use of a game mechanic I’ve always hated… alignment. Even better, a player truly dedicated to playing a particular role will be able to ignore the alignment information anyhow. I know whatever choices I make will virtually always keep me in the lawful good alignment.

Speaking of choices, I seem to recall a thread Kaftan started complaining about influence. While he doesn’t like influence, I enjoy it. I thought it generally worked well in NWN2. In MotB it is outstanding. First of all, it’s nice to have other people respond and react to player choices. Taking the influence system out of the equation would be a mistake. Would it be better to have a paladin in the party who never says a word as the PC murders a building full of orphans? Is it better to have companions who stay in the party and act in the exact same way no matter what the PC does or says? I don’t think so. In NWN2, the influence system is sometimes capricious and largely opaque. In MotB, because of changes in the expansion, the influence system is much more transparent. You know how your companions view the PC at any time.

That’s something else I like about the influence system. The player must be concerned about how the NPCs view him. Just like real life, the PC cannot ignore the people around him. Anyone who has a job, or a family, or friends, or enemies, or… well… doesn’t live in a cave under the surface of Mars knows that he must interact with other people. He can be rude, sure. He can be abusive, using, or sneaky. He can even tell his companions or potential companions to leave him alone. …But the NPCs, just like folks in real life, will react to what the PC does.

As for the “problem” of finding the best way to interact with companions? *shrug* Isn’t that all part of real life as well? I’ve tried to be a straight shooter all my life. I respect folks who only choose the responses that fit the role they’ve assumed. That’s great. If they don’t care what the ramifications are to the PC, even better. If any of you feels compelled to choose responses or actions just to garner favor from the NPCs, that’s great also. I imagine you might be the sort of person, like me, for whom diplomacy is the first choice. It’s not underhanded to make your companions comfortable or happy. On the other hand, maybe you’re the type of guy who lies to women in order to sleep with them. It’s natural that you’d go out of your way to manipulate your companions. Fair enough. …But, if you use the influence system just to get goodies that would otherwise be denied to the PC, then you should not complain that there is an influence system to be used. It is no more prone to abuse than any number of DnD mechanics. …And I like it, damn it.

There are fewer NPCs in the game, but they are splendid company. Sure, I think one of the NPCs could have a sexier voice. haha Altogether, the NPC dialogue is well written, they have wonderful backstories, and having a full party can make for a lot of fun interaction. There are some twists and turns in forming a party in MotB, but it all depends on what the player wants to find in the game. What I found was a great experience.

MotB is not a perfect game. In all my years of gaming, I have not found such a game. However, it is a breath of fresh air. It’s not enough to have a lot of choices to make in the game world. In fact, choice without consequence amounts to no choice at all. MotB crafts a beautiful story for the player, and the player completes that story by decisions. Those decisions are meaningful.

Finally, it’s been a bit hectic lately, as I’ve driven close to three thousand miles over the past week or so. However, I’m willing to answer question where my writing has been unclear. Be warned, however, that I’m bound and determined not to discuss specifics until the game ships. I know most of you would rather have juicy details, but this is the best I can offer at the moment: this is a game worth owning.

[Pop]

Harumph, I'll expect you to rewrite this when the game ships. Too much vagueness = not much meaning. I'm sure it works for you, however. You've seen things we haven't.

[Sand]

Good review and now I want the expansion even more. GIMMEE! GIMMEE! GIMMEE! GIMMEE! GIMMEE! GIMMEE!

Just out of curiousity, what is your system specs?

[Meshugger]

Sounds alright. It's good to read a review without too much "awesome" and "extreeeme". Simply put, without too much hype.

[Cantousent]

When the game ships, I won't write or rewrite another review. :Cant's tongue in cheek grin:

However, I'll be in the spoilers area telling folks how to deal with some of the more difficult areas.

The system specs I was running at work were... let's see, a quad intel cpu running Vista with one gig of ram (should have been two) and a... 6800? I think. May have been a 6600, but I think it was 6800. Had a huge amount of harddisk space, but the cpu/video/memory configuration was just not up to snuff.

[Sand]

Its the one gig that probably killed ya, Cant. NWN2 runs pretty fast on my system which is currently a single core 3ghz, 2 gig of RAM, and a Radeon x1900. I just can't wait to run MotB with a GeForce 9800!

[@\Nightandt...]

What obsidian need to do is higher some opermization freaks to go over there code, AND PERHAPS RUN SOME PERF TOOLS FOR FRACKS SAKE!

Sorry, perfermance is a pet beef of mine, and it seems to be a bit of a problem in general with NWN2.

[Pavlos]

Thanks for this .

While vague, it gives us a better idea as to what to expect. I'd also like to ask something: how much of the game is voiced? Is it the mix between text and voice we saw in the NWN2 OC, or are we getting everything acted out? Neither really bothers me, I'm just wondering.

[@\Nightandt...]

What obsidian need to do is higher some opermization freaks to go over there code, AND PERHAPS RUN SOME PERF TOOLS FOR FRACKS SAKE!

Sorry, perfermance is a pet beef of mine, and it seems to be a bit of a problem in general with NWN2.

I'll rewrite that in English.

Obsidian could really do with hiring some specialist optermization programmers, not to discredit the current tallent, but it almost seems like they don't use perf tools.

I'm the sort of person who is very narky about performance of code, when I write code.

I'm sure there is alot of perf code in there, but it just seems bizzare to me... I guess its just because I wish I could get in there and try and solve the problem... Not that I will have the chance, but we can dream.

[Sand]

What obsidian need to do is higher some opermization freaks to go over there code, AND PERHAPS RUN SOME PERF TOOLS FOR FRACKS SAKE!

Sorry, perfermance is a pet beef of mine, and it seems to be a bit of a problem in general with NWN2.

I'll rewrite that in English.

Obsidian could really do with hiring some specialist optermization programmers, not to discredit the current tallent, but it almost seems like they don't use perf tools.

I'm the sort of person who is very narky about performance of code, when I write code.

I'm sure there is alot of perf code in there, but it just seems bizzare to me... I guess its just because I wish I could get in there and try and solve the problem... Not that I will have the chance, but we can dream.

Maybe they should hire you.

[Morgoth]

NWN2 already ran very good, Here and there some choppiness, but nothing hair raising. And with the optimized code in MOTB it should even run better now. Yay, I guess.

[@\Nightandt...]

What obsidian need to do is higher some opermization freaks to go over there code, AND PERHAPS RUN SOME PERF TOOLS FOR FRACKS SAKE!

Sorry, perfermance is a pet beef of mine, and it seems to be a bit of a problem in general with NWN2.

I'll rewrite that in English.

Obsidian could really do with hiring some specialist optermization programmers, not to discredit the current tallent, but it almost seems like they don't use perf tools.

I'm the sort of person who is very narky about performance of code, when I write code.

I'm sure there is alot of perf code in there, but it just seems bizzare to me... I guess its just because I wish I could get in there and try and solve the problem... Not that I will have the chance, but we can dream.

Maybe they should hire you.

There are many reasons why that won't happen...

To name but a few...

1. I'm English, that means just to hire me there is a paper trail a mile long, with legal BS and extra costs. Why do that when there is homegrown talent? It's very difficult to actually get a job in the US if you're not from there, but it does happen, I've spoken with industry folks, nobody makes promises.

2. I'm still doing my degree, I've not even graduated university. I would consider myself to be acedemically challenged, but extremely practical.

3. I've not got anywhere near enough the experience required for that level of job, I've done some work on a title which hasn't been released yet that's it.

4. I'm an ass.

That said, I'd happily take the job if it was offered, but it won't be, not for a long time, and number 4 is a major problem. Thanks for the encouragement sand, it's very ooc for you.

MORE PERF, LESS PR0N!

[@\Nightandt...]

NWN2 already ran very good, Here and there some choppiness, but nothing hair raising. And with the optimized code in MOTB it should even run better now. Yay, I guess.

It had terrible performance issues, even on a high end system, I really do hope it runs alot better with MOTB, but all in all it still runs like a badger.

[Sand]

I really wouldn't consider you to be an ass. At least you are gaining experience in the field. That's something.

[@\Nightandt...]

I really wouldn't consider you to be an ass. At least you are gaining experience in the field. That's something.

I have a tendancy to be fairly insulting, or perhaps too honest, when I'm speaking with guys already in the industry.

It's not intentional, I was speaking with one of the guys from Garage Games at gamefest, and I kinda put my foot in it! I mean i've recommended GG's stuff to n00bs intersted in learning how to make games, but the conversation I had about the Torque Game Builder basically started with me saying, it's an awful piece of kit to work with, it's unstable, and the scripting language is offensive to a programmer (except my language wasn't nearly that kind), while the dude did say that that Torque X was a hell of alot better, and he was a nice guy actually, I still felt kinda rude for saying the engine sucked... I did the same with a guy from Pop Cap and their engine, and had a healthy debate with Shawn Hargreaves about the content pipeline in the XNA framework.

Who am I really to have an opinion? Those guys are verterns, they know alot more than I do! but as I always stated, I love critisim of the work I do, I just feel I lack tack when I've got a belly full of JD LOL.

If I had the oppertunity to sit down with Frank Kowalkowski, and argue out the problems with performance within NWN2 with him, I'd do it tomorrow. In all honestly that time would be better spent with him communicating with his team to keep on improving the performance (assuming he is still in the LP role, not sure how Obsidian structured the team after NWN2 shipped), truth of the matter is they have been steadily improving the perf with every patch, the main reason for this is probably to do with the deadline, and the basic fact that it needed to be done so it was hacked in as fast as possible so as to meet a milestones (It's not a fact it's a guess). In and of itself that is a talent worthy of respect, I have issues with stabbing myself in such a manner to get a job done, but I do realise it is needed at time.