Mask o' the Betrayer!

[~Di]

Wouldn't you know that this is the topic from which I finally garner a developer's attention??

 

Oh, the humanity.... *blush*

 

Seriously, how do I stop the thing from automatically summoning? Is there someplace in the options? (Yes, I'm going to go look right now, but y'all know how competent *I* am to figure this stuff out... )

Edited October 23, 2007 by ~Di

[~Di]

Aha, a simple solution then.

 

Team Obsidz does it again.

 

Even though Di figured it out alone.

 

Shh!

 

Quiet you! I don't need any help making myself look bad. I'm quite the expert at that!

[SteveThaiBinh]

I initially loved the fact that with MotB, casters automatically summon their familiars and you have your own travelling zoo, but alas, it's bugged. It screwed up my NWN2 original campaign as halfway through the second act Khelgar merged with Qara's familiar, resulting in a weasel with some suspiciously dwarf-like axe-related feats. :sad: It shouldn't be necessary to keep puppet-mode on in MotB, so long as 'Use abilities' is turned off. But I gather anyone in the NWN2 OC needs to make sure they unsummon all familiars before transitioning to a new area.

[~Di]

Okay, here's the scoop. Trial and error discovered that the familiar would not summon UNTIL I gave up control of my PC to take control of a companion. When I did that, the "Scaled Spellcasting" Behavior kicked in, and summoned the familiar. Now I could have turned off all spellcasting capabilities in the Behavior Menu, but that means that if I take control of another companion during a battle, my PC won't have access to use any of her magic.

 

So I did a DebugMode "removefeat 303" and got rid of my Summon Familiar feat.

 

(I wondered why I lost hp's every time that danged rabbit died!!)

 

End of mystery... but I never, ever had this familiar automatically generated during the NWN2 OC. I don't know what has changed, familiar-wise, in MOTB but obviously I don't care for it!

 

I shall not broach this topic again. Honest. Really. Like, I'm outta here!

[Tale]

THAT

 

WAS

 

AWESOME

 

 

I just had counsel with Myrkul! Jeeeeeeebus! And to top it off, I let One of Many devour him, giving Myrkul a chance to be reborn!

My evil characters always choose Bane for deity and Baldur's Gate always made me a fan of Bhaal (I actually chose Bhaal for Deity in NWN1, but dead gods aren't options in NWN2 ), so this was incredible to me.

 

Dear Obsidian, can we please

speak with Bhaal in XP2? That's the sole thing in the planes that could top this. Ooh, and Bane. Might as well just round out the Dead Three!

 

 

 

That's how my guy's going to spin it to Bane when he's dead. So, I tried tearing down the wall. You know what? I intentionally tried bringing back your old buddy Myrkul. I thought you'd be happy!

 

Edited October 23, 2007 by Tale

[tripleRRR]

I really don't think you could ever speak to bhaal, his essence, unlike

myrkul's

was split up amongst his many children and then either given up or distributed to the the bhaalspawn PC. There's really nothing left to talk to.

 

 

:edit:

 

And didn't Bane get ressurrected at some point?

Edited October 23, 2007 by tripleRRR

[jaguars4ever]

 

This is legendary!

 

 

Flopsy!

[Tale]

I really don't think you could ever speak to bhaal, his essence, unlike

myrkul's

was split up amongst his many children and then either given up or distributed to the the bhaalspawn PC. There's really nothing left to talk to.

 

 

:edit:

 

And didn't Bane get ressurrected at some point?

If you take the Bhaalspawn story at its face, as every Bhaalspawn died, Bhaal's essence coalesced somewhere. So, it's there, mostly. Somewhere. The PC didn't take it because there's not another god.

 

As for Bane, so living gods can't talk?

Edited October 23, 2007 by Tale

[Xard]

Talk with Myrkul was one hell of a kodak moment. True win

[Starwars]

Yeah, that was my fav part of the game. I gotta say that Myrkul was voiced beautifully, kinda unique thing going on there. I love it when you have Kaelyn with you, there's some really nice dialogue from Myrkul there. Very nicely written that whole bit, and of course, the whole area and music just makes it more memorable. Loved that little bit of dialogue where Myrkul says that Kaelyn was "severed like a gangrenous hand". Great stuff.

[Pop]

As for Bane, so living gods can't talk?

Why would he, though? A big part of what made the Myrkul talk fun was that he was at your mercy (I Eternal Rested him, being a goodie) an actual living God wouldn't suffer mortals gladly, although perhaps if the game was set in the Moonshaes I could see it happening in some form or another.

[Tale]

As for Bane, so living gods can't talk?

Why would he, though? A big part of what made the Myrkul talk fun was that he was at your mercy (I Eternal Rested him, being a goodie) an actual living God wouldn't suffer mortals gladly, although perhaps if the game was set in the Moonshaes I could see it happening in some form or another.

If expansion 2 adds in 10 more levels it'll put you at a higher level than Elminster (y'know, the guy who actually got the attention of Ao, who won't even talk to his own priests). And Xpac 1 alone has sufficient events for gods to take notice. Anything that puts you in a position to have dealt with the other two of the Dead Three will certainly garner his attention. Hell, events with Myrkul alone could have gotten his eye on the PC. Throw in a plot involving the machinations of Cyric himself, and both Bane's eyes would certainly be cast upon ye.

[Pop]

Perhaps. I'd be surprised if they make a 30-40 Xpac.

[Oerwinde]

What I said I'd like to see for another XP on the bioware boards would be something set in Acherome or Maztica, where you start out working for a settling expedition starting a new settlement. Then after the initial beginning quests, the settlement is established, blah blah event happens, you're in charge. And from then on its mostly a giant crossroads keep type thing, only with WAY more options. Based on who you recruit or what your decide to build your settlement develops differently opening new quests and such. You could develop it as a rich merchant port, seedy pirate port, heavily defended fort town, haven for scholars, or a mix of the bunch. It would be largely non-linear with basically just a whole lot of 1-2 hour storylines with a more central story being evident at the beginning and the end.

 

Anyway, yeah. I hope future XPs start a new storyline rather than following your character from NWN2/MotB

[Pop]

Maztica's one of my less favorite FR settings, and on top of that it wasn't terribly popular (I got the 2nd ed box set new for $10, and not soon after WotC released the whole shebang for free online) but aside from that, it's an intriguing idea. However, I like the personal stories better. Your Xpac sounds more like an Icewind Dale than a BG or a NWN2.

[Tigranes]

I think Oerwinde's idea should be the way to go for all RPG expansions though, in the sense that you're not just making another story of the same type (i.e. all NWN1/2 xpacks), but you're trying to create a module which has a variant, deviant gameplay experience; if the original game shoots forth straight and honest, expansions allow more tangential experiences and concepts, which wouldn't justify a full game in itself, especially for its limited marketability. It could work because in post-NWN era we are seeing games with multiple expansion packs, where the player just buys one, all or some as they like. So you have a NWN2 OC, then you have a super-expanded Crossroad Keep type expansion pack, then one where the focus is on.... well, I don't know. I guess MOTB did this too. But wackier. Damn, my rant fizzled and died there in the end didn't it?

 

I hope XP2 doesn't go up to level 40 in the current format. I think the epic abilities on the whole are okay, but compared to TOB ones rather disappointing - and surely the NWN System is advanced enough to incorporate some of the more distinct sides of epic gameplay, like wizards constructing mighty golems and phylacteries, stuff like that. You want to see fighters with whirlwhind attack animations rip through opponents, contingency spells (oh god), planetars that actually look divine, and gameplay where you are more of a leader than the adventurer.

[Tale]

I want a Moonsea expansion. I've been wanting to play a game featuring a war between the Zhentarim and Black Sun for a while.

[Xard]

Just about to storm City of Judgement

 

**** YES!

[Tale]

I started that last night. I was dissapointed by one thing, though.

Since I let One of Many devour Myrkul, I presumed I'd get to help bring Myrkul to a point where he could be ressurected. But noooooo. Myrkul took over One of Many, got pissy, and I had to beat up One of Many to get Myrkul suppressed. Why couldn't he have been more sociable? We could have helped each other out.

[Xard]

It was great, only two disappointments.

 

1) I wanted to see more fighting in the city, but I guess engine couldn't do that when its cumbersome as it is. Propably would've crashed PC with all the characters on screen. Or something. Still, they could've done it like the OC with those "stills" or whatever you want to call them (where Nasher gets wounded etc. )

 

2) What, I COULDN'T BRING DOWN THE WALL? **** YOU KELEMVOR, **** YOU

 

Seriously though, for character I played getting his soul back was smaller motivation than bringing down the abhorrent Wall. I've always loathed Wall in DnD cosmology, I (and char I played) find it as horrible as Kaelyn does. Yet I couldn't bring it down!! Stupid Kelemvor, I'm epic level character, damn straight I am able to bring some puny god of dead down. Even in his own plane. Umm, yeah. Definetly.

 

Or wait, there's 4 endings, right? Is it possible? *hopeful*

[Starwars]

Don't get your hopes up.

 

That said, it's one of my beefs with the story. Not that we can't take the wall down or beat up Kelemvor, as I think that would be to 'out of line' even for our epic characters. But it feels like the story is going there (perhaps mostly due to Kaelyn and her mission).

It's been pointed out a bunch of times already, but it'd be nice to either have an ending where an assault on the wall actually happens, but where the PC fails horribly. Or to have a much lengthier conversation with Kelemvor, where possibly he could show off that there is no way we could challenge him in his own realm. He does state this ("you're not powerful enough, not yet"), and he also mentions that he could basically teleport you off this plane if he wanted. Thing is, with the build-up, I just feel like there should've been *more* to that event. It feels a bit like getting a hand in your face and someone saying "sorry mate".

 

I never actually particularly noticed that the ending battles/areas in the City are rather empty, I was just really caught up in the story at that moment to tell the truth. It is true though. More than anything though, I would've wanted battles that were much harder. Kelemvors dudes are just not that challenging which is a bit of a shame.

 

I love the ending area where you battle Akachi though. The music just works very well there I think, the tribal percussion thing is great for that encounter. And I have no complaints about the actual ending sequences themselves, I think they are really great. I got the 'optimal' good ending on my first playthrough, and I really liked it. When I played my evil character, I missed out on the optimal evil ending though (a shame because I hear it's deliciously evil). I think you have to devour Myrkul yourself in order to get that.

[Xard]

:sad:

 

Kaelyn was so great character, definetly my favorite. What a wonderful voice actress. I wonder, she sounded a bit like Handmaiden in K2. Hmm... Anyway, her fate deeply saddened me. Although I find that tragic twist in otherwise "and they lived happily ever after. The end." ending - which was very great in its own way, even with somewhat cheesy "hai guise guess where imma goin to get married, in my hometown that was just devoured by shadows and all of its people turned undead lol" part but even that didn't bother too much. Safiya romance was well done in its own way. It was very subtle but if you played in way that would ultimately bring the romance in game there were enough hints and such to make it seem logical and fitting.

 

Too bad I didn't hear what happened to Gann (since I didn't have him with me when attacked City of Judgement).

 

Anyway, this definetly is going to be in my favorite games list. Only expansion pack on that list I might add!

 

Only criticism I have to give about story is that damn fact you can't bring wall down. It wouldn't matter so much if whole process were you end up being unable to do that would be more fleshed out (and what about my solar general! He just stands idle there when the great Betrayer isn't bringing the damn Wall down! Geez. "Mmkay it looks like this Crusade failed too. Oh well, let's do something else shall we") like Starwars said.

 

I guess it's the fact we're on Kelemvor's plane. Myrkul, Bane and Bhaal did kill god when they were after their godhood, you know. Not to mention apart from few exceptions like Elminster and that Red Wizard Lich strongest characters in Realms are at best level 20. Epic characters are epic, far greater than mortal should be. Even able to bring Lord of Hell down (when out of his/her own plane e.g Cania) and definetly in some rare cases God too.

 

I'll give more babbling/"reviewing" when I have time. What a great game.

 

But that damn Wall... >

Edited October 24, 2007 by Xard

[Tale]

I'd be surprised if WotC let Obsidian rewrite their cosmology. Since nobody else is bothering with spoiler tags, I won't either to say this, despite my best efforts, I wasn't able to bring Myrkul back. I wanted to be his friiiend. But no, he wanted to be a jerk, so I had to beat him up. Same thing. Obsidian probably isn't allowed to resurrect Myrkul anymore than they are allowed to tear down the wall. Or any more than you could have resurrected Bhaal in Baldur's Gate. I would have loved to have tried.

[Xard]

Yeah, that was my first thought as well - but then, these things ain't actually canon so *shrug*

 

Meh, WotC didn't allow any bare skin. Talking about reshaping the whole planes...

[Xard]

By the way, did someone figure out what was that Mysterious Device for (you found it from Red Wizard's Academy)? I tried it on me, my party members, interesting/unique looking items in my inventory, soul hides, boxes, NPC's etc. etc. but just didn't find out what I should've done.