My Mask Exspierence (some spoilers)

[Aarkon Draco]

Just got Mask of the Betrayer and figured i would post a logg of my adventures of sorts mostly my impressions of the game its additions and such.

Im using a pure Warlock for my first run. the spirit eater thing being somewhat annoying from what ive read and sleep being sporadic i figured this was the best choice for a caster type run.

so far ive battled spirit animals red wizards some undead and demons and a couple of the super gnolls. tough fights all around except the spirit animals thoes were rather mundane except the last one a boss of sorts. all in all a good mix of foes to beat but nothing has shocked me yet like the red dragon from the base campaign but its still early for such conclusions.

ive made it to the first town and done some of the missions there i figure it was a good stopping point for a break. if your not takin a toon you used in the origional OC they start you off with some ok equipment and you get a companion right off that can enchant a weapon for you since you have none. the dialogue so far seems well written and dispite your companion being a red wizard she seems quite nice and has dropped some mestirious clues to her storyline.

i stopped right after getting a forced mission that has options for more companions i havent gone further to see who or what they are but one NPC did come to me about their missing sister who may help me also once i find her. from the NPCs look and dialogue shes prolly a barbarian, spirit shaman or something along thoes lines.

the game does seem to run smother than the OC and graphics seem alot better IMO i was somewhat disappointed the new gensai races all have fav class fighter i prefer them as we have them with different classes they favor based on their stats and our own mythos.

Update 2 ( companion spoilers )

Did some more on the game not much i like to take things slow so as to not miss gear ect.

your starting companion is a red wizard as i mentioned earlier she so far is one of the nicest red wizards ive ever heard/read about not some power hungry ego maniac as most are. she has a somewhat limited selection of spells to start but scrolls seem to drop in decent number so you can flesh out her list easly. once you hit the first town there are several vendors that have more scrolls to help her book out. so far ive notice the caster AI is greatly improved over the NWN2 OC thank god we dont have another pyromaniac sorcerer to deal with blowing up the party all the time.

Basicly this bit was getting my party fleshed out before the forced battle i mentioned earlier. i did get a spirit shaman as i suspected but it wasent who i suspected this one was in the jail and not the sister of the 2 NPCs. this guy is a odd person in that hes what is called a hagspawn basically half hag half human why they have it as a NPC race but not a player race IDK ( as a player race it would have +2 nat ac and 11+lvl SR and dark vision IDK the stat bonuses it would most likely be a 2 or 3 ecl prolly 3 with the SR ) anyway hes a spirit shaman and has some nice ability's for a companion ( very useful in the upcoming battle and prolly the whole campaign ) so far his dialogue is rather satirical not as good as sand but its early to tell he is a welcome addition to my army IMO.

after picking him up from the jail we set out in search of the lost sister after talking to some NPCs i find she is in the shadow plane having been to the shadow plane once already i knew what to look for and when ( time plays a somewhat important role in this ) so we find the portal and kill some baddies ( boy i need blind fighting ) and find the temple of myrkule where she is after a short chat about why and who she is and what shes doing we head back to the prime to prepare for the battle ahead. She is a cleric of illmayter ( good lord another caster? im starting to think twice about my warlock choice ) however a cleric is always welcome she is a aasimar and has OODLES of spell slots so she will be quite good at support/damage role. bringing her back to the prime and talking with her siblings gives me a nice stag helm with some groovy powers.

the game so far seems a bit monty haul on the gear providing you have money which drops in good amounts one item i have gives me 8 regen wich by NS4 standards is godly lol. thus far i have noticed most of the battles to be rather weak sadly ( perhaps i should increase the difficulty on the next run ) but again it is still quite early to tell on the whole. i have saved my game and stopped just before this battle so i will continue latter on my editorial of this latest expansion.

Update 3

ok so ive defeated the enemy's in the battle i mentioned not a overly tough battle just be sure you adjust your companions spell lists as most start with the most oddball setup imaginable. After fixing their spells i buffed up before exiting the city mainly because i didnt know if i would have a chance to after i went out, you do have a chance to buff outside as long as you dont go talk to them. the battle itself wasent too difficult there are alot of foes however and it is easy to get overwhelmed make shure you listen to your companions about tatics on the battle and youll be fine.

After the battle i went to report my success and learned more about my spirit eater curse ( something happens in the battle but i wont spoil anything about that) there are some new NPCs available to talk to at this point and a new companion if your a good hearted sort. after the battle it was the end of chapter one which supprized me the original OC chapter one was so long i guess they got too many complaints so this one was relay short. i stopped here before going on so as to keep this review up to date and the end of a chapter is always a good stopping point.

if anyone has questions about the expansion or its working please post away amd i will do my best to answer them.

[Binkyuk]

Yeah I saw the favoured class Fighter on all the Genasi races and thought it was a bit odd too. But then I disapprove generally of the DnD multiclass penalties and favoured class system, ours is much better IMO.

[Nyeleni]

Weren't you disappointed by the new camera? Suddenly the turning with the mouse is too fast and you have to use the keyboard.
And I had to center the camera on the character else you just zoom out of the area heh.

But other than that, there are quite some improvements. But place a spoiler alert if you are going to reveal any secrets, pls .

[Aarkon Draco]

the camera takes some tweaking to get it right initaly it was scrolling instead of turning for me so i turned off the scroll on side option also it started as not set on controlled character ( free cam basically) so i turned it to focus on selected character. i also turned the mouse rotate to minimum its still fast but once you get used to it its not that bad. im sure some mods will try and address the cam issues if they can. otherwise were left to see if obsidan will adjust it in future patches. ill see if i can find some posted tweaks for the cam views.

as far a a spoiler alert ill be editing the first post with my campaign exspierence and if i remember ill put some bold text in front of any spoilers but the name of the thread does give warning.

[Lokey]

lol I started Fighter but got bored of that. So rerolled a Warlock too Ok, a lot of buyer's remorse (the 4th level power that reads really nicely but uses EffectDaze so nearly everything is immune to it by the time you get it...gah!), so I play as a meleer that has the best stock AI draw/lure ability in the game. Since you get a CZilla, almost Dzilla (spirit shaman) and an arcane...it doesn't really matter if you're a commoner, the party can wreck anything.

I've just started Act 2. Not too much to groan at, only a few pro game designisms that really annoy me so far. Area design so far has been very nice, new models nice, new placeables in general and lots of them being very nice. No, I refuse to micro-manage those essenses, I don't care if it gets me a sword with cruise control...

Camera: for NWN1-like camera it's Strategy. Camera focus: controlled character (other selections limit how much you can pivot up down too much for my taste). I uncheck all the edge turning and just middle mouse + drag.

Edit: I keep hearing of problems...my camera settings:


Warlock got a little dull. Even with the area blast and the epic feat that improves it plus mixing another blast type in...I was still better off reading a scroll or melee. I wonder how Ammon Jaro put together that cool castle and terrorized NW in NWN2 OC by being a piddly level 15 warlock.

I tried batman...it was too easy. So I'm going with a Gnome barb with some bard dipping for skills. Dexxer, two weap terror ftw!

[Aarkon Draco]

updated with the end of chapter one. i hope your all enjoying this review let me know if i should add more or what you guys want.

[Lokey]

heh, maybe they didn't do such a bad job capturing high level PnP: You either have one of the few spells you need to win or you get wiped

I've taken a bit of a vacation after having my spellies own the 3 deathknights in the death vault on Friday. I do want to finish the campaign to see what Obsid did...we'll get there eventually. I haven't seen anything quite so crazy as an 8 regen item yet.

There is a ring of power for sale in one of the stores that someone in your party will benefit from...that's 15 resist fire/electric/cold, regen 1 and freedom? I think there's a greater health ammy for sale too.

PS I owned them like this:

[DM Vapor]

After playing a bit of Mask, I must say I am disappointed. The spirit stuff is pretty lame. =( I was playing on co-op with a buddy of mine.. I was pure cleric, he a fighter/wm .. once we got into the basement of the death lord's vault we got MURDERED. Not to mention every time you rest the spirit meter drops like no tomorrow.

This makes me very sad. =(

[Lokey]

Bio did the same vamp-monk thing. They're tough, much tougher than anything else down there. Cleric = you take spellcraft and Vamp Feast as your first epic feat = game over. Undeath to Death is also in the cleric spell list, and does a lot of owning down there. Hit every placeable urn then U2D or Vamp Feast for two level dings...

I did finish with my warlock. The Swamp Hag place seems pretty buggy, at least for taking the "evil" route. I went to the other locations...while pretty not exactly as content filled as Mulsantir. It wasn't that clear that you should hit them first, party was too uber to have much fun. Act 3 seems a little tacked on and unfinished.

If you don't mind a lawful-good alignment swing, just use the suppress power a few times. Then you're fine on hunger for ages.

Personally, I wouldn't attempt any of the OC for NWN1 or 2 multiplayer...props for trying.