Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer/Storm of Zehir

Post by **HereComesPete** » January 29th, 2009, 16:29

I promised this a while ago, but I don't recall actually writing it. If the reviews have already been done, apologies.

You all know and all meh neverwinter night 2.

Most of you didn't get the first expansion because of that, good job really, it's terrible. Mask of the betrayer imposes a harsh and difficult to fix time limit on you. I dislike cheating but with motb I disabled the timer sharpish because it meant I couldn't pick up and sell every damn object ever. It's short, a bit bland but has some good ideas. Shame it broke some of the dodgy fixes to the original.

I'll not explain the story because it's really not worth it unless you're exceptionally bored. The only reason to sweep it is so the second add on works properly.

Storm of Zehir is a lot better, most of you won't care by now, but if you do want some beardage and you're a bit stuck you could try this.

You play some random adventurer who is in a ship wreck on an island filled with random stuff, but you do move back to the areas you see in the original nwn2 campaign. It's quite strange to see everyone talking about the hero person you wandered through as.

Set in the same time frame as nwn2 but in a different location that meets up with some recognizable faces, the second expansion allows you to build a character or an entire party if you want. There are npc types to pick up along the way, not that they talk much. And there isn't any time restrictions.

The SoZ expansion adds a faux 3d overland map where you'll find random encounters, ambushes and hidden caves etc all whilst you wander around the countryside. It's different to just jumping from one area to another but it's not perfect.

It also has a trade system, where you set up caravans between towns and work to build trade ingots from this, this in turn allows you to upgrade your caravans and such, and this generates lots of money, ridiculous levels of money in fact.

As for gameplay, you get differing opinions from your group in conversation screens, you can use their skills to affect conversations instead of just your own, that's quite handy for specialist tasks such as healing and thieving.

Locations are nice, the game runs a lot better than it used to. Some spell revisions and such have made it prettier too. The add on has a story line that instead of annoying the shit out of me actually wanted me to learn more. Well worth a sweep, possibly even worth parting monies for.

Mask of the Betrayer - 4/10

Storm of Zehir - 7/10

Post by **FatherJack** » January 29th, 2009, 17:12

I played it up until the overland map at which point I assumed I'd transported back in time 20 years, thus making it already past my bedtime.

friznit · Post by **friznit** » January 30th, 2009, 9:34

I couldn't ever seem to be able to get into NWN2. I've probably started it 3 or 4 times and got to the start of Chapter 3 before getting distracted by the kettle boiling and forgetting to go back to it. It's still on my drive though, waiting to be finished one day...

Post by **HereComesPete** » January 30th, 2009, 12:55

I mostly forced myself through it. The story was okay but it just wasn't as good as baldurs gate 1/2 or nwn for story.

I haven't been back to finish Storm of Zehir but it does feel less of a stress to play through, even enjoyable in places*. Despite the overland map which can get tiring quite quickly when you're constantly running from encounters.

*This may be because Mask of the Betrayer was so bad the only way it could go was better.