I Am A: Neutral Good Human Wizard/Cleric (2nd/2nd Level)
Ability Scores:
Strength-12
Dexterity-14
Constitution-10
Intelligence-15
Wisdom-14
Charisma-14
Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.
Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.
Primary Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard’s strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.
Secondary Class:
Clerics act as intermediaries between the earthly and the divine (or infernal) worlds. A good cleric helps those in need, while an evil cleric seeks to spread his patron’s vision of evil across the world. All clerics can heal wounds and bring people back from the brink of death, and powerful clerics can even raise the dead. Likewise, all clerics have authority over undead creatures, and they can turn away or even destroy these creatures. Clerics are trained in the use of simple weapons, and can use all forms of armor and shields without penalty, since armor does not interfere with the casting of divine spells. In addition to his normal complement of spells, every cleric chooses to focus on two of his deity’s domains. These domains grants the cleric special powers, and give him access to spells that he might otherwise never learn. A cleric’s Wisdom score should be high, since this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.
Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)
Bioware’s monopoly over the casual RPGer’s mind
So, in the past few months the completion of my thesis has given me enough time to indulge my CRPG appetite. Since around April I’ve played (in order): KOTOR, Mass Effect, KOTOR 2, Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 (I actually upgraded my laptop to play Dragon Age!). Aside from being RPGs, the 5 games are all produced by Bioware (note that KOTOR II was handed over to Obsidian). BIoware is the RPG market’s current ‘big name’. They are famous for Baldur’s Gate II, (part one was unimpressive IMO).
I just wanted to add that the overdose of Bioware-type RPGs sucks as players are more and more going to imagine that Bioware type RPGS is the definition of an RPG. Mind you, I’d rather that than when Blizzard’s Diablo made everyone think it was the definition of an RPG.
However, one cannot help but notice that Bioware type RPGs often involve saving the world by going to 4 four different locations at your choice and leisure. This often feels contrived, as in both Mass Effect and Dragon Age, the places usually involve some store to upgrade equipment, and some boss to kill after being through all the little minions. The choice seems almost redundant. Contrast this to games such as Fallout and Planescape, where exploring is much more organic and rewarding and isn’t about ‘completing’ the area.
I really think Bioware only gets such good ratings and hype due to how they end the games (which is always on a fantastic note). After all, when you’ve been playing for 40+ hours you’re most likely to only remember the ending. Also, I must admit they are very well produced: great soundtracks and voice acting.
Dragon Age has too much grinding and the maps were way too large (making backtracking extremely tedious). Mass Effect 2 was extremely dumbed down (but getting rid of the Mako is +++ to me!!!) and felt more like ‘Shephard’s quest to get his team loyal’. Only two of Bioware RPGs make it into my top 10. Having said that, they do produce great games, and the ways their stories are told (short simple but effective and dramatic story) always make me think they are perfect for film adaptations. There are some awesome scenes and moments, such as in Mass Effect 2 when one of your teammates holds up a biotic barrier to stop seeker swarms; or the prison break in Dragon Age (which they ripped off their own KOTOR).
My top ten:
Planescape: Torment
Final Fantasy VII
Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny
Fallout 1
Fallout 2
Dues Ex
Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Vampire: Bloodlines
I didn’t promise you skies painted blue
I didn’t promise you skies painted blue
Not all colored flowers all your days through
I didn’t promise you, sun with no rain
Joys without sorrows, peace without pain.
All that I promise is strength for this day,
Rest for my worker, and light on your way.
I give you truth when you need it, my help from above,
Undying friendship, my unfailing love.
I never did promise you crowns without trials,
Food with no hard sweat, your tears without smiles,
Hot sunny days without cold wintry snows,
No vict’ry without fightin’, no laughs without woes.
All that I promise is strength for this day,
Rest for my, worker, my light on your way,
I give you truth when you need it, my help from above,
Undying friendship, my unfailing love.
I sure didn’t say I’d give you heaven on earth,
A life with no labor no struggles no deaths,
No earthquakes no dryspells, no fire flames no droughts,
No slaving no hungers, no blizzards no blights.
All that I promise is strength for this day,
Rest for my worker, my light on your way,
I give you truth when you need it, my help from above,
Undying friendship, my unfailing love.
I promise you power, this minute this hour,
The power you need when you fall down to bleed,
I give you my peace, and my strength to pull home
My love for all races all creeds and all kinds.
My flavors my saviors my creeds of all kinds,
My love for my saviors, all colors all kinds,
My love for my races all creeders all kinds,
My saviors my flavors my dancers all kinds,
My dancers my prancers my singers all kinds,
My flavors my saviors my dancers all kinds.
“God’s Promise” ~ Woody Guthrie, performed by Ellis Paul
An interesting view on ‘why evil’ …
That perhaps begs more questions than it can answer for now…
Taken from: http://www.carm.org/questions/about-god/why-did-god-create-us-sin-world
Why did God create us with sin in the world?
This is a perpetual question for theologians and laity alike. When we look at the world and recognize that a holy and infinitely perfect God has created us, we can appreciate His majesty and wonder. But, it is impossible for us to ignore the fact that this world is far from perfect. There is sin in it. Why, then, if God is infinitely perfect and powerful, did He create a world and allow the fall to occur, to contaminate it?
The Bible doesn’t give us a specific answer to this question, but I would like to offer this possible answer as food for thought.
God did not lack anything in Himself that prompted His creative act. He wasn’t lonely or bored. To say such a thing about Him would be to imply He is not eternally self-sufficient and perfect. But, if God is perfect and doesn’t need anything, why would He then create us, the ones that have fallen into sin — and the universe in which we live? What purpose would it serve?
I suspect the answer lies within God’s nature and a few clues spread throughout God’s Word. To begin with, God is love (1 John 4:16) and the nature of love is to give. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son…” I cannot help but believe that the most natural quality of love is to give, to be other-centered, and, according to Jesus’ own words, to give of one’s self to the point of death. John 15:13 is where Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”
According to Jesus, there is no greater demonstration of love than self sacrifice to the point of death. Since God is love (1 John 4:16) and there is none greater than He, I conclude that God can and will be the one who demonstrates the greatest act of love. I cannot see God allowing a mere creation to demonstrate this in a better way than He. It would be a necessary outcome of His own nature and a necessary manifestation in any universe He created that the two greatest commandments referenced by Jesus to love God and love your neighbor would be supremely demonstrated by none other than God Himself. Jesus was God in flesh who loved the Father perfectly and He loved us completely by laying down His life for us. This is the greatest and most perfect act of love according to Jesus.
If this is true, then it just might be that God had to create the universe so that the fall would be included in His plan for the very purpose of demonstrating and manifesting His perfect character: Love! To demonstrate the very greatest part of His nature of love, He would have to die for someone else. This could not be done if there was no one for whom to die and no reason to die for them. There could be no reason to die if there were no need for an atonement. There would be no need for an atonement if there were no sin. If there was no fall, there would be no sin.
Therefore, perhaps it is possible that God created the universe with “free will” creatures in it who would fall into sin. Without this fall, ultimately no death would be necessary to atone for them and without that death, the greatest act of love could not be demonstrated. Also, this would mean that the truest and most perfect quality of love would not be fulfilled. Would this then mean that God would not be perfectly fulfilled without having given of Himself? I don’t know. But I can’t help wondering that for God to truly express His perfectly loving nature, He Himself had to be one who laid His life down for others. For this to happen, He allowed sin to exist in this world.
Furthermore, I suspect that it was Jesus Himself in the garden who walked with Adam and Eve. I base this upon Jesus’ own words in John 6:46 where He states that no one has ever seen the Father. Yet, we know that God appeared in the Old Testament (Gen. 17:1; 18:1; Exodus 6:2-3; 24:9-11; Num. 12:6-8; Acts 7:2; etc.). If it was God who was seen and it wasn’t the Father, then it must have been Jesus. Why do I bring this up? Because after Adam and Eve sinned, God Himself (Jesus?) shed the blood of an animal in order to cover them with animal skins. This shedding of blood was instituted by God as a prophetic typology of the true and final sacrifice that God (Jesus) would carry out so many thousands of years later when He laid His life down as the perfect demonstration of His loving character. The redemption of mankind was always in the mind of God and was planned and carried out by God as a manifestation of the eternal love He has for His people. This love was made complete in the death of Christ. Also, I suspect that this is what is hinted at in Heb. 13:20 with the reference to the “blood of the eternal covenant” that some theologians think is reference to God’s eternal plan of salvation made within the Trinity before the universe was made. This covenant was the inter-Trinitarian arrangement to redeem mankind through the sacrifice of Christ.
Therefore, I conclude that God may very well have made a universe in which sin existed so that He Himself could show the greatest and most perfect act of love by laying down His life for His friends.
Exodus Reimagined
I’ve decided to readapt the fantasy world of my youth to a more ‘un-cliched’ mature setting. Now, there are only humans. But humans have some differing characteristics that define the concept of ‘race’. The world setting will be ‘medium magic’ (only the most powerful people will have access to it). This will hopefully prevent the use of magic as the deus ex machina. Okay there will still be dragons and all the typical fanfare of monsters, but in terms of humanoids, only humans.
Here is a brief on the major kingdoms during the Kingdom Era:
1) DARKSAND (mercantile paradise)
Darksand is the youngest and smallest of the four major kingdoms. It’s people will be modelled after the orient (‘yellow’, lithe and sharp-eyed) with the following traits emphasized: economical, practical and industrious. They are a major trading kingdom that channels spices, chemicals and medicines from the southern kingdom of Arblush to the ancient kingdom of Lescland, who in turn trades with gold, steel and other precious metals. Darksand itself is a major producer of food and agricultural products. Their armed forces emphasizes ranged combat, using crossbows and muskets that utilise the sandblast powder imported from Arblush. Darksand also boasts the most powerful navy as they do most of their trading by sea. As they are generally reliant on trade, they are not warlike, but their position as a trade mediator makes them naturally experienced in defensive warfare in skirmishes against bandit invaders.
Darksand is ruled by a single King who is elected by the council of Lords, who in turn were elected by the previous King. No Lord can vote for himself. The closest relative of the late King will be the Kingmaker who overseas the process and is temporarily in charge of the army. The King rules from his seat in Talis and collects tithe from the other cities. He has access to his personal elite army, which he lends to the other Lords in times of war. Most of the cities in in Darksand have different cultures and enjoy relative autonomy from royal scrutiny. The trade tax goes to the King, so the Crown has a lot of incentives to ensure trade goes smoothly.
2) ARBLUSH (empire of the sand)
Arblushians are modelled after the middle-easterners and are characterised by stoic, philosophical yet fanatical fervour. They are ruled by a dictator-style monarchy and the rise and fall of their kingdom can be directly traced to the strength of their leadership. They are the largest kingdom both in terms of land and population, though unlike Lescland and Darksand, the population is very widely spread across tribal townships. They do not favour the material trappings of the northern kingdoms, but their leaders have often used this to their advatange in sustaining high inequality and social stratification. The stratification has also led to an elite class of researchers and philosophers who push the borders of science and intellect in the nation, which one cannot easily tell when observing the loose tribes scattered across the region. The monarch is considered semi-divine and commands the undying loyalty of the populace.
Arblush commands a mixed arms force of high technology sandblast and incendiary weapons and the sheer numbers of fanatical citizens. Individually, only Sharta can match its military potential.
3) LESCLAND (kingdom of old)
The Lesclanding are modelled after Caucasians. Although in ancient times their empire (known as Lahiriah) covered most of the northern realms and was mightier than Sharta, historic events lead to its eventual collapse. Since then the Lesclanding have experienced a large movement away from the feudal system that Darksand chose to adopt. Now it is a semi-democracy ruled by reagent-princes who are elected by their respective cities. They still, however, follow old codes of honour and their military is famous for heavily armoured knights and barded steeds. Although one of the best (and most prideful) warriors in the land, the Lesclanding do not answer to a central power and have not engaged in organised military campaigns for centuries. In recent years Lesclanding has become a centre for learning and education, and the rise of several specialists Guilds has led to a highly educated population.
4) SHARTA (the city-kingdom)
Shartans are modelled after Aryan Indians. They are the most powerful and ancient kingdom and their civilisation has laws and customs outdating all other kingdoms by centuries. They are the most advanced magic users and house lore and history no others have heard about. The whole kingdom of Sharta is contained in a massive walled city constructed around a massive mountain. Since the fall of Lahiriah, Shartans have become reclusive and have not engaged in the trade routes with the other major kingdoms. Although many scholars and adventurers often make arduous journeys to the kingdom of the far north, the route to Sharta has grown increasingly dangerous and every year, less is known about the on goings in the wondrous kingdom.
They are ruled by an Emperor, with a strong religious dedication to the sun god Cai-Tsul. The Church of Turin crowns the Emperor by divine mandate.
Minor kingdoms
i) RIMWOLD (any)
[scholarly mysterious community who guard the floating libraries]
ii) BIASBI (mediterraneon island states)
[independants who refuse to be governed by Darksand and therefore trade with no tariffs]
iii) DVARFINE (scandinavians+celtic)
[ancient mining community who trade and live simple lives in the harsh mountains that serve as the gateway to Sharta]
iv) SILVWALD (forest-dwelling shartans)
Mask of the Betrayer Review
From: http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=159
Mask of the Betrayer review
Review – posted by Vault Dweller on Fri 26 October 2007, 00:31:06
More info on Neverwinter Nights 2 – More info on Obsidian Entertainment
Mask of the Betrayer – so good even the Codex likes it!
That’s what the word on the street is. MotB – so good that even those elitist assholes at RPG Codex liked it. It’s so good that even Vault Dweller, the infamous internet hooligan and miscreant, liked it! Pretty much, gentlemen, pretty much. It’s definitely, 100% one of the best RPGs I’ve ever played. It’s that good.
Now before we open the game’s hood and see what’s under, let me amuse you with my old, but relevant rant, creatively called “Why fantasy RPGs suck?”
…
Fantasy RPGs often suck because the fantasy aspect isn’t overly “fantastic”. In fact, usually it’s generic, boring, and bland. Let’s say that you’ve bought a new fantasy RPG and have just installed it. What do you have there? A young guy/gal in a small place is forced to get the fuck out and explore a very predictable world and eventually save it. When you see a town, you know pretty much what to expect. It’s not a place of wonder and strange customs, it’s a place to get quests and buy/sell shit. You can easily replace a town with 3-4 NPCs standing in the middle of fucking nowhere offering quests and shopping. In fact, that probably would be more interesting than a generic and boring as fuck fantasy town #3471.
Now, compare it to Planescape: Torment. You wake up in a mortuary. Dead. Yes, DEAD. A gravity defying skull starts chatting with you.
WHAT! THE! FUCK!
That alone throws you off. Suddenly, you realize that you are definitely not in Kansas anymore. The rules are completely different and you have no idea what they are. Where are the familiar elves and orcs – the foundation of quality storytelling? Why aint the ancient evil stirring? Where is a kind lord of the realm to send you on a mission of great importance (usually involving killing some poor fuckers)?
You open the door. OMG! Zombies are everywhere! Ok, I know where this is going. Where is my trusty weapon… WAITAMINUTE! The zombies are not attacking. You can kill them, of course, but you can also walk around studying them and even get some unusual items from them. You finally manage to leave the mortuary. You are in a city, and what a city it is! It’s a city of doors, filled with portals that can take you anywhere, assuming you have the right key. You see a bar, a familiar place in this strange land. The first thing you see is a floating, burning, yet still alive body – a lovely conversation piece of decor. Some ugly looking demons are having a drink; they greet you as an old friend. Great, that’s just fucking great. Wait, it gets better though. The bartender casually informs you that he still has your eye – my WHAT? – and if you have the money, you can have it back. You buy the eye, mostly because it’s so different from the usual selection of RPG goodies, wondering what the fuck you should do with it. An insane option to rip out your existing eyeball and shove in the new one, which was floating in a jar like a pickled egg a minute ago, presents itself. You do it and your old memories start pouring in. At this point you are absolutely lost. You, the player, are a stranger in a strange fucking land, and that’s the fucking beauty of it.
Your quest? To find out who you are. *sigh* What, did you guys run out of demons to kill and worlds to save?
Let’s compare it to recently released NWN2:
A young guy/gal in search of adventure living in a small village – check. The village is attacked by monsters killing everything in sight – check. The monsters are after you, because you are – you better sit down – the chosen one and special in every possible way – check. You leave your village and fight your way to a large town filled with thieves who steal shit and guards who, well, guard shit – check. You accidentally run into your enemies in every major dungeon, spoiling their plans – check. Instead of throwing everything they’ve got at you, they continue to underestimate you, until you level all the way up to the MegaUberPrestigeFighter, the Destroyer of Worlds and Crusher of Hopes – check.
Don’t know about you, but I can hardly handle all the excitement. Give us something different, put us in a strange place with strange rules. Discovering these rules, understanding laws, habits, and customs of these places and its denizens are an important aspect of gameplay that shouldn’t be discarded.
…
Well, what do you know? My hopes and prayers have been answered. Ironically, the savior is an expansion to Neverwinter Nights 2. While I had to force myself to play NWN2 (and still couldn’t finish it due to a complete lack of interest in knowing what happens next), I couldn’t stop playing Mask of the Betrayer and was completely immersed in the game. If only the original game was that good.
NWN2 vs MotB in a nutshell
Now let’s pop that hood:
The character system
You start the game at lvl 18 to reflect your legendary NWN2 accomplishments. That gives you a nice opportunity to try different classes and skills combinations before you start the game, instead of discovering that your build sucks in the middle of the game.
If you’ve played computer DnD games before: More of the same plus new prestige classes, epic feats & spells, and uber weapons. Whether it’s good or bad depends entirely on your point of view.
If your experience with Dungeons & Dragons games is limited or non-existent and idiotic reviews led you to believe that DnD is only slightly less complicated than rocket science:
You pick a race and a class, increase your 6 attributes: Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha, increase skills and select feats (feats are various abilities like Combat Expertise, Dodge, Spell Penetration, Two-Weapon Fighting, etc.) Then you kill some monsters, do some quests, level up, pick a class (you can continue improving your original class or pick a new one to gain different skills and abilities), increase skills and pick new feats. As you gain levels and abilities, new classes, spells, and feats become available. That’s all there is to it.
The character system is the least interesting aspect of the game, but that’s not the designers’ fault. DnD, as most other game systems, is at its best during the early levels and start losing its appeal after lvl 18. The epic levels simply don’t offer anything interesting and could be filed under “more of the same” category, offering you original feats like Epic Weapon Focus, Epic Toughness, and “stat” +1.
My name is ZORRO!
Combat
It’s the second least interesting aspect of the game, mostly because DnD was never meant to be real-time. Once your spellcasters join the party and start casting spells like “orbital bombardment”, “tactical nuclear strike”, and “summon Death Star MK2″, the party is pretty much over, but then again, what do you expect from an epic real-time DnD campaign? Overall, the game is not very challenging when your spellcasters are fully rested (i.e. ready to nuke anything in a 5-mile radius) and very challenging, when your spellcasters are out of heavy spells and start casting lvl1 spells purely out of boredom.
Let’s just say that while the combat is more challenging and interesting than NWN2′s battles, which may or may not say anything to you, it’s rather mediocre overall and less enjoyable than the Infinity Engine games.
Nuclear lunch detected!
Disco Inferno
The setting & story
The setting is glorious. Gone are vanilla locations of NWN2. Instead Obsidian takes you on a trip to a real fantasy land that doesn’t need to be saved from some ancient evil, to the land of Rashemen, where spirits walk among men, witches rule the land, ancient hags plot in sunken towns, granting audiences to all manners of creatures, shadow versions of the reality are a portal away, and the planes themselves and the City of Judgement are waiting for you. And this pretty tree.
A tree in bloom.
The story, as Obsidian had promised, is personal. You wake up in a bear-god barrow. The shard is gone; the wound is stitched. Soon you realize that something was contained in the depth of the barrow – an ancient curse that was trapped there by its last carrier. Now it’s in you and you feel its hunger for spirits. Some say it’s a curse, some say it’s a gift. The main quest revolves around figuring out what it actually is, who helped you get it and why, and what to do with it. The curse/gift thingy is old and has a story of its own that can be traced to a long forgotten battle fought by a top priest against his deity on another plane of existence. Unravelling that story will take you cool places to see and interesting creatures and dead gods to meet. The story is pretty damn good and very interesting to follow. A real treat.
How very PST!
Quests, choices, consequences…
That’s where the game starts to shine so brightly that you completely forget about any flaws the game has and get lost in a well crafted gameworld. It’s like a dream come true – a non-linear game loaded with well-written dialogues, interesting quests, more choices than you can handle, and enough consequences and to make the game highly replayable. It’s hard to imagine a better feature list.
I can’t stress it enough. The choices are everywhere. There are plenty of consequences. What you did may even cost party members their lives. Many characters respond to and recognize your choices, commenting on what you did and affecting your gameplay. I couldn’t believe how many opportunities to do things differently the game offers. Here is an example:
So, I was told that I have this curse. Well, that kinda sucks, but oh well… Then some kid shows up and says that it’s a gift. Well, well, well, isn’t that interesting. The motherfuckers lied to me about the curse thing. My buddy Okku the bear-god and I go to visit that place where the kid is from. Nice touch, I’m thinking. Instead of going with a one-dimensional “you are cursed, sucks to be you!” approach, you are given an alternative opinion and path. Anyway, these, uh, “people” are kinda evil. They want to eat me and pass the gift on to someone more worthy. Well, not exactly what I expected, but I guess these days you can’t expect meaningful choices and truly different options.
Then I replay the game with a different character. I devour Okku’s spirit and decide to visit my old evil pals. This time the conversation is completely different. Turns out they approve of my choice to end Okku’s existence and see it as a sign of awesome – in a very evil way – things to come, so they won’t eat me and will even teach me a new power that my predecessors had. After I bring them some people to eat. Even here I was given a choice. I could send them a sweet girl or give “I know a good shortcut” tip to a merchant and his family. Then I was given a choice to use the new power on my new friends. Then I was given an option to spare or kill their kids, which isn’t something you see in games often these days.
I know a great shortcut…
Here is another example that surprised me. There is a small garrison near a spirit-infested forest. Two witches are in charge of the garrison: one helps you, one doesn’t. At a certain point you are a presented with a reasonable option to start a revolt against the witch in charge, the one who doesn’t help you. You even get a quest to talk to all berserkers and get them on your side through persuasion, intimidation, or other abilities. It seemed to me that that’s the only option to move forward and the only real choice here is how many berserkers you manage to sign up. Sure, there was a “no” option somewhere in the dialogue tress, but I thought it was one of them fake options, i.e. you say “no”, she says “well, if you change your mind, I’ll be, like, here” and then the game waits for you to change your fickle mind and aint going anywhere. On my next playthrough, I actually said “no”. Much to my surprise, this option was viable and actually gained me a short-term ally in an upcoming battle. Overall, there were 3 outcomes there and different reactions from the witches in a nearby town.
The game is filled with stat and skill checks, so just like in Planescape: Torment, playing a straight fighter could be the least interesting of all options. Lore, Spellcraft, Wisdom, Charisma get a lot of love, so don’t miss out.
Even after finishing the game twice, I haven’t explored all the possibilities and outcomes, and if that aint the highest praise the Codex can give a game, I don’t know what is.
Let’s see what’s inside…
The party members
MotB offers you 5 companions: a red wizard, a hagspawn shaman, a winged celestial cleric, a bear-god spirit, and an undead construct, who is the most awesome companion you could ever loot dungeons and kill people with. As your influence over the construct grow, you can ask it to manifest different personalities: rogue, berserker, or warlock, which is very handy. Every now and then the construct encounters characters he would like to devour and add to its collection of spirits, which unlocks special abilities and classes (like warlock). One-of-Many has quite an appetite and even gods won’t be safe with it in one room. Whether or not you let One-of-Many devour its victims souls it do is entirely up to you.
Once your influence reaches certain levels – now you can see the influence number and state on each party member character screen – your party members offer you certain powers, which you can refuse or accept. For example, Safiya gives you “The loyalty of a red wizard” feat, which gives you +1 INT plus DC spell bonus, if you like to cast spells. Later on the feat could be upgraded to “The devotion of a red wizard”, upping the INT bonus to +2 and increasing your spell casting abilities. Gann the hagspawn gives you “The Dreamer’s Eye”: +1 CHA and a bonus to your Devour Spirit ability. One-of-Many graces you with a negative, intimidating aura, and so on.
Overall, the party members are well defined and much improved. They don’t argue about stupid things, and don’t act like 12 year olds. Suffice to say, I doubt that many people would prefer to play solo.
My best friend and I!
One-of-Many is born!
Say Hi to Brute. He aint that bad once you get to know him. Well, actually, he kinda is.
“Let me show myself to the lich so that it might know fear for the first time in its unlife”
Dinner time!
The Spirit-Meter thingy
I have to mention the spirit meter because it was criticized in every review for being confusing, hard, and just not fun. Well, guess what? It’s a pretty damn good feature and an excellent moron indicator. If you failed to understand this feature, odds are you’re a fucking moron. Sad, but true. Let’s blame the clearly failed education system and the leniency toward degenerates in your homeland.
Anyway, a handy guide to the spirit-meter.
The game revolves around your condition. Some say it’s a curse, some say it’s a gift. You are a spirit-eater. You consume spirits and sometimes souls (if you choose the evil path). Game mechanics-wise, your condition is represented via two meters: % level of your spirit energy (100% is good, 0% is dead) and your hunger level. The higher your hunger level is, the faster the spirit energy level drops. The lower your spirit energy level is, the heavier your stat penalties are.
- STAT PENALTIES?!! WHAT THE FUCK?!!! THIS GAEM SUCKS!!!!
Now that you understand the basic idea, here are the two basic paths the game offers.
The good path: You consider your affliction a curse. You suppress your hunger, thus significantly slowing your need to feed. Eventually you acquire “good” feats like Eternal Rest, which allows you to grant rest to undead spirits and restores your spirit energy without increasing your hunger. Soon (very soon) your hunger is pretty much at zero and you focus on the rest of the game.
The evil path: You realize that you’ve been given a power and that only a fool would give it up. You devour spirits and eventually learn to devour souls. You gain very powerful spirit essences (to craft VERY powerful items) this way and once you fully unleash your gift, you gain significant combat bonuses.
So, what does it all mean? It means that if you are a good person, you can pretty much ignore this feature by suppressing your hunger and enjoy what it adds to the dialogues. If you are an evil bastard, you can “go with the flow” and become a powerful being through the special spirit essences, feats, and abilities. However, all that power – and that’s the brilliant part – comes with a price. You must constantly look for spirits to feed on to stay alive. Compare that to Knights of the Old Republic, for example, where the difference between good and evil is purely cosmetic as both sides are equally balances and it doesn’t cost you anything to join the Dark Side.
The only problem with the spirit meter is the alignment adjustments. Whenever you make a spirit system related choice, you gain a few alignment points, becoming more Lawful, for example. Since the DnD alignment system is a subject to many interpretations, some players would disagree with how the spirit system handles your alignment. I don’t think it’s a big deal, to be honest, but if you care a lot about this aspect, I suggested getting a mod that can remove and change the adjustment to fit your own alignment beliefs.
Different camera angles
The influence system
The biggest problem with the influence system is its name. It’s like calling a boy a girl and then complaining about the penis and hairy legs. So, let’s flip it around and call it a “How much people like me!” system. See, it’s perfect now. Basically, the goal is to get people to like you as much as possible. Much like in real life you accomplish it by telling people what they want / like to hear and sucking up to them. The system works like a charm. You can’t, however, influence them and, for example, force the celestial chick to change her beliefs, so don’t expect any of that.
And in conclusion
To put it simply, the game is a masterpiece. Sure, it has flaws and things-that-should-have-been-done-better. Overall though, it’s one of those rare games that people will remember for a long time and I definitely expect to see it on “top 10 RPGs” lists in the near future. It probably won’t get any “RPG of the Year” awards from the mainstream media as such honours are reserved for awesome games like Halo 3 and cult classics like Oblivion: Fighter’s Stronghold Expansion, so if you liked what I had to say about the game, go and buy it today. Support Obsidian’s efforts to bring us something different and vote with your money.
Is a fantasy world exempt from morality?
A fantasy world is simply a tool. Some use it to explore their amoral (or immoral) self. I personally enjoy morality stories in fantasy: most traditional fantasy stories ala Lord of the Rings adopt this. Here is some other random dude’s view on it:
http://www.spectacle.org/1195/fantasy.html
