Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer Review

Another review deems NWN2 strong in story but weak in mechanics as Gametap gives the game a 7/10, also noting it feels like a fusion between Baldur’s Gate II and Planescape: Torment.

While there is plenty of epic combat against powerful magicians, liches, spirits, and even gods (along with crazy-colored spells to make your screen pretty), there is also a fair share of dialogue and puzzles. Combat is usually inevitable, but quests like a prism puzzle in a twisted wizard school, or a contract dispute between a demon and a wizard over the wizard’s soul, break up the combat and help for a better, well, role-playing experience. Similar to how two of the companions are tied to your alignment and actions, several quests have distinct “good” and “evil” solutions to them.

Everything sounds hunky-dory, but there is one element that left me ping-ponging between outright hatred and resigned annoyance: the spirit-meter. Without getting into story details, it essentially turns you into a drug addict. You get an extra meter to watch over that continually declines no matter what you are doing. As the meter runs low, you experience various side effects, and if it runs out, you die. To fill the meter, you either have to give in to cravings (which lock you in a cycle of needing an, er, spirit fix even more frequently) or use other abilities to satisfy your cravings.

This sounds interesting in theory, but I got annoyed that when I would rest to recover life and magic, the spirit meter still drains. My evil character was forced to “eat” to raise the meter, as the other way of combating the hunger results in your character becoming good, which can screw with certain classes that have alignment restrictions. And because you’re forced to wait five minutes between “eatings,” I found myself not “eating” fast enough due to the cooldown period, and was even forced to give up experience points to stave off my hunger. Sometimes, it’s a mild nuisance, but for me, it was a major headache. Then again, if you’re playing a goody two-shoes like a paladin, the spirit meter might be less annoying.