I just spent an hour jumping through hoops, downloading patches and mods, plugging in and unplugging periferals, and adjusting in game and out of game settings, doing everything I can to get it working. Game still crashes whenever you hit New Game button. Thankfully I got this game for free. Maybe they'll fix it in the future, but for now I'll be smashing that "uninstall" button.
It didn't take me long to realize that this is an unapologetic Dungeons and Dragons game. I took my level 2 party 3 jumps away from the home base and discovered a troll. I thought to myself, "Hey, this will be fun." 6 one-shots later, and I realized that I could stumble my way into encounters I wasn't mentally prepared for, nor had the levels to even survive. Every single aspect of the game was trying to kill me in horrid ways, and I couldn't coast through "Normal" mode. There are new mechanics that are so much fun. For example, they've implemented a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book / narration style to navigate through various story points, combined with an authentic D&D skill system. I.E. You feel like there's an actual Dungeon Master staring you down when you say, "I want to follow them through the forest," and the DM replies, "Ok, give me a Nature Check." Combine this with a map system for navigating the environment, and you actually feel like you're playing the table top version. There are problems, however. There's very little handholding for new pathfinder players. I can foresee a lot of people getting very frustrated and refunding the game. There's no way the game tells you you might be outmatched. I.E. I had no idea that Troll was going to thoroughly stomp me into a fine paste. They could have had the narration say something like, "This place is dark and scary for you. It might be a good idea to return back when you are more powerful." There are bugs. I have had one CTD. And I keep getting loading screen hints to use commands with a {NULL] button binding. And the one that really pissed me off was that you're able to "hire" a custom character for a lot of money (early game) which was necessary for survival, but then that character (and the money) just disappeared after you got new story-characters. Over all, I recommend it! I do hope they polish it up, though.
This game is better than NWN 1 in everything from execution, presentation, story, fluidity of gameplay and my favorite edition of D&D (3.5). I'm approaching the end of MOTB with my favorite class Favored Soul. The main campaign is clever, fun, original, and introduces a brilliantly fun scheme to make you lord of your own castle and keep, with you being responsible for being a good Baron. Whereas the main campaign makes you responsible for many, Mask of the Betrayer makes you responsible for yourself when you are stricken down with a deadly curse that has real and actual consequences for choices and behavior. The only downside I've encountered so far is that the primary campaign has a sudden ending that isn't explained very well, and the transition into MOTB is very stark and without explanation until nearly the very end. MOTB makes up for it with spectacularly interesting characters.
