Neverwinter Nights 2: NWN 2: MotB-First Look Over At Gamespot

Gamespot editors have had a chance to get a look at NWN 2: Mask of the Betrayer at E3.

If you're importing a character, though, you'll be pleased to know that there are multiple new prestige classes making their first appearance here. We managed to get a rough description of the Invisible Blade, which appears to take traits from both rogues and fighters and can trade sneak attack damage for a bleed effect that will cause damage over time. Of perhaps more interest to fans of the Forgotten Realms is the new ability to become a Red Wizard of Thay after you take a number of levels of the starting wizard class. We're not told what kind of special powers this will offer you, but we did spot the "nongood alignments only" attribute on the character screen for them. The very first companion that you obtain in the expansion will be a neutral Red Wizard that will act as your introduction to the world, and you'll also be visiting sections of Thay in your travels.

And regarding the influence system:

Obsidian has also overhauled the influence system which governs your companion's reactions to you. You can actually check a numerical influence rating on your companion's character sheets; raising this number will allow both you and your companion to gain power. A high influence with a companion will let them give you bonus feats, and you'll return the favor. If you like playing in an especially hardcore fashion, though, you'll be pleased to know that all off the companions are optional in the expansion; you'll never be required to take anyone along on your adventures if you don't wish to. However, one of the cool new features of the expansion is the ability to select units by dragging a selection box around them, just like in an RTS, which makes it much easier to position your characters just the way you like them before an encounter.

You should have plenty of time in which to build up your influence, too, as Obsidian is expecting the expansion content to take up around 20 to 30 hours to complete. It's all epic content, too, so you'll be able to reach up to level 30 during your adventures, and reap all of the benefits of that, including epic feats and super-powerful loot (the demo character was armed with a +7 two-handed sword that dealt an extra 3d6 lightning damage per hit, for instance).

Head to the link above and read the rest. Sadly, there are no accompanying screenshots though they may turn up later in the day.