I want to play this game for the Mask of the Betrayer expansion. Is the OC really that bad...

You meet characters from the main campaign in MotB so you'd have no idea who they are if you haven't played it. Just do it.

it's more the other way around
since oc's epilogue is weak, the expansion provides an npc that was in the oc to provide a more detailed epilogue to the story through the viewpoint of a character that was present at the events

it's mostly just that one npc though
the events of the expansion are way too far removed for the oc to be relevant, it's basically the other side of the planet

not all that much. your MotB character is explicitly supposed to be the character who finished the OC, and you do meet a couple characters from the OC as you go along, that's about it as far as I can remember. the things that happened in the OC story don't really come up

Yes, MotB starts right after the OC and you meet/get references to some of the characters from it.
Just play it, it has a lot of good stuff.

The class system is extremely deep and varied compared to modern rpgs. There are many builds you can make, so there's replay value I guess. While a bit cliché, the story and characters are good, Khelgar, Neeshka, Ammon Jerro and Sand especially. I fondly remember the trial scene in act ii where you really got a chance to use all the speech-related skills like diplomacy, perform, bluff, etc. I'd also recommend playing the OC for the gear and extra levels you get over starting a new character for MOTB. It'll also make you more invested in your hero.

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NWN2 OC is widely considered one of the worst crpg ever made for reason
Even original NWN OC was received much better

Game is really fun, Play sword coast chronicles with us in MP when you finish single player.

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You can play it skipping the OC. You can import your character and, if iirc, also the equipment, but you also have new options in your character creation so no problem.
The only downside is the spirit energy system which kind of ruined it for me.
The OC is not that bad though. It's worse than the old Black Isle games but quite better than the new cRPGs.

How does the gameplay compares to NWN1 PW?

The first half of the game is legit trash, especially if playing as an evil aligned character. The dungeons are bare-bones, there are no chests or interesting features, its just go from one room to the next killing all the guys. There's some pretty dumb difficulty spikes too (like the giant camp full of orcs pretty early on).

It's weird though because each act has its own designer and writer, so once you get past Waterdeep and the Blacklake district the game really opens up and starts throwing interesting characters and encounters at you.

The ending sucks fat dick though. Literally the worst RPG ending, maybe even on the same level as Fallout 3's, that I can think of off the top of my head.

When playing co op as evil aligned characters the only interesting people who wouldn't constantly force their shit opinion on us were Ammon Jerro, Sand, and Zhajve (sp?). Neeshka and Khelgar were a bit retarded, and Qara was insufferable.
Oh I guess the gnome was alright too.

Khelagr was a stereotype dwarf but a bro comparable to Garrus/Wrex from ME. His dwarfishness was also funny at times. I really liked Neeshka as well because she had quite a good character arc if you have enough influence with her and redeem her at the end. iirc, she was supposed to be a romance option but that got cut. You're right about Qara being annoying, but that was the point of her character. Her aoe fireballs were really useful in the orc mountain questline though.

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I was playing with some friends and one was a wizard and one was a ranger, so Qara and that faglord with the buzzcut got axed. Khelgar did seem like he could've been alright, but not for an evil campaign. Never got to do Neeshka's arc cus we never took her with us. Also it was really annoying as a group of evil guys to be forced to run around with fucking Shandra for half the game. Was so glad when we got Ammon Jerro, he is my nigga.

All cRPGs have shitty evil storylines (except BG2, where you actually get really good evil characters and sidequests). Hell, even most custom roleplaying servers in NWN2 sucked for people who wanted to rp evil and it was filled with paladins or CN rogues always. Or maybe we didn't know where to look.

Are there any must have mods I should know of?

There's a pretty important facial graphics mod that makes the pc and many others look better.
nexusmods.com/neverwinter2/mods/212
Neeshka's the kind of character who'd fit into both a good-aligned party as the one who does the rogue stuf and an evil one, so long as there's no excessive cruelty.

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There's several heady-handed references to vanilla campaign in MotB and you're playing the exact same PC in both campaigns, so it's a direct sequel in that regard even if the story, tone, music, basically everything is so different it's hard to think it's even the same devs. You even meet a handful of characters from OC in MotB and towards the end in particular you get shitton of OC fanservice. Problem with OC campaign is that it's just a really, horribly, ridiculously generic "defeat the ancient evil" high fantasy romp with only one or two neat ideas carried mostly by characters such as a dwarf who is dwarfy, or an elf druid whose entire characterization amounts to her being an elf druid. The campaign also sort of forces you to play as a goody two shoes character even if you're actually evil on paper with only a small potential towards being a random dickwad every now and then, whereas MotB actually lets you do some truly evil shit if you're so disposed.

I'd say it's still worth playing through simply due to MotB being so overt with its references to OC that they would feel completely out of place if you haven't played it. Not to mention gameplay wise OC starts you from level 1 so you get to build your character gradually whereas MotB is geared for level 20-30, meaning if you don't import a character you'll be made to allocate 20 levels worth of skills and stats in one go. Remember to pick the non-evil ending of original campaign as it's the canon one for MotB.

It's the only CRPG aside from Planescape that features thoughtfully written characters. Every other rpg party, MotB including, is gonna feel like barebones after this. I personally think people who prefer MotB to OC are brainlets.

There's different endings to the OC? For me, everybody fucking died when the castle collapsed and my keep slowly faded away Haven't started MotB yet

Also you say that MotB has more stuff for evil characters, are you talking like 1-2 important choices or are there actual side quests and shit?

Neeshka was too gray morality-wise, your pic illustrates it perfectly. She feels more CN than NE, and our party was all LE as fuck. Thats why someone like Jerro actually made sense to have with us.

NWN 2 OC is fine, it's NWN 1 OC that you should avoid, since it's really, really bad.

I played through it like 5 times, but I'm nwn fanboy.
It is too easy. You can and should install enemy AI mod, but it won't help too much when the best enemy spellcaster can offer your level 7 party are magic missiles and grease.
Compare that with BG2 where your first encounter with mage is eating fear at level 1 and possible second is getting your tank oneshotted by lightning bolt ricochet at level 2.
The game was shipped unfinished. Obsidian fixed bugs with later patches, but there are unfinished companion quests, and entire act 3 feels rushed.
If you can live with all this, the game is pretty good. I'd recommend you reading a guide if this is your first encounter with d&d rules.

>There's different endings to the OC?
Only two, neither of them are very satisfying. You already got the non-evil ending, the evil one involves King of Shadows offering you a job as his right hand (he only does this if you're evil-aligned yourself) and if you take up on his offer you're forced to kill all your party members alone. You do get completely different ending slides for it though.

>Also you say that MotB has more stuff for evil characters, are you talking like 1-2 important choices or are there actual side quests and shit?
You get at least one or two side quests if I'm not remembering wrong, different powers for PC depending on whether you focus on suppressing or devouring, some unique gear and most importantly one completely different party member who is mutually exclusive to certain other character. He even has a neat unique gameplay gimmick where you can't allocate his level ups yourself but later on you unlock new classes for him that he can freely change to and back through a dialogue prompt.

>Also you say that MotB has more stuff for evil characters, are you talking like 1-2 important choices or are there actual side quests and shit?
tons of stuff for evil characters, from day-to-day decisions up to twisted treatment of souls/npcs and major evil plot decisions

Welp time to try and convince my stupid friends to continue onto MotB

Also wtf @ that evil ending, how the fuck did we not even get offered that as an evil party? Maybe we got offered and said no cus KoS is a little bitch, I don't remember.

This game had a lot of heart and soul. Little moments like Khelgar and Neeshka being drinking buddies despite 'hating' each other was pretty cool.

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I haven't tried MotB multiplayer before, it might work, but it would be odd. suspect it's much better singleplayer. if you're looking to romp around and kill stuff the OC would've been much more your speed, even though evil options were very limited