Echo of the Ancient - NW-DT2ABLPD2 - review trade

xetmk24

Hello.
This is my second foundry and a continuation of the first one Gathering Shadows (NW-DDUNG38UG). I was gone for a long time and when I got back I decided to finish this project so here it is

The story continues. After stopping the Followers of the Three in the Orc’s Grounds, our heroes discovers their next plot. The Wizards forces are pillaging ruins of the ancient, elven kingdom of Illefarn. What secrets does the Followers want to steal from lost spirits of the realm former citizens?
In order to stop them, you need to lead your party through old, abandoned mines. But beware… you are not alone there. Undead wonder collapsed corridors and strange, enchanting voice calls your name…

Combat and story oriented single player foundry. Some encounters might be tricky so watch out. Companions should provide good backup if they won’t get stuck somewhere
During the story you will be able to make choices that will alter your experience in some way (different dialogs, encounters, companions).
Maps: 5 important ones: Old, dark mines and various ruins of Illefarn kingdom.
Length: around 30 mins.
English isn't my first language.
Have fun and thanks for reading/playing.
PS. When you see “…” dialog quickly press continue. Don’t lose quest items you won’t be able to progress without them.
Dialog with Vales will be altered slightly – just so you know

boomba66

xetmk24 wrote: »

Hello.
This is my second foundry and a continuation of the first one Gathering Shadows (NW-DDUNG38UG). I was gone for a long time and when I got back I decided to finish this project so here it is

The story continues. After stopping the Followers of the Three in the Orc

Review: Echoes of the Ancient
Maps: Two issues that are game breaking. Your spawn points in garden and temple are both in rocks. During the vampire fight I somehow got transported knocked back into the rocks move both of these. That was the bad, the good. VERY VERY AWESOME maps. The Illfarien ruins are well done and easy to buy into to. They are immersive and help tell the story. When a map helps tell the story that's a big win.
NPC's I have played both and like the way they are developing. It is like playing a single player campaign game. Little more background would be awesome as you jump into the story with them already knowing you in your first chapter. But I enjoy the variety of companions including the golem you can put together.
Story: Good story. Get the spell checking done using word. I had a huge problem with this. I just got featured and many of my reviews talk about grammar issues and spelling and it costs me stars. I know how big a pain in the butt it is to transfer back and forth and use the **** tiny box to type. 99% of people who play foundries don't have a clue though so might want to use this method. Open word, copy and paste dialog to word, let it autocorrect re-paste and replace. Saves a ton of time.

The story itself is really interesting. You have the black brown and white wizard, a massive army bearing down on Baldur's Gate, and a smaller rescue of souls mission to disrupt one of the three. Is this the Jergal story of him dividing his power to the three powerful mortals? As a big lore fan i'm wondering if that's what is going on.

Combat: Well paced, sometimes easy due to having two wizards. But never to much so.

Flow: Couple of "Go To NEXT MAP." that could be changed but otherwise the story flows along well.

Overview Very strong immersive campaign with good npcs, I know how much work it takes to keep 3 npc's with a party. The storyteller way of bringing the character to the game is a nice touch. The lore is great, the ruins are really really well done, I enjoyed your temple so much I spent 10 extra minutes exploring the area.

I look forward to the next part and hope like many other campaign authors you don't quit before the story is over.

xetmk24

Thanks for playing and reviewing.
Spawning points are fixed. I hid them in rocks on purpose because I don’t like that it looks like campfire this don’t always fit the map. Didn’t know this will cause some spawning bugs. Guess I should check that next time.
Spelling mistakes: I write in Microsoft Word Starter it autocorrects me. My biggest problem is with tenses I think. Word can check that too? Do you remember any dialog were these mistakes were?
NPC’s: Backstory. Some of my other reviewers (whole 6 of them ;P) also pointed that out. I am aware of this. If this was an actual single player game there would be a tutorial where all of these characters would be introduced as well as the story of “your” character. The player also have certain backstory (it’s hinted a little if you didn’t bring Vales with you). Then I decided to introduce them via conversation with the Storyteller and some side quests after that followers business (in the 4th foundry). But probably we won’t go that far ;/
The story: It’s something I made up. It takes place after Time of Troubles and Baldur’s Gate games, so no, Jergal already given up his power to mortals. Bhaal, and Myrkul are dead and Bane just got resurrected. It’s hinted who the White Wizard serves to in the story.
I see you crafted Candlekeep in one of your foundries, will check that today. I also wanted to do it
Thanks again for your thoughts.

orangefiree

Both of these contain highly customized enemies and as close as I could get to bosses within the limits of the foundy. (Some of the bosses in the second quest actually require you to follow mechanics to survive.) The story is mainly told through boss fights and reach point objectives. (Messages from reach point objectives appear in chat is you miss them.) The Lair of Kheneka also includes an extreme challenge boss meant to challenge 2-3 players. It allows you to skip the trash between the first and second bosses.

I am happy to trade reviews and reply to any questions about the quest. (Including boss mechanics. There is one fight I do expect a lot of questions about in particular.)

A couple things I am unsure about and would like to see some opinions on.
I am looking at another potential increase to Warlord Haetharos's difficulty, possibly as difficulty slider option. I would, however, like to get some other opinions of him first.
I am not sure how well people will understand the mechanics for the champions of Athron'zal, does anyone thinK I should put a hint in somewhere?

More of a question about the foundry than about my quests, but how do I publish a campaign, I have done it before with some of my early quests but the one for these is still not working.

I will play your quest shortly.

orangefiree

I just finished your quest, a few grammar issues, the only one I remember if "Thiefling" is used a couple of times it should be "Tiefling".
Oh, and when is the next quest coming out?

xetmk24

Just finished your quest - The Revenge of Athron'zal.
Being honest not my cup of tea. Too much combat for my taste with really no story behind it. I know it’s part of a campaign but still I had no idea what I was doing there. The environment wasn’t good either. Empty mine with no details only those red skulls and their placement was weird… and details in the final room were flying, even chest… That was on purpose?
That being said I liked the customization of enemies. I would add more light though because they looked cool and it was hard to see them. (Maybe that just my settings.)
Now boss fights. That 4 things, champions of Athron'zal and the trick with flame – pure genius. Loved it. At first I didn’t know what to do there but when I did, it was awesome. And, like other reviewers pointed out final boss was very nice. Though not as hard as I thought it would be. Other bosses were well normal. You mention Warlord Haetharos. I don’t recall any adds spawning.
Overall nice combat quest, worth checking out.
As for my quest: Thiefling… I really wrote that? That was embarrassing, thanks for pointing that out.
And about when next part coming out? Probably around… well never. There is little to no incentive to continue, when no one plays it. This one was partially done so I just wanted to finish it. Maybe someday… I don’t know. Anyway thanks for playing.

orangefiree

xetmk24 wrote: »

Just finished your quest - The Revenge of Athron'zal.
Being honest not my cup of tea. Too much combat for my taste with really no story behind it. I know it’s part of a campaign but still I had no idea what I was doing there. The environment wasn’t good either. Empty mine with no details only those red skulls and their placement was weird… and details in the final room were flying, even chest… That was on purpose?
That being said I liked the customization of enemies. I would add more light though because they looked cool and it was hard to see them. (Maybe that just my settings.)
Now boss fights. That 4 things, champions of Athron'zal and the trick with flame – pure genius. Loved it. At first I didn’t know what to do there but when I did, it was awesome. And, like other reviewers pointed out final boss was very nice. Though not as hard as I thought it would be. Other bosses were well normal. You mention Warlord Haetharos. I don’t recall any adds spawning.
Overall nice combat quest, worth checking out.
As for my quest: Thiefling… I really wrote that? That was embarrassing, thanks for pointing that out.
And about when next part coming out? Probably around… well never. There is little to no incentive to continue, when no one plays it. This one was partially done so I just wanted to finish it. Maybe someday… I don’t know. Anyway thanks for playing.

I am glad you were able to figure out the champions of Athron'zal, I was a little worried some people would not know what to do there. Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything cool with the other bosses because of the encounter limit. (Those timers take up a lot of space.) As for Warlord Haetharos, you didn't get any groups of legion devil elites at all? What class were you playing and what was you gear score?

Edit: I just realized I missed the short codes for my quests, I am glad you were able to find them. As for the story, it assumes both quests have been played. The reason you are there is stated in the first quest. (I had no idea why the NPCs were talking about a missing hawk,I will play your first quest soon.)

orangefiree

xetmk24 wrote: »

And about when next part coming out? Probably around… well never. There is little to no incentive to continue, when no one plays it. This one was partially done so I just wanted to finish it. Maybe someday… I don’t know. Anyway thanks for playing.

You have two plays already just from this thread, and you will probably get more.

boomba66

orangefiree wrote: »

You have two plays already just from this thread, and you will probably get more.

Your quest is worth continuing, it is just buried in the foundry. Once its improved and people can find the great ones like yours they will play. I have worked very hard to get the plays took me six months before I got one of my foundrys featured. Yours is worth that.

topwicz

I agree. Your campaign is worth continuing. The story is great and your maps look awesome. It make me feel like I was playing single-player D&D games. I miss them.
I made some screenshots. They aren’t high quality and setting are on low/mid. Well just use your imagination.

kithlis

Dude! You better not stop
I was thrilled when I saw your new one this weekend (I found it because I have you subscribed, not through this forum thread). Really enjoyed your first one.

The only note I had for you was that you still had some item bags left on the maps after you meet Vales (the dagger or token).
I was way too gripped by the story to be slowed down by verb tenses, but there were a couple.

The maps are really superb! I think your ability to write your characters is what makes it for me though. And I do like the way you framed it with the "Storyteller".
I also like the little references that you drop to some familiar names (I noticed Cernd and Jahira this time). You have good taste in some classics.

Really, I can't make you continue, but build and share because you have a story to tell (and you are a good storyteller!), not because of any passing fame or rewards.
Keep it up!

(And if you have some time check out: NWS-DHAWD84o8)

xetmk24

Thanks for encouragement
Bags thing was fixed sometime after it went live. I forgot about that ;/
Baldur’s Gate was my first PC game ever so it’s very special. There are actually three references to characters from that game. I’m glad you didn’t found that third though
Boomba66 you had to create Candlekeep, Baldur’s Gate and Undercity?! Now my quest will be a rip-off
Orangefiree – I replayed your quest and devils did spawn this time. I think they spawned the first time but I just didn’t noticed them.
And thanks for screenshots.

orangefiree

xetmk24 wrote: »

Thanks for encouragement
Bags thing was fixed sometime after it went live. I forgot about that ;/
Baldur’s Gate was my first PC game ever so it’s very special. There are actually three references to characters from that game. I’m glad you didn’t found that third though
Boomba66 you had to create Candlekeep, Baldur’s Gate and Undercity?! Now my quest will be a rip-off
Orangefiree – I replayed your quest and devils did spawn this time. I think they spawned the first time but I just didn’t noticed them.
And thanks for screenshots.

Thanks for running my quest again, how hard were the spawns? I recently added a hard mode for it that spawns an extra guard encounter to increase the spawn rate, my rogue's recent play through had much faster spawns than previously, even on normal mode. (Hard mode actually killed me shortly after I killed the actual boss, I couldn't tell if it was just better tactics the second time so the hard mode setting might be glitched.)

xetmk24

I guess I didn't play hard mode. They spawned one time... and I just killed them.
Played as a CW 55 lvl. Mostly 52 lvl rare items.

orangefiree

xetmk24 wrote: »

I guess I didn't play hard mode. They spawned one time... and I just killed them.
Played as a CW 55 lvl. Mostly 52 lvl rare items.

That sounds about right for normal mode, I wonder if I accidently did hard mode both times.

xetmk24

Played your Act II quest Kithlis. Amazing. Side quests! Chain side quests! Mystery. Loved it. This is a campaign worth playing.
Its also funny that three of us did quests with Dead Three references in it

boomba66

Well my story is in 1483ish yours in a 100 years earlier and before the Cyrnishad attack and rebuilding of candlekeep so they can look much different.

Play it see what you think of my version of baldurs gate.

xetmk24

I decided to continue at least with third act and curently I'm building Baldur's Gate. When I'll need a break your quest and Kithlis (one with underground) will be played. Inspiration and relaxation