Quest: A Pirate's Plunder

antonkyle

Shiver me timbers ye scurvy bunch of bilge rats. Ye be wanting to play A Pirate's Plunder if ye knows what's good for ye. So hoist ye colours and get a move on before I be sending you to Davy Jones' Locker. Arrr!

And ye be bringing some Grog, Arrrr!

Campaign: An Echo of the Forgotten Ballad (Part 3)
Time: 25-30 minutes
Combat: Hard for Solo
Tags: #Story #Lore #Combat

Code: NW-DT5NHNSAY

For my reviews see post three down the page.

kellnaforian

I'd be happy to exchange a review! I'll run yours tomorrow evening as the servers are down right now. Pick any one of the quests below. Preferably 2-5 as I need reviews on those. Although, the campaign might make more sense if you started at 1.

-Kell

Campaign: Lands of Mirent Tusk

Dungeons of Mirent Tusk
The Legend of Prince Brightblade
The Legend of the Lady
Finding the Way
King Mirent Tusk - The Fallen

antonkyle

Review trades:


Quest: Deed To My Soul Rating: 5 stars (and a seal of endorsement)
NW-DH713QG92 by @slinkyal

Great quest and I enjoyed every minute. For people that like a good story but also a tough quest for combat this quest is spot on. A delight to play.

Errors:
*In the conversation with Maggie you say "nay be correct", I think you mean "may". That's all I spotted. I think some more effects like birds, butterflies and indoor clutter wouldn't go amiss and would bring the map to life. I really appreciate that you have built everything from scratch. Being able to move freely indoor, outdoor back to indoor is really very nice and it was done very well. More in the way of sound would be nice, it was very quiet.

The Ogre bypass was a nice touch for us readers. I still went back to kill them all though. All in all a very good quest.

Quest: Secret of the Mere of Dead Men: Rating 5 star

NW-DPJY9AQRP

A very slick and polished quest. I found no faults and the maps were very well designed. The story was good and very well written.

If I was to knit-pick I would say map two could do without the fog affects. It made it look like I had turned my brightness up. I think maybe it was a spooky fog effect, not too sure though.

Also I would make the lost soul on map three walk between the three markers. I found this bit to be a little frustrating.

If there were clues to the first puzzle I missed them, but I managed OK. Lastly, the outdoor maps were very large, maybe it would be possible to add a mount with the use of invisible transporters. It's a subjective opinion though, I'm just lazy and don't like to walk.

Overall a very good quest.



Campaign: Lands of Mirent Tusk

Q1-Dungeons of Mirent Tusk: Rating 4 stars
I enjoyed this quest but the story parts were not as well written as the second with follow on sentences, a couple of errors and large paragraphes making it hard to read at times. Combat was very good, but also hard. The maps were very well put together. I have a high end PC and have my graphics as high as the game allows and in places it was very hard to see. I think people playing with lower setting may struggle.

Q2-The Legend of Prince Brightblade: Rating 4 stars
I thought this was better than the first slightly. I had no problems with the written parts, the maps were as beautiful as the first, but again in area's it was very dark. I had to use the Z thing in parts. The only downer was, I thought it a little too long. This made it feel a little like a grind. Over all a very good quest. I shall follow up with more of the campaign for sure and for people that like hard combat it would have my recommendation.

antonkyle

kellnaforian wrote: »

I'd be happy to exchange a review! I'll run yours tomorrow evening as the servers are down right now. Pick any one of the quests below. Preferably 2-5 as I need reviews on those. Although, the campaign might make more sense if you started at 1.

-Kell

Campaign: Lands of Mirent Tusk

Dungeons of Mirent Tusk
The Legend of Prince Brightblade
The Legend of the Lady
Finding the Way
King Mirent Tusk - The Fallen

Thanks, I have played parts one and two and have added them to my reviews. I thought they were both very good and will continue the campaign.

kellnaforian

Exactly the feedback I was looking for! Thanks.

I'll clean up the writing. I'll take a look at effects and lighting. Odd that I have a mid-low end PC and it's dark, but clear enough. It's the effect I am going for.

antonkyle

kellnaforian wrote: »

Exactly the feedback I was looking for! Thanks.

I'll clean up the writing. I'll take a look at effects and lighting. Odd that I have a mid-low end PC and it's dark, but clear enough. It's the effect I am going for.

I thought about this after, I was playing on a HD 42inch TV. I think I may have had the settings to dark. I've turned it back to my monitor now and it seems better. So should maybe ignore that.

kellnaforian

Can you recall which part of quest 2 seemed to drag on too far?

antonkyle

kellnaforian wrote: »

Can you recall which part of quest 2 seemed to drag on too far?

The combat in the crypts. It was just a little hard which made it feel longer. It's a subjective opinion. I think other people may enjoy that much more than me. It was a pretty large area though. I loved the early part in the forest with the trolls.

kellnaforian

Thanks! I have some ideas to shorten the crypts. I am glad, that overall, you enjoy the quests. I know the encounters are challenging as that is what I enjoy. However, I am going to review all of them and make sure they make sense.

Still at work. Will be running yours tonight.

kellnaforian

Campaign: An Echo of the Forgotten Ballad (Part 3)

A Pirate's Plunder: Rating 4 stars for me personally. However, in game I gave it a 5 as a lot of effort went in to making this quest and it is very high quality. Most of the things I downgraded it for are more subjective and a difference in play style. I also believe in supporting other Author's in game.

Quite a bit of reading with the Dwarf giving a lot of quest information to "have" to digest. It's one of those things where someone gives you directions, "Go left at McDonalds, then left at so and so, then right at so and so, then left, then left..." and having to remember it.

Also, "the captain" is, "The Captain" I believe.

Also, need some comma's in some of the paragraphs.

There was a "Go to next map complete!" when going to the castle.

I think a little more work on effects could be added in some areas.

Final boss fight was well done, although I had a lot of targeting issues with a Mage due to railings etc. But, so did the boss. So, I guess that's fair. My companion (Dog) had a hard time finding his way up onto the ship on my second attempt at The Boss. He killed me 2x as I finished with my 20 heals fighting the Assassins and was left to fight the boss and his minions with no heals. My fault for not being prepared.

I did not understand why there were assassins? Maybe I would understand if I played the other quests? (as a side note, I would like to know what encounter the Elite Assassin was as it was a good fight)

I was not expecting a wave of fighting with the Dwarf (Smithy). It was a nice surpise. However, I did expect it with the female before the boat, so it did get predictable. I am also not a huge fan of talking before main encounters as that does not leave much time when playing a squishier ranged class. However, it does help move the story along and add drama.

Some of the encounters were just as tough as the ones in my quest, which I can appreciate.

Again, subjective. I prefer a much darker and meaner environment. I enjoy having to always be ready for what's around the corner. Having to always pay attention to my surroundings. This was a very good quest though and I will play the others this weekend as I do want to know the whole story now!

kellnaforian

antonkyle wrote: »

I thought about this after, I was playing on a HD 42inch TV. I think I may have had the settings to dark. I've turned it back to my monitor now and it seems better. So should maybe ignore that.

No, you may be right. I went in to all of the quests and lightened them up. I ran out of time tonight, but will continue working on lighting in Q5 tomorrow night. I still want it to be dark, but obviously not too dark!

Thanks again!

antonkyle

I'm still looking for trades.

antonkyle

kellnaforian wrote: »

Final boss fight was well done, although I had a lot of targeting issues with a Mage due to railings etc. But, so did the boss. So, I guess that's fair. My companion (Dog) had a hard time finding his way up onto the ship on my second attempt at The Boss. He killed me 2x as I finished with my 20 heals fighting the Assassins and was left to fight the boss and his minions with no heals. My fault for not being prepared.

I did not understand why there were assassins? Maybe I would understand if I played the other quests? (as a side note, I would like to know what encounter the Elite Assassin was as it was a good fight)

Thanks for the review, I will try and fix the faults you found. Sorry about the delay in reply, I needed to get into the game to look for the encounters I used.

I find the final boss easy if you kite him up to the top of the ship and avoid the mob that walks down the ship. The Assassin's were included because each 'boss' represents a hero party of five. Nothing to do with the campaign. I struggled with the cleric. Was looking at maybe changing him. That was the first Boss.

The Assassin encounter is three waves of mobs set to pop up when the one before is dead they are:
1st) Abolethic - melee - hard #1067
2nd) Cult of the Dragon - melee - Hard #1075
3rd) Troll - Melee - hard #1072

You may have noticed an NPC named Loz that popped up now and again. The idea is he will give a shorter set of instructions for people that don't want to read the story. I have not added the text yet but will do so soon. Got a little ahead of myself working on my next part.

antonkyle

Need one more to go Daily!!

kellnaforian

antonkyle wrote: »

Thanks for the review, I will try and fix the faults you found. Sorry about the delay in reply, I needed to get into the game to look for the encounters I used.

I find the final boss easy if you kite him up to the top of the ship and avoid the mob that walks down the ship. The Assassin's were included because each 'boss' represents a hero party of five. Nothing to do with the campaign. I struggled with the cleric. Was looking at maybe changing him. That was the first Boss.

The Assassin encounter is three waves of mobs set to pop up when the one before is dead they are:
1st) Abolethic - melee - hard #1067
2nd) Cult of the Dragon - melee - Hard #1075
3rd) Troll - Melee - hard #1072

You may have noticed an NPC named Loz that popped up now and again. The idea is he will give a shorter set of instructions for people that don't want to read the story. I have not added the text yet but will do so soon. Got a little ahead of myself working on my next part.

Thanks for the info! I'll look at those encounters. If you have time, take a look at quests 3-5. I've taken care of the darkness, for the most part, I think.

-kell

melinden

Here's a review for you. I played with a lvl 60 DC. I will agree with others that the Assassins are butt kickers.

Here are some detailed play through notes. I did not do the side quests as I was worried I was running up your time by pausing to write down the notes.

-in the first conversation with Guard Frinko you have heroes spelled "heros"
-in your DM's message you say that the story has 'bo baring'. I'm pretty sure you were going for no baring.
-is Mara Jane a Mara Jade reference?
-the Traitorous Contact says "three days passed" you probably mean "three days past"
-I appreciated that all the pirates had names
-I also appreciated the Night Watch references. But shouldn't Colon be with them instead of Cohen?
-Your objective "There getting weaker" has a swapped homophone. It should be "They're"

I have a thread for the Secret of the Mere of Dead Men in the quest sub-forum. I'd especially like feedback on the first puzzle as I'm not sure if it crosses the line from a good challenge to "Ok, I give up!". I imagine that varies from person to person but I don't like being frustrated by hard combat so I imagine others don't want to be frustrated by hard puzzles.

antonkyle

melinden wrote: »

Here's a review for you. I played with a lvl 60 DC. I will agree with others that the Assassins are butt kickers.

Here are some detailed play through notes. I did not do the side quests as I was worried I was running up your time by pausing to write down the notes.

-in the first conversation with Guard Frinko you have heroes spelled "heros"
-in your DM's message you say that the story has 'bo baring'. I'm pretty sure you were going for no baring.
-is Mara Jane a Mara Jade reference?
-the Traitorous Contact says "three days passed" you probably mean "three days past"
-I appreciated that all the pirates had names
-I also appreciated the Night Watch references. But shouldn't Colon be with them instead of Cohen?
-Your objective "There getting weaker" has a swapped homophone. It should be "They're"

I have a thread for the Secret of the Mere of Dead Men in the quest sub-forum. I'd especially like feedback on the first puzzle as I'm not sure if it crosses the line from a good challenge to "Ok, I give up!". I imagine that varies from person to person but I don't like being frustrated by hard combat so I imagine others don't want to be frustrated by hard puzzles.

Thanks for the detailed review I will add these changes as soon as I can.. I think your play through made me go daily too. Would you say the assassin's are too hard? As in frustrating.
I will play yours first thing when I'm on tomorrow. I like puzzles so we'll see.

antonkyle

melinden wrote: »

Here's a review for you. I played with a lvl 60 DC. I will agree with others that the Assassins are butt kickers.

Here are some detailed play through notes. I did not do the side quests as I was worried I was running up your time by pausing to write down the notes.

-in the first conversation with Guard Frinko you have heroes spelled "heros"
-in your DM's message you say that the story has 'bo baring'. I'm pretty sure you were going for no baring.
-is Mara Jane a Mara Jade reference?
-the Traitorous Contact says "three days passed" you probably mean "three days past"
-I appreciated that all the pirates had names
-I also appreciated the Night Watch references. But shouldn't Colon be with them instead of Cohen?
-Your objective "There getting weaker" has a swapped homophone. It should be "They're"

I have a thread for the Secret of the Mere of Dead Men in the quest sub-forum. I'd especially like feedback on the first puzzle as I'm not sure if it crosses the line from a good challenge to "Ok, I give up!". I imagine that varies from person to person but I don't like being frustrated by hard combat so I imagine others don't want to be frustrated by hard puzzles.

I have added my review onto the first page. Another great quest. I don't know if I got lucky or if people are getting better but the quests I have played through recently have all been very good.

melinden

Thanks for the review! Out of curiosity, did you find the body which gives you the clues on the Low Tide Map? I'm guessing no if you were frustrated. I'll think about ways I can make it easier to find. The suggestion about the Lost Souls is also a very good one, I'll add that.

There currently aren't any clues for the first puzzle, I've been waiting for some feedback to see if I should add any.

antonkyle

melinden wrote: »

Thanks for the review! Out of curiosity, did you find the body which gives you the clues on the Low Tide Map? I'm guessing no if you were frustrated. I'll think about ways I can make it easier to find. The suggestion about the Lost Souls is also a very good one, I'll add that.

There currently aren't any clues for the first puzzle, I've been waiting for some feedback to see if I should add any.

I did actually. The problem was I did the wrong chat so missed the instructions. Forgot all about him.

I would add the clues to the first puzzle for sure. Subtle but something, maybe a book or something. It's a shame you can't make a model of the shrine really tiny with the items included.

antonkyle

Got my first 1 star
Still, 13 5 stars and 3 4 stars out of 17 is not bad. I guess I was climbing the best tab to Quickly.

kellnaforian

antonkyle wrote: »

Got my first 1 star
Still, 13 5 stars and 3 4 stars out of 17 is not bad. I guess I was climbing the best tab to Quickly.

Yeah, I got my first 1 Star a couple of weeks ago on Quest 4. I had thought this was one of my strongest quests. It's certainly not a 1. I'd understand a 3 or 4 if it's not appealing to the persons taste in questing. In the end, I figured someone was griefing.

I think that if someone gives a 1 or a 2 they should HAVE to leave a comment. How else can we get feedback and understand what they did not like?

-kell

melinden

Eh, it's the troll thing to do. Trolls don't think too much about that they do. The other likelihood is that is the one of the people of the world who can't read descriptions or instructions (i.e. about 1/4 of my students *sigh*). So you can write in your note: "This quest features X, Y, and Z" and the comment you might get is "I hate Z, this quest was full of Z! You suck for having Z in here at all!"

Neither group features thoughtful individuals, so even if they left comments we likely wouldn't find them useful.

melinden

antonkyle wrote: »

Thanks for the detailed review I will add these changes as soon as I can.. I think your play through made me go daily too. Would you say the assassin's are too hard? As in frustrating.
I will play yours first thing when I'm on tomorrow. I like puzzles so we'll see.

Whoops, I missed this. No, the assassins weren't frustrating. I had to kite them off the piers onto the beach since my AoEs were not targeting correctly and/or I couldn't see where I was aiming. That took care of the problem though.

kithlis

melinden wrote: »

...even if they left comments we likely wouldn't find them useful.

Perhaps not useful, but I find it easier to forgive the ignorant than the malicious.

Sorry to hear about the 1-star, anton.