Any story-heavy quests in need of plays/reviews?

imivo · May 2013

I'd be happy to play and review STORY-heavy quests that ideally have less than 20 plays (but more is fine!). What I'm looking for:

- Interesting plot.
- Memorable characters.
- Strong storytelling elements.
- 45 minutes or less, ideally, though longer is not a deal breaker!
- Light or moderate combat and puzzles (none is fine, too).
- Atmosphere is a plus.
- Originality is a bonus that gets an extra star.
- English or German.
- Story, story!

If you have a separate thread for your quest in the Foundry Showcase sub-forum (you should!), please post a link. If you don't, go and make one and then post the link.

Thanks!

I'll play the quests in the order of the responses below, and will leave a brief review for each. It may take me a few days to catch up, please bear with me!

Played:
Ovaltine74's Stomach of Darkness Part 1 (NW-DMIME87F5): played and reviewed!
voivodak's The Fear That Freeze (NW-DNUZSYEEY): played and reviewed here.
ranncore's Hidden Forces (NWS-DNSXY8Z2F): played and reviewed!

Next up:
havocl's Conflict between sworn enemies (NWS-DB3HIQPRH)
xhanjira's Descent Into Madness Act I (NW-DEUNCAZP7)
tripsofthrymr's Nethertide Campaign (NW-DAK2BFO2X)
labmouse43's Save the Village" (NWS-DB76GRRHK)
bloodfuri's A Killer Deal (NW-DPN3X7IYW)

ovaltine74 · May 2013

I think you will enjoy mine. Info is in my signature.

voivodak · May 2013

My quest has more than 20 plays, but I think you could appreciate it.
The link to get more informations is in my sign

ranncore · May 2013

Definitely! NWS-DNSXY8Z2F
I also have a feedback thread where I'd like people to mention which factions and characters they want to see more of, as well as which areas they want to explore next.

http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?279091-My-first-quest-in-2-versions-Story-and-Epic

It ends on a very "open" note that could be taken in multiple directions, has lots of optional objectives including dialogue and combat, lots of lore and NWN easter eggs spread throughout.

I'd really appreciate it if you tried it out.

havocl · May 2013

I think you'll find my quests to your liking. They're in my signature.

imivo · May 2013

ovaltine74 wrote: »

I think you will enjoy mine. Info is in my signature.

Played and reviewed! (I'll do these in order of posting, please bear with me if I'm slow!)

Ovaltine74's Stomach of Darkness Part 1 (NW-DMIME87F5): Based on Joseph Conrad's novel, this quest impressed me quite a bit! Good writing, humor, atmospheric location design (loved being on top of the lighthouse!), intriguing story, good dialogues, fleshed out characters (Ms. Goose comes to mind!). Moderate combat, with the Knightmares being a bit hard on my L48 Guardian Fighter (couldn't see much!), but manageable. Felt a bit lost story-wise at the beginning, but got sucked into the plot quickly! Satisfying experience and I am excited for part two!

ovaltine74 · May 2013

Awsome, glad you liked it. I'll jot your name down and send you a message when its finished. Thanks for the review.

mirimero · May 2013

Great thread! You have good taste, imivo. I'd be interested in playing these quests too. Keep 'em coming, guys.

xhanjira · May 2013

Give mine a try. Heavy drow based storyline, very Spider Queen focused. I just changed the final boss sequence to hopefully give folks the climactic ending they're looking for.

Quest code - NW-DEUNCAZP7
Quest Name - Descent Into Madness Act I
Estimated Players - 2
Estimated Completion Time - 20 to 30 minutes

tripsofthrymr · May 2013

I would very much appreciate a play & review.

Quest details in my signature.

I'm particularly interested to know how well I generated interest in playing the next quest in the series (which is in development), and what I could do to improve on that interest. General comments about this quest are of course also welcome.

labmouse42 · May 2013

If you would review my first quest I would greatly appreciate it.
I always appreciate constructive feedback and any tips on how to improve it.

The quest adventure is "Save the Village" by @labmouse43

bloodfuri · May 2013

I would very much like to have my quests reviewed. The first is a the prequel to the main campaign, and would definately suggest doing it first, as it gives some background story.

A Killer Deal: NW-DPN3X7IYW

Campaign: Darkness and Divinity: NWS-DOUHWAXOU
Part I: A Friend in Need: NW-DBTLBCSPE
Part II: Dreams of Darkness: Coming Soon!
Part III: Midnight Sacrifice: Coming Soon!

Thank you in advance!

ovaltine74 · May 2013

After a couple of reviews that complained that the dialogue was running off the screen in some conversations. I am condensing some of the longer ones. I don't apologize for heavy dialogue, but if they can't see the choice options it has to be shortened up a bit. Also going to make protecting the citizens a requirement for completing the city part. Can't just let the hapless victims die.

imivo · May 2013

I hadn't noticed any dialogues that ran off the screen. Could it be resolution-dependent? I play in a window that's pretty much 1920x1080 minus the task bar, so it's not very tall. I'm relatively sure I never didn't see a choice.

Finishing up some work, then I'll tackle a couple quests.

imivo · May 2013

voivodak wrote: »

My quest has more than 20 plays, but I think you could appreciate it.
The link to get more informations is in my sign

(The Fear That Freeze)

Unfortunately, I had to abort this quest because the combat difficulty was frustratingly high for my L49 Guardian Fighter. Unblockable knockdown effects and life-leeching, add-summoning wrights (three of them in one group) are suitable for a two-players group, but for a solo adventurer, especially a melee one, this was fairly challenging, and for me too hard. I really wanted to finish the quest, because the story was interesting and I was curious how it would continue, but after 15 potions and two deaths, the combat difficulty outweighed the positive elements for me. A difficulty slighter might be a possible solution here, though it is entirely thinkable that I just suck!

(See update below, I did finish it with a different class!)

I played until the dungeon room after the cave, just past the emergency exit, so here are some things that I enjoyed up to that point (up to the cave): First, the writing is competently edited and the story as well as the pacing kept me interested and wanting to learn more. The quest "flew" fluidly and I never felt bored or as if I was running around for the sake of running around. Everything seemed purposeful. I liked how the quest was embedded into the Tower District, making it seem part of the world rather than being something that is tagged on. The dialogues were solid and there were no moments where I felt the temptation to just flip through the conversations.

The highlight: A remarkable moment was the meeting with Tybald. Music, scenery, flame effects and NPC animations were perfectly combined with one another and together they made for a dramatic scene that conveyed an intense sense of urgency. It's one of my favorite scenes in any Foundry Quest so far. Awesome job with that!

I'm tempted to re-play this with either my 60 or 37 wizard, since I think they will have an easier time with the mobs (range, higher mobility, better means to get away, plus CC abilities), because I really do want to know how the quest ends.

Update: OK, I just had to know how that story continued! So, I tried it with a L37 wizard (with the stone golem tank companion, though he needs leveling up), and this was much easier since I could kite, crowd control, teleport out of range, and had more large-AoE damage. Still challenging, but definitely more manageable. I enjoyed the remaining story and liked the end! Nifty cliffhanger, too, that makes curious for more. Stars, review and tips given! I couldn't let this sit unfinished! (Noteworthy: One of the orcs in the beginning dropped a blue item!)

labmouse42 · May 2013

Sorry new to this. The quest info is in my sig.

Foundry Quests
Author : @labmouse43
Short Code : NWS-DB76GRRHK
Name : Save the Village

tripsofthrymr · May 2013

imivo wrote: »

I hadn't noticed any dialogues that ran off the screen. Could it be resolution-dependent?
Finishing up some work, then I'll tackle a couple quests.

Yes, there are reports that it does depend on resolution. I read advice somewhere not to go past around 700 characters to make sure everyone can read the text.

imivo · May 2013

tripsofthrymr wrote: »

Yes, there are reports that it does depend on resolution. I read advice somewhere not to go past around 700 characters to make sure everyone can read the text.

That doesn't bode well for my own quest-in-development. I already had trouble to squeeze some dialogue in the 1000 character limit without having to split it across multiple parts, and 700 is a whole lot less.

Unrelated note: I finished The Fear That Freeze with a different character/class and updated my mini review. I was just too curious to see how the story continued to give up so quickly.

More reviews soon!

zocat1 · May 2013

imivo wrote: »

(The Fear That Freeze)

Unfortunately, I had to abort this quest because the combat difficulty was frustratingly high for my L49 Guardian Fighter. Unblockable knockdown effects and life-leeching, add-summoning wrights (three of them in one group) are suitable for a two-players group, but for a solo adventurer, especially a melee one, this was fairly challenging, and for me too hard.

I played through it as a 39-41 (dont remember exactly) GF and found it doable.
I want to mention that there is (to my knowledge) nothing as an "unblockable knockdown effect", but one of the recent patches broke blocking for GF (your char is showing the blocking animation, but you still get dmg / all status effects). So keep that in mind

That said - I really like this thread, glad you made it, since I'm in the same situation! Story heavy quests are awesome and I'll try to play everything mentioned here as well. Hey, even the same language requirements

imivo · May 2013

@ranncore:

Argh. I fell out of your quest! At the end, where the golden chest is, the steering wheel can be interacted with before collecting the reward. I thought it was a lore item, and well, without warning it caused my to exit the quest. I'll play it again so I can give you the play and an in-game review, but this should probably be fixed.

If it sparkles, I click on it!

Edit: Actually, it was weird. The quest disappeared from my journal, but when I tried to take it again, it said I already had it. I relogged and then had it back in my journal, with all objectives checked except "collect reward". I can't get back to the chest though since the steering wheel teleported me to Neverwinter.

imivo · May 2013

ranncore wrote: »

Definitely! NWS-DNSXY8Z2F

(Hidden Forces, NWS-DNSXY8Z2F)

I played the story version of the quest twice with a L39 wizard (and an under-leveled Galeb Duhr tank companion) because the steering wheel teleported me out before collecting the reward the first time!

The quest's story is lore-based and felt like a natural part of the game world insofar that it could have been an official quest and it would have fit in perfectly. I liked all the clickable "lore" objects that weren't objectives, but that contributed to the overall experience and atmosphere. Nice touch that I don't see in many quests! Likewise for the story options, several of which were class-specific or true choices that decided whether a mob would become hostile (I think!).

The writing was solid, too, with the nicely conveyed drunken slurs adding to the mood. The female Tiefling (with the X-name!) showed quite a bit of potential and promise to develop into a re-usable character for this campaign and perhaps others. She's likable and charismatic without being overly stereotypical, and I'm curious to learn more about her as well as the continuation of the story. The ending of part 1 seemed a bit sudden, but it's a good place for the next "episode" to continue.

Also positive: The maze is the best designed one I have seen yet in a quest, even though I generally dislike mazes! But this one felt good and strayed from the usual "box" format with rectangles. The world design in general was well done, with optional places such as the "shrine" (the green portal that I naturally could not resist going through).

The one slightly negative aspect, for me, was the combat. The number of assassins and priestesses during the three phases of the end boss fight was crazy! At one point I had three assassins and four priestesses on me who also summoned warriors, and some of them got stuck in the walls (as did my companion). I imagine that with a 60 character this would have been super deadly. They just kept coming and I eventually ran away and killed the named mob, at which point they despawned. I do feel it was too much (mostly because the waves seemed never-ending), but I also want to say that it did make for a pretty intense encounter with little room for slacking or mistakes, so eventually succeeding felt quite rewarding.

Overall an enjoyable quest with plenty of lore that I had fun playing! Looking forward to the next part.

(And I chuckled at the "just a minor setback" reference, if it was indeed a reference!)

zahinder · May 2013

I'd love a review!

There is lore and some story for the curious, and one puzzle (and a sort of puzzle if you use a rogue -- elements change depending on class)

royabi · May 2013

City Of Thieves
NW-DN4GPGEHB

I would really appreciate a review ( you don't even have to rate it ) because this is my first real attempt at a majority story driven quest. There are some mistakes, and right now it ends about 1/5 of the way through, but i really don't want to spend days at this just to find out nobody is interested in the story. So that would be really appreciated.

i published it to let a friend have a go, and he liked it a lot, but a neutral review would be great.

PS the music does not seem to be playing in parts, in the editor they are fine, don't know why!

lordxorus · May 2013

sorry can't post a link, because this forum has like a 3 or 4 day probationary period for creating post.

but I have foundry quest over half way thru the process of becoming eligible for daily rewards. so would appreciate the help very much.

I believe it has what you are looking for. Use the search and check the story out, I think you'll enjoy it for a change of pace.

The code and a part of the description can be found in signature below. ty

(what players forget is that, when you have an emotional response to or feeling while playing, it may be what the author intended)

kamaliicious · May 2013

I'd recommend Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. There's some combat, but not really a bunch.
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?306181-UGC-Classic-AD-amp-D-module-quot-Sinister-Secret-of-Saltmarsh-U1-quot

angrysprite · May 2013

This is a great thread. Thank you for this - it will make a great directory of story-based quests as they are so darned difficult to find!

Okay, it has a lot more than 20 plays, but I invite you to give my Blacklake Luskan a go - it's okay if you put it into your "will do when nothing else is available) list.

http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?226211-Quest-Blacklake-Luskan

In the mean time - I'm subscribing to this thread with the hope you continue it and continue to update the OP with a list of story-based quests.

Any story-heavy quests in need of plays/reviews?

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