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mrthebozer
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
Meet Bulbis Brothelborn:
Don't let the rags and garbage fool you (it's been a crazy day) - this double helping of tiefling pulls off a very convincing impression of an effective wizard when he needs to. And he's going to need to, because for the next... forever... I'll be subjecting him to the vilest torments and horrors that the Foundry community has to offer. And then reviewing those horrors.
So if you're looking for a review, please leave the information below. I'll be able to do about one or two quests a night on most nights.
In return, I ask that you consider reviewing my first Foundry adventure (link is in the signature). From what I've been told so far, it is a lot of fun, and I'd like to get it out of the shadows of the Review Pit so that more folks can enjoy it.
Don't let the rags and garbage fool you (it's been a crazy day) - this double helping of tiefling pulls off a very convincing impression of an effective wizard when he needs to. And he's going to need to, because for the next... forever... I'll be subjecting him to the vilest torments and horrors that the Foundry community has to offer. And then reviewing those horrors.
So if you're looking for a review, please leave the information below. I'll be able to do about one or two quests a night on most nights.
In return, I ask that you consider reviewing my first Foundry adventure (link is in the signature). From what I've been told so far, it is a lot of fun, and I'd like to get it out of the shadows of the Review Pit so that more folks can enjoy it.
Post edited by mrthebozer on
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Comments
I'll let you know what I think in this comment (once I run and then edit this one).
EDIT:
The guard option 2: "why don't you to it" should be "why don't you DO it"
Talking to the "cat", "I found your ledder" should be "I found your letter"
Very thought out maps.
Combats were rough. They weren't hard, just the amount of high hit point mobs made this very very long and boring for my 59 guardian fighter. Would have enjoyed some change up or anything but fighting the same mob for 5 minutes over and over.
WIP
Wow, what an incredibly well-designed quest, 5 stars and max tip. That was astonishingly proficient; really well done!
WIP
My quest is in my signature. Please returns the favor
Campaign - In The Streams of Inferno
Act I : The Fear That Freeze - nw-dnuzsyeey
Act II : Demons Never Sleep - nw-dbj2us96n
haha, the passing of time does not change in different time zones. The clock looks different but the arbitrary figures we gave to monitor its passing remains the same. 5 hours time here is the same as 5 hours time anywhere.
That said, bump it to the top, is seriously good.
Edit: Nevermind I have had one beer too many.
WIP
Thank you both for the kind words and feedback! Hflord, I copied your points into a 'patch' document I'm keeping - I plan to do a larger update once I've collected a bit more input, hopefully catching all the various little errors. Your combat note is especially helpful, since there were a number of encounters I am still on the fence about in terms of game mechanics, though they fit thematically.
Pallisade's Horror is tonight's adventure for me - I noticed you have your own thread for that one so I will post my review there. If I'm still awake at that point, I'll take on the Three Dials and the Fear that Freeze, but that might have to wait until tomorrow. Either way, I'll be sure to review them all.
Thanks again for playing!
Hey chinspinner - Went back and played through part 1 before reviewing 2, and I'm very glad I did. You have some really awesome character moments here, but they rely on knowledge of part 1 - and as of yet it does not look like these two quests are linked in a campaign. On one level, this works - a little time obviously passes between the two. But I still feel like these could benefit by being strung together.
SOME PROS:
- Bringing back the dog like that was an inspired decision - a simple move that breathes a TON of life the adventure. As was showing the consequences of Pindrop's character arc from part 1. You have a definite knack for character design - your major players are iconic both in behavior and physical design.
- I love the Neverwinter maps. I'm so used to seeing city adventures taking place in the already fleshed out zones like Blacklake. It is refreshing to see the gaps between the zone icons being populated like this.
SOME CONS:
- The map surrounding the temple was a bit disappointing, however, especially when held up against the rest of your adventure. There's a lot of blank space between details. Consider perhaps bringing the details closer together, and providing natural boundaries around the scene to fill in the space.
- For both of your adventures, the dialogue felt really sparse. I don't even know how much this counts as a con so much as personal preference. What you have ultimately gets the job done, and I know there are plenty of folks who want to avoid flavor text.
- the Overview text really gives no description at all about the story itself. This could prevent some players from picking your quest. You don't have to get into too much detail - just a taste of what players can expect in terms of content.
I intended to take notes, but I got wrapped up in just playing through the adventure. If there were any spelling/grammar errors, I missed them. Subscribing and looking forward to Part III.
Thank you very much for your review. I agree, I dislike that map but hit 1500 limit, it is not in a campaign because not happy with that map in particular. I might just change it.
WIP
Voivo, that was completely awesome. Absolutely loved the design of your final encounter, and the emotional weight added to the scenario. I very much enjoyed your characters - especially Tiredbeard. Your encounters were well balanced and you chose some really fun creatures to fight.
I did notice at some point that a character noted some days and months based on the Gregorian calendar. Given that you reference Forgotten Realms lore on multiple other points, there is a Faerun calendar out there somewhere that you could reference instead to make it feel less out of place. That said, I know absolutely nothing about said calendar off the top of my head, so I hardly fault you for that little nitpick.
The only pointer I have is, if you have resource points to spare for details, go in and see what you can do about some of the "doorway" areas connecting rooms from different types of maps. I can see the non-textured backs of several details, leading to some strange looking geometry. Either moving the object to better align them with the geometry of the map or adding details to obstruct the awkward looking areas will work. It's not a big issue, but the only one that stood out to me in an otherwise incredible adventure. Great work! Five stars and a tip to you on a job remarkably well done.
Now featured!
'A wayward child' is currently taken down for upgrades
Just finished your quest and posted notes on your thread. Good work! I like the twist at the end, and there were nice little touches throughout. Found a pretty decent amount of typos, but my own quest had plenty of errors that my own proofreading missed when I first published, so I don't hold that against new Foundry content. Thanks for building, and I hope you enjoy mine.
Ok, as for your quest (I noted stuff down as I went along):
- First of all, it was one of the best quest I played in AGES, not only in Neverwinter but MMOs in general. It was quite long, but I didn't notice the time as it flew by. It was pretty amazing and I left a max tip - I would gladly tip more if it was possible. Everything just worked there - the story, the great surroundings, the fact that there weren't many map markers so you had to look around a little and figure stuff on your own. The story had a slight Pratchett-like feel to it and I loved it.
- Things that I found awesome: Houses with faces, survivors transforming into monsters, rotating thermostat, poorly disguised troll (hah! that one made me lol), wizard secrets (though sadly, I didn't find them all)
- Is it only me (because I am seriously hyped up on the new Star Trek movie) but was there a ST reference in the beggining? (Scotty and admiral's prized beagle?) And HP reference with 'Magical me'?
- The very first map you spawn on, the sparkly quest path goes through the walls - maybe leave no waypoint at all?
- Survivor dialogue: "whatever they're doing it" - I don't think I got that sentence? (it might be just me?)
- Second magma monster you meet got stuck on the burning beam and didn't attack.
- The thermostat chains - are you sure that dwarf/halfling players can reach them?
- Interact-able door near one of the constructs (the room with disguised troll) - no real purpose?
- Library was a little bit too dark for my taste (but it might be my monitor setting)
- Encounters were just right - not too hard, not too easy. Maybe a little bit too much reskinned ogres for me, but I play cleric, I kill slowly :P
All in all, I subscribed and I will reccomend this quest left and right to whoever is willing to listen. You, sir, had just set the quality bar quite high for all of us newbie authors.
Now featured!
'A wayward child' is currently taken down for upgrades
Thank you very much for the kind words - especially the Pratchett comparison, that's pretty huge.
- Thank you for catching some of my references. There are a few more floating out there.
- the Survivor's dialogue is cut off mid-sentence as he starts to feel a little odd, so it is an intentionally incomplete thought. I'll try to think of a clearer way to deliver that idea.
- I hate that second magma monster. The portal chamber has given me this kind of 'stuck NPC' problems from the start, and I just can't seem to get that last one to go away. I don't have many more detail points to work with in that map, but maybe some carefully placed invisible walls might help. Worth a shot.
- Amazingly good point about the chains, I didn't even think about that. Thank you for that catch. This will make it into my next patch.
- Interactable doors have no real purpose beyond added detail and atmosphere, and to be perfectly honest, hiding a tileset alignment issue I have no control over. Once you get through that portal you can see what is blocking them.
- I'll look into the lighting in the library, but I may not change it.
- those ogres are the cause of much internal debate for me. For concept, they're perfect - but as an actual encounter they're not that hard - just time consuming, and overused. HOWEVER - only two of them are unavoidable. I might change those two to something else.
Thanks for the pointers - I'll be replaying yours tonight or tomorrow to actually leave a star rating - and it looks like you've updated since the last time I played, so I'll get to see some of those changes!
Also, as of earlier today Bonderleaf's Thorough Aggregator is officially eligible for Daily Foundry Quest Rewards - so for any still looking to do a trade, now there is an added perk! The quest is on the long side - running from 30 to 40 minutes - but from what I have been told so far, it is worth it. Looking forward to reviewing more new quests, and thanks again to everyone who has played so far!
A short solo hack-n-slash: The Dirty Dwarf
I failed in writing a review in game because I leveled up when I opened the chest . . . I'm not sure what happened but I never saw the rating screen. It's quite long, so I don't think I'll run it again. If you get the chance to run my quest, I'd appreciate it. If not, I understand as I didn't manage write a review in game. (16 min, Populist Animal Revolution NW-DBLLB920C )
Good job again.
I'll absolutely run your quest the next time I hop on to run foundry content. Don't worry about the review, I'm just happy to hear you had a good time. The disappearing review UI is a known Foundry issue. And I also have a hard time repeating longer adventures, even from authors I've subscribed to.
You were right on a few counts - in instances where you found trolls attacking NPCs, it was intentional. I wish they'd turn their attention to the player character a little sooner, but not enough to try and jury-rig something complicated to make it happen. And the star trail, while not intentional, suits my purposes. I tried finding a sweet spot in objective vs component use so that I held the player's hand a bit during points that really call for it, and let them figure things out for themselves the rest of the time.
Thanks again for playing, and for the kind words. I'll be sure to update once I've had a chance to play Populist Animal Revolution. And to anrix, I still need to get to Mage Mashers - this is my first chance to play today, and it looks like the server is down.
Code: NW-DJ5BFT52F
Author: @oortexplorer
Now eligible for Daily Foundry!
Storming Monte Hall NW-DRAQHLR54
- in the overview: "a group can play through, but some of the story is lot. (supposed to be lost? I wasn't sure)
The extra effort you took naming each and every last creature was a nice touch. I especially enjoyed the 4th wall humor in farmer Joe-Bob's "pixie" dialogue segment. And incorporating the animal combat animation issue into the gag was a smart move.
The gameplay and combat was very standard. Not subpar by any means, but nothing special. And the maps were of varying quality. With some rooms being well thought out, and other just sort of there because they have to be. One thing that struck me in particular was the (I'll try to tone down the spoilers) way to get to the last map. While very pretty, the custom details were sparse, and I didn't understand why it looked the way it did, as opposed to something with a less supernatural vibe to it. It might be a lot of work to redo, but a more mundane map with details specific to the theme of your quest, maybe some lore clickable lore items, feels like it would be a better fit.
To both of the above points, I only say this: Some of the best tongue-in-cheek satires are also love letters to their genre of choice. Right now you have an adequate delivery system for your excellent humor. A little more attention to detail and time spent fussing over the specifics of the gameplay can give the story the home it deserves. That said, this is all just opinion. Other player's mileage may vary.
Additional small notes:
- Old Bessy's cage was not lines up properly. I saw her feet sticking out the bottom.
- the "stairs" leading up to the "throne" in the last room need something to balance on. Right now they are breaking physics a bit.
- the final boss fight was too easy. If anything, I would tone down the guards and use a more intimidating encounter for him. Either that or go completely in the other direction, and make him a total wuss. Just make sure it is clear that this is done for humor's sake.
- Exploring the bar might have been better delivered with components than objectives. Right now the linear clickfest gets redundant. The humor is good enough that you can make these non-essential. Let the player find the jokes.
I hope these notes help, and while it is plenty of fun the way it is, I hope you consider revisiting some of these things.
I was chatting to a friend on VOIP while playing it, and he was highly amused at how often I was chuckling about a funny moment (Face Houses - he thinks you have too much time on your hands, I think it was pure brilliance), or ranting and OMGing at something that was making me struggle.
I have played it through once, but may give it another go to see if I missed anything (I know I missed one or two of the "exploration deed" - great idea by the way).
So here's my few comments from my first play through.
1) After completing the "Thermostat" it wasn't even close to obvious that we were supposed to back-track and go "the other way" and I spent maybe 5 mins running around the Thermostat room, and surrounding corridor trying to see if I had missed a subtle "interaction". It was only when frustration kicked in and I decided to head for the "Exit/Abort" that I finally figured it out. Maybe it is in the Dialogue Text and I just missed it.
2) The Library: now I know my monitor is low on Gamma, so I play most games at 110% Gamma, even so this room was WAY too dark to see anything.
3) The Library: the encounters seem too close to one another, I was playing TR with Cleric Companion, and my Companion managed to Aggro the entire room at once, I died. Not sure it it was planned that way.
4) The Imp Barn: nothing really wrong here gameplay wise, it just felt a bit like you'd tagged it on as an afterthought and done nothing with it. After everywhere else being so meticulously crafted to give a certain feel it kind of stuck out like a sore thumb.
5) The Troll Golem: Bravo, actually made me jump!
All The Best
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Thanks so much for the input. As for how much free time I have - I don't know about that. Once I get going on an idea I tend to skip things like television and sleep. That said, the houses themselves did not take a lot of time at all.
1) Right now I'm about 50/50 on adding an objective to steer players back. I really did want to leave points like that vague, but for that part specifically - you don't see a mandatory return through a portal object too often in foundry quests, so I think a lot of players dismiss them as "something I am done with," once they pass through. I'll make a note and decide on this later.
2)You're not the first to bring this up. I guess I have a crazy good monitor or something because from my perspective it was just the right amount of lighting. This will be addressed (at least to some degree) in the next patch.
3)You are the first I've heard to run into this problem, but then there has been a slow build in reviewers lately, so I'm glad you caught it now. I'll look at what I can do about this.
4) The impery probably won't see much change. First, because the tower is all one map, you can imagine how few details points I have left over. And second, I'm kind of personally happy with where it is at. It does what it needs to do for the importance of its part in the overall quest. And third... I used all my free time making those houses
5) Thank you! That was a spur of the moment decision - when my wife caught a glimpse of what I was doing and burst out laughing, I knew I had the right idea.
Thank you so much for the review. I've added A Missing Man to my queue and bookmarked your thread - hopefully in the next day or two I'll be able to play and provide some feedback.
Number of quests currently in campaign: 3
Number of quests planned for campaign: 4
Heavily story based with some exploration and combat.
First quest: "The Crypt of Shadows.
Short Code: NW-DBGXQLI9L
Duration: 15-20 minutes.
Most of the quest is a maze with three items needed to progress the quest in it.
Second quest: "Shadowed Motives"
Short Code: NW-DKAXWZGCG
Duration: 35-40 minutes.
Third quest: "A Visit to the Shadowfell"
NW-DQ3SYZF5F
Duration: 30-35 minutes.
Fourth quest: "The End of Shadows"
No information available for this quest currently
I ran through yours earlier today, the only reason I don't have much feedback was because it didn't really need to be improved. Congrats on getting on the "best" page by the way.
I did what now?! Excuse me, I need to log back in.
Also, oort and meysa, I ran both your quests today and left in-game reviews, but I'm way too beat to write anything tonight, so I'll transpose my notes for you guys soon. Orangefiree, thanks so much for the good news, and I'll hopefully get to your campaign in the next day or two.
Ok, I would like to hear why I got the rating you gave me. Hopefully, you'll have the time to tell me soon. :-)
Storming Monte Hall NW-DRAQHLR54
You're environments are gorgeous and surreal. The atmosphere was magic. The fights were fun and just the right challenge level. The story was funny and engaging.
You've made a new fan.
PS. if you want to review my quest it's cool, but not required. NW-DOA2BOVHS
Every time they idiot-proof something...they make better idiots.