EXODUS JUDGING
Gizmo
Overview:
As a whole, I'm not sure how to take this scenario. As a piece of scripting
artwork, it's topnotch. As a literary example, it shows fairly good flow.
As a story, however, it's somewhere between historical parody and downright
offensive. It seemed like the author was trying to mock religion in general
while interspouting his own beliefs. (Yes, I made that word up.) Yet in the
midst of the, shall we say, heresy, the perspective put on certain events
were at least interesting if not thought provoking.
+As said before, scripting is topnotch. Not entirely bug free but this
scenario is busy with technicality that puts it a notch above the regular
scenario.
+Spelling, grammar, and wording are all very good. I only found two errors
in all of the multitude of dialogue. (recorded if author wants to fix them)
There was one minor aspect I will discuss later.
+The special spells used just for this scenario were great. The resurrection
of the lost BoE spells was welcomed by me. I still miss Major Blessing but
finally being able to haste everyone at the same time made the game more
enjoyable. I also liked how the blessings helped all friendly characters
too.
+Combat was very difficult, and different strategies are required to defeat
different battles (until the end where Death Knell killed everyone). I, for
one, while still appalled by the premise, didn't find the berekh hive that
difficult a battle. After casting sanctuary on my party I slowly led my
party down to the middle and mostly let them kill each other while I hung
back. I got through no problem first try. Now the slimes... that was
harder. It took me two restores to figure out Destroy was the way to go.
So the challenge really lies in figuring out the strategy before you get
killed or run out of invulnerability potions.
-It's probably because I just finished Bainn's scenario but I found the
'ancient' everything redundancy really annoying. This language is more
ancient then the one you learned. Now this one is the most ancient, and
this one is so ancient you can barely understand it. I get it, everything is
really, really, really, really, really old. Now quit telling me.
-I ran across a handful of bugs in the scennario. None were that major but
they seemed to pick up frequency as the game wore on like the author was
trying to hurry or something. I felt the same about town design. The
earlier towns seemed to be more thought out then the latter ones and a few
felt really empty. It brings home the point that this scenario was finished
for the contest and some corners were cut to make that deadline.
-The most significant bug I found has to doo with the special spells. For
everyone except my first character, they usually didn't use action points.
A bug that I abused mercilessly, usually killing all my foes before they had
time to cast their first spell. I don't know whether to complain about it
or thank Kel fo it. I probably wouldn't have liked combat as much without
this unfair advantage but unfair is unfair.
-Also for some reason, my first character, who has pretty much the same
level stats as everyone else, seemed to lose most of his action points.
Sometimes he wouldn't get any in a round even hasted. If this was
intentional, like being a result of the demon's curse, it should have been
incorporated/explained/revealed better. If it wasn't intentional, it was
pretty annoying.
-I already discussed some of my feelings abbout the storyline. Here I just
want to state that 'family friendly' is a positive aspect for a game that's
geared towards kids and parts of this scenario fell well below 'family
friendly'. There are some parts that even as an adult, I'd rather not have
experienced. I know it's different strokes for different folks, but some
strokes you should really just keep to yourself.
Conclusion:
The scenario is well made and well told, but it's a story I wouldn't mind
never hearing again. Replay value is very low. It did make me want to play
its prequel, though. My enjoyment of the game waxed and waned throughout.
Rating: 7.7
Salmon
I am unable to finish this scenario because the combat difficulty is beyond my ability. I lack the intimate knowledge of the combat mechanics and engine to make proper decisions against some ridiculous monsters. Through beta-testing I am aware of the depth of story, and award points solely on the design and story. This scenario is unplayable except by a few tactitians, without resorting to cheating through re-loads, level editing, or scenario editing.
Rating: 7.5
Stareye
This scenario causes me great conflict. The mastery in the scripting was truly awesome, some of the most advanced yet.
However, the combat, well, I hated it -- it was just plain annoying. Some creativity, but essentially just hacking at mounds of HP that summon more mounds of HP. The scripting made combat interesting, but it was overly punative. The storyline was decent, although nothing too great in my book. In a lot of ways this reminds me of Spy's Quest, but with a decade of designing experience in Blades behind it. Definitely ahead of it's time, but it felt too Doom Moon like at times. On one hand,
I want to congratulate the designer, but on the other, I despised the experience. As conflicted as this is, Exodus failed the fun test in my book. A lot of effort put in, but unfortunately not enough in making things reasonable.
Rating: 7.9
\Thuryl
Has a few bugs, but less buggy than E:R or RA, which is pretty impressive given its size. The plot is serviceable if a little overwrought at times, and the scenario manages to strike a decent balance between the main plot and sidequests. Combat doesn't require a particularly broad range of tactics (with the exception of a handful of melee-immune enemies and a couple of gimmick bosses), and gets rather easy toward the end as super-powered items and special spells become available, but hey, how many chances does one get to legitimately tool around with a level-100 party in a decent scenario?
Rating: 8.7
Tyranicus
Massively impressive with a nice plot and some fun areas, but also some absolutely horrible combat and plot elements.
Rating: 6.2
Overview:
As a whole, I'm not sure how to take this scenario. As a piece of scripting
artwork, it's topnotch. As a literary example, it shows fairly good flow.
As a story, however, it's somewhere between historical parody and downright
offensive. It seemed like the author was trying to mock religion in general
while interspouting his own beliefs. (Yes, I made that word up.) Yet in the
midst of the, shall we say, heresy, the perspective put on certain events
were at least interesting if not thought provoking.
+As said before, scripting is topnotch. Not entirely bug free but this
scenario is busy with technicality that puts it a notch above the regular
scenario.
+Spelling, grammar, and wording are all very good. I only found two errors
in all of the multitude of dialogue. (recorded if author wants to fix them)
There was one minor aspect I will discuss later.
+The special spells used just for this scenario were great. The resurrection
of the lost BoE spells was welcomed by me. I still miss Major Blessing but
finally being able to haste everyone at the same time made the game more
enjoyable. I also liked how the blessings helped all friendly characters
too.
+Combat was very difficult, and different strategies are required to defeat
different battles (until the end where Death Knell killed everyone). I, for
one, while still appalled by the premise, didn't find the berekh hive that
difficult a battle. After casting sanctuary on my party I slowly led my
party down to the middle and mostly let them kill each other while I hung
back. I got through no problem first try. Now the slimes... that was
harder. It took me two restores to figure out Destroy was the way to go.
So the challenge really lies in figuring out the strategy before you get
killed or run out of invulnerability potions.
-It's probably because I just finished Bainn's scenario but I found the
'ancient' everything redundancy really annoying. This language is more
ancient then the one you learned. Now this one is the most ancient, and
this one is so ancient you can barely understand it. I get it, everything is
really, really, really, really, really old. Now quit telling me.
-I ran across a handful of bugs in the scennario. None were that major but
they seemed to pick up frequency as the game wore on like the author was
trying to hurry or something. I felt the same about town design. The
earlier towns seemed to be more thought out then the latter ones and a few
felt really empty. It brings home the point that this scenario was finished
for the contest and some corners were cut to make that deadline.
-The most significant bug I found has to doo with the special spells. For
everyone except my first character, they usually didn't use action points.
A bug that I abused mercilessly, usually killing all my foes before they had
time to cast their first spell. I don't know whether to complain about it
or thank Kel fo it. I probably wouldn't have liked combat as much without
this unfair advantage but unfair is unfair.
-Also for some reason, my first character, who has pretty much the same
level stats as everyone else, seemed to lose most of his action points.
Sometimes he wouldn't get any in a round even hasted. If this was
intentional, like being a result of the demon's curse, it should have been
incorporated/explained/revealed better. If it wasn't intentional, it was
pretty annoying.
-I already discussed some of my feelings abbout the storyline. Here I just
want to state that 'family friendly' is a positive aspect for a game that's
geared towards kids and parts of this scenario fell well below 'family
friendly'. There are some parts that even as an adult, I'd rather not have
experienced. I know it's different strokes for different folks, but some
strokes you should really just keep to yourself.
Conclusion:
The scenario is well made and well told, but it's a story I wouldn't mind
never hearing again. Replay value is very low. It did make me want to play
its prequel, though. My enjoyment of the game waxed and waned throughout.
Rating: 7.7
Salmon
I am unable to finish this scenario because the combat difficulty is beyond my ability. I lack the intimate knowledge of the combat mechanics and engine to make proper decisions against some ridiculous monsters. Through beta-testing I am aware of the depth of story, and award points solely on the design and story. This scenario is unplayable except by a few tactitians, without resorting to cheating through re-loads, level editing, or scenario editing.
Rating: 7.5
Stareye
This scenario causes me great conflict. The mastery in the scripting was truly awesome, some of the most advanced yet.
However, the combat, well, I hated it -- it was just plain annoying. Some creativity, but essentially just hacking at mounds of HP that summon more mounds of HP. The scripting made combat interesting, but it was overly punative. The storyline was decent, although nothing too great in my book. In a lot of ways this reminds me of Spy's Quest, but with a decade of designing experience in Blades behind it. Definitely ahead of it's time, but it felt too Doom Moon like at times. On one hand,
I want to congratulate the designer, but on the other, I despised the experience. As conflicted as this is, Exodus failed the fun test in my book. A lot of effort put in, but unfortunately not enough in making things reasonable.
Rating: 7.9
\Thuryl
Has a few bugs, but less buggy than E:R or RA, which is pretty impressive given its size. The plot is serviceable if a little overwrought at times, and the scenario manages to strike a decent balance between the main plot and sidequests. Combat doesn't require a particularly broad range of tactics (with the exception of a handful of melee-immune enemies and a couple of gimmick bosses), and gets rather easy toward the end as super-powered items and special spells become available, but hey, how many chances does one get to legitimately tool around with a level-100 party in a decent scenario?
Rating: 8.7
Tyranicus
Massively impressive with a nice plot and some fun areas, but also some absolutely horrible combat and plot elements.
Rating: 6.2