MAGUS OF CATTALON JUDGING
Ephesos
I loved the world of this scenario. The outdoors were believable and enjoyable, towns were very well done (notable exception: the giants' towns), and the plot was pretty decent, though I disliked how little influence the magus of Cattalon had on the scenario. Also, combat did get a bit stale... and there were little idiosyncracies like the boulder trap which kills PCs even when they can cast move mountains. But there were touches like Adrian and the storyteller's quest that redeemed that. This was amazing, in short.
Rating: 8.5
Gizmo
Negatives:
- Grammar came up a handful of times and I noticed a few spelling errors
with it. Most errors were either missing connecting words like 'of' and
'in' or words like 'the' for 'then' or a missing 's'. Not that bad,
especially considering English is a second language for the author, but
still noticable.
- There were a few minor bugs that were forgettable aside from the fact
that they happened. One that comes to mind is coming out of combat mode next
to a square that I shouldn't have been able to stand on without making a
choice and being placed on that square, thus being able to bypass the
decision. I've run into this bug enough times in other scenarios to wonder
if there is no fix for it.
- There was one major bug where coming into the first town in the past,
(starts with an 'F') if you explore the outside of the town before the
middle (at least coming from the north), you fight the giants without help
before you hear the report that the giants are coming.
- There was one fatal bug in the rogues' tower where if you are in combat
mode when you step on the pressure plates, you can end up trapped by the
laser beams if you keep walking forward before the next turn. Since there
wasn't 'enough room to place' my party, I couldn't get out of combat mode to
restore to an earlier save. I had to use Ctl+Alt+Del to get out. I didn't
think about trying to use the wand while I was in combat mode so I don't
know if it works to free you, but the possibility remains that someone might
not pick up the wand and get trapped so the fatal bug remains an issue.
Positives:
+ I absolutely loved the time-traveling adventurer part of the storyline.
Even though talking about the statue in the middle of town felt out of place
at first, I laughed hard when I realized that my party was going to be the
adventurers talked about. imho The story about the adventurers should have
been incorporated better. If you skip talking to the guy next to the
statue, you miss how the first half of the scenario ties into the second
half. More people should mention the statue and the heroes of old so that
it would be almost impossible to go back in time without knowledge of them.
+ Lovely cutscenes.
+ Good attention to little details like sun setting, sun rising, shops being
closed at night(even though I found it annoying at times). The storyteller
only being out at night was another good detail moment.
+ I felt the combat and loot were well balanced though I was getting worried
about finding someone to sell to in the past. In retrospect, it was a good
reward for a sidequest, though knowing that it was going to be the reward
would have gotten the quest done sooner.
+ Special scripting for the giants was cool, especially when someone got
whalloped. It wasn't cool when I used arcane summon and got four acidic
giants that hurt my party though. That kinda sucked.
Unknown:
There were two times that I wondered if the author was taking in account,
whether or not the player would be using a ready-made four player party, or
a self made custom party. One was in the first half where during scrying of
the rogues' tower. The mage who is with you calls your mage by the name of
'Mycroft'. The other is at the end where your party tells Barough that
'there are four of us'. These two things were true with my party because I
hadn't bothered to change from what was given to me, but it's always
possible that players can change the names and the # of players they have.
Not knowing how to read script yet, I can't tell. If no thought was given
to the possibility these are negatives, if thought was given and the
scripting changes the wording (and the # of statues shown at the end)
accordingly then they are positives.
As it stands, I had much fun playing this scenario, which is what really
counts, so... 8.4.
Would be higher without the major and fatal bug found.
Rating: 8.4
Lazarus
My feelins on MoC are similar to those on BWC. The two scenarios play similarly, open world to explore and plenty of sidequests. The plot suffers for it; you have the beginning "Mages killing children" plot, the end "Bust through the giant's portal" plot, and a lot of stuff in between that isn't related to either of them. Indeed the two plots don't seem to have any purpose other than to first take you to the portal, give you a break to explore Cattalon, and then take you back to the portal.
Despite the strange progression of the story (or more like the screeching halts that the two stories hit when you travel through time) it still didn't bother me too much. Eventually I just sat back and enjoyed the time travel and dungeon crawling, and had a good time doing it.
Rating: 8.1
Salmon
I found this to be a very frustrating scenario, but I WANTED to play it and finish it. It was clear what the progression should be, and side adventures were frequently available. This is my favorite of Smoo's adventures and I found it very enjoyable. Some minor tech-glitches did lift me out of the reverie, but weren't enough to frustrate me.
Rating: 8.4
Stareye
Definitely a polished scenario, good use of graphics, and a good storyline. At times the plot was a little bit confusing and the dialogue a little short, but nothing too hindering. Town layout and scripting were superb with combat that is entirely reasonable. Although not in the acropolis of greatness, it comes close.
Rating: 8.2
I loved the world of this scenario. The outdoors were believable and enjoyable, towns were very well done (notable exception: the giants' towns), and the plot was pretty decent, though I disliked how little influence the magus of Cattalon had on the scenario. Also, combat did get a bit stale... and there were little idiosyncracies like the boulder trap which kills PCs even when they can cast move mountains. But there were touches like Adrian and the storyteller's quest that redeemed that. This was amazing, in short.
Rating: 8.5
Gizmo
Negatives:
- Grammar came up a handful of times and I noticed a few spelling errors
with it. Most errors were either missing connecting words like 'of' and
'in' or words like 'the' for 'then' or a missing 's'. Not that bad,
especially considering English is a second language for the author, but
still noticable.
- There were a few minor bugs that were forgettable aside from the fact
that they happened. One that comes to mind is coming out of combat mode next
to a square that I shouldn't have been able to stand on without making a
choice and being placed on that square, thus being able to bypass the
decision. I've run into this bug enough times in other scenarios to wonder
if there is no fix for it.
- There was one major bug where coming into the first town in the past,
(starts with an 'F') if you explore the outside of the town before the
middle (at least coming from the north), you fight the giants without help
before you hear the report that the giants are coming.
- There was one fatal bug in the rogues' tower where if you are in combat
mode when you step on the pressure plates, you can end up trapped by the
laser beams if you keep walking forward before the next turn. Since there
wasn't 'enough room to place' my party, I couldn't get out of combat mode to
restore to an earlier save. I had to use Ctl+Alt+Del to get out. I didn't
think about trying to use the wand while I was in combat mode so I don't
know if it works to free you, but the possibility remains that someone might
not pick up the wand and get trapped so the fatal bug remains an issue.
Positives:
+ I absolutely loved the time-traveling adventurer part of the storyline.
Even though talking about the statue in the middle of town felt out of place
at first, I laughed hard when I realized that my party was going to be the
adventurers talked about. imho The story about the adventurers should have
been incorporated better. If you skip talking to the guy next to the
statue, you miss how the first half of the scenario ties into the second
half. More people should mention the statue and the heroes of old so that
it would be almost impossible to go back in time without knowledge of them.
+ Lovely cutscenes.
+ Good attention to little details like sun setting, sun rising, shops being
closed at night(even though I found it annoying at times). The storyteller
only being out at night was another good detail moment.
+ I felt the combat and loot were well balanced though I was getting worried
about finding someone to sell to in the past. In retrospect, it was a good
reward for a sidequest, though knowing that it was going to be the reward
would have gotten the quest done sooner.
+ Special scripting for the giants was cool, especially when someone got
whalloped. It wasn't cool when I used arcane summon and got four acidic
giants that hurt my party though. That kinda sucked.
Unknown:
There were two times that I wondered if the author was taking in account,
whether or not the player would be using a ready-made four player party, or
a self made custom party. One was in the first half where during scrying of
the rogues' tower. The mage who is with you calls your mage by the name of
'Mycroft'. The other is at the end where your party tells Barough that
'there are four of us'. These two things were true with my party because I
hadn't bothered to change from what was given to me, but it's always
possible that players can change the names and the # of players they have.
Not knowing how to read script yet, I can't tell. If no thought was given
to the possibility these are negatives, if thought was given and the
scripting changes the wording (and the # of statues shown at the end)
accordingly then they are positives.
As it stands, I had much fun playing this scenario, which is what really
counts, so... 8.4.
Would be higher without the major and fatal bug found.
Rating: 8.4
Lazarus
My feelins on MoC are similar to those on BWC. The two scenarios play similarly, open world to explore and plenty of sidequests. The plot suffers for it; you have the beginning "Mages killing children" plot, the end "Bust through the giant's portal" plot, and a lot of stuff in between that isn't related to either of them. Indeed the two plots don't seem to have any purpose other than to first take you to the portal, give you a break to explore Cattalon, and then take you back to the portal.
Despite the strange progression of the story (or more like the screeching halts that the two stories hit when you travel through time) it still didn't bother me too much. Eventually I just sat back and enjoyed the time travel and dungeon crawling, and had a good time doing it.
Rating: 8.1
Salmon
I found this to be a very frustrating scenario, but I WANTED to play it and finish it. It was clear what the progression should be, and side adventures were frequently available. This is my favorite of Smoo's adventures and I found it very enjoyable. Some minor tech-glitches did lift me out of the reverie, but weren't enough to frustrate me.
Rating: 8.4
Stareye
Definitely a polished scenario, good use of graphics, and a good storyline. At times the plot was a little bit confusing and the dialogue a little short, but nothing too hindering. Town layout and scripting were superb with combat that is entirely reasonable. Although not in the acropolis of greatness, it comes close.
Rating: 8.2