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- Mar 2, 2014
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Hive Journey 7 - Gideon - Wrath of the Olds Ones Part 1; RPG by Homor
I stumbled across this Map when I found the second part to be pending. It has been rejected. I'm really curious as to why.
First Impression
Classic beginning. I'm some dude in a town, I'm a Paladin with a skill-mix of Mountain King and Blademaster.
The talk-to mechanic is something to get used to but this I accomplish rather quickly.
I run around town and click on every NPC there is, stumble accross a side-quest for the farmer and then proceed to talk to the towns chief.
They ask me to seek help from a nearby friendly town but first I circle around the walls to discover some shaman that has trouble with some ogres.
My skills suit me very well to take on any challenge, the orbs that fall down make be basically invinsible as long as I don't act stupid.
Gameplay
You follow a small series of quests and discover the map along the way. You kill creeps, fulfill some quests and kill even more creeps.
There is not much of a difference to be found in comparisson to the original Rexxar-Campaign so you can call this a classic RPG-style map. Of course the Rexxar Campaign was bigger, but there's nothing wrong with a small map.
If you're a fan of RPG maps you will certainly enjoy this one except maybe for the beginning as you start off very slow.
If you can gather the 5.000 gold to get the second hero (Pandaren Masterbrewer) the Gameplay becomes more enjoyable as you have more skills to activate and manage.
Including more enemies with skills which this map is lacking would improve the fun there is to be had.
The last fights against semi-big armies are quite fun and got the right balance but you have to know what you're doing. Some will still find it too easy.
Story
The Story is basic, you live in a town that has only one problem, the water-supply. Suddenly you discover a way bigger problem, a guy named Gideon who is responsible for the undead roaming.
I actually got invested in the story and hope the continuation in Part 2 will be satisfying. Regardless however the Story has no plot holes and makes sense all around. Though I would've liked there to be a different story-telling approach then just having characters spit out the facts.
Nothing wrong with the story, if someone got a problem with it, it's probably because there are way better explained and bigger storys around which however would be an unfair comparisson given the small scale of this map.
Characters
To me the Characters appeared to be interesting, the way they talked and acted differed, they felt less like blank slates which just give you lore and quests. I actually remember that Pandaren well for his gambling and wife issues, I remember that goblin chief that promised me the hand of his ugly ass daughter if I help, I remember Gideon and wonder what he's ultimatively up to.
The Developer certainly has fun creating characters. If he'd put the same effort into the skills of the playable characters less people would have issues with the map I guess.
However I prefer good characters over new skillsets the same way I rather have a nice story than some new way to play warcraft. I also enjoy Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger far more than Final Fantasy XII or Chrono Cross.
Graphics
Nice. I liked the Goblin-skins and was blown away by the Abomination-Hero. The Terrain is good and serves it's purpose, the city feels like a city, the burned out camp looks like a burnout camp.
The Orbs are shiny, the different locations feel right. Like this one.
Of course the Graphics can always be improved but also easily deproved if too much stuff is included that is not necessary.
Exploration
Very explorational. Nice things to discover, the rumors of things like the merchant in the woods keeps you searching. I didn't like the give-away by the goblin-chief, I discovered him by myself and this should be expected.
I have to admit that I felt that there is plenty of room for more stuff to be included, especially if the map was bigger. Oh god, I'd love this map to be bigger, hero cap 20, more treasure, more enemies, more secrets, more things to discover but as it is the explorational value factoring in the size of the map is high.
Originality - (hrmpf... this map and its comments made me include this Section....)
Well, this is a classic map. Yes it lacks originality. Yes the skills are stock, yes the Heroes are knows.
But there are new skins, some items are actually new, the characters are new (speaking of personality).
I bet if the original game had more different heroes/items/etc, Homer would've included many different types of them in a balanced fashion.
This map will not make you jump out of your seat because of innovation, other than that you won't feel like you played this one before.
Quests
As already stated there could be more quests with more rewards and more characters but I'm glad that the little quests and characters there are are good and enjoyable.
The Sidequests are only to be found in the beginning which I found strange. You get your minor reward as it is expected with first sidequests but one wonders where the other quests are.
For example the merchant in the woods could have a quest for you, some guy in the mercenary camp could have a quest for you, the fearful Necromancer in the upper right corner could have a last side-quest for you (rewarding a strong or useful item for the last fight).
The Quests that there are with the people who give them to you are nothing to complain about. It felt natural how the Questlog updated.
Layout
Nice, everything fits, the landscape is sufficient, the placement of everything (mercenary camp, Goblin camp, cities) makes sense.
Items
There are 3 different spots to purchase Items with much space between them. This fact would allow the enemies in between to be stronger which I suggest while keeping the lifepoints the same (nobody likes a dragged on fight because of too many hit-points).
The Items are mostly defensive which is necessary because you don't get much help otherwise. I'd also suggest limiting the player to only be able to use one armor/shield/gauntlets at a time.
The Item spread it fine but I still suggest you decrease the drop rate of life and mana orbs.
Bugs
I did not encounter any bugs. I also didn't try to cause any by doing stupid things (like killing quest-givers or anyone not hostile).
Just to remind everybody: For a long time the original warcraft III campaign could contain game-breaking bugs if you tried really hard to cause them. Before I negatively rate such bugs I'd rather ask you why you want to cause them.
Final Verdict: 4/5
Krolan
The Twisted
I stumbled across this Map when I found the second part to be pending. It has been rejected. I'm really curious as to why.
First Impression
Classic beginning. I'm some dude in a town, I'm a Paladin with a skill-mix of Mountain King and Blademaster.
The talk-to mechanic is something to get used to but this I accomplish rather quickly.
I run around town and click on every NPC there is, stumble accross a side-quest for the farmer and then proceed to talk to the towns chief.
They ask me to seek help from a nearby friendly town but first I circle around the walls to discover some shaman that has trouble with some ogres.
My skills suit me very well to take on any challenge, the orbs that fall down make be basically invinsible as long as I don't act stupid.
Gameplay
You follow a small series of quests and discover the map along the way. You kill creeps, fulfill some quests and kill even more creeps.
There is not much of a difference to be found in comparisson to the original Rexxar-Campaign so you can call this a classic RPG-style map. Of course the Rexxar Campaign was bigger, but there's nothing wrong with a small map.
If you're a fan of RPG maps you will certainly enjoy this one except maybe for the beginning as you start off very slow.
If you can gather the 5.000 gold to get the second hero (Pandaren Masterbrewer) the Gameplay becomes more enjoyable as you have more skills to activate and manage.
Including more enemies with skills which this map is lacking would improve the fun there is to be had.
The last fights against semi-big armies are quite fun and got the right balance but you have to know what you're doing. Some will still find it too easy.
Story
The Story is basic, you live in a town that has only one problem, the water-supply. Suddenly you discover a way bigger problem, a guy named Gideon who is responsible for the undead roaming.
I actually got invested in the story and hope the continuation in Part 2 will be satisfying. Regardless however the Story has no plot holes and makes sense all around. Though I would've liked there to be a different story-telling approach then just having characters spit out the facts.
Nothing wrong with the story, if someone got a problem with it, it's probably because there are way better explained and bigger storys around which however would be an unfair comparisson given the small scale of this map.
Characters
To me the Characters appeared to be interesting, the way they talked and acted differed, they felt less like blank slates which just give you lore and quests. I actually remember that Pandaren well for his gambling and wife issues, I remember that goblin chief that promised me the hand of his ugly ass daughter if I help, I remember Gideon and wonder what he's ultimatively up to.
The Developer certainly has fun creating characters. If he'd put the same effort into the skills of the playable characters less people would have issues with the map I guess.
However I prefer good characters over new skillsets the same way I rather have a nice story than some new way to play warcraft. I also enjoy Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger far more than Final Fantasy XII or Chrono Cross.
Graphics
Nice. I liked the Goblin-skins and was blown away by the Abomination-Hero. The Terrain is good and serves it's purpose, the city feels like a city, the burned out camp looks like a burnout camp.
The Orbs are shiny, the different locations feel right. Like this one.
Of course the Graphics can always be improved but also easily deproved if too much stuff is included that is not necessary.
Exploration
Very explorational. Nice things to discover, the rumors of things like the merchant in the woods keeps you searching. I didn't like the give-away by the goblin-chief, I discovered him by myself and this should be expected.
I have to admit that I felt that there is plenty of room for more stuff to be included, especially if the map was bigger. Oh god, I'd love this map to be bigger, hero cap 20, more treasure, more enemies, more secrets, more things to discover but as it is the explorational value factoring in the size of the map is high.
Originality - (hrmpf... this map and its comments made me include this Section....)
Well, this is a classic map. Yes it lacks originality. Yes the skills are stock, yes the Heroes are knows.
But there are new skins, some items are actually new, the characters are new (speaking of personality).
I bet if the original game had more different heroes/items/etc, Homer would've included many different types of them in a balanced fashion.
This map will not make you jump out of your seat because of innovation, other than that you won't feel like you played this one before.
Quests
As already stated there could be more quests with more rewards and more characters but I'm glad that the little quests and characters there are are good and enjoyable.
The Sidequests are only to be found in the beginning which I found strange. You get your minor reward as it is expected with first sidequests but one wonders where the other quests are.
For example the merchant in the woods could have a quest for you, some guy in the mercenary camp could have a quest for you, the fearful Necromancer in the upper right corner could have a last side-quest for you (rewarding a strong or useful item for the last fight).
The Quests that there are with the people who give them to you are nothing to complain about. It felt natural how the Questlog updated.
Layout
Nice, everything fits, the landscape is sufficient, the placement of everything (mercenary camp, Goblin camp, cities) makes sense.
Items
There are 3 different spots to purchase Items with much space between them. This fact would allow the enemies in between to be stronger which I suggest while keeping the lifepoints the same (nobody likes a dragged on fight because of too many hit-points).
The Items are mostly defensive which is necessary because you don't get much help otherwise. I'd also suggest limiting the player to only be able to use one armor/shield/gauntlets at a time.
The Item spread it fine but I still suggest you decrease the drop rate of life and mana orbs.
Bugs
I did not encounter any bugs. I also didn't try to cause any by doing stupid things (like killing quest-givers or anyone not hostile).
Just to remind everybody: For a long time the original warcraft III campaign could contain game-breaking bugs if you tried really hard to cause them. Before I negatively rate such bugs I'd rather ask you why you want to cause them.
Final Verdict: 4/5
Krolan
The Twisted
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