- Joined
- Mar 2, 2014
- Messages
- 127
Hive Journey 8 - Sweet Revenge; RPG by Imago
First Impression
As I begin playing I'm a shadow. I notice the beautiful art-design of the 3 Heroes as well as the new Menu-appearence.
I choose the agility-based hero and am suddenly between quite a few obelisks. I have to choose a bonus and decide to go with 10% evasion. Impressed by this mechanic I move into the portal that appears and begin my quest.
Kel'Thuzad wants me to kill Sylvanas (why? I like Sylvanas...). He summoned me probably from the abyss and I guess he's my master.
As I talk to the shadow he asks me to collect the remains of some ex-heroes and bring them to the grave.
Wolfs attack, And they're pretty challenging for first level but I manage to kill them. The dark souls of the failed heroes give me even more quests. One wants me to kill 15 wolves, very convenient as they're the only ones I can stand against.
I begin to struggle with the healing. I got some potion that I can use every 2 minutes and 15 seconds but in general I now have to go hit&run. The search for a fountain of life is of no success.
I move on, finish all quests and get a new skill, my attribute points I use mainly on mana, since my skills are far more powerful than my attack in this early stage.
Gameplay
First off I have to say that this is a 2-player map which I played alone so my experience with this is not ideal.
The way this map is played is a little odd. Basically you run around doing sidequests which give you shadow shards to improve your skills. If you're prepared you can kill the chosen enemy, which mostly respawn, pretty fast but usualy end up with no mana pretty soon. If you already used your potion it's either waiting to use it again or the risk of dying while attempting hit&run.
Levelling up heals you so killing opponents with higher level will let you play this map more efficiently. The waittime for potion still bugs me.
On the other hand, you actually cannot loose. Dying results in a 20 second wait after which you appear where you died with a gold penality which increases everytime you die. Once the penality took 100 gold at once it stops happening and you can pretty much die as often as you want and you will since its faster than standing around waiting for the potion to be usable again*.
Other than that the skills and the way they appear at certain levels are really unique and fun. The notion of upgrading skills and weapons as you go feels right and you will be excited as a new skill or equipment appears.
The alchemy feels a little useless as soon as you got the potion you want, since you only can carry one with you (except in your backpack, where you can't use it)
The Map is pretty challenging. Surely really fun because of that with 2 players, a little too hard as single player and draging. For singleplayer this map could be improved by simply placing some kind of foutain of life/mana.
I didn't know that the penality is gone after certain amounts of deaths and lost much gold because of it. Could have avoided this by simply dying 10 times on the wolves with 0 gold.
Story
The Story appears to be very interesting but is not really outlined. Nontheless theres nothing bad to be said about it.
The little side-storys about the dead heroes are really fun.
Characters
There's not much we find out about the main characters and why they're here. However the Dialog feels genuine and the dead heroes are the most interesting ones.
Kinda makes you wish there were flashback-cinematics. I'll remember those.
Graphics
BEAUTIFUL! I was stunned by this, everything looks awesome, there's a kinda creepy and dim atmosphere, the Heroes look awesome as well as the enemies, the locations are carefully designed and look real.
High Quality, perfect.
Exploration
Another strong aspect of this map, one will constantly find some new quests/enemies/locations.
For those who like to search through the whole map this is a welcome experience. As you discover more and more of the map and uncover secrets you get rewarded. I don't see a way this could've been done better. Great work.
Quests
The main quest is crafted professionaly as well as each single side quest, Since you depend on side-quests to get your skills improved there are more to be found as one would expect in this map given the relatively small size.
The variety made me play on even though I had some frustrating moments every now and then.
Layout
Every inch of the map is used and each road/location is seperated carefully from the others. The space between enemies is just perfect and given the many sidequests this is really a good example of how to do this right.
I rarely encounter this kind of good placement with custom maps.
Items
All the Items are custom and come in 3 quality levels. You can only use the equipment that is meant for your class, while each class has 3 different sets which can be upgraded. Rings can be worn 2 at a time by each character.
Very Balanced. Just wish I could've mixed up all Items but it also wouldn't have made sense if the archer carries a sword with benefit.
Because of the Items this map feels very original.
Bugs
I encountered one bug but it's a major one.
When I finally entered sylvanas chamber after I killed her the map wasn't over. Also By going into the center of the room I was able to trigger the cinematic which I already saw over and over, while there was no sylvanas anymore. Because of that I ultimatively couldn't finish this map.
Maybe it was becaus I didn't kill the wolves, or maybe because I lured sylvanas out. As Sylvanas attacked me she was not invulnerable but my character reacted as if she was (running away instead of attacking). Nontheless my character attacked when commanded.
Final Verdict; 3/5
Krolan
The Twisted
First Impression
As I begin playing I'm a shadow. I notice the beautiful art-design of the 3 Heroes as well as the new Menu-appearence.
I choose the agility-based hero and am suddenly between quite a few obelisks. I have to choose a bonus and decide to go with 10% evasion. Impressed by this mechanic I move into the portal that appears and begin my quest.
Kel'Thuzad wants me to kill Sylvanas (why? I like Sylvanas...). He summoned me probably from the abyss and I guess he's my master.
As I talk to the shadow he asks me to collect the remains of some ex-heroes and bring them to the grave.
Wolfs attack, And they're pretty challenging for first level but I manage to kill them. The dark souls of the failed heroes give me even more quests. One wants me to kill 15 wolves, very convenient as they're the only ones I can stand against.
I begin to struggle with the healing. I got some potion that I can use every 2 minutes and 15 seconds but in general I now have to go hit&run. The search for a fountain of life is of no success.
I move on, finish all quests and get a new skill, my attribute points I use mainly on mana, since my skills are far more powerful than my attack in this early stage.
Gameplay
First off I have to say that this is a 2-player map which I played alone so my experience with this is not ideal.
The way this map is played is a little odd. Basically you run around doing sidequests which give you shadow shards to improve your skills. If you're prepared you can kill the chosen enemy, which mostly respawn, pretty fast but usualy end up with no mana pretty soon. If you already used your potion it's either waiting to use it again or the risk of dying while attempting hit&run.
Levelling up heals you so killing opponents with higher level will let you play this map more efficiently. The waittime for potion still bugs me.
On the other hand, you actually cannot loose. Dying results in a 20 second wait after which you appear where you died with a gold penality which increases everytime you die. Once the penality took 100 gold at once it stops happening and you can pretty much die as often as you want and you will since its faster than standing around waiting for the potion to be usable again*.
Other than that the skills and the way they appear at certain levels are really unique and fun. The notion of upgrading skills and weapons as you go feels right and you will be excited as a new skill or equipment appears.
The alchemy feels a little useless as soon as you got the potion you want, since you only can carry one with you (except in your backpack, where you can't use it)
The Map is pretty challenging. Surely really fun because of that with 2 players, a little too hard as single player and draging. For singleplayer this map could be improved by simply placing some kind of foutain of life/mana.
I didn't know that the penality is gone after certain amounts of deaths and lost much gold because of it. Could have avoided this by simply dying 10 times on the wolves with 0 gold.
Story
The Story appears to be very interesting but is not really outlined. Nontheless theres nothing bad to be said about it.
The little side-storys about the dead heroes are really fun.
Characters
There's not much we find out about the main characters and why they're here. However the Dialog feels genuine and the dead heroes are the most interesting ones.
Kinda makes you wish there were flashback-cinematics. I'll remember those.
Graphics
BEAUTIFUL! I was stunned by this, everything looks awesome, there's a kinda creepy and dim atmosphere, the Heroes look awesome as well as the enemies, the locations are carefully designed and look real.
High Quality, perfect.
Exploration
Another strong aspect of this map, one will constantly find some new quests/enemies/locations.
For those who like to search through the whole map this is a welcome experience. As you discover more and more of the map and uncover secrets you get rewarded. I don't see a way this could've been done better. Great work.
Quests
The main quest is crafted professionaly as well as each single side quest, Since you depend on side-quests to get your skills improved there are more to be found as one would expect in this map given the relatively small size.
The variety made me play on even though I had some frustrating moments every now and then.
Layout
Every inch of the map is used and each road/location is seperated carefully from the others. The space between enemies is just perfect and given the many sidequests this is really a good example of how to do this right.
I rarely encounter this kind of good placement with custom maps.
Items
All the Items are custom and come in 3 quality levels. You can only use the equipment that is meant for your class, while each class has 3 different sets which can be upgraded. Rings can be worn 2 at a time by each character.
Very Balanced. Just wish I could've mixed up all Items but it also wouldn't have made sense if the archer carries a sword with benefit.
Because of the Items this map feels very original.
Bugs
I encountered one bug but it's a major one.
When I finally entered sylvanas chamber after I killed her the map wasn't over. Also By going into the center of the room I was able to trigger the cinematic which I already saw over and over, while there was no sylvanas anymore. Because of that I ultimatively couldn't finish this map.
Maybe it was becaus I didn't kill the wolves, or maybe because I lured sylvanas out. As Sylvanas attacked me she was not invulnerable but my character reacted as if she was (running away instead of attacking). Nontheless my character attacked when commanded.
Final Verdict; 3/5
Krolan
The Twisted
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