Mathias Part II - Aftermath

[Moderator]

VGsatomi: Approved. Part of the lengthly mathais campaign.

 

[PrinceOfThaWest]

Looks really nice, but why haven't you placed these chapters in Mathias - Return of the King?

 

[Savager Potato]

I have contacted the site and claimed the moral right under copyright law to be recognised as the original creator of this campaign. To substantiate my claim, I refer to this link
https://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/map-development-202/mathias-chronicles-redux-30883/ . Whilst I am happy for the campaign to be distributed, I am not aware of any material difference between or modification to the campaign I created and that presently uploaded by Scott Fravell "Frostmourn". I have no connection whatsoever with Scott Fravell "Frostmourn" I have not authorised Scott Fravell "Frostmourn" to use my intellectual property. I reside in New Zealand and many of the place and character names used in the campaign are based on actual New Zealand locations.I retired from Warcraft III modding and campaign development some years ago and am not active in the community. However simply because I am not active doesn't mean it is ok for peple to rip off my work!

 

[deepstrasz]

I don't quite understand why this wasn't included in one of the other campaigns but hey. It's as buggy as the previous one.

chap18:
-how are you supposed to revive the three heroes without any gold and a Gold Mine kilometers away while the enemy can be anywhere in the woods?
-heroes can't use spells...

chap19:
-how did they know where Malakai was kept? Why would Mathias not have the Soul Gem with him at all times?
-why would people live and be on the streets where undead roam free?
-Duncan must avoid the other two male heroes but not the allied undead?
-the allied undead do not do a thing...
-right, so, Mathias was absent this level but came at the end!?

chap20:
-destroying the yellow Great Hall marks part of the quest completed although the yellow AI still rebuilds... The same for the other bases

 

[Savager Potato]

First of all, I, Savage Potato am the creator of this work, not that piece of $#%& plagiarist Fravell. I have asserted my copyright in the past and the Hive has recognised this. The kiwi place names and butchered Te Reo Maori are significant to me which is why they have been used for character and place names. Secondly, things have moved a long way since the early patches when I created this way back in the day. Blizzard updating patches has caused most of the bugs and as I gave up maintaining the campaign back around 2006 it probably runs pretty messily now.

I'm thrilled that people are still interested in playing and reviewing this, but please be aware that it is an artifact of its time. My personal favourite campaign was Kel'Zarach's Tale.

Another author Med.mapguy has (with my permission) updated some of my works. If you enjoyed this campaign you might want to try his updated maps.

In hindsight, I probably should have used "orcish" rather than "orcen". I am spending my mapmaking retirement playing WoW.

 

[Anaxie]

Hi savage
I'm Scott and I was 16 when I compiled all your loose single maps that didn't even form a campaign.

Stop getting so butt hurt over a decade later. I never claimed it. I was 16 and just made them into campaigns and uploaded them.

Thanks. Mystery solved. You're welcome your maps would be extinct had I never made them campaigns in 2005

 

[Shar Dundred]

Map: Mathias Part II - Aftermath
Version: 1.00
WarCraft III Version used to play: 1.30.1

Review
by Shar Dundred

Story

Mathias II - Aftermath is a very short campaign that takes place "in the aftermath" of Mathias Part II - Return of the King. I am still not sure why this is not just part of the other campaign in the first place. It starts with a named peon (who will never be mentioned again, it does not even matter if he dies in this mission or anything either) who witnesses the Orcs' retreat and then starts gathering other peons and fleeing warriors to gather enough gold to revive the heroes. From a gameplay perspective, this mission is interesting, from a story perspective it is... well, you could also just have said that the heroes escaped instead. It tells you something about how heroes in the WarCraft universe die if not revived within a certain time and area and all in the quest log but... Yeah, not saying very much. The second mission gives a far better story. Duncan, disguised as Mathias using a Warlock's spell, tries to infiltrate the capital of Lordaeron to give the Soul Gem with Malakai inside to the Orcs. He then faces the Cult of the Damned who now have their own paladins and seat right within the capital. After striking down one of them, taking the soul Gem, he encounters Larissa, who had been with him earlier. She tells him about how the Orcs had left her to die and she barely escaped, asking him not to "dare saying that Mathias was as bad as they were". Then Undead and Demons, led by the few remaining dreadlords, invade the town and Duncan, still in disguise, helps the defenders. When the attack is worn off and Duncan is about to leave, the real Mathias arrives and stops him, asking him to return to his side, now that the war was over. Duncan agrees to do so if Mathias let him return the Soul Gem to the Orcs. In the final mission of this, Duncan brings the Soul Gem to the Blackrock Clan - but asks that they in return remove Malakai's right hand man, Ushgar, from his position. They intend to do so peacefully, but things escalate - as calculated by Kel'Zarach - and the Orcs quickly fight. Ushgar manages to defeat and imprison the leaders of the Blackrock Clan and brings the Soul Gem into safety. The campaign is very short and really should just have been added to the first one. The first mission is not saying anything storywise except for being a big sign saying "the three heroes you had to defeat as an optional quest in the big battle at the end of the last campaign are still alive". The second one is better, explaining how Duncan returns to Mathias (though if I were him I would NOT have given the Orcs the Soul Gem, even if Duncan had been involved in the plan to make the Orcs fight each other, he should not have done it the way he had)

Terrain

The design of the city is kinda nice, the rest is okay too, in my opinion, but still rather simple overall, I think.

Gameplay

The first mission has a pretty unique gameplay, with the gold mines being far away and you relying mostly on the fleeing units to build up your army since you start with zero resources and need your gold to revive the heroes. It has a non-existant story, but it was pretty fun from a gameplay perspective. The second one started as a micro mission with only one infiltrating the city and then turned into a macro mission with base building and, again, the battle against melee AI. The third mission is a pure macro mission, for the last time facing melee AI. I actually feel like this time, it does not matter too much that the AI is using Frozen Throne units (for those who do not know yet, in the past, AI had always been using melee AI and was limited by the techtree options to make it play a certain way, the Frozen Throne expansion, released AFTER the creation of the maps, had damaged that system both for the AI and the player). The only issue here is the Blood Mage hero.

Overall

I can only repeat that I think the three chapters here would have been better off being simply part of the other Part II. I think the second and third mission are okay, with the second being the best of the three, but the first one is just... I don't say I don't like it, but it feels very pointless. 3/5

Suggestions/Bugs

The only bug I encountered was abilities that had no target (like Divine Shield, Resurrection, or Mirror Image) in the first mission did not work at all.

 

[Shellshock]

Mission 1:
Poor all around tbh. We are supposed to get gold to revive heroes which will take forever and our peons can be attacked at any moment.

mission 2:
its ok. a bit difficult but i put it on hard too.

Mission 3:
Again its ok. there is some side fighting for some reason?

Overall:
Ok if this was part of the previous campaign I'd still give it a 3/5 but as a seperate map 2/5.

 

[xcube.pm]

An interesting campaign, this one btw had more bugs than necessary. I think the author did not test it properly.

 

[Shrok64]

These set of chapters definitely should have been included with the previous campaign as a sort of coda to the story being told, but nonetheless it is what it is. Played this one on 1.26 without any real issues, though I felt a difficulty spike with the latter two chapters.

The Rutgar mission, chapter 18, is actually pretty fun. Starts out super tense with the stealthy, long-distance mining; getting enough gold for a great hall doesn’t take as long as you would think. And by that point, you should also have enough units gathered up that the rest shouldn’t be too much of a hassle. Didn’t even need to do the side quest with the dragon, though I did it anyway.

I enjoyed the story of the inconsequential little guy forced to lock in and rally the gang together. Someone’s gotta do it. Narratively it’s something different and is definitely the highlight map for me.

I also enjoyed the interaction between Mathias and Duncan at the end of chapter 19. Duncan was cooking.

Definitely don’t skip this set, even if it is on the shorter side.

 

[Mahell]

Good campaign.