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To the Bitter End

This bundle is marked as director's cut. It exceeds all expectations and excels in every regard.

To the Bitter End
v1.0.08
Created by Soul Reaver

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Introduction:

For centuries, the people of the Plane of Ithia have suffered under the iron-fisted rule of the immortal sorcerer Morganem and his Council of Six. Now finally their pleas for help are answered: five legendary heroes arrive from beyond the crimson storms of the warp, seeking to topple Morganem's corrupt Empire.

But Morganem will not step silently into the darkness of history, and he prepares to fight these interlopers to the bitter end.


A story-driven, single-player action RPG, "To the Bitter End" has been over six years in the making and features an original setting and with completely original characters, abilities, items and spells.

Control a small group of legendary heroes as they travel throughout the Plane of Ithia, battling the forces of the tyrant sorcerer Morganem over eight Chapters and two cinematic-only maps.

Be prepared to react quickly to changing battlefield conditions and use your abilities strategically to counter whatever the enemy throws at you. Face a variety of challenges, from sneaking out of a prison to taking on a whole army head-on to duelling enemy immortals one on one.

During your battles, gain experience and grow in power to truly superhuman levels. Wield abilities that can break the backs of armies. But beware, for your foes are powerful and relentless enough to be a match even for your mighty heroes.

Be prepared for a challenge as you snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and conquer enemies that seemed insurmountable.


Now also available:
To the Bitter End Manual


(Click the image to view, or right-click to save)

A lovingly-crafted illustrated manual, detailing not only basic gameplay instructions, but also delving into the background stories of the campaign's setting, heroes, villains, and monsters.








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The Sphere of Annihilation spell obliterates everything in Soul Reaver's path.

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A companion consumed by vampiric madness.

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The companions fighting side-by-side against Morganem's forces.




To the Bitter End
Version: 1.0.08

Single Player Action RPG/Campaign

For centuries, the people of the Plane of Ithia have suffered under the iron-fisted rule of the immortal sorcerer Morganem and his Council of Six. Now finally their pleas for help are answered: five legendary heroes arrive from beyond the crimson storms of the warp, seeking to topple Morganem's corrupt Empire.

But Morganem will not step silently into the darkness of history, and he prepares to fight these interlopers to the bitter end.

Official Site:
http://www.warpstormstudios.com/tothebitterend

********

Installation instructions:
--------------------------

Note: To the Bitter End does not support post-'Reforged' versions of Warcraft III (that is, versions after v1.29) as those have removed Custom Campaign suppport entirely. It has been tested on and should work on anything from version 1.27-1.29. Assuming you are using a version that supports To the Bitter End:

Put the .w3n file into your Warcraft III 'Campaigns' folder.

You can play the game by starting The Frozen Throne, then selecting 'Single Player', 'Custom Campaign', and then navigating to the campaign titled 'To the Bitter End' and selecting it.

It helps to have your video settings for Warcraft III set to high quality, or some custom skins in some of the campaign might look a little... weird.

Note that To the Bitter End is more hardware intensive than a standard game of Warcraft III, so your computer will need to exceed Warcraft III's minimum system requirements to run smoothly.


Difficulty:
-----------

To the Bitter End is supposed to be very difficult.

However, for those finding it simply too tough, as of version 0.7.04, I have added in variable difficulty levels, and the mechanics of this were revamped in v1.0.07. Once in-game, press Enter to bring up the chat window, then type in 'easy', 'medium' or 'hard' (without quotation marks) to change the difficulty at any time. Difficulty persists until you enter a command to change it again, even between Chapters. The default difficulty is 'hard'.

Easier difficulties will (usually) reduce the damage you take and increase the damage you inflict from all sources. In-game stats and tooltips will not reflect this change however.

Remember though: real heroes play on hard!


Music:
------

If for some crazy reason you want to turn off the in-game music for a given Chapter, type 'music off' (without quotation marks) into the chat text in-game. To turn it back on, type in 'music on'.

This special command is required because the way that 'To the Bitter End' handles the in-game music sometimes prevents Warcraft III's in-built volume control from properly affecting the music volume.

Note that even with the 'music off' command, music will still play in a few key cutscenes.


Other Notes:
------------

For further info and an extensive manual, check the 'official site' at www.warpstormstudios.com/tothebitterend

This is the full version of To the Bitter End, and contains all ten Chapters (two of which are cinematics-only):

Prologue: Shadows Rising
Chapter I: Dark Dawn
Chapter II: The Dream of Blood
Chapter III: Juggernaut
Chapter IV: Heart of Ice
Chapter V: Reunion
Chapter VI: Harbingers of War
Chapter VII: Grim Harvest
Chapter VIII: The Bitter End
Epilogue: New Beginnings

To check the version number of your campaign, type 'version' (without quotation marks) into the chat text in-game and it will display (or if nothing displays, then your version is definitely out-of-date). The newest versions are always available on the official site.

Although I am solely responsible for creating this map, several central character featured in this campaign were envisaged by the writers at The Administorum (http://theadministorum.yuku.com/) and its newest incarnation, the Administorum 2.0 (The Administorum - Index).


A word on cinematics:
---------------------

It is possible to skip any of the cinematics, just press ESC.

You are advised to watch the cinematics at least once. They will often give you instructions as to what to do next and offer clues as to what to expect. Making sense of the game plot without them would be pretty difficult.

One 'bug' that occurs if you skip the cinematics is that any items or abilities that might have 'cooled down' and become available over the course of the cinematic will now not do this. This means that if you want to use those items/abilities often, you may have to wait around more... and if there's a timer counting down while you wait, that might not be advisable. This isn't a major thing, but it does mean that the game might be slightly more difficult if you skip the cinematics.

If you want to be sure to experience the game how it was meant to be played, then don't skip the cinematics. That's how I planned the level out and how I spent the most time testing it.


Hints/Notes:
------------

Use your quest log if unsure of what to do next... that's what it's there for.

Read the tooltips if you want to know what an ability or item does. In fact, this is strongly recommended.

The Sphere of Annihilation and Cataclysm abilities are appropriately named, because they will pretty much obliterate ANYTHING in the target area. That includes things you might prefer to keep un-obliterated, such as yourself.

Your items are re-usable. However, they have long cooldown times. Save them for when you need them, and then unleash hell.

To the Bitter End is very unforgiving. SAVE OFTEN.

You can find Chapter-specific hints (should you need them) at the official site at http://www.warpstormstudios.com/tothebitterend.

Don't expect to find Raziel from the Legacy of Kain series in this game. I've been using the name Soul Reaver for my RPG alter-ego since long before even the first Blood Omen came out. The Soul Reaver in this map is an original character.


Credits:
--------

To the Bitter End designed, written and created by:
Andy Krieg


Title screen and concept art by:
Stephen Cousins


Chinese localization by:
Heishimo (He)

Russian localization by:
Кирляндия


Original Character design:

'Soul Reaver' by Andy Krieg
'Fei Serumen' by Anthony Passmore
'Cameron Aileron' by Sean Britton
'Kitharsis' by Bryon Laird
'Sera Poi' by Anthony Di Cesare
'Slayer' by Eric Rodseth
Additional characters by Andy Krieg


Music:

Title:
'Kalki (edit)' by E.S. Posthumus

Prologue:
'Pompeii' by E.S. Posthumus

Chapter I:
'The Wretched' by Nine Inch Nails

Chapter II:
'The Becoming' by Nine Inch Nails

Chapter III:
'Tikal' by E.S. Posthumus

Chapter IV:
'Nineveh' by E.S. Posthumus

Chapter V:
'Karma' by Kamelot

Chapter VI:
'We're in this Together' by Nine Inch Nails

Chapter VII:
'Welcome Within' by Godsmack
'Ultra' by KMFDM

Chapter VIII:
'Yamiiro no Yume/Anger (edit)' by Kasamutso Kouji
'Missing Time' by MDFMK
'Kalki' by E.S. Posthumus
'Ashielf Pi' by E.S. Posthumus
'Kuvera (edit)' by E.S. Posthumus

Epilogue:
'Indra/Arise (edit)' by E.S. Posthumus


Additional Concept art donated by:
Chris Oldland
Tom Hering


'Void Breach' based on 'Black Hole' model by:
WILL THE ALMIGHTY


Weapon models extracted by:
Larc


Hero Glow model by:
Assassin_lord


Damage Detection based on GUI Friendly Damage Detection v1.2 by:
Weep


Special Thanks to:
The Administorum
Blizzard Entertainment
The Hive Workshop
Filefront
Warnicro
You, for playing


Extra Special Thanks:
Ji Xu

******

Tell me what you think! E-mail me ([email protected]) if you have comments or questions about 'To The Bitter End', the Multiverse, or Soul Reaver.

******

Please do not redistribute or modify these files without my permission. These files are not to be sold for profit.



Keywords:
Action, RPG, Campaign, Epic, Fantasy, Hard, To the Bitter End, TTBE, Cinematic, Story, Soul Reaver, Fei Serumen, Cameron Aileron, Kitharsis, Sera Poi,
Contents

To the Bitter End (Campaign)

Reviews
Date: 12:36:51 13-Nov-11 Map Moderator: -Kobas- Map Status: Approved 6/5 Contact map moderator: Visitor Message / Private Message! Useful Links: If you have any complaints or questions about your map, please make a thread here:Map Resource...
Level 14
Joined
Jul 15, 2005
Messages
351
I updated the warcraft 3 version to the latest.
I´m using Windows 7 and czech version of Warcraft III.

After the update it unblackened the screen, but there wasn´t any cinematic. But I could click on my hero. I have no idea what kind of sorcery is this.

Very strange indeed. What version number does Warcraft III say you have (look for the number at the bottom right of the menu screen)? I know that some Warcraft III localizations don't distribute the latest patch as readily.

Also, have you tried deleting the campaign file and re-downloading the campaign from HiveWorkshop? It could be that the download you're using got corrupted in some way.
 
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Level 14
Joined
Jul 15, 2005
Messages
351
Too hard to play when you acquire all those heroes and their spells.

The game is intentionally hard, but I assure you it can be finished. However, you can somewhat reduce the difficulty of the chapter you're in by typing 'easy' into the chat the window.

By the way, I think giving a map 1/5 because it's 'too hard' is a bit harsh. I'd give that to something that plain doesn't work/crashes, not to something that's not just to my taste. 1/5 basically means 'the worst it could possibly be'.
 
Level 1
Joined
Aug 8, 2013
Messages
2
Simply the best custom campaign ever. I hope one day my dream of having this epic saga as a multiplayer, will come true. TTBE will always have a special place in my memory.
 
Level 14
Joined
Jul 15, 2005
Messages
351
Simply the best custom campaign ever. I hope one day my dream of having this epic saga as a multiplayer, will come true. TTBE will always have a special place in my memory.

Thank you dutamulia! Don't forget to rate the campaign here if you like it so much! ;)

Making it into a multiplayer campaign is very unlikely though. There are a ton of issues with trying to do that - aside from the large amount of work required to adapt it, it would also require stripping out content (since there's a limit to multiplayer map sizes) and even then would need major rebalancing (since some abilities, like Sphere of Annihilation, would be far too frustrating in multiplayer due to it hurting allies too). Not to mention I have no experience making multiplayer maps, so there would be all sorts of steep learning curves in trying to avoid whatever problems are unique to multiplayer maps. I'd really rather work on some of my other projects instead!
 
Level 18
Joined
Sep 14, 2012
Messages
3,413
Thank you dutamulia! Don't forget to rate the campaign here if you like it so much! ;)

Making it into a multiplayer campaign is very unlikely though. There are a ton of issues with trying to do that - aside from the large amount of work required to adapt it, it would also require stripping out content (since there's a limit to multiplayer map sizes) and even then would need major rebalancing (since some abilities, like Sphere of Annihilation, would be far too frustrating in multiplayer due to it hurting allies too). Not to mention I have no experience making multiplayer maps, so there would be all sorts of steep learning curves in trying to avoid whatever problems are unique to multiplayer maps. I'd really rather work on some of my other projects instead!

The size isn't really a problem anymore but yeah the other problems are real :)
You have other projects :eek: ?

EDIT : 2222nd post x)
 
Level 14
Joined
Jul 15, 2005
Messages
351
The size isn't really a problem anymore but yeah the other problems are real :)
You have other projects :eek: ?

EDIT : 2222nd post x)

Yeah, but not Warcraft 3-related projects.

I'm in the middle of writing an old-school Gamebook (provisionally called 'Escape from the Depths') - it's currently at about 37,000 words. Once done I either want to get it published or convert it into a sort of 'visual novel' type game.

I've also designed a 2-player turn-based strategy duelling game. It's just pen-and-paper at the moment but I might eventually try to teach myself enough programming to make it into a computer game.

Plus I've written up the rulebook for a sort of competitive 2-player dungeon crawler RPG, but that one needs some more work to properly finish. I've got a few other ideas as well, though at this point they're still just at the concept stage.
 
Level 18
Joined
Sep 14, 2012
Messages
3,413
Yeah, but not Warcraft 3-related projects.

I'm in the middle of writing an old-school Gamebook (provisionally called 'Escape from the Depths') - it's currently at about 37,000 words. Once done I either want to get it published or convert it into a sort of 'visual novel' type game.

I've also designed a 2-player turn-based strategy duelling game. It's just pen-and-paper at the moment but I might eventually try to teach myself enough programming to make it into a computer game.

Plus I've written up the rulebook for a sort of competitive 2-player dungeon crawler RPG, but that one needs some more work to properly finish. I've got a few other ideas as well, though at this point they're still just at the concept stage.

You've got an impressive imagination and creativity :eek:
And from I've seen through this campaign you're doing things only where they are matured enough to be awesome !
I wish to do have the idea and the motivation to do something that good !
Good luck with all your projects.
 

Deleted member 237964

D

Deleted member 237964

It's one of best campaigns i've ever played.I wonder if there will be a continuation about Soul Reaver and his companions.That would be awesome.
 
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Level 14
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Jul 15, 2005
Messages
351
It's one of best campaigns i've ever played.I wonder if there will be a continuation about Soul Reaver and his companions.That would be awesome.

Thank you! Pretty much anything I make will be set in the Multiverse, and most likely Soul Reaver and perhaps the companions will make another appearance too, but I don't want to commit to something like a 'direct sequel' at this stage. Whatever else I work on, it unfortunately isn't likely to be another Warcraft 3 campaign.

"Difficulty: Hard"

u w0t m8?

I have to admit, this made me laugh.
 
Level 23
Joined
Apr 16, 2012
Messages
4,041
man, I almost forgot how cruel this campaign is :D

The tank killed me like 10 times, the void children on chapter 5 killed me like 20 :D and Maelstorm killed me like 10 times too :D but it feels good after finally beating that. (Yes I suck at games, I noticed, no need to point it out)

I havent had time to play Chapter 7+ so yeah, the worst has yet to come :D
 
Level 14
Joined
Jul 15, 2005
Messages
351
I found a bug, in first chapter, the hotkeys dont fit the description, the Darkbolt barrage says E, and when I pressed E to learn it, it gave me Lightning storm instead

The backstab also says W and is indeed Q

Just a note to everyone, edo494 and I investigated this and it turns out it was just a problem with edo494's local custom hotkey settings, so I won't need to release a bugfix.
 
Level 14
Joined
Jul 15, 2005
Messages
351
I just finished the campaign and now I feel empty. It is truly a masterpiece! 5/5. It would be great if you could make a campaign through the antagonists' perspective.

I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for letting me know!

It's interesting you should mention an antagonist-centric campaign - in all honesty it's an idea that occurred to me before as well. But I've got enough other stuff to work on at the moment and To the Bitter End stands pretty well by itself... I don't really want to make any half-hearted spinoffs just because I can. I'd rather concentrate on some other projects.
 
Level 14
Joined
Jul 15, 2005
Messages
351
I love this campaign but the heroes' speeds (Except Fei) are very slow, for me

Thanks Raider, glad you liked it!

The overall game speed is actually set to a lower level than the standard Warcraft III default - by default Warcraft III plays on the 'Fast' setting, but To the Bitter End uses 'Normal'. That might explain why you think the heroes are slow. If you change the game speed setting to Fast for a Chapter it will speed everything up a bit - but that will include your enemies, so you can expect things to get harder. The game also wasn't tested for Fast game speed, so there's a small chance a few things might not work as expected.

Most heroes actually have moderate speed compared to standard Warcraft III units... with the exception of Kitharsis, who really is slow. There are also a few things you can do to speed heroes along a bit: for Soul Reaver, use Iron Will - at high levels it'll make him lightning fast. Cameron Aileron can use the teleportation device to at least jump a stretch, which is useful when covering larger distances or trying to bypass obstacles. And anyone (but particularly Kitharsis) can benefit from his Thirthandaran Mage Skeletons' Minor Haste spell to get a small speed boost.
 
Level 28
Joined
Aug 7, 2015
Messages
601
Thanks Raider, glad you liked it!

The overall game speed is actually set to a lower level than the standard Warcraft III default - by default Warcraft III plays on the 'Fast' setting, but To the Bitter End uses 'Normal'. That might explain why you think the heroes are slow. If you change the game speed setting to Fast for a Chapter it will speed everything up a bit - but that will include your enemies, so you can expect things to get harder. The game also wasn't tested for Fast game speed, so there's a small chance a few things might not work as expected.

Most heroes actually have moderate speed compared to standard Warcraft III units... with the exception of Kitharsis, who really is slow. There are also a few things you can do to speed heroes along a bit: for Soul Reaver, use Iron Will - at high levels it'll make him lightning fast. Cameron Aileron can use the teleportation device to at least jump a stretch, which is useful when covering larger distances or trying to bypass obstacles. And anyone (but particularly Kitharsis) can benefit from his Thirthandaran Mage Skeletons' Minor Haste spell to get a small speed boost.

Also I wanted to tell you that I hate the second chapter, which you got to fight Fei, dammit that part is very hard, it will be easy if the Town Guard's hp and attack is much more :vw_death:
 
Level 14
Joined
Jul 15, 2005
Messages
351
Also I wanted to tell you that I hate the second chapter, which you got to fight Fei, dammit that part is very hard, it will be easy if the Town Guard's hp and attack is much more :vw_death:

If you're having trouble with that final encounter, try casting Summon Daemons before the fight starts and waiting for all the Daemons to arrive - you can use your tent to rest and regain HP while you wait.

Bring them to the fight with you and the odds will quickly tilt in your favour.

Also, using Blooddrinker in that fight (once Fei's Ultimate ends) will make things go a lot easier for you too.
 
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Level 1
Joined
Sep 10, 2015
Messages
1
I just played through this campaign again since I remembered it fondly. So I thought I might as well drop in here to tell you that, yes, it is pretty great.

I had a relatively easy time throughout since I sort of knew what I was doing, until I got Morganem to around 30k HP. Then I died dozens of times. Barely managed to beat him in the end, and it certainly felt like a big achievement!

As far as Chapter II is concerned, I devised an... alternative strategy for Fei. This will no doubt be used in future To the Bitter End speedruns.
 
Level 14
Joined
Jul 15, 2005
Messages
351
I just played through this campaign again since I remembered it fondly. So I thought I might as well drop in here to tell you that, yes, it is pretty great.

I had a relatively easy time throughout since I sort of knew what I was doing, until I got Morganem to around 30k HP. Then I died dozens of times. Barely managed to beat him in the end, and it certainly felt like a big achievement!

As far as Chapter II is concerned, I devised an... alternative strategy for Fei. This will no doubt be used in future To the Bitter End speedruns.

That's not exactly how that fight was intended to go. :p

Really great video, I'm impressed!
 
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deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 69
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,882
This is one of them Chinese/Korean/Japanese styled games where you have to either be that good or have iron patience trying more than multiple times. The coherency ends near the last three levels and it's also partially present in Chapter IV. That's bad because Save-Load becomes a must and loading isn't quite that fast in some levels (I suggest a checkpoint system, a button where/before the Restart, Reduce Difficulty etc. stuff is, to reload the necessary triggers; it would be faster and less annoying)

-let there be a delay before the defeat panel buttons appear as I've clicked Restart and Reduce Difficulty so many times that I almost wanted to stop playing. It's easier to press F10 and then Load Game

chap1:
-boy, that Slayer sure is powerful, being able to release Soul Reaver from his prison, only as an astral aspect
-the patrolling guard may see the hero and then stop following him, returning to his duty
-after the Rogue cinematic scene, the camera may remain in the position it was panned until, if F10 is pressed. Actually cameras don't reset well after most, if not all, cutscenes
-items should specify the cooldown for their abilities
-might as well make crates and barrels invincible or not able to be clicked since they don't contain anything at all
-the undead force didn't seem overwhelming
-what's the logic behind the fact that doors are invulnerable while they are supposed to block the hero for an ambush and after the ambush, are vulnerable, other than a gameplay reason?
-there are no Quest Update messages
-make it so that rescued units may rescue nearby units to avoid wasting time sending Soul Reaver to them
-well, it's pretty careless to tell out loud what he can remember and what he can't. Seeing the end stage scene where he opens a portal made it look like he didn't lose that memory
-increase the duration of transmissions so the player can also delve into the scenery

chap2:
-one thing is for sure: Fei doesn't follow Reaver if he runs (Daemon portal opened before) after they meet to battle
-in the first levels, the stun of Darkbolt Barrage is just good for stopping enemy channeling spells because, before Reaver attacks after finishing casting, the stun effect is lost
-the green Footmen didn't look like they were hiding at all but guarding the bridge
-shouldn't only Fei defend and Reaver disable the runes?
-Fei shouldn't be so confident. If it were not for Reaver, he would have, probably, been a slave a very long time or even all his immortal life

chap3:
-I don't think it was necessary to start a cinematic scene every time an Acorn was brought to the druid
-when the machine walks into the play, there's a bug that always makes Reaver the first selected unit in the/a group

chap4:
-too many coincidences or whatever, teleporting the heroes near friends
-funny, this level should have a timer too at least in the sense of DPS to the heroes because of the cold
-this level is annoying as hell. A bit later on, there is no reprieve to regenerate; forget the above statement (with the timer)
-why were they so sure there would be no Void Children in the camp?
-Holy Light was a better idea for Sera instead of the Priest's Heal

chap5:
-an archer has a longer range than one that uses a rifle...
-strong woman, climbing the stairs to the portal with a dagger in her heart

chap6:
-some trees partially levitate due to the terrain under them being too sharply rendered
-reaching the barrier/Revenant Warlord will start the cinematic and erase all troops that were coming before the scene starts. Or maybe they're just moved or they return due to the fact that during cinematic scenes units are supposed to be invulnerable, I don' know
-that optional quest is strange. The Dharuk armies don't follow the heroes further to the next/nearby Warlord base
-what kind of stupid courage is to charge solely (well with a horse) on 5 heroes?
-there's a problem with the portals that practically are temporary invisible (cannot be selected) after cinematic scenes (destroying the power bestowing towers)
-Kherek's outpost wasn't fully destroyed before the quest was updated. There was still a Dharuk Meeting Hall
-in Maelstrom's region I've loaded the most times in the whole campaign until then. It's bad because it ruins fluidity and that's not fun at all. Movement Movement Speed increase is a necessity at this point as enemy units may block heroes (some parts of the base are narrow places) and fighting them all at once doesn't always work

chap7:
-Kherek's Locusts (some of them or from previous casting of the spell that release them) may become adhered on near a wall and attack Kitharsis only if he gets close to them. Meanwhile Kherek has other Locusts on him
-Kathryn is more powerful than Maelstrom in that she always follows Sera with haste and slows her down

epilogue:
-the text for credits should remain long enough to be read

manual:
-what's the Eye of Justice?
-who's the Warp Lord?
-what exactly are Chaos and Umbra?
-what's the Abyss?
-what are some of these compared to the Void? Are they the same thing but in different planes?
-Kitharsis wasn't that big in the game but neither was Cameron very elemental
-not all heroes have mentioned how they came to be immortal in their stories
-did it have to come to Maelstrom so Kathryn could think of killing her former captors?
-"luck" finding such an immortality bestowing armour in a place where graverobbers could have probably found it too
-did none of the heroes or Warlords have any offspring?
-what lies over the plane of Ithia if the Void is under it? Is a plane infinite or can it intersect others (without necessarily going upwards or downwards but north, east, west or south)?

I'm guessing this was somehow a result of an RP game?

I'm giving it 5ups mostly due to the hard and massive work put into this campaign, especially seeing a BlizzEnt type manual for it too, which I always liked and deemed not only useful but made it feel like holding a digital magic book. I've enjoyed the stories for Dustwalker & the Dharuk the most.

In the future, if any more campaigns are to be made, their difficulty ranges should also include damage reduction for foes but never removal of content! This would ensure a vaster audience.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT 2016 (more than a year later)

A flawlessly executed Action RPG with tons of fun and frustration (although quite rewarding) combined (like real life). The heroes are unique in every way and more spells have been ingeniously added to them through their specific items. It certainly is not a mindless carnage! There are enough moments where reflexes might not be enough. Managing the heroes is required to have them kept alive and ever prepped for dangers (from healing them and having them rest taking turns to paying attention to friendly fire spells).

The level design varies but stays true to the campaign's genre (from timed objectives to breaking through amounts of enemy forces, duels, chases, defense and not only). The sceneries are really lovely to behold.

Replay value is mostly included in the fact that everything you can see in this game, from cinematic scenes to dialogues, story and variety in general, you'd really want to experience again, multiple times eventually. It's the type of game you'd really want to have in your collection.

It does not bore but may make you take pauses as it is a difficult game (save-load; the loading time is not big). The story compensates for that as it drags you in almost magnetically. It's not your usual fantasy save the princess/good vs evil lamer. In addition, there is a whole written novella (the manual) that just radically spices the game up.
Not to worry! There are three difficulty levels but as the creator likes to say: "real heroes play on hard!"

There is also custom music (although not original) which packs action up, with genres ranging from orchestral hybrid to industrial rock. There is also a lot of other custom content (models, skins etc.) to please the player's senses.

It also comes in other languages than English: Chinese and Russian for example.
The author is very keen on replying to any comments pertaining his work and not only updates it but also considers suggestions from fans.

In any way, the done hard work is absolutely engraved in this masterpiece.
 
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deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 69
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,882
Thanks for the thoughtful review and the 5/5 rating!

I've written up a response to your questions but it ended up being pretty huge so in the interests of not taking up too much room here it might be better if I email them to you. Please check your PMs!

Yeees, dear hiver, though why not have the things answered here? That way others could read the information which could serve them use.
 
Level 14
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Yeees, dear hiver, though why not have the things answered here? That way others could read the information which could serve them use.

I just think the post is too long to make a good forum post. To properly respond to your review I first had to quote your post and then add my answers below the questions and comments (which in many cases were much longer than the question/comment itself).

It ended up being over 4700 words long in total, which I feel is a bit too long for just a forum post.
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 69
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,882
I just think the post is too long to make a good forum post. To properly respond to your review I first had to quote your post and then add my answers below the questions and comments (which in many cases were much longer than the question/comment itself).

It ended up being over 4700 words long in total, which I feel is a bit too long for just a forum post.
I understand. Did you send me the e-mail? I have not received anything yet.
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 69
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,882
Thanks a bunch to Soul Reaver for his time addressing so many of my annoying mentions and for approving of the uploads below.
I've put an Acrobat PDF and a Microsoft Office 2003 Word Document as .docx is not valid for upload.

WARNING There are SPOILERS therein. One is advised to first finish the campaign. I also suggest you read the "To the Bitter End" manual after completing the game to leave a greater sense of mystery flowing while you play.
 

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Level 14
Joined
Jul 15, 2005
Messages
351
Thanks a bunch to Soul Reaver for his time addressing so many of my annoying mentions and for approving of the uploads below.
I've put an Acrobat PDF and a Microsoft Office 2003 Word Document as .docx is not valid for upload.

WARNING There are SPOILERS therein. One is advised to first finish the campaign. I also suggest you read the "To the Bitter End" manual after completing the game to leave a greater sense of mystery flowing while you play.

No problem, thanks for uploading them.

Personally I'd recommend reading the manual BEFORE you play, but each to their own. :p
 
Level 3
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Oct 25, 2015
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23
WOW. Already played about 3/4 of the campaign in one day. Dialogue is pretty dang interesting and the heroes (or companions or whatever the hell you call them) have very nice player models, as well as amazing custom skills. A few suggestions though:

Try to make Fei Serumen a bit harder. By that I mean give him a little bit more health, because I think he's the only one with 1000+ health.

Make the last skill of Soul Reaver (that megabomb thing) damaging only to enemy units. I find it a bit annoying when you're fighting a horde of enemies, you decide to use that bomb and you end up blowing up Fei and Sera (again, reference to that first suggestion I made).

Make some levels with individual storylines. I'll admit, it's pretty cool to be throwing around 5 OP heroes and totally ransack 100 dumbass Dharuk, but sometimes it gets a bit repetitive. Some levels with only one character won't hurt.

That's just about it.

P.S Soul Reaver is amazing.
 
Level 14
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351
WOW. Already played about 3/4 of the campaign in one day. Dialogue is pretty dang interesting and the heroes (or companions or whatever the hell you call them) have very nice player models, as well as amazing custom skills. A few suggestions though:

Try to make Fei Serumen a bit harder. By that I mean give him a little bit more health, because I think he's the only one with 1000+ health.

Make the last skill of Soul Reaver (that megabomb thing) damaging only to enemy units. I find it a bit annoying when you're fighting a horde of enemies, you decide to use that bomb and you end up blowing up Fei and Sera (again, reference to that first suggestion I made).

Make some levels with individual storylines. I'll admit, it's pretty cool to be throwing around 5 OP heroes and totally ransack 100 dumbass Dharuk, but sometimes it gets a bit repetitive. Some levels with only one character won't hurt.

That's just about it.

P.S Soul Reaver is amazing.

I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! If you can, please post another comment or send me an email when you're done, I'd love to hear what you thought of it!

Fei Serumen's HP is low on purpose, and is designed to be offset by certain other advantages. In terms of Physical attacks, he's actually the hardies characther - he has the highest armour of any character, and exceptional Dodge, so physical attacks do very little damage to him - lack of HP is kind of irrelevant when you're only taking a tiny fraction of the damage you normally would be.

He is however vulnerable to spell damage (though he does get a passive 20% damage reduction to those, it's not quite enough). That's to make sure he's not overpowered - he's supposed to be quite a micro-intensive character.

Having low HP does have an advantage: it means that he recovers more quickly - by using Blood Frenzy, you can potentially regain HP faster than Fei loses it, and other non-percentage based healing (such as the Tent, Soul Amulet, or Sera's Healing Touch) will allow Fei Serumen to recover much faster than other characters do. It's for this reason that he has such a high speed score - so that, if necessary, he can retreat, heal up, and then return to the fight.

Sphere of Annihilation is supposed to be a bit fiddly - it's the price you pay for such a powerful nuke. I recommend just hitting 'Hold Position' for everyone before casting it - that usually avoids any friendly fire problems. And if someone does rush forward, you might have neough time to retreat them before the Sphere detonates if you're quick enough.

As for the individual storylines - well, I won't be adding any extra Chapters to the campaign at this point, but hopefully Chapter VII will partially scratch that itch. ;)
 
Level 3
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Oct 25, 2015
Messages
23
Soul Reaver do you have any other campaigns? If you do, please tell me on where to look it up because I can't seem to find it. I'm still pretty new to Hive. If you do have any new campaigns you're about to make, please let me know so that I can expect it and that I know when it will be released.

Keep being awesome.
 
Level 3
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Do you have any tips on how to beat the Warlords? They are insanely hard to beat and I've had to use cheats on every single one of them except for Kherek.

Since you made the map, I was hoping you might know a good strategy on how to beat them.

I tried playing it again (and failed). I have a question though, is it normal that the Warlords power orbs get more runes than I do? Because it seems those little orbs appear for the enemy a lot more than they do for me.
 
Last edited:
Level 14
Joined
Jul 15, 2005
Messages
351
Soul Reaver do you have any other campaigns? If you do, please tell me on where to look it up because I can't seem to find it. I'm still pretty new to Hive. If you do have any new campaigns you're about to make, please let me know so that I can expect it and that I know when it will be released.

Keep being awesome.

Thanks MC_HeartAttack. I haven't made any other Warcraft III campagins I'm afraid - this was my one and only Warcraft III project.

I am currently writing a gamebook but it's not complete yet.

Do you have any tips on how to beat the Warlords? They are insanely hard to beat and I've had to use cheats on every single one of them except for Kherek.

Since you made the map, I was hoping you might know a good strategy on how to beat them.

The fights are all very different and different strategies are needed for each. If you haven't already, start off by reading the Hints page on the official site here, which gives a rundown of of the basic strategies needed to beat each boss: http://www.warpstormstudios.com/tothebitterend/hints.htm#Chapter VII

If you're still having trouble, send me an email and I'll try to write up and send you a more detailed walkthrough of the battles and what to watch out for in particular.
 
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