Here is my try at: PHOD The Silver sphere
This is not your classic Nwn module. No hard fight where your life depends on cleverly used abilities. No objects to interact with, no items, enemies or chests to loot and no shop to equip with the latest edge-cutting magic gizmos. If you are a power-warrior or a pack rat, pass your turn. As Plush Hyena Of Doom hinted, Silver sphere is more a sort of animated book with a linear story. If you like reading, a good story, fun and twisted humour, beautiful landscaped areas, spectacular VFX and big chested goth female warriors you shall go...
What i liked:
- Graphics: They are beautiful and evocative. Visual mood swings between dream and nightmare. Worlds are really pretty spectacular.
- VFX: Glittering disco-funk-groovy inside every FOD special video effect. Special mention for Starbright breasts bouncing in rythm with the wind
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- Story: It vampyrises the best fantastic and SciFi sources. Alien, Forbidden planet, Monty Pythons Sacred Graal, Lost in Space, etc. etc. At times, the dialogue is hilarious. PHOD twisted non-sensical silly jokes are everywhere. This is a fun guided tour where you will be introduced to all sort of improbable doom creatures.
- Companions and NPC: Aurelia the magic scholar and Chivuto the were-hiena are well made colorful characters. A certain amphibious volatile, Krappe and sergent Ekpth were memorable encounters.
What could be better:
- it's a one-way trip with no choices. Sometimes it's a little boring to only be a spectator on an adventure where all you have to do is read and keep going forward. Perhaps some choices where you make friends/allies or enemies/foes or save people promised to death could be implemented to infuse more diversity. The good thing is game mechanics being simple, you don't need a journal and never feel lost.
- Fights: The enemies are interesting and impressive, but none can lightly scratch the epic-super-duper-powerful heroine. Even in a book story-like module, i think it would be better if some fights could present a challenge or need some puzzle-solving to succeed.
Improvement suggestions:
(NOTE: don't read what follows if you intend to play, here spoilers!!!)
- In Corvdale forest, there are empty "door" passages without enter possibility. Perhaps using some trees to block and hide the way.
- In the castle, you can pass throu some of the false doors. Put something (placeable) behind the false door to block access.
- Don't use the same global faction for all the NPCs (and monsters). If for a reason or by error you attack one, all the rest of the story characters turn hostile. This is what i got for attacking the Death Demon of Doom to test is strength... After that, i have to kill absolutely everything that moved to the very end of the module. Afterwards, i played the module a second time without annoying the demon and this time NPCs were more friendly and everything was allright.
- You need script control with a flag variable "done" to be sure that players can't have a specific conversation more than once (otherwise if you click another time on any NPC after conv. end, you will have the same dish served).
- In the castle, princess Tilzi and Voglenogler don't speak if you click them. You have to talk first to king Haldor to discover they have a tongue. You need something like a "Please, talk to the king first" or better: the king engaging
automatically conversation with the PC. Perhaps the king or the princess could formally demand Starbright and Aurelia help (and propose a reward) and give instructions (go throu the south door).
- In Eightstone castle, eastwing: when we encounter princess Tilzy and sergeant Ekpth. They talk about some toadface attack and do nothing after. I was expecting them joining the party or at least going to battle on their own.
- In Prime Splinter Toadface nexus. I think the supreme Toad commander should force-engage the conversation with Starbright just from the start.
- When Starbright hits the sphere, perhaps Toadface Commander should try to defend it (with a real chance to kill Starbright if possible). Even if Aurelia keeps the supreme grotesque at bay, the sphere is such a vital item...
- The sphere is too easy to destroy, and the absence of destruction effects is disapointing (where are the magnificent psychedelic PHOD VFX explosions? Earthquakes anyone? Lava erupting? Cheesecake meteor storm? Myriads of doom stools charging ahead? We, players, need a lightshow
It's the module climax and the big baddy just lost after all.
- Starbright and
his her companions warp-jump too quickly after the sphere destruction for my taste. Aurelia could say something like "this prime splinter thingy is collapsing, i will attempt to teleport us away" and Zooomm, here we go.
Well, that's it. To summarize all this, i liked the module, even if i needed some time at first to get in the mood. If you think about the building time constraint (only one month) that's an impressive work.
CG
Modifié par CaveGnome, 27 avril 2013 - 11:14 .
