I find this server to be higher on my list of servers I have begun reviewing, the overall look and feel is pleasing but I can't give a perfect score obviously, and I don't believe I can give an A+ but I do feel comfortable with giving it a high rating. There are portions for improvement and with it the server can be an excellent server for both players and DMs.
Another one of those quick breakdowns for people that hate reading some guy's reviewing.
Playability:5(3)
Is a very playable and enjoyable server, the features you can get lost within for days, and lost within the features features in some unfortunate cases for even longer. (blasted Wisps and scantily clad Water Nymphs!) The scripted content has almost transformed the game into something else entirely, many features attempting to recreate abilities or gameplay you would have during a night with your friends. A wealth of features although it does take some commitment to train and practice with the extensive player tools before you can comfortably use them. The subnote rating unfortunately is also for the same thing, there is a lot to learn and if you do skip out you'll be missing out on opportunties to make the most of.
Survivialbility:5(4)
Hard to overally find much negative here, it's very hard to get yourself killed if you are careful, of course you need the know-how and training before hand. Thankfully there appears to be no penalties for dying in the seemingly apt, uhhh Noob-U of those of ye olde english, yeah? Apparently you can do whatever you want to yourself for the most part and have no lasting negatives for the most part. Outside in the real play zone*1 you can get into some difficulty requiring the subrating 4, would be great to keep that 5 but ye can get lost in yonder wilderness and starve. At least you aren't running around in your birthday suit waiting for planes to drop supply crates.
DM Experiences:5(-)
Too bad more servers can't be more like this, administrator is easy enough to get in contact with and talk to, and even enjoys talking about or explaining out the systems when he is available. Generally great guy overall, at least of course if you don't do something to turn him into a Tarrasque with a hernia. He of course also has his own duties in the awful shadowrealm know as the real world but is normally available. The subscore ends up being a null value*2 since I wasn't able to really observe much in my time, and I seemed to miss the times when other DMs were available due to personal issues with proper free time. On the plus side they are actively seeking DMs!
Player Experiences:3
Overall most interactions were pleasant with players wanting to help or get newer players involved, or at least helping with figuring the varied options and abilities available to be used. Most did seem to be part of that uhh, hip new younger crowd despite the age of the game, somewhat unusual but good to see that the game is still attracting attention, or maybe the server is drawing them itself. Not as high as a rating as it could be since there aren't too many players, very disappointing to see with what the server offers, but also partially understandable from the volume of learning*3 to be done with the systems.
Advancement:2
Unfortunately there isn't much for unusual advancement, aside from standard leveling there's a crafting that's completely run of the mill, yeah, easy to learn. I had almost started to enjoy looking forward to doing my taxes after working with the crafting, not bad really but another thing to learn. Aside from that most guilds are player created, there isn't a real advancement aside from DM interacted or player done.
General Experience:4
Above average experience, some very sometimes very unique systems and how they are handled, you could easily spend plenty of time exploring features and the server itself. The only downsides are commitment, you will need to spend time to learn, the player base is lower than norm especially considering the content, and there are a lot of times you will be wandering through monster-free areas. With some work the server can be easily an A+, some standard easier to find*4 lairs would be a good start to keep people busy, and a larger DM presence overall.
Zombie Rating: 0
Unfortunately, all the graveyards and crypts I could find on my own were barren! Plenty of gravestones and crypts, however nary a soul, in the literal sense! Some gravekeepers and occasional animals, but not a single creature attempting to eat my brains. It actually nearly brought tears to my eyes! Maybe some enterprising DM or individual will bring glory (or a Necronomicon perhaps) to these needy lands before my next visit.
Novella version below
Hey this one might just be shorter or more managable than my last! Huzzah! Generally overall a good server with a great potential, it's badly in need of some standard run-of-the-mill lairs to occupy players or at least have a faint leveling trail of sorts from level 1 through epic. The other dire need would be DMs and possibly players, the lack of both seemed very unusual and strange considering what the server had to offer and which to the DMs offered even more in terms of creative capabilities that normally required lengthy use of the Toolset directly, server restarts and possibly even file uploads to get what was desired for a given DM. Having the capabilities to bypass a good portion of that is a great addition to any DM's aresenal of tools, and less downtime for players to get distracted or having to mill about.
Overall there's a lot of positive and negative, generally leading more towards positive, it should be noted that -yes- the server does have a hefty or even staggering amount of automation, -but- it is also tailored to enhancing experiences instead of replacing the need of DM interaction. A large number of tools at a player's disposal remove the need of requiring a DM to attend to them personally, jumping, climbing, swimming (how the heck did they do that?) flying, teleportation. Lots of options for players to tackle any given problem, of course good to have available the DMs will do very well knowing what the players are capable of, a lot of systems are in place that can compliment an overall experience, the execution portion is where it gets difficult.
Also worthy of note are the sheer number of scripts hiding and running in the backround to make everything work, the work involved being nothing short of phenomal considering how smoothly the server runs, even better to add onto the top with being allowed to packrat whatever I wanted and needed, bottle caps, tin cans, spoons forks, knives... Ok alright maybe didn't have that much stuff, but there was plenty of tools to take advantage of and other goodies to toy with. Another note within this would be the, uhhh well a secondary magic system to overlap the standard NWN system, the magic users get a secondary physical spell book that is used by the additional spells, they learn them on their own or are taught by other players (Yessss masssster!) and then spoken aloud in most cases. Most are unusual or have odd effects, a portion useful, a portion less so seeming, who really wants to have a spell clean them off? Baths are for wimps, especially when you are lost out in the wilds of Funkatron! The teleportion strain of spells is however something that can't be overlooked at all, most notably in the above case for those of us who are directionally challenged like myself.
Some systems seem a little off, eating and drinking goes along quickly seeming at times although food is usually readily or easily available enough to not cause too much concern, has been annoying at times to have stuff break or fall apart as well, boots wear out quickly at times, weapons break or even shatter commonly if they aren't made of the magical stuff but can be repaired or fixed in most cases. Shops seem to needing some work, you'll have to scavenge supplies or make your own gear a larger portion of the time, also there's the custom made coin system that the world shops run off of, requiring you to accumlate and tender out the smaller denominations that have been created to represent the pencil and paper version of the game. The crafting systems is both wonderful to work with and also a headache, most combative classes will only be able to perform their own upgrades to a limited extent, while the magically inclined classes can do much more and with greater success percentages, the system itself can fill a small book in explanations or maybe even four. Since the college in the game does give you actual classes explaining out the system and how to craft in some detail, rather an usual oddity but still noteworthy and surprising to see. Unfortunately the Doc could not be interviewed about his class being busy with some capacitor gizmo, but the other available professors will give short lectures that last a few minutes and can be retaken if you miss something.
Had some notes to further delve into, ahhh, something-something Congress, something-something g-aha subnote 1, one of the heftier drawbacks of the server is that it's very large, and also unfortunately very empty. The towns have npcs that wander and talk and be interacted with, some can steal your money like the Taxmen though legally arggg DRS! And then also some bandit or thief npcs that are the more commonly known to rob you as you get closer, there's a functioning arena in place, a large number of inn's and shoppes scattered throughout the town, temples... Quite a staggering sum of locales to get lost with exploring without even visiting the city, not including the hidden areas that may be there with a system that only hints at the uses. Outside there are farms and then wayinns, also smaller towns and villages, roadways mark the beaten paths but most of the combat ready areas are off the beaten paths, a lot of times you might find yourself wishing for a map or more and possibly some easier to see markers for places of interest. Some sort of option to dive into a hot zone would be a great thing to have somewhere to be available. Thankfully there's the magic system if you have created a character capable of using it, if not there's a few scattered portals that anyone seems able to use, and even a wagon transportation system to get around with. With an optional offered "Get Me There Now!" button in the literal sense, for a sizable portion of gold more you can skip the mostly in one piece wagon ride to be magically transported to the destination area, and without worrying about your fellow passages throwing a fit over not being served nuts in a bowl! More to note as well as that all the skills you learn in the training area can be actively or will be used to reach sometimes hidden or even secret areas, you can easily jump, fly or climb your way over a shorter hill or mountain to create your own shortcut instead of walking the long safer way around. You can even swim across rivers or lakes if you had the inclination, just watch out for the undertows! (And drowning, serious!)
Then onto the second note, the server is lacking in players and DMs which is strange with how much is potentially possible and allowed with the server, one of the greatest things when you first get in you don't have a miniature essay worth of rules and regulations filling your journal, there are of course rules but most appeared to be standard usual fare, treat others well, respect the DMs, don't break rules, no virgin sacrifices on sunday's unless there's a parental guardian available. Just normal stuff. A more hefty opinion to throw out would be getting more people to visit and hang around, get more DMs, soon as the ball is rolling I think the server will speak for itself in the long run, starting point is getting there and that whole, Catch22 case going. Atmosphere has seemed more friendly over being suffocating or demeaning compared to some servers, or in other words information, ideas, and also help are laying out in the open at times, take a look around at some nearby signs when you first start out and that'll give you a good start for answers to some questions, if you still can't find them the players and DM's are another resource that can get you what you need. You still can't find anyone there's the forums, unfortunately I hate forums in general myself but they are always useful and good tools of information for when it's needed. Getting a good solid base to work from would be a great start for the server, and some good DMs to keep some of the empty areas more interesting.
Wooo note three, probably one of the more important ones, remember just cause you don't be schoolin' that schoolin don't be doing you! Or at least in some strange alternate reality of the former Soviet Union. At any rate, don't get turned off from having to do reading and being taught, there's a lot on the server to learn and get used to and hey someone could even run some sort of obstacle course challenge to help remind players of functions that they might of missed or forgotten in the process. The only bad thing with having so many wonderful toys and goodies is having to learn how to use them, which is a turn off for most, good way to look at it or take is to jump in and start chipping at those boulders of learning. Even if you don't think you can get it all in one sitting, the server is still playable and usuable, heck you -could- even just ignore a larger portion of the features offered but you would be missing out. There's nothing wrong with taking things slow and steady if you can sate your need for good gaming and learning what you need to keep doing so.
Ahaaaa, kinda faked on having a fourth note, more of it being covered earlier. There is a definite lack of predone adventure areas where players can just go to and find easily to entertain themselves for a while. There's some shorter term but limited options available depending on the times of day, and also on location. There seemed to be also a curious shortage of loot or even supplies from beaten enemies, would think most would have something somewhat useful to scavenge off them.
So some reiterating, overall good server, but it definitely does need some work to make it much better or to reach it's potential, if someone is looking for someplace more relaxed or geared towards having fun this would be a good one to give a shot, just remember you'll have to stick to it for a while and put a little work in. If you're a DM more power to you! Ask around and find out how to get involved and you could be one of the few breathe some needed life into the server and maybe get a nice combo effect going.
Addenum
Totally inappropriate unprofessionalism extra, didn't get to add in a mention of the resident fox or maybe partial fox that hides out on the server, unfortunately most don't see her often until there's a hiccup and she seems to have gotten sparser in recent times. She's surely one of the better hidden treats on the server to be certain and shares a larger portion of the upkeep and maintence of the server. Is a good idea to take advantage giving her a nice greeting, at least if nothing else to stay on her good side. The only time you'd ever have to worry about her is possibly when she needs help testing some potentially or slightly unsafe creation. Other than that she's as safe as milk! Seeing her is enough to make a burrito warm within anyone's pants, though I maybe have spilt my milkshake. Uh oh, rusted spoon, time to go!
