Reviews Cresent Valley
Below are some reviewer's comments which we thought might help you decide
on whether or not you'd like to play the scenario. This page is not a
list of all the reviews the scenario received, only those that had thoughful
and/or useful comments to make. |
| Scenario:Cresent Valley Rating:3.30 Comments:This scenario reminded me of an early BoE scenario: rough around the edges, not too technically advanced, with normal combat the whole way. It has a lot of mis-spellings in the dialogue, but I didn't see any bugs. (For instance, the scenario's title is actually "Cresent Valley," although I'm sure the author meant "Crescent Valley." The plotline was fairly basic and not strikingly interesting. There were basically no surprises throughout. I didn't like the coding on the ending -- it took me several tries doing the same thing to get the ending that I wanted, which felt contrived. The combat was easy enough that some folks around here could probably beat it with a level 1 party. I used a level 30 party, but I found all but one fight (the one against the lich) quite easy. The outdoors was big and kind of empty. Several towns seemed to serve very little purpose. Several outdoor sections had basically nothing in them. On the other hand, this is the first third-party BoA scenario I've played with substantial outdoors, so it didn't bother me much; I just don't want to see this happen again repeatedly. Sex was omnipresent in this scenario, which I guess was sort of the point, but the worldview that it seemed to present (men are mostly unhinged by their lustful impulses, and women do not lust but neither resist) was rather distasteful. I hired the prostitute hoping that she would attack me or teleport me into a town full of demons or something, hoping that she would do anything but the most obvious thing, and she ended up doing the most obvious thing. *reload and smack head* Now, here's the problem that I'm running into: despite all of these fairly sizable drawbacks that keep this from being a quality scenario, I kind of enjoyed it. I'm not sick of doing obvious quests, and I don't get hysterical and scream "BORING COMBAT" whenever someone makes a simple dungeon -- maybe I'll be like this in three years, but not yet -- and wandering around was more or less enjoyable. And all the problems are erring on the better side to err on: I'd rather that combat be too easy than too hard, I'd rather that outdoors be slightly too big than significantly too small, and I'd rather that the plot be too basic than try too hard. In other words, I enjoyed this scenario more than Canopy, the one I played just prior to this. But Canopy tries to do so much more... so I'm conflicted. Somewhat fun but not good. |
| Rating:3.9 Comments:I really like this scenario, but when I get to the bandit's cave, and try to begin fighting their leader, it keeps giving me an error message. I'd really like to finish it, so if an update becomes available my rating will definitely go up! I especially like the undead coming out of the floor in the lighthouse - unexpected, but cool! |
| Rating:3.10 Comments:Overall, Cresent Valley is a short little scenario that could be entertaining for a few hours. The main complaint against it would be that it is too large for its contents. There are vast areas that are completely devoid of anything interesting and the dungeons are small and quick to run through. While the treasure in most dungeons seems acceptable, the whole scenario took on a 'monty haul' feel when I noticed a spellbook that seemed to grant a few too many spell levels than would be appropriate for a party of the recommended levels and a few bookcases that teach special skills to the entire party merely sitting around in towns. There also seemed to be an abundance of herbs, more so than pretty much any other scenario. In addition, compared to other scenarios, the level rating seems a little high and conversations felt repetative and almost pointless. On the more positive side, there was a nice number of side quests and the storyline allowed for the player to make a choice in how to deal with the she-devil (although it also sometimes takes away your choices). In the end it made for a quick and mostly painless adventure, which while fun to play, was not as satisfying as it could be. Definitely keep your eye out for more scenarios from the same author though, its quite possible the next one will be astounding. |
| Rating:2.69 Comments: Cresent Valley well I don't have much to say about it. But it does hold the distinction of being the first BOA scenario I couldn't force myself to finish. The outdoors are far too huge. Now I know big being from Canada, but at least the outdoors could have been interesting. The towns, are a point I must disagree with most people. I thought the towns were very realistic. Most towns were designed well and were a treat to walk through. I would say designers should take note of Cresent Valley's towns as they are a cut above all else to date in BOA. The game play is also extremely boring. Nothing drives the plot forward there basically is no story. Nothing is compelling or as it seems even relevant to the party. Several quests I could not complete simply because I couldn't find were they start.This was mainly because of the large outdoors. "Help me I'm lost was it past that tree or that one over there, that looks exactly the same?" Who will like this scenario? People with copious amounts of free time will at least enjoy this scenario for its time-eating nature. The designer is obviously capable of making excellent scenarios. So let this be his first attempt. I expect there will be more and better scenarios to come. G Out RESpeK Rating iz 2.69 |