Doom Moon

[BainIhrno]

Doom Moon

 

Author: Andres Gonzales

Difficulty: Medium

Rating: PG

Version:

 

Composite Score: 3.67 / 5.00

 

Best: 0%

Good: 67% (6/9)

Average: 33% (3/9)

Substandard: 0%

Poor: 0%

 

Keywords: Combat Heavy

 

 

 

[ScenarioReview]

DRAKEFYRE

 

It focuses on puzzles and combat, with a little bit of story thrown in to tie it all together. It was pretty good, overall, and the puzzles were excellent. Good

[ScenarioReview]

TERROR'S MARTYR

 

The storyline was sorta awful. No offense to Mr. Gonzales, but the plot of this scenario was far from a high point (not that it was intended to be). However, use of nodes was excellent for its time, and remains to be at least in the top thirty, under today's standards. Graphics used were all original, and none were bad. The combat... ...difficult, but not impossible. It was, in many ways, more difficult than Doom Moon II. Puzzles were rarely old or done before. And none are nauseating, either! (Well, a few are. Many are for me, but I'm just not that good at puzzles.) It was innovative in it's time, and it's innovative, now. If you are Creator or play merely for stories, you might not enjoy this one. If you enjoy good combat and/or puzzles, this scenario is certainly for you. Good

[ScenarioReview]

THE CREATOR

 

On the contrary...

 

I enjoyed Doom Moon a lot. It had it's flaws, but it was an attempt to push the boundaries as far as they could go, and in that light I can forgive some things. And I loved the puzzles.

 

The biggest flaw is a lot of repetitive combat and plot holes. Lots of plot holes. Don't play it for plot, but it does have a good atmosphere. I would recommend bringing in a god party to deal with all the combat, but the scenario will turn you into a god party soon enough. Good

[ScenarioReview]

THURYL

 

Ah, those were the days...

 

I remember back on Aceron's board where half the scenario help questions related to Doom Moon. Personally, I thought most of the puzzles weren't all that difficult once I figured out certain unique features of the designer's style. Some were just annoying, though, like the Phrase Puzzle (trying to figure out the exact word order of a sentence is a guessing game at best, and it's only made worse by the fact that the designer's English isn't all that good.)

 

The repetitive combat was a major annoyance for me, and I usually don't mind combat in scenarios. But when the gameplay of significant parts of a town consists of "open door, fight naga, open next door, fight basilisk" et cetera ad nauseam, I get frustrated. The fact that the scenario is rated Medium difficulty but you'll probably come out of it with a High or Very High level party doesn't help either, given that every monster you fight in the second half of the scenario will therefore have 2 or 3 times as much HP as it should.

 

Overall, while this scenario certainly had its moments, it's not one of my favourites. Still worth a look - and if you like it, be sure to play Doom Moon II, which is a similar but much better scenario. Average

[ScenarioReview]

MILU K

 

Good

 

I wasn't interested enough to finish it. I got bored of repetitiveness. But I don't think it had major flaws.

[ScenarioReview]

STAREYE

 

This scenario was kind of boring and I never took the time to finish. There were neat innovative parts, but otherwise the puzzles were a bit too 'get inside my head' type. It is difficult for me to give a score, but here goes:

 

My Score: Average

[ScenarioReview]

ORGGG

 

Average

[ScenarioReview]

I AM BOB SUSHI

 

Before the masterpiece we know as DM II came to be, there was Doom Moon I: The Rescue. It was a first effort, obviously, but was very good for one. Andre Gonzales (arpadgon AT caoba.entelnet.bo) showed his talent to for the first time with this, and as the prequel to Doom Moon II, it is almost a must-play. It’s also a good way to understand the author’s style if you get stuck in DM II (and who hasn’t?)

 

Like his second attempt, DM I is very well designed, has a pretty good plot, and is a lot of fun. None of these are incredible, but are a couple steps above just decent.

 

First, the plot. For the most part, it was very good, with a few moving scenes, like returning to the tower and finding it destroyed. At first it seem like a regular, “kill the cultists” style scenario, but it quickly becomes obvious that it is set apart from others. The trip to the depths of the Underworld is has been done in other scenarios, but I think this was one of the better attempts. When Hellscream is killed after that sequence, there is a certain feeling of terror and helplessness that I haven’t felt in too many other scenarios, besides Redemption when you find McNemier dead.

 

The design is good, to say the least, but not revolutionary. There are a few bugs here and there, but nothing fatal, and many nodes are used to their full potential here. The dungeon where the space to place the gems was shown by different clouds was a nice touch; there were many examples of little unique things like these.

 

Most importantly, the scenario was fun. It wasn’t especially difficult, except for the big Demon fight, and the final dungeon was well made, with the 3-part Sword key and all. Armageddon was a great ending, and suited the scenario well. Finally, having Amber as a party member made some parts a lot easier, and made the whole experience more enriching.

 

There were a few custom graphics put in, all pretty nice, especially the futuristic ones, which remain some of the few created. The spelling department the only one where the scenario died a horrible death. Errors abounded, and this dropped the scenario’s quality a lot.

 

Simply put, this is exactly what would be expected as Andre’s first effort. I give it Good

[ScenarioReview]

S.M. ADVENTURER

 

I actually have beaten this scenario before, but I haven't rated it yet. Anyway, I decided to play it again and now I'm going to rate it.

 

Doom Moon is a pretty interesting scenario. The plot line mainly consists of you wondering about how your friend Amber is, and what is she doing. The scenario starts with a basic brawl through an undead crypt, with a Lich taunting you all the way.

 

Then you have to do these tests to join the troops at Bahke's Tower, and may I say, they were pretty well designed. But once you get by those tests, the scenario picks up dramatically. The Doom Moon temple was very well designed, and the puzzles in it were pretty interesting. In fact most of the puzzles in this scenario were pretty good and not too hard. (I was using the walkthrough.)

 

Now for the bad points, I found that many of the monsters in this game had large amounts of health, even if they are not bosses. Now this isn't a big problem, but it hurts my opinion of the scenario.

 

When it comes to the combat, it was just basic hack and slash every minute. Considering that you had to pass through different dungeons several times, the monsters kept regenerating. I found that annoying.

 

The demon alliance was pretty helpful against all the enemies, and Hellfire was a pretty interesting ally to have. I mean, it's not everyday a demon lord allies with humans.

 

But I have to admit, it was fun using the futuristic pistol as a long range weapon. The futuristic place was really well done too, with the Crystal puzzles and everything.

 

Oh, and the custom graphics were a strong point of the scenario, the graphics of the Sword Symbol in the Wall, the futurstic doors and the Margoyles were really well done and used. The ending sequence was superb to, with you casting the Armageddon spell on the Doom Moon temple. I liked that.

 

The problem is, I was unable to find and revive Amber. I know I can get a better ending if I find and revive her, but I can't find where she is. Oh well.

 

Overall, this was a pretty good scenario, while it had a few bugs here and there and they were a couple of spelling mistakes, it was fun to play still. Generally I had a good time playing it.

 

My Rating: Good