Jump to content

A Good Beginning


Recommended Posts

A Good Beginning

Mac/Windows

 

Author: Nikki

Rating:

Difficulty:

Version:

 

[composite=eyJ0aXRsZSI6IkEgR29vZCBCZWdpbm5pbmciLCJ0aWQiOiIxNTY2MiIsInRhZ3MiOltdLCJiZ2FzcCI6eyI1IjowLCI0IjozLCIzIjo3LCIyIjoyLCIxIjowfX0=]

Composite Score: 3.1/5.0

 

Best: 0.00% (0/12)

Good: 25.00% (3/12)

Average: 58.33% (7/12)

Substandard: 16.67% (2/12)

Poor: 0.00% (0/12)

[encouragenecro]

 

[/composite]

 

Keywords:

Edited by SylaeBot
Automated Sybot edit; worker IPB::csrThread/vanadium
Link to comment
Share on other sites

From TM on the CSR:

 

I haven't played the post-beta version, but there weren't too many errors left in the pre-release version. If Nikki feels the review is unfair, I'm all for redoing it, but anyway:

 

Solid, and incredibly short. Maybe not as short as Xerch'de, but shorter than RoR. It's worth playing, albeit mostly because you won't be wasting that much time. (Admittedly, sometimes the rewards are a bit hefty for what little you actually DO in the scenario, but it's all livable.) Everything's in order, and it makes for a quick but pleasant excursion.

 

[rating]AVERAGE[/rating]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From The Lurker on the CSR:

 

What TM said, though I'm giving it a higher score. This scenario is really short. It has three small 'towns', one of them being 'optional', and one very small outdoor section. Everything in this scenario is fairly good, but I didn't find anything to be really outstanding either, except perhaps for those Portal graphics. AGB is also really easy - there aren't really any puzzles, and the combat, while being harder than in previous beta-versions, is rather easy. The story is interesting too, and there are two endings, with two different 'rewards'.

 

Overall : A bug-free (at least I think it's bug-free) and fairly enjoyable scenario, albeit too short for my tastes.

 

[rating]GOOD[/rating]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From S M Adventurer on the CSR:

 

This scenario was a pretty solid adventure, even though it was pretty short, having only 3 towns. I really liked the Crystal and the Portal graphics, and the cutscenes are good too.

 

I played it twice, both ways, killing the shade and not killing the shade. But obviously, you don't feel the sastification of a job well done unless you kill the shade.

 

The shade was extremely easy, but for some reason, he didn't start out at full health, is that intentional, or a bug?

 

Overall, it's pretty good.

 

[rating]GOOD[/rating]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From Lazarus on the CSR:

 

A short scenario, three towns and one outdoor section. The towns are nice, but I think the outdoors could have used some more detail. I didn't encounter any bugs that really detracted from the game experience (always a good sign). The plot is conceivable and presented well; there is even a choice to make that effects what reward you get.

It's short, and the combat isn't much of a challenge. But the writing is good, and I found it enjoyable. I think it's about as good as RoR or Babysitting, but it's better than Xerch'de and other scenarios in the next tier down.

 

[rating]AVERAGE[/rating]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From Ephesos on the CSR:

 

After testing it, I'm pleased to see that the kinks have been worked out. As others have said, it's short but solid. Town design is rather good, the outdoors are... well, empty, and dialogue is decent.

 

Plot, well, it works. It's definitely not the worst one we've seen yet. And actually having a choice for the ending is a bonus.

 

So, yeah, it tops Xerch'de and Babysitting by a substantial margin, and definitely a good first scenario. I look forward to future work from Nikki, and I feel that this one has earned a rating of [rating]AVERAGE[/rating].

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From Thralni on the CSR:

 

What struck me most was how short it was. When I had finished it, I kept thinking for some time: did it already end?

 

That I asked myself this question can be seen as something good, and also as something bad. Why good? Because of this:

 

- I liked the simpleness of the plot. You go and investigate a murder. You catch the murderer, done. It can't be much more simple, in my opinion.

- The general town design was nice, though I didn't like Fort bluebird that much.

- I liked that huge portal, it was quite stunning to look at.

- The cutscenens (espacially the spirit running around in the cave) were good.

 

 

Why bad? Because of this:

- I couldn't really feel the scenario, make myself part of it. In longer scenarios I tend to become a character in the party, fight alongside them. You get this connection between the player and the party. I didn't have it here.

- It was simply to short. But that may be just me: i don't like very short scenarios all that much.

 

In general, a [rating]AVERAGE[/rating] for this scenario. That is because it had nice touches, but was generally to short for me to really enjoy it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From Smoo on the CSR:

 

 

General: I'm not sure if A Good Beginning is shorter than Xerch'de. It does come pretty close though. Overall I liked the design of the few towns, especially since they had toilets which are often hidden in the modern Empire society. In addition to the toilets there are other small things I enjoyed: A soldier actually lies on bed and so forth. The outdoors on the other hand are empty and boring. It's only one section but it could've at least have something.

 

I encountered a small bug in the caves. When the cut scene commenced there was an error message saying something like "Failed to load graphic sheet 517". I could not reproduce this bug, though.

 

Plot/Characters: The dialogue and people in the starter town are alright. However, once you reach the research center the characters get a whole lot more interesting. Mainly because they forget things.

 

Basically the plot is very straightforward and I was a bit disappointed once I found out who the bad guy was. However, I really liked the atmosphere of the school. I was enthralled to walk among demented wrecks.

 

Combat: Apart from a couple of snakes and the optional boss fight, the combat is non-existent. You can also kill the crazy people of the research facility but I chose not to.

 

Overall: Enthralling, competent and fun, but very, very, very small.

 

[rating]GOOD[/rating]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From Nioca on the CSR:

 

A good beginning....

 

...and sadly, that's about it. This scenario is so short, that if I wrote a nice, long review about it, the review would be longer then the scenario. Good combat, decent plot, just wish it was longer.

 

[rating]SUBSTANDARD[/rating]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From Excalibur on SV:

 

Combat - Good - Just about the right level, though it really depended on how I made my party.

 

Visual design - Good - I liked it, especially the cave. The fort was somewhat bland, however.

 

Technical design - Good - I've seen better

 

Writing - Good - Character dialog was done well, and it was okay overall

 

Story/Plot - Average - The idea behind the scenario would be more suited to a much larger scenario in my opinion.

 

Enjoyability - Average - I was disappointed by the size, and the ending

 

Overall - [rating]AVERAGE[/rating] - It's a good beginning

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Story:

AGB's story is short. Very short, as I'm sure others have pointed out. Personally, I try not to hold a scenario's length against it, but that's rather hard to do in this case. There are a number of details about the plot and the setting that are scattered around the scenario, kind of like breadcrumbs leading to some deeper, more complex story. Unfortunately, we're never told what that story is. I actually find myself thinking that if some of the details were cut out it would make for a more complete story. Right now it is just a fragment.

Having said that, I did like the actual writing. The dialog was fun to read, and I never felt like I was slogging through barrages of unnecessary text.

 

Combat:

There is very little combat in this scenario. To little for my tastes, and what is there is fairly straight forward and easy. There were only two times where I felt really challenged, and they were the snake pit and the final boss. The snakes were difficult for my newly made party, but are also an optional encounter. The final boss was able to drain all the HP in my party with a singe Ice Lances spell, which I felt was a little on the overpowered side, but since you have the option to opt out of that battle it really isn't a problem.

 

Design:

There are very few resources for the party to use in this scenario, but the length and relative lack of combat make that somehow feel appropriate. There are vendors who will sell you most any item you may need, and if you're using a new party that will be quite a few things. There is, however, very little gold in the scenario, so you'll need to be frugal.

One of my biggest complaints is that there is almost nothing in the outdoors. I found one uninteresting encounter. The rest is just empty space that could have easily been turned into something far more interesting.

 

Scripting:

I found no bugs, and there were some nice encounters. Nothing really worthy of note here.

 

The final score for A Good Beginning is AVERAGE. It's a fun little scenario that doesn't take much time to play, but you'll wish it had.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...