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| Author |
File Description |
| m4ce_windu |
Posted on 07/11/18 @ 07:41 AM
| File Details |
|---|
| Clone Campaigns required?: |
Yes |
| Style: |
Role Playing Only |
Hi,
this is my second scenario (my first is "A Gungans Tale", check it out). It has evolved over the span of a year now and finally I can show it to you.
You take control of Dash Rendar who is hunting weapon prototypes that were stolen from the empire. Through unfortunate events they landed in the hands of criminals on Nar Shaddaa. Not only is Dash facing the might of the Hutt Cartel, but the Empire is also looking for their weapons...
Trigger count: 356
Many thanks to Darth Kiro for playtesting and lots of valuable input!
I hope you have fun!
Edit: I forgot the requirements (mea culpa)!
You'll need Expanding Fronts 1.2 or newer
Unlocked Teams! Else the game bugs midway and you can't finish it
Recommended Settings:
Speed: Fast
Music: Off (The Star Wars Soundtrack is used at certain points in the scenario)
3 Difficulty Settings are possible:
Easy: Still a challenge
Moderate: Enemies have increased HP, leaving you more time to mess up
Hard: Enemies have increased HP and much higher attack. Most enemies will even one-shot you - you have to be quick on your feet to dodge them! |
| Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Gen_Rhys_Dallows
Staff |
Posted on 07/11/18 @ 07:44 PM
Aside from some minor pacing and triggering hiccups, this scenario is very fun to play. The typical 'run and gun' gameplay usually seen in RPG scenarios is eschewed in favor of a scenario that focuses more on exploration, interaction, and puzzle solving over straight-forward combat. Each segment of the main plot presents a unique handful of encounters with varying interesting solutions. When combat does show up, it's often fast-paced and tense, owing to the low health of the hero.
The biggest issue I have with the scenario is the pacing of the latter half. The start of the scenario places you in a small but open world where you can explore and interact with just about everything. Once you enter the antagonist's liar, things become much more linear and directed. Every encounter is still unique and interesting, but the segment does suffer from a little bit of boss fatigue, as you are channeled from one room to the next with increasingly dangerous threats. This area could have used a little bit more exploration and 'minor' combat situations to break up the chain of encounters leading up to the end.
There were only a handful of trigger bugs I noticed. One of which concerning the experimental suit fight, and the powerup text sequences appearing out of order. During the 'virus' segment, losing the Data Droid also does not seem to result in a loss.
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Balance: 4
Dash Rendar is deliberately given very low health, and most encounters will end the game in a few hits, necessitating that you constantly dodge and kite enemies. For the most part, it's very tense and enjoyable to win a fight by these narrow margins, but some encounters tend to drag on; particularly fighting against melee enemies, where the 'fight' usually consists of just running around the map while taking shots back every few seconds.
Generally encounters are difficult, but not frustrating, save for the boss encounter. The environmental suit seemed to ramp up in speed a bit too quickly, and required a much more precise solution than most of the other encounters.
Another small annoyance that popped up once or twice is enemies who have to be engaged by first selecting them. The split second between triggering the encounter and selecting Dash again often gave the enemy a free shot.
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Creativity: 5
There are some very unique challenges and encounters presented in this scenario, and you rarely encounter the same obstacle more than once. The flow of gameplay constantly shifts to introduce new elements, and almost every part of the world has interesting side elements to interact with in some fashion. Top notch work here.
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Map Design: 4
City environments tend to be the most difficult to design in Battlegrounds, but this map makes good use of the new assets introduced in the Expanding Fronts mod to make a very diverse urban sprawl. The interiors are well-decorated with a diverse array of props and effects to make believable settings. The exterior city is only slightly less well-off. Even with EF's new assets, the outside environments tend to consist of a hodgepodge of Coruscant and Bespin buildings, but the design is solid, and compact enough to not confuse players. The only jarringly lacking area is the antagonist's Fortress, which sits on a slab of flat metal with some Coruscant buildings scattered about. It isn't a deal-breaker, but it sticks out against the other very well-built sections of the map.
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Story/Instructions: 4
Aside from a handful of typos, the dialog and instructions are all solidly done. The objectives given to you are clear and concise, and you're never confused by what you need to do next; only how to do it. Generally, that's easily solved by just exploring the map and interacting with things. Almost every unit can be interacted with in some manner, which usually gives you either flavor text, or small side-quests that can aid you later in the scenario. In the event that you can't figure something out, the scenario includes an organised and concise walkthrough to direct you through the various challenges and puzzles.
The only major complaint I have with the scenario is how the dialog system is setup. It uses all three height settings of the Display Instructions effect and tends to blasts out large text chains at once, instead of spacing them out more naturally using timers. For dialog sequences involving multiple characters, this can become rather confusing. Particularly in the cantina, where the order you click on units determines where you are in a conversation.
Another minor issue is that the objectives tend to stack on top of each other, and aren't categorized or sorted in any way. You gain new objectives pretty frequently, but the end up lost in a long list of crossed-out lines. By the end of the scenario, the menu can end up very cluttered.
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Additional Comments:
The Nar Shaddaa Pursuit is a very competently built RPG scenario that makes great use of the new assets and features of the Expanding Fronts mod. Despite a few minor flaws, it's well worth playing.[Edited on 07/11/18 @ 07:46 PM]
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m4ce_windu
File Author |
Posted on 07/13/18 @ 07:08 AM
Playability:
"This area could have used a little bit more exploration and 'minor' combat situations to break up the chain of encounters leading up to the end."
I'll think about that. Do you think some cutscenes would be fitting or should it be actual gameplay?
"There were only a handful of trigger bugs I noticed. One of which concerning the experimental suit fight, and the powerup text sequences appearing out of order."
The suit has 2 different speed boosts, one gradually increasing and one resetting after a short time. Do you mean that the messages of these triggers were confusing? I'll change the line of one of them, if that's the issue. Also, what other trigger bugs did you see? I'm happy to exterminate all of them.
"During the 'virus' segment, losing the Data Droid also does not seem to result in a loss."
Yeah, sorry. I'll fix that.
Balance
"The environmental suit seemed to ramp up in speed a bit too quickly, and required a much more precise solution than most of the other encounters."
I'll tune it done a notch.
"Another small annoyance that popped up once or twice is enemies who have to be engaged by first selecting them. The split second between triggering the encounter and selecting Dash again often gave the enemy a free shot."
The only case where this should happen is the rodian, its attack is set low enough that the shot cannot be dangerous. Is this really a balancing issue or just annoying? I could slow his reaction speed.
Map Design
"The only jarringly lacking area is the antagonist's Fortress, which sits on a slab of flat metal with some Coruscant buildings scattered about. It isn't a deal-breaker, but it sticks out against the other very well-built sections of the map."
Mea culpa, I will enrich the area.
Story/Instructions
This might be a lot to ask but do you remember where you saw the typos? I will gladly fix them.
"The only major complaint I have with the scenario is how the dialog system is setup. It uses all three height settings of the Display Instructions effect and tends to blasts out large text chains at once, instead of spacing them out more naturally using timers."
I can see that this is a bit of a hassle. Would moving all dialogue lines into a single line be better?
"Another minor issue is that the objectives tend to stack on top of each other, and aren't categorized or sorted in any way. You gain new objectives pretty frequently, but the end up lost in a long list of crossed-out lines."
This is strange. I set up triggers to remove completed objectives. It always worked for me either in test mode or when playing as a scenario. Do you have an idea what could be the cause? |
Gen_Rhys_Dallows
Staff |
Posted on 07/13/18 @ 09:00 AM [Edited on 07/13/18 @ 09:10 AM]
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HGDL v0.8.2 |
| Rating |
|---|
| 4.2 | | Breakdown |
|---|
| Playability | 4.0 | | Balance | 4.0 | | Creativity | 5.0 | | Map Design | 4.0 | | Story/Instructions | 4.0 |
| Statistics |
| Downloads: | 313 |
| Favorites: [] | 0 |
| Size: | 20.52 MB |
| Added: | 07/11/18 |
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