The player begins in a town called Mikkersville. There they will find a typical array of small town worries. As the party ventures beyond Mikkersville, more of the story will begin to unfold. You can expect towns, cities and wild lands (both tamed and untamed). But there remains a sinister being behind the mysteries within the land of Sif. Most of the residents have been content to live in this realm which had its ties severed with the outside lands years ago. Some residents have only recently arrived to the kingdom, having been drawn in by a mysterious force, unable to leave themselves. You have recently been feeling lost, even in lands familiar to you. Perhaps you are strong enough to resist these feelings. Perhaps you will be drawn into the Kingdom of Sif.
very tough to rate-- on the one hand this is a spectacularly large and varied world that's been built. It is generally very fun to explore. At the same time, the quests and plot really aren't that engaging or compelling. I also thought the conclusion was a bit vague and didn't really bring appropriate closure to such a massive mod. Probably my biggest complaint would be Sif City, which has plenty of markets but no real plots or characters to interact with. Had this city been fleshed out more I think the mod would have greatly improved. But it's still an amazing piece of design and I really appreciate all the time that went into constructing the massive areas!
Posted by Steve at 2004-11-1008:10:00
Zorcon, had to let you know...... I honestly feel this is one of the best 5 modules on the net. I reviewed some of the votes that you were given, and noted that some of the people that gave you incredibly low ratings are the same people who violently attacked my modules. I don't know what these people are thinking to give you a 1. They must have forgot to put the zero on the end, or they have an IQ or less than 25. I appreciate the work you have done for the community, and I want you to know that the people who cast these types of votes, really are not members of any community. They are out there like f****** Pluto.
Posted by Broken at 2004-10-2219:30:00
I understand you arent posting here anymore, but I just wanted to say thanks for the work! There are so many things that bug me about modules, lack of map pins and detail, detail, detail. All of those things including the sheer size of this shows the amount of work gone into this, Some encounters are hard and thats just what I like. Tactics played a big part for me and my lowly Wizard. Luring quite a bit and so on. But all in all it was a great challenge and a good story to boot. Thanks again for releasing this. And yes I beat it solo :D
Posted by Broken at 2004-10-2219:30:00
I understand you arent posting here anymore, but I just wanted to say thanks for the work! There are so many things that bug me about modules, lack of map pins and detail, detail, detail. All of those things including the sheer size of this shows the amount of work gone into this, Some encounters are hard and thats just what I like. Tactics played a big part for me and my lowly Wizard. Luring quite a bit and so on. But all in all it was a great challenge and a good story to boot. Thanks again for releasing this. And yes I beat it solo :D
Posted by twigster at on10/01/04
_________________________ "To alcohol - the cause of and solution to all of life's problems." - Homer J. Simpson
Posted by Zorcon at 2004-08-1908:32:00
I have thought long and hard about the comments I made to the anonymous author below. I have also thought about what Dennis asked. I think back to the original comments of gilknut. I enjoyed the private and public appraisal of KoS, even by numerous reviewers. I am bewildered by the complaints to me about how some had great difficulty playing through when they tried something I did not intend, and then blamed me (that's why I have recommendations listed). I am astonished by the people who have enjoyed playing the module in parties and especially by the success of single players (I didn't want to exclude them from playing KoS). I wrote most of it from a developing story over the last twenty or so years. I watched how many players responded to situations that the NWN toolset allowed authors to create. I used that knowledge to allow players the opportunity to grow their characters in an environment that will challenge all their preconcieved notions. The Kingdom of Sif is just one part of a greater story that I am sharing. But since it isn't the story some people would rather have me tell, I think I may just retire the story to a few people instead of to the community. It has become clear that people would rather use these threads as flame throwers (that does include me). I've read the flame war at the POUNDER 3 review, and it was sad that people would flame something they haven't tried. It happened here too, too many times. So from here out, I invite open critism and private, as I always have on these threads. But please understand, I will no longer be checking this thread or posting here (though I will respond to private emails sent to me). I am tired of apologizing because of MY thoughts about MY module. I am tired of explaining MY intentions of MY module. I am tired of defending MY module, especially to people who have yet to play through it. I enjoyed making it. I'm also enjoying the creation of the expansion. I will not let the opinions of people who don't like my module (because they've played it or not) deter me in telling my story. I continue to look forward to modules that are developed by the community. Unfortunately, this community would rather impose their beliefs on what individual module authors should have in their modules instead of accepting what the authors imagination had in mind. I wish everyone much success in their endeavors. If that includes playing Kingdom of Sif, great. Good luck. Finally, I will offer apology for any reason that someone will take offense by. Goodbye Zorcon zorcon@realmofzorcon.com
Posted by Zorcon at 2004-08-1908:01:00
Hellraiser, thank you for your comments. Perhaps the last post came off a little bit too party heavy. That is true. But there are plenty of people who have played the module through single player. There is one point in the module where a single player will have difficulty, and only one part. If that deters you, I'm sorry. It hasn't detered over 6300 downloads (many of which were single players). I wish you luck in finding what you are looking for. I did stress a frustration factor associated with the module. That does not mean every encounter will be frustrating. There are points in the module designed to frustrate a group. BUT there are also points where this frustration has bound a group together due to these challenges (I allude to Loviatar). I include frustration and challenge as a way to get to the emotions of the players. I feel success without challenge (sometimes the challenge is frustrating) is simply hollow. There are plenty of hollow modules out there. I simply did not want that to be this way. Once again, I apologize if any offence came across. It seems that people are desiring apologies more than playing the story. I've apologized in previous posts, I've apologized at the beginning of the module and I will apologize now. Zorcon
Posted by Hellraiser at 2004-08-1907:10:00
Hello Zorcon, I was very interested in trying your module. I like modules that last a long time and I decided to check in here from time to time when you said a new version of this one was on the way. Reading your comments though, in particular your last post, I think I'll give it a miss. I know you said playing with a party is optimal but from the sound of your last post there is no way this module can be played in single player if parties are having such difficulty with it, and the respawn on death on top of that would irritate me no end. Additionally you constantly refer to parties in your post. Perhaps you should change the module description to recommend 2 or more players. You say many times in your last post how challenge is key. I have absolutely no problem with that, and have got through many difficult modules using different tactics, but there is a HUGE difference between challenging and frustrating. You mention how it pleases you when people get frustrated. I think you perhaps have forgotten that the goal here is for people to have fun. Frustration and fun have no place in the same sentence together, let alone the same module. Of course, it's your module and you are free to do with it whatever you wish. I just wanted to say that your post has put me off ever trying this module. In particular, your tone towards the poster below who was simply giving his thoughts and trying to help you improve the module I found your reply to be condescending and arrogant. What's with the constant reference to 'whoever you are'? I mean is it really important that he doesn't have a made-up name on his post to make you feel better about who he is, and would it make his points any less valid? I am sure I will get a nasty response to this post as I have already seen how you react to criticism. Regardless, I wish you luck with the module and hope you will reconsider the fun factor in relation to the frustration factor.-------------------------- There is no shame in death.
Posted by Anonymous at 2004-08-1023:39:00
Well, I haven't been playing this mod for very long, and normally I try to finish before offering comments, but since it appears you are in the middle of remaking the whole thing, i'm posting these issues ASAP in hopes that something can be done before the new version comes out. My biggest issue of the game is the respawn on death system. THe whole purpose of respawning after death is to remove your character from danger. Respawning in the exact paace you die kind of defeats the purpose. It also causes problems with my second issue, and that is that monster groups in the begining areas are either too large, too tough, or too frequent, or a combination thereof. Who really expects to face duergar and drow sorcerers at levels 1-3? Its just ridiculous. I played this with a very balanced group of three characters, and the toughness of the enemies combined with the on the spot respawning meant we were dying 5-6 times each fight. This leads to the third problem, which is that it becomes nearly impossible to accumulate xp, since by the time you have died a few times, you've lost more xp than you could gain from the fight. This results in great frustration. I'd recommend adding spawning locations, tempels or some such, where the choice to return to the point of death is available. Also, ease up on the monsters, death and respawning should be a rare occurence, not once or twice for every monster encountered. Think of the sorts of monsters you face in the beginning levels of the nwn campaigns, and stick to stuff of similar difficulty. One last bug: while playing, one character got stuck in a rock and we had to reload the game to an earlier part. When we reloaded, we used exported characters. We loaded at a point where the crypt quest was incomplete, but our characters had already completed this quest, and so did not have the key necessary to attempt the quest again, and we could not re-initiate the quest to get the key again. I'd suggest using flags to check for the presence of quest essential items and allowing the reinitiationof quests through repeating conversation. I hope this information is helpful in remaking your rather extensive and otherwise great mod
Posted by Zorcon at 2004-08-0413:22:00
Hello Dennis. Thanks for asking. I've been thinking about posting something, and you are the spark for it. Well, I've set about redesigning the entire module. As I added, things didn't mesh as I'd like. I also learned from many about few issues in the module. I've learned alot from other modules as well. I have just about completed all outdoor and underground areas. I still haven't touched interiors to most houses. You will see plenty of the same, like my favorites, Palenque, Loviatar, Crawfish Canyon, Ole Eppler Ruins, to name a few. Some areas are completely redone, like the starting location, now it will be just outside of Mikkersville at the Mikkersville Coast (I know, real stretch on names). The expansion will have a complete UnderSif which can allow the player to travel across the map under the current realm. For example, the Parsec Caverns will now be attached to other areas, no longer will there be empty doorways. I also anticipate close to 100 hours of story line, without sub-quests or distraction areas (some of my favorite). The story will continue to mesh as the story progresses. I'm really excited about it. But unfortunately, I haven't found a way to simply add on to the pre-existing module. I have something in mind to bypass the first 50 hours, but there will be surprises missed by the players. The first one took nearly 4 months to build, and the expansion may be longer than that. I now hear that NWN2 has been announced. I'm not sure what that means yet. If they plan to allow for module building like the first, I may refocus on preparing for that. Until then, the Kingdom of Sif is still under construction. Thanks Dennis for the question, I hope I answered. Zorcon
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