Since the great wars of the old order of men many years ago, there is great peace, but bastions of the old ways still remain in iscolated pockets scattered about the realms. Drifting alone in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean after the merchant ship you were travelling on sank at the hands of a black warship, death seems a certainty, untill a strange unchartered island appears out of the oceans mists. What is the secret to Maddocks island?, can you escape its grasp?
//A story driven adventure for 12-15 levels. Introductory monologue has an option for levelup to 12 or 15, and a shop to get new character's ready for the mod.
This module was inspired by the PW Mystara.
Not compatible with 'Outsider' at this time. (Playing Outsider will cause a bug)
Posted by diophant at 2009-09-01 02:42:04 Voted 3.50 on 09/01/09
SPOILERS WARNING!
Just finished the mod. It started promising, but then changed to hack and slash without much variation, and much frustration. In the first part, me and my henchie hacked through the soldiers without any problem. Just the encounter with the crossbowmen behin trapped crates catched me unexpected, and I had to reload. With a little bit tactic (cast AoE, run back behind wall), it was also no problem, although I think it is hard for a melee built. Nevertheless, this was the best fight in the whole mod. After that, you come to the point where undead spawn in. I.e. some ghouls that are no challenge at all, combined with skeletons that beat me down with three hits. From now on, I died a lot. Resting areas are really sparse, so I had a hard and frustrating time with my AT built. Then, you finally meet Lord Maddock, he faces my henchman, I can place my sneak attacks, and he goes down within seconds.
Despite of the unbalanced combat, there are more things to improve. Area transitions are simple named "New area transition". Give them better descriptions, and the mod feels a lot more real. And why can't I reload on the dead screen, just respawn??? Wll, I always respawned, and then reloaded via the main menue.
According to the voting standards, this is somewhere between 3 and 4.
Posted by Andros_Forever at 2008-09-22 06:47:46 Voted 4.00 on 09/22/08
I thought the initial setting was very interesting for this module... right up until my female cleric character's face model was changed after she broke out of her cell. Strange graphical problems with shadows too. Need to fix these problems then I can give a higher vote. _________________________ -------------Role Player since 1997-------------
Posted by smorpheus at 2008-05-02 14:31:49 Voted 3.25 on 05/02/08
3.25 - Potential Unrealized.
This Mod starts off great with a great outdoor environment, but quickly degrades into a depressing sequence of mindless battles.
This is a bit ranty, but if you're going to make a mod, you should get a better understanding of the game NWN2 first.
You say you want to get rid of "Munchkining" and thus ban resting in all combat areas, yet at the same time you have left in unlimited, no-penalty Respawns. What is more fun? Being able to strategically retreat and recoup after finding yourself overwhelmed or just charging in and hit, die, respawn, hit, die, respawn...
Completely unbalanced encounters. 6 Crossbowmen behind a trapped crate? I don't care what kind of fighter you are, unless your AC is over 40 at that point, you're not going to make it. Your henchman goes down in about 6 seconds if the fire is directed at him, yet you say he can own through the whole mod. Please, play-testing.
Given a fighter companion as a henchman who cannot be equipped with potions, better armor, or weapons. Why? Just why? I could see if he was decently equipped, but unarmed? It doesn't make any sense story-wise(he would equip himself considering the number of items in the crates you find), and it doesn't make any sense gameplay-wise.
No XP Rewards - It's been mentioned, but it needs rementioning. A major part of balance is ensuring the player is rewarded for playing. It's not just that guards are giving 4XP (at a point where you literally need tens of thousands of Experience points to level up), but the bosses give 4XP as well. Why not just disable it all together? It's a huge feature of RPG gameplay, it and has been completely overlooked.
Grammar - The least you could do before releasing this to the public is proofread it. These aren't minor problems, they're glaring mistakes everyone is going to notice if they read the dialogue.
Encounters - So you're walking through this tower, and around every corner are 4-5 guards just staring at each other. Yet, in the cinematics, it's clear that the leaders are quite aware of your presence. Why are the guards just hanging out? _________________________ Smorpheus' Toolset Visual Index Link
Posted by erthule at 2008-04-03 13:11:26 Voted 2.00 on 04/03/08
Poor Execution
Posted by ActorOfVeil at 2008-03-13 13:51:36 Voted 5.25 on 03/13/08
Some intresting characters and quite good dialogue were the biggest accomplishments. That hack'n slash wouldn't have bothered me, if:
- you weren't needed to go back to the prison following your old foodsteps or
- those skeletons weren't so hard to beat (even my 18 level dwarf fighter had troubles). Although I played this with D&D hardcore rules.
Also lack of music bothered me. Still a nice little mod. _________________________ A good module author is PAG: Patient, Ambitious and Gutsy.
Posted by jeanphl at 2008-02-15 09:07:03 Voted 4.00 on 02/15/08
A mod with very good ideas like: a autist guy and the backgroud history.
but too overpower ad boring coz only have batla bltle batle batle
no jornal
and you put medium roleplay, in the begining i think that but after the prision you only have batle and cutscene.
i think you have to put more roleplay and skill conversation, cut the stupid respaw death means death respaw make the game boring its a debug mode with death.
and finily less overpower.
dont give up have a great idea.
Posted by toke_man at 2008-01-04 09:05:26 Voted 7.25 on 01/04/08
Overall I liked the module. While it was a little dark, I felt it added to the feel.
Probably the only things I would suggest are the skeletons are a little wicked compared to the troops. I would tone up the troops and tone down the skeletons. Also, I felt there needed to be some sort of resource for potions. Perhaps more drops, or loot.
Thanks again!
Posted by Hurst171 at 2007-12-12 18:46:35 Voted 6.25 on 12/12/07
Not too shabby. Thanks for making the mod. We need more people with the drive to finish modules.
Posted by BamaGaiJin at 2007-11-10 22:19:22 Voted 3.75 on 11/10/07
Played (or at least, tried to) as a Drow monk, with two Assassin levels. Got utterly frustrated after the skellies killed me with 100+ point crits, my companion never made it past the archers, and I also seem to have either missed, or just never made it to, my equipment or the chest I see mentioned. Grammar also drives me nuts, but I understand not everyone is as anal as I am, so I can forgive that. Nice story, although rather longwinded... Definately has some potential, I just can't bring myself to finish it.
Posted by Ancaruin at 2007-10-07 17:36:15 Voted 7.00 on 10/07/07
I enjoyed playing this mod, reminded me of the "The Most Dangerous Game" _________________________ "Some have to dance, some have to kill" - My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult
Posted by Vahle001 at 2007-09-09 02:42:33 Voted 6.00 on 09/09/07
Some very good things is this module, in particular the first escape from the prison and the dialogs with the autistic guy. The story is quite good too. I also like the level range (getting quite bored playing low level mods).
Now for the lowlights, I would mention the following points:
1) Too many repetitive fights.
2) A lack of resting areas, which makes the mod nearly impossible for spell casters I guess (I was playing a fighter).
3) Too many powerful foes. In particular the indoor skeletons are DEFINITIVELY owerpowered. The outdoor skeletons near the docks are much more balanced for lvl 12/13 characters.
4) You can't manage directly the githyanki, which is OK, but you can't manage his equipment too. Maybe there is a way to give him a sword and a few key items, but I didn't find it. As a consequence, I asked him to leave as soon as I recovered my equipment.
5) If you go directly to the barracks instead of talking to the guy in the main house, you are directly sent to prison without a word of explanations. Quite frustrating.
6) After finding the boat, you have to return to the prison and to face again tens of undead, including the owerpowered skeletons already mentioned. It is very tedious and uninteresting.
To conclude, I think this mod has some qualities but it needs more polishing to be fully enjoyable.
So why would this be single player only? Could it multiplay and what would you rate the level for 1-4 players?
Posted by Aredhel371 at 2007-07-17 02:54:32 Voted 7.00 on 07/17/07
Although I can agree with fardoch77 concerning the extreme bad balancing of enemies (same with me: 4 XP on the one hand, about 300 XP for the skeletons on the other, and finally I couldn't save my Gith-companion any more, helas..) I think this mod has more than only "some" merits (atmosphere, storytelling etc).
Unfortunately it isn't possible here to evaluate the different aspects like in the reviews. So in the end I come up with a 7.. ;-) _________________________ Aka Gront0307 - because of a second adress..;-)
Posted by fardoche77 at 2007-06-18 15:21:18 Voted 4.00 on 06/18/07
4 - Some Merit, Requires Improvements
Played with a 13th level paladin. Some fights were way too easy, all enemies and even bosses were worth 4xp.
THEN, the skeletons kicked in. Even with an AC of 35 I was overmatched all the time. A single skeleton (+- 300xp) was almost more powerful than the end boss (still just worth 4xp). And there were three skeletons at a time... Add the resting restriction and this makes a very frustrating experience.
At the end, nothing happened, I gave the charts to the captain, had a little conversation... and nothing. No journal entry, no xp, no message... so I just quit.
Posted by jjc at 2007-04-29 11:35:21 Voted 9.50 on 04/29/07
I'm giving this a high mark because it's the only mid-upper module available with any storyline right now. I also enjoyed playing it and found a good mix of some easy battles and some challenging ones. I like the fact that in the beginning you have to fight to get your gear back.
Posted by Andros at 2007-04-10 04:57:21 Voted 7.50 on 04/10/07
A good module. I enjoyed playing it with a level 12 rogue. _________________________ Imagination is more important than knowledge...
Module description text (in game): iscolated -> isolated
untill -> until
I wonder if "Maddocks island" itself should be "Maddock's island" ?
Waking up in jail cell:
Is it possible to have just the text displayed rather than a "1. [text]" "1. [text]" "1. [text]" style of dialogue ?
"beckon you forward" -> "beckons you forward"
I don't know about everybody else but I didn't _have_ a
level 12-15 character. I know there are trainers but it's
still a bit of a fiddle
[levelling up, choosing skills] X 12
maybe include an optional starting character?
Any progress on the Outsider 2D Texture Missing bug?
No score for now because I haven't played past the Outsider bug.
Posted by brynsublime at 2007-03-20 06:25:00 Voted 9.50 on 03/20/07
This is the absolute best module I have played so far. It's the only one I have bothered to take notes on some "fixes" because I thought it was so great... it just needed a few small tweaks. The story is great, the maps and the cut scenes are beautiful. Overall I am just so happy that someone finally made a great mod!!!
OK, here's just a few suggestions I have:
1. The load screens, I believe, are set to "random". It would be much better if they were specific to the area.
2. The gith was the only character I was able to add as a henchman (I wanted the drow, but he wouldn't have anything to do with me.) I think the story would be better if you could add them as companions instead of henchmen, and give all the characters in your cell block names... not just "drow" or "gith" or "commoner".
3. Name the "new area transition".
4. Perhaps get someone to edit the conversations for grammatical errors. This was the most bothersome point to me (sorry, I'm an anal English major!). Just a few of the mistakes I noticed: "should of" should be "should've"; "everybodies" should be "everybody's"; "sea's" should be "seas"; "mens" should be "men's"; and issues with "your" vs "you're"... mostly contraction and possesive problems.
Anyway, as is, I rated a 9.50, because, like I said, this is the best mod I have yet played. I would give it a perfect 10 if the issues above were addressed, most particularly the load screens and the grammar. Thank you so much for making such a great mod, I enjoyed playing it very much!
Posted by ddbrenne at 2007-03-04 15:33:20 Voted 9.00 on 03/04/07
I really enjoyed playing this. I was a level 15 magic user and I brought the Gith along. A very engaging romp with a lot of challenges. I love to put myself to the test and starting with nothing really gives a player a feeling of dispare.
The battles were well balanced and the story was cool with the cutscenes that showed what was going on where my character was not.
I was very motivated to get the h@## off that island for sure!
Suggestions
have an export character reminder before taking us off to the credits
add an ending cutscene where you see the boat going away with players on it
And for my own selfish purpose let me talk to Cyril more at the end. I love that guy :)
Posted by Mea_Culpa at 2007-02-16 11:59:25 Voted 8.50 on 02/16/07
Great fun, original idea and a bit of thought put in to it ...I liked it a lot, well done Mr. Damage ;) _________________________ Mea Culpa's Demesne
Old Elven Saying: "Never say Never if you're gonna live forever!!!"
"I didn't do it, it wasn't my fault"
Posted by The Ridge at 2007-02-13 03:15:28 Voted 6.50 on 02/13/07
doh forgot the vote lol _________________________ NWN2 Voting Standards
10 - A Masterpiece, Genuinely Groundbreaking
9 - Outstanding, a Must Have
8 - Excellent, Recommended to Anyone
7 - Very Good, Deserves a Look
6 - Good, Qualified Recommendation
5 - Fair, Solid yet Unremarkable
4 - Some Merit, Requires Improvements
3 - Poor Execution, Potential Unrealized
2 - Very Little Appeal
1 - Not Recommended to Anyone
Posted by The Ridge at 2007-02-13 03:14:00 Voted 6.50 on 02/13/07
Overall I enjoyed this little adventure. Great concept. However I may have picked the wrong class for this. I played a Warlock and found the H&S element to be a little bit tedious. However since this is all about escaping a prison, this is understandable.
For a first effort this is one of the better modules out there. I'm rating it a 6.50.
-R _________________________ NWN2 Voting Standards
10 - A Masterpiece, Genuinely Groundbreaking
9 - Outstanding, a Must Have
8 - Excellent, Recommended to Anyone
7 - Very Good, Deserves a Look
6 - Good, Qualified Recommendation
5 - Fair, Solid yet Unremarkable
4 - Some Merit, Requires Improvements
3 - Poor Execution, Potential Unrealized
2 - Very Little Appeal
1 - Not Recommended to Anyone
Posted by Talon111 at 2007-01-29 09:25:24 Voted 4.00 on 01/28/07
Btw, considering the rating is just over 6, you might want to actually listen to people and their frustrations instead of just stubbornly insisting there's nothing wrong! While we all appreciate the time you put into making the module if you aren't open to criticism then your modules won't get better.
Posted by Talon111 at 2007-01-29 09:13:48 Voted 4.00 on 01/28/07
I brought the Gith, he died! I'm sorry, but this mod is so unbalanced I won't be completing it. It's just a poorly inplemented mod, I have a lvl 14 Monk and it's just a tedious exercise.
The combat is just an exercise in pointlessness and frustration. at each level you are heavily and unfairly outmatched.
There is a henchman you can get to come with you, the Gith in the prison, unless you decide to solo it and kill the warden first up. The Gith can virtually slaughter everything in your path and complete the entire mod just incase you have an extremely weak build.
There's no resting in most areas
Anti munchkin rule so people dont just unload spells and rest all the time.
there's limitless respawn!
Thought about putting a limit on this, but at the end of the day, doing so would just annoy the single player that wanted to race through it.
At one point you do find a chest full of weapons and armour but none of it is identified, so it's all but useless.
I placed an IDENTIFIED item in one of those chests that allows anyone to cast identify on all the other items 3 times a day in a rest area. You obviously missed it.
you only get 4xp for each guard you kill!? It's just absurd!
Your not meant to level up during this adventure, its only short and the level your granted at the start, is what your meant to finish it with. The xp's are default from the game and I havent tweaked them at all as I didnt think them a priority. In hindsight, some do view XP as important so will take this onboard in future.
As it is, it's pretty balanced for fighter types, and a lot harder for casters, who WILL need an ally or somesuch to help them fight, or it will take ages..impossible etc. My apologigies if my layout wasn't obvious enough to take advantage of the things I put in there to assist the player or was just an exercise in pain. Cheers for your comments.
Posted by Talon111 at 2007-01-28 10:48:33 Voted 4.00 on 01/28/07
I started playing this module but just gave up in frustration. I was really trying to be positive about this module, the story and set up was very good, but unfortunately that's about the only thing that's properly thought out.
The combat is just an exercise in pointlessness and frustration. at each level you are heavily and unfairly outmatched. There's no resting in most areas so you just end up dying over and over, but yet there's limitless respawn! So what's the point? At one point you do find a chest full of weapons and armour but none of it is identified, so it's all but useless. Yet, despite the over-the-top enemies you only get 4xp for each guard you kill!? It's just absurd!
In summary; good idea (that's why I gave it 4) but really terrible execution. Had it not for the story and set-up it would have only earned 1 from me.
Posted by Vidal at 2007-01-27 11:06:32 Voted 7.75 on 01/27/07
Nice hack'n'slash mod... as for being 'story driven'... well, it is more cutscene driven than anything else. But it works... though I agree there should be a way to jump through the conversation tree.
There seems to be some argument as to the proper class to play the game and the overall difficulty... I would have to agree with Armin's remarks regarding games entirely directed to the fighter class. But I had no major problem with my Elven Fighter-Sorcerer (2-13) though the fights really felt tedious sometimes, what with the number of enemies and my low fighter abilities forcing me to wait forever for a *hit*...
That's when the cutscenes helped, since they kind of move the whole thing further... otherwise I might have stopped playing due to the lack of more role-playing. The use of cutscenes was not a bad idea, the only problem was the fact you have to wait for them to end long after you finish reading the dialogues.
Some more interaction with the henchman would also be nice... since I played an elf I wouldn't mind if they exchanged some *nice* remarks from time to time.
But it was an enjoyable trip... good work.
" Is AC 32 at level 13 considered "run of the mill" "
Ha, for me yes; I prefer to wear AC items in every slot possible by default, but swap to rogue items if traps/locks/resists prove difficult.
Hehe, and so the point being: you *do* minmax your character to a degree - in this case maxing your AC. ;-)
Thus all battles where you are only threatened by physical damage become extremely easy. While they certainly are not for a many a more "balanced" character.
And thats why balance is such a fickle thing:
Example here: my character was already being hit only about once for all three attacks (thats why some fights became rather boring things of no one landing a hit in 3 rounds ;). Same fight your char is basically bulletproof, being hit only once for all *ten* attacks. 4 points of AC DO make such a difference... _________________________ With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince...
With science, you can turn a frog into a Ph.D....
... and still keep the frog you started with.
Posted by pcatiprodotnet at 2007-01-26 09:00:53 Voted 7.75
" Is AC 32 at level 13 considered "run of the mill" "
Ha, for me yes; I prefer to wear AC items in every slot possible by default, but swap to rogue items if traps/locks/resists prove difficult.
10 - A Masterpiece, Genuinely Groundbreaking 9 - Outstanding, a Must Have 8 - Excellent, Recommended to Anyone 7 - Very Good, Deserves a Look 6 - Good, Qualified Recommendation 5 - Fair, Solid yet Unremarkable 4 - Some Merit, Requires Improvements 3 - Poor Execution, Potential Unrealized 2 - Very Little Appeal 1 - Not Recommended to Anyone
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