[BainIhrno]

HIM is by Thralni.

Visit the author's homepage for details or download this scenario for Mac or PC

This post has been edited by Jewels: 27 December 2008 - 04:02 PM

[Samson]

HIM. Right. Well, I thiught it had a "lovely" plot - it's clever, and I like how it unfolds around you, as you collect clues. Maybe a little more on how HIM went mad might have been nice, or maybe something on how the party ended up falling down into the bowels of the HMC. But the sense of confusion the sketchy details make is cool.

Combat is good, but then again, anything with advice from TM is going to be. I still beat it with a level under the recommended, but then I know the fight like the back of my hand, so I won't detract there. The anti-magic to stop my spellcasters from hiding was a great idea.

The only drawbacks then, are that Thralni should've included more lines from "Bodysnatchers" () and the overall length. Anything longer would ruin the scenario, though I think. So really...

I can't think of a way I'd do it better.

-7.5- (tentatively.)

[Nioca]

HIM was an... interesting scenario. I can't discuss it overly much, since it'd be too filled with spoilers, so I'll just make a list of it's good and bad points. Starting from 5.0...

+ ATMOSPHERE. The atmosphere was well executed, a mix of darkness and confusion. (1.3)
+ TOWN DESIGN. The towns were designed in a believable way, and yet there was still plenty to explore. (0.9)
+ STORY. A good story, presented nicely. Original, too. (0.6)
+ DIALOGUE. Can't give too much credit here, but I definitely liked what I saw. Dialogue was believable... well, considering the circumstances, anyway. (0.4)
+ SCRIPTING. There wasn't much advanced scripting, but the creature scripts used were nice. I also liked the shaking of the final town. (0.3)
+ DETAIL. The difficulty (or lack thereof) was determined by how much you explored. A nice touch. (0.1)
+ SIZE. The scenario was right on the dot for length. It didn't extend the plot beyond reason, yet it was still long enough to be engaging. (0.1)
- COMBAT. The one mandatory fight was a tricky one. However, because of the way it's designed, you can simply let HIM's health run down by blasting the machinery behind him without engaging HIM directly. Wait till it's at zero, than trigger the fight and deal a final blow. A bit disappointing, since the fight itself was good. Additionally, both fights showed a strong bias toward mages. (1.0)
- PRESENTATION. The plot was good, but it left a few important points unaddressed. Thralni tries to handle this in the Readme, but I'd still prefer to see it in the scenario itself. (0.6)
- QUICKFIRE TRAP. On one level, there's a randomly-activated(?) quickfire trap. That's fine, that's good. However, leaving the player without an idea of where to run isn't so good. I wound up running toward the quickfire. Not fun. The second time, for reasons unknown, it didn't trip, which was fortunate. It took far more time finding the exit than is provided when quickfire's on your tail. If it had tripped again, I would likely have done some script editing. (0.4)

FINAL SCORE - 6.7

(That said, if the combat situation is fixed, the score will change accordingly.)

[N-methyl D-aspartic acid]

This is another one of those scenarios that's so short that scoring it is difficult, but since Thralni's interested in advice, the text of the review will be more valuable anyway:

I agree with Nioca about the quickfire traps. I had to reload once or twice in beta, although I thought I had done something wrong at the time so I just let it go. The plot starts off nicely; I know vaguely about Portal, and there are lots of similarities. (Thralni freely admits this.) Portal's plot isn't bad, but if you've played the game, you'll be able to predict much of what happens. However, for those of us who haven't, the plot is sufficiently creepy, and the lack of combat towards the end makes the final fight more pronounced after a fairly long period of suspense. The towns are painted well; the Geneforge graphics blend in with the BoA ones nicely. The exit was protected by a "magic, invisible barrier" rather than a door, though, which I still think is unnecessary; also, fetching the key to reach HIM was unnecessary and made the scenario feel a bit long.

...okay, whatever, it's been a while; I'll replace my rating of µ.π with... hm. 7.0

[Jewels]

Aw, come on. I'm sure Thralni is dying to have his scenario "on the board", as well as to see your numerical opinion. Don't take it out on him that the rest of us aren't making games.

Very strange. English not being Thralni's first language actually aided the story, I think. I did find a few 'real' grammatical errors but they weren't that noticeable considering the writing style. There were some good graphics and effects and the scripting was neat. The story seemed original enough and maybe even TMesk... maybe. I liked it in all it's goodly weirdness.

8.3

Edit: Looks like I either didn't play or don't remember portal.

[Belial]

like Nioca, i'll be starting from 5.0.



+ ATMOSPHERE. (1.2)
I didn't like the intro, but after that, sheer brilliance. It's not often that I'm really able to... meh, feel the same as my PCs, but the scenario really had me confused at points. The towns, as has been said before, we're rather nicely done, and contributed to the general atmosphere of the scenario. All the wreckage and the dead bodies, and the darkness combined - m m mmm.

+ STORY & DETAIL. (0.4)
Hmh. HIM is so short a scenario, and leaves so many questions un-answered, that I'm not sure on how to comment it's, uh, plot. At the very least, it kept me interested to the very end. I'm seriously hoping that Thralni indeed does design and release a prequel/sequel, and explains many of the things of wtf happened in the facility in more detail.

+ SCRIPTING. (0.1)
Like Nioca, I liked the final town's earthquake-ish shaking. But other than that, I didn't notice anything out of ordinary.

- COMBAT. (0.2)
There wasn't too much of it, and it wasn't tedious. But nothing beats a pig on a pedestal as the final boss of a scenario. Bonus points for that.


FINAL SCORE - 6.9

[Grail Shadowblade]

Like the others before me I'll also start from 5.0.

Environment (+1.0)
The environment was good, the design suited the scenario well. A little irksome when you spring the quickfire though, even though I dodged it and then set it off on purpose I was only two squares or so ahead of it. Still that was a minor issue not a major one and overall the design was marvelous.

Plot Revealment (+0.5)
The plot revealment within the scenario was good however needing people to refer to the readme was a somewhat large blow to an otherwise great scenario. Still what was in the scenario was enough to tide me over until reading the readme upon completion.

Scripting (+0.3)
Subtle but effective. This scenario is proof that you don't need the most advanced code to work well.

Combat (0)
Not tedious, not spectacular but solidly done.

Non-specifics -
Clutter meant you couldn't just run rampantly around (+0.1)
HIM was designed lower in the facility but installed right at the top? Seems a bit wrong to me, it would have made more sense if he were at the bottom and you started at the top then escaped via an entrance tunnel/lift (magically or scientifically powered) at the core of the facility (0 [Influenced by personal tastes and thus excluded but still worth commenting])
Good use of tone to convoy the mood earns some bonus points (+0.2)

Total - 7.1

[Ephesos]

I will not be starting from 5.0.

Anyway. HIM is great. As others have said, it's a very focused example of Thralni's designing talent. There's almost no combat, very little in the way of puzzles, just some good old-fashioned storytelling. The environments, though empty and desolate, are built in a way that feels rich story-wise. The narrative is very distinct, and I enjoyed it a lot.

One thing that did bother me, though, was the largely-empty containers that you could open and close, but I think that's mostly because of the adventurer's OCD that most other scenarios (including mine) have given me. Sometimes, it's just nice to have empty containers for their own sake, I guess.

Also... the whole Portal thing. I guess I understand what was said about Adrift using the Snakes on a Plane line, because I did get a little sick of the "x is a lie" thing. But on the whole, it didn't bother me that much.

Oh, and I felt dumb for reading the readme, because the hint of

Spoiler

destroying machinery in advance

was just a little spoilery. I don't know what it would've been like if I hadn't done that, but I'm a little frightened to go back and find out.

In conclusion, I'll second TM's comments. We need more players, and we need more scenarios. Not all of them should be scenarios like this, but I'm glad some are. 7.2

[Smoo]

This scenario starts with the party falling down a mine shaft, or something. This results in a slightly brain-damaged party/narration. This is good. HIM has the confused party roam through four dark and spooky levels upwards towards the light. Once the party reaches the ground floor they are treated with the one and only fight in the scenario. This was pretty challenging for me, fortunately there were ways of making the enemy weaker, but unfortunately the machinery you do this with kept electrocuting me.

So, HIM is not about the combat. It is about the atmosphere and plot (find out what happened in the desolate mines). Short verdict of the scenario: it's good; it's short, but good. There aren't many things I didn't like. The electrocuting machinery was a tad too powerful for my taste... and that's about it. However, the story did not exactly blow me away, and again it is quite short. That is why the score is "only"

7.4

PS: Radiohead is teh suxxorz.