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Dilecia is the first scenario by Lazarus.
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Dilecia 7.90 (8.6/7.0)
MultiQuote#2 TM
Posted 09 March 2008 - 02:45 PM
Dilecia is, well... It has a good plot, and a good presentation, but exists (literally) for no more than five minutes, and it's at the end of the scenario. The rest of the time, it looks like a generic hack-through-a-plague scenario, and plays a lot like BWC, except with less humor and better combat. And that's not a light remark either-- the combat is quite good, thanks to Lazarus' fiddling with default AI and giving some nasty abilities.
Ultimately, it's fairly difficult (and you actually WANT to play it at the recommended level, which is rare in BoA). It's worth the play. Not overly ambitious (no matter what poetic pretense it may be forwarding), but it's still good fun. 8.0
Ultimately, it's fairly difficult (and you actually WANT to play it at the recommended level, which is rare in BoA). It's worth the play. Not overly ambitious (no matter what poetic pretense it may be forwarding), but it's still good fun. 8.0
#3 Guest_Smoo_*
Posted 09 March 2008 - 02:46 PM
For the record, I played with a four-man level thirty party with no magic or priest spells. Well they can cast light. But anyways...
General: Town design is of average quality. None of the towns are that awe-inspiring but they get the job done. Some of the final dungeon's levels seem a bit empty. Dilecia has a refreshing variety of puzzles: You get to push boulders, sneak between cover and then there's a laser puzzle, which is fortunately not that annoying. The outdoors are a bit empty but otherwise nicely designed.
What I liked especially was Glup, the NPC that joins the party. For one thing he is a swamp folk and I like having other species than human, slith or nephil follow me around. Another thing about Glup is that he actually levels up. This was a bit buggy though since sometimes he gained a level although nobody was killed. Still, me likes it very much.
Plot/Characters: Besides Glup and the other swamp folk, none of the characters really stood out for me. I have to admit though that they are nicely written with little humane touches. One exception here is Janok the villain. He was refreshingly insane in stead of the average evilly insane.
As for the plot in general, it's not that inspiring: stop a monster plague. For one fleeting moment I pondered in horror if the vahnatai did it. They didn't. I have to say, though, that the insanity cut-scene featuring Janok rises to the top of my favorite cut-scene list. It successfully clears out all the nonsensical stuff about a previous cut scene because of which I was going to deduct points since I found it lackluster.
Combat: The fights aren't that tough although I stayed clear of some of the outdoor fights. Still I died enough to keep myself on my toes. I liked the side-quest cave with the slugs because... well slugs are cute. + 0.1 points for that dungeon. One thing bugs me with the combat. Why is it that the spell casting golems can take more punishment than the golems that are designed to take a punch and throw a punch? Whenever I came to a fight where I had
to fight the ethereal golems I stopped playing for several days.
Also the boss fight really irritated me. He's got four freaking magical pillars! That's so scary! Reminds me of Geneforge for some reason. Ugh...
Overall: Not too short, not too easy, has it's fun parts.
7.3
General: Town design is of average quality. None of the towns are that awe-inspiring but they get the job done. Some of the final dungeon's levels seem a bit empty. Dilecia has a refreshing variety of puzzles: You get to push boulders, sneak between cover and then there's a laser puzzle, which is fortunately not that annoying. The outdoors are a bit empty but otherwise nicely designed.
What I liked especially was Glup, the NPC that joins the party. For one thing he is a swamp folk and I like having other species than human, slith or nephil follow me around. Another thing about Glup is that he actually levels up. This was a bit buggy though since sometimes he gained a level although nobody was killed. Still, me likes it very much.
Plot/Characters: Besides Glup and the other swamp folk, none of the characters really stood out for me. I have to admit though that they are nicely written with little humane touches. One exception here is Janok the villain. He was refreshingly insane in stead of the average evilly insane.
As for the plot in general, it's not that inspiring: stop a monster plague. For one fleeting moment I pondered in horror if the vahnatai did it. They didn't. I have to say, though, that the insanity cut-scene featuring Janok rises to the top of my favorite cut-scene list. It successfully clears out all the nonsensical stuff about a previous cut scene because of which I was going to deduct points since I found it lackluster.
Combat: The fights aren't that tough although I stayed clear of some of the outdoor fights. Still I died enough to keep myself on my toes. I liked the side-quest cave with the slugs because... well slugs are cute. + 0.1 points for that dungeon. One thing bugs me with the combat. Why is it that the spell casting golems can take more punishment than the golems that are designed to take a punch and throw a punch? Whenever I came to a fight where I had
to fight the ethereal golems I stopped playing for several days.
Also the boss fight really irritated me. He's got four freaking magical pillars! That's so scary! Reminds me of Geneforge for some reason. Ugh...
Overall: Not too short, not too easy, has it's fun parts.
7.3
#4 Guest_Tyranicus_*
Posted 09 March 2008 - 02:46 PM
Dilecia is one of my favorite BoA scenarios to date, and the fact that it was written by a newcomer makes it all the more amazing. The combat is some of the best stuff in BoA, right up there with TM's best work. The plot seems trite at first glance, but is actually quite original. The characterization of the villain is particularly excellent. His insanity is refreshing because it is not the standard "Bwahaha! I'm going to destroy the world!" insanity, but a more down-to-home old fashioned insanity. I was quite pleased with this work and am looking forward to Lazarus's next scenario with eagerness.
8.6
8.6
#5 Guest_Nioca_*
Posted 09 March 2008 - 02:46 PM
Dilecia was a fun and interesting scenario. It had challenging, yet not extraordinarily difficult. The plot was fairly sturdy, and it looked both nice and realistic at the same time. The insanity of the villain was well done, though the ending sequence before the final fight confused me very thoroughly. There puzzles were well executed as well. Overall, well done.
Final Score: 8.3
Final Score: 8.3
#6
BainIhrno 
- BoEnthusiast
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- Group: Members
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- Joined: 26-January 07
Posted 09 March 2008 - 02:50 PM
The plot went from generic (monster plagues) to confusing (motives.) The scenario is very well coded and had some cool technical tricks. The puzzles were well coded but not much fun to solve. The cutscenes were good except for the last one (excessively long, reminded me of the Bahss cutscenes.) Overall, it's good for a first scenario, and it's worth playing if you own/play BoA. 7.0
#7
Jewels
- Skribbane Smuggler
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- Group: Members
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- Joined: 08-October 07
- Location:At my computer
Posted 16 April 2008 - 01:33 PM
A very well put together scenario, bonus for being a first try. Enjoyable throughout.
8.2
8.2
Rubies are red,
Sapphires are blue,
But there's not a gem
That's as precious as you.
Sapphires are blue,
But there's not a gem
That's as precious as you.
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