|
|
| Author |
File Description |
| Queen Elquein |
Posted on 10/16/01 @ 12:00 AM
| File Details |
|---|
| Ruleset: |
TS Standard Rules |
| Map Size: |
X-Large |
| Playable Races: |
Some |
| Surface Levels: |
3 |
| Difficulty: |
Hard |
Playable races are humans, frostlings, elves, halflings, dwarves and goblins.
If you want to know more, read the wonderful story that Blue wrote for this map. :)
What else can I say...it took me 8 long months to make this map (of course I didn't work with this map all the time..obviously).
And this map would have never seen the daylight without the help of Edi and Blue, thank you both very much.
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| Author | Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
|---|
| ffbj |
Posted on 12/06/01 @ 12:00 AM
Fun to play and beautiful to look at. |
| ArchmageSUN |
Posted on 01/20/02 @ 12:00 AM
the detail and gameplay is unmatched.
i always thought playing alone against a cpu is no fun, but i kept playing Athendore ;-)
the map designers of aow2 should take it as an example how their campaign maps should look like....
thansk for this great gift Queen Elquein.
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| Eriksson |
Posted on 03/04/02 @ 12:00 AM
I haven't yet beaten it but I'm playing it with the frostlings and it's very challenging.
The only bad thing about it is that it takes forever for the CPU players to finish their turns, atleast on my computer. |
| Dan Petersson |
Posted on 05/07/02 @ 12:00 AM |
| Ave |
Posted on 09/05/02 @ 12:00 AM
The story is detailled; especially in the beginning. I’ve started different games for a few turns, just to read the story for all the playable races (balance is good). During the game you encounter a lot of stories from wizards, farmers, (rescued) heroes etc. These stories are good: they often fit the main storyline and/or give you clues about the terrain and/or are just plain fun. Almost every place, building (esp blood shrines) have vivid names. These things make this map very alive.
From the Ash dune to South Winter home, from the isle of Arrynise to the Bone Museum, the map is detailled and creative. Every aspect of the map is carefully worked out (almost, e.g. a few empty signs) and even now I am sure I did not encounter all the stories, heroes and other secrets in this jewel.
Because of the qualification ‘impossible’ in the map-review and the good reactions on this map, I decided to play this one. After playing with the dwarves for about 40 turns I had to give up (because I made some wrong and fatal decisions). And indeed: this map is difficult! I started all over again and was again challenged and addicted. Still I think it is impossible without reloading saved games a few times; especially in the beginning. Also a detailled (handmade) drawn map is a necessity (and fun), especially if you don’t explore the map before hand. Because of the complex teleportsystem I (word-)documented (almost) all of the teleports; I guess there are about 150.
Let’s hope and pray that AOW2-maps become as good as this one.
---Ave---
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| Kilian Houston |
Posted on 07/24/04 @ 12:00 AM |
| blackoak |
Posted on 06/08/06 @ 07:20 PM
An addicting scenario. All the races are very challenging. Don't be discouraged the first time yoyu are killed. There are many original challenges on this map and some huge rewards.
Balance: 4
Balance is good except for the extreme difficulty. Dwarves are almost impossible!
Creativity: 5
Very original and realistic terrains. Many interesting signs and items.
Map Design: 5
Map has a nice feel to it. very few bottlenecks but traffic flow is mostly channeled. A back door to every place. Has the toughest and richest dungeons I have ever encountered.
Story/Instructions: 5
Good storyline and subplots.
Additional Comments:
The mastery spells are critical. The bad guys will through death and fire mastery up and power leak you to death. You must attain your own mastery spell and use it. Air mastery is the most potent as it will slow down the dragons and marauding fliers.
A masterpiece, one of the berst scenarios I have ever played. |
| Mac_Biodiesel |
Posted on 08/19/15 @ 12:39 PM
Leaders On
Customize Leaders On
Allied Victory On
AI as CPU Emperor - Normal
Playability: 5
I'm on my second play-through, and I expect I'll do a third soon after. Goblins will have NO friends (although the soft Halflings offered), but will benefit from the enemy castings of Death Mastery. Use those black dragons wisely. As Dwarves, I got alliance requests from every race except the three big baddies (Azrac, Undead, Orc). Even the Goblins wanted peace.
Balance: 5
This map is the hardest difficulty I've ever played from this website. Even having multiple super-heroes does not make it easy. That as the map's goal, I believe, so I give it a 5 for achieving that. From what I can tell, balance between the playable races is good.
Creativity: 5
I'm extremely impressed; work of art.
Map Design: 5
Extensive use of teleporters is frustrating/challenging for a human player. As Goblins, my approach was to go into the highway and blow them all up, just to help manage the onslaught of enemies. Despite map being huge, it's easy to traverse.
Story/Instructions: 5
Excellent use of signs, as it really helps you learn the map's layout and landmarks, which becomes important with the teleporters. I love how many message bubbles have customized text, depending on which race you are!
Additional Comments:
I'll admit, I've had to reload NUMEROUS times from saved-game files. If you are hard-core and never load from save, expect to restart often. Another user suggests putting up your own Mastery spell is required, but I never got that far. My heroes became powerful enough that I could hold my borders while doing targeted offensives. I never had enough mana for a Mastery spell, as the opposing Mastery spells double the cost, AND there are frequent Power Leaks. I found it more economical to cast low-level buffs on my powerful lvl 3/4 units.
Archers, archers, archers, and a few priests to deal with the physical-immunes. My biggest gripe on this map is I never could afford to upgrade any cities. I had too many fronts to defend against dragons and physical immunes. Dominate is your best friend here, as you can "recruit" those high-level units for free, including heroes.
Spoiler alert:
Spell Ward negates the AI's spell-casting advantage, as they aren't smart enough to dispel it. Rush to research that spell and get it up, and you can do it before any other Mastery spells are cast, and before many dragons are summoned, majorly nerfing the AI.
[Edited on 12/01/15 @ 06:55 PM]
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| PetrusOctavianus |
Posted on 08/06/22 @ 12:02 PM
It kind of lulls you into a sense of false security the first turns, but then dragons and superheroes appear to make it challenging for you. Make sure all your own heroes have ranged attacks or they will be roasting ducks.
Lots and lots of items to be found, and lots of heroes and high level units to liberate, all custom made for this map.
Also lots of well written text messages at various places.
There are some big caches of mana to be found at certain places on the map. This mana will help tremendously. Without one such cache I would not have been able to dispel enemy Master spells and Power Leak, and then cast Life Mastery on the same turn. With Spell Ward, a spell I've never used before, I had magic superiority.
I tried both the Goblins, Frostlings and Humans before I was able to win as the Elves on turn 61. Thanks to Leaders on Map I was even able to win an Allied Victory for the first time.
The Frostlings are probably the hardest faction to win with, since they start underground have no Night Vision, and very soon their Air spells will have double cost.
The Humans will be not much affected by enemy Master spells, but start in a rather cramped position. They were the only faction to get wiped out by the AI. The Dwarves did pretty well for themselves.
So to conclude, great map, which I have added to my favourites.
|
 
HGDL v0.8.1 |
| Rating |
|---|
| 4.9 | | Breakdown |
|---|
| Playability | 4.8 | | Balance | 4.7 | | Creativity | 4.9 | | Map Design | 5.0 | | Story/Instructions | 5.0 |
| Statistics |
| Downloads: | 6,162 |
| Favorites: [] | 4 |
| Size: | 309.13 KB |
| Added: | 10/16/01 |
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