baeuchlein on 26/2/2017 at 23:01
I have played "Godbreaker" until about last weekend, and I have been entertained pretty well by it. Very well done, that one.
For me, the absolutely best thing about the campaign was the swamp in the second mission. The combination of greenish fog, water-filled areas with lots of plant-like things on the water surface as well as crumbling buildings in the vicinity, sounds supporting the swampy atmosphere, and flying animals further adding to the scenery all created a (so far) unique "swamp feeling" which I don't remember from any other game so far. I would have congratulated you on delivering the smell as well, had I not discovered it was originating from my digestive system. Ahem.:o:cheeky:
The next thing I'll remember from this campaign is the conversations especially in missions 2 and 3. They neither felt just as a vehicle to transfer important information to the player, nor did they last for too long, such as if they were scratching on the surface of boredom already. They were long enough, for example, to include something not relevant for the game but adding much to the overall "believability". As an example, take the talk Conall may have with the priest in the second mission. It does not only revolve around the things the player needs to continue the mission at this point, but also allows Conall to ask the Hammerite why he is staying in a place where one would not really expect one of his kind, especially with the attitude he displays to his neighbours. And still, these conversations were not filled to the rim with unnecessary stuff about anything the player couldn't care less about.
As you may already guess, I was especially impressed with the second mission, but the fourth one had its moments as well. It's just that I'm not such a big fan of city missions with a fairly large cityscape but no map for the player. Sure, the player would most likely find some maps later on in the mission, but until then, I felt rather helpless and devoid of orientation in the complicated layout of the city section.
This already is the biggest problem I had in the campaign: Orientation was difficult in mission 4 as well as mission 2. You had maps from the beginning of mission 2, sure, but they were only partially of help in the cave systems. On the other hand, although these cave systems were a bit larger than I personally would prefer without a detailed map, they were not too much above that mark. And other players may feel different about that and even embrace it as part of the challenge. Maybe a bit more variation of the cave wall surfaces in mission 2 as well as a strong hint about the maps early on (and maybe only on easiest difficulty level) in mission 4 would have been better.
The other complaints I could voice here are truly minor. I also had the problem that the lever in the room with the firekeeper in the craymen-infested temple was almost invisible despite it being in plain sight. Unfortunately, this also led to me not understanding what the Shaman in the swamp wanted me to do. I had already taken care of the craymen all alone without getting help of my fiery friends by doing that ritual there, and no cray did successfully flee from the place. I even tried killing the crayman in Nilbog, but to no avail. How could I have guessed at that point in the mission that I had to first make some humanoid beings (ancient priests of the temple, perhaps?) appear by using said lever, and then kill them again? However, since that objective was an optional one, it would not have prevented me from completing the mission even if I had not got a hint from the forums here about what I had overlooked. As I said, we're among the minor complaints now, already.
The only other thing that went notably wrong was that I also did not understand at first that I would not play Garrett, but a completely different thief named Conall now. The briefing in the info file does leave more to guesswork than one might first think. Until far into the second mission, I really thought I was playing a very old Garrett just before "retirement", who was on the trail of another thief called Conall who was famous for having pulled off some kind of heist long ago. Shometimesh, I wash even shinking Garrett had fake teesh due to him being of old age now, you know.:D Musht have had shomeshing to do wish the way the shpeaker pronounshed hish wordsh.:p But that did not bother me much. A master thief is a master thief, no matter whether he's called Garrett or Conall. Or whatever.
Most of the readables, though, led me exactly into the direction intended, I think. They also were balanced well between being a vessel to transfer information to the player on the one hand, and creating a believable atmosphere and background story on the other. Just like the conversations.
Some other ideas, like that one had to first help the one-eyed prisoner to escape and then wait until he had told his friends in Glimmer Grove about the "sneaksie" approaching, or the man with the magical mask, or the optional side-quests mainly given to the player in Glimmer Grove, also pushed this campaign up somewhat in the hitparade of fan missions.
Thank you very much for this campaign! I will certainly play it again one day, although not right now. I'll rather wait until my memories on this mission pack aren't as fresh anymore.:thumb:
Random_Taffer on 1/3/2017 at 18:01
Thanks for the great write-up, baeuchlein! Glad to see you enjoyed it.
high school head on 3/3/2017 at 18:41
many thanks Rob Strain..yes, your swamp is beautiful .. snakes and butterfly..
Soccorro on 6/5/2017 at 12:06
I have a GTX 1070... and my fps drop to around 45 at the start of mission 2 :,(
marbleman on 6/5/2017 at 12:11
I reckon the game's engine is pushed to its limits in that mission.
Soccorro on 6/5/2017 at 12:14
So you don'T think my Computer is failing? phew... I really have to work on not being so paranoid all the time :-l
Yandros on 6/5/2017 at 13:53
I would say 45 fps is still pretty good especially for the swamp mission.
Soccorro on 6/5/2017 at 14:25
Oh that is very good to know. I was about to panic and order a gtx 1080 ti... Thank you for saving my wallet!
R Soul on 7/5/2017 at 22:12
I agree mostly with baeuchlein's write up. A great FM, with a few frustrating bits.
I loved both types of mission in this series, but I also had trouble finding my way round. My total time for the swamp mission was 7 1/2 hours, and 6 1/4 for mission 4. I'm quite happy going all over the place, revisiting places several times etc, but in mission 2 there were only a few places that I could associate with sketches on the map. Some basic map highlighting would have been very useful. The cave system could have produced a basic self-drawing map linking the areas.
Whole load of spoilers for mission 2:
Nilbog:
I got overwhelmed by all the choices, and went into the caves instead of looking around the buildings here. I didn't find the pagan prisoner until much later, so I didn't know that Glimmer Grove would become non-hostile.
I left Nilbog and arrived at the nearby Crayman temple. I ended up knocking them all out, and was surprised to find that I could pick them up, which is not usually possible. That meant I didn't have to time it so they fell into a shadow. It also provided much relief later on, so this may be why it was made possible.
In the temple I opened the gate to the throne room which summoned those undead guardians. I'd got the things needed to summon the fire elementals, but I didn't notice the brazier in the firekeeper's room, so I just sneaked around instead. I managed to get the loot from the throne room without being seen because I lit and then extinguished the braziers beforehand, and hid behind the throne. After sneaking out, one of the guardians followed me, though not on high alert, so I whacked him a few times with my sword. I considered that to be the end of it. I think I didn't perform the ritual because I thought that was just for the others, whom I'd knocked out.
In the outside areas, where it was much darker, I was mostly ghostly, and I didn't knock out the fake crayman, which would have made my time in the temple much easier.
I did more sneaking and wandering around. I tried to sneak into Glimmer Grove but thought it too well lit, so I thought I'd try other areas to see if there was another way in, or some powerup that would help. Eventually after getting in to each area and finding myself out of ideas, I realised I might have missed something at the start. This is when the navigation problems started, since I wasn't just wandering around. I tried to make my own notes and even a map sketch, but they weren't much use. Eventually I got back to the start and was more thorough. I found the pagan prisoner, but there was nothing to explain why he was locked up when the apebeasts, craymen were both the Trickster's minions. Was it because they let the Hammerite priest live with them? He told me about Glimmer Grove, so I was glad that in my earlier visit I didn't try to cause any trouble.
I didn't go to Glimmer Grove immediately, partly because I didn't know how useful it would be, but also because I couldn't remember how the **** to get there. When I did get back, and I started having conversations, I had a much clearer idea of what do to, but again, knowing the places I needed to get to, but frequently ending up somewhere else, became very annoying. This might be why it was possible to pick up the Craymen in the temple, so I could finish them off using the lava.
Gradually I managed to find each of the places I was looking for, and found the temple storing Godbreaker, and again, ugh, navigation required.... It was nice to get Godbreaker, and it was also nice to deal with those horrible snakes and fell a few treebeasts.
So, once again, great mission, but easier navigation and maybe a couple of hints.
The last mission is similar, even though it's a different style. I think the first objective should have been easier. If the guard wanted me to steal the necklace, despite the time constraint, so he should have given me more clear directions. I can understand him not giving me weapons, because I could threaten him to give me the antidote, but he could have been a bit more helpful. Exploring downstairs would have helped me the first time round, but this goal seemed to require too much trial and error. I didn't want to lose time exploring, say, the dining room, when I knew I had to go upstairs.
I had a rather frustrating time at the start because after triggering a conv at the City Watch station (with Merek) the objective about not letting him see me failed, but not immediately. It was a minute or so later, just after I'd quicksaved, and I didn't have any others.
I decided to explore before getting into St. Uriel's. I'd taken a brief look inside and saw all those torches, and thought I'd need some more water arrows.
I also made the effort to get the Veil from Madam Rose's, but in the end I didn't need it. St. Uriel's was less hard than I thought it would be. I knocked out the people outside, but ghosted inside. The objective was contradictory; forbidding being detected by allowing knockouts. I don't mind forced ghosting when limited and where it's essential for the story, but since I'd earlier knocked out the guards at Dennison's, it was probably a good thing in the end.
I loved all the climbing, even though some of it was awkward even with new_mantle, and I don't think an automap would have taken away too much of the challenge. So another great mission, also in need an automap, and a good hint about where to find it.
MrMunkeepants on 10/6/2017 at 03:27
in mission one: is there a bonus objective when you collect all the thugs' pickups?
I feel like I got them all, but I haven't collected every bit of loot.