LarryG on 12/2/2012 at 04:08
Thank you. Perhaps you already figured out that I am no fan of most mazes in video games, and that I tried to do everything I could think of to make traversing the maze a series of opportunities for game play rather than just am obstacle to overcome: "Damn! another blasted maze to get through before I can have fun again ... " I'm not convinced that I succeeded to the degree I wanted to. There are still too many stretches in the maze where there is little to do or avoid. But I was up against DromEd's object and terrain brush limits and had to omit some stuff that I wanted to fill those stretches with. Oh well. Life is full of compromises.
Did anyone figure out that the moths will lead you through the maze?
Did anyone test my warning about not harming them? :ebil: Heh heh heh.
Lady Taffer on 12/2/2012 at 08:47
Oddly enough, I found the maze to be fairly simple and rather fun. I managed to get to the end really early on, but turned back because a huge chunk of the maze map was blank and I thought "Now what kind of thief would I be if I didn't explore the rest?" :cheeky:
The riddles for the spells on the other hand, I hated. .but that's just 'cause I hate riddles in general for some reason.
baeuchlein on 12/2/2012 at 13:44
Quote Posted by LarryG
There are still too many stretches in the maze where there is little to do or avoid. But I was up against DromEd's object and terrain brush limits and had to omit some stuff that I wanted to fill those stretches with.
Yes, some corridors were a bit long and empty, but it did not bother me much.
Quote:
[Did anyone figure out that the moths will lead you through the maze?
I did not even think they would. On the other hand, I was often interrupted by the other inhabitants of the maze. Would have taken a lot of time to follow the moths. Anyway, I managed to do the maze thing with some looks at the map and did not run into any problems (except for these inhabitants:cheeky:).
Quote:
Did anyone test my warning about not harming them? :ebil: Heh heh heh.
Yes. But I saved the game first.:sly:
Actually, it was not easy to hit them with an arrow.
cavador_8 on 12/2/2012 at 14:12
I got through the first part of the maze when I reached the center room where two ghost like guards were walking around and a key was in a locked box next to a throne like chair. At that point I was like, ok that wasn't too bad. Then I went up the stairs on the other side and found ANOTHER MAZE! AHHHHH.... :grr: At that point, I just lost interest in continuing. I'm not sure why I hate mazes so much but I do. If I was ever caught in a real maze in real life I would probably just sit in one spot and starve to death.
nickie on 12/2/2012 at 14:58
Don't give up yet! I've got something which might help and I've sent you a pm.
bobber on 13/2/2012 at 12:14
Quote Posted by urgrue
as established authors got older or got frobbed by the real world.
I like this expression! Very descriptive and unique to taffers everywhere.
BTW, nice mission but maybe a tad too difficult for me. I will press on however as I try never to leave a mission unfinished.
cavador_8 on 13/2/2012 at 14:34
Quote:
Don't give up yet! I've got something which might help and I've sent you a pm.
Thanks Nickie, I appreciate that. I might try again on that maze at a later time. For now, I went into Dromed and changed goal 4 from the Ritual to
stealing the wisdom bell to end the mission. I know it doesn't make a ton of sense but this way I never have to deal with the maze and I enjoy it more. I'm sure Larry would cringe at the thought of me altering Dromed to make the mission end this way, but it's just a simpler version for me to play. It's such a beautiful, well designed mission (except for the maze) that I wanted to salvage it in some way. I might try the other way with the maze and all that later on.
LarryG on 13/2/2012 at 16:32
Quote Posted by cavador_8
... I'm sure Larry would cringe at the thought of me altering Dromed to make the mission end this way, but it's just a simpler version for me to play.
Whatever floats your boat. It does tell me that I did not fully succeed in making the maze an enjoyable part of the mission. In fact for you, I didn't succeed in making it tolerable.
I keep trying to think of a way for you to bypass most of the maze, but really, if you have gotten to the central chamber you are already about 2/3 of the way through it. There is a shortcut to the central chamber, but not after. There is a way to bypass most of the high priest's family rooms . . . but that's after the maze.
I was hoping that the search for hidden rooms, corridors, and secret caches in the maze would make exploring it desirable and the experience enjoyable. Oh well. Sorry.
... If I had put in a much harder to kill skeleton AI which follows behind you after you enter the maze, not alerting to you unless you try to sneak past it, but following at a distance, relentlessly . . . would that have helped motivate you through to the end? Or would it just have pissed you off and made you want to quit earlier?
cavador_8 on 13/2/2012 at 16:54
Quote:
If I had put in a much harder to kill skeleton AI which follows behind you after you enter the maze, not alerting to you unless you try to sneak past it, but following at a distance, relentlessly . . . would that have helped motivate you through to the end? Or would it just have pissed you off and made you want to quit earlier?
Pissed off is to put it lightly. That would have really, really have added to the frustration. Don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed this mission. I loved everything leading up to the maze. For me, the only thing mazes can do is bore and frustrate. To me, mazes have always been just boring and frustrating. Others might enjoy them though, but not me. But, I really liked this mission. I just had to find some way to keep it and I did.
LarryG on 13/2/2012 at 20:06
Quote Posted by cavador_8
Pissed off is to put it lightly. That would have really, really have added to the frustration. Don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed this mission. I loved everything leading up to the maze. For me, the only thing mazes can do is bore and frustrate. To me, mazes have always been just boring and frustrating. Others might enjoy them though, but not me. But, I really liked this mission. I just had to find some way to keep it and I did.
Well, it was a thought. Now I know it was a bad thought for this situation ... but I still think it might work well elsewhere. I've been toying with a pursuit concept, where as the player goes through a mission, a particular AI keeps showing up, almost as though it were tracking the player, but not yet alerted to his/her presence, just quietly and relentlessly looking around. It would alert if it showed up when the player was carelessly exposed or drew its attention, but not otherwise. Just something to keep the players looking over their shoulder and wondering. I think it could add a little tension and enhance the game play. But not in the maze if you would have your druthers. Got it. ;)
