Mysteries of Westgate - First Impressions

[deranged]

I am only half-way, rough estimation, through MOW but I felt tempted to post a bit of praise for the game, cause I think it deserves it...

At first I was sceptical about the module, but now I feel that it deseves every Euro I spent. It teaches how a world should be built and it clearly blows away the OC and SOZ. MOB is a very different beast so I am not going to compare it. Gameplay - wise though it is much more enjoyable than the core game and the two expansions. It has challenging battles, realistic (at last!) loot, good writing and it doesn't feel like an arcade.

My opinion could change once I complete it, but I wouldn't think so...

Atari fucked - up Ossian for good on this one. If it was released about 2 years earlier as scheduled then these guys would probably have more time to please us with a second module by now. A real pitty but it is understandable given that it is miles ahead SOZ...

A quick-tip: Play in Strategy mode, puppet-mode, free - camera to actually enjoy it. Anything else simply does not work.

Quick Pros
+ Engaging, interesting story.
+ Challenging battles.
+ Realistic world where you have to fight for your gold.
Quick Cons
- Dreadful camera.

Do not be discouraged by gamebanshee's review. It hardly does it any justice.

 

[JrK]

Do not be discouraged by gamebanshee's review. It hardly does it any justice.

Yeah I figured that when the reviewer kept whining about the game being dark, not voiced and lack of enchanting (totally missing the point that loot should be hard fought for...).

 

[Vault Dweller]

At first I was sceptical about the module, but now I feel that it deseves every Euro I spent. It teaches how a world should be built and it clearly blows away the OC and SOZ. MOB is a very different beast so I am not going to compare it. Gameplay - wise though it is much more enjoyable than the core game and the two expansions. It has challenging battles, realistic (at last!) loot, good writing and it doesn't feel like an arcade.

Pretty much.

 

[santino27]

Glad to hear it. I re-installed NWN2 just to dl this and play it. There's so little else out theer that I am interested in at the moment.

 

[King Crispy]

Steven Carter's review on Gamebanshee is pretty misleading. He declares that the campaigns of MoW and SoZ are similar in that they're both linear in nature, then states that if you liked SoZ you'll probably like MoW. The only similarities of the two are the linearity of the main quests themselves, but that's where the comparison should end.

SoZ's approach was to take rather large portions of two separate continents and string together a bunch of unrelated, disjointed adventures, all designed to merely serve as levelling-up content, or as random entertainment, depending on how you look at it. I cannot recall even a single sidequest that was more than barely tied to the main mission, which itself consisted of maybe a dozen conversations and a few rather forced (and ridiculously unbalanced) encounters.

MoW takes place in a single city, and manages to pack just about as much content into it as SoZ did in its entirety. The quality of MoW's sidequests, while still often not at all tied into its main quest, so far surpasses SoZ's that they no longer seem as shoe-horned in, but rather add meaningfully to the grittiness of the city setting thus adding to the adventures' cohesion as a whole. I haven't progressed very far in MoW's main quest, but I've already noted one major splitting point, made possible by the choice of which faction to help, the execution of which could be considered a "side quest". SoZ had nothing like this - in fact the game was completely devoid of any C&C at all.

MoW and SoZ are very different in design and execution. If you're a powergamer, you might dig Storm. If you like story and challenging combat, Westgate wins.

BTW, I also thought Carter's five or six mentionings of how dark the campaign is was pretty pathetic.

 

[Lockkaliber]

I just finished my first playthrough, about 5 minutes ago. While I have a generally positive view of the mod, it does have some not so good stuff in it as well. Writing for the companions and combat being my biggest gripes. Even so, when the mod is at its worst in these departments its only slightly bad to mediocre so it's not a complete trainwreck or anything.

My first thought when leaving the ship and entering Westgate, was that they seemed to have nailed the atmosphere. Nice music, a compelling visual experience as I entered the harbor, and an overall rough look befitting of the setting. I loved how people would picpocket you when you were engaged in conversation, and how you could catch up to them and get your money back. I was also pleasently surprised by the various skillchecks while in dialog and when examining stuff, throughout the whole mod. Sleight of hand, perform, lore and the usual talking skills to name a few of the top of my head. What is even better is that failing or succeeding at them could affect your influence with your companions. This is one thing it does a lot better than the OC.

As far as combat goes, I have no idea how you could find the battles in MoW so challenging though, and when comparing it to SoZ, it falls pretty flat. SoZ had lots of challenging combat encounters, and I felt that they had put some serious thought into the encounters when I played it. I had to reload lots of times, change tactics e.t.c. The complete opposite can be said for my MoW playthrough. My fury/earth domain cleric absolutely raped everything in the entire game, which was pretty disappointing.

On to the writing. It can be very inconsistent at times. The beginning of the game is great, as is the parts close to the end, but lots of stuff in between is pretty mediocre and failed to pull me in. The companions are a very different story. The person that wrote the "party banter" and some of the dialog for them, needs to take some lessons. At some times, it is even flat out horrible, case in point the Cleric of Tyr that joins you. Her continuous references to another of your companions as "D-man", completely broke the immersion. This is something they clearly could get better at.

Oh and there seems to be two(?) different factions you can join to progress through the main story. I choose the "good" faction, and some of the writing in the quests for them, particularly the main "good" questgiver was kind of boring. Perhaps the "evil" path is more interesting.

All in all, I would say Mysteries of Westgate is a pretty solid mod. I had lot's of fun playing it and I guess that's all that counts in the end.

I'll probably have more to add when I've finished an evil playthrough later on.

 

[King Crispy]

Lockkaliber, I'm curious how you fared when you first took on the fight at The Track and also the one inside the house that exploded.

Did you pre-buff? Were you already well-equipped and how early in the adventure did you try these two?

I ask because I took them on fairly early and my character, an Arcane Trickster, isn't very combat-oriented. I had to reload once each on both of these encounters, the first time having been just barely defeated in them (lucky rolls for enemies, bad luck, etc.)

 

[deranged]

Lockkaliber, I'm curious how you fared when you first took on the fight at The Track and also the one inside the house that exploded.

I was also wondering about this. I am playing a pure mage, and death is lurking around every corner. Also the boss fight in the haunted house. Rape so good you actually get to like it...

One slight delay or miscalculation and my entire party is dead. In SOZ I never had this problem (except at the end).

The companions are a very different story. The person that wrote the "party banter" and some of the dialog for them, needs to take some lessons. At some times, it is even flat out horrible, case in point the Cleric of Tyr that joins you. Her continuous references to another of your companions as "D-man", completely broke the immersion. This is something they clearly could get better at.

I haven't completed the module yet, so what you say may very well be true, but so far, I think party banters and characters are excellent. Charissa may be a bitch of rigtheousness but she is nicely depicted. All companions have believable background stories, and for the standard D&D universe I think they are as good as they can get.

*******Spoilers
They way she is picking at D-Man is very convincing and aligned with her character. When she requests from Rinarra to 'show' her how she is pick-pocketing victims is another highlight.

Also Bloo and Minx! That pretty much topped it for me!

 

[Lesifoere]

How does the writing compare to Darkness of Daggerford? Because I found that one fucking desperately dull; not a single word in it ever rose above the mediocre.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Lockkaliber, I'm curious how you fared when you first took on the fight at The Track ...

The Track fight is pretty tough. I tried arguing with the guy at first, but it didn't work out and my party was quickly slaughtered. Then I successfully intimidated him and he agreed to pay. Then I convinced the little fella to increase my share to 60%.

Very enjoyable game.

 

[abdwef]

It teaches how a world should be built and it clearly blows away the OC and SOZ. MOB is a very different beast so I am not going to compare it.

Wait, how is MotB a "very different beast"? It had a budget in between the OC and SoZ, and you compared MoW to both of them.

There's no reason that the OC, MoW, and SoZ can't have writing on par with MotB.

 

[Black]

No phat l3wt in my D&D? In my Forgotten Realms?
PREPOSTEROUS

 

[deranged]

It teaches how a world should be built and it clearly blows away the OC and SOZ. MOB is a very different beast so I am not going to compare it.

Wait, how is MotB a "very different beast"? It had a budget in between the OC and SoZ, and you compared MoW to both of them.

There's no reason that the OC, MoW, and SoZ can't have writing on par with MotB.

I have mixed feelings as far as MOTB is concerned. It had its moment of brilliance but it was also predictable at places. The amount of choice it gave you was tremendous. I particularly enjoyed crushing the hags and helping Gaan take his vengeance. Can't say I enjoyed playing it that much though.

MOW on the other hand never feels tedious. Example:

********Spoiler
As soon as I entered the Warren and faced the first shadow monster,I was like OK here it starts. Endless hordes of medium CR creatures until I get to the boss and clear the quest. But it didn't do that. Just two encounters and then on to the next quest.

********End Spoiler

I remember running around MOTB fighting filler combat every second.

Back to what I said. As far as writing is concerned MOTB had diferent scope and setting than MOW so I am not going to compare the two, content - wise. I said that I am enjoying it much more as a game.

Both games have dialogue that is classes above the OC and SOZ. I am sure you are not questioning that...

 

[Lockkaliber]

Lockkaliber, I'm curious how you fared when you first took on the fight at The Track and also the one inside the house that exploded.

Did you pre-buff? Were you already well-equipped and how early in the adventure did you try these two?

I ask because I took them on fairly early and my character, an Arcane Trickster, isn't very combat-oriented. I had to reload once each on both of these encounters, the first time having been just barely defeated in them (lucky rolls for enemies, bad luck, etc.)

As I was a cleric, there was some heavy pre-buffing going on yes. I fought the Lich in the house that exploded sort of early in the game, and I had pretty much forgotten it, but now that you mention it, it was probably one of the hardest fights in the game. I think there was only my PC standing at the end.

Another one that took me by surprise was the greater undead thing in the tomb where Rinara had hidden her loot, it almost wiped my party out because I wasn't prepared.

I must have completely missed the Track fight though. I remember I used diplomacy to get what I wanted. I'll check it out on my second playthrough.

Also, about the writing, I think it's OC level, and at times a bit worse but it's definitely enjoyable. The OC is pretty well-written and consistent, it's just that the repetitive and unimaginative design of quests and the length of the game fucks up the pacing.

Also, tacky references to other FR games have to go.

 

[deranged]

So I've finished the module...

Everything I said at the beginining is still valid, except:

-I will agree that writing is a bit inconsistent at times. There are some great bits, expecially those invlving the priestess of Tyr, but other are cheesy enough to remind me of OC.
-Feels a bit rushed towards the end. I was expecting a much better resolution to the story. The faceless character was underdeveloped and could have been much more polished.
-Combat was great overall, although by the time my wizard hit level 14, everything was easier. Between levels 8-10 I had a much harder time and more fun.

Overall I'd say there are some cheesy bits but it is a solid, enjoyable module much more coherent and well-thought than SOZ and OC. Must-play if you liked these. In terms of gameplay the best thing I have played in this engine...

 

[Turok]

Soo anyone buy it?? how good is ?? anyone can tell me plix, i got some time for kill so i need something to do it.

 

[Elwro]

I started playing it yesterday. The city has a nice feel, the locations are great... but the writing is, well, "buggy". For example, I initiated a conversation with Rinara right after beginning the game and learned that she belonged to a certain organisation, a fact which is clearly meant to be revealed during a meeting with a dwarven NPC a minute later, and is meant to be a surprise. The fact that Rinara is prepared to talk about this from the start makes it clear to me that most likely the stat checks in the dialogue with the dwarf are fake, since if you succeeded, then - as I understand the situation - Rinara's past wouldn't be revealed.

Also, I like to read descriptions of NPCs. So I right-clicked on a halfling sitting in a bar... and his description included the following: "He is quite different from his brother". Of course, I didn't know the guy even had a brother.

But these things are minor. I like the module so far.

 

[Erebus]

Can somebody give (or tell me where to find, because the official site is fucking useless) some basic info about MoW ? What's the beginning level ? Do you create one or several characters ? What's the maximum party size ? Do you use some kind of map to move around in the city ?

 

[Elwro]

You start at level 8, you create one character, I found 3 NPCs who joined my party.

There's a nice map which appears when you reach an exit zone from a city district - you can click on any visited location and move there; too bad you are transported outside the buildings, so you have to endure more loading times then necessary.

A good module, BTW, so far. Definitely worth $10. Much2rd.

 

[Noddy]

OK im confused.

I glanced at the site and decided to change from the US flag to the British one because i enjoy the pointlessness of switching between two identical laguanges. Turns out the length is twice as long depending on where you live. 15->30 hours.

Which one's true?