Shadowlords and Dreamcatcher - Are they really good(SPOILERS)?

[uss]

I read that it's supposed to be better than the official campaigns. I downloaded it and played it up to (I think) the end of Shadowlords part 2.


So far, I am not impressed. On the contrary, I'm quite disappointed.

The sidequests are dull and most have only one ending,
the main quests are extremely linear,
the main plot is thus far very uninteresting(send message to Captain, fight the Zhent and Cyric alliance *yawn*),
Henchmen don't level up normally and it isn't possible to equip them,
I got stuck at a point where there's 2 Skeleton Chieftains that are impervious to my damage, resist my spells and kill me, my henchman and my familiar with a single hit!

Also, the powergamer in me doesn't like that the ending level is only about up to 12.

While Nwvault said that the module(the first part, at least) has Heavy Roleplaying and Medium Hack/Slash, I'd rather say it's Light Roleplaying and Heavy Hack/Slash. Seriously, I can't imagine anyone thinking that this module is Heavy on Roleplay!

That being said, I'm considering deleting this module. It's nowhere as good as I thought it would be.


Is the module going to get any better later on?

[Stratos]

Both the Shadowlords and the Dreamcatcher series are classics, but they're not as good as some people make them out to be. Still, the Dreamcatcher modules beat the Shadowlord ones hands down.

I suppose these mods were the first really good modules, compared to the rest at the time, and they have simply sticked to the minds of the NWN community. Right now, I think they're good but not more, but that's probably because I've played so many mods that nothing impress me anymore.

[uss]

Oh? But are there any better mods? Anything that actually does have roleplaying?

I'm not sure about the rest of the series but the first 2 parts were completely hack n' slash oriented.

[Stratos]

I found the last of the Shadowlords mods quite good.

Most mods are more or less hack'n'slash oriented as making a roleplaying-heavy mod requires alot of scripting. If you want more roleplaying, you might want to look for mods that requires you to play a pre-made character or a particular class. Those can often offer more than just wave after wave of enemies, but only if you play the kind of character the mod maker wants you to play.

To cut it short, there are basically two kinds of mods; combat-heavy or story-heavy ones. Both can offer a few quests, items or other goodies to each (or at least most) of the classes, but if you want a true roleplaying experience, you need to either get online or play normal PnP.

[ScottG]

Heavy role-playing might not have the same meaning to you as the person who classified it as such.

Most D&D campaigns are hack'n'slash - what makes them roleplaying for the most part (to most D&D oldtimers) are how your actions and responses alter your alignment - i.e. are you role-playing your "adventure" (doing the evil or lawfull things your character should be doing because of their alignment). In this respect both Shadowlords and Dreamcatcher are better roleplaying games because your actions and responses change your alignment more often. What these modules are NOT as good doing are providing more alignment type quests (i.e. its pretty much for "do-gooders").

Additionally there is slightly more interaction with you henchmen/women and possible love interests (that the original didn't have)

As for the henchmen/women and their leveling and equipment. Well remember that these modules were primarly based on the origninal NWN's and becuase of this are quite limited in that regard (actually a little more-so).

Final note on roleplaying: Dreamcatcher eliminates the concept of experience points via killing things, instead it is purely a "quest" experience point builder. This levels the playing field substantially for Rogues and Mages that is otherwise screwed-up because of 3rd edition rules (disallowing exp. points for trap removal and scroll memorization). In this respect then you don't have to hack'n'slash through the module.

Note: both modules start slow and both are linear.

Shadowlords builds into a pretty decent game, in some respects not as good as SOU and in others better.

Dreamcatcher requires some MASSIVE HAK files - so it should give you a clue that there is something pretty serious to this game. In fact it has some VERY extrodinary elements to it.

Personal view.

Shadowlords is ho-hum BUT it takes about the right amount of time for the campaign. Dreamcatcher is on an entirely different level but is still quite similar. I liked both but wasn't that impressed with Shadowlords.

[Legolas]

I agree with Stratos.

Generally, for 'heavy roleplay', I look to multiplayer rather than single player modules. The interaction with other people (provided they're interested in rp too) rather than prescripted NPCs offers a far greater freedom to act your character.

Shadowlords and Dreamcatcher are interesting primarily because of the positive feedback they received, which means some useful lessons on module building can be distilled from them.

[Chewbacca]

The follow-up to Dreamcatcher is out:

Demon

Too bad I have lost my NWN CD key and can't re-install or I would be playing this immediately. I'll have a new copy soon enough and this will be one of the first modules I try.

[uss]

Hmm, the names Demon and Dreamcatcher alone are intriguing, so I'll try them sooner or later. [img]smile.gif[/img]


But right now, after looking around NwVault for modules, I found Blackguard to be very fun(extremely enjoyable if YOU want to be the villain), and then I have this vampire module, and then I'd like to try out Tales of Arterra, which is the top rated module on the whole site.

[Stratos]

Check how many votes the modules have recieved, sometimes a module maker will ask some of his best buddies to go to the site and give the module top score thus raising the score.