This is a very impressive module indeed. I'd go so far as to say it's the best I have managed to actually finish to date. The amount of rolelaying, dialogue and attention to detail is extraordinary. Such is the nature of the module's heavy focus on choice and consequence that some players won't appreciate the amount of work that has gone into it versus more linear modules; I did, however, and I definitely understand the author's evident (although polite) frustration at some of the scoring. This module deserves to be ranked much higher relative to the modules around it.
The module has a professional feel, with superb writing and grammar. The design is excellent throughout, although just occasionally suffers from the overly repetitive nature of some of the quests. I don't necessarily agree that there are too many fed ex quests per se – it's more the tactic of constantly extending quest lines with additional, unexpected tasks that can cause consternation. Some of the quests are wonderful – the Shadow Beast quest, in particular, is a wonderfully creepy high point of the game.
Game balance is terrific, as is loot allocation. I thought that perhaps there too many swords on the offing, but given that I played a rogue, I can hardly complain. Gold and purchasing restrictions on the merchants are realistic but can prove slightly inconvenient to the player.
The two companions are terrific and three-dimensional. I never got the big payoff with the nomad girl—is there one?—but building a relationship with her was pleasant nonetheless. The priest of Bane (sorry, I'm terrible with names) had pleasant depth, and I thought the author did a great job of having him espouse the tenets of his god without becoming a one-colour villain. Nice work.
Area design is probably the weakest aspect of the module, being serviceable rather than impressive. There's a general sparseness and lack of artistic flair to the game's areas, but that's hardly a real negative when weighed against everything the module does right. I enjoyed some of the music tracks—particularly impressive if they were original compositions—although a couple were a little repetitive and/or "synthy" for my tastes.
All in all, this module evidently had a massive amount of work and planning go into it, and can be considered a consummate city adventure with no real flaws save area design that is "merely" solid and an apparently buggy—no doubt due to its complexity—initial release. The professionalism in design, writing and scripting rivals a commercial game. I am sure the average score will rise as the module's polish increases, and that it will eventually find its way to a deserved place in the Hall of Fame. My thanks to the author for all his hard work – this must have been a momentous undertaking!
I awarded the module my highest score so far - a 9. Actually, I also dropped a vote of 9 on Lute Hero, which is super duper wondrous fun but not, by any stretch of the imagination, an adventure module. No review, therefore, but you must play it nonetheless!
