Created by Bardil
Reviewed by amers1015 Review Posted on 2010-08-16
Quick Pros:
Excellent use of cutscenes, well-polished and fun adventure
Quick Cons:
Nothing groundbreaking
Summary (No Spoilers)
Number of Players: 1
Hours of Game Play: 8-10 hours
Character: Chria Derlson CN Rogue 7/Shadowdancer 1
Salisa Fennemen LG Fighter 8
Start Level: 8
End Level: 13
Hak Size: None
Death: Respawn with penalty
Resting: Some location restrictions
Requires: SoU; HotU; 1.69
PNP conversion: No
Your uncle was murdered for his work on the Amergilus artifacts. Don’t you at least owe it to him to finish what he started? So what if just carrying the Amergilus amulet causes planar doors to open up out of thin air releasing all types of angry creatures? It’s nothing you can’t handle, right?
Author Description:
The Amergilus Legacy continues the adventure started in the earlier module Murder in Mireford. Although this module is probably best played as part of a continuous adventure with Murder in Mireford, it is also possible to play The Amergilus Legacy alone.
Review (Spoilers)
**SPOILER ALERT**
Since I'm am reviewing a sequel, there may be heavy spoilers involving the first module, Murder in Mireford.
The Amergilus Legacy (TAL) is the continuation of the investigation into your deceased uncle’s notes regarding the Amergilus artifacts. Almost immediately, it becomes obvious that the amulet you found isn’t exactly safe. Getting rid of it sounds like the way to go, but the amulet’s curse doesn’t allow it to be discarded so easily. Luckily, your uncle’s friend knows exactly what you have to do to rid yourself of the jewelry: find the furnace in which it was forged and toss it in. Nothing to it! There’s just one small problem: the furnace isn’t exactly in our world.
Gameplay : 7.5
TAL is a well-written, entertaining conclusion to the story began in Murder in Mireford (MiM). The story picks up where MiM left off, with your character headed towards Tharfield to meet up with your uncle’s friend, Zach Wener, to discuss the next steps in your quest to complete work on the Amergilus artifacts.
If you choose to create a new character rather than import one from MiM, there is a short introduction in the form of a mini-module. This module, entitled Road to Tharfield, allows you to bring your character up to the intended level and makes the module more accessible to those who haven’t recently played MiM.
The quests in the module are fairly straightforward. Simply follow the main plot line while occasionally stopping to help people needing assistance. (Although there is an amusing quest to help bail an old friend out of a sticky situation involving an angry farmer and his smitten daughter.) The journal keeps you going in the right direction, but I didn’t need it very often because it was never hard to figure out where to go next. Map pins were also well-placed throughout the module, which takes place in numerous settings, including various planes of existence.
As far as gear is concerned, I didn’t find myself wanting of anything. There’s not a lot of high-level gear until later on in the module, but it makes sense given your character’s level as well as the context of the story. Once you reach the second half of the module there is significantly better gear, which helps out down the stretch.
The way that horses are used in the module is also worth mentioning. Horses are purchased in Tharfield and carry your party across the steppes, and to and from a few other areas. What is interesting is that since there were no rideable horses in MiM, the module author realized that the PC wouldn’t have any skill in mounted combat. To make up for this, there is a bow that causes extra damage when used on horseback. Also of note is the fact that your horses can (and often will) die in combat. So save before you fight or else you may be travelling a long road on foot.
RP/Storytelling : 6.5
The module starts you out on the road to Tharfield, where problems arise almost immediately. Bandits are about, which is a bit of a cliché, but stick with what works, right? After they're dealt with, things quickly get interesting as planar doors full of angry enemies start to appear. The story takes you far from Tharfield and eventually to the Hells and back. During the adventure, there are opportunities to get to know your henchmen better and to talk to various locals.
As far as role playing goes, however, there’s not much. There are few skill checks that I can recall and there is almost always only one response available to your PC during conversations. Even when there were dialogue options, they didn’t have any effect on the story. There was at least one time that I received a slight alignment shift, but it wasn’t incredibly relevant to the game.
The dialogue is well-written and interesting, and I didn’t notice any spelling or grammar errors. Old friends and new abound and there are some clever elements (such as the bartender making you buy a round before agreeing to gossip with you). It’s also nice that the people of Tharfield have heard of your exploits in Mireford and are properly impressed. The author also added some nice interaction with your henchmen, although more dialogue options could've made their conversations even better.
Overall the module flows nicely, makes sense, and kept me entertained from start to finish. Journal entries were well-written and informative, helping to keep the player focused on the next move. Cutscenes were also used at the right time and moved things along smoothly. There isn’t anything terribly original about the storyline, but it was well-done and coherent, and the hard work of the author is evident.
Action : 6
There’s a lot of action to be found in this module. From the beginning, you are faced with enemies ranging from bandits to ancient dragons to succubi. They are varied and found in areas and circumstances that make sense.
At the start of the module, if you’ve played MiM, you’ll recognize Katinnia who travelled with you from Mireford. She’s a rogue/bard who is, in my opinion, basically useless in combat. Don’t get me wrong, if you need a lock picked or a trap disabled she’s your girl. Just don’t try to take on any dragons with her as your only backup. (Especially if, like me, you’re playing a rogue.) Fortunately you will have two more henchmen join you at different points in the story. These are both friends from the first module and are considerably more helpful in battle than Katinnia.
I found the combat to be mostly easy to average in difficulty, but during my first playthrough there were a couple of battles that about drove me insane, including one where I eventually gave up and just ran for it. I think the problem was that I played as a rogue and my henchmen for a good part of the module were a rogue/bard and a druid. Not exactly killing machines. I played the second time as a fighter and had a much easier time with all of the module’s battles. With my fighter character the third henchman (available in the latter parts of the adventure) almost made the battles too easy. He does a lot of damage and many of the enemies die with one hit.
Some of the best combat occurred when planar doors popped up during the adventure. It was fun to see the different types of enemies that appeared, and the appearance of a door was somehow always a surprise. A couple of these battles were pretty difficult and one of them required some planning and strategy lest the entire party be obliterated.
Visuals : 8
There are many very nice details in the module. The areas are well-designed and appropriately-sized. The author’s use of fog in the Irnstar Forest was the first time I noticed his ability to make the landscape come alive, but definitely wasn’t the last. The elemental plane of air was beautifully done with floating islands, fog and beautiful colors. The other planes were also well-designed, as were the areas in the Abyss and the Hells.
Probably my favorite things about his module are the cutscenes that played when your party crossed the steppes. I thought they were incredibly well-done and made me feel like I was on a long journey through terrain that was less than exciting, but rather peaceful. The author used the scenes to describe the weather and your party’s progress. These cutscenes were sometimes interrupted by encounters with enemies, which made the long, dangerous trek seem all the more realistic.
Sound : 7.0
There is no custom sound in the module, but the standard music and effects were used well. Appropriate sounds and music were found in each area of the module, and misplaced sound effects were never an issue. The battle music was well-chosen and NPC soundsets, though not extensively used, worked very nicely with the chosen characters.
Replayability : 6.0
Due to the lack of meaningful role-playing opportunities in this module, I can’t really imagine many people would have the desire to replay it. I could see an argument for replaying it with different classes to try out different combat tactics, but as far as the story goes, once is all you need.
Polish : 7.5
This module is mostly well-polished, but there are some issues that need to be mentioned. First of all, in the short level-up module, the area transition that should send your character directly to TAL doesn’t always work. It’s not a huge deal, as all you have to do is save your character and start a TAL campaign with him/her, but it is worth noting.
Another bug exists with the henchmen in combat. When a henchman takes too much damage he/she falls to the ground until the PC heals him/her. Occasionally, however, the fallen comrade turns hostile and when raised doesn’t attack the PC, but can’t be added back to the party. This seems to happen mostly when the player attempts to heal a henchman during combat, but did happen a few other times when healing wasn’t attempted. Unless you are prepared to leave your henchman behind, you’ll need to reload. This could be a Bioware bug, but I thought it merited a mention all the same.
Other than that, the module runs smoothly. There were no grammar or spelling errors that I could find, and all cutscenes worked perfectly. All scripts fired correctly, the journal updated properly and the module in general gave the feeling of having been written by an author who knew what he was doing.
Documentation is provided by the author and covers all of the basics: a summary, installation instructions, known issues, and acknowledgements. There is no walkthrough, but as mentioned above, the journal provides any direction that may be required during gameplay.
Solo : 7.0
This module provides a very enjoyable single player experience. Any player that enjoys a well-written module with plenty of action will have a pleasant gaming experience. Players looking for a lot of role-playing may be disappointed, but the story is interesting enough that it may ease the blow.
Multiplayer : N/A
The author does not recommend that this module be played in multiplayer.
Fun Factor : 7.0
I had a great time playing this module. Sometimes a module leaves you feeling unsatisfied or that you’ve just wasted time. That was not the case with TAL. It was one of the better modules I’ve played recently, which makes for a fun and relaxing gaming experience. I encourage everyone to check it out.
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