Witch's Wake First Impression
Posted Thursday, December 12, 2002 - 18:19 CET by Z-Layrex

Maximus has posted on NWVault his first impression of the new Bioware created Module, Witch's Wake:

"Well needless to say, probably all of the community is checking out Rob Bartel's Witch's Wake Module and I am no exception. Without spoiling any of the story or setting, I have to give Rob a huge thumbs up for what he's given us. This module is head and shoulders above the official campaign on so many levels. The main elements that I like the most, would be using your skills to influence conversations or actions, the way you gain experience not by combat but through roleplaying, as well as the whole death system. I'm a good two hours into into but I've been taking my time to enjoy all the finer points as well to look at it from a builders point of view.

The combat itself is not difficult but challenging in places, easier in others. The conversations are without a doubt, the best I've seen to date. One of my pet peeves is having dialog choices which suggest you know something, but you haven't been told about. It totally removes you from the game and makes you just want to click lines to get through the dialog. Not so with Witch Work. The dialog itself makes sense, the use of skills where applicable are great, plus there are consequences for your choices. Fail at an attempt and the NPC will not only remember but treat you accordingly. These are the things that make you pay attention and draw you into what the characters are saying.

Areas themselves are very well done in both layout and atmosphere. They are nice and compact, so you don't have to spend a lot of time just covering space. The only point I had issue with was a "Dr. Who" effect in one building. This is when the area you enter, seems larger and using materials that don't correspond with the area you came from. This was pervasive in the British show, Dr. Who, where he would walk into a telephone booth, which would be a huge spaceship inside. Of course there might be a reason behind it, concerning the module, that I haven't seen yet.

Overall from what I've seen so far, it's an excellent piece of work and I'm looking forward to finishing it tomorrow, but must go to sleep now as I don't want to rush it. We'll also have a huge chunk of highlights for you tomorrow covering Rob's responses to the community."