| An Apology | |
| by Ian Klinkhamer (alcritas@att.net) | |
| Drizzt’s Review | |
How does one follow up the masterpiece of Redemption, what I and many others consider to be the flat-out best scenario ever made for Blades? Alcritas has offered An Apology, which is, in a word, unique. To be sure, it’s an excellent scenario, but, in the author’s own words (from somewhere), whereas Redemption was experimental on a micro-level sense, An Apology is experimental on a macro-level sense.
And it works. An Apology is so different from most other scenarios, that it defies a standard review. Highlighted below are its main innovations, and other parts of the scenario I found well done.
An Apology requires a low level party. Not only does it say this in the text file, your level is also “checked” at the beginning of the scenario. This is integrated so smoothly into the plot of the scenario that you might not even notice it. This idea isn’t new, although Alcritas is the first designer to implement it into a scenario.
This requirement enabled Alcritas to make An Apology the first combat based scenario, where the main puzzles are integrated into battles. Not just a room full of liches (and maybe a dragon!), or even the Special Spells that made Spy’s Quest mind-numbingly hard, but real combat challenges, because I couldn’t bring in my level 50 bruiser party. I think this part has frustrated many players, and cause many people to think less highly than they should of this scenario, but the fact remains: An Apology is hard, in a very good and well designed way. I reloaded my game many times trying to destroy the rune in the first battle, all the while watching demons appear around me, the other runes slowly changing color and an ever expanding portal. This created a sense of urgency and excitement that is in few other scenarios, and something I welcomed.
In fact, there aren’t many traditional puzzles in An Apology, and those that are there are perfectly integrated into the flow of the story (designers take note!), the way good puzzles should be. I had fun cleaning Alcritas’ house (not his real house, but the character Alcritas that appears in the game. Perhaps Jeff will put that feature in Blades 2.0), feeding Morgles, and chasing down an antidote for a sick gremlin, another often humorous fixture in Alcritas’ scenarios. The best thing about these puzzles is that they were logical and fit into the story, and not another lever maze, or a door that, for some unknown reason, won’t open until you give it the password. Alcritas has never designed puzzles better than here.
The story of An Apology is also told in a unique, narrative style. The player is actually listening to a story about some other adventurers, a bit more experienced than themselves. Furthermore, the narrator’s voice will occasionally pop in, reminding the player that this is just a story. I smiled (and groaned) when the Trogs I was fighting changed into Sliths and then back into Trogs, all because the storytellers couldn’t quite remember how it went. Very nice.
An Apology also takes place entirely within towns ... there are no outdoors in which to rest and regain strength and spell points. This has been done before, in Trouble In Mendor, for one, but here it is done a bit differently. Instead of just preventing the party from leaving town, where everything takes place, Alcritas uses narratives to describe outdoor movements, and outdoor “towns” when the party is attacked or reaches another destination. This is also done very effectively.
Finally, An Apology contains a dream sequence, much shorter and less dangerous than the one in Redemption, but absolutely unique in its use of custom graphics. I won’t give anything away, but the effect it had, including the unique figure at the end and his ominous words, just blew me away. I was so mad when I saw what Alcritas had done here, but only because he had thought of it first. Absolutely brilliant.
An Apology is, quite simply, another masterpiece from Alcritas. Shorter than, but much tighter than Redemption, the story grabs you from the beginning, takes you on a wild ride through Alcritas’ world, confronts you with murder, betrayal, good and evil, and leaves you wanting more. I give it a 9.7, but only to encourage Alcritas to work that much harder for a 10 in his next effort. This is among the best scenarios around.
— Drizzt