22-Apr-2014 - A Shadow Over Ashdale

[Fire_Hawk154]

Luckily the NPC's were a little stronger than usual, but would've been great if they dropped better food at higher levels. First quest that was actually a little harder because of the scaling, hopefully they'll continue doing that. However, a warning would've been great, I didn't expect the need for food :P

[BloodAngel]

I enjoyed the visual spectacle of the quest, more than I enjoyed the quest itself. The quest to me seemed far too self-contained and unexplained. There was no explanation as to where these creatures came from (other than from the Smugger's journal), what they were doing and why they needed the people (I assume it is to do with reproduction). Then we were told by Gudrik that there's every chance there will be more of the crassians under Ashdale so I thought it might be a new, lower level slayer monster or something and I went back only to find every entrance to the sewers/tunnels blocked. So there are probably more, but nobody is going to do anything about it? I know we're supposedly going to be able to kill the boss again later, but that seems like the kind of thing that should have been released with the quest. Maybe I am just being picky.

 

Like I said though, visually I was really impressed with the quest. The rain and the reflections were really well done and the whole atmosphere created by the imagery and the music made the quest enjoyable, even if the story wasn't so much.

[Blyaunte]

A fun little quest to be sure. It would be a good beginner quest for novice players but I cannot help the feeling that I was pretty much lead by the nose throughout. Nice graphics, sweet cut-scenes -- all in all the kind of graphical work that is quickly becoming the norm for Runescape. :)

[Yoko Kurama]

I think it is inevitable they need to break dg away from being just daemonheim because there's only so much content you can wedge resource dungeons into just to use it outside that one area before it becomes ridiculous.

 

Though I will say I think it ought to be a case that other dungeons/areas/content that utilise the skill ought to be at least level 50+ if not higher so that daemonheim is where you begin and initially learn how to come with locations that are somehow misshapen by magic and cut off from the outside world. Plus I think any method/area added that gives anything more than one off xp definitely needs to maintain the self-contained-ness of the original daemonheim; which could be done in many ways.

 

Eg lost islands you can only swim to and therefore cannot take any gear with you forcing you to forage and make stuff there or a rift wizards have been trying to study and dont want contaminated so wont let you take stuff in or a site of historical significance (eg fossil island) that you can't take stuff too in order to preserve it. Could even make new areas have different main themes like daemonheim is predominantly about combat you could have ones geared to hunting down a specific elusive beast or collecting specific samples or performing a jailbreak and some could be designed to be solitary rather than team.

 

And that break would give it greater scope for skill usage as, for example, things like mep2 or temple of ikov where you head into previous unknown dungeons could require the skill.

 

With the tech from daemonheim itself and from something like heist with its random generation it shouldn't be too big a task to code new randomised experiences, the bulk of it would be the graphics.

 

I don't think Dungeoneering needs any changes to take it outside of Daemonheim. It's fine as it is, as a self-contained quasi-minigame thing. I have no problem with that. 

[Alg]

I don't think Dungeoneering needs any changes to take it outside of Daemonheim. It's fine as it is, as a self-contained quasi-minigame thing. I have no problem with that.

There's just a lot more that they can do with an entire skill dedicated to exploring dungeons, especially when people are still complaining about how self-contained it is.

[Blyaunte]

 

I don't think Dungeoneering needs any changes to take it outside of Daemonheim. It's fine as it is, as a self-contained quasi-minigame thing. I have no problem with that.

There's just a lot more that they can do with an entire skill dedicated to exploring dungeons, especially when people are still complaining about how self-contained it is.

 

 

You may recall the article I wrote for the Tip It Times some time ago wherein I pointed out how much of a missed opportunity it was then, and still is now. 

 

Players have been complaining for ages that we need updates to some skills to provide content that is more up-to-speed. Imagine what would happen to mining and smithing?

 

And it's not like the end products of Daemonheim are all that "game changing" anymore, either ...

[Blutters]

A lot of things were visually appealing, and then a lot weren't. I don't want to be overly negative, but a few things, like the "edges" in the water, the abrupt cutoff of the ocean when you first get to Ashdale, and the strange lighting inconsistencies, like when you find the chick and the lantern light is on you, but you're still dark like you're outside, were enough to bring down the overall impressiveness of the area.

IMO Freneskae was better done and more consistent in quality, which is somewhat a shame since Shadow Over Ashdale was touted as being all about atmosphere.

Still, the higher-resolution textures, rain and water effects, and ground reflection were quite nice and haven't been seen much thus far. The boss fight was quite unique, and scaling made it at least minimally challenging.

[Blyaunte]

A lot of things were visually appealing, and then a lot weren't. I don't want to be overly negative, but a few things, like the "edges" in the water, the abrupt cutoff of the ocean when you first get to Ashdale, and the strange lighting inconsistencies, like when you find the chick and the lantern light is on you, but you're still dark like you're outside, were enough to bring down the overall impressiveness of the area.

IMO Freneskae was better done and more consistent in quality, which is somewhat a shame since Shadow Over Ashdale was touted as being all about atmosphere.

Still, the higher-resolution textures, rain and water effects, and ground reflection were quite nice and haven't been seen much thus far. The boss fight was quite unique, and scaling made it at least minimally challenging.

 

Agreed. I was very impressed with Freneskae and the Fate of the Gods quest. While I realize that it is unfair to compare a Grandmaster Quest to a Novice Quest, it was, really, almost difficult to believe that these same two quests came within such close proximity to each other time-wise and yet one was a far more superior product than the other ...