GameBanshee Forums

---if you havent completed the game just dont read this topic---

What are your favorite levels in the game? or maybe specific moments/battles that are memorable to you?

I have to mention a few areas as there are so many good bits, on the whole I slightly prefer the frist half of the game;

Easthaven; the opening level, their is a sadness about the town which is somewhat moving, but a great entry to the game, hooked me in straight away.

Kuldahar: the beautiful background music and the whole concept of the giant tree is great, I used to enjoy just wandering around the village.

Vale of Shadows, yea raiding all those haunted tombs is rather fun, on one occasion I was fighting again skeletal mage + cronies, and one of my guys was affected by 'panic' then he ran around like a headless chicken waking up every monster in the area, so I had an epic battle on my hands which I narrowly survived.

Dragons Tooth - the battle against the trolls and priests is maybe the toughest battle up to that point in the game.

Eldathyn underground temple; call me naive but I didnt immediately suspect these guys of being secret lizard worshippers and accepted their hospitality, so as the truth unravelled I was taken by surprise.

Xyonumei; wow, she's a tough one, especially after the patch which makes the door shut locked behind you. and the chambers leading up to her are pretty good battles and where you get Syths messenger and the Returning Axe.

Severed Hand; this level is simply awesome and my no.1 favorite. The whole story behind it, the puzzles to solve, the background sounds, the ghosts who all have a story to tell, and some cool battles like the Mage Tower, and nice treasures to find.

Battle with Malavon at Poquelins palace; this was an epic battle for me, he launched some nifty spells, all but one of my party were either dead or paralyzed or running away, all but one dwarf, but using magic belt I hasted him, and he chased the wizard down and slayed him,

As for Heart of Winter, Lonelywood was pretty cool, and the final battle Dragon was an awesome sight. Freakiest moment was trying on that demon armour, thought maybe it would be cursed and give me -2 charisma or something minor like that, so was not expecting what happened lol.

I havnet played TOTLuremaster yet.

Definitely Severed Hand and the fight with Malavon. TotL levels are fidgety but can be fun and are worth getting.

Dorn's Deep is just loads of fun. It's the most nonlinear portion of the game. I once took a party through Upper Dorn's and ended up fighting the lich about 10 times without resting before I finally found the phylactery. Boy, was that a battle of endurance.

I hated the Severed Hand... which is also what I liked about it. It actually filled me with dread upon entering. I also was surprised by the Eldathyn Temple. I started to lose interest when I got powerful and was able to mow down Frost Giants like grass...

Konalan wrote:I once took a party through Upper Dorn's and ended up fighting the lich about 10 times without resting before I finally found the phylactery. Boy, was that a battle of endurance.

lol yea I also fought him loads of times before I got that bit.

It's kind of bizarre for me because I don't really have a favorite level. I find them all equally stressful! :laugh:

In each zone there seems to be a bad-guy that is a real pain to kill or a pain generally. What I don't like in any game is regenerating bad-guys. I like my games to leave my kills dead, so Upper Dorn's Deep with the Ettins and Mycaniods is big on my list of "why?" areas. I think it's designed as a trap to stop or discourage one from doing the big bridge battle in little chunks of a few kills then back to Kuldahar. Like-wise, the regenerating ghosts outside the Vale of Shadows is really annoying. I also dislike areas that are difficult for the AI to navigate the team around, the peaceful but evil upper lizard monastery was terrible for this, even sending the team through an open door sent them all over the entire palace.

Having said this, I find I equally enjoy every segment of the game equally and for different reasons. As someone has said, when you enter the Severed Hand, just the look of it and music creep you out before you've even met a monster or ghost. The general atmospheric detail to every level is absolutely perfect and you genuinely feel you are in the area being searched. The variety of monsters is excellent and a great relief from games that just hack you with tons of siilar but slightly different Orcs, Goblinoids and Dragony things. In fact, the lack of any Dragons other than Lizard men and Wyrms was a huge plus I think. I don't think D&D should just be about killing the dragon, ironically...lol. I always like the games where they suggest the Dragons are part of a past mythological era in the sagas, as this did with a nicely crafted Dragon skeleton as background material.

I wish the traders had been more easily accessible though. Dorn's Deep is a massive trawl with no dealers anywhere in sight, nor any boxes to store stuff until you get to the litch room, especially as the game offers no bags of holding without a cheat.

I liked the fact that every area is as atmospheric as the last, and each and every one has a distinct background.
If I have to choose, I'd go for the Severed Hand, Kuldahar and Dorn's Deep, in that order.