Trials of the Luremaster :: Review

Riddle Me This

9/10* The Lowdown *The 9/10 score reflects on IWD+HoW. If you liked them, you’ll like this. 3/3 Engine    graphics, audio, bells and whistles + more of same graphics + same soundtrack + same interface 3/3 Performance    features, speed, stability, bugs + runs smooth + perfect installation + no noticed bugs 3/4 Addiction    “fun”, immersion, replayablity + more of the same! + original deviation from IWD - 72Mb is a bitch to download Multiplay ± same ol’ Developer Black Isle Studios, a division of Interplay PC Publisher Interplay Released 3rd July 2001 A week ago, on 160801, it was announced that French game publisher Titus Interactive had increased its 34% stake in Interplay to a controlling interest of 51%. I was, of course, still going through Icewind Dale at the time, having decided to create a God-party so that I could complete a second run through Trials of the Luremaster for this review. A while back there was some doubt over whether Interplay will continue holding the D&D license after Neverwinter Nights, dispelled by strong rumours of a sequel to Icewind Dale. And then there are the other games using the Infinity Engine – Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment, both greater critical hits than Icewind Dale (no, the pun wasn’t intended). Then there’s the cancellation of TORN, along with the jettison of the bulk of it’s team. And don’t forget they still hold the Fallout franchise. Yes, Interplay has been popping up in the news a lot lately, which brings us back, through the round-about-way, to Trials – Interplay has been bleeding money through every pore, and one can’t help but wonder if Trials is indicative of why, if it’s in spite of efforts like Trials, or if it’s just a bad economy for PC games. Heart of Winter was released near the end of February to harsh reviews directly mainly at its length, a mere 15-20 hours compared to the 100-over hours consumed by the original. As an expansion, it does it’s job pretty well, bringing on more of the stuff that made Icewind Dale great – lots of things exploding in all their gory – but most felt, justifiably, that it wasn’t a fair value. While it hasn’t been explicitly stated, Trials of the Luremaster was likely made to address that one flaw. In April, the “downloadable dungeon pack” was announced, on the one hand garnering awed “wow”s from fans with the game and on the other, hopefully, convincing the unconverted to buy it. A Press Release giving details followed up in May, and, just as it turned July, the 72Mb expansion became available, promising another 15-20 hours of gameplay, effectively doubling the value of Heart of Winter. What makes Trials interesting is that it is a radical departure from Icewind Dale – you are transported away from the frozen north to the desert of Anauroch, where a haunted castle, along with the requisite rare and precious loot, is waiting. Followers of the Forgotten Realms may remember the Anauroch as being on one side of the Dalelands, where Curse of the Azure Bonds was set. Apart from the setting, Trials also has puzzles that are devious. Admittedly, not expecting Trials to be so different from IWD, I was rushing through it in the non-thinking-daze that characterised IWD playing, only to find myself stumped. I opened up the game files only to realise that, in my frenzy, I had missed a simple staircase. I was stumped again the following night, and again I had missed something. Who knew you had to be alert in IWD? Well, you do know, now that you have the benefit of my 20/20 hindsight. That same hindsight allows me to say that Trials is indeed the Better Half of Heart of Winter, saving the poor bastard child from a lifetime of inadequacy. All of the hack-n-slash goodness, a plot as engaging as the original, more items, and, almost, a new XP limit. I can’t spoil the plot for you, so I’ll just say that it’s brilliant and go on instead with the almost-new XP limit. With HoW, the XP cap was raised to eight million and the level cap was raised to 30. Trials has removed the XP cap for dual-classed characters, allowing them to reach 30/29. I used a party of 29 level warriors dual-classed to everything else. You haven’t seen “warrior-mage” till you’ve seen a 30-mage/29-fighter hack his way into the center of a fray with StoneSkin and Globe of Invulnerability on. The major highlight of the new items is the “Bag of Holding”, expanding on the limited containers of HoW. A Bag of Holding allows you to hold practically everything you want. Thousands of arrows, bolts and bullets. Potions and scrolls. All that loot. Everything. ((Of course, money is pretty much worthless after a while, but we all know the point isn’t what you do with it, it’s the simple having of it.)) Besides the Bag of Holding, we see some new weapons with cool abilities and two items that give permanent ability adjustments – a potion that gives +2WIS and -1DEX and a book for +1CHA. New monsters include HUGE Beholders, harpies, slimes and hordes of undead ((haunted castle, right?)). The general gameplay, graphics and audio are of the same outstanding quality as you have come to expect from the Icewind Dale series, which leaves me with my one complaint – once you enter the expansion, you cannot leave until you complete it, which could be a problem if your party cannot handle the monsters. A work around for this is to just bail out and reload a save, or to lower the difficulty rating of the game. I’d suggest doing Trials after you’ve completed Heart of Winter, which should give your party the experience it needs to overcome the combats. Since it’s free, the only prohibition is if you happen to be on dial-up – go look for a Cybercafe with a CD-burner, it’s worth the effort. If you enjoyed the original Icewind Dale and are considering getting Heart of Winter, Trials completes the package and makes HoW a pretty good deal.