Reviews for Cave of No Return

Note: Hints included in some reviews. You have been warned.

Below are some reviewers comments which we thought might help you decide on whether or not you'd like to play the scenario. This page is not a list of all the reviews the scenario received, only those that had thoughful and/or useful comments to make.
Rating:3.8
Comments:I found this scenario rather easy, especially due to the lack of enemy spellcasters. The plot was rather nice, though the ending left something to be desired. The dialogue was interesting, but simple. There was a bit more humor than I would have liked. There was an excess of ambushes, but they were well executed. In general, the plot wasn't too good, but the gameplay was fun and didn't leave me thinking "Why didn't the scenario designer think of X or do Y," like most scenarios do occasionally.
Rating:4
Comments:This is probably the best user made scenario I've played so far. I really enjoyed the plot, and the gameplay was very well done. You could believe Jeff made it. I loved the dialouge, it was very descriptive and exciting. Overall it was very good, but I would include less humor.
Rating:4.0
Comments:Nice little scenario. Most importantly, I did not encounter any bug !
Rating:3.3
Comments:It's an Okay Scenario. Some interesting things changed up... The Hoardlings and imps may be a bit much, as you can't really get out of the cave... <Atleast I didn't find a way out There should be another way to advance the scenario instead of: "Now you've defeated his minions, you should check the graves, Hint hint nudge nudge" Kinda thing A BIT of Experience required in this one.
Rating:4.0
Comments:I played this scenario as soon as it became available. I found it a very enjoyable scenario to play, with a reasonably well executed story line, and some engaging, well written text (seemingly a rarity for third party scenarios)

However, there were limited attempts to provide extra graphics and sprites, and the rating of the scenario is for levels 1 - 7. This could be seen as a positive thing, if you have a relatively young party of characters, as it allows you to enjoy the extra scenario straight away without having to build up your party first. However, it does severely limit the longevity of the scenario if you have a signinficantly more advanced party.

I enjoyed the feature where a forest is turned into an indoors area, and the one slightly complex puzzle that is included, but there were very few side missions (only found one)

Overall an enjoyable scenario, which should provide a challenge for lower level parties, but will sadly only provide a couple of hours of entertainment for more advanced ones.

As most players will build up their characters' levels on the standard scenarios, beofre embarking on third party scenarios, it would be good to see some more advanced scenarios being designed (e.g. for levels 20, 30, 40 and above).....

Rating:4
Comments:I quite enjoyed this scenario although a little short and easy it was pretty good.
I especially like the hint of humor in it with the undead and the Vanahti and the Sould Crystal very creative indeed.
I look forward to see more of Eldiran's Scenarios if he's making anymore.
(Hope there will still be humor it makes the Scenario more worth it)
Rating:4.1
Comments:An excellent scenario for a small adventure. Well thought out and executed almost perfectly. Although it could use a few more side quests, other then that this scenario is very very good. I hope more are made in this fashion.
Rating:3.5
Comments:This scenario is a bit more advanced the first two downloads available, but is very straight forward with minimal challenges. Also, having to wander around until something happens to get into the land where the cave is is a bit annoying!
The Cave itself is a kind of "neat" two level dungeon but rather linear. The Vahatnai encounter is clever but the puzzles are obvious (even without the VERY obvious "hint!"). The battles are ok but nothing extraordinary.
Except for a few typos and a bug when I took too long to escape, the scenario is well rendered.
All-in-all, a fairly fun bit of diversion for a while!

Rating:3.5
Comments:Coding? Good. And now, for things that I didn't like as much.

The plot needed bollocks- minimally, more than what it had. Humor? Drama? Tried only vaguely to achieve either. Personally, I'm tempted to down this scenario's score even MORE to ensure that this style is not emulated in the future. Both have potential, but at least one has to be fufilled. Perhaps one can be filled and another left devoid (Farmhands!!). I wish I could complement this scenario that much to say that any which one was made. Perhaps experience with BoE has jaded me to this scenario's genius. What I see, however, is a definite benefit of the BoA's juvenile nature.

Combat... Bah. It steadily increased as it went on. Unfortunately, there were no spellcasters (I'm not the only one to notice? Amazing!). Lots of level-upü-to-increase-difficulty tricks pulled. Combat remained "challenging", but the nature of its challenge never really changed. And damn it all to hell, I sincerely apologize for glorifying the ambush in my own work- it seems to be the only trick pulled here as well. When, then, will we get something different? That said, it's made very steadily, and many pluses for always being at the proper level. At the very worst, combat here is monotonous.

Dungeon design... The atmosphere suffered because of the vaunted Vahnatai/Crystal Soul combo, and other clever jokes (ie. janitor's office) didn't help. Second floor was WAY too long.

A definite must-play right now, but somebody who plays three or four years hence will be able to notice the flaws. If I'm sounding harsh, it's because I'm being harsh! And rightfully so, since the designer has potential. Praising the work at this point is not a worthwhile venture, even if the fruits of his effort still taste relatively good. Play it (being the third scenario, there's no real choice), but if you're looking for a masterpiece... Keep on looking, but don't be surprised if Eldiran is one to make it.

Rating:4.0

Comments:Very enjoyable short scenario, with good balance and depth of gameplay. The ending is a bit abrupt, something of an anticlimax after the buildup. I played with a mixed level 1 group on Difficult mode, which provided a decent challenge. Nice to finally see a user scenario with enough varied monsters to be played by parties of different levels and abilities! Not quite Jeff quality, but definitely worth playing.

Rating:3

Comments:Let's just say this is a scenario created by somebody who wants to see how 'this stuff' works. Not much attention to the details. Just the main storyline. And.. erhm.. I got stuck in one place (almost the end i guess), got tired of searching the exit. Probably a bug or a very strange puzzle. Background items are mostly skipped. After playing SpiderWebSoftware scenarios this one seems 'empty'.

Rating:3.7

Comments:Overall, a pretty nice scenario. No bugs that I could find, about the right level rating (I used a brand-new party and found most combat challenging), and an okay plot. Plus the town was pretty well-designed, I thought.

And the bad news:

Only one town and one sidequest to be found, if I remember correctly. Most of the action took place trying to get to the dungeon and in the dungeon.

Also, though the humor was a nice change, there was a bit too much of it. Things like Mayor Dumbhead and the Janitor's Closet were kinda funny, but a bit out of place and/or ridiculous.
The dungeon was alright, but I found it a bit annoying to have to go all the way back, through the long, tedious levels, through the Giant's Forest, and through that little cave, to get back to the original town when I needed something there. This is where you can take two hints from Valley of Dying Things, I think: First, big dungeons are a lot more interesting when they're... well, interesting! A lot of this dungeon seemed to be just going through endless boring tunnels after you had killed the monsters. And, if you're going to have many levels of the dungeon, "secret" ways out are always very convenient, though don't look at me to try to script one!

Finally, as other reviewers have said, spellcaster enemies provide a nice twist that you should always use, and puzzles can have a much better and subtle hint than "HINT: Go back to the graveyard.".

Anyway, this was a solid and enjoyable scenario. Not a masterpiece, but fun. Just remember to use a low-level party when you play it!

Rating:4.3
Comments:Very good small scenario. I liked the dialog and funny cut-scenes, even if the bad guy was kind of Cleache (or however you spell it). I mean "Lotsa Monsters!" is "Kinda" old, but still fun.

It took me only 45 minutes to play, but with the party level it was tricky at times.

Anyway - Bahs awaits!

Rating:4
Comments:Solid scenarios, though not very large. I liked the character of it, and the somewhat open-ended feel of it 'cause of all the sidequests doable. Definately a fun quest to run a couple of times for the loot and story.

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