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Author |
File Description |
xavill |
Posted on 09/15/01 @ 12:00 AM
File Details |
Version: |
The Conquerors 1.0c |
Style: |
Mix |
This scenario will mix the historical facts and the fantasy in the existence of the Order of the Knights Templar.
The Knight Templar were founded by Hugues de Payen and eight knights more that arrived in 1118 to Jerusalem in order to establish a base to protect the pilgrims in their way to Jerusalem.
After nine years, they travelled back to Europe to recruit more knights to their cause.
How is possible that a nine knights order became the most powerful organisation of their times? This campaign will give a historical-fictional point of view of this fact.
FEATURES:
- Multiple option system: So you can play several stories in one scenario. Every choice you make will change the story of the game. Every time you play it, the story will be different.
- The first part is Fixed Force, the second part RPG.
- Choose what you want to say to a character, different options of dialogue.
- Multiple side-quests.
Hope you enjoy.
Send your comments, criticisms or doubts to xavill@mixmail.com
Xavill (Woad Creations)
The story of the Knights Templar continues in The Revenge of the Templar
To continue in Spanish, click Here |
Author | Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Andres_age |
Posted on 09/22/01 @ 12:00 AM
I was a playtester of "The Story of The Templars", so when I saw it at the Blacksmith I downloaded and I played it, mainly to see the differences between the beta version and this one.
The Story of The Templars-I is based on the real story of this order. At this first part, you will have to land on Acre and go to Jerusalem to stablish the new order... but with dark goals!
The map design is much better than a Random Map, there´s no doubt. But it doesn´t deserve a 5- for the moment. The desert is basically dirt 1, cliffs, trees and rocks. The city of Jerusalem is very good recreated, with "Broken path" but it looks too tidy and clean fot that age. Perhaps if the author had put more details, it would seem more realistic. A thing I didn´t like was that about half scenario is blank... however I didn´t take marks off for this.
The story and instructions are great. The story is very good related, the objectives are clear and in any moment I got confused. The hints are well done, and the bmp is good. The only fault I saw were the English mistakes... but as the English isn´t the first tongue´s author, and the instructions and storyline is perfectly understable, I won´t take it into account.
The best thing of this campaign is the variety. It´s lots of options. You can decide if you have to scort the pilgrims to Jerusalen, selecting your way, or help the hospitaleers against the sarracens. Depending on your help, later on they will help you.
Once you are in Jerusalen you have to get two carts. There are many ways to get them. The hospitaleers can help you if you had help them in the past, a farmer can help you if you rescue his daughter, or if you help his friend to bribe a guard and rescue his friend from the jail, bring a book to an university, convence a knight to pay a merchant, and so on. You can play three or four times the scenario and each time it would be different!! Then the options are very original and creative, really it deserves a 5 in creativity.
The playability is great. It hasn´t got many action, though. However, the sidequests of the scenario entertains you and in any moment you get bored. Once you have played you want to restart the scenario and test the other options. The moments of actions aren´t very difficult, and the storyline absorbs you. Simply wonderful.
The balance is good. There aren´t many action moments, and when there´re, they aren´t difficult. For example the objectives say that Huge and another knight must survive. Really this is too easy. I think the author could improve the balance if he put that ALL the knights must survive. So sometimes it´s a little bit easy and sometimes it becomes really hard, for example when you go to the abandonated monastery. It has a solid 4.
The Story of The Templars is a very good campaign, and I recommend insistently to download it. It has got lot of options and sidequest, enough to play the scenario several times without fell into the boring.
So... what are you waiting for? DOWNLOAD IT DOWNLOAD IT! Click at "Download The Story of The Templars-I" COME ON!
+ points:
Options and sidequests
Storyline
You can insult the other knights and there´s a game where you have to guess who is the thief ;)
- points:
Low detail and flat design
Not very well balanced |
LoserWithCoolName (id: The Kestrel) |
Posted on 09/22/01 @ 12:00 AM
I find the previos review unfair, as the reviewer is a member of woad creations.
Playability:
A 4. Not many bugs, though it could have been better.
Balance:
Another 4. It was fun, though if you say the wrong thing 1 place it's impossible! Many parts are also too easy, due to the fact that you have superheroes.
Creativity: This had one new thing, where you could choose what to say someone somewhere. Oter than that, nothing new.
Map Degisn:
No terrain mixing, no rocks, no mountains, no wildlife, no nothing. I was very disapoined by this I must say.
Story/Instructions:
Not much of a story. You just have these heroes and you walk around doing things, and for some odd reason digging under the temple of soloman, which, btw, has a barracks next to it. Go figure! There were also more spelling and grammer errors than I could count.
With a major overhall, this could be very good. I don't think it's there yet.
-Sb |
Jeffery Jair |
Posted on 10/03/01 @ 12:00 AM
Xavill, It's a magnificent scenario, but I think if you planning on doing story II, I hope it would be much better.
Playability - It was fun, played it couple of time.
Balance - Each scenario have a hard, and an easy part. And that was good, and challenging.
Creativity - There's a new feature about this scenario is where you can choose what the person is saying. That was really handy and really well thought out.
Map design - It's just ordinary terrain. I really think the creator can do fancy terrain and some eye candy for each scenario.
Story/Instruction - What can I say? It's story I, and if I'm thinking the right way, I think when the creator launches story II, the story would be much better. Of course story I, always have boring storys, and story II, and so on, always have good plots and good variety of storys in them. But for story I, it was just sending out heroes killing enemies. He did describe really well in the instruction and hints section.
Overall - It's good, any many people will enjoy it! I'm expecting more for Story II, if the creator thinking of making more to the saga of the Templars! I'm a fan of xavill's scenario! Keep up the magnificent work, and your talent of scenario making. |
Matei
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 10/05/01 @ 12:00 AM
I think some of the other reviews were a bit unfair. Below is my opinion about this campaign.
The Story of the Templars is an interesting campaign about the foundation of this mysterious order and its goals and struggles. You have many choices of paths to take, and the story is well-told. While this is just part 1, it is already a very good campaign, very worth downloading.
- Playability: 4 Lots of replay value because of the options, and the logical problem with the liar is nice, but nothing that really makes it be "super-fun". It's more than a 3, so you can expect several hours of fun, but not yet a 5. I suggest adding more side-quests and unique objectives to improve playability.
- Balance: 4 Nicely-balanced but a bit too easy. Making it play differently on different difficulty levels would help (you can have enemies have +3 attack on hard for experts to tackle, and have heroes have +3 on easy for newbies, for example). As it is now you can just charge into most battles and you'll survive, though you do have to watch the main heroes. However, there are some where you can die quickly if you aren't careful. This campaign should challenge most AoK players.
- Map Design: 4 Better than a RM but not perfect. I like the empty desert - that's what it looks like in real life after all. People must realize that eyecandy does not mean making a 2-tile-wide road path in a forest with hundreds of deer, forage bushes, and flower patches all over the place, elevation in random locations, and little lakes or bits of desert with no purpose. Especially for a desert map! The one way I think you could improve map design is by mixing desert with dirt2 more nicely, adding an oasis somewhere, and putting roman ruins. Use some elevation to create sand dunes too maybe. Also, make the map more open so it feels like a wide-open desert when you take the river road.
Creativity: 4 I think the overall storyline is very interesting and creative, and the many options and paths you can take make this a unique map. There are many things you don't see every day, and the author shows effort and research. You'll find something new and interesting in The Story of the Templars.
Story/Instructios: 4 There is a lot of background information and a detailed introductory bitmap. Spelling-mistakes reduce about 0.5 points here, but most importantly, there needs to be more about the personality of each character: maybe one of them has a quick temper, one stutters, etc; maybe they talk about their life histories on the road; maybe they meet an old friend in Jerusalem. However, the objective system works fine and it is always clear what you have to do.
+ Points
- multiple paths to victory (lots of replay value)
- creative storyline
- detailed, informative instructions
- Points
- map design could be better
- a bit easy in places
- more information on characters would help
Overall a solid 4.0. Good scenario, but it needs a little more work to become a 5.0. If you're wondering about whether to download this, yo can stop wondering: it's worth it. The Story of the Templars I is a very good campaign, and I'm really looking forward to the finished, full version. |
bleedteal |
Posted on 04/09/02 @ 12:00 AM
I downloaded this campaign in earnest because I had great interest in the subject, which is the Knights Templar. This campaign shows how the order began. You control the original nine knights who sailed from France with a purpose to complement that of the Knights Hospitallers. The Knights Hospitallers aided pilgrims in the Holy Land while the Templars protected pilgrims on the way to and from the Holy Land. So it's only fitting that you may run into the Hospitallers while playing the campaign. However, this campaign revolves around the Templars secret motive to search for relics under the ruins of Solomon's Temple, namely the Ark of the Covenent. This campaign has recieved much attention, which the campaign is worthy of, as I am producing the sixth review.
PLAYABILITY: This scenario has abundant replayablity value, in that you choose your own path to victory. You choose which path to take to Jerusalem and who if anyone to escourt. Once in Jerusalem, you could reach your objective 4 totally different ways. I won't go into detail about your objective, but this campaign provides a few hours of fun. There's lots of debate about this campaign's bugs, but the only one that efects gameplay is a situation where a hero dies and you don't lose. This bug is the only thing that pohibits me from giving a five. Great job, Xavill !
BALANCE: This was the weak part of the campaign. I found it a little easy. I'm a capable AOK player but, of course, not the best. If I find the campaign a little easy, it's a bigger problem than if I find it a little hard. This is a fixable problem. There are nine powerful knights but only Hughes des Payens and Godfrey of Saint Omer must survive. Maybe other knights or all should have to survive. The author could also help the matter by putting more danger inside of Jerusalem.
CREATIVITY: The Kestrel argued that this campaign only had one new thing and gave it a three in creativity. This new thing is choosing what to say in a conversation. The Kestrel was correct, in that there's only one original concept implemented in the senario. However, we are not to judge the creativity only on the number of "new things" we can find. In this day and age, it's not easy to make new trigger tricks and so forth because so much has already been done. I think it's great that Xavill could add other trick to the barrel. Furthermore, I have not seen many quality scenarios based on the formation of an order of Knighthood. I think the plot itself is a little creative.
MAP DESIGN: It's true that the map has a lot of almost empty desert space, but the player doesn't have to see much of it. We are only to rate the map on what we see. In addtion, desert maps are not the easist to make due to a lack of tools on the editor. This part of the terrain could be improved using texture mixing. Shadows wrote a helpful article about the subject. The article still sits in the database of AOK SCN PUNK. On a different note, I thought the city of Jerusalem was pretty eell done. It's not as good as Gregory Koteles's work in The Adventures of Robin Hood, but still quite good.
STORY/INSTRUCTIONS: The story was well wrote and was on an interesting subject. The author also did a descent job of leading the player. I had little trouble understanding what I had to do next. The messages and intructions had some grammer/spelling mistakes, but the first tongue of the author is not English. We should understand that AOK is a very popular game that has fans outside English speaking countries. Many talented scenario designers speak English as a second or third language. If English isn't the designer's first language and the grammer/spelling mistakes don't efect our ability to understand or enjoy the story, as was the case here, then I think they should be overlooked. Details, such as, the personality and background of each character could have pushed the score to a five.
Overall this is a solid campaign that could be great with a little tweaking. Unfortunately my review may drop this scenario out of the BEST OF AOK. That's too bad because I enjoyed playing it and it's a worthy download. Here's a final thought. Although a scenario is not to be judged by it's length, I feel that the score would have been higher if it was expanded. For example, making Jerusalem bigger would have provided more missions and perhaps more danger. In addtion, it would have taken up a little bit more of empty desert space. There's nothing wrong with a large important city like Jerusalem dominating a map. Download this scenario !
Later
bleedteal[Edited on 11/29/06 @ 10:58 AM]
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Tanneur99
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 01/02/03 @ 12:00 AM
The campaign starts as a FF, to later be a RPG supported historical story telling and has a minimum of three different playable scenarios on one map. The Story of The Templars was the Blacksmith Feature on July 27, 2002.
Before the events of this campaign Hugues Count de Champagne and his cousin and vassal Hugues de Payens travelled twice to the Orient and Jerusalem. After their return in 1115 a specialist for the deciphering of old Hebrew texts was hired and the Cistercian Abbot St Bernard de Clairvaux, to whom The Knights Templar had sworn an oath of obedience, poverty and chastity, sent them to Jerusalem in 1118. Since Biblical times the stable of King Solomon was untouched deep beneath the Temple and sealed. It was their mission to find and open the vault as St Bernard believed that it contained the Ark of the Covenant with the Tables of Testimony, the Cosmic Equation, the law of measures, weights and numbers. Among the nine knights were the future Grand Master of the Templars, Hugues de Payens and André de Montbard, the uncle of St Bernard. It is not known what exactly they found, if anything, they kept it secret from the world, but we can assume that something important happened in Jerusalem, by the events that followed.
PLAYABILITY: The campaign is great fun and like other best of AoK campaigns it is the story that keeps you interested, the founding of the Knights Templar and a dream of mankind, the whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant. The theory of this campaign, that the Ark never left Jerusalem since the time of David has its merits and is more supported than other speculations, for instance Egypt, as in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. You will have not a boring moment, the quests are all enjoyable and there are various options to play the campaign. Arriving in Acre you choose between joining the pilgrims, the Knights Hospitallers, continuing your journey alone and between the mountain and river road. In and around Jerusalem are six trade carts out of which you only need two, but depending on your choices not all are available. In other words you create your own plot. The term high replay value applies to this campaign perfectly. 5
BALANCE: The campaign was played on moderate, as requested. Overall a good balance, but the campaign is too easy to complete for a perfect rating. On your way to Jerusalem and in front of the gate only Hueges de Payens has to survive and later you could complete the quest with a cart offered and a correct answer to a knight or guess in a prison. The most challenging quest, to retrieve an old book, is not even mandatory. 4
CREATIVITY: Undoubted a creative campaign, the historical correct names of the nine knights, the well researched detailed story, the multiple option system of completing the quest, different options of dialogue and depending on your beginning choices the hospitallers and monks react with three different texts each, when asked for a cart. 5
MAP DESIGN: The map is a lot better than random and Jerusalem is one of the best done cities I ever saw with AoK. The problem is the landscape between Acre and Jerusalem, the palm trees don’t fit, too flat and not enough terrain mix. Desert maps are difficult and should not have much eye-candy, but this map could be better with some items added. 4
STORY/INSTRUCTIONS: One of the best BMP at the blacksmith, showing a long bearded Templar, unlike other knights they did not shave, and The Templar Seal, two knights, Hueges de Payens and Godefroi Saint Omer, on one horse, as the legend tells us. The instructions are clear, change according to what you play and a well, on historical background written interesting story with good dialogues. The rich hint and history section also confirm the rating. 5
OVERALL: A multi scenario campaign on one map about the most powerful organisation of its time.
OBSERVATION: One of the disputed campaigns at the blacksmith with overall ratings between 3.2 and 4.6.
SUGGESTIONS: The balance could improve if more heroes have to survive in the beginning. All of them would be historically correct and the three Flemish ones, Godefroi de Saint Omer second-in-command; Archambaud de Saint Amand; Payen de Montdidier next to Hugues de Payens would be logical for the negotiations with Baldwin II, who would not be pleased to hear that you left his compatriots in the desert. In Jerusalem the player should have to complete more than one side quest, as one of the parties offers already a cart for the help on the way and if you don’t help the hospitallers could be your enemy in town. Your city design is good, but the landscape needs improvement, more terrain mix, elevations, valleys, rocks, an oasis, a trade post.
IN CLOSING: I edited my review posted 01/21/O2 after replaying and raised my creativity rating. I also recommend "The Revenge of the Templar" by the same author. |
Possidon
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 01/20/10 @ 08:41 AM
Playability: 5
I enjoyed the Story of the Templar because it kept me interested. It is all about the founding of the templar knights and the whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant. There are many different choices in the game like choosing to help the Pilgrims or Hospitalers.
Balance: 5
I thought that the balance was very good. There was just the right amount of enemy soldiers to make a challenge. It wasn't too hard and it wasn't too easy. The Scenario supports all difficulty levels.
Creativity: 5
this is a very creative campaign based on correct historical facts. The well researched story, the multiple option choices, and the different dialogs if you choose different things. It is brilliant
Map Design: 5
I think Xavill is one of the best scenario designers in the AOKH Blacksmith. The map is so much better than a Random map. Jerusalem is one of the best designed cities I have seen in the blacksmith too. I have seen people complain that the desert is too plain, but in real life people, IT IS!
Story/Instructions: 5
the Story was very fun and enjoyable but at the same times it was interesting and educational. I learnt a lot about the Foundation of the templar knights. The instructions were clear and I knew what I was doing at every point in the Game.
Additional Comments:
A Must Download
Edited for typos.[Edited on 02/03/11 @ 02:32 PM]
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HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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4.2 | Breakdown |
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Playability | 4.4 | Balance | 4.1 | Creativity | 4.3 | Map Design | 3.9 | Story/Instructions | 4.1 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 5,397 |
Favorites: [] | 1 |
Size: | 294.48 KB |
Added: | 09/15/01 |
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