what happens to Raistlin kills me every time. But when I look at the story leading to that, I can't have it any other way, either. So if he would have had a happy ending at that point, I probably would have never bought the book + series (read it first in library) and reread the whole story, but instead burnt the damn thing down and then paid a fee to the libr....ok...exaggerating there...

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I found out the truth about her which was extremely petty and downright villainous but it added more depth to her character and she did seek redeemption for her heinous actions.

The two that stand out in my mind are during Riley's quest and hunting for the assassin. I think Riley's flashback was a bit of a missed opportunity. It seemed like you could do cool awesome Riley stunts to avoid combat, but nope - most of the time you end up fighting guards (and the same guards in the same pattern, no less) over and over. The assassin was up to something sneaky and everyone else was in a rush, but you had to slog through fight after fight of nearly identical slaves, by which point I'm sure the assassin would've been finished and gone already.

Especially during the arena breakout, I felt that was the best part in the game. The fights were cool and awesome stuff was happening with Rowinda/Chalassa.

I liked her through most of the game, but I wanted someone to strangle her in Act 4. It's like she suddenly got dumber and tried forcing a fight on everything right after the whole sequence about how she had just caused her clan so much grief with her notions of honor and battle.

Maybe I'm not remembering it correctly, but I don't think Morrow actually goes through a goodbye with the characters after you talk to Leif. He yells at you to get out of his house, but he also left the room before the twins learned about Ninim. I would've thought he'd say something about the rumors around their town and wish them luck or so. Likewise, I don't think there was much closure with the alchemist or the blacksmith - one or two lines of farewell if you dropped by their shop would've been a nice touch.



I think having Marrow accompany the party on the empire quests (which I presume are the main Shacklespit quests?) would've helped keep a common theme going through act 3. It wouldn't tie it to the earlier part of the game (unless you raided Dingerrans once or twice), but it would've felt less like I was borrowing his yacht for random errands. I was a little disappointed that he didn't actually play all that big of a role in the act. I show up to free his men and after that I'm just doing whatever. (Then again, I am someone who doesn't mind a linear game, as long as it has a good story.)



I don't think Chalassa said why she wanted to go to Ninim? I mean, it might be implied if you're in a relationship with her, but everyone else had an explicit reason.



This one isn't directly about the story, but Vaelis' house is in the game, and we never get to drop by. We're always told "we don't have a reason to go there" or "Vaelis isn't home right now" (of course not, he's in my party!) You'd think in Act 4 he'd want to sleep at his house instead of the tavern.



Why can't we see the ruins of the twins' house in act 4? We're told the forest is too dangerous, but we go around fighting demon-monsters and beasts anyway, including traveling north of the place. It was such a central location in act 1.



I feel like the wolf should've had a bigger role in act 4, especially given all the setup in act 1.

As some other people mentioned, Act 4 felt a little abrupt. I honestly wasn't expecting it to end with talking to the spirit bear, I thought there was more coming (especially since we level up during chapter 19!), but nope. There was probably more set-up for the possible destruction of Ninim than there was actual time spent dealing with the menaces of Ninim. However, overall, the game is probably long enough as it is.



I did not pick up on any clues about the twins' plot twist at all. (I actually was predicting the wolf killed Morran while Althea was gone or vice-versa before I heard Leif's tale.) A more clear clue might've been if instead of vanishing, the giant wolf had turned into an elf body (that the twins wouldn't recognize because they don't know their mother)...though Vaelis probably would have, so that might not have worked.



I honestly thought the spirit bear was going to take me to someone that said "hey, those are the guys that were killing and skinning bears and wolves in act 1!" Especially if you defeated the Kodiak, he'd be there going "nope, those elves are evil, kill them Spirit Bear!". Fortunately that wasn't the case!



I don't know why, but I think the epilogue lacked feeling (I did the Chalassa happy ending). When I finished Loren (the original, pre-expansion), reading the epilogue was like watching the conclusion of a movie trilogy. Reading the ending to SotW wasn't moving in the same way; it didn't feel like witnessing the end of a long journey. Maybe this is because Act 3 sidetracked the main plot and the homecoming in Act 4 was so abbreviated? I don't know. It just feels like it ended, though not really because they all leave at the end to do more stuff.



The dark cultists in Ninim seemed kind of random. Especially how the Dingerrans showed up around the same time for their hunting parties, and the two never seemed to interact.



I'm a little confused about the reach of the Empire. Per the quests in Act 3, I was under the impression that they were on another continent across the ocean, and thus far away from home. Yet, at times in Act 4, it sounded like the Empire had had a major presence on this continent in the past. For example, the discussion about the gnoll toll booth I believe referenced a treaty with the Empire...who don't live on this continent.



I did like the references to the rest of the world. It did feel like these places were part of the overall Loren world.

I think difficulty hinges way too much on "pump up the boss stats to absurd levels and give them mass AoE skills with no delay". I enjoyed the Grand Mogul boss fight, despite him ressing the warrior about seven times, because it felt like I was able to use my character's skills in combinations to win, even if I had to adjust my strategy on the fly if he did something I didn't expect. In contrast, I didn't enjoy Deceit, Jul, Minotaur, or Spirit Bear so much because their difficulty lies in having a huge defense/speed and spamming massive attacks before I can react. Seriously, the Spirit Bear is tough mostly because he has 282 defense and 333 speed on Nightmare, so 75% of the time I can't even hit him, even with my primary melee characters. Then he heals to full and I'm stuck with dodge, dodge, block, 23 damage, dodge and then I die.



I'd honestly rather hit mobs for low damage than not hit at all. And I'd rather fight a boss with 2000 HP that can't heal than one with 1000 that heals to full every other round. At least with the 2000 HP boss I stand a chance if I went survival or AoE - all I have to do is survive his attacks long enough to win (and nobody said that has to be easy), but bosses that heal force you into the skills that do lots of burst damage...at a stage in the game where you can't easily pick up new skills.



Another thing that frustrates me is there are apparently different rules for mobs and players, and the UI isn't always truthful about that. I had no idea stagger wasn't actually reducing enemy stats until yayswords pointed it out, because the tooltip said it might and it definitely reduces stats on my characters! Draining SP is rarely a viable strategy because some enemies and bosses can cast spells even at 0 SP - including one offender in the middle of the game whose name escapes me that can heal at 0 SP. It's tough to build a strategy when you can't apply your knowledge of game mechanics to an enemy fight because they get to break all the rules you have to follow.



A lot of skill restrictions make them not really worth taking. Most skills that you can't use on bosses are a shame because bosses are usually the time when you have to break out the creative skills to overcome the boss challenge. Some skills are just too restrictive in general. (Good luck trying to stagger an enemy in the back row without a hunter for Krimm's Pull. And Riley's SP burn skill doesn't even work on normal mobs when their SP hits a certain %, which makes it a pretty weak skill, since you burn SP to prevent heals/resurrects.)



Leveling stats stopped being useful somewhere in the teens. The first act or two I felt like my stat points made a difference - Con and Will kept me going, Str and Arcane were letting me do more damage, and Agi was letting me go first. Around act 3, stats stopped mattering. It no longer made a difference that I dumped 30 points into Agility at the expense of other stats or bought gear with +45 speed (cumulative) because bosses would start at speed levels I couldn't hope to reach (250+). It didn't matter that I put 45 points into Strength because most bosses have 280+ defense near the end of the game...compared to my 100 attack (with the Attacker trait and attack gear). Con/Will were technically useful, but I stopped putting points there because my problems were all related to not enough burst damage (and I was scrambling to keep up with rising enemy defense). Not to mention, leveling stats got slower at the same time enemy stats got more inflated because stat increases become more expensive at 20 (okay) and 40 (essentially 1 stat point a level). Oh, and there's no gear in act 4 to compensate.



I'm still not fully happy with the shop system. It worked way better than Loren's did, but around the middle of Act 3, it was difficult to find actual upgrades for my characters. At the point in the game where I suddenly earn 20,000 gold, I had almost nothing to spend it on. Yes, there was a gambling shop and I tried him about 15 times, but only once did he give me actual usable items. Most of the item drops in the wild I didn't use (there were a few exceptions). I was expecting some source of HP regen aside from the two or three unique amulets that had it, but it was a virtually non-existant stat (and I don't think HP regen is quite as game-breaking as SP regen).



I always have a hard time exiting out of the party menu. If I click the wolf paw to look at stuff, I have to remember to click the X in the corner. Hitting escape brings up the game menu, which isn't quite what I want.

Chalassa wants to go to Ninim since she needs to kill shapeshifters

the wolf Artas will have a big role in the DLC we're planning for next year

Well, she could've lied and said "I want to hang out with you guys some more!" Also, a happy ending nitpick: she has a line near the end where she's upset that Althea shared her secret and now everyone will hate her. Except, Althea shared her secret a month ago (or more) and everyone has been hanging around her the whole time without noticeable (in-game) problems. And, she was there when everyone forgave Krimm.



I don't think I mentioned the minigames. Rowinda's quest minigame was a nice touch.

I think she says that, because she maybe thought that the others "hated" her, but pretended not to. I mean is probably something she is saying in a rush/worried without thinking.

This is a conversation between two companions that travel with the main character of Dragon Age 2, Hawke. The dialogue is added a bit based on the MC's current "situation."

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Anders: Were you trying to look at my grimoire the other day?

Merrill: Me? What? No! When?

Anders: At my clinic. While I was talking to Hawke. I saw you looking in one of my books. You know, those are private.

Merrill: I know, that's why I—Oh, fine. I admit it. I was hoping you'd have, um, dirty spells.

Anders: Dirty spells?

Merrill: You know! To, um, make things more exciting. Oh, I shouldn't have said anything.

(If Hawke is in a romance with Merrill)

Anders: More exciting? For you and Hawke?

Hawke: Stop. Just... stop right there.

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(If Hawke is romancing Merrill)

Merrill: She's so amazing and beautiful. How could anyone not love him/her?

Isabela: Oh, I could give you a list, but that might just bore you.

Isabela: So... did you get naked?

Merrill: Isabela!

Isabela: Ooh, look at that blush. That good, huh?

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If I remember correctly, there are also other benefits for whichever character players choose to romance. This give players more to explore in each relationship of the game and the feeling that every decision matters, which I believe is what I have missed in this game.

Again, hopefully it's not too unfair for me to use BioWare, big RPG games maker, to compare with this SOTW.