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I'd been
meaning to come write about this mod for a few days as it didn't
seem anyone else had been downloading it. Within 24 hours it has
suddenly gotten 10 poor ratings on the Summit from some troll (the
author of this mod seems to have an enemy who poor-votes his mods on
a mass scale), which has made me want to do so even more. So here we
go:
In short: This mod is fantastic.
In length: It adds new travel options in the form
of new Silt Striders to various locations, and passage to the Skaal
Village. The new Silt Striders are in the middle of areas which were
previously lengthy to walk to (Grazelands, Azura's Coast), and make
getting about a little easier.
What makes it good:
These new travel options aren't just thrown there with no
explanation. There is story and purpose behind why they are there.
Also, each leads to an 'outpost' within each of those regions. These
outposts are what truly make the mod in my opinion. New houses, new
NPCs, new quests.
Quests: I won't give away much
here, but I will say that some of the NPCs and quests have an almost
whimsical nature that makes them incredibly fun to play. Also, they
are not your run-of-the-mill quests. These are the imaginative,
different kind of quests akin to those found in mods such as the
Hunter Mod, The Illuminated Order and Miles' other mod Beyond
YsGramor. And to top it all off, most of them can be completed in
more than one way, to suit your (or your character's!) tastes.
Oh I can mention the companion because it's in the mod
description anyway.
If you've ever wanted your own Dwemer Centurion as a companion, you
can get one in this mod. A good companion based on Grumpy's
ever-versatile companion scripts. And if you don't like companions,
that's fine because you don't need to get him if you don't want to.
You might like this mod if you like: Vivec
Expansion 2.0 by Hoghead. The atmosphere and overall air of Sorefoot
Enterprizes reminds me of the way Vivec Expansion improves on Vivec.
Not setting out to change the world, but just to enrich it, with
architecture, dialogue, NPCs and overall colour.
What
makes it gold for me: 1. DIALOGUE. This, like any mod by
Miles Acreus, has well and carefully written dialogue that fits
perfectly with Morrowind. Few mods have achieved dialogue which is
as pleasurable to read as in this and Beyond YsGramor. This mod also
poses no problems for purists, even for fanatical purists like
myself, as it all slots into Morrowind like it was meant to be there
all along.
2, It is incredibly conflict free and CLEAN! I
spend much time running numerous quest and other mods together and
examining them for conflicts and bugs, and I must say this is
amongst the cleanest.
3, Purist-ness: Nothing unbalancing,
and the characters, dialogue and architecture fits right into the
world of Morrowind. It also manages to be incredibly imaginative, so
be prepared for something new and different and fun. Few mods manage
to address all purist issues yet still come out imaginative and fun
to play.
Overall: I would highly recommend this
mod to pretty much anyone. I especially recommend it to purists and
cleanliness freaks who might not normally download mods like this,
in fear they will be unbalancing, be out of place with the
atmosphere of Morrowind, conflict with other mods, or break their
game entirely. This mod is one of those rare gems that somehow
does none of those things.
If you enjoy this mod, I would
highly recommend also trying Beyond YsGramor, an expansive
faction/quest mod with new locations made by the same author.
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Hey nice
review! now i know this mod!
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I downloaded
it yesterday and will use it with a new game, imo it sounds very
interesting.
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Miltiades |
Dremora Prince |
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Posts: 3967 |
Loc: Oblivion | |
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Hmmm, so the
old rascal finished it?
I
can recall playtesting a very early version, because I wanted a
dremer-home. Seems that Miles has expanded upon the plugin in a
pretty big manner
Greetz,
Milt
-------------------- Look for me,
out there in the Void... There you shall find me, smiling back at
you...
Evil teamleader of the Playable Dremora
project Asian Dragon Statues - DOWNLOAD
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Thanks for
recommending this. I just d/l'd it and look forward to playing it.
(and voted excellent on Summit just for the heck of it)
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Yu-Gi |
Diviner |
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Posts: 2156 |
Loc: The Battle City Finals.
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Nice review,
Zenogais.
Sounds really good. I might try it out
today.
Thanks,
Yu-Gi
-------------------- Best EVER Morrowind utility - TESTool
Morrowind's BIGGEST bugfix - Unofficial Morrowind Patch
ENERGY... Want Some? Come And Get
It! Password = Guest.
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Miles_Acraeus |
Master |
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Loc: Primum Mobile | |
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Damn. All I
have to say Zenogias, is that's one hell of a sales pitch!
-- check's in the mail
Yesterday I was worried to
death after seeing the poor ratings. Figured I had over-looked
something which was causing problems. I proudly suffer from OCD when
it comes to cleanliness, and this small matter had me pulling my
hair out. Glad to see it's running smoothly.
Thanks for
taking the time in posting this review, Zenogias, and a big thanks
to Tegger, and Miltiades, for their selfless testing and input.
-------------------- "Just some spittle in your face." ~ Vladimir
Harkonnen
Edited by
Miles_Acraeus (12/20/03 02:45 PM)
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maxpublic |
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I'd love to
see more reviews like this, posted by folks whose opinions we can
trust like Zenogias. I don't pay any attention to the comments, such
as they are, on the download sites themselves but I did see this one
here and because of review downloaded the mod in question (although
I don't know if I'll ever play it because I'm in 'modding' mode
right now).
What would be even nicer is if a review like this
one became part of a permanent sticky at the top of the forum. Then
should we miss reviews due to absence we could reference that
sticky, or point the newbs in that direction when they ask questions
about which is the best mod, or where to get head packs or
adventures, and so forth.
Max
-------------------- The four boxes of liberty: soap,
ballot, jury, and ammo. Use in that order.
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Thanks. I
found it a great, and clean, mod, and no-one else seemed to have
noticed it so I planned to review it. That resolve was increased as
soon as I saw that Miles had been trollvoted. Again. The same
thing that happened with Beyond YsGramor. It is saddening that
Beyond YsGramor, despite being the largest, most detailed and
cleanest faction mod ever produced went largely unnoticed,
especially when some of that was due to troll voting. Now that Miles
has released this new mod, it seems the same person is at it again,
so I hoped my review might counter that before Sorefoot Enterprizes
drifted away into Oblivion.
Quote:
Yesterday I was worried to death after seeing the poor
ratings. Figured I had over-looked something which was causing
problems. I proudly suffer from OCD when it comes to cleanliness,
and this small matter had me pulling my hair out.
And also to fix that.
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maxpublic |
Disciple |
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And because of
your mention here, I just downloaded Beyond YsGramor. :-)
Max
-------------------- The four boxes of liberty: soap,
ballot, jury, and ammo. Use in that order.
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Ah that's
great, have fun. It just seems terribly unfair that, due to some
unknown assailant mass-voting: 1, Miles is tearing his hair out.
2, People miss out on great mods.
That ratings system
has further reaching effects than people realize. They should do
away with it altogether or at least refuse multiple votes from the
same IP address.
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Quote:
Ah that's great, have fun. It just seems terribly unfair
that, due to some unknown assailant mass-voting: 1, Miles is
tearing his hair out. 2, People miss out on great
mods.
That ratings system has further reaching effects than
people realize. They should do away with it altogether or at least
refuse multiple votes from the same IP address.
Most Definitely Agreed!
Totally!
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Sulik |
Initiate |
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Reged: 01/14/03 |
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Yes I agree
this is definately a well thought out and executed mod, from the
attention to detail with the placing of things, to the dialogue and
even the lighting.
A mod to enjoy I think, a shame we have
these small-minded jerks now and again who dont have the balls to
openly state thier objection's if any, and I think sites restricting
one vote per IP adress is a sensible idea.
Anyway good work
Miles, now curious to see what other goodies you can create.
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NuclearDope |
Disciple |
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Posts: 1123 |
Loc: Leeds, England (city of light, city of
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Yea these sad
little voters can have bad effects but luckily we have a good
community
because of 1 pathetic little voter -I can't
remember which mod site it was but i saw CoN2
with a poor rating so i didn't get it but on here
it's extremely high rated and i am now playin it and really enjoyin
it.
Well done Zenogias
I am going 2 d/l Sorefoot enterprises and Ysgramor
-------------------- Ah, the taste and
feel of blood when all passion and greed is sharpened in that one
desire! Realm of the Damned thread
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Glad to see
the situation is being remedied. ^_^ As you said, you didn't
download CON because of poor ratings, but then came here and the
high regard it was held in here lead to you changing your mind.
Hopefully raising awareness about both Beyond Ysgramor and Sorefoot
Enterprizes here will do the same thing.
It certainly
happened with me upon my first discovery of Beyond YsGramor. I
thought: Wow, this sounds great! But.. oh..these ratings, there must
be something wrong with it. But I came here and asked, and learned
that it had 14 poor ratings stuck on it on its first day of release,
then nothing. So happily installed it and it was great. ^_^ So the
forums are very helpful in this 'debunking dodgy ratings' regard.
Hey if you don't believe me check out the thread here. ^_^
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Restricting
voting to one per IP wouldn't help, because many people on dial-up
have IPs that change every time they log on.
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I know, hence
my suggesting it could be done away with altogether. They
probably wouldn't want to do get rid of it entirely though.. but I
thought the IP limiting would still help, as though it wouldn't
eliminate the problem, it would at least reduce it some..
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Gen_Lee |
Diviner |
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Reged: 01/10/03 |
Posts: 2172 |
Loc: Portugal | |
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Zenogias, tks
for your deep review, hope You can consider doing that for other
less known or even better known mods, as it is really a pleasure to
read it, and i just going to download that 1 asp
-------------------- Brasil-Portugal
Morrowind.
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Zenogias,
thank you for bringing this to my attention. I managed to miss the
release threads for this and YsGramor, and I will delightedly
download them both this evening.
Miles, thank you for the
thoughtful, well-informed help you gave me on my sound issue. Your
advice led me in the right direction, and Jeannie now speaks! I am
really looking forward to playing your mods. You, sir, are an
extremely helpful and knowledgeable individual. It's ghastly that
kind and brilliant modders are treated in so shabby a fashion. I
really wish the ratings systems were removed from all the sites. The
systems are so vulnerable to such wanton abuse (as has been
demonstrated in these cases) that they are not only unhelpful, but
actually detrimental. Hopefully the admins of the major sites will
see this thread, and go back to what their sites are best at,
distributing mods, rather than allowing rampant
trollvoting.
I am personally fond of the system at Aldrien's Chalice. It's the one helpful rating
system I've seen. They do allow user ratings, but the mods are also
thoughtfully reviewed and rated by the literate, mature people who
run the site. The reviews are the important part. Like the review
which began this thread, they are detailed looks at the quality of
the mods in question. I often send newbies their way for this very
reason. If mod sites encouraged reviews rather than ratings, the
trolls would vanish (or at least reveal themselves as trolls), and
people could be guided by reviews a little more well-reasoned than
"this mod suxx0rz".
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Gen_Lee |
Diviner |
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Loc: Portugal | |
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Quote:
Damn. All I have to say Zenogias, is that's one hell of a
sales pitch!
-- check's in the mail
Yesterday I was worried to
death after seeing the poor ratings. Figured I had over-looked
something which was causing problems. I proudly suffer from OCD
when it comes to cleanliness, and this small matter had me pulling
my hair out. Glad to see it's running smoothly.
Thanks for
taking the time in posting this review, Zenogias, and a big thanks
to Tegger, and Miltiades, for their selfless testing and input.
May i suggest 1 simple thing
to do regarding Your mods? Please upload them, not only to
summit (Funny I never realized it had a vote system till today,
lol), but to: http://www.gamersroam.com/ http://www.mwsource.com/ and http://www.euro-morrowind.com/
And btw, I
uploaded it to Morrowind Portuguese community Webpage
Can be downloaded here: http://www.morrowind.ixolo.com/downloads/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=141
-------------------- Brasil-Portugal
Morrowind.
Edited by
Gen_Lee (12/21/03 11:53 AM)
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Beyond
YsGramor is available on Unforgotten Realms also..and MWSource I
think? But not sureabout Sorefoot Enterprizes yet.
Vorwoda: I
really like Aldrien's Chalice and its system too, great site.
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Miles_Acraeus |
Master |
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Reged: 08/24/02 |
Posts: 7891 |
Loc: Primum Mobile | |
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Thanks for all
the kind words and support, guys. I plan on releasing it at
Unforgotten realms and MWSource as soon as I fix some annoying typos
and a few "%PC___" errors. And as a few people have kindly pointed
out, it's not "enterprizes" but "enterprises". I knew that...
Seems
I had a case of cranial vapor-lock when renamimg the file, as my
rough draft of the readme and beta were both spelled as
"enterprises". Just a small matter, but i'm too anal to let it
rest.
Again, thanks for all the support. And... If by chance
you do have any gripes, comments or suggestions, please let me know.
They will be received. All feedback helps me improve my modding
skills, and in turn will produce more enjoyable
mods.
-------------------- "Just some spittle in your face." ~ Vladimir
Harkonnen
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Gen_Lee |
Diviner |
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Reged: 01/10/03 |
Posts: 2172 |
Loc: Portugal | |
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So far just,
just plain fun
-------------------- Brasil-Portugal
Morrowind.
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jimbob_11 |
Curate |
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Posts: 966 |
Loc: In the endless void.
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beyond
YsGramor is one of my favourite mods ever. I'm really annoyed that
some sad little idiot is constantly trollvoting Miles' mods.
-------------------- The reaper does not listen to the
harvest.
My
epic mod - Fate, lies and treachery.
Paranoia is knowing
all the facts - William Something
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On the topic
of Beyond ysGramor, what is the situation with conflicts with Sea of
Destiny? I loaded them both up the other day and got transported to
SoD and then fell straight into the water, so there is obviously
some kind of land conflict with the little island from Beyond
ysGramor. If I load them in a different order will it work? Is there
any way to solve this conflict?
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Yes, uninstall
SOD. Beyond YsGramor leaves SOD in the dust anyway. ^_^
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Gen_Lee |
Diviner |
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Reged: 01/10/03 |
Posts: 2172 |
Loc: Portugal | |
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And a bump!
-------------------- Brasil-Portugal
Morrowind.
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Miles_Acraeus |
Master |
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Reged: 08/24/02 |
Posts: 7891 |
Loc: Primum Mobile | |
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The conflict
with SOD was due to the fact that I had started Beyond YsGramor
before I was made aware of clone's project. Sorry. I have TESFaith,
and as soon as I figure out DOS line commands I'll remove the
conflict.
So
far no luck...
But, if you have to choose, let it be known
that Beyond YsGramor is designed for higher level characters, and
the higher your security and speachcraft, the better you'll fair
with the quests. i'm not familiar with the quest requirements of
SOD, but it may pay off to wait on Beyond YsGramor, play through
SOD, unselect it from your data files, and revert back to an older
save not dependent on it. Kind of a crappy solution, but that's the
only advice I can give.
-------------------- "Just some spittle in your face." ~ Vladimir
Harkonnen
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rothers |
Novice |
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Reged: 03/07/03 |
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Been playing
Beyond YsGramor as a result of this thread and it is truly superb
Has
a great Tribunal feel, I'm quite a way on with the main quest and
haven't found any bugs at all. Miles' attentions to detail is
amazing.
Very professional
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Soar182 |
Curate |
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Loc: Minnesota | |
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Quote:
Ah that's great, have fun. It just seems terribly unfair
that, due to some unknown assailant mass-voting: 1, Miles is
tearing his hair out. 2, People miss out on great
mods.
That ratings system has further reaching effects
than people realize. They should do away with it altogether or at
least refuse multiple votes from the same IP address.
. I have not been able to make
any multiple ratings. But I log in. I do not know if that makes
a difference. But to do away with it all together is not
right. Some plug in's out there are junk. It is nice to be able
to see reviews. It is fun writing reviews and seeing new plug
ins. When I put out Skeleton Island V2.10 . The feed Back system
did not work. So
my only review is from my friend. Months later. I do not want it
to go back to that. Rings of Roan got good and bad feed
back. You just have to stand up for yourself as miles
did. Remember we are all different people. We all like different
things. In our lives and in the plug ins we enjoy. To expect 0
poor ratings when you have over 500 down loads is not
realistic. Considering this mod would be a cheat for some with
the extra travel. I did not try the plug in but I saw it and the
feed back. There may have been more poor ratings then there
should be. And if all from the same person. That is sad. But
is not a good enough reason to do away with the system. Please
do not flame me and stuff. I am not taking sides. I just like the
feed back system and do not want to see it ruined because of one
plug in. Even the most downloaded mods have some poor
ratings. Nothing in the world works perfectly . I
did not rate or review this plug in. I just did not like it when
I read (They should do away with it altogether). That is like
cutting down an apple tree because one apple had a worm in it.
. Happy Holidays everyone.
-------------------- Screen shots
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maxpublic |
Disciple |
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Reged: 09/28/02 |
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Quote:
Some plug in's out there are junk. It is nice to be able to
see reviews.
And some of the plugins are
just fine, but the little boys giving the 'reviews' seem to get a
malicious thrill out of saying the nastiest things they can about
the mod. And some people trash the mod simply because they don't
happen to care for it, not because the mod itself is bad. I read a
review where the reviewer said a mod 'sucked' because it required
Bloodmoon! What a moron!
In any event, many of the negative
comments are just uncalled-for. There is 'constructive criticism',
and there's 'being a twit', and the two are entirely
unrelated.
Quote:
You just have to stand up for yourself as miles did.
Or you could a) do away with
the votes and rely upon reviews, and b) at least pretend there's
some sort of moderation system, where people who act like a-holes
are banned. What these folks have to say, whether it be for
Morrowind mods or anything else, is just useless noise, and will
remain that way until they bother to grow up.
Quote:
Remember we are all different people. We all like different
things.
This is something some of
these reviewers don't seem to understand. If they don't like it, the
mod is garbage, and that's that. They'd make good religious
fanatics.
Quote:
But is not a good enough reason to do away with the
system.
It's a good enough reason to
*change* the system.
Quote:
Nothing in the world works perfectly
But this one could certainly
be better. While I don't expect the Summit to change it's system,
perhaps one of the other sites will see how broken it is and decide
to 'one-up' them with something better. I'd love to see a
'review-only' system at my personal favorite, the Source.
Max
-------------------- The four boxes of liberty: soap,
ballot, jury, and ammo. Use in that order.
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Thanks for the
info Miles. I'm about to start a new game and it will be with SoD
installed, once I'm a high level character and I've finished with
SoD ill definetly change it for Beyond YsGramor.
By the way I
clicked on Gen_Lee's link in his sig, which takes you to Morrowind
Portugal, and they have a news article/review of Sorefoot
Enterprises. I copyed what was written into a translator on the
internet, and it translated some of the stuff. The main impression I
think I got from the dodgy translation was that I think they liked
it, have a look for yourselves.
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