Synopsis
Black Queen Chronicles is a quest mod involving a long series of
quests (rather like a faction, but not). It adds some new locations
on islands, as well as some new NPCs to Vvardenfell. The quests
involve things such as meeting up with Jiub (from the prison ship
at the beginning of the game) as well as the Black Queen Morgiah
and other characters from Tamriellic lore such as the King of Worms.
Exterior/Interior Design
The exteriors are excellent in design and architecture. Morgiah's
castle is particularly impressive. However, a small purist issue
arises with some of these new locations, as they are on islands
just west of Vvardenfell but are supposed to actually be very far
away to the west of the mainland. I'd always wondered if they could
be put in interior cells (like Mournhold).. as this would not only
address that, but would also mean zero land-related conflicts (as
things stand they are islands, which leaves them open to potential
conflicts with other mods that add islands to the west of Vvardenfell..of
which there are a lot).
The interiors are a bit of a mixed bag detail-wise. The prison and
the dungeon underneath the Daedric ruin are almost bare, and it
feels a little monotonous running through many rooms empty of furniture,
detail etc. However other locations, such as Morgiah's Castle, are
very detailed and interesting to look around, I only wish Tenaka
had applied this interior skill in those other two locations as
well.
Story and Quests
You can tell before long that the storyline has been well-researched
and planned. It fits in with the world and lore, and plays out in
an intriguing way. This is the part of the mod I always liked best:
a really good scenario. I won't give any spoilers, but once all
the pieces are set and things start to really play out, it is difficult
to stop playing, for wanting to know more. The quests, it seemed
to me, become more and more interesting further into the mod. The
first quest involves visiting the aforementioned prison, and it
is not only rather bare, but <mild spoiler> all the vampires
look exactly the same. They are all male Dunmer with the same face
and hair, wielding the same weapon. As normally when you encounter
groups of vampires in Morrowind there is a mixture of races, gender
etc, this seemed kind of out of place. The later quests however
are a different story. Diversity, more interesting locations, and
the intriguing plot keeping you going. The quests much later (past
halfway) were some of the best quests I'd ever played in this regard.
Dialogue
I need to make mention of this in its own section.. the dialogue
I found somewhat of a mixed bag also. While the subject matter of
many conversations is excellent and well-orchestrated, sometimes
the language used does not convey the message strongly enough. I
noticed quite a few typing errors, broken/strangely arranged sentences,
punctuation errors, etc etc. Also, sometimes the inclusion of modern
real-world expressions that aren't normally said in Morrowind and
seem a little out of place. Despite this however, the subject matter
and the way the conversations play out is excellent, I just feel
they probably could have done with an additional going-over before
release.
Items
This is where things get a little more problematic. I found many
items in the mod to be highly unbalanced, let me explain..
I began this mod at level 9. Upon completing the first quest, I
received a Daedric Longbow with a Constant Effect enchantment on
it, and 7000 drakes. Upon completing the second quest (by which
time I was level 12) I received a Daedric Dai-Katana and 5000 drakes.
Upon completing another quest soon after, I had a full suit of Aedric
Crystal Armour (sheikizza's brilliant model), which is Light Armour
with an armour rating much higher than Glass.
So to recap: I was now about level 13.. with a Daedric Longbow (with
a Constant Effect Enchantment to boot!) a Daedric Dai-Katana, and
a suit of light armour stronger than any armour I've ever seen.
Also, with all my gold I was able to purchase huge amounts of powerful
potions and spells in the Trebon Tower, which seemed to be overstocked
with powerful-to-the-point-of-unbalanced goods.
I'd consider all of this unbalancing even at level 20+, but all
of this was so early and so easy to get.. so to prevent the whole
rest of my game being a pushover, I had to do the Odai Disposal
Trick (ie throwing it all in the Odai and deliberately forgetting
where).
Not everyone would consider this totally unbalanced, but compared
to the main game and most other quest mods, you get more powerful
items for less/easier work. If this does not bother you, then everything
is hoopy for you. If this does bother you, then..well there is always
the Odai.
Bugs/errors/oversights
In this regard, the mod seems clean. Tenaka really did a great job
fixing every little bug and problem until there were no more known
to be in the mod.
Conflicts
When examining Black Queen Chronicles against other quest mods in
TESPCD, it actually looks kind of scary, with a slew of conflicts.
Luckily however, basically all of them are either harmless, or easily
fixed by taking note of plugin order. Regarding the latter I will
now list conflicting mods and the solutions:
The Twin Lamps: Simply ensure that BQC is lower on your loading
list. This will ensure all conflicts between these two mods are
harmless (and by harmless I mean, not manifesting themself within
your game in any way)
Beyond YsGramor: There is one landscape conflict, in Seyda Neen.
It is a gaping hole in the middle of the mountainside, and does
not effect anything. However, it can easily be gotten rid of by
ensuring BQC is lower on your list than Beyond YsGramor.
Siege At Firemoth: 1 landscape conflict. If Siege at Firemoth loads
first, you will end up with a drowned island, and this is very bad.
Luckily, you can avoid this by simply making sure that Siege at
Firemoth is lower on your list than BQC.
Trade Routes: Finally, the unlucky one. The island in Trade Routes
is in the exact same location as the prison in BQC. Both islands
will be there, one 'on top of the other', and there is nothing that
can be done to prevent it. Note however that both mods are still
playable, you can still get to all of the locations from Trade Routes,
and can still enter the BQC prison and complete the quest. It just
looks very..very odd, and is difficult to get around. If this bothers
you then the best solution would be to play one of the mods, disable
it, then play the other.
Castlevania mod: There is landscape conflict
between Morgiah's castle and the Castlevania island, which is apparently
of the same nature of the aforementioned Trade Routes conflict.
This however is likely to cause more problems and it is highly recommended
that if you want to play both, play one, unload, then play the other.
(Thanks to Zorro17 and Lathan for pointing this out)
Overall
The good:
- Well thought out scenario
- Intriguing storyline, especially strong later on
- Some excellent quests, especially later on
- Good use of scripted events
- Clean
- Highly compatible provided one takes plugin order into account
The bad:
- Unbalanced items
- Bare prison and shrine interiors
- A fair share of dialogue problems (typos, punctuation etc)
- The High Rock locations being on exterior islands close to Vvardenfell
detracts a little from the feel
What I think
This mod to me is like one of those English essays that your teacher
would hand back to you with writing all over it pointing out countless
problems and mistakes and then at the end saying, to your surprise:
"Good work, 18/20." A great mod, despite lots of little
problems. I tend to feel that all the little problems are worth
putting up with, to play such a well-designed series of quests with
a good scenario and storyline, and it is still up there with my
favourite quest mods.
Screenshots and download link
Tenaka's Morrowind Site
Have fun!
