Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession Walkthrough

As I said in the first post for it, I'm not going to let my Impossible Hero Challenge series get in the way of doing other videos.  For one, I've still got a very long way to go with it, and the pace of completing maps is starting to slow considerably as I get into the harder maps.  To that end today we take a break with a different game.

I know it may seem like my blog and YouTube channel have become exclusively Kingdom Rush focused, but that hasn't been intentional.  It all started when I noticed they added a veteran mode to the original game, which prompted me to go back and do a new series covering it.  From there I just got really invested in the series and have stuck with it (to the detriment of my poor Baldur's Gate series).  I do plan to continue it - first finishing my Impossible Hero Challenge, then moving to Kingdom Rush Vengeance now that it is out on Steam - but in the meantime I'd like to return to my original intention - doing much older, classic games.

As I mentioned in my Castlevania post, I'm a big fan of horror, so of course I love Halloween.  So a few weeks ago I felt the desire to go back and play my favorite horror game of all time: Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession.

Now this game is not exactly a legend of the DOS era like the Ultima or Might and Magic series, but it is one of my personal favorite RPGs.  Its greatness doesn't come from its story or its gameplay, which are actually just average.  Its greatness lies in something you don’t often notice or think about in a game - its atmosphere.

The game takes place in Ravenloft, which is a gothic horror setting for AD&D.  Vampires, ghosts, and other things that go bump in the night take the stage here.  The game designers took this setting to heart and set out to create the appropriate atmosphere for it - and boy did they ever succeed.  Few games have ever actually made me scared, but this is one of them.

There are three main keys to the game’s excellent atmosphere - its soundtrack, its sound effects, and its visual effects.  The soundtrack is perhaps the best I’ve ever heard in a game.  I have the soundtrack (in MIDI format, which was par for games of that era) and still listen to it on a regular basis.  I’ve never heard music more perfectly suited to a gloomy, horror atmosphere, and I’m quite the connoisseur of horror.

Complementing the soundtrack are the excellent sound effects.  For example, whenever you’re in the general vicinity of a monster, even if you can’t see them yet, you’ll hear them give off a distinctive “roar”.  This is nothing new in gaming, but the designers took the time to create some very memorable and very scary roars.  The first time I heard a bone golem I practically wet my pants.  In addition to the monster sounds, the game is littered with random sound effects appropriate to the area you’re in.  When you first explore Castle Ravenloft, you’ll occasionally hear a sound effect of someone running up stairs and then slamming a door.  It sounds fairly innocuous, but it made my heart skip a beat the first time I heard it.  When you first enter the castle you’re not entirely sure what you’re there for or what you’ll find - is there going to be a confrontation with Strahd?  When I first heard it I wasn’t sure if it was just an atmospheric sound effect or if it was triggered by an actual nearby monster.

The final element of the atmosphere is the visual effects.  Now the graphics themselves were only so-so for their time.  However, when exploring areas you are treated to little effects that add that certain special feel.  Bats may randomly appear and fly over your head.  When opening a new door in a dungeon rats may scurry underfoot.  All these things conspire to create the unforgettable atmosphere I’ve been raving about.

Sadly the graphics and sound are so dated now that the effect is largely lost, but I can't overstate the impact it had on me way back in the day. It's one of those games that has largely disappeared into the mists of history, so I'm proud to present it to you now, just in time for Halloween, along with my Gameplay Guide:

Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession Walkthrough

Kingdom Rush Origins (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Grimmsburg Iron

So this map is very analogous to Grimmsburg campaign - it's trivial aside from the Gloomies.  And as with that map, the key is to put together a plan that takes care of them without relying on your hero.  And while the micro here is tricky and you do need to know exactly where to put reinforcements and when to use Venom Vines, ultimately it's not as challenging as the campaign mode.  I considered doing the same thing here as I did for that map - giving every hero whose Hero Spell doesn't help with the Gloomies a B - but once I had the micro down I didn't have nearly as many slip-ups as with that map, so we're just going to give everyone an A.

Kingdom Rush Origins Impossible Hero Challenge - Grimmsburg Iron

Kingdom Rush Origins (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Grimmsburg Heroic

This is a decently challenging map, but not the kind I care for.  This is the kind of map that always has you back on your heels, feeling like you're just barely hanging on and like you're always one or two upgrades behind where you need to be to handle what's coming at you.  It does so by alternating hordes of enemies with the Bandersnatches, trying to make you use up your Thunderbolt and Hero Spell on one so you have nothing left for the other.  Not good for my blood pressure, honestly.

Impressions

I officially rescind every bad thought I've ever had about Xin.  There was one point where I had a bad misplay and I was pretty sure I was done for, but somehow he pulled it through, and with an A no less.  I still don't understand how he's as good as he is, but I'm not going to argue.

Reg'son also gets a welcome A, as Vindicator simply removes the threat of the Bandersnatches altogether, and he's otherwise great at dealing with the hordes of smaller enemies.

I must say I was very disappointed with Durax, Lynn, Bruce, and Lilith, only being able to give them Bs.  I thought they would shine more here, mowing down the hordes or taking down the Bandersnatches.  They weren't bad, of course, hence the Bs, but they just weren't great either.

Final Grades

• Eridan - B
• Arivan - B
• Catha - B
• Reg'son - A
• Prince Denas - B
• Razz and Rags - B
• Bravebark - A
• Vez'nan - A
• Xin - A
• Phoenix - A
• Durax - B
• Lynn - B
• Bruce - B
• Lilith - B
• Wilbur - A
• Faustus - A

Best Choice

Reg'son gets a surprising Best Choice award for this map.  Don't look down on him despite him being an early-unlocking hero.  With Vindicator eliminating the Bandersnatches and an occasional Satyr Hoplite, and then Eldritch Heal making him virtually invulnerable when dealing with hordes, he has a powerful toolset to deal with maps like this.  Even towards the end when I was trying to use Vindicator to kill the last Bandersnatch, I accidentally clicked a Satyr Cutthroat who was in the way.  But it didn't matter - he just activated Eldritch Blade and went to town, tanking the Bandersnatch without problem.

Kingdom Rush Origins Impossible Hero Challenge - Grimmsburg Heroic

Kingdom Rush Origins (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Mid-term Report Card

So I forgot to post this after finishing Gryphon Point, which is where it logically belongs, so sorry for things being out of order.

The game divides nicely into four sections - the elven forest, the enchanted woods, the ancient elven city, and the bonus levels.  As such, at the end of each I'm going to take the time to do a little retrospective on my experience and see how the heroes have done overall.

Using a scale of A = 4, B = 3, etc., we can calculate a GPA for them all and see what the rankings look like:

• Wilbur - 4.00
• Faustus - 4.00
• Phoenix - 4.00
• Vez'nan - 4.00
• Durax - 3.89
• Bravebark - 3.83
• Prince Denas - 3.56
• Lilith - 3.50
• Arivan - 3.50
• Xin - 3.44
• Eridan - 3.44
• Bruce - 3.39
• Lynn - 3.39
• Reg'son - 3.39
• Razz and Rags - 3.33
• Catha - 3.33

There certainly aren't any surprises with our straight-A honor roll.  Even before I began this project I could have told you that Wilbur, Faustus, and Phoenix were the three best heroes in the game.  I don't think it's coincidence that all three of them do true damage with their attacks, either, which is what will eventually cost Vez'nan his straight-A record when we get to maps heavy with magic-resistant enemies.

I am shocked to see Bruce and Lynn in the bottom five.  I know they're better heroes than this, and I think it's just a reflection of the type of maps in the first third of the game.  Their kits just aren't designed for Perythons and Hyenas, and later on when we start dealing with Razorboars and Twilight Golems I feel confident we'll see them shine and rise back up in the rankings.

I'm not surprised to see Razz and Catha in the bottom two spots.  Like I knew who the top heroes were before I even started this project, I also had a good feel for who the worst heroes were.  Unfortunately I have a feeling they're pretty much going to stay there.  I think there will be a handful of maps later that will play well to Razz's strengths and he might grab a few more 'A's, but I just don't see it happening for Catha.

Ultimately though no one finished with worse than a B average.  Obviously there was a lot of grade inflation in the first part of the game, with lots of trivial maps where everyone got an A.  The hardest map was, not surprisingly, Royal Gardens iron, where the average hero grade was 2.75.  I'm pretty sure we won't see any more trivial maps, and I expect by the time we finish the next set of maps the scale above will be quite a bit more stretched out.

Overall this project has been a lot of fun so far.  I feel like I'm really mastering the game far beyond even where I was when I finished my impossible mode walkthrough.  I didn't expect to plow through it this quickly, and really have been meaning to get back to Baldur's Gate, but I've just been enjoying it so much it's been hard to put down.  I suspect that will tail off as the maps get harder and I have to work a lot more to drag some heroes through with Cs or Ds, especially because I know I'm going to fight tooth and nail before resigning myself to handing out the first F.  But I'm still looking forward to it, and I hope you'll stick with me for the journey.

Kingdom Rush Origins (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Grimmsburg Campaign

So this map ended up being worthy of grading, but for slightly different reasons than normal.  This is an otherwise trivial map except for the waves of Gloomies.  Now it is completely possible to handle them solely with reinforcements, Thunderbolt, and the Venom Vines, not relying on your hero.  However, it is not uncommon to get bad RNG or misplay a Venom Vine by a second or two and have everything suddenly go down the toilet.  In that case, it's nice to have a backup in a Hero Spell that can deal with them.  So what I decided is to give Bs to every hero whose Hero Spell doesn't help with the Gloomies in any way.  I did go ahead and give Phoenix an A as well, because even though Ember Field can't affect them, her AoE is otherwise awesome enough to deal with them (Purification FTW).  So we'll skip the impressions this time since there's really nothing else to say and go straight to the grades.

Final Grades

• Eridan - A
• Arivan - A
• Catha - A
• Reg'son - B
• Prince Denas - B
• Razz and Rags - B
• Bravebark - B
• Vez'nan - A
• Xin - B
• Phoenix - A
• Durax - B
• Lynn - A
• Bruce - B
• Lilith - A
• Wilbur - A
• Faustus - A

Best Choice

Phoenix continues to shine as our all-star for the Faery Forest maps, which are built for her AoE capabilities.

Kingdom Rush Origins Impossible Hero Challenge - Grimmsburg Campaign

Kingdom Rush Origins (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Rockhenge Iron

Finally a challenge again!  This is one of those maps that is pretty hard until you figure out the exact right build strategy.  Iron modes that don't allow melee towers often fall into this category, as you have to decide if it's better to spread DPS across the whole map or still try to put together a pseudo-choke point.  But once I found the right build, the map was manageable, if still intense.

Impressions

There's not a terrible lot to say about performances.  Razz and Rags pull in the only C here.  There just weren't enough opportunities to put Changeling to good use on this map.  A couple of other B heroes were borderline, but ultimately I guess I was in a generous mood.

I was a little surprised at Reg'son's B, as I was afraid he might slip into C territory, but even though his kit is not at all designed for swarm maps like this, he still handled things pretty well.  On the other hand, I was a little surprised to have to give Prince Denas a B, as I thought he would be A material.  It might have been bad RNG or just some misplays on my part.

I was really surprised to give Xin an A.  I've learned from past experience not to underestimate him, even though I still don't understand how he performs as well as he does, but I really didn't think he could rise above a B on this map just due to the mismatch between it and his kit.  But once again he surprises.

Final Grades

• Eridan - B
• Arivan - A
• Catha - B
• Reg'son - B
• Prince Denas - B
• Razz and Rags - C
• Bravebark - A
• Vez'nan - A
• Xin - A
• Phoenix - A
• Durax - A
• Lynn - B
• Bruce - B
• Lilith - B
• Wilbur - A
• Faustus - A

Best Choice

Like the campaign mode, this map is a Phoenix specialty.

Kingdom Rush Origins Impossible Hero Challenge - Rockhenge Iron

Kingdom Rush Origins (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Rockhenge Heroic

We're just too good for our own good.  Another trivial map, all 'A's, yada, yada, yada.  I almost gave Arivan a B for the map, because he did have a bit of trouble holding back the tide, unlike every other hero.  I even did it twice just to make sure it wasn't just bad RNG, but he still had some difficulty.  I might have had bad RNG two times in a row, but ultimately I didn't feel it was bad enough to really give him a lone B in a string of otherwise trivial 'A's.

Kingdom Rush Origins Impossible Hero Challenge - Rockhenge Heroic