To the Bitter End
Version: 1.0.03

Single Player Action RPG/Campaign

For centuries, the people of the Plane of Ithia have suffered under the iron-fisted rule of the immortal sorcerer Morganem and his Council of Six. Now finally their pleas for help are answered: five legendary heroes arrive from beyond the crimson storms of the warp, seeking to topple Morganem's corrupt Empire.

But Morganem will not step silently into the darkness of history, and he prepares to fight these interlopers to the bitter end.

Official Site:
http://www.familykrieg.com/tothebitterend

********

Installation instructions:
--------------------------

Put the .w3n file into your Warcraft III 'Campaigns' folder.

You can play the game by starting The Frozen Throne, then selecting 'Single Player', 'Custom Campaign', and then navigating to the campaign titled 'To the Bitter End' and selecting it.

It helps to have your video settings for Warcraft III set to high quality, or some custom skins in some of the campaign might look a little... weird.

Note that To the Bitter End is more hardware intensive than a standard game of Warcraft III, so your computer will need to exceed Warcraft III's minimum system requirements to run smoothly.

Difficulty:
-----------

To the Bitter End is supposed to be very difficult.

However, for those finding it simply too tough, as of version 0.7.04, I have added in variable difficulty levels. Once in-game, press Enter to bring up the chat window, then type in 'easy', 'medium' or 'hard' (without quotation marks) to change the difficulty of the current Chapter. The default difficulty is 'hard'.

Note that the only thing this modifies is the HP of enemy units, and enemy hero units are less affected than normal units are.

Remember though: real heroes play on hard!

Music:
------

If for some crazy reason you want to turn off the in-game music for a given Chapter, type 'music off' (without quotation marks) into the chat text in-game. To turn it back on, type in 'music on'.

This special command is required because the way that 'To the Bitter End' handles the in-game music sometimes prevents Warcraft III's in-built volume control from properly affecting the music volume.

Note that even with the 'music off' command, music will still play in a few key cutscenes.

Other Notes:
------------

For further info and an extensive manual, check the 'official site' at www.familykrieg.com/tothebitterend

This is the full version of To the Bitter End, and contains all ten Chapters (two of which are cinematics-only):

Prologue: Shadows Rising
Chapter I: Dark Dawn
Chapter II: The Dream of Blood
Chapter III: Juggernaut
Chapter IV: Heart of Ice
Chapter V: Reunion
Chapter VI: Harbingers of War
Chapter VII: Grim Harvest
Chapter VIII: The Bitter End
Epilogue: New Beginnings

To check the version number of your campaign, type 'version' (without quotation marks) into the chat text in-game and it will display (or if nothing displays, then your version is definitely out-of-date). The newest versions are always available on the official site.

Although I am solely responsible for creating this map, several central character featured in this campaign were envisaged by the writers at The Administorum (http://theadministorum.yuku.com/) and its newest incarnation, the Administorum 2.0 (http://nerdramblingz.com/starforums/index.php).

A word on cinematics:
---------------------

It is possible to skip any of the cinematics, just press ESC.

You are advised to watch the cinematics at least once. They will often give you instructions as to what to do next and offer clues as to what to expect. Making sense of the game plot without them would be pretty difficult.

One 'bug' that occurs if you skip the cinematics is that any items or abilities that might have 'cooled down' and become available over the course of the cinematic will now not do this. This means that if you want to use those items/abilities often, you may have to wait around more... and if there's a timer counting down while you wait, that might not be advisable. This isn't a major thing, but it does mean that the game might be slightly more difficult if you skip the cinematics.

If you want to be sure to experience the game how it was meant to be played, then don't skip the cinematics. That's how I planned the level out and how I spent the most time testing it.

Hints/Notes:
------------

Use your quest log if unsure of what to do next... that's what it's there for.

Read the tooltips if you want to know what an ability or item does. In fact, this is strongly recommended.

The Sphere of Annihilation and Cataclysm abilities are appropriately named, because they will pretty much obliterate ANYTHING in the target area. That includes things you might prefer to keep un-obliterated, such as yourself.

Your items are re-usable. However, they have long cooldown times. Save them for when you need them, and then unleash hell.

To the Bitter End is very unforgiving. SAVE OFTEN.

You can find Chapter-specific hints (should you need them) at the official site at http://www.familykrieg.com/tothebitterend.

Don't expect to find Raziel from the Legacy of Kain series in this game. I've been using the name Soul Reaver for my RPG alter-ego since long before even the first Blood Omen came out. The Soul Reaver in this map is an original character.

Credits:
--------

To the Bitter End designed, written and created by:

Andy Krieg

Title screen and concept art by:

Stephen Cousins (http://www.visit-dengistan.com/stevesite/home.html)

Original Character design:

'Soul Reaver' by Andy Krieg
'Fei Serumen' by Anthony Passmore
'Cameron Aileron' by Sean Britton
'Kitharsis' by Bryon Laird
'Sera Poi' by Anthony Di Cesare
'Slayer' by Eric Rodseth
Additional characters by Andy Krieg

Music:

Title:
'Kalki (edit)' by E.S. Posthumus

Prologue:
'Pompeii' by E.S. Posthumus

Chapter I:
'The Wretched' by Nine Inch Nails

Chapter II:
'The Becoming' by Nine Inch Nails

Chapter III:
'Tikal' by E.S. Posthumus

Chapter IV:
'Nineveh' by E.S. Posthumus

Chapter V:
'Karma' by Kamelot

Chapter VI:
'We're in this Together' by Nine Inch Nails

Chapter VII:
'Welcome Within' by Godsmack
'Ultra' by KMFDM

Chapter VIII:
'Yamiiro no Yume/Anger (edit)' by Kasamutso Kouji
'Missing Time' by MDFMK
'Kalki' by E.S. Posthumus
'Ashielf Pi' by E.S. Posthumus
'Kuvera (edit)' by E.S. Posthumus

Epilogue:
'Indra/Arise (edit)' by E.S. Posthumus

Additional Concept art donated by:
Chris Oldland
Tom Hering

'Void Breach' based on 'Black Hole' model by:
WILL THE ALMIGHTY

Weapon models extracted by:
Larc

Special Thanks to:
The Administorum
Blizzard Entertainment
The Hive Workshop
Filefront
Warnicro
You, for playing

Extra Special Thanks:
Ji Xu

******

Tell me what you think! E-mail me (meet_soul_reaver@hotmail.com) if you have comments or questions about 'To The Bitter End', the Multiverse, or Soul Reaver.

******