To the Bitter End
Version: 1.0.08

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.warpstormstudios.com/tothebitterend

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Installation instructions:
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Note: To the Bitter End does not support post-'Reforged' versions of Warcraft III (that is, versions after v1.29) as those have removed Custom Campaign suppport entirely.  It has been tested on and should work on anything from version 1.27-1.29.  Assuming you are using a version that supports To the Bitter End:

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, and the mechanics of this were revamped in v1.0.07.  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 at any time.  Difficulty persists until you enter a command to change it again, even between Chapters.  The default difficulty is 'hard'.

Easier difficulties will (usually) reduce the damage you take and increase the damage you inflict from all sources.  In-game stats and tooltips will not reflect this change however.

Remember though: real heroes play on hard!


Music:
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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 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:
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For further info and an extensive manual, check the 'official site' at www.warpstormstudios.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://www.theadministorum.com).


A word on cinematics:
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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.warpstormstudios.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)

Chinese localization by:                              Heishimo (He)
Russian localization by:                              Кирляндия

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

Music:
Title               Kalki (edit)                      E.S. Posthumus
Prologue            Pompeii                           E.S. Posthumus       
Chapter I           The Wretched                      Nine Inch Nails
Chapter II          The Becoming                      Nine Inch Nails
Chapter III         Tikal                             E.S. Posthumus
Chapter IV          Nineveh                           E.S. Posthumus
Chapter V           Karma                             Kamelot
Chapter VI          We're in this Together            Nine Inch Nails
Chapter VII         Welcome Within                    Godsmack
                    Ultra                             KMFDM
Chapter VIII        Yamiiro no Yume/Anger (edit)      Kasamutso Kouji
                    Missing Time                      MDFMK
                    Kalki                             E.S. Posthumus
                    Ashielf Pi                        E.S. Posthumus
                    Kuvera (edit)                     E.S. Posthumus
Epilogue            Indra/Arise (edit)                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

Hero Glow model by:                                   Assassin_lord

Damage Detection based on
GUI Friendly Damage Detection v1.2 by:                Weep

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

Extra Special Thanks:                                 Ji Xu


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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.

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Please do not redistribute or modify these files without my permission.  These files are not to be sold for profit.