| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Dargoth |
Posted - 21 Jul 2006 : 00:42:43
Has anyone played this NWN1 Module?
http://nwn.bioware.com/players/profiles_tyrants_of_the_moonsea.html |
| 24 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| FridayThe13th |
Posted - 03 Aug 2006 : 15:41:22
Yes, it is in the mod folder. I checked. |
| Winterfox |
Posted - 03 Aug 2006 : 14:48:47
Not to be painfully obvious, but are you sure the .mod is in your /modules folder? (If you unzipped/rared it, it may have created a subfolder inside /modules.) |
| FridayThe13th |
Posted - 03 Aug 2006 : 14:17:45
I downloaded it. But for some strange reason it dosen't show up on my module list. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 02 Aug 2006 : 11:23:25
I've removed several posts from this thread. We had a nice little flame war starting, with personal attacks being launched. We do not tolerate that stuff here. Any more posts like that, and this thread will be locked.  |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 02 Aug 2006 : 03:01:04
quote:
Originally posted by Alazander
- Where does is say Ellesime is a Chosen of Rillifane? As far as I'm aware, she's a standard 16th-level mage. Ventinari is 18th-level. I don't see much incongruity there.
The Ellesime plot didn't bother me simply because I've come to feel that no one is invunerable, or should be (reading Elminster in Hell and Blackstaff has taught me that much).
quote:
- There's nothing wrong with a good villainous monologue. It's almost tradition.
Yes, but I have to agree with Winterfox that the "villain's exposition" can be a bit silly, and enough people are aware of it now that it's hard to use that device without causing unintentional laughter. To be fair though, I wasn't bothered by the one in your mod--the one that REALLY made me laugh was in Hugie's recent module "The Art of Death: Back in Black". I love Hugie and have fun with his modules, but that villain's exposition was so drawn out and corny that it was pretty much parody material. It gave me a good laugh, but stuff like that can kill the serious tone of a story. |
| Alazander |
Posted - 02 Aug 2006 : 00:56:50
quote:
Originally posted by Winterfox
I finished it. It wasn't an atrocity against mankind,
On the contrary, it was enough to earn me numerous awards -- as well as a BioWare contract.
Ah well, you can't please everyone. You evidently have different tastes to most folk. A tired cliche, perhaps, but apt enough in this case. The writing is somewhat better than competent, and I believe the story is considerably stronger than what you've implied; In the interests of fairness, I think it's worth pointing out that few modules have the breadth of plot of this one.
Otherwise, most of your criticisms are valid enough and have been made in one form or another over the last year.
Interestingly, I thought Some Distant Shore was decent but nothing remarkable, and I could never really get into Hex Coda. When he's not writing horror, Gagne reads too much like an American Pratchett. I used to like Discworld, but the whole snark/forced wackiness thing wears old after a while. Still, I can see I'm in the minority here.
To addresss a few specific points:
- Where does is say Ellesime is a Chosen of Rillifane? As far as I'm aware, she's a standard 16th-level mage. Ventinari is 18th-level. I don't see much incongruity there. Regarding the suspension of disbelief thing -- come on, dear, this is fantasy! It wouldn't have been much fun for Gandalf to have hitched a ride on an eagle and dropped the One Ring into Mount Doom, would it? In fairness, this was the only argument you made that I felt was entirely redundant.
- There's nothing wrong with a good villainous monologue. It's almost tradition.
Seriously, there might be better ways to do what you suggest in the context of a novel, but within a module... how else would you have handled it? From the betrayal to the end of the module, how would you have the information imparted to the player unless it was by Daramus himself? I think you need to have a stab at creating a module to see the ways in which it differs from writing a short story or a novel. That's not throwaway advice designed to deflect critcism; I've seen some of your writing and it's fairly decent. You should try your hand at writing a module.
- Where did you find the music lacking? Are you sure you copied over all the .bmu files into your music directory? I ask because I don't recall any areas where I intentionally set the area music theme to silent. Hmm. If you do recall where this occurred, please let me know and I'll fix it.
Cheers. |
| Winterfox |
Posted - 01 Aug 2006 : 23:02:46
I finished it. It wasn't an atrocity against mankind, but if and when I do vote for it, I'll probably give it something in the region of 7 because it's technically sound and the writing is in competent English. (Though having Zaranda Starr ask "Are you okay?" jarred, hard.)
The story turns very linear after Darromar, which isn't itself a negative... but when the plot is this linear, I expect a really, really good, tight plot (like in some of the more railroaded, but still good modules -- Some Distant Shore is an example of what I'm thinking of, or perhaps Elegia Eternum) with exceptional characters. What I get is generic "Point A to point B to point C cutscene D villianish info-dump E" which, I'm afraid, isn't all that exciting. The characters were, with some exceptions, not that engaging; Eleana could go hang for all I care, and so could Vard, and so could... nearly everybody else. (Neremul was mildly interesting, but was ultimately unsatisfactory.) The plot's bland. Save this city from this villain. Save the king and the queen from this villain. Etcetera. No, I'm afraid I couldn't muster any feeling of surprise at the "plot twist." It's not so much that I saw it coming from parsecs away; it's just that I couldn't bring myself to care.
I also wanted to slap the villains for pulling the "well, I'm confident you're going to die now, so I'll info-dump my life story and/or nefarious plans for your benefit" routine. Are they insane? Are they stupid? Is that a Convenient Plot Device string I see moving their jaws, and good grief, why is the ventriloquist so atrocious? I'm seized with the urge to do heinous violence every time this device is used. There are better, subtler ways to convey information to the PC, really there are. How did Kelsomething Ventinari manage to capture Ellesime, anyway? She's a Chosen of Rillifane. Irenicus managed it, but then, he had the Bhaalspawn's essence to play with, and if Kelsomething is that powerful, the PC -- who's arond level 12-14 -- would be stone dead in five seconds flat. Suspension of disbelief? Goes snap.
The dungeon-type areas (the mage's guild in Darromar, Irenicus' tower, the place in the Starspire mountains) made me want to cry, because they were just... series of floors and rooms. Puzzles are weak to nonexistent (the most complicated being "kill these gargoyles, collect coins, put in braziers to open door"; that's saying something, isn't it?), and the enemies are all so boring. The combat's rather unchallenging. (My cleric/fighter isn't a powergaming build, and she's got so-soish equipment. It irritated me that I couldn't equip my henches with better weapons and armor, though. Eleana's AC is horrid, and most of the time I just parked her somewhere while soloing the enemies on my own.) I liked some of the custom music, but there're places where there's none, and the lack's just bizarre. The cutscene where the nobles die of poison in the palace... is accompanied by the vaguely pleasant, default Castle Interior music. Er. What.
It may just be that I'm jaded. I do find a lot of modules extolled by so many to be nothing special or downright mediocre; such modules tend to be, on a technical level, sound, but content-wise, they're things I've seen before again and again and again. Throw my PC into the role of an anonymous adventurer, farmboy/girl, and the like, and half my enthusiasm is already quite, quite gone. Slap me with a typecast plot and typecast quests and I'll be all too ready to delete the thing from my hard drive. Present me with unmodified, same-old, same-old Bioware tilesets where not much is done to make them look fresh and distinct (placeables, lighting, etc) and the module's gone from my NWN folder. It's why I'm so fond of mods like Almriven, the HeX Coda, thegeorge's surreal/horror modules, and the like. |
| Alazander |
Posted - 01 Aug 2006 : 21:02:54
quote:
Originally posted by Winterfox
quote:
Originally posted by Alazander
Why, to pleasantly surprise you at a later stage, of course.
All joking aside, if Rino hadn't recommended it, I would have already given up on the module. Sorry. Nowadays, with life so short and getting shorter by the second ( ), I treat mods the way I treat books: if the first few pages (or at least first chapter) don't grab my attention, I drop it fast.
quote:
Had you not played, for example, Almraivien prior to this module, it's likely you'd find the opening section a little more enjoyable.
Not so much that. Almriven is extraordinary as a city adventure. The tileset and use of placeables alone give it a huge, huge advantage -- it is very different. It's comparable to a book whose very first sentence piques my interest.
The city areas in AL2... well. There's a reason my response to Hugie's Art of Death was so lukewarm. A combination of generic city divisions (here's where the nobles live, here's where the low-class people live, here's where the temples are) and "anonymous adventurer for hire" is a surefire way to kill any mod for me.
I more or less agree with you; I probably wouldn't have the patience for yet another seemingly-bland city adventure, either. It's certainly the worst section of the module, but it does represent a transitional period where I was still learning the toolset. As a 2004 module, this particular section would've been respectable enough; nowadays, it's a little *meh*. Luckily, it's redeemed (and then some) by the rest of the module.
Let me know what you think if and when you finish. |
| Winterfox |
Posted - 30 Jul 2006 : 09:06:41
quote:
Originally posted by Alazander
Why, to pleasantly surprise you at a later stage, of course.
All joking aside, if Rino hadn't recommended it, I would have already given up on the module. Sorry. Nowadays, with life so short and getting shorter by the second (), I treat mods the way I treat books: if the first few pages (or at least first chapter) don't grab my attention, I drop it fast.
quote:
Had you not played, for example, Almraivien prior to this module, it's likely you'd find the opening section a little more enjoyable.
Not so much that. Almriven is extraordinary as a city adventure. The tileset and use of placeables alone give it a huge, huge advantage -- it is very different. It's comparable to a book whose very first sentence piques my interest.
The city areas in AL2... well. There's a reason my response to Hugie's Art of Death was so lukewarm. A combination of generic city divisions (here's where the nobles live, here's where the low-class people live, here's where the temples are) and "anonymous adventurer for hire" is a surefire way to kill any mod for me. |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 30 Jul 2006 : 02:17:11
quote:
Originally posted by Alazander
You know, I didn't realize until yesterday that Murdane was actually a former goddess of the Realms. I was searching for information on dead deities at the time -- that may give you a clue as to the premise for AL4. 
Thanks for the info...and yes, my "Murdane" handle is based on that FR goddess.
quote:
This site does indeed look pretty awesome. Thanks for the well-wishes over on the Bio boards regarding my engagement, by the way. I didn't reply there becasue I hate needlessly bumping my own topics, but it was appreciated!
You're welcome. |
| Alazander |
Posted - 30 Jul 2006 : 01:41:30
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
quote:
Originally posted by Alazander
As Riona (I'm guessing?) says...
Heh. Yeah.
quote:
On an unrelated note, I've only just discovered this website. It seems like a veritable treasure trove of FR lore. I'll be sure to pop back on occasion to pick everybody's brains for information when the need arises. 
Please do--this site is awesome. On that note, welcome!
You know, I didn't realize until yesterday that Murdane was actually a former goddess of the Realms. I was searching for information on dead deities at the time -- that may give you a clue as to the premise for AL4.
This site does indeed look pretty awesome. Thanks for the well-wishes over on the Bio boards regarding my engagement, by the way. I didn't reply there becasue I hate needlessly bumping my own topics, but it was appreciated! |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 30 Jul 2006 : 01:11:43
quote:
Originally posted by Alazander
As Riona (I'm guessing?) says...
Heh. Yeah.
quote:
On an unrelated note, I've only just discovered this website. It seems like a veritable treasure trove of FR lore. I'll be sure to pop back on occasion to pick everybody's brains for information when the need arises.
Please do--this site is awesome. On that note, welcome! |
| Alazander |
Posted - 30 Jul 2006 : 01:08:08
quote:
Originally posted by Winterfox
Okay, then. I'll trudge on.
Whatever gave the author the idea that such a lacklustre, unutterably generic beginning'd be a good thing, though?
Why, to pleasantly surprise you at a later stage, of course.
In truth, I built this part of the module way back in early 2004, and the glut of excellent city adventures since then has kind of made it feel a little generic nowadays. As Riona (I'm guessing?) says, the module's quality increases exponentially. Had you not played, for example, Almraivien prior to this module, it's likely you'd find the opening section a little more enjoyable.
So, keep on trudging. It'll *possibly* be worth it in the end.
On an unrelated note, I've only just discovered this website. It seems like a veritable treasure trove of FR lore. I'll be sure to pop back on occasion to pick everybody's brains for information when the need arises. |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 24 Jul 2006 : 00:02:46
quote:
Originally posted by Winterfox
Okay, then. I'll trudge on.
Glad to hear it. It does get better, in my opinion anyway.
quote:
Whatever gave the author the idea that such a lacklustre, unutterably generic beginning'd be a good thing, though? Sigh. So many mod builders do it.
I know, but at least you get to deal with some interesting characters along the way (like the aforementioned Neremul). |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 24 Jul 2006 : 00:01:40
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
--Tragedy in Tragidor: a rather old module that takes place in a doomed town somewhere in the Silver Marches.
Wasn't that the name of the adventure that came with the old 2E DM screen?
I don't know, sorry. All I know is that it was a pretty good module for it's time, and IMO worth playing. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 23 Jul 2006 : 23:41:41
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
--Tragedy in Tragidor: a rather old module that takes place in a doomed town somewhere in the Silver Marches.
Wasn't that the name of the adventure that came with the old 2E DM screen? |
| Winterfox |
Posted - 23 Jul 2006 : 23:40:07
Okay, then. I'll trudge on.
Whatever gave the author the idea that such a lacklustre, unutterably generic beginning'd be a good thing, though? Sigh. So many mod builders do it. |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 23 Jul 2006 : 23:26:08
quote:
Originally posted by Winterfox
I'm playing Crimson Tide of Tethyr. Can somebody please give me incentive to continue playing it? So far, it's all generic anonymous adventurer running around doing generic quests with no redeeming quality whatsoever. Even the areas are horribly bland. :/
Hmmm, very well:
--the story picks up a lot after Darromar.
--you'll meet a lot of famous FR NPCs, including some from BG2.
--the dark mage Neremul is kind of cool.
That help? |
| Winterfox |
Posted - 23 Jul 2006 : 22:42:18
I'm playing Crimson Tide of Tethyr. Can somebody please give me incentive to continue playing it? So far, it's all generic anonymous adventurer running around doing generic quests with no redeeming quality whatsoever. Even the areas are horribly bland. :/ |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 23 Jul 2006 : 22:31:05
quote:
Originally posted by Mazrim_Taim
Any other good FR modules to recommend? I stopped playing NWN a long time ago after being a DM for ALFA for a while. I really liked the onces you've linked so far, however.
Oh yeah, lots.
--Dragon's Edge: a rather short module that's part of a series that may not get finished, but gives a nice taste of Cormyr.
--Shadowlords/Dreamcatcher/Demon: these are popular and IMO a bit overrated, but a lot of cool stuff happens to the PC.
--An Ancient Heart Series: not quite finished yet, but takes place in Damara and has some nice appearances of popular FR characters.
--Black Thorn: unconventional mystery module that takes place in an inn in Cormyr, but there's no handholding, so you'll need to put your thinking cap on and take note of everything you see and hear. You have three hours of realtime to solve the mystery, but I found that was more than enough.
--Torslunda: short module that takes place in Icewind Dale, and is due for a sequel sometime in the future.
--A Hunt Through the Dark: play as a drow through six modules that get increasingly better in quality. If you love Myth Drannor, you'll likely love the last couple of modules--they feature the best ruins of MD that I've yet seen in a game.
--The Claw Chronicles (Gates of Myth Drannor and Sorrow of Faerun): Another series that takes place in and around Myth Drannor, although it isn't finished yet.
--Sands of Fate: not really an FR module, since it takes place in a different world, but the hero is from Faerun (and hey, isn't Faerun supposed to be connected to other worlds?)
--Neverwinter Snowflakes: very short modules that you can play through in one sitting. They are Black Dragons (Cormyr), Daenarian's Tears (Myth Drannor), and Cradle of Cold (Dragonspine Mountains)
--Tragedy in Tragidor: a rather old module that takes place in a doomed town somewhere in the Silver Marches.
Keep in mind that there are plenty of wonderful modules that aren't set in Faerun, as well. Also, it's likely I've forgotten some FR modules that I've played, as I've played a lot of them. |
| Mazrim_Taim |
Posted - 23 Jul 2006 : 16:19:15
Any other good FR modules to recommend? I stopped playing NWN a long time ago after being a DM for ALFA for a while. I really liked the onces you've linked so far, however. |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 23 Jul 2006 : 00:29:14
quote:
Originally posted by Dargoth
Has anyone played this NWN1 Module?
http://nwn.bioware.com/players/profiles_tyrants_of_the_moonsea.html
I forgot to mention:
Since you really like Bane, you'll probably greatly enjoy certain parts of this module. However, the game might not make as much sense if your PC actually worships Bane. |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 22 Jul 2006 : 06:36:25
quote:
Originally posted by Dargoth
Has anyone played this NWN1 Module?
http://nwn.bioware.com/players/profiles_tyrants_of_the_moonsea.html
Yes. I thought it was awesome, if not quite as spectacular as Crimson Tides of Tethyr. In the end, TotM doesn't feel quite complete, but to be fair there are reasons for that (which you can find out on the module page).
For another great Forgotten Realms NWN module series, I recommend trying Saleron's Gambit (low magic, low gold, low XP, high fun factor). |
| Ryss Firemaster |
Posted - 21 Jul 2006 : 12:03:21
Hay there...
Have downloaded it, but not played it yet. I have however, played the two first modules in the series.
1:"Siege of Shadowdale." which was quite good, except, for a period when you literally are underfoot with the Knights of Myth Drannor. With 7 people in narrow dungeon corridors, it gets a bit hard to get anywhere.
2:"Crimson Tides of Tethyr." Which was much better, one that I really enjoyed for the roleplaying, the twist of the story and the (SPOILER) ties to Baldurs Gate 2, Irenicus' Tower.
So I'm playing this one soon. |
|
|
