Enigma Island - Complete

Cheers Proleric. Great series.

I've only gotten through the first part (Treasure), but I can tell this is going to be one I go back to and try with other characters. My Paladin ended up siding with King Morgan even though he seems to be a buffon! Treason and commoners just aren't his style :P Thank you for making these! Side note : Besides Wyvern Crown I think this is the first module I've played with Horse Combat (or Horses really taking an active role at all). Pretty nice, though I had a weird bug where the temporary hit points didn't go away, at least I think this was what caused it.

I did have one small glitch when I neared the end of the first part in the Iron Palace. I had just cleansed the temple and when I went outside I found the guys from the Green Dragon Inn standing outside, but none of them had any dialogue explaining why. I went through the dialog that leads to a fight with Anton, though it is the same that you can use at the inn, and Fantina had a unique response for defeating them outside the Palace.

EDIT (5/3) - Is the doppleganger in the grove supposed to not fight back? This would be in reference to the part in Part 3.

EDIT (5/14) - I didn't get much of a chance to play this due to Finals, but I've managed to get Rosamund and am back at Kingscourt Underhill. The problem I'm having is with getting the White Hart to follow me. Each time I interact with it it follows for maybe one or two steps then begins to run away like the Deer normally due if you get too close. This prevents me from continuing with the initation - Perhaps a failsafe that transports it to the top in cases like this would help, unless I'm going about it wrong?

I made sure to follow the instructions in the journal - No Armor/Amulets & Rings/Weapon and I told all my companions to wait at the Inn.

Proleric: I see my character have reduced attack, permanent. Is this because I have done something wrong (in character or otherwise), or is it a bug (and how do I fix it)?

It is in the first module, and he has a rather bad decrease to his attack role. It makes the combat annoying, since I have to led my hencmen do all the work.

How long is Shuck supposed to stay on the bridge? I went back to Shagwell and the game time is Hour 11 which I suppose is 11AM, and he is still outside.

Played some time ago and can recommend to everyone that is not a child.

Now I finished the series. I found it very interesting.

-SPOILERS BELOW-

The writing was good and the plots mostly interesting and fun. After a bit abrubt start of the first module, it grew to be very immersive and the choices of the PC influence the world, and the two second modules had the character at the center of the story from the start.

I understand the need for game-balance, but found the item-strip at the beginning of the second, and especially the third module anoying. It wasnt like most of the fights wasnt very easy anyway. And the replacement gear wasnt tailored to the character. But the plenty of money and omega forges allowed for new gear just as powerfull. However, I missed high-dex armour for rogues etc. (as a rogue charcater).

I apreciate that it was not combat oriented modules, but still found most of the combat too easy (most could be solved without companions). When a deamon drops from the sky I expect him to hang around more than 2 seconds.

There where only a few difficult fights, and I think one of them wa sunintentionally so:

When trying to free the captured sex-slaves in module two, I couldnt convince neither Lydia nor Penric to come with me, even though Lydia suggest she will help n the Sharon conversation. That lef my rogue/ranger and Dunbert, I later (when Fantina had been found) tried again, but still much harder than any other fight (except the dragon one, but that was I assume more intended to be hard). Three squishy characters. I understand why they didnt whant to hang around bar etc, but they should be willing to help freeing slaves?

Anyway: The sheer number of interesting plots and very involving story make up for any minor shortcomings.

I remember when I played the first part when it came out, but I stopped playing NWN since I was busy. Just finished the series now and I would say I loved it! Wasn't expecting that kind of ending, but overall, the series was good!

Played this on my other computer some time back.

I really have no idea how to rate this... somewhere between 8 and 9, probably.

There were many new things, interesting effects, there are some scripts I would love to borrow...

The first part I enjoyed very much. Unlike in ADWR, the adult stuff was more or less optional which in my opinion is a good thing.

Oh, and the horses... loved how I could mount the whole party and ride to the next place.

Just that sometimes it didn't work as it should. I remember the wizard girl (don't remember her name anymore) not mounting sometimes so that her horse remained in the city and she was running after the rest of the party.

I also loved how Petyr (if that was his name... you know whom I mean, probably) commented "Is that legal?" when my character picked a lock (while I normally hate LN alignment, I wouldn't have minded to romance this particular guy).

While the time-based quests in the second part add to realism, there should be an item that enables the player to pass time early in the game. For me, personally, it became annoying when I had to pass hours waiting again and again despite my tries to organize my actions carefully.

Thumbs up for the disco script, though. Really loved that one.

Maybe I will download the series again and play more one day.

For now, I give you... a 9. Because you definitely have decent knowledge about scripting, and because I cannot blame you for sometimes not hitting my personal taste.

Honestly i think this is the typical adventure where your character "should" act as the creator has decided... And that, kills my amusement.

Very nice, especially part 3

What is the "mature content"?

** SPOILERS **

hello,

1/ i'm having a bit of a problem w/part 3. i'd planned to go to sudish via alba, because according to the map, alba's on the way. however, when i tell captain burdsi to go to alba, robin complains and there are no dialog options that will let me continue. if i tell burdsi to go to port royale, then palin complains and and there are no dialog options that will let me continue. according to the map, it should be possible to sail to alba, finish the business there, then continue northwest to port royale either by boat or overland, and then on to sudish by riding north through the mountains of morovia. there are no conversation options to explain this to the npc's -- who, frankly, at this point, i wish would just shut up and get belowdecks so we can get to where we need to go.

how may i accomplish this ?

2/ i decided to leave robin behind. shortly after departing koberg, we ran into the fox. my party and i defeated his and killed him. however, there's no journal update about his death or my being able to collect the bounty on his head, and capt burdsi's only conversation option is 'you'd better get some sleep'. resting won't advance the story, this remains the only conversation option even after resting. mr peg, who remained on the other ship and is not hostile, only says he won't listen to anyone except his dead capt.

how do i advance the story ?

this is exactly the kind of module [series] i like : plot-driven w/many points that impel immersion in the story and a fair amount of action to keep you on your toes. the series offers many unique features, plenty of surprises, and a pleasant mix of 'serious action', humour, and romance w/'fanservice'. my overall score would be about 9/10. i'd say this is a 'must play'.

per-module details follow.


ENIGMA ISLAND 1
my score : 8.5

it looks like quite a bit of effort went into this module. copious attn to detail [books, conversation cues, placeable/tileset adornments correspond well to conversation, ...], well-scripted conversations that react realistically, more intelligent a.i. -- e.g. npc's react to lock picking, npc's give pertinent context-sensitive advice -- all added to a superior experience.

it was obvious proleric expected this module to be played w/ILR off, a choice i disagree with. i wish more builders would pay attention to ILR. not only is ILR a good indicator of game balance problems, fundamentally, the story should be about the character and his/her prowess, not about what weapons are wielded. in the case of this particular module, i question the proliferation of such overpowered items. a +5 sword given to a 7th-level character ?  a 17th-level amulet ?  boots of speed available to buy at 2nd level ?  some of this wouldn't be a problem if ILR were respected, but unfortunately, in order to resolve some quests, it has to be turned off.

ENIGMA ISLAND 2
my score : 9.5

it's obvious proleric put a great deal of thought into the plot and its engaging subplots, and in the various ways dramatic tension could be increased through pc interaction. i found myself reminded of the 'bâtard de kosigan' series in this respect. the story was developed in a dramatic and exciting way, while simultaneously supporting an 'open', non-linear play style. this offered plenty of potential plot-twists and many different choices that could affect the ultimate outcomes of the subplots variously. npc's [even the 'insignificant' ones] generally had their own personalities, and these were borne out effectively not only in the written dialogs, but by underlying scripting as well. the trend of above-average npc a.i. in the 1st module is expanded in this one.

if i had one complaint, it would be that proleric continues to rely in some pivotal moments on overpowered items that simply can't be used with ILR on -- while i, for my part, continue to think this is a shame, since i believe firmly that a well-balanced campaign must rely on the characters themselves, not on their items. 'anyone can be a hero, with a big enough sword'.

there were also a few minor bugs, but i think they were attributable to the game itself since i couldn't reproduce them.

ENIGMA ISLAND 3
my score : 7.75

the third part of the series was more ambitious than the previous two, and -- while arguably also more interesting as a result -- could therefore still use a bit of polish. certain changes in the module's focus and mechanics made it more frustrating in places.

• areas were the most thoughtfully and realistically arranged of all 3, w/creative uses of animated model effects, various ground effects, placeables, and even special attn to doors.
• npc action scripting taken to an entirely new level of sophistication. kudos !
• excellent sense of 'urgency' built in, using timers, day/night cycling, etc.
• once again, disregard of ILR got in the way a few times, notably when henchpeople disrobed for various reasons and then couldn't re-equip because their items were too powerful.
• thank goodness proleric created player tools that allow us to simplify some of the the horse-wrangling and thereby circumvent some related bugs.
• very much enjoyed integration of the omega forge, which allowed me to custom-tailor my group into a very effective team.

TECH NOTES - ENIGMA ISLAND 1

'nympheroticon' - ROFL !  :)

BUGS

• instructing a henchman to 'prepare to fight' displaces my character's already-equipped mace of disruption with... a [non-magical] riding crop. @_@

TECH NOTES - ENIGMA ISLAND 3

BUGS

• [NOTE - a bio-bug, not a module bug] due to a lazily-written test in the horse package, a pc can't mount at all if he's been level-drained ; the system counts the character as 'disabled', the same as if he'd been stunned, petrified, etc.  the offending line is n° 2133 in x3_inc_horse.nss. removing this test and recompiling x3_s3_horse.nss will allow the character to mount again.
• talking w/any of the omega forge smiths reports journal updates on every single conversation branch, but there are none.
• [** SPOILER ! **] breaking out of king penric's conversation to study a map causes him to offer intelligence reports ad infinitum w/no way to continue. ==> reload.
• [** SPOILER ! **] seaman staines tells me to disarm in order to talk to him -- immediately after our battle w/pirates. he also asks me to remove my helm. seaman staines shouldn't be such a twat, he knows who we are, i hired his damn ship.
• [** SPOILER ! **] TMI's on xx_travel_exit during the pirate encounter
• [** SPOILER ! **] capt. kat continues to follow me even after i turn him in to the sherrif in koberg.
• [** SPOILER ! **] on the road to draconia there is a peasant, 'wednesday', who stands in the road. trying to speak with him kills the pc immediately. it wasn't until the 3rd or 4th reload that i figured out it was wednesday who was interrupting his own conversation -- which, in turn, kills the pc --, as i sat there scratching my head and he initiated a new, completely different conversation himself, which would break the other conversation currently in progress. i think a better approach would be to check to see if the pc is in conversation first, before forcing a new conversation start [and subsequent game reload].
• [** SPOILER ! **] the same thing happens again later, inside wednesday's house -- interrupting the cv kills the pc. i really can't see any good reason for this, esp when the entire cv has already been dealt with. a better approach might be to just disable breaking out of the cv.

MOANING
bioware horses. horses are awful. they've always been awful, they'll never be anything but awful, even w/all of proleric's herculean efforts to make them not awful. they're error-prone, tedious, and buggy on so many levels they give nightmares even to the dead. i managed to avoid this travesty of misbegotten ill adventure in parts 1 and 2 of this series by opting to travel on foot. while proleric is in no way responsible for the eye-watering coding horror that is the bioware horse implementation, the quasi requirement of depending on horses in episode 3 -- and their consequent unpleasantness -- was frustrating.

SUGGESTIONS

• it would be helpful if the unlabeled trans to aversham in the middle of koberg had a map note. or else just put it somewhere else. clicking it thinking it'd take me deeper into koberg cost me 7 hours travel time and a consequent reload.
• for journeys of several days, it would make sense to do a force-rest as well as advancing the clock, so characters have full spells on arrival.
• another 'nice to have' would be the organisation of the 'urgent' quests in order of priority [i.e. using the journal's 'priority' checkbox]
• [** SPOILER **] such a shame that the ranger robin was turned into a fighter practically identical to palin. i think he would've been more interesting if he'd stayed a ranger.
• [** SPOILER **] while getting automatically locked out on a balcony in alba because the clock advances to an hour that closes a building may offer a brief comedic moment, at the end of the day it was tedious. although this isn't a show-stopper for anyone w/access to the console commands, a better approach might be to leave 'internal' [including balcony] doors open.
• [** SPOILER **] i've got mary grissini's i.o.u. from the [now dead] ron sharp, but there's no opportunity to explore this possibility w/her [or any other character, for that matter].
• the usual 'ask this henchman to cast a spell' cv branch would've been very helpful, esp for lydia.
• first time i've ever run a high-cha rapscallion, and i would've liked to see more options using his persuade/bluff skills.
• the icing on the cake would've been to write a nice little wrap-up -- cut-scene or otherwise [e.g. your non-cutscene scripted scenes] -- an epilogue of sorts, based on the pc's actions throughout the module.

One of my favorite campaigns ever. I played it some years ago and I was so eager to finish it that I picked up the beta version of the 3rd module from Proleric's site. I'll be more than glad to play it again in order to finally see its final version. And not just the 3rd module, but the whole series again cause I really really love it!

This question might sound silly but...does the B version of Enigma Island for NWN EE also work for a "regular" NWN?

A really great mod !! I enjoyed the 1st part (Treasure) and begun the 2nd.... 

I noticed that, sometimes, after a transition to a new area, the screen goes black, but the games continues. First time happend to me when the PC woke up on the boat, a liitle after the beggining, and then again after exiting Unicorn Inn. A reload saved the day, but it is ...annoynig ! 

Any suggestions ?