Prophet - Chapter I - By the Will of Kings and Mortals

Quite good module with a lot of content, solid plot and a few well-designed companions.

The story begins in a small village.  You have a gift - you can see the future events(or past) in your dreams. Will you able to change the future? Who knows.

It will be a huge mistake if i wrote something more about the story, because it's very linear (in a good way) and full of twists.

Well, i think Baldecaran shows a good reflexion on what could be the meaning of having "gift" like that in this module. And that's why it could be easily called a masterpiece. The only flaw i think it's the fact that you have to play a good-sided character, for obvious plot purposes, and even if it's perfectly understandable, sometimes it could get little boring, especially for someone (like me) who hates being a sort of do-gooder.

I am at a stand still right now. I am trying to speak to the 'Pale Woman' on the castle tower, but getting no response. What is amiss?

Nevermind. I was able to start the convo with her, so all is good in the Universe. I am really enjoying the flow and storyline.

Masterpiece!

Having continued the Baldecaran modules with the same character has been a charming experience...

Absolutely fantastic series! Everything about the story, the setting, the scenes was superbly crafted.  The author put a ton of very hard work into this, as Aquarius above said, Masterpiece. This is one of the "must plays" on the Vault.  This whole series is a 10!

So far it's pretty disappointing. People praise this module like it was some masterpiece but its not. filled with trash combat, from spider caves to swamps full of trash mobs. so far the pale lady was only interesting plot. Does it get any better eventually? Also, it's not light but heavy HnS, the story itself is on "teen" level, couldn't bother with it too much longer.

I have to agree with fallander69. I have found this module to be overrated as well.

The module is labeled as roleplay: medium and hack&slash: light, but my impression was exactly the opposite. There are interesting tidbits of story here and there, but for the most part it is just repetitive, grinding hack & slash. Such design would not be a problem in itself - Icewind Dale (which the author borrowed some music from) shows that even a combat-focused game can have an intriguing story and amazing atmosphere. But for that to work combat has to be both challenging and varied, none of which is the case here.

I have played this mod with a level 5 wizard on hardcore difficulty, got as far as the elven city, and encountered exactly three memorable battles, one of which (the big spider) was bugged. The rest of the encounters were repetitive and lacking challenge. Unfortunately, neither were the non-combat areas that interesting. I finished my playthrough in the fabled elven city, which consisted of few houses with even fewer interesting NPCs to talk to.

Prophet Saga [COMPLETE Let's play]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NosgBi0XAaA&list=PL2mVwWymK5NNenPJ_MGV8n...

I liked Baldecaran's take on the nature of man. I liked how he tackled Cruelty, Shame, Remorse, Hatred, etc. in this Module

Currently playing Chapter 1 on "Very Difficult" settings; the elven town you visit is visually most amazing elven town I've seen in any NWN module. Canopies, towers, waterfalls. Even before I assess the module, I already know the design of areas is comparable to if not better than Aielund Saga. 

pro
an excellent story with a serious philosophical background
a very nice area design

con:
There is much h&s and trash-mobs, not  related to the story. Well, this doesn't bother me.

MINI REVIEW:

Chapter 1 of “Prophet” is SPECTACULAR, amazing, 10/10 and the series  seems to be getting better as I progress…. And mind you, having played almost all best epic series on the vault (a detailed list with my recommendation on my profile info) I do not say such things lightly.

Don’t be fooled by the title “Prophet” which may be suggesting some flat, trivial story of someone predicting things (this is precisely what I feared before reading some convincing reviews). No, it is a deep story worthy of a novel. In principle, Prophet is apparently somewhere in between the greatest epics on the Vault: Aielund Saga and  Dance with Rogues. As you might already know AS is an epic, finely crafted, colourful novel-like story, with meaningful companions, whereas ADWR, also a novel-like story, is very dark, burdensome, ethically challenging and frequently forces you to choose between lesser and greater evil (not to mention profound interaction with NPCs ;)). Basically you feel moral guilt after finishing it. So Prophet is somewhere in between, retaining colors and medieval, epic scope of Aielund Saga and gloomy, ethically-heavy climate of Dance with Rogues, while adding a deep philosophical undertone related to the issue of free will, predetermination and a centenary problem, a torment of philosophers called Laplace’s Demon(link is external) (really, one guy apparently declared he is preparing a PhD in Philosophy related to this series!). if you are into reflection about meaning, solitude (no romance, what a pity ;)), responsibility without guilt and guilt without responsibility, then play this. Ok it is linear, but novels about fate are linear as well ;)

Also, your henchmen develop an uneasy, profound relation with you as they are becoming gradually more creeped out by the events that unfold (try raising Meredoc by the end of the module and see what happens!). If this is not enough, the areas are artfully chiselled: I am not sure how about previous versions, but the last version I play (VII 2017) is a genuine work of art: the mountains ARE mountains, storms, high peaks and true Lord-of- the-Ring-esque sense of march towards fate; and the tranquil elven city is the best elven city I have seen in NWN module.

I will write a longer review after finishing the whole. For now: don’t even pay attention to the baddies that rate the module lower than 8 or 9, they must be kids who cannot comprehend the meanings this module tries to convey.

This will be a review for the full series (parts 1, 2, and 3 as well as the prologue), so there might be some hinted-at spoilers in here...nothing explicit, though, so hopefully it'll still be useful to first-timers!

I'm really conflicted about this one--I'm not sure I've played a module so polarized between its strong and weak points. First, the positives: I think this module accomplishes what it was trying to do with flying colors. The storyline is brutal and engrossing, and there are some truly gut-punch twists in here that caught me off-guard. I don't know if any modules have been able to leave me feeling as despondent and helpless as this one, which is a compliment in this case as that's what the author was going for. Alternately, one of the few times my character actually got some sympathy in this module (from someone who had previously rejected them), I was legitimately touched and grateful. The henchmen in this module and some of the NPCs feel like legit characters with their own conflicts and feelings toward the player character, and their choices make sense and have a profound impact on both the plot and the player. There was a lot of set-up in this module, and I think the payoff was perfect.

All that said, there were some issues with this one. First, the storyline was relentlessly dark and depressing, so you may want to avoid this one if that's not your thing. Second, combat in this game...I hesitate to say this, but at times it was actively worse than that of the OC. Even late into the module, you'll find yourself hacking through hordes of low-level enemies that give you 4 EXP a pop, and it's even more tedious than normal because the enemies would turn and run after taking a certain percentage of damage so that you have to chase them around the battlefield. A few boss battles are a lot of fun, but the combat was generally pretty boring to me. Third, I did encounter a few bugs that really hurt the module, one of which rendered forward progress completely impossible and forced a reload.

Perhaps the biggest issue is that the game really felt like a railroaded D&D campaign. It's 100% linear (usually you can't even go back to previous areas) and the whole module is actively designed so that the player/player characters choices don't really matter. I think this was unavoidable given the theme of the module ("What is destined cannot be denied" and all that), but at times, particularly in Part 3, I felt like I was effectively directing my character through cutscenes. Add to that the walls of text needed to explain the module's themes and philosophies, and I barely felt like I was really playing a game at some points. As good as the story is, the NWN engine isn't really built to make these infodumps any fun, and I definitely found myself getting bored as I clicked through conversation screen after conversation screen. These frustrations had the benefit of making myself feel my character's pain, immersing myself more into his tragedy, but that did nothing to reduce the tedium I often faced.

So...a split decision from me. The storyline was as good as any module I've ever played, but I couldn't help but feel that it would be better in a different medium (TV or novel) rather than one that's not really suited for telling great stories. The atmosphere, like all of Baldecaran's mods, was on point, and I really felt immersed in my character...but on the other side, I can't say I had a ton of fun actually playing the module. Given that I was pretty relieved to finally be done with it, I can't rank it among my all-time favorites (anyone comparing this favorably to Aielund is crazy in my mind)...but if you're interested in a dark, philosophical module with some good twists and a focused storyline, this one's worth a whirl.

Starts well but has at least one area that crashes, thus ruining the module.

An incomparably good series.

There is only one word to define this series: A MASTERWORK. 

I think that the last time that I found myself emotionally shattered like this was when I played Planescape:Torment and considering that I am probably talking about one of the best RPG ever made it should give you the measure of what you should expect if you'll decide to play this wonderful series. One of the most powerful, original, gritty and depressing story that I've seen. Ever. I think that Prophet Series can be really considered a piece of art and that it deserves a place in the history of gaming. 

Frankly .. I was blown away by this, it was incredible .. the story the tilesets .. everything. Thank you so much for your obvious hard work!

Alot of crashes with nwn: enhanced edition. Especially in the mountain part. Almost unplayable. 

So, I'm EXTREMELY frustrated with the ending of this particular module, enough that I'm not sure I'll finish the series...

SPOILERS, though I'll try not to be too explicit.

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Why is there literally no choice to stay, at the end??? I tried going through diaglogue a bunch of different ways, even, and can find NO way to avoid the conversation with one companion where my character is forced to say he intends to escape. After everything, especially the choice involving the werewolf guy, I was loving how my character was developing and what he was learning about his morality and everything...and then there's NO option to have him even TRY to follow through with that, so what was the point. If he just decided he did believe it could be right to sacrifice someone to save others, an option the game literally just emphasized he can make, in fact a MAJOR THEME of the story until now, why is he suddenly being railroaded by dialogue options to not be able to do that?? Especially when sacrificing yourself is probably way less dubious than sacrificing someone else, and the question of whether the character would stick to their decision when it was their own life on the line is a pretty interesting one? You presented a GREAT difficult choice with the werewolf thing, and then threw the impact it could have on the player character in a RP sense out the window...?

Like I get that yeah, hypothetically it would just end the game and you wouldn't get the rest of the series. But maybe it should still be a choice, to send your companions away and end there? But also...it doesn't seem hard to let the character make that choice and then have something else negate it externally--off the top of my head, one of the companions just pointing out that hey, since you have the OPTION to leave, maybe it's your decision to STAY that makes you responsible, and then oops either way could be a mistake so you better go try and find out more! That other companion could still disagree, and the fight could still happen, even! For someone that made what has been a pretty good module until now, I'm sure finding a way to continue the story wouldn't be hard.

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end spoilers

Anyway, sorry to be so critical...the main reason I'm so frustrated by this IS that I liked it a lot until this moment. I was very invested in the story and the way it was making my character develop in interesting ways.

Like, am I being unreasonable, or missing something? Did anyone else feel this way? It's realy hard to imagine I'm the only person that had this problem, it seemed like it would be a pretty natural choice for a lot of characters...

"Find the weakness in the pillar of time. Strike at the weakness and you shall make a crack. Strike at the crack and the pillar shall fall."

One of the best things about NWN modules is that there is often so little information on them out there that it is actually possible to avoid spoilers when preparing for them, allowing a story built on shattering revelations and genius plot twists such as the Prophet to truly be experienced as intended. I rather keep it that way, and shall relegate any and all spoilers to the bottom of this post (although I wish there still was a dedicated Prophet spoiler discussion thread as on the old BSN). I sincerely urge you not to read them before playing the module. All that needs to be said about the Prophet in terms of its story, anyway, is that it is genuinely unique while addressing age-old, perennially relevant questions in an incredibly engaging manner. I vehemently disagree with those reviews above stating that NWN is not a medium fit to explore such deep themes - in fact, the way Baldecaran mixes textual and gameplay explorations of determinism to have a certain NPC make his philosophical point is pure genius, and could not have been achieved to the same effect in any other medium. So, if you ever wished you could face a fearful werewolf in the guise of the trolley problem rather than some walking XP with damage reduction and 999HP, or if you have always loved Tolkienic subcreation for its exploration of cosmology and anthropology through worldbuilding, this is the game for you. The Prophet is certainly niche, but it fills its niche better than anything else I have played out there.

The Runelands campaign setting is exemplary of good worldbuilding to me, abundantly filled with its own history and lore, some of which is relevant to the story, some of which is not and some of which maybe only becomes relevant in the way it shapes your imagination and your character’s decisions. By way of a little example, because I happened to have burglarised a certain, completely irrelevant noble home in Honour Among Thieves, I immediately understood what had transpired in the Mines of Lohim upon reading the name of the man who hired the adventuring group you are looking for in the Prophet. These allusions are rewarding because they are done so subtly. In another instance, I was reminded of an interesting tidbit of information I vaguely recalled from The Cave of Songs, which back then had initially struck me as obvious foreshadowing, until it turned out it was not (for that particular module). The choices my character made, and the consequences she suffered, in Honour Among Thieves in many ways worked like a prism through which events in the Prophet appeared in a different light. I therefore highly recommend playing these modules in order, and thankfully Baldecaran has worked some nice little surprises into them for those who do - just make sure you keep any plot items upon transitioning from one to the other. Regrettably, and to me incomprehensibly, this recognition does not extend to the henchman dialogue, which is one of the few truly disappointing bits of this module. It would have been so easy to add one or two player lines to establish whether they met before or not, even without any fancy scripting, as it was done in BG2 back in the day, but alas you have to fill those blank spaces in your head. In general, it is best to approach this module not expecting too much in the way of PC characterisation. You may have one or two interesting conversation responses here and there, but most of it is left to your imagination, which may be a result of the module's intended multiplayer focus. There are a couple of other rough patches such as this, where it is evident that the module maker intended for a DM to improvise a response to player interaction, and which thus seem like missed opportunities in single player mode. Why go to the trouble of making a major character's relatives identifiable by name in the Elven city if you then do not provide the opportunity to inform them of said character's tragic fate? If you are not usually the type who likes to jot down your PC's thoughts in the custom journal in these games, these lacunae can actually be an opportunity to try your imagination.

Another thing I really appreciate about the Runelands setting is that it follows a decidedly deep rather than broad design philosophy. My patience for custom settings can wear thin when they rehash so many old concepts under new names (looking at you, Pillars of Eternity!), but Baldecaran does precisely the opposite. On the surface, a lot of things in the Runelands are basically crossovers from the Forgotten Realms, helping you get your bearing and feel at home in this world quickly. Yet in the Runelands, some of the worn cliches of D&D are presented in a new perspective that reminds us what made them appealing in the first place - even the Drow are rendered relatable if not sympathetic, with a fascinating social Darwinian philosophy of their own that informs their Always Chaotic Evil nature.

I am surprised to see that some others criticise this module as being too heavy on H&S. Maybe it was a matter of coming straight from Honour Among Thieves with a rogue-ish build, but I was very much able to continue my routine of sneaking past many of the mobs or otherwise avoid fighting them. And if wounded enemies run from you, why not just ignore them and be on your way? Since the XP curve in the Prophet series is refreshingly slow anyway, lost XP from not killing every last critter really makes no difference here. In my opinion, Baldecaran does really well with his formula of keeping challenging tactical combat to the optional side quest areas, allowing the main story to progress without frustration regardless of the character build chosen. Backtracking is indeed present in some of the areas, but not beyond a reasonable limit, and in some cases it is actually used for character development - certainly a nice surprise to see! It also gives you time to appreciate the absolutely gorgeous landscapes, so I did not mind it much in this instance. Due to its narrative theme and design philosophy, the Prophet series is of course rather linear and somewhat rail-roady, but not really more so than most other modules - I think it is just more apparent here because of the lack of faux dialogue branching. In an interview on the old vault Baldecaran explicitly stated that he was so burnt out from the incredible effort it took to create a story as open-ended as Honour Among Thieves that he took up the idea of creating a module series about destiny to justify a more linear game! And the story he does tell is of such literary quality that the loss of modularity is a price well-worth paying.

NON-SPOILER ADVICE

-I highly recommend using the Cloak Hakker & Converter utilities to avoid the drab uniform sand colour on 1.69 cloaks in these older modules. Luckily, they are very intuitive programmes and worked without any issues for me.

-The henchmen in this module are assigned standard NWN portraits. If like me you have played too many modules and seen those same faces over and over again too many times for it not to break your immersion, just replace the standard portrait assigned to the companion (po_el_m_01 for Llarien and po_ha_m_07 for Merudoc) with the portrait of your choice by naming them that way in the override and creating the appropriately resized copies (_l, _s, _t). Personally, I found CS_M_02 in "Cobra's Male Portraits" pack to be a decent fit for Llarien. For Merudoc, I have reedited a BG portrait. You can download them here, all ready for your override.

-If you want to encounter a very interesting side quest regarding the fate of the Odoun people you may have to, counter-intuitively, do exactly what you should think you should not do in order to encounter them in a certain Ghostly Hut. (Mild Spoilers: take an item from the chest when you are explicitly told not to!)

-The ranger henchman’s animal companion did not work at all for me - asking him to summon it produced, rather hilariously, a naked dwarf. I am not sure whether this is a bug in the module or a compatibility issue.

-The battle at the Sigris River Crossing is great fun, but also slightly frustrating. Be warned that, even though you will technically be able to resurrect the Elven leader should he fall, the game will not acknowledge this. He will simply disappear and the quest will be considered as failed. Focus on keeping him alive if you would like to see the proper conclusion. Furthermore, he sometimes tends to get stuck at the gate, rendering the quest equally impossible to conclude. Luckily an autosave should be kept just before the battle commences.

-The persistent crashes in three of the (gorgeously crafted!) areas utilising the “Rocky Mountains” tileset (Kryn-Talor, Shattered Peaks and Canyon maps, to be precise) are best avoided by keeping the camera steady. In my experience, no crashing occurs without camera movement - unfortunately though, upon loading a save game the camera may automatically be adjusted, leading to an effective corruption of a save. Keep multiple and frequent saves in those areas. The multiple caves and tunnels appearing in those maps are safe from crashes, and therefore good points for backup saves - ironically, having to seek refuge from crashes in them seems somewhat fitting to the whole mountaineering experience. An unrelated problem is that the area transition back to the Canyon from the Cliffs of Langgor is not set up properly, so make sure to keep that in mind before proceeding onwards from the Canyon map (you will still be able to backtrack, but only via the longer route).

SPOILERS

Unfortunately, I have to agree with someweirdhats that the otherwise reasonable linearity of the module becomes problematic in its very last moments. Especially considering how easily such an alternate ending as outlined above could have been implemented, it really seems staggering that Baldecaran did not provide for it. So what if it means the story would end there and then? All the better, that means there is no need to account for that choice in the subsequent modules. If it was Baldecaran’s intention to confront the prophet with his/her own hypocrisy, restricting the choice to actually stay in the tomb could have been handled via an alignment check / will save, similarly to the decision to take off the Hand of Nhegeth in Honour Among Thieves. Presenting players with a moral dilemma and then not letting them actually go through with their philosophical conviction is bad design. To me, this was not a problem I noticed, because my character certainly would not have thrown her life away based on a vague prophecy, but I can absolutely see how for a Lawful Good type this would be precisely the reasonable thing to do. But for precisely that reason I found it equally jarring that we are not able to point out the circularity of the Urlord’s argumentation to him / our henchmen. I realise that having you essentially argue with a semi-intelligent recording is a smart way to realistically limit conversation options, but it should at least be a PC response option, even if it would not lead anywhere / convince anyone. Last but not least, I would have liked to see Merudoc’s decision be less of a volte face. I do see where he is coming from, and it is one of the greatest twists I have encountered in a game, but it would have been nice had he first been attacking the Voice in vain to then turn his pent up anger and thirst for revenge towards the only target remaining to him.

Of course, these issues are only frustrating in the first place because the module is as stupendously well-written as it is, but still I find that considering its relative linearity up to that point, there is less of an excuse not to polish these aspects of the final confrontation.