Tales of Arterra - The Lost

I enjoyed this mod very much and can't wait to jump into Part 2, The Awakening! :-)

Very well made & structured.  Very good story & scripting

Great gem and a must play especially for good alignments! I grant 10/10 for the series (10/10 for superb “Awakening” and 9/10 for the first "the Lost", which is a bit less engaging, but also very good). It is a very well written story (I like complex sentences like: “you can feel the dragon’s tension like a crushing weight upon you, squeezing the breath out of your lungs”), novel-like characters, moral dilemmas, grey ethics, well written dialogues and psychological depth of companions almost comparable to Dance with Rogues. Persey, a succubus that may turn good thanks to your support is one of the most enjoyable creations in NWN modules  and I have played majority of what is worthwhile (consider this quote: “Countless men told me they would go to hell for me, but it is only you who actually did this”; in principle whenever you read “Persey looks at you curiously, with her bright grey-green eyes” there is an interesting talk ahead).   

Prepare for a memorable  story about war of faiths, religious crisis, philosophy of life, salvation, weakening kingdom, battles (only some will be hard, but most will be enjoyable), redemption and complexities of good of evil. The second part of module 2 (Awakening) actually takes place in hells (they will try to sell you post-mortem your own equipment, haha!), which brings about memories from Planescape: Torment, additionally enhanced by some music from PT.  Some quotes, such as “there are infinite numbers of path in one’s lifetime; destiny is defined by those paths that are most common” (Seer) exhibit philosophical profoundness.  

In spite of only basic tilesets available back in 2005, Kevin Chan successfully created lots of interesting locations, characters and custom items (e.g. celestial Oni summon or shortsword granting hide-in-plain-sight feat).  If it is not enough, an adequate selection of cool custom music coming among others from Icewind Dale and Planescape Torment, contribute to the immersion.

Best classes to play this module: fighter/wizards (for magic items), fighter/bards (for summoning instruments), paladins, rogues with high UMD skill (for crucial class specific haste items,  especially monk robes early in module2); a cleric may be a bit too easy. You will have 3 henchmen available: a fighter, a cleric and a rogue for almost the whole gameplay.  

The Lost does not have major bugs.

PS. Additional thanks go to rogueknight, the author of Swordflight series whose post on Lilura blog convinced me to try Tales of Arterra.

Rating this a 10/10.
It is indeed a gem worthy of Hall of Fame in it's time, and perhaps until today.
It has very good story which I liked, and the scripting is flawless.

Wow! I just replayed this since the first time (top post from 3/2015) and I can't believe how much I enjoyed it again! I'd say maybe even more the 2nd time around, since there were so many things that I'd forgotten! I would love to add extra points (if we were allowed) for the excellent walkthrough which I referred to many times!

As I said in my previous post, I'm eager to start Chapter 2 (again) and would highly recommend Chapter One to everybody!

Thanks Kevin! :-)

I might have stumbled onto a bug with Ezros (if anyone knows of a console command to help, please let me know). When I went into talk to him, we were in a battle immediately.  I never had the conversation where he explains the source of the zombies.  So I destroyed his phylactery and killed him, released the ghosts via their gems and headed back to town to make my report with the requisite journal in hand.  But no new dialogue options are popping up so I can't seem to make a report.  Did I miss something?

I played this mod ages ago but never played the sequel.  It's always been one of my favorites. Complex characters and a great storyline.

List of all console commands included here.

TR

It seems like a really cool mod. But I don't know why people were saying there weren't any bugs.

I wasn't even able to continue on with the game because of the Hall of Elders. I ended up putting around 6+ hours into the game, and when I went into the Hall of Elders there was no way to go to the second floor to meet Lord Rayson (I believe his name is...).

This was really disappointing for me, and I know installed the game correctly. However, I was using NWN:EE.

Edit: I upped my score! I figured out that the problem was, indeed, an Enhanced Edition problem.

Another must-play mdoule.

Played a year ago, was fantastic, remember since then. Top 5 deffo

Nicly done

Just finished this one and I really enjoyed it. This module has a rich story line with well developed characters. I will echo all of the comments by greg above.  I will also add my kudos to the module holding up well despite its age. 

 I played through with 1.69 and CEP 2.65 and I did not find any bugs. The battles were well balanced and quite challenging at times. I played with a human fighter using the henchmen as soon as they became available.

This is a terrific module and I am looking forward to the next one. 

Great mod!

A very good module. Good dialogue and ok interesting plots.

Sadly, NNW:EE 1.76 update (maybe 1.75, I'm not sure about that) has broken this mod. 

There are some area transitions that point to a "Trigger" as their destination.  Those transistions are no longer active in the current game version.  (Technically, as I understand this, those Area Transitions should be updated to to a Waypoint, something the current toolset does automatically when you transisition between Triggers.)

The three areas I've found affected so far are the exits from the Slum Sewers (to the Deep Slums, and Noble's districts), as well as the Southern exit from Mistwood (to the Mistwood: Druid Grove)

Edit: I think I've found and fixed all the affected Transistions.  Assuming Kevin doesn't reply :(.. how do I go about posting my update here for others?  This mod is too good/seminal to leave broken.

When I try to drive a wooden stake it says  "...failed to pierce his cold grey skin.."  I cant kill vampires / drakkar, any solutions? My game is NWN:EE by the way.

Oldie but goodie

Played this years ago and got back into NWN because of the Beamdog ports. 

What happens to PERSEY and EVANINE if they get killed in combat?

Decided to give up on it unfortunately.  Tried my best to like it.

Module seemed alright at first. Compact and well designed locations, ok combat design, decently written dialogue, nothing special though. But overall it's just another boring, high fantasy drivel about some evil rising, you being forced out of your home etc. Nothing really interesting or griping about the story. Nothing exciting going on, not much moral choices, serious lack of side quests. You are being immediately forced into "ancient evil" bs plot after doing a couple missions for local factions. Oh yeah and tons of loot on lower levels, you literally being showered with expensive magic items, instead of starting small and earning it. Of all three henchies i only liked the romadon(?), well the mercenary guy, the elven girl and succubus are as boring as reading a description on shampoo bottle. And i've seen better medium roleplay modules tbh.

Then another problem arised, i got to the part with the lich and decided to do it peacefully without destroying soul gem. The plot absolutely dead-ended after that, no idea what to do and where to go. Not a single walkthrough around. Very vague directions and i checked pretty much everything in that damn city, spoke with everyone. That wasn't the first time i got stuck in this mod either, its hellbent on keeping player in the dark.

I don't recommend, unless you like modules full of backtracking, frustration and mediocrity.

Only give it 3 instead of 1 because technically and design wise its all nice and tidy. But i regret wasting my time.

Not so great, but still enjoyed the first part, the second one not so much.

SPOILERS

The storyline is copied from baldur's gate, specially the second part

From today's perspective, I thought it's alright. Quite good but nowhere near great. Competently done, everything worked fine and was at least at the same level of professionalism as the OC. It's just that compared to all the other modules out now, it's not all that special.

Personally I thought the story and setting so-so. I remember that I already tried playing this module a decade ago or so and found it too slow and boring. This time I had more patience for it, I went along with the story and characters and I actually enjoyed parts of that, but a lot of it is also pretty standard fantasy/RPG fare and doesn't really stand out.  And some things don't make a lot of sense either. Regarding the quality of story, I felt a bit reminded of the OC as well. Serviceable, if you don't think about it too much, but nothing to write home about. The module uses a custom setting, but it's really not that different from Forgotten Realms, and the invented countries and people are very obiously inspired by countries, people or regions in our own world (Japan, Rome/Sparta/Vikings etc., and the names don't make any attempt to hide that inspiration either, on the contrary).

An impressive amount of work must have gone particularly into all the conversations. They were well written, with great care, and highly polished - I don't think I saw a single typo. You could ask lots of characters about the same things and hardly anyone would give copy/paste answers, they would each give their own version of events, just like real people. (Some of them also had very distinct personalities. I thought that was very well done.) On the other hand, this was seldom used to the extent that you would actually learn new and surprising things from other characters. It mostly just reinforced the known narratives by repetition, just with different words. And you need to take an interest in these narratives in order to appreciate this; a lot of what is said helps to build up the story and setting, but if you don't find these interesting, it's wasted on you.

Another reason why you need patience for The Lost, or a special mindset to enjoy it, is that the first half is almost completely without combat. I think you get from level 1 to to level 5 or 6 just by walking around the town, talking to people, learning what the story is and doing the first main quests which are mostly just walking around and talking as well. I actually liked that you would get xp for learning interesting things from NPCs, at least at first, but if you don't find the story that gripping and are yearning for some action, I guess it can be a bit of a drag. Also, when you finally get to see that action, you will notice that you often don't get xp for defeating regular opponents, only for the bigger plot related villains. This is an interesting approach as well, possibly to encourage avoiding mass slaughter, but I'm not sure how well it works. After all, the enemies are still hostile obstacles in your way and you don't get rewarded by avoiding them either, so it just makes them a little more annoying and there is less gratification in dealing with them. It didn't bother me that much because there wasn't that much combat anyway, but still, if fighting (or avoiding) monsters is part of the game, I think it's more fun when you also get something out of it. The boss fights were good on Normal difficulty though, challenging without being too hard, and rewarding to win.

The last two points for why you need patience is that on the one hand, there is a lot of running to and fro between the city quarters, and once you've fully explored them, constantly traveling between them on foot is no fun anymore, and until you get a pair of boots with Haste property in the second half, it's quite a slog. I really wouldn't have minded some fast travel options. And on the other hand, there were quite a few spots were it was rather vague and not that intuitive what you needed to do in order to advance the plot or get the henchmen to join you so that you'd be more apt for handling the opponents. There were no real puzzles in the module to speak of, but several adventure game style "puzzles" where you needed to do something very specific or be somewhere very specific at night or you'd get stuck, and even though with regards to the story a lot of information is repeated over and over again to get the point across and make you remember, the hints for these specific solutions were very easy to overlook, if there even were any. Thankfully a walkthrough is provided with the game, but it's not such a good thing that I had to use it several times to progress because I'd never have found out the solutions myself, at least not without wasting a lot of time. (One thing the walkthrough omitted to tell me, btw, was what happens with your companions when they die. I never found out in-game either, as I was too afraid of the uncertainty and the risk to lose them completely that I always reloaded when they fell.)

That being said, it's still a very solid module and it was enjoyable enough for me to play through it. I also didn't experience any bugs (also thanks to rashkae's fix for the EE!). I quite liked that loot containers were used more sparingly than in the average NWN module, and there was some humour in it, too (the town criers were great). All in all, I don't regret playing it, but whether I'd recommend it to others would strongly depend on their taste. Nowadays there are just so many modules out there with stories and gameplay that I find more exciting.

Note that:

- Area transitions e.g. from the city to the outlying lands, but sometimes even from one wilderness area to another, often remove your summoned creatures (not sure if by letting a whole day pass? - in that case be wary about buffing your characters before you move to another area, it could all be in vain).

- There is one point shortly before the end, where your companions are removed from your party without warning and you don't get them back before the game ends, so it's worth to keep that in mind when you "lend" items to them. EDIT: Never mind, the sequel will strip you of all belongings anyway.

Fantastic module. It inspired me to abolish XP for combat in my D&D roleplaying group and it had very good effect on the players. 

Fantastic story, the combats were engaging, really good scenario, a marvelous gem for those who enjoy more than hack n slash.

I want to thank the creators of this module for the fun they gave me, it is a great story and the scripting is flawless. I give this module a rate 100/100. Thank you very much for your nice work ;)

I am currently playing it so i will give my rate later. I have 2 problems. I cant ressurect my succubus companion**. Where is her body after death? Also there is no area transition from Mistwood to Druid Grove***. How can i get there to continue my quest?

**Persey the succubus will join you again after Rest

***I used the console to jump to this area (dm_movetoarea Mistwood: Druid Grove). Unfortunately there is no other way.

Ok now to the point: I have enjoy it very much even with those area transition problems. You must find a gear that give you "haste" but not in the stores. And be patient. Trust me. You will begin the adventure with a single armor only. If you join the City Guards then you cant join the thieves guild. Whatever you choose does not affect the main plot, you will simply do different missions until you reach a common point. Companions were very useful. I used them all (lol). In general it is very good and I recommend it to all (halfway through the story you wander around town but that's okay by me because I like to cover everything!). Nice Job!

Module Testing Tournement 2020

Great mod.   I understand it's one of the classic Oldies but Goodies. 

It starts off a little slow, but really picks up once you get the companions.  You should get all 3 companions.   They are the highlight of the ToA series.   (The sequel, Awakenings is even better than the Lost).

Thanks to rashkae for uploading his fixes for door transitions in EE. 

Personally, I found this module very mediocre. It seems very ambitious at first, with the huge areas and epic story, but that's about it, as far as depth goes. The actual story of your protagonist seems to be copied from Baldur's Gate, and even though this module comes with a "unique setting" the setting is a completely generic high fantasy world. The game makes no attempt to cater to different playstyles, very obviously favouring direct melee fighters. Your companions have large conversation files with many lines, but their actual content is simplistic in the extreme and very unimaginative.

For instance, if one of your companions is a former succubus-slave, conversation with her is supposed to make you "teach her freedom" (a very delicate concept which has to be handled carefully) but in ToA this is done by the PC outright saying, "I want you to think for yourself." That's it. And the being literally created magically to be a perfect slave replying "ok, I will try."

This brings me nicely to the most remarkable thing about this module, but not in a good way. It's incredibly sexist. It's sexist with that super-blatant heavy-fantasy-sexism which used to be prevalent in sword&sorcery stories in, like, the '60s or something. Honestly, it's practically vintage. Some highlights, as short as possible because this is not a place for a whole book:

• NPCs get descriptions. All descriptions of all female NPCs mention their looks, and they are all incredibly beautiful.
• While a female PC may (rarely) get a dialogue option expressing what we might call "feminist" opinions, NPCs will react negatively to them.
• Companions are romanceable. Two female companions are available to male PCs, both are described as incredibly beautiful, both are meek, timid and soft-spoken. One male companion is available to female NPCs, he comes from some sexist "warrior" culture and all his dialogue concerns the inferiority of women. The "romance" is build on the female PC constantly being insulted by him and striving to prove him wrong. His looks are described in unsettling, unappealing language.
• Some minor dialogue shows that the maker(s) never took into account the chance of a female-only party playing through the game.
• Gratuitous references to sexual violence: there is an area where, if your PC is female, a group of enemies basically tells you, "go away or we will rape you." There is a random encounter with a hostile adventuring party which has just enough dialogue to inform us that the male members take turns sexually exploiting the one female member. None of this amounts to anything, it's just sort of there.

All in all, playing this was in many ways like going back in time. There's nothing really wrong about this module - other than the sexism - but there's nothing particularly right about it, either. The setting is generic fantasy that would have actually felt richer and would have more personality if it was Forgotten Realms (now  there's something you don't say every day...). The areas are large, but unremarkably furnished and forgettable. The NPCs have lots of dialogue and backstory, but of very cliched sort (exiled princess, former sex slave, generic rude angry he-man woman hater). The quests are very predictable and the plot goes exactly where you think it will.

I have, however, enjoyed the fact that you can get quite a lot of experience and quests that don't involve combat at all and focus on social interactions instead.

I just finished TOA, The lost. Globally, i had an experience not far from what Olivier describes in his own review. This is a good module worth playing and i did not find any bug (played with v.1.69), but maybe it is a little too classic in its (linear) form. Doors to the next quest are closed until you finish your current one and it is frustrating reading 10 times the same "no, you can't go throu this door yet". The story is well writen but lacks real surprises (and yes, QuenGalad, i found the female side, borderline misogynistic). Some areas feel empty and you have to walk, and walk and more walk to go from one point to another. Take note, the end of the game doesn't allow saving your caracter.