“Bastard of Kosigan” is a dashing medieval adventure with historical and fantasy chunks thrown in - a feast for anyone interested in medieval court intrigues crafted by a historian and talented writer. It is a genuine novel-like story. In my opinion, in terms of the plot of courtly-dynastic dimension and historical feel THE BEST NWN module to date. So what’s happening? Kosigan, a province of Burgundy has provoked a wrath by France, her former protector. You are a bastard of Kosigan and claimant to the throne of Kosigan with volatile loyalties. You know this, it’s module 5 already, don’t you?
Chronological sequence for playing all “Bastard of Kosigan” modules in English:
1/ Exile of the West (prequel in Cologne, Germany)
2/ The Bastard of Kosigan (court and family intrigue in Kosigan)
3/ Revelations Introduction & Revelations (knowing your genealogy and meeting old friends)
4/ Blood and Tears (plotting against the French in Kosigan)
5/ By the Word and Blade (organizing resistance and allies, final battle)
A list of previous modules available with links to be found here.
Module 5: By the Word and Blade
Previously you learned that in spite of your claims being legitimate, the King of France does not seem to recognize them. After significantly weakening the French forces that have stationed in the city of Kosigan (Module 4), the Bastard now flees from the city to prevent an open confrontation with the main branch of the French army. He sets up a camp in the woods and starts to prepare a resistance movement as well as a diplomatic mission aimed at convincing the skeptical local rulers they should side with him. Time is of the essence now: Bastard has only a few days before the French army marches in. In the meantime he has to win as many allies as possible (elves and gnomes, among others) while constantly watching his back. The grand battle is underway as the French-proclaimed governor of Kosigan is reluctant to negotiate unless you give him a really good argumentum ad consequentiam (i.e. force).
GAMEPLAY: the story is dependent on your choices in previous modules, but there is an introduction that allows for introducing the past choices as placeholders as well. When you rest there is a countdown so make sure you rest as little as possible.
KNOWN BUGS: during the final battle in the valley of Kosigan there is an issue with faction labeling, which may result in a mess. In my case by the end of the battle my allies started to killing my other allies and they butchered Erine. Anyway, it is the last grand battle in the module, so do not worry too much, should it happen.
Also: time progression is problematic, due to countdown. Resting more than a few times may result in your inability to convince all the allies in time, which then will result in your weakness in the final confrontation (not to mention you will not experience some cool scenes). The problem is that you do not have time, but a half of the in-game day may easily pass if you are in no rush and try to explore, enjoy the views and reading Fabien’s dialogues. Too bad. Fortunately, the progression of time may be “slowed down” by pausing game when reading dialogues. As time progression is a unrealistic here, don’t have guilty conscience when doing this. It is not cheating. Also, you will be able to find a horse that hastens travelling and probably a pixie that allows for limited fast-travel.
WHAT’S NEXT? So far (January 2016) this one is the last module available both in French and in English (you will miss Belle de Noailles and her charismatic elan vital, won’t you?).
If you like the module, consider sending a "thank you" to Fabien Cerutti and Ginni Swanton (translator of the module and "Bastard" books) for their work. As you should know from the previous modules, after defeating the French and reclaiming Kosigan, you will have to travel to Rome and Vatican. Unfortunately there is no module 6 about these events. Instead, Fabien Cerutti, the author of the story promises to write a book about it that may be translated in English. Or maybe he could think of preparing a module one day if there were enough players interested? I am not suggesting anything :) Author’s e-mail: fabien.cerutti@free.fr
...BUT if you feel really disappointed and all (t)ears due to the lack of the final chapter, then look no further and download Bloodright - The Blood Royal [LINK] - a module in somehow similar medieval setting, with great court intrigue and with you as a basterd in the main role as well ! Although writing is less peppery and not as professional as Fabien's, it is still great, freaturing believable henchmen; besides it is a single module with a promise of 30 hours of gameplay and the story worthy of coronation :)
FILES AND DOWNLOAD:
1/ “Module 5 By Word and Blade Bastard Kosigan Dec30 2013 fab4” – the very module, to be placed in MODULES directory.
Note: Before you start playing, it is useful to read Fabien’s lengthy remarks which are available in game on module selection. I know you can’t wait to play, but it is just a word of advice.
2/ “BWaB BOK episode 5 additional files” – view readme for destinations and location of files.
3/ “BWaB BOK episode 5 haks and optional tlk” – additional haks to be put into HAK directory.
4/ * * [3 March 2016] "haks2.7z" - this hackpack is an optional one, necessary only for for those who want to play this module without having files from previous modules installed (see the comments by Werelynx below this post)
Note: I added “kosigan.tlk” to this group, which you may optionally put into main NWN folder (where the game is installed). Fabien sent it to me when I could not launch the game and TLK error occurred. It worked. If you have similar problem, this file may be a solution.
Be aware that it is possible that many other HAKs from prebvious modules such as treants are required as well. But as long as you played them before choosing this module - no worries. You have them.
_________
Let me know here if you encounter problems.
Cheers, Greg.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
![]() | 1.83 MB |
![]() | 297.62 MB |
![]() | 36.22 MB |
![]() | 5.61 MB |
Many thanks for taking the time to post this - very much appreciated.
I have not copied these mod files to my installation...
Contest Of Champions 0492.mod
Du sang et des larmes_20JANV.mod
EXIL A L'EST_22aout.mod
LES LIONS DIFFAMES_25fev2007.mod
Par le Verbe et la Lame_28juin.mod
RETOUR_20janv.mod
Is this correct?
Hello, I did not check this but my guess is that Episode 5 might need some other files from previous Bastard modules. Most likely this relates to HAKs, as they define some in-game objects (such as treants). In my gameplay, I relied on files I downloaded starting from module 1 to 4 of "Bastard" in English (I presume that apart from the translation, all files were the same in both English and French versions). So you may need some files from previous bastard modules, but you wont need aby files from modules unrelated to Bastard such as Contest of champions. Best strategy for those who are unsure if they had modules 1-4 installed (e.g. they played them ages ago) is to Download the files above and check whether they allow for launching module 5. If negative, refer to previous modules and their files. Or you can play all of them anew :)
Many thanks for responding.
There are quite a number of new files (ie not in the the previous episodes) included in the download as well as 18 overrides (none in the previous episodes). I have not tested what would happen if they were omitted. Also dg_ridehorses.hak is an older version of the previous hak, but has a larger file size.
Just in case it is of interest, these are the additional files included in this release...
Btw. Numerous *. bmu files are musical files, (bmu is a kind of mp3 "undercover", i.e. Windows Media Player should be able to play it). Music in this module is simply AMAZING and enjoyable, so be sure these files are properly put into folder with NWN music.
Thanks for uploading.
If Fabien Cerutti or Ginni Swanton register it will be transferred to them.
Cheers for the translation and the module. It's been so long that I had no idea it was still being translated to this day. I appreciate it.
Been playing Exile all day trying to catch up. Now on to the bastard.
The formatting appears to have gotten messed up. It looked fine a while ago.
Good one Greg! But yeah, fix the formatting.
Done. It was a temporary volatility. It seems the Vault does not like editing performed from mobile devices :)
Wow! I had no hope it would ever come! I graatly apreciate this. I will download it now.
Definately one of the most interesting modules I have played.
A good mix of political intrigue, battle tactics and adventures.
Well, I totally liked previous Bastard series, and this module was quite promissing in the beginning... But it appeared to be sooooo bugged.
Elven city is veeery hard to even walk about, one of the Master elves tried to have a running competition with me and ended up running into the wall (standing at the edge of the abyss, to be exact), some locations won't even load to let me in, not to mention lost Test persons and other minor or medium bugs.
So... I really appreciated the idea, the very mix of strategy, diplomacy, ancient mysteries, fantasy and nice mature content, but the impression was quite ruined by technical issues...
Which locations would not load? I had no problems (though i noticed the test persons).
I didnt find any problems in the elven city - hwat makes it hard to move about?
Some places near the elven city in the woods, I don't remember...
The bridges. Sometimes my bastard just skipped back while crossing the bridge.
I don't know, maybe it's Windows 10... However, ADWR worked perfectly on it.
bad walkmesh sometimes causes your character to animate "movement" and after few seconds sends you back. I encountered that basically everywhere in NWN - even being trapped by neutral NPCs can cause it. If I really get stuck I save and reload.
I can't believe this has finally been translated! Fantastic news!
Added 2 haks that were also used in previous parts but are not here - file name is haks2.7z
A superb module though gameplay is badly affected by quite a few bugs.. (Or is it just that I played it on my low spec notebook and not my main rig?) I give 10 for Fabien's writing!
A very good module, with unique world setting and interesting plot. I will rank it above Aielund Saga.
It is a pity we don't get the sixth chapter.
This is one of the absolute best Neverwinter Night Modules I have played. The story, the weave of all five chapters, the character development, It is exceptionally done and a joy to play. Thank you to all who were involved!.