As the title suggests this is a remake of the first campaign I ever made, Serene. It's still the same story driven blood soaked quest for revenge that it always was but now looks better and has been tidied up a lot. I felt that I owed this campaign a makeover as it was the thing that taught me how to use a computer and to be quite honest it was in a bit of a mess and deserved better
It starts in your home village of Marintree where a contest to join The Order of the Moon is taking place, but soon events unfold and you set off on a journey to find your sister Serene.
It is for any class, although paladins are strongly not advised as it really wouldn't suit them at all. By all means play as one but don't expect to behave like one because it's not going to happen. Casters beware and make sure you have some sort of armour or hit points boosting stats as you could be wiped out fast. I have tested this as a Ranger ( archery), sorceror, cleric, favoured soul and bard. All of which got through with no casualties at all but some involved a few more reloads than others when companions died and the bard definitely was the shining star closely followed by the sorceror who probably had the highest body count. You should finish up at level 18 or very close if you do everything there is.
As far as race goes once again you can be anything but I would say that anything other than a Human, Half Elf or Elf will make you look silly regarding the story and playing as any of the vertically challenged races is definitely a bad idea. For starters my halflings are bigger than normal and you'd be the smallest one ever, dwarves aren't exactly the most liked race around either. Be warned that some outfits will not show up on Elves and might look a bit strange.
Starting at level 5 with no equipment is recommended although there's nothing to stop you turning up as a level 20 veteran of the OC but you will get bored quickly as it wont be a challenge, on the other hand level 1 is suicide. If you don't know how to use the console to get to that level with your new character press the ` button ( normally above tab on the left ) then type Debugmode 1, press enter, type givexp 10000, press enter, type Debugmode 0, press enter and then exit the console wth the ` again. Level up and off you go on your journey.
Conversation skills are not necessary and there is no crafting so don't go wasting precious feats and points on such things. Your companions can get over enthusiastic with their desire to kill baddies so setting their behaviour to defend master and follow distance to near is advisable. Sometimes there's just no stopping them so you can call them back with a quick "follow me" but don't forget to let them loose again as it's not a good idea to try and solo the fighting.
If you or a companion die respawn is an option but if you save often you don't need to use it, equipping yourself and your companions well and looking after them can prevent you ever needing this option and when you see an autosave prepare for something nasty to happen. I'm not the best player of this game and I can get through it with no deaths or respawns so there's your challenge. I admit I know what's coming next but because I hadn't played it for years I didn't at first so I got a few nasty surprises but still managed. You can rest just about anywhere and if not there's a reason other than enemies nearby of course.
You will have two companions for most of the campaign, one is a monk and the other a rogue. Both are romanceable and this happens quite fast so be nice to them, show a bit of interest and jump in the first bed you're offered if that's what you want. They have quite a lot to say for themselves so stop for a chat whenever you feel like it and if they have nothing to say then try again later.
To install it..
Part 1, put the folder called Serene in your campaign folder, the file called serene.hak in your hak folder and the file called To the mountains in your modules folder. Parts 2 and 3 are just modules so put them in your modules folder. Beware your override as anything other than appearance related mods might cause an issue, I don't know of any but it could happen. Best to take them out and put them back in one by one to see if it makes anything go wrong.
Many thanks to the following helpful people from the old forums that helped me make the original..
Abbey, alupini, Anduraga son of Kosaraga, Arvirago, Banshe, Brian Meyer, CID-78, CiviLized, Danjen, Darth Deekin, dirtywick, DedoITA, Dordain, dunniteowl, dwarvendervish, Elysius, Equintr Eligard, Game Maniac, Grinning Fool, IndyAnna, JasonNH, Jassper, Jitur, J.O.G., kaldor silverwand. kamalpoe, -knightmare-, korbu 3, kraegan, kungfoowiz, lady elvenstar, Lance Botelle, loudent2, Lugaid of the Red Stripes, Melrinda, Mordred15, Nacaal, nostrilhair, NWN2 DM, Ogutu, Orion1966, overmyhead, PGB, Phoenixus, Quilistan, qwertyuiop666, Rjshae, Segal, Selene Moonsong, ShadowBeast, shaughn78, slowdive-fan, Sunjammer, Temeritous, Wyrin_D'njargo and 973_Mops_379... Where are they now ?
Also the people from the new forums ( here ) that helped get this thing running as it should..
andgalf, Arianna0, Claudius33, GCoyote, kevL_s, Lance_Botelle ( on his second appearance ), Quixal, rjshae ( also appearing again ), Semper, Tarot_Redhand, travus and 4760.
Many thanks too for Frosty44 for play testing this, pointing out my "worse" mistakes and making sure this thing is Mac proof.
And for the excellent hak paks..
Aleanne for some awesome clothing, Daronus for making Minotaurs exist, Komoru for making some Orcs look more orcish, Team Advent for some more fashion accessories and Rogue Dao for stopping the use of telepathy by npc's in cutscenes.
So before this turns into some award ceremony massive speech ( without the tears ) I'll let you get on with it, just read below..
*** By playing this you are accepting that you will be attacked by lots of things and witness some terrible crimes. As Notabarbiegirl commented on the original version " This is not for the young or easily emotionally bruised".. You have been warned ***
Have fun and I hope you like it... Take no prisoners !
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I'll check it out soon.
Sawdust37.. No problem it takes quite a long time to play so no rush and I hope you like it.
Need to finish other projects so I can play this!
Hey Tsongo, thank you for keeping the community alive!!!
Kinda unusual question but, I read your description on the project and you mention that you have a companion dialog/romance system in place, and two main companions. Are those two 'forced' by the plot, or do I have the option to get rid of them? I'm more of a NWN/D&D person, and I rarely if ever choose to use henchmen there, since the game isn't so strict about using a party, as NWN2 was (it makes the game more enjoyable to me, because you can create and RP as a character of your own, control the character properly, and it also makes the game substantially more difficult)
GCoyote.. No problem it's not going anywhere, have fun.
Elorian the Mad.. Sorry but the companions are absolutely forced on you and you can't get rid of them at all, they are a massive part of the plot and not having them will break the game badly and make it pointless. It's a story that you're a part of and there's little if any room for deviation so unfortunately I don't think this is for you.
I guess it's not, indeed, but I'll bookmark the page, and give it a shot when I ever feel like playing NWN2 again ^ Thank you very much and good luck
I liked the original so I give it a go
sigofmugmort... It's basically the same but has had a good polishing with a few bits added here and there... Happy travels !
ohhh looking forward to seeing this!
thank you for including detailed installation instructions!
RoonBear518.. No problem about the instructions I remember how clueless I was about installing things when I first played this game.. Take no prisoners !
Hi.
Have youst started whith your new version off this great game,i will vote after i are finsh whith this.
Thank you for updating this game.
Have a great day.Jonny
bradcom... I hope you enjoy it as much as the old one which was looking a bit rough and needed a makeover badly.. Happy travels !
Very cool. Thanks for updating Tsongo. I actually just finished Serene (VO) and really enjoyed it. Super story and fun action. Played a long sword wielding bard and mostly kicked butt. When I get a chance I'll give the new one a try. Maybe with a sorc.
ChuckerIINO... No problem, hope you like this version as much, it's mostly the same just improved. I liked my bard best during playtesting ( mine opted for a katana ). I had a lot of fun causing chaos with area effect things like confusion and the buffs made a big difference. A sorceror is also a good choice, just don't forget to have a few protective spells stashed somewhere in between the maximum damage ones !
Serene was one of my favorite NWN2 mods, and it was a great pleasure to revisit this for a replay. It's a good memory game to try and figure out what has changed. I'm certain the grammar and sentence structure was probably one of the biggest tweaks. Are the minotaur heads new? I thought they used to look more like helmets.
It was much appreciated that the 'Strange Gnome' from the wizards tower basement got locked to his own room. I remember several reloads trying to get past that point without having to engage both ogres and the gnome at the same time.
I think Erontoku got nerfed though. One of the things I remember most was how much of a slog it was to kill him when I could only hit on 20 and did almost no damage. This time, he didn't really put up a fight at all. I notice that his robe has a 50pt damage resistance that is "Bad Streff".. was that supposed to be slashing?
rashkae.. The minotaur heads are the same as they always were and I didn't touch any baddies to make them easier to kill apart from the wooden golem at the beginning which I made weak to fire damage ( after all, he's made of wood ) and I stopped the duergar growing, so you just got lucky with the big boss and must've had a better character, no idea about the cloak thing I didn't touch it either. Oh yes and I made it possible to critical hit undead because I always thought this was a silly rule because if you chop the head off a zombie that's pretty critical !
The main changes are with the areas, lighting, conversations, descriptions on everybody plus conversations, making it easier to get around and know where to go and a couple of quest bits added along with an area that I opened having realised it was locked shut behind a plot door ! So unfortunately apart from the grammar and sentence structure you may have killed the big boss easily but you failed the memory game. Then again so did I because I couldn't remember what was going on when I first went through it again as the original got released about eleven years ago and that was the last time I played it !
Hi everybody and Tsongo. Impressive. No bugs. Nice plot. But too much enemies and monsters, some respawning, very large areas and too much rooms. Very good immersion to forget a bit the quarentine. Many thanks. I recommend. Congratulations, Tsongo.
matuto.. Glad you liked it, had no bugs and recommend it that's all that matters !
Thank you for the remake.
Perhaps one might hope for more?
Adler05... You're welcome and I'm glad you liked it. But more what, remakes ? That's not going to happen as the other two of my campaigns aren't in desperate need of one and I'm happy to leave them as they are. More modules ? I'm fiddling about with the toolset at the moment but make no promises as all these things take a long time to make.
Thank you so much Tsongo for Serene. I enjoyed playing it, though it was really hard at times (especially Erontuko and his dear wife and family pet).
That was my second attempt at Serene, this time on the remake version. I appreciate the updates you made.
The 'hambush' area was sooo much more interesting compared to the previous version.
Definitely recommended!
TwilightShadow.. You're welcome and I'm pleased to hear you liked the updates, they had to be done as I didn't want to leave it as it was. The 'hambush area' was way up there on the list of repairs and became the hambush area at the same time !
Don't worry you are not alone as Erontuko wiped out a couple of my testing characters ( and I made him !) but other ones destroyed him fast. It was strange testing it because I'd march in to some places thinking it was easy and finished up reloading !
Yep, I did like this better and I am a person who hates required companions. Glad this was an exception
sigofmugmort.. Thank you and I also thank you on behalf of your travelling partners for making them an exception. Good to hear you enjoyed yourself.
Minor bug: After you rescue Yvonne from the Fiddler's Elbow, one instance of her is still standing just inside the door. A new instance will spawn in the other tavern if you choose that path but the first one remains.
GCoyote.. Jack will be pleased with two Yvonnes ( if the PC is male ) ! I think she just didn't jump properly or get deleted with the force exit thing I can't remember which I used. I'll have a look, thank you.
I'm almost through my replay and I must say you've really improved the polish of the game. Great work.
Had a slight problem at the end. None of the wives had the key to open the door to the throne room.The keys I did find only opened the chests.
I got around with a script tchos posted on the forum but I thought you should know.
Still just as much fun as I remembered.
GCoyote.. Good to hear that you enjoyed yourself and I will investigate the naughty key. It was in need of polishing so I'm glad you appreciated it.
Don't forget you helped with the polishing too as your name's in the credits so you must've answered a plea for help !