Almraiven Enhanced Edition

Nice. Thanks for this. Can't wait to play it :)

Awesome. Look forward to playing again and checking out the new look.

Wow, I guess it's already Christmas!

So there is still hope that the "Fate of Auren" will be eventually finished?   =:-)

OH MY GOD, I kept refreshing your blog almost every month in hope of updates! So awesome to see that you are still creating and can't wait to check out this version. Hopefully my new character will have a chance to shine in the Fate of Auren eventually :P

Well. Now I have to play the series again.

Thank you for this update. I think its my favourite modules ever 

Is the mod also updated in the curated version you can download ingame? Or is the vault the only place for the updated almraiven? 

Looking forward to try this! 

/Pap

I have the Linux version v85.8193.33. I think it's the latest version from Beamdog, for sure the latest version of GOG. At the moment I cannot play the module, a widget appears and says "this module was build with a newer version of NWN..."

Well, since I just got the GOG version of EE

Time to replay :)

Alright, i'm sure i am making a fool of myself, but how can i exit Loom Avenue? There are no exit points. I played countless NWN modules and this is the first time i encounter this silly issue. I already talked with some NPC's and apparently my map was updated with other areas. But i can't figure out how to go there.

Hello,

I've just tested this module with the latest Enhanced Edition patch (87.8193.35-36) and I'm encountering severe pathfinding issues that pretty much make it unplayable without reverting to the previous build.

Both the player character and NPCs seem unable to properly walk down the narrow streets outside your house, often bumping into invisible obstacles and briefly teleporting up in the air above the rooftops.

Almraiven is the investigative start of an adventure into the only other realm of documented interest to humans, the realm of death, of the dead.
A lot of digital war fairy entertainment includes death and undead, necromancy. Plenty of it is to spice up the war games with a bit of horror, present an invincable, uncountable, everlasting auto-resurrecting foe to faciliate traveling upwards the never ending toon level and toon power spirals.

Almraiven is quite the opposite. It raises the proposition: Let us pretend we were really interested in the realm of the dead, we even studied it in secret, then have been chosen to investigate a crime, the mysterious death of young Bejala, as a special detective.

The design of Almraiven, including maps, graphic assets, music, sound, is dense. While NWN maps tend to feel empty, Almraiven maps are dense yet never overcrowded, and most obstacles are walk-through. The adventure offers fine writing and wording, diverse tasks. The travel system from map to map is unique. The NPCs do not appear with names taged above their heads. Names have to first be revealed, which also serves as a kind of log to whom already has been spoken. The journal entries are helpful, lead the way to go. The way to aquire knowledge from books is on the spot.

10/10. Thank you for unique, masterful, polished and refurbished entertainment!


Spoilers

The use of day/night as a prerequisite to meet certain NPCs can delay progress on tasks and cut out opportunities, for example trying to rescue Darwien when she already has turned into beast.

The first time in Almraiven, version 1, I missed a lot of side quests, even missed to recruit a companion (henchman), when such a companion vivids up the visit to Shadewood considerably. While investigating along the lines of the main plot, using the provided walkthrough for hints, a suggestion on the order of side quests is:

- The Tale of Ruby Red / Loom Avenue [1]
- Marlo's Gift / Loom Avenue
- Ax Jester's Goods / Horseshoe Lane [1]
- Hidden Stash / Horseshoe Lane
[1] requires buying and equipting fine clothing from Needle in the Wool

- Childhood Memories / The Villa
- either: Stolen Swordfish, or: Arra's Haunted Home / Mandrake Route
- Demons of an Old Man / Horseshoe Lane (on topic of main quest)

- Wood Delivery / Caravan Run
- Lost Family / Caravan Run
- Bumps in the Night / Caravan Run
- Firiem's Prison / Caravan Run
- Assassination Attempt / Caravan Run

- Darwien's Disappearance - Wundras Wonder
- Rotten Rilley - Tin - Picture Perfect(?, could not aquire the quest anymore)
- Jax's Invitation - Suldolphor Refugee (roof hunt)

after Street-side Investigation
- Elusive Eldowen / Benhis Express
- Orange Stripe / Benhis Express + more locations

after Chamber of Thought
- Mysterious Room (advances the plot)
- Lamu's Escort
- Midnight Alley Ghost (on topic of main quest)

after Snake Bite, in The Black Sands on The Strip
- Something in the Works (on topic of main quest + Underdark)

Cuttback Kat Alley
- Wenuth's Message (+ collect Wild Orange Stripe)
- The Cuttback Murders

Kingscourt
- Validation Request
- Amalins Gazebo Woes


Bug Hunting

The adventure is highly polished already, there is not much to report.

- Travel by street sign menu:
1. The Villa.
2. Mandrake Route.
...
The menu entries are not sentences, the period character could be omitted.

- Book Voolhahoo's Organics vanishes from inventory when it is not read in the library.

- All houses on outside city maps are visually cut from first floor upwards.
This might be caused by some overlooked video param of the many adjustable params in settings.tml.
program vers: NWN-EE: v86.8193.34.1, on non-MS Operating Systems

- Falis Goodmane: ... I'll give you some space, talk2 me if you learn anything.
suggestion: I'll leave you to your investigations for now. Talk2 me...

- Fading Letter: s/infultrate/infiltrate

- Jam: "A smile beams on her face letting everyone knows she's comfortable ..."
s/knows/know

 

I played with with GOG’s EE version. My character was a LE Gnome Conjurer.

WARNING: This module apparently cannot be completed as a Conjurer. It was not until very late that I realized I couldn’t cast several critical spells that were required to proceed. In other quests, I found a way around the limitations, but the Springwine Jones one was impossible to do. This was a very disappointing way for it to end after I had battled my way through many frustrating incidents. Perhaps it should be made absolutely clear that it’s only for a generalist Wizard or a Sorcerer, not for someone that has a school of opposition (well, some might not matter).

This module is story-driven to a fairly extreme degree. Don’t expect a lot of action or battles. There’s plenty to do, but in the shape of quests. It feels very linear, though some of the side-quests are quite flexible.

Generally, it has the feel of a top-quality module, but for me personally, there are some major issues which completely ruined the fun.

Shifts between day and night mess up quests. Also, time passes so quickly it’s hard to execute a plan. For example, you may leave the starting point at noon to do two things that can only be done from 11AM-5PM, but after doing the first, it’s suddenly night and you can’t do the second.

Because of what I just wrote, I’d recommend that people playing this module put down what they need to do, where and when, so they can find alternative things to do when the plan breaks down. The time invested in keeping track of this should far outweigh the time you lose trying to do things in a certain order.

There is WAY too much waiting for something to happen, even when you are able to do something in relation to quest. If only there was a way to speed it up a little bit...  And so many parts of the quests can only be done at a certain time of day, so it doesn’t feel like you’re moving forward smoothly, but instead like you’re constantly hitting a wall. This also reduces the desire to go back and replay the map with a different character.

I found the Medusa labyrinth ridiculous. 80-85% of the time, the medusa is within two moves of you and catches you almost immediately. The respawning option isn’t even present when you’re turned to stone. It’s just endless reloading and hoping for a miracle. That’s not fun!

A lot of time is wasted chasing components needed for spells that are critical at certain points.

Moving through the narrow streets is often difficult and it’s not fun clicking back and forth five to ten times before you can finally get to go through a door.

Some quests may easily be missed if you don’t do it in exactly the right order, something which there is no way to plan for, unless you read the guide thoroughly, giving you a lot of other information that is more fun to get playing the game. Not ideal at all, particularly the first time you play it.

Quest issues:
Blood Runner quest almost made me give up on the module. Even though the walkthrough describes what you need to do after boarding the ship, there is a counter-intuitive element to the way you need to move a certain thing around. Fortunately I continued and found out how it should be done, but it would have been nice if the walkthrough had been more specific instead of assuming the player would do it in this way, which wasn’t obvious at all.

Something in the Works:
After finding Kira, you’re supposed to take her back to the boat. Easier said than done when it’s a tiny region which doesn’t show up when you click the “ALT” button, so I had to spend many minutes searching for it before finally getting back to the previous area.

Sulpholphor Refugee:
Sadly, this quest is also designed in a way, where the solution isn’t obvious at all, even after checking the walkthrough. It seems to be a general problem that the module maker assumed people would do things in a particular way, without bothering to explain key elements. You cannot brew the potion needed for this quest until you’ve been in room 88 and picked up the key item for the potion (and gathered the other ingredients elsewhere). The problem is that going back to Loom Avenue to brew the potion, then returning to the Spitting Camel results in the door to room 88 now being closed with no way of entering as far as I could tell. And you need to use the potion near the last known location of the person you want to track and being at the door to room 88 is not sufficiently close. Fortunately, another player had run into the same problem and it turned out you needed to use it *outside* near the sign. Obvious to the module maker, not to someone playing the module for the first time and there’s absolutely no help in the walkthrough for this situation either. So many assumptions...

Springwine Jones Estate:
Supposedly you can scare the guards to get in, but A) You don’t have that option for the guard at the front door, unlike what the walkthrough suggests. And B) The option is there for the guard at the side entrace, but he just tells me to walk along after I’ve cast the spell. I tried repeatedly. I couldn't get into the building without Knock anyway, though, so I gave up.

Generally excellent English, but some sloppy errors here and there.

”graned” instead of granted in the description of Bakadah.

Mystra’s Touch: “This peice of jewlery”

Ran into a bunch of other mistakes, but was too busy dealing with the other issues to keep track of them.

I know others loved it, but for me it was for long stretches a very unpleasant experience. I recognize the quality that is present and how much work has gone into it, but critical elements are designed in a way that make it immensely frustrating. I will give it another shot at some stage and maybe playing with another character and being aware of some of the problems and the solutions to these issues will make it less of a nightmare. And hopefully I can actually finish it.

There seems to be a bug with PRC8 version: when talking to the 12 Orbs shopkeeper, the dialogue option doesn't open a store if you have an exotic class (I had Dread Necromancer) because the script that counts your sorcerer/wizard levels doesn't work for it.

Hey FP - I don't know if anyone asked about this - but is it possible to save both Darwien AND Wundra if you have 2 belladonna and 2 scrolls of Remove Curse? I'm mid-playthrough and it's been a while since I've played last, so was curious.