Founded by Rift Riders over 2 centuries ago the settlement of Rhyvian grew to become a vast city but with the knowledge and power they had acquired however came greed and zeal, and the people began expanding into dangerous areas with their Rift Devices, to the point where even the weather was a controllable attribute of daily life. 50 years ago a disaster in the Old City section of Rhyvian claimed many lives and proved once again the folly of trying to harness Rift energy. Soon after, the Riders began to leave Rhyvian There are few left in Rhyvian who can claim the heritage of the Rift Riders and you are one of those. In the year 256 ARC the city of Rhyvian is in the middle of its month-long Celebration of The Rift. The Celebration culminates in a weeklong festival but little do the citizens of Rhyvian know that this year will be their last...
Posted by werelynx2 at 2011-02-12 04:38:29 Voted 6.75 on 02/12/11
Apart from what others have said:
- lots of backtracking
- rats first spawned neutral sometimes changed to enemy when approached, sometimes 2 rats fighting each other. Bug or a feature?
- after loading save in the abandoned lab(where you first meet rift soldiers) i received 500XP. Yay?!
- one orphan boy in the orphanage says the same thing before and after the city is set to torch. He still wants to go to the festival.. _________________________ Thanks Rolo:)
Posted by Almaria at 2010-04-14 09:08:37 Voted 9.50 on 04/14/10
I found this mod to be well thought out and enjoyable to play. The author obviously took care to make this game interesting and enjoyable, unlike some authors whose goal seems to be to annoy the player. I liked the ending, too--different and unique.
Posted by dachrisma at 2009-12-22 17:06:22 Voted 6.50 on 12/22/09
Although my English is not the best, I try to explain without imagining that anyone reads this comment:
At first everyone who makes a module should get respect. Thanks for your work!
In case of the dialogues I am not able to give a really fair comment, because I often don´t understand typical english running gags or phrases.
I understood what I had to do, there was no great storyline in the dialogues, but in fact I didn´t have to read ten pages of dialogue in one conversation. That´s okay.
The areas were well made with just a few bugs (a hanging barrel, a hanging plant...).
really good was the change between the city before and after the attack.
The story was okay. I imagine that it is very difficult to write a story which has never been in any game before.
The Quality Control was, in case of the main story, okay, although there are some bugs others already explained.
One of the bugs I recognized was, that Mr. Miller didn´t follow to the farmlands. I loaded five times and tried to follow me about fifteen times until he really followed to the farmlands.
Another point is that if you once have got a quest you can´t normally speak to the NPC who has given the quest.
In the conversation of Mr. Miller for example, it was only possible to tell him that we go "home".
In other conversations later in the storyline you had to leave the city to go to the tower and I was too quick with my mouse,so I didn´t know to leave the city and the only dialogue which was possible was that I have to go to the tower now...
In fact there are a lot of really bad modules and this one ist in my opinion okay. (I hope my english is too.)
Thanks.
Posted by micon at 2009-02-23 02:47:23 Voted 9.50 on 02/23/09
Another great mod if you can handle tricky puzzles! Only one place that I thought I had broken the mod and that was just before the cut scene after I was told to follow ??, ok, but then the scene cut away and I plunged on.
Is there a sequel?
Regards
Micon _________________________ micon
Posted by WeAreAllKosh at 2008-01-16 11:27:03 Voted 6.00 on 01/16/08
This pair of modules starts out very strong, but a lot of bugginess, poor balance, and a gradual deterioration of the dialogue quality take off major points.
The intro scenes, from the orphanage to the initial appearance of the archmage, are all very well done and drew me into the module. The custom music tracks are exceptional (especially the transition from the upbeat piece to the somber piece after the rain begins). The city is well laid out. The technomagic aspects of the setting are a refreshing change of pace. I was intrigued by the main plot from beginning to end; it remained the module's strongest quality even as all the other problems cropped up.
First big issue -- the henchmen are a joke, plain and simple. They're clones of the OC henchmen with their dialogues altered so they don't have their OC personas. Instead they're all generic NPC's with nothing to distinguish them but their combat stats. The dialogue alterations are also clumsy and likely went through limited testing. For one thing, my character has an intelligence under 10 and could not hire any of the henchmen. I realized with a toolset removed the alternate responses Bioware wrote for characters with low intelligence, but clumsily left in the intelligence check. Such characters only get an 'End Dialogue' after the henchman's greeting. I got around this by temporarily using SetINT to hire a henchman. When this henchman died and I propped him back up, he acted as if he'd never met me before and required me to pay him again. I just continued through the module without a henchman (little loss considering the poor Bioware AI).
Another big problem I have with the module is the shallow dialogue. Pretty much every dialogue entry gives you two responses -- a standard-fare hero response and an over-the-top obnoxious response. I was glad I was playing a Paladin, because many of the over-the-top responses seemed like they could break the plot. This was proven correct the one time I took the latter response. I was facing the assassin in the slum district and he offered to give me the key to the Constantine estate if I let him go. I couldn't see letting a dangerous assassin loose as a very Paladiny act, so I chose the 'bargain with an assassin? never!' response. After the assassin was dead, he left behind no loot ... meaning I didn't get the key I needed. Compounding the problem, I received a journal entry indicating that I'd received the key from the assassin ... as if I'd chosen the option to bargain with him. I had to retrieve the key's tag from the toolset and use DebugMode to spawn it in. Very very shaky and more evidence of limited playtesting. It seems like the author went with a very rigid, linear quest structure, but added these extra dialogue options in a poor attempt to give the player the illusion of choice.
The miller quest is another, more extensive example. I'm told by all the merchants that they saw the missing miller arguing with the Khendi (halfling) merchant. When the Khendi denies ever having seen him, I get an abrupt 'End Dialogue' -- no option to press the issue. When I pay the miller a visit in the jail, I get no option to question him, just his vague 'where am I?' line. I speak to the warden and he tells me that I need to straighten the issue out with the Khendi ... which, as indicated, I tried to do earlier to no avail. When I return to him, -then- I get the option to press the issue. Where was the option earlier? Lastly, when I unearth the evidence that the Khendi -attacked and robbed- the merchant, I can use it only to release the miller. What about the Khendi? I speak to both the warden and the captain of the guard, but there's no option for turning the Khendi in for such a blatant criminal act. Note that on every phase of this quest I'm instructed by journal entries -- 'go speak to the warden,' 'go speak to the merchant,' 'go back to the jail to get the miller.' So the author leads you through this quest by the nose, giving you no options but the ones he's defined. And the story attached to it is rather hard to believe. Does this Khendi attack and rob every merchant who tries to sell goods to him? How is he consistently getting away with this? Side quests are generally of this mold. The main quests are engaging, but the rest are rather lazy and add little to the module.
Back to bugginess, more popped up in the few attempts at cutscenes. For one thing, they stripped my spell buffs. Not a big deal for a Paladin, but had I been playing, say, a Wizard or Druid, this would have been a serious problem. The first Rift King cutscene is also buggy. The journal indicates that the King runs away, but in game it just takes a few steps away then returns and attacks. Not game breaking, fortunately, but it looks bad and is the sort of thing the extra effort of a playtest easily would have revealed.
Combat balance is the last problem for me. I initially entered this module as a rogue. My first two encounters were the casino bust and the violent Keth in the tavern. All the foes involved in these encounters were NPC's of level signficantly higher than mine. I ended up being killed repeatedly in both, so I restarted the module with a tank-style Paladin (a sadly necessary build with many of the Vault's modules). I assumed, incorrectly, that the module was on the upper end of the difficulty scale. After those two very difficult encounters, though, battles are limited to rats, goblins, and kobolds, with the Rift soldiers that appear later in the module only slightly more challenging. Dropped on top of this is my favorite (sarcasm alert) encounter tool -- respawning. Combat thus becomes boring and repetitive. By the time I reached the end of the Archmage's 'trials' (incredible bores those were; lots of running around, very simple puzzle solving if any), I was sick of fighting Rift soldiers. In the second module difficulty suddenly skyrockets thanks mostly to the poor design choice of bunching spellcasters together. Even my high-CON Paladin with Endure Elements active had his HP's repeatedly shaved down to dire levels by the fireballs of the bishops and avatars. It was like being subjected to Meteor Swarm, a spell that only a CR17 NPC can cast. I had to rest after every one of these battles to recast the EE spell (always a good sign that battles are too difficult). I can't imagine how a 25hp wizard could have gotten through that gauntlet. After that initial wave, the difficulty again drifts down to the tedium of fighting the same groups of Rift soldiers over and over. So it was difficult to get an accurate impression of the module's difficulty early, and the difficulty wavers between the two extremes of overwhelming and boring.
Again, the setting and main story are the module's strengths. The archmage's backstory is compelling (though his role as the main villain is rather predictable). The history of the rift and the gameworld is well told through an abundance of books placed in the game. The setting flavor given to the races is intriguing (particularly gnomes and dwarves being half-races). Elements of magic being used to power technology like the weather control center and tram stations are seldom used in NWN modules; it was reminiscent of the Penultima series. Overall, those qualities raise the module above the OC, but it also shares many of the OC's worst qualities (shallow characters, overly large areas, repetitive combat with lazily random garbage treasure), and the bugs and anemic dialogue drag it down. So I give it the same score I'd give the OC -- a 6. Generally more enjoyable than many of the HoF modules, but not an exceptional effort.
Posted by laisee at 2007-05-13 00:34:19 Voted 9.25 on 05/13/07
good mod, great story similar comments to earlier ones in terms of big spaces, henchmen, easy combat etc. also not enough stuff for rogue skills really. Still I did enjoy myself. Thanks
Posted by Caedmon at 2006-10-15 19:44:27 Voted 9.25 on 10/15/06
Wow! Fantastic module! I loved the cutscences and very challenging combat. The plot was wonderful, I loved the setting, and found no major bugs.
The few downsides I saw were lack of henchman development, a fairly linear plot, and not enough treasure to purchase items.
Thanks for all the hard work in creating this module. It was excellent!
I'm at the stage where I'm supposed to follow*bleep*an, I've followed him into the old city... and he just disappears, I've had to fight Rift monster, and have searched everywhere, but still no*bleep*an. Any help would be appreciated, thanks, because this is so frustrating!
Posted by Jazhara7 at 2006-07-27 04:05:43 Voted 10.00 on 07/27/06
It's a while since I played this module, but I remember that I absolutely loved it. It reminds me of one of my favourite stories I had as a tape as a child.
SPOILERS FOLLOW, INCLUDING POSSIBLE ENDING SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
The story reminds me of my favourite story by Hans Christian Andersen, "The Little Mermaid" (not the Disney version. The ending is *much* different in the original story. It is a happy ending in a way, but it is also sad. If you know the original story, you know what I mean). Like that story, this module is simply beautiful. Just like the story by Andersen, this module makes me feel empty inside. You see, a great tale fills you up inside, and when it is over, it leaves a hole in you, making you wish for you. It is a slightly sad feeling, but it also is a sure sign that what you just read was something wonderful. The hole fills up with time, but I always remember the story, and the feelings it created.
The end of this module, is beautiful. While not a happy ending in the classical sense, I'd rather have this ending, than any other. This ending made me cry, and I am a person that rarely cries. Tears of joy, tears of sadness. It's a mixture of emotions, and you cannot help but admire it. This always reminds me of one of my favourite quotes "There are no happy endings, because nothing ends."
SPOILERS END HERE
A true masterpiece.
- :) :) :) :) :) :) :) _________________________ Sounds like a job for....
Ta ta ta dah...
The Knights Templar
"Oh no, We're not falling for that trap again..."
Posted by spiderham24 at 2006-07-26 05:15:12 Voted 9.75 on 07/26/06
very entertaining mod. The story was good which kept me iterested all the way through, well constucted mod highly recomendable
Posted by spiderham24 at 2006-07-26 05:14:42 Voted 9.75 on 07/26/06
very entertaining mod. The story was good which kept me iterested all the way through, playing a monk gave it a challenge with the fights. well constucted mod highly recomendable
Posted by spiderham24 at 2006-07-26 05:13:07 Voted 9.75 on 07/26/06
very entertaining mod. The story was good which kept me iterested all the way through, playing a monk gave it a challenge with the fights. well constucted mod highly recomendable
Posted by jeffabes at 2006-07-14 20:49:33 Voted 9.50 on 07/14/06
This module is entertaining, with an original plot and plenty of unique content. It could use some more challenging battles early, though, and there are many spelling and grammar errors.
Posted by shin ( 69.224.xxx.xxx ) at 2006-06-02 01:41:29
What does the word "inderdementional" mean in the first sentence?
Posted by bietu at 2006-04-04 16:58:06 Voted 8.25 on 04/04/06
*/SPOILERS/*
Module is personal and it has some nice effects. Story line is good as well only boring thing is fights wich were way too easy for Paladin i would rate hack & slash more light than meedium. The final opponent were really dissapointment since it was undead it got heavyly damage from my longsword with bless weapon spell on it. Fighter would probebly bring it down very easyly with improved knockdown. Also those puzzles were boring but i hate puzzles anyways so it doesent matter. how ever i have play nearly all top rated mods in here and this guite good grade from me i have never gave 10 because it symbolize perfection for me. But anyways i did enjoy this mod time to time and iam waiting sequel for this. It would be great to get some actions changin aliegments stuff and more challenge to fights but anyways thank you i did enjoy your mod
UPDATE: Just in case anyone was wondering, I am working on a semi-sequel to City of Wonders called A Line in the Sand. I say semi-sequel because in the time between finishing CoW and now I've restructured the history of the Rift World universe to a state that I'm actually happy with for once. In the new history Rhyvian existed centuries before the event known as the Rift Crisis as opposed to after the crisis as in CoW. Interestingly enough this doesn't quite impact my original plans for A Line in the Sand as much as one might think. While a direct relationship with City of Wonders will not be present in the new timeline, A direct relationship with Rhyvian will.My plans for A Line in the Sand are for it to be a series of small adventures, eventually taking on epic proportions. The first chapter of the A Line in the Sand series should be available this spring. Keep your eyes on the NW Vault for more news as it becomes available. _________________________ Brian J. Audette Tales From the Rift World - Official Wiki
Please don't forget to vote.
Posted by ericdoman at 2006-03-03 06:23:33 Voted 9.25 on 03/03/06
Is prob a little outdated now but you can see where many ideas have come from. Storyline and plot is very well done. Combats in some areas are very challenging.
Posted by ericdoman at 2006-03-03 06:21:54 Voted 9.25 on 03/03/06
Having seen the bugs have gone had another go. One more possible bug though. Whne following Lester*bleep*an (either got too close or scripted) assassins would appear. I think it was the east side when 2 would appear and he'd retrace his steps (direction he's supposed to take) 2 more would appear, 2 more would appear etc. Fortunately a city guard (prob a clue to which part of the city)was at hand so he could on average kill them off with one blow two for me (dirty fighting is a must on some ocassions). Finally after about 20 I ran off and Lester was able to proceed.
Even though it is an old mod VG. You can see where other authors have had some of their ideas from.
Maybe the Grandfather of Mods (not Paul Weller?)
The creatures were a definite challenge especially the rift "x". Upto 6th lvl completely solo (no hench, animal companions etc) but then enlisted the help of Half Orc Barb and thank goodness I did. Being zapped by 2-3 mel acid arrows etc at a time would have been the end for me, oh yeah fireballs.
Just wondering if there is a 2nd part to this.
Even so thank you
Posted by resistorman at 2006-01-28 22:52:39 Voted 9.50 on 01/28/06
Good work! Just a tad short of perfect, but that's only my POV
Posted by will ( 195.93.xxx.xxx ) at 2005-09-28 10:17:49
I just can't get into the weather station. Have searched every possible area, every chest and barrel and even smashed all the furniture. Where is the key?
Posted by officebear ( 24.30.xxx.xxx ) at 2005-09-05 11:50:43
Hey there... great module so far!!!
But, I think I made a big error that will prevent the plot from moving on...
SPOILER
I have the quest to solve Adir's murder. I discovered what the weapon was that killed him, spoke to the merchant, who sent me to the exotic weapons store, where Wayland said meet him at the inn.
The only problem is, I already opened that door at the inn before this quest started... I was curious. At that point, the game said "If you had been here, you surely would have died" but nothing else happens the 2nd time I went in after speaking to Wayland, and I go back to the exotic weapon shop, and Wayland is there, trying to sell me something, but offering no other information.
What should have happened if I had sequenced this correctly?
Posted by Dave ( 62.49.xxx.xxx ) at 2005-05-28 11:32:21
Excellent mod but I've reached a point where I can't seem to progress. I've completed all the quests & gone to the old city as Joran requested to see who Fagan meets. After the cut scene I've gone back into the fort and met Koldas (another cut scene) and he has seriously damaged me. He's still neutral but now just stands in front of the fort door which is locked and impervious to any means I try to open it. If I kill him the door stays locked & I'm stuck in the fort. Have I missed something?
Cheers
Dave
Posted by Vimsen at 2005-05-21 10:46:37 Voted 9.75 on 05/21/05
(c:
Posted by mollydog18 ( 68.94.xxx.xxx ) at 2005-05-19 01:11:52
Hi-
I'm playing an earlier version for SoU only. I've come back to playing it after some time b/c my save corrupted & I lost tons of progress.
Spoilers
*
*
*
Now I'm having trouble figuring out what to do. For the Trail of Blood quest I've gone to the abandoned laboratory and gone through the portal to the ruins. Is the leader supposed to be nearby? I can't find anything to indicate where I should go or what to do to find him. Thanks
Posted by mollydog18 ( 68.94.xxx.xxx ) at 2005-05-19 00:06:06
Hi-
I'm playing an earlier version for SoU only. I've come back to playing it after some time b/c my save corrupted & I lost tons of progress.
Spoilers
*
*
*
Now I'm having trouble figuring out what to do. For the Trail of Blood quest I've gone to the abandoned laboratory and gone through the portal to the ruins. Is the leader supposed to be nearby? I can't find anything to indicate where I should go or what to do to find him. Thanks
Posted by NancyJo at 2005-04-11 15:10:49 Voted 9.75 on 04/11/05
Very special mod-- really original! Great city, too.
Posted by Red Hat ( 67.39.xxx.xxx ) at 2005-04-10 16:36:00
Yo ho! *SPOILERS* ahead!
Your effort was rather invigorating, Mr. Audette.
4/5
Things I Liked:
*) Depth. *gasp*! A module with depth to it! :O
*) Intresting take on "magic". The Rift idea, though not original in any aspect, is always a fun card to play. Perhaps there should have been more occurances of wild magic?
*) The city being sieged by those shadow-jerk-faces was great. I loved being part of that just as much as I liked it in the OC of Neverwinter. *appluads*
Things I Could Have Killed You Over:
*) Though I can kinda see you were a little busy with the rest of the campaign, there was a problem with the henchmen. They never leveled. Ever. My half-orc meat-shield was level six throughout the entire module, which became suicidaly depressing the closer I got to the Archmage, due to his terrible hit point score [and playing a Sorc/Pale and living longer than him seemed kinda silly].
*) There were tiny grammer mistakes in some of the dialog. It was just mostly stuff you might pass over on the first or second time you check your work. Be careful next time.
*) The Weather Control Facility took me about a day and a half to figure out. No kidding. I passed the body that had the key on it at least six hundred times, no doubt.
*) The Unending Hall in the Archmages... um... castle? almost made me quit playing altogether. Though I was appriciative of you finding a way to make your henchmen follow through the transition from one room to the next, summons/familiars stayed behind, starring at the beautiful architecture.
*) I'm not sure if it was my fault or not, but battles seemed way more difficult than they were worth. I'll admit, I started at level six I believe, but to my surprise the encounters seemed... auto-leveled. The experience awarded for a kill, however, was far from the CR rating of the group being tackled.
*) I know I play custom modules with a caster at a risk, because for some weird reason, everyone makes modules for paladins, fighters, or rogues. Yours, however, took it a step further. I've gotten exceptional at dealing with "fighter-mobs" with a wizard/sorc, but when you keep throwing wave after wave of UNDEAD "fighter-mobs", suddenly my favorite caster, Vine Meynolt (Sorc/Pale) becomes nothing more than a magic-missile-machine gun. Sure there were kobolds and goblins... in the begining.
Overall:
You've made an excellent module here and I will look forward to playing your other modules. Don't lose steam now, though, because your showing potential for crappiness.
Hopefully, this isn't your peak. :D
Posted by Red Hat ( 67.39.xxx.xxx ) at 2005-04-10 16:36:00
Yo ho! *SPOILERS* ahead!
Your effort was rather invigorating, Mr. Audette.
4/5
Things I Liked:
*) Depth. *gasp*! A module with depth to it! :O
*) Intresting take on "magic". The Rift idea, though not original in any aspect, is always a fun card to play. Perhaps there should have been more occurances of wild magic?
*) The city being sieged by those shadow-jerk-faces was great. I loved being part of that just as much as I liked it in the OC of Neverwinter. *appluads*
Things I Could Have Killed You Over:
*) Though I can kinda see you were a little busy with the rest of the campaign, there was a problem with the henchmen. They never leveled. Ever. My half-orc meat-shield was level six throughout the entire module, which became suicidaly depressing the closer I got to the Archmage, due to his terrible hit point score [and playing a Sorc/Pale and living longer than him seemed kinda silly].
*) There were tiny grammer mistakes in some of the dialog. It was just mostly stuff you might pass over on the first or second time you check your work. Be careful next time.
*) The Weather Control Facility took me about a day and a half to figure out. No kidding. I passed the body that had the key on it at least six hundred times, no doubt.
*) The Unending Hall in the Archmages... um... castle? almost made me quit playing altogether. Though I was appriciative of you finding a way to make your henchmen follow through the transition from one room to the next, summons/familiars stayed behind, starring at the beautiful architecture.
*) I'm not sure if it was my fault or not, but battles seemed way more difficult than they were worth. I'll admit, I started at level six I believe, but to my surprise the encounters seemed... auto-leveled. The experience awarded for a kill, however, was far from the CR rating of the group being tackled.
*) I know I play custom modules with a caster at a risk, because for some weird reason, everyone makes modules for paladins, fighters, or rogues. Yours, however, took it a step further. I've gotten exceptional at dealing with "fighter-mobs" with a wizard/sorc, but when you keep throwing wave after wave of UNDEAD "fighter-mobs", suddenly my favorite caster, Vine Meynolt (Sorc/Pale) becomes nothing more than a magic-missile-machine gun. Sure there were kobolds and goblins... in the begining.
Overall:
You've made an excellent module here and I will look forward to playing your other modules. Don't lose steam now, though, because your showing potential for crappiness.
Hopefully, this isn't your peak. :D
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