This is the fourth installment of the Lords of Darkness series. Use a character you have played the previous parts with, if possible. Requires CEP V1.5 or higher! This is a hack and slash module - play it only if you like that kind of gameplay!!!!!!!!!
Posted by ColdWizard at 2012-08-12 19:00:26 Voted 6.00 on 08/12/12
Some of the monster abilities and some of the summoned creatures were ludicrous. Henchmen getting stuck on tileset features was annoying. Bosses were outlandish.
I still mostly liked the story.
Posted by ColdWizard at 2012-08-05 14:26:58 Voted 6.00 on 08/12/12
As a dex rogue/monk my options seem to be to die in melee combat, do no damage in ranged combat, or die to death magic. And I'm out of traps.
Perhaps I'm being too inflexible in my tactics or missing something in the (seemingly limited) starting shops and while it seems a shame to not know how the story ends, at this point I don't see progressing any further in the module.
No rating as yet as I've not gotten very far into the module and may give it another try (someday).
Posted by Neilium at 2012-02-02 15:43:07 Voted 10.00 on 02/02/12
Wow, what can I say... I had a blast playing this series! I took my time (a few weeks) and enjoyed all 4 parts immensely. I should have posted my comments and voted for each separately, but I just got caught up in the story.
I'm not sure if you check in here often, but I just wanted to say
"Thank you Fantus!" for a terrific Series, some of the best mods I've ever played! :)
Posted by Khaos1987 at 2011-05-02 11:23:03 Voted 8.00 on 05/02/11
I'll have to go back and vote on each module individually, and they were great, but this last module is probably the failing point.
As with most epic modules, it has lots of trouble trying to keep enemies from dying too quickly. Normally I'd be fine with that, but the ways the author went about this left a bad taste in my mouth. I mean bears with DR and oodles of HP? Why? Gnolls that would tear apart dragons? I fought a goblin, one on one, with my almost epic paladin and it wasn't a curbstomp battle. That goblin actually hung in there for quite a while under divine assault, which is strange for A GOBLIN. Maybe he was the avatar of a god or something...
On the plus side, the NPCs were really helpful. I took Alanya as a cleric and the fourth member as a sorceress, and between the two of them deal out most of the damage to enemies. They cast intelligent spells, they have rational feat selection, and they're worth bringing along.
Finally, I got a little aggravated at the dungeons. I mean I didn't expect to waltz into the cave and be face to face with the boss right away. But I certainly didn't expect to trudge through the cave, the deeper cave, the cavern, a sewer, the basement of a house, the main floor of the house, the second floor of a house, and why not, another sewer before finding the guy I'm after. All large, winding areas that take quite a while to navigate without the overly tough goblins. I felt the urge to just activate debug mode and teleport to the exits to areas because the thought of swinging my holy avenger through a 12x12 corridor maze -again- killed a bit of my soul inside.
I did like the story though. If you play this module, don't play it for the hack and slash, play it for the story.
Posted by TomaszTrapczynski at 2011-03-07 06:58:28 Voted 10.00 on 03/07/11
Quite a good mod estimate at 10 and others as well.
Posted by greenriceman at 2011-02-28 06:52:21 Voted 10.00 on 02/28/11
Very nicely done. A must have for any story/combat enthusiasts everywhere. Wish there could be more...
This is an in-progress, pre-rating comment, with SPOILERS:
Wow, I just finished the first module to cement the alliance with the elves. That was one of the best, most engaging adventures I've ever played! The custom music throughout was perfect - it built suspense and rewarded success.
I took Dariah the Sorceress as my fourth party member, and I am finding to my surprise that she actually casts useful spells and behaves logically. I believe that Fantus has accomplished this by building her spell selection as totally free from any and all potentially PvP spells - module builders, take note! This is the way to create a useful arcane caster npc.
I do think that the dragon should have had some kind of more fulfilling treasure hoard - if not more artifacts than the so-so longsword, at least there should have been a whole lot of gold.
Excellent work! I will do one final post with a rating as soon as I finish. But I am so impressed so far, I could not help but post some praise now. Bravo!
Posted by lazy-dreamer at 2010-08-13 03:31:37 Voted 9.25 on 08/13/10
I have a problem, when I fall down the trap (in the Royal vault, after I get the crown).)
I have no idea what to do, how do I get out? :(
Please help
Wow, I'm almost done with part 4, and have enjoyed the whole series; although quite linear, the story and henches are great (esp Alanya) and I was interested the whole time, for the most part. Starting out scrambling to have enough arrows and ending up with a +8 longbow is somehow very gratifying.
But I guess I'm confused--and frustrated--about how encounters and experience scale.
POTENTIAL SPOILERS
I'm Rogue16/Fighter6, we just got out of the Underdark after many many many battles. What is the deal? Gnolls (gnolls for jeebus' sake) now have 800+ hp. WTF? So that's worth...like 165 xp? 180? Same as a big old cave spider? Or a dragon?
So a gnoll group including at least one semi-boss (shaman or berserker or something) has a zillion hp, takes at least one henchman death (if no reloading) and is worth (say) 6x 200 xp - 260 (assuming 1 hench death) for a whopping net 940 xp plus several heal potions. Why? What is that about? How does the gnoll king (or whatever end-of-line boss) have -literally- 11,000 hp? Are they ancient dragons in disguise? I had to turn off "hardcore" mode (which I rarely do) just to get by some bosses to continue the story. Everyone in the party's AC is 40+ and Attack bonuses are 20-30s, but everything can hit me and I can't hit crap.
I guess I've never seen the encounter scaling work quite this way, and I understand neither the logic nor the rationale.
That said, I'm up till 3 playing again, and the mods are engaging and the story is great.
Guess I'll have to try this one out Just got done with Aribeth's Revival, now that's LINEAR lol...still a great module though to any of those who liked Aribeth lol. Let's see if I can chalk up some more time with my dual-wielding beast of a warrior on this mod lol.
Posted by El.Rond Hubbard at 2009-06-25 13:10:46 Voted 10.00 on 06/25/09
This is a vote for the whole series. Great, great series. Wonderful storyline, and I don't mind the linearity at all. Nary a single bug to be found. Excellent work.
Posted by Eva Galana at 2009-04-29 10:39:56 Voted 8.75 on 04/29/09
Wonderful, solid storyline, enjoyable/likeable henchies and other NPCs (Alanya finally came into her own, although still a little whiny). My only complaints are the some ones I have with the earlier mods - combat was unbalanced; the boss fights tended to be too difficult, and XP did not reflect the true difficulty of these battles. Plus, henchies still had trouble navigating, however, not entirely sure that this is a bug but rather a Bioware issue. ??
Anyway, I enjoyed this series very much, and will check out the other mod created by this very talented author.
Thanks! _________________________ Well...who would have thought THAT would happen?
Posted by colourwolf at 2009-04-12 01:34:59 Voted 8.50 on 04/12/09
My least favourite of the 4. This one just dragged on and on. Boring, repetitive combat. I just cruised through about the last 3 hours without thought.
This is also the most linear series on the vault. So if you like making any choices or want any kind of replay value, you'll want to avoid.
Crazy quartermaster gear creates an infinite money loop (not that it matters much at this level)
Story was good, but after the challenge of the first three, combat was a cakewalk.
Solid but not spectacular.
Posted by Dalethfc at 2009-02-18 00:29:20 Voted 9.75 on 02/18/09
Well done.
Excellent Series, great story. Very well done.
Alanya is a wonderful companion.
Something Tells me that there is one or 2 loose ends to fill :p
Congrats and thankyou for a brilliant series. _________________________ Dalethfc
Posted by Almaria at 2009-02-12 22:42:03 Voted 9.75 on 02/12/09
I really enjoyed this series! Well told story that unfolded at just the right pace. The romance was very well done, too; one of the best romances in a mod ever.
Posted by kingnico at 2008-11-22 18:21:04 Voted 9.75 on 11/22/08
I don�t usually enjoy games with such a focus on fighting, but I really enjoyed this series. Some dungeons were long, but they were well designed and always worked in well with the story so I never lacked the motivation to finish them. I really enjoyed the way the story developed throughout the series too and loved the fact that not quite everything was wrapped up in the end. Great stuff.
Posted by Caller_in_Darkness at 2008-11-06 08:37:13 Voted 9.00 on 11/06/08
Well, still great, but the first 3 mods were a bit better. Might be because this is "swinging the big sword" and all in all a bit too grand and pompous for my taste. Good examples are the combats and the fact that you can actually end up as sort of puppet-king (another fact that I disliked very much - kick the romance or become queen-toy).
But after all, this is a good mod, ending a great saga, that was absolutley fun to play. I wouldn't hesitate a second to play further sequels if there were any to come out.
Posted by Twirlip at 2008-10-13 02:58:21 Voted 9.00 on 10/13/08
Some possible spoilers below.
I've now played the entire series through twice, once with a sorcerer and once with a ranged rogue build. Whilst I really enjoyed the story line and would recommend the module to others, I did notice a big difference in the degree of difficulty for the two characters.
With unlimited resting and the damage reduction/resistance and immunity gear available I was able to more or less solo (getting the henchmen to hold their ground at a safe distance) all the major battles, with the sorcerer using a combination of damage shields and Time stop / Mords / IGMS spamming to take down all the bosses relatively easily.
With the rogue however it was a very different story. The amount of damage reduction/resistance on the enemies combined with the liberal use of sneak attack immunity made for some very drawn out battles. My comment would be that it did not seem particularly obvious why certain creatures were given sneak immunity and others not; most orcs were sneakable but for no apparent reason orc champions were not. What this meant is that the rogue character, which should require more skillful play and tactics in positioning them to land sneak damage, was considerably less effective than the fairly mindless IGMS spamming sorcerer. I'm guessing the module would be even harder for something like a dex based HiPSter relying on sneaks to do any damage.
Posted by jalan at 2008-09-25 08:41:13 Voted 9.75 on 09/25/08
2nd best series available for NWN. Sorry it took so long for me to rate it.
Great series but I only had one little quark with it. Some of the battles were almost impossible and I had to god-mode a few fights. Really annoyed me even if I love a good challenge.
Posted by Knight25 at 2008-07-22 14:50:40 Voted 9.25 on 07/22/08
A good series overall and this portion was the best of the bunch.
I thought some of the combat was quite repetitive and many of the dungeons were overly long. That said, it was a lot of fun and the story, though linear, was very good.
Posted by ericdoman at 2008-04-14 23:06:26 Voted 9.25
My 3rd time of going through this mod. This time finished with a 1 wiz/ 10 ftr/ 17 AA. Used rg/ftr and sorc/RDD in previous attempts and give it a couple of months may use a clr/ftr.
Apologies if this may be a spoiler but may be tempted to take on a more evil approach adn with a female to boot.
Prob not though.
Anyway played hardcore throughout and Alanya yet agin was a ftr. Any thoughts on making an NWN2 version? As I may make Alanya a cleric. Found out the hard way in NWN and hardcore implosion will kill you (companions spell).
Really getting into using an AA (Should be the first emergency service?). Had probs with many critters having high dam resistance but his attacks were amazing.
Loved it for a good HnS, music was great. There is definitely the chance of a 5th part anything else in the pipelines?
Cheers
Posted by Razide0506 at 2008-04-03 21:09:53 Voted 7.50 on 04/03/08
The module's author seemed to have built this module with the philosophy that more is better. As a result, too much of this module involves tediously slogging through huge areas and engaging in repetitive battles, to the point where I just wanted to get it overwith. I got tired of fighting my way through enemies who were simply waiting around for me to show up, without any regard to logic or realism. The battle in the streets of Aboril was a particular low-point, as the author made no attempt to make this feel like a real battle: there were no burning buildings, no dead bodies, no sounds of screaming and fighting, no groups of soliders fighting with rebels. Instead it was just small groups of soliders standing still in the otherwise silent and empty streets, waiting for me to show up and kill them. It also didn't help that they were pretty much no challenge at all.
The module's other major failing has to do with equipment. All throughout the series the author kept a tight reign on what was available, while slowly doleing out better and better gear as a reward for defeating powerful opponents. As such, I felt a sense of satisfaction whenever I found something new. However, when I got to the fort, about 75% of the way through the module, the quartermaster there had weapons that were far, far more powerful than anything I had acquired, and what's more, he was selling them at ridiculously low prices. Not only did that really undercut my sense of achievement, but it was also just blatantly ridiculous that the rebels would even have this stuff. In mass quantities, no less! Although this is the worst lapse in logic in the module, it isn't the only one. For instance, I got captured twice in the story, yet inexplicably, my captors let me keep all my weapons, armor, and gear.
That's not to say that the module was bad: like the previous modules in the series, it was well built, made nice use of custom tilesets and music, offered a variety of challenging encounters, and it had a story and characters that were reasonably compelling and interesting. Unfortunately, it was also the weakest entry in the series.
Posted by rawbee at 2008-03-31 17:37:18 Voted 9.25 on 03/31/08
I played this a few years ago and somehow forgot to vote. I just replayed the whole series and once again thought it was great. This last one is heavy hack and slash but I like that so all is good. The best thing about the the combat is unlike most epic modules, you still get you as** handed to you even in the later hours. The amount of work that went into this is truly amazing. The tilesets are stunning. There was not a bug to be found in my play through even though much has changed since this release. If you ever check the boards Fantus, thanks and best wishes.
Posted by Rocket_Bird at 2007-09-05 16:18:24 Voted 8.25 on 09/05/07
I just finished the entire series my first time. I enjoyed it a fair bit. The story line is quite good, and well written. While I would have given this module a 9 or higher, the biggest problem for me when I was playing it was that the hack and slash elements outweigh the storyline way too heavily. While I didnt expect much more than hack and slash from this series, I've probably chopped up more monsters and enemies than the game Diablo all together. Much of the levels include mazes and courses that goes across the entire square map chopping more and more enemies. Its fun testing the prowess of my character against such odds, but when it takes five or six levels to even reach Vennegar's bunker (which is below lava), it goes a bit too far and seems to stretch the overall length of the story.
Other then that, the module is quite enjoyable. _________________________ RB
Posted by optimus at 2007-08-11 10:22:56 Voted 8.00
I voted on this previously, just wanted to add something as I attempt a second play-through.
It's aggrivating as hell to come across creature after creature after creature that has significant physical damage resistance (starting at 10/-, sometimes 15/- or even 20/-), abilities that make no sense (spiders with Doom auras and HIPS? bears with stunning howls and sneak attacks? tigers that fire bolts of lightning?), and hundreds upon hundreds of HP. Fights just take forever to complete, because the author put more time into creating "OMG! Uber-leet!" adversaries instead of trying to actually balance things for a party of four 15-16th level adventurers.
Alanya's caster AI if you take her as a Wizard is brutal, too. She'll spend all of her spells in the first fight she gets into (even casting Spell Mantles when there are no enemy casters in sight), then have nothing left for the next one. Dariah's isn't much better; I chose her as a Cleric and she's barely cast any healing spells at all.
I'm not sure why I voted this as high as I did.
Posted by micataur at 2007-08-09 22:58:42 Voted 10.00 on 08/09/07
i have played this series numerous time
i hope Fantus comes out with other stuff
this was excellent
Posted by viper44 at 2007-08-09 18:07:42 Voted 8.00 on 08/09/07
I enjoyed this module & the series in general, but ultinately give it a lower scoere than most other modules I've played. The fact that you can't die didn't lend itself to any sense of urgency, and once I had enough gold & higher levels, I completely lost the fear and desire to proceed carefully & thoughtfully. But as pure hack & slash power gaming this series is among the best.
Posted by bongo3d at 2007-08-02 12:49:18 Voted 10.00 on 08/02/07
great series. i just finished and couldnt help feeling sad that it was over. i must say that some of the areas were extremely well done. i presonally really enjoyed the mountain scenery - especially with the waterfalls. very nice.
Posted by carlsfrog at 2007-05-30 19:48:13 Voted 9.75 on 05/30/07
I just finished playing through these modules, and I loved them. Probably the best non-commercial series I've played.
My only gripes are: (1) the knockdown feature is used a lot. My first character got halfway through, but he spent half of the combat time on his back, while Alanya and/or Terence saved his tail. (2) My wife thinks I am game addicted now as I spent a lot of time trying to get through it BEFORE our vacation!
Excellent work! Are you palnning a sequel??
Carl _________________________ Myth: we have to save the earth. Frankly, the earth doesn't need to be saved. Nature doesn't give a hoot if human beings are here or not. The planet has survived cataclysmic and catastrophic changes for millions upon millions of years. Over that time, it is widely believed, 99 percent of all species have come and gone while the planet has remained. Saving the environment is really about saving our environment - making it safe for ourselves, our children, and the world as we know it. If more people saw the issue as one of saving themselves, we would probably see increased motivation and commitment to actually do so.
- Robert M. Lilienfeld, management consultant and William L. Rathje, archaeologist.
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