Bloodpool. The very name should send cold chills down your spine. Created prior to the great cataclysm by Sinthar Bloodstone in his crusade to annihilate Dragon kind on Layonara, these pools of destructive force would later serve to pull him back to the land to exact his plans of domination and revenge on those who banished him for his crimes against the races.
The year is 1388 and there have been whispers in dark corners that a pool has been created or restored somewhere on the continent of Mistone. In a solitary seaside tower stands a force that may hold the key to its destruction or perhaps its harness. Forces collide for some may wish to rid the world of the menace of the pool yet others may seek to serve its master or even to harness its force for themselves.
You are but a raw recruit on your first mission in the entourage of a Mistonian Diplomat. Your caravan is seeking one who holds the key to these pools of despair. These are dark times and even routine travel can be dangerous. Out of the night comes the attack. Bugbears pour over the hills and advance on your small caravan. The battle roars around you then a sharp pain snaps above your eyes. Blackness drops over you...
...Layonara is a young world (by worldly standards) of epic fantasy, heroism, history and lore. Layonara involves normal characters who are becoming heroic in some way or rising in notoriety within a given society or organization. Layonara has a deep tie-in to the deities of the cosmos and nearly everything, in some way or another�even if it�s minor, will revolve around the religions and creatures of the time. The civilizations are mostly in their early days and as such wars are not uncommon and are expected. Due to its young age the world is still going through land changing cataclysms which further throws the civilizations in to upheaval.
Layonara is about role-playing and storytelling. The focus is on the characters within the game world and how they change the world and how civilization and the world changes around them, and then their reactions within those changes. The world evolves and as it evolves the characters must adapt and live within the game world.
The game also has a new system called Ambiguous Interactive Dungeons that will remind everybody of the old days of Zork. It is a cool system that we will be releasing to the communtiy as a standalone product very soon.
finsihed playing on weekend and come to make vote. really like story and original idea but lots of wandering in module not fun. aid frustrating at best of time. why not use description in visual game? why caravan owners not tell me about road ahead or ask about place going? all same cookie cutter caravan owner no matter where. creatures unbalanced and overpowered skills/feats such level would never be able to have. forces cheat to beat. good thing no haks.
Posted by DrunkAsIThinkIAm at on05/25/08
This is a big mod, for sure, but it also plays like a big mod not necessarily in a good way-- some areas are way too big. I could see that being a benefit in multi-player, in terms of having more time to talk, but it's pretty boring for solo players. I thought AID was interesting, but kind of a pain to use even with hot keys. I liked some of the fights, even though I've seen some complaints about the difficulty. The plot didn't do a lot to keep me enthralled, really. Overall I'd say this is worth downloading and checking out, but I am a little surprised it won the silver for 2007.
Posted by digitalcarnage at on05/25/08
well after the module of the year votes ive been playing those that made the top list and im not sure how xora's vial made silver over some of the other modules listed below, which are certainly more polished and better designed too. big, big area design makes for more running back than it does exploring. even when one tries to get into the module by exploring there is nothing in the far reaches of areas worth exploring for but more empty space. this will always be a downside for me in modules. large areas does not make it a vast world to explore. the aid system can be axed for descriptions of placeables and time spent on designing it could have been better used on designing areas. the module is also not balanced properly for a single player character and like others, i was forced to dm_god myself just to get on by.
Posted by Berra at on05/21/08
I think your mod undoubtfully has earned the silver prize for the mod of the year. :) It's great fun, has a good story, great dialog with multiple outcomes. Though everything was not nice, of course ... ... I personally think you could've developed a couple of parts a lot more. ***SPOILERS*** Like for example, the henchmen. They could've been brought into the story instead of just leaving a comment or two, here or there. A lot more developing should have been done to their personalities. The drow sorcerer for example once stated a drowish phrase that could be used against a drow if one would have the bad luck of getting caught by one. A phrase meaning "I am your servant" and would help you get out of the situation alive. I personally thought that this would be featured in the module, but I was really disappointed to find that that was not the case. That would've been an obvious thing to include in a mod with such great dialog and choices (at least to me, it was). But I do think the henchmen carries some interesting ideas, just that they would've been a lot more interesting if they had been developed a lot more. Also, another thing that disappointed me was regarding the "detective-quest" in Orc's Watch. Once it was finished, there was no finishing dialog telling me if the choice I made was right or wrong. There was no follow-up AT ALL. That was majorly disappointing while considering the awesome dialog and dialog-choices that had been featured before, I must say that I hoped for a lot more developed story there. Another thing that puzzled me was: Why didn't you tell the player who the black-robed figure was in the beginning? My guess is that he was one of the black wizards but it is never explained or mentioned elsewhere (or perhaps I missed that part, I don't really know). I personally thought he would turn out to be the main villain. That would've been masterfully done if you ask me. The combat was a nightmare for a sorcerer (which I decided to play this time). I actually ended up cheating by using God-mode and boosting my strenght to 170. :D I think a fighter would have made it through a lot better. The problem started when I decided to fight the pirate-captain. Sure, I managed to fight the captain but when his LEGION of GUARDS decided to attack as well ... well, I must say I thought in that moment that balancing should've been a lot higher on your priority-list. But I can't say anything about how a fighter character would've managed but a sorcerer is dead-meat if it decides to try and go through this module. At least mine was. :D Thank god for DebugMode. :D Even though I have a lot of gripes with the mod, I still have to rate your mod highly since there are a lot of good stuff featured here as well. The atmoshpere and areas where greatly designed and some of them really caught my eye. I personally enjoyed the different colors you used in dialogs. it made the module feel a lot more original. I also think the main story was pretty good. I enjoyed the character of Xora (though I also think she could've been developed a lot more too and I would've loved seeing more of her) and her tower. It felt pretty awesome once you finally neared her magnificent tower. The tower you had been searching for for quite a long time. I also liked the concept of the black wizards VS Xora but I think this relationship could've been developed a lot more as well. I remember encountering the black wizards just once before facing them outside Xora's tower in the final battle. A few more encounters with dialogs wouldn't have hurted. I also enjoyed the "adventuing-feeling" that you felt when going on the different quests. They were long and really needed your full attention. The treasure map found in one of the shops was greatly done if you ask me. It made me really curious of what the map could be pointing at and it made me wanting to go on a classic, good ol' treasure-hunt. :D This comment is getting pretty long so I think we'll conclude it here even though I think there was a lot of other stuff I thought I would be mentioning. I had quite a few gripes but considering that you didn't use any hak-paks at all and still managed to create a pretty original module and that the dialog was awesome and the character were pretty good even though they could've been a lot more developed; I'll be rating your mod an 8.00. You've actually made me a little curious of what Layonara is like ... even though I normally never play PWs. :) _________________________ /Berra - NWN1 modules: Berra's Module Collection (All of Berra's NWN1 works) Interviews: NWN-PODCAST INTERVIEW GOLDEN DRAGON AWARD INTERVIEW. Reviews: Calm before the Storm, A New Journey Begins, Surviving Horror 1, Surviving Horror 2. Other Downloads: NWN1 - Berra's Modules Favorites, NWN2 - Berra's Module Playlist Favorites. Homepages: Berra's NWN Blog Berra's YouTube Channel (Features original horror movies). Everyone: your VOTES are highly appriciated. A vote is like gold for an author. No kiddin'. ;)
Posted by Hellix at on05/19/08
I abandoned the module (reached level 6 evil Bbn2/Sor4), but I'm going to review and vote anyway. Fun: 6 Ok, nice module, but combat was just over the top. Most enemies I encountered had "very difficult" CR. XP gain allows to level up fast, but most of the resources are spent on healing and most of the time is spent on reloading after dying and backtracking. Originality/Creativity: 7 Find three ingredients. Oh wow, the depth of the plot is astounding. Don't know, maybe I didn't reach the shocking revelations that would come up later... AID: What's the point? Graphic environments of videogames were created for the purpose of *not* typing things like "pick up the mithral acid-coated gauntlet of DOOM". Good example is Xora's tower, where portraits could've just been made to be selectable and having descriptions... Books: What's the point in creating dozens of books if they are not relevant to the plot? Items: What's the point in renaming dozens of items if their properties stay the same? A lot were original, but many of those were either useless (+1 to saves vs fire) or too expensive. Dialogue: 9 Great, but not perfect. You can say many things, but they usually don't really affect the outcome or cause alighment shifts (well, except "attack", of course). Also, caravan transporters say the same things over and over again. Layout/Design: 7 Although I was really impressed with some beautiful interiors, the layout of the module itself was average at best. Not only you have little direction on where to go (I had to open the toolset to find a caravan to the black feather mountains), but many of the areas are just plain forests/caves/deserts with no placeables and a set number of enemy encounters. Plus, the resting system was really awful, because you have to backtrack a few areas back to just rest. Quality control: 8 The overall quality is good but I am really surprised that despite numerous comments regarding difficulty and henchmen authors did not improve those aspects. Plus, there is no walkthrough, and I've spent two good hours trying to figure out a way to get into Xora's tower (not because I didn't examine the paintings, but because I searched for a rose as an object). Also: Henchwoman: Drow elven sorceress. Not only she has no option in dialogue to cast spells in advance, but she probably has the worst spell selection ever. Ray of Enfeeblement is useless and she killed me quite a lot with a fireball. Was really surprised that I could kill a guy in Orc Watch tavern without any retribution. Was really surprised that I could lure all the bandits in North Point to the street where they are killed by guards, but if I attack a pirate on the ship and run to a city, nobody cares. Was really surprised that if I try to rob Jakobson (properly, through a dialogue), guards appear out of a thin air and kill you instantly, but if I attack him outright, nothing happens. And one really weird bug: got to the temple and ask a head prist to heal me. He did so, and I ran away on my business. But he followed me to the street and then healed my henchwoman. Then he stopped, and his store stopped working. I tried to lure him back into the temple the same way, but it didn't work :) Final vote: (6+7+9+7+8)/5 + 1.5 (for the sheer effort and countless hours you undoubtedly spent building it) = 8.5 _________________________ Click Link to view content submitted by me.
Posted by bdreads72 at 2008-05-1817:35:20
Hi I'm having a great time with your mod but for some reason i can't open the port in Xora's tower. Someone please help. bdreads72@yahoo.com
Posted by Tony at on05/16/08
This mod is certainly a good mod overall with lots of things to like, although it has some weaknesses that hurt the playing experience for me. It's certainly worth downloading and checking out, though. Strengths: the mod does a good job of creating its own world. I very much liked the sense of size that is created by having the character travel via caravan to various places. There were also some really nice combats, I thought. I always enjoy a good challenging brouhaha, and there were some to be found here. At times the AID system really adds to the mod. Particularly here I am thinking of one moment in a crypt where the player needs to search the tomb to find secret entrances. In this case the AID system definitely added to the exploration feel and I think did add a lot to the standard NWN system. However, at times the AID seemed pretty superfluous, or (more rarely) even hurt the mod. For instance: Weaknesses: at times the AID system seemed insufficiently integrated into the quests. In the murder investigation early on, which should really have been the high point of the AID system use, ended up being quite frustrating, because the PC's observations from AID were not always incorporated back into the conversations/questionings. For instance, when talking to the woman who my character has observed has a spellbook upstairs, my character can't bring this inconsistency up in conversation. I think this side quest had a lot going for it, and I am sucker for mysteries, but here the AID system just added frustration and inconsistency. It is certainly interesting for it to end without the character knowing for sure if he/she was right (I liked that aspect). A bigger weakness, though, was area design. Not so much the appearance of areas, which looked fine if not especially spectacular, but more the size of the areas and the amount of running that the player has to undertake to get around. Some sort of teleportation or transport system would hugely help here. Towards the end I just started using dm commands to jump to areas because I got so tired of running around. One small example of this would be Xora's tower, where the entrance is for some reason located after a long run on the OTHER side from which the player is approaching! Plot-wise, the mod is fine, although I thought the conclusion was kind of anticlimactic. It seems kind of set up for a sequel, but I guess there won't be a sequel? I played the good-alligned ending, by the way. The relative non-linearity is admirable overall, although it hurts gameplay slightly by making some of the last few quests quite easy (i.e. each of those three big quests at the end are possible to take in any order, which means that your character is of a higher level on the last quest, making it pretty easy). Anyway, this is an impressive mod even if it kind of annoyed me at times. The AID system is really promising, although here I don't think it was always used to its full potential (understandable, given how new it is!) I would certainly love to see other work from the Layonara Project Team.
Posted by Talan at 01:05:33 Voted10.00
No, I'm afraid I don't... The inventory crash is especially strange. I suppose you could try to update/reinstall your graphics drivers. This often clears up mysterious crashes, especially if you have a mac with an ATI card (I used to get the strangest nwn crashes when I was playing on a mac with an ATI card.)
Posted by upallnite at 2008-05-0913:52:57
I am running the mod on a Mac w/NWN 1.68x and am finding crashes in two places. In the fletcher's for-sale inventory when I go to the second page of weapons it crashes each time, although I can see the first page and go backwards into the third. The second place is when I try to enter North Point Docks from the south it crashes when it says it's loading area (I believe, maybe "assembling" area). Any suggestions? Shiny water is off, and I tried reducing the video and sound effects, to no avail. Thanks.
Posted by ashnapurpl at on04/21/08
First ten rating I've ever given. Great plot and execution, well done visuals with just the basic NWN resources. AID was annoying at first but fine once I got the hang of it. Only hitch was a disappearing henchman after the dream sequence. Once I had rested he reappeared. Highly recommended!
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