You should play with the character(s) that finished Chapter 2
Races
All
Tricks & Traps
Light
Roleplay
Heavy
Hack & Slash
Light
Classes
All
Scope
Large
DMNeeded
No DM Required
Single or Multiplayer
Single Player or Multiplayer
Max Character Level
14
Max # Players
04
Min # Players
01
Min Character Level
09
Content Rating
Teen
Alignments
All, but emphasis on non-evil
Gameplay Hours
15
Description
From slumber shall a sleeper wake to a hundred years of pain, and behold the resolution of the hopes that still remain. And all the dreams that are to come, and all the mysteries they hide, shall make their final revelation and disappear beneath the tide. For though the past it does not speak, its voiceless words all must abide. And that which is destined � the Century of Sorrow � by the will of kings and mortals it cannot be denied.
This is the final module in the Prophet series, continuing where Chapter 2 (Link) left off. You will begin the module adrift on a sea of dreams, watching the Century of Sorrow unfold through the nightmares of others.
Version 2.0 (single-player or multi-player)
NOTE: This module requires CEP-2.3. It should be played in Hardcore difficulty or higher. I also recommend that you download the file prophet0.hak, which has changed since it was originally uploaded in 2006.
When you finish the game, I invite you to visit the Prophet series "spoiler discussion" at Link. I am very curious about your thoughts on the ending, what choices you made, and why... Thanks!
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*** NOTE TO PLAYERS ***
As you can see, this module has become a target for the troll who has been plaguing top mods for several months, casting random 1.00 and 10.00 votes to mess up the rankings. I know this is a nuisance to all of us, but let us try to refrain from responding to these posts. I have done so myself, and said what I needed to say (you can find it below) and can ignore him from now on. I think we can all spot his postings and scroll past them, and they will be deleted periodically by the vault admin.
So please go ahead and ask your questions here and I will find them and respond when I can. And please keep the real votes coming. But don't take out your frustration on the troll, as he is a troubled soul.
This is a very well crafted story-based series. The entire 4 series of modules are well crafted and I did not encounter any major bugs. Your story was tight and consistent. In the earlier modules you led the character very well. The "I would never do that" and then the character doing just that was very well executed. I do feel that this was the weakest of the group however. I thought the jumping through dreams at the beginning became belabored. The story also became much more linear and the constant retelling of the narrative became a bit tedious (it was especially annoying in the "ice tower" since most of the "memories" evoked were things the character already knew). I don't know why exactly but the further I played the less enjoyable the whole thing became. I was ready for the story to end long before it did. I am guessing that the constant hammering on the character that his actions didn't matter infected me as a player. The story removed all character agency as even at the end the choices presented to the character were negated as the character only still having the illusion of choice. I played through each of the choices and my reaction was simply, "I guess the tool did its job". I was just unsatisfied with the ending even the solution to "beat fate" while logical in the context of the story just didn't seem very dramatic. I know you have been hammered on the tilesets. They look good, but they are not very practical to play with. I found them very frustrating -- especially the swamp tileset. The balance also seemed uneven which is probably due to trying to create a multiplayer experience. However, I don't think your story lends itself to that. Many creatures were very easy and would not have challenged a muliplayer group. Others were very difficult for a single player to handle. My final character was 3 Rog, 3 Pal, 8 Mnk. I had more than enough tools to work each encounter -- the paladin's sword worked particularly well with this build. However, constructs were always a problem due to their exceedingly high DR and the only weapon provided that could really beat that was the Scepter of Lor -- which lacked crush power. I was hoping the heavy pick you provided would be useful against the constructs but it needed to have a higher enchantment to beat the DR. I found the "life" challenge particularly annoying as a single player especially since at that point I had really stopped caring and did not feel the need to be creative on how to deal with it. This was also in light that this felt like a repeat of the previous assemble the elements encounter.
Posted by Baldecaran at 2012-09-0115:21:35
Sorry for my lack of responses in the last few weeks. RL has been busy. But I have been working on some touch-ups to the series, and hope to release the whole updated 4-module set sometime this fall. All the modules will be CEP2 compatible now, and there will be a few more side-quests and some more conversation options in key moments. I've been avoiding uploading it in pieces because I want it to be a package that comes all at once without version inconsistencies. Kaotiqua: Thanks for your comments, here and on the spoiler thread. And thanks also for the awesome screenshots you posted a while back. I really should try those overrides myself. Regarding the role of non-prophet multiplayer PCs: I've often thought that it would be great to add a major side-quest just for the other PCs, perhaps something involving rescuing the prophet, or maybe even working against him/her for a time. But my sense is that the vast majority of people play this solo, and so it never seemed like it would be worth all that extra work. Plus - MP is a pain in the ZXX to test... Manatees: Thank you as well! Sorry about that bug with the missing dream. I did actually upload a fix for that but you probably downloaded earlier. But I'm glad you enjoyed the tale so much anyway. AndrzejB: Thanks! So you actually just stopped playing?? The problem with that is that not making the choice is itself a choice, with dire consequences... But this discussion is probably better for the spoiler thread. MrZork: I'm glad you enjoyed it! And I'm glad you played it in MP! That is what it was meant for, especially for creating debates within the party as to what to do. I'd love to hear your and your partner's reasons for the choices you would make. Too bad the tilesets were frustrating. I guess I know their flaws so well now that I hardly notice them when testing. If I'd had more time I'd have learned some walkmesh editing and fixed them myself. But time... there's never enough of that stuff. (P.S. Thanks for posting the console workaround for that pesky dream bug) Razide0506: Thanks! I'm glad that the series made you think throughout and that you enjoyed how it wrapped up. In this update I'm working on adding more connections across the modules, more voices from the past, etc.
Posted by Razide0506 at on08/05/12
I finally got around to playing this module - after replaying parts 1 2 - and like it's predecessors, every element of this module is exceptional. It's incredibly creative and truly epic, and doesn't really feel like any other series I've ever played. The story is deeply engaging, and much more sophisticated that the usual fare, dealing with questions of morality that few other modules even come close to. The trip through the past, in particular, was amazing. And of course, the visual design is fantastic, particularly the part where you travel through an icy forest. That said, while I think this is the most ambitious of the three modules, I actually liked part 2 just a tiny bit better. As someone else mentioned, some of the tilesets were a real headache to get around in. Also, I found the water and earth areas to be more frustrating than fun - in the former you move too slowly, and the latter is hard to navigate through. I also never triggered the last dream sequence, and I got stuck several times on the death level - the game would freeze up when I approached the hand - before I finally figured out what to do. Minor problems aside, this module - and this series - are among the best I've ever played. Maybe the best.
Posted by MrZork at on08/05/12
- Some SPOILERS - Regarding a minor bug: We did all four elemental essences and set them in their pedastals, then moved on to the Positive Plane of Life. Getting back, we set the Essence of Life in the Hand of Death, then came back to the Gates area and my prophet PC got a floating note about needing to dream. So, I rested and... no dream. After a little replaying, I checked the toolset and then checked some local variables and it looks like bAwaitingDream10 was not set. Further checking showed that module variable nEssencesAcquired was stuck at 2. Don't know why - we collected all four elemental essences. Anyway, I set bAwaitingDream10 to 1 and it seems that all was fine. Anyone else with the same issue (you're in the Gates area and you've gotten the message that you need a dream, but resting brings no dream) might want to try the following at the chat bar: ##DebugMode 1 ##dm_setvarint bAwaitingDream10 1 ##DebugMode 0 When the second line is entered, the game will be in target mode. Make sure to click on the prophet PC at that time. After that, resting should bring on the Evenorn dream in the tower.
Posted by MrZork at on08/05/12
This module is incredible! I think the story easily stands toe-to-toe with any of the best stories on the vault. I played it MP with a friend and we got hung up a couple times (more below), but it was SO worth it to come back and finish this excellent module and see the fantastic wrap-up in the finale. In fact, we haven't even played both endings yet. Given my nature and my take on my character's alignment, the final call was pretty easy for me to make. But, my playing partner actually said she would have gone the other way. Too bad there can be only one Prophet! I am sure we will reload our last save and see how things turn out with a different choice. The story really provides a compelling rationale for either decision. I want to say that the tilesets were both gorgeous and terrible. Seriously, for all their splendor, we almost gave up on the module several times because it was so frustrating being unable to move around the map, getting stuck next to trees, not getting close enough to attack opponents, not being able to see through the canopy in some outdoor areas to tell where the PC is walking, etc. Honestly, if the story had been any less compelling, we would have called it a loss and moved on. In the future, any builder using "difficult" tilesets might want to reconsider, no matter how nice they look. That sort of frustration really breaks immersion, which is an annoyance in any module, but a near tragedy in one that is as much a masterpiece of storytelling and atmosphere as this one is. Anyway, thank you Baldecaran SO much for an excellent module! I'd say this module is on the must-play list, especially for anyone who loves a great, well-told story that entertains the players as well as makes them think.
Posted by Dalethfc at 2012-07-1106:22:32
A Trash Voter, ferrari driver ? Nothing but a question and a 1.00 vote and gets the letters wrong anyhow. _________________________ Dalethfc
Posted by AndrzejB at on07/09/12
Wonderful. Regarding the final choice - well, the only winning move was not to play. Yes, my character would not dare to make the choice (not after what was happening whenever he though he was making wise decision). Thus I quit the game based on an in-character, in-game decision. Well, it was sort of a decision but I'm trying to cheat myself (uh huh, the other way...) that it wasn't. In the terms of plot and tension - on par with "Planescape: Torment".
Posted by Manatees at on06/25/12
I just wanted to follow up my previous posting. This mod is truly an outstanding piece of independent work. I managed to get around the bug with a bit of debug console trickery (it wasn't too hard, and I have too say that this is very likely the best content I've ever played on this site. You have an eye for atmosphere and a talent for writing exposition that never becomes dull. My only complaint was the lack of variety in equipment that I found. For some reason, I think I was crazy, I specialized in spears as a Fighter and found about two of them during the course of the entire series. This is probably my fault though. Keep up the fine work!
Posted by Kaotiqua at on06/26/12
One more afterthought- I rank this mod as an absolute ten, but with this caveat: I did attempt to run through with a friend, in multi-player, and found that without an active DM to possess the NPCs, and smooth the edges, a player who is not playing the Prophet role will be left in the cold, as a voiceless extra arm for killing monsters. I can easily see how a skilled DM could make this masterwork shine even brighter as a multiplayer, but without one, I'd recommend playing the mod solo. (And if you desperately need an extra sword arm or two, OHS henchman system seems to work well, with little or no conflict.) _________________________ "There's no religion but time motion- No religion, just tribal scars."
Posted by Kaotiqua at on06/26/12
And another 10. Brilliant Epic, and Beautiful. ReDL'd the haks as Snowdog suggested, and the portal gates all worked perfectly, but alas, the cutscene with the ice tower did not. :( I checked the walkthrough and played as if it had, but I hate missing bits. Still, your work is so blindingly brilliant, I couldn't possibly rank it anything but 10. I played Cave of Songs more years ago than I can remember- it was, I believe, my very first Vault DL'd mod, and I loved your work then, too. Can't wait to see more! Dropped you an e-mail concerning "Prophet", but not sure I translated your e-mail address correctly. Hoping you'll let me know it came through. Thank you again, for the whole of Prophet, and for all you've shared and continue to share with us here! _________________________ "There's no religion but time motion- No religion, just tribal scars."
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