Likely 25-40 hours, depending upon player skill and interest in side quests and crafting.
Number Players
1
Language
English
Level Range
1-16
Races
Any
Tricks & Traps
Medium
Roleplay
Medium
Hack & Slash
Heavy
Classes
Cleric
Scope
Large
DMNeeded
No DM Required
Single or Multiplayer
Single Player
Max Character Level
16
Max # Players
01
Min # Players
01
Min Character Level
01
Content Rating
Adult
Alignments
Any, alignment is set to true neutral at start, however, the PC's decisions have a definitive impact on the outcome of the story.
Gameplay Hours
25
Description
You awaken from a nightmare to find that you have total memory loss and are sleeping in an abandoned crypt. Mystery and intrigue develop as you seek out clues regarding your identity, recent activities, and a string of missing person reports. Amnesia and flashbacks plague you as you gather evidence that increasingly implicate you in criminal activity and the occult. Time is running out and you are low on aspirin.
Deja Vu offers 25+ hours of solo play designed for a first level cleric of any alignment.
We developed a unique crafting system with a range of recipes for blacksmithing and alchemy. A mortar and pestle will allow you to use foraged herbs and flowers to brew potions and create healer's kits. You can create magical shards from precious gems and other rare components to upgrade your armor and weapons through blacksmithing.
In addition, the primary henchman has custom commands allowing for flexibility in strategic play.
Thanks for the feedback and for playing all the way through DV. I am finishing up a revision that I hope to post soon -- will balance some encounters and give more details about the PC's past. Some areas will be revamped and the crafting system and frequency of alchemy components will be reduced which will hopefully make the crafted items more in line with the challenges of the last third of the adventure. A significant change at the end will also provide more information about the events leading up this tale. Check back in a bit if you like and see what you think. Thanks again and take care,
-Dan
Posted by Muric at 2013-04-15 21:53:38 Voted 9.75 on 04/15/13
Yeah, I actually finished it the day before yesterday, I've just not been back online. Not too many hiccups from that point on. just a couple things slow to fire(but eventually did, only had to leave and come back, then try again). I can probably chalk that up to an issue with my previously mentioned override. I'm not really a big cut-scene fan myself(and they run a lot longer with that override), so I find myself interrupting them a lot. thankfully this isn't one of those mods that breaks something doing so. Overall a good module, well worth the time to play through at least once(I might play through another time and make better choices). I kind of felt like something was missing though, since if you choose the good path, you don't really learn the exact nature of your relationship with the antagonist, or even really your own motivations prior to the ritual. As another user mentioned the fog in the nexus area brought a big hit to my aging eMac's performance. It got a little better after zooming in on my PC, and just used the mini-map to navigate to the portal. for the longest time I had totally forgotten about the alchemy system, and was quickly remembered after having most of my inventory taken up by the bottles of water. kind of wish you could also brew up large batches at a time of various potions, rather then just doing it one at a time(have to remember to remove the previously made potion, or you'll waste a preparation on the next one). I didn't really bother much with the crafting system(I think I added a strength bonus to my armor but that was really it), since this being a cleric mod, you get darkfire, magic vestment and greater magic weapon spells(there wasn't much point basically, considering after a certain point you get an innate damage bonus with any weapon). make sure you load up on those magic bags, you'll be lugging around quite a bit unless you make frequent trips to one of the only stores. some of the dialog with KT involves questions you've not quite become entirely certain of the answer at the times they come up. The troll temple encounter with was a lot more difficult then most of the other combat situations(that's one powerful scimitar!) in the mod. Largely my issues were self-inflicted(I got fancy and took exotic and weapon focused on Scythe early on, and chose knowledge and magic domains so I didn't NEED KT for much of anything other then a meat-shield and finding a safe place to rest in FF). It's a great story, and was, as far as I can tell, very well done. good work. :) _________________________ jml's list of community addons/overrides, etc. Link
I'm glad to hear you were able to find a saved game and progress with the adventure. You were correct that the wanted signs set KT up to start a conversation with you so that JW will continue the story arc. Thanks for giving DV a try -- I hope you have smooth sailing from here onward. Please post again or email me at yombie.dejavu @ gmail.com if you have any more questions. Take care,
-Dan
Posted by Muric at 2013-04-13 01:41:26 Voted 9.75 on 04/15/13
reloaded the save(it wasn't overly far back anyway), without swapping folders, and the wanted conversation fired correctly(apparently it just never fired the first time) this time. so onward, I go :) _________________________ jml's list of community addons/overrides, etc. Link
Posted by Muric at 2013-04-12 19:48:55 Voted 9.75 on 04/15/13
presently playing through the module now. played through the northern ruins/vault area and was teleported to the crystalline cavern, the journal updates regarding a second conversation with the undertaker. upon leaving the cave and reentering the fairfield area, the outlaw entry shows up(no conversation with the henchmen regarding the wanted poster nearby either). the problem I have is that no second conversation occurs and I'm seemingly trapped(barricades at the bottom of the hill) up on the hill around the undertaker's house. when I try to talking to him again he just repeats himself saying he's seen figures creeping around near the caves to the north(which aren't really north, they're south). do I need to loot his little round house completely to start it, or did I miss something else? I only took the earrings, and the letter, those were the only things I really needed, since I was already low on space. suppose It wouldn't be so surprising to find out OHS(an override henchmen system, basically allows you to use a PC as a hench) is messing with it somehow. it does slow down script firing from time to time. at any rate.. for the moment, I'm rather stuck. *sighs* I've been lazy about my saving, last save I have is from before entering the vault. suppose I could just swap override(I have two, one with and without OHS) folders and reload. _________________________ jml's list of community addons/overrides, etc. Link
Posted by Seatroll at 2013-02-25 08:13:35 Voted 10.00 on 02/25/13
This mod is a masterpiece. I'm really enjoying it.
I'm so pleased that you enjoyed Deja Vu. Thank you also for your kind compliments. It means a lot that you made it all the way to the end of the good path and then were willing to play again with different choices. The version posted here is updated and ready to play so I hope you will give the Road Not Traveled another go :) In addition, a pair of kind souls are working to upload 2 movies for DV -- hopefully the intro and ending movies will be posted in the near future. They are fairly basic really, just a series of screenshots set to music but they probably add a little to the experience. Players can always skip them if they are disappointed I suppose.
So back to your decision to embrace the shadow this time. It was actually kind of challenging for us pristine, beatific authors to go back and put in options for PCs wishing to role play as evil. It took some time and thought for us to imagine what kinds of things would be fun for evil role players. But we came up with some ideas and if you keep an eye out, you'll likely notice some fleeting opportunities to cause a little mischief... or at other times invitations to commit mass murder if you so desire.
*** Hints ***
1. Happy Times
Some potential sinister deeds are just hinted at in passing while others are less subtle. One such example can be found in the trading post in FF with the rat poison. Just listen to your now irrevocably twisted conscience and follow your vile instincts to see the dastardly deed done -- or done twice if you now only have a blackened husk of a soul remaining.
But whatever you do, don't forget to check back relatively soon to see how everyone is doing in their secure and now well provisioned houses. Ignore the wails of the innocents writhing in agony... they should have been nicer when you first met them don't you think?
Note: This particular action was barely hinted at in the first version of DV but we have continued to add hints in later updates because it was too easy to miss. It'd be a shame to miss out on such an evil action like that.
2. The End -- You Win!
One of the endings will be available to you if you have been a good little evil liar / murderer /cultist. If you role play with conviction throughout the adventure, you should have several endings available. One of these endings in particular illuminates much about your past and true motivations from before your memory loss. If you redo the end several times and make different choices, the meaning of all this lovely, I mean horrible, death and betrayal should become clear.
*** End Hints ***
Anyway, those are just a couple of kindly hints for you rare travelers of questionable morality who have willingly decided to brave The Road Not Traveled -- just as Robert Frost obviously intimated in that eponymous poem... if he had been a horrid, sadistic misanthrope instead of the celebrated scholar, educator, man of letters, and lauded humanitarian who he truly was. But hey, we're all welcome to our own interpretations so here is a tip of the hat to RF:
---------------------
THE ROAD NOT TRAVELED
By
Robert Frost
---------------------
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then, took the other as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Okay I just finished figuring out and testing a much easier way for you to do this using the debug commands and a test item. You might miss some content (although you should still be able to do it all) but you'll at least be able to see the end. Please send me an email at [email protected] and I will reply to you with the work-around. Again, sorry you got stuck there - that must have been so frustrating. Hope to hear from you.
I'm glad to hear you made it to the Nexus but I'm sorry to hear about your graphics issue. I am assuming that you tried to lower all your settings in game as well as through the configuration? Something in your ini file might help as well. Could you email me your current settings for ini and I'll take a look? Sometimes settings like shiny water causes problems. If we cannot get that to work, I can fix up a version that eliminates the fog there and send it to you with a test item that can set the appropriate and needed variables for you up to your current state. Again, sorry to hear you got bogged down, what a bummer.
Looking forward to hearing from you if you are willing to give this a try.
Thanks a lot for the help, Dan! I was able to continue and played on until I reached Nexus (great fun up to this point!). But the Nexus area with all that color fog is a real strain on my low-end graphic card and processor. The mist in the Ancient Cave already slowed the game down just a little bit, even though it was still playable, but for some reason the colored one makes the game lag terribly on my rig, I can barely move forward or rotate the camera and even calling the menu and moving the mouse cursor gets kind of laggy ...
Do you have any idea what I could do to bypass this? Could I destroy the fog placeables via the console or something? Or, if worse comes to worse, just skip this area and teleport to the next? For I fear without some kind of workaround my playthrough has to end there, which would be a real shame since I like the module so much and would love to see the ending. :(
Posted by Dunhallym at 2013-02-07 07:36:59 Voted 9.75 on 02/07/13
Hello. I finished the module so here is my vote. I've delayed as I wanted to post detailed thoughts on everything but I've never finished writing down those thoughts.
Anyway, I didn't encounter any major bug. Just a small one that has already mentioned with a blank entry in the journal about dancing shadows. The story is compelling, you really want to see what comes next, the cinematic scenes are great, it's really well implemented. It is true that combat is very easy in the second half of the game, but it didn't bother me that much. Unlike the old BG where tactical combats were fun, the henchman system of NWN makes them a pain in the ass most of the time, even though your system greatly improves on that (and kudos for this), and I'm more interested in a good story with interesting characters than in combat.
I played the first time as good and I've started a second playthrough as evil but I will have to test the new version of the module, so I need to start that again.
Thank you very much for your kind words, we're so pleased to hear that you are enjoying Deja Vu. That is high praise indeed and we appreciate your time and interest. This project began 8 years ago but it took me (Dan) a long time to learn to script and go through countless revisions. Johanna and I have been working hard on it for a year and a half and she has been instrumental in helping pull it all together and encourage the act of submitting it.
*** Hints / Spoilers ***
I'm sorry you got stuck there, another adventurer had the same issue and that's the one change that we have not updated as of yet. I will make that a priority as well as to complete the walk-through for the module. You worked so hard on searching everywhere, I apologize for the confusion, it's just one more step to take to finish that part. The solution is to use the elemental/prismatic wand on the orb in the center of the ancient vault. There are 4 spells on the wand item that you got from the chest. Once you cast the first spell on the orb (which should be floating in the air by this point and there should be a low hum about the chamber), the rest will be clear to you. After you use all the spells on the orb, there will be an event that will point you in the right direction. If you have any more trouble there, please post again as we check back here frequently. Also, since you have already returned to town and read the wanted signs, I just want to suggest that you click on them again as you return that way -- you likely would have anyway but I would be remiss not to mention it.
*** End of Hints / Spoilers ***
Thank you for your patience at this juncture in your adventure. We both hope you have luck with this part and enjoy the rest of the story.
First off, this module is awesome, very close to perfection, it deserves to be in the Hall of Fame and among the top-rated modules on the Vault. Thanks a lot for sharing it! I can't believe it's a debut, how long have you been working on it? I'll get back to you with more detailed feedback once I have completed it.
Unfortunately, I seem to be stuck and I guess I need a little push in the right direction, unless it's a bug I've stumbled across.
*SPOILERS*
I'm in the Northern Hills Vault, the chamber with the orbs and elemental puzzle, and I've already solved it, managed to unlock the chest and got the prismatic shard or wand out of it. But now what? Apart from me getting the item, nothing else happened. As far as I remember, I didn't leave anything else unsolved (except for the matter with Juts stealing jewellery; reading through the other comments here, it seems I overlooked the Wanted posters) and I don't recall any other paths in the Northern Hills and Vault that I haven't explored yet, it all just lead to this chest. And when I tried to go back up, to see if I had missed something, I noticed there is no transition on the stairs leading back, so I'm kind of trapped in what appears to be a dead end ... Of course, I can teleport to Heaven and then use the portal to the Cathedral, so in theory I might be able to go back to town all the way by foot, but I don't think this is how it's supposed to be, is it? Thank you for any help you can offer!
Version 1.3 is now available as of 1-24-13. It is stable with CEP 2.4 (link is above). This update was based on the feedback provided by you all over the past two months. Thank you all for taking the time to play Deja Vu and for sharing your ideas for improving the module!
I downloaded v1.2 this morning and extracted the mod file to a new temp directory and then checked the properties of that and v1.1. Here's what I found:
I checked for the changes I made yesterday and they are still there.
Would you please try downloading the module file again and extract it to a new temp folder and check the size just to be sure? After the day I had yesterday, I'm entirely willing to believe that something else went wrong but it looks like the correct version.
Thank you also for posting though, I'd rather know about existing problems so I can fix them. The most important thing to me is getting the right version posted (i.e. the one where the men have heads).
Spell Singer:
Thanks for the words of encouragement and your compliments. It meant a lot to hear, especially after the horror that Johanna and I went through yesterday. I'm not a computer science wizard, this is just a hobby for me. It took me years to learn how to script and I've spent countless long nights staring at my code wondering why in the world it was not working. I really should have taken a class at some point - it would have saved a lot of time and effort in the long run. It has been a labor of love, however, and Johanna's help has been invaluable. We're both just so glad people have enjoyed the story thus far.
By the way, I agree with your sentiment about the NWN2 toolset. I would like to work with it but the NWN1 toolset just seems more versatile. Maybe NWN3 will be great? I haven't kept up with the news about it - have you heard anything?
I'm glad you're considering another run through DV on the evil path. One of those endings reveals the true plan that led to all this trouble in the first place.
Thanks again for replying - good luck with your other adventures!
Take care,
-Dan
Posted by Spell Singer at 2013-01-23 03:49:44 Voted 9.00 on 01/19/13
Hello. Thank you for your reply. I have to say that the time and effort you put into the module shows. The cut scenes and the use of spell effects was extremely well done (as in professionally done). Balance is probably the hardest thing to accomplish and is something that varies depending on who is looking anyway. There was also a reason that Bioware decided to skip the player to lvl 4 before dumping them into the game, since balancing play at low levels is even more difficult.
As for no one there to play it, 8 years in. NWN PWs still exist, and as downloads of new modules can attest there are people still playing the game. I would not mind seeing a graphical update of the character models and some other improvements (implementation of 3.5 rules) but the basic NWN system is still fun to play and the design tools are both robust and accessable (a point where NWN2 falls flat on its face).
I will finish off some other modules and then return for a evil run through of Deja Vu, if I still have questions I will try your suggestion.
Also, really the thanks are to you both for going through the effort to release such a well built module. It is a lot of work to do this, even leaving aside all the custom scripting you did.
I just downloaded the updated 1.2 version of the module. Unfortunately, it seems to be exactly the same file as the 1.1 version. The module files in the 7z archives are completely identical after a binary comparison.
We just uploaded a new version of DV that is functional and ready to be played. We do apologize to those of you who downloaded this module after 1-18-13 because it has some flaws in it.
For example, a handful of minor human male NPCs abruptly decided entirely to forgo having heads. Plus, otherwise well behaved and respectable items decided to embrace null values in their appearance fields for as yet poorly understood reasons.
Fortunately, we were able to fix these issues today and run some play tests. Still, we recommend you start fresh with this new version if you downloaded DV over the weekend. It is up to you though, and your comfort zone when it comes to headless NPCs seeking to chat and offer you the occasional quest.
Hey guys, we goofed. Don't download this current version! We hope to have a new version out asap. In the meantime, this version may not be playable. Please see below:
*** An incorrect version of this module was uploaded on 1-18-13. We apologize for the mistake, however, please do not download or attempt to play this version. We are in the process of correcting the mistakes and appreciate your patience and hope that you will return to download the correct version soon. We will update as soon as possible. Again, we are sorry if you started playing the updated version from last Thursday and encountered any difficulties. ***
-D&J
Posted by Dunhallym at 2013-01-22 05:21:17 Voted 9.75 on 02/07/13
Thanks for the quick answer.
***spoilers***
actually I hadjust misread the description of the ring and missed the part about being able to breathe in hostile environments. I had understood that it would gain power only after having gone in the elemental planes, and not before. My mistake.
Once you wear the ring it is OK.
About the sharks I just meant that I avoided attacking them not to lose time but they do attack me. And I didn't have any problem with the salamanders, lack of air was killing me not them.
Thank you for the compliments. Congratulations on getting so far into the adventure -- you are getting close to the end. Here are some spoilers regarding your questions:
*** SPOILERS ***
In the main room of Trial of Elements (the temple with 4 doors leading to each of the planes), there is a pedestal illuminated by a shaft of light. On this pedestal there should be an ancient ring that has a bit of lore in the description tab if you examine it. Essentially, wizards back in the Aresh'Ta Empire used rings like this one to travel between the elemental planes due to some unique magical properties including being able to breathe in hazardous environments (e.g. underwater and in the ash choked planes of fire). The ring was also enchanted to absorb elemental energy. This second function eventually led to damage resistance versus whatever elemental power the ring had been exposed to during its travels (e.g. fire, cold, acid, electrical damage). So, make sure to wear this ring before entering any of the elemental planes and you should be alright.
As for the fire temple, this fight is tricky for a few reasons. 1) the salamanders keep spawning until you figure out the puzzle. 2) the bodies remain after death but only a *few* are loot-able. 3) piles of slain salamanders can make it difficult to access the 4 braziers surrounding the center dais. The solution is to loot the scales from slain salamanders and place one of these scales into an unlit brazier. Once you put a scale in a brazier, the brazier will become unusable but will start burning and no more salamanders will spawn in at the corresponding, closest spawn point (i.e. the crystal post about 10 meters away). The drop rate is about 1 in 10 so just hang in there, keep checking the bodies for scales, and try to keep them away from the middle dais where the braziers are so they don't block your view. Another tip is to cast blade barrier right at or just in front of one of the 4 salamander spawn points. That should kill one quickly while you and KT focus on killing the others. If it gets really rough, try memming your best Summon Creature spell or even several of them. An earth, water, or air elemental can be very powerful especially if buffed with the Virtue cantrip that I modified to give extra temporary HPs as well as Bull's Strength, Endurance, and Mass Haste from the Forge-able boots (err, have you found the forge?). Sorry if all of these suggestions are superfluous, I just really enjoyed scripting that particular sequence. We crashed our alien PCs several times before we got the spawn loops and object checks written correctly.
As for the plane of water, you should be alright with the ring which will allow you to breathe while you move ahead. I'm curious what you mean about ignoring the shark? There was a bug for a bit when some mobs decided to not use their on perception scripts and so they just sat there until attacked. Is that happening? Otherwise, the first pillar has some inscriptions on it to read and will complete a full heal on you and KT if you touch it (i.e. click on it and wait a moment while the animation and VFX play). The successive pillars will offer you aid as well in different ways.
Hopefully that will help you get through to the first altar. If you are still stuck, please write back and tell me more details about how far you make it and what is the cause of your death(s).
Again, make sure you have the ring with you before entering the elemental planes. After each plane, check the ring to see if anything has changed in terms of its properties since it should have been awarded damage resistance to the kind of energy from the plane you just visited.
*** END SPOILERS ***
Good luck to you and please let us know if you have more questions!
-Dan & Johanna
Posted by Dunhallym at 2013-01-21 12:48:53 Voted 9.75 on 02/07/13
Hi. This is a great module, one of the bests I've played, and I'm nearing its completion. But I'm stuck with the Trial of elements. While air and earth were quite easy, I'm stuck with water and fire.
***spoiler***
In water, I managed to go to the first pilar, but I don't see what I can do with it or even if there is something to do with it, and I died before I could go much further, even when I pay no mind to the shark. Is there some object I missed that allows you to breath under water or some spell?
In fire, I come to the temple, and used all of the braziers, then I dies before I managed to kill all salamanders (several tries) and I don't see what I can do. Is there something to put in the braziers?
Thank you very much for taking the time to write such a detailed and comprehensive review of Deja Vu. It is clear to me that you have both experience and enthusiasm for sharing ideas with others to create more interesting and compelling worlds.
It is wonderful for both Johanna and I to read the kind words and generally positive comments as well as the constructive feedback that you have offered here. This entire endeavor is a learning process for both of us. DV was actually 8 years in the making, so I for one, am thrilled that it actually came to see the light of day! We are very, very late to the party, so-to-speak, and wondered if anyone would even be around to play DV.
This is to say nothing of how great it is to learn from other writers and players as they make recommendations and point out areas for improvement. We enjoy hearing the suggestions and reactions of players who have been willing to give this adventure a try and invite more feedback from others.
Quick story:
As a kid, like so many of us, I poured endlessly over my increasingly battered and well-loved 1st edition AD&D books; dreaming of my own worlds and gradually developing my own house rules as I grew into an adult who still flips through the delicate remnants of those same books. And so I have become wildly out of compliance with the latest version of D&D and am quite happy about it.
Similarly, I customized liberally in DV when I hoped to improve some functionality or offer something new. Some of these changes work and some do not. For example, the crafting system certainly introduces the potential for unbalanced play. We hope to improve this in the future but struggled during development to strike a balance between giving knowledgeable and experienced players such as yourself an appropriately challenging experience while also taking care not to overwhelm casual gamers or new players with tasks that would ultimately discourage them or prevent them from reaching the end of the game. Frankly, I think we were surprised when the crafting system ended up being functional at all and cannot tell you how much we agonized over the play balance and timing of it. The central question being, "how do you allow for a crafting system that will enrich the player's experience and still maintain balance in a world that will host adventurers who either do not take note of the system or are otherwise not interested in that aspect of play?" In the end, we likely erred on the side of making the adventure possible for all players to finish because the story was what we really wanted to tell.
Which brings me to a request I have for you. Please reload one of your saves at the end of DV just before the final scenes. Once you cross the broken bridge, exit the cutscenes and conversations immediately, save the game, and then chose alternative endings. A variant of the "Good" ending gives the player the most full explanation of "How" and "Why" all of this came to be in the first place, and is, we hope, an unconventional and touching denouement of all the endings. And yes, as you suggested, the "Evil" path does offer additional perspectives that elucidate the motives and histories of the NPCs and PC. We wrote the varied endings so the player could put the pieces together and realize that, strangely enough, DV is, in the end, a love story.
Thank you once again for the time and effort you put into giving us your suggestions and balanced review. Good on you sir for sharing your experiences with us. It means a lot to both of us that you, or anyone, would not only persevere to the ending but then still care enough to let us know how this adventure was for you. We wish you well in your future adventures!
Take care,
-Dan & Johanna
p.s. - To everyone: please take note that we just posted an updated version of Deja Vu that incorporates much of the feedback posted here by you guys in the comments section.
Posted by Spell Singer at 2013-01-19 06:03:29 Voted 9.00 on 01/19/13
I am using the NWN2 type of vote here. The 9 means I really enjoyed the module but due to subject matter it may not appeal to everyone. The use of spell effects and cutscenes was very well done. It is a story module and has no ability to go "freeform," which may not appeal to people who dislike "linearity." It has a good and evil path though and my suspicion is that it does have multiple endings. Well done background and lore, with a lot of care and attention to detail in the areas. I found a number of nice little touches to areas. It is generally possible to figure out your way forward without too much difficulty. A few rather disconcerting modern-ism in the conversations kind of pull you out of the immersion. About the only noticable issue was the see saw difficulty, it was extremely tense at the start of the module but a breeze by the end. The crafting system is fun but does allow for an extremely powerful endgame PC.
*Spoilers (specific comments)*
I must admit I never thought of attacking the hole I just found the sole spot where they could only come at me 2 at a time, since 6 to 1 was a death sentence.
A few other things I noticed:
One was that things which should not be subject to sneak attacks or critical hits were. I don't know if this just bioware's orginal skin errors...I reworked a great many of their skins for a PW one time, but it certainly drops the difficulty of fights.
The one thing about doing the good playthrough (ending up lawful good) is that you have no idea why the whole thing got started. I have to admit it is a good motivator for a second playthrough on the evil side though.
After the trial of time I was supposed to get +1 strength but it never showed up. Neither so far as I could tell did the bonus strength from resting (never noticed it on my character sheet anyway).
The crafting is quite possibly unbalanced I have to admit. It is certainly fun and clearly a lot of work went into it (I assume there must be differences for good and evil) but it allows you to make seriously powerful gear. It also sort of locks you into the hammer as a weapon (baring use of extended greater magic weapon and darkfire). The gear is probably not so extreme (I had +6 strength, +4 constitution, +4 wisdom, +4 charisma, +3 AC armour, +5 AC shield) but I have to admit the end of the module was pretty much a walk in the park...the last battle I don't think I got hit and in the trial of creation only the iron golem did any significant damage (had to use some healing on that fight). This is a tough call as it depends on what you consider a character of that level should have... that K.T.'s armour and weapons upgraded as you went along was a nice touch.
The battle in Fairfields is a tad disconcerting the first time you encounter it. I didn't expect the continous respawn and so it made battle rationing of spells and items a bit harder. Once you figure out what is happening and especially recall the wands you have it becomes less frustrating. But again once you get your first batch of crafted stuff the difficulty of things just nose dives. I'm not so fond of being forced into a mode of play where I rest every short while and that area does that.
Overall though it was a damn fine module I have to say.
We just uploaded an updated version of Deja Vu (v1.1) which incorporated many of your suggestions. We also added a few screenshots and are open to uploading any screenshots you might have from your journey through DV. Email us at [email protected] with your picture. Thank you for the feedback and support. Happy adventuring!
Thanks for posting your feedback thus far. I'll look up that conversation and the skill check.
* Spoilers *
The fight at the bottom of the well is scripted to spawn extra bugs until you destroy their hole (with an upper limit). Sometimes this fight is tough and extra so on hardcore. I can take a look at it.
The cook is actually supposed to stick around the safehouse just in case the PC needs a reminder about what to do next.
Same thing for the forge, there are 2 sequences that occur when you forge an item. The first is the long cutscene and the second is a shorter version. The longer version still occurs rarely by randomly generated chance and this is the one with the attack on the forge which is intended to simulate the physical act of hammering on the forge. I was going to require the PC to weild the hammer of Jes'La but that whole section was already complicated and needed to be cut back a bit. The forge has a ton of hps and should be alright. If it breaks in anyone's game, I could add an on hb script to the area to check if it is a valid object and if not, create one from resref at the proper location. Something like that. I do appreciate your report though, it's good to consider these things.
And yes, that one journal entry is still popping up. It looks like I'm in for another play test to try to isolate it.
* End Spoilers *
Anyway, thanks for giving DV a try and good luck with your adventure!
-Dan
Posted by Spell Singer at 2013-01-12 08:31:48 Voted 9.00 on 01/19/13
Another 2 bugs: sometimes (and I don't know what triggers it) while trying to forge something the character will attack the anvil during the process. It seems to happen if you make a mistake setting up the forge or if you go quickly but I'm not sure if this is just coincidence. What happens is that the sequence starts with your character working the anvil rather than it saying "time passes with a fade to black." The attack on the anvil then occurs when the screen fades to black. I don't know if it is possible to destroy the anvil so this may not be a problem.
I have a blank journal entry for "dancing shadows." Not sure when it was supposed to have triggered but I assume during the fight to get to the end of the ancient cave sequence.
Posted by Spell Singer at 2013-01-12 05:05:53 Voted 9.00 on 01/19/13
I am enjoying the module (not finished yet) but have found a bug:
When answering K.T. after reading the bandit leaders letter instead of making a persuade check an intimdate check was made when I selected the persuade option.
Two further comments:
The cook in the safehouse gets blocked by the drape door and doesn't leave.
The fight at the bottom of the well should be re-examined as I had to turn the difficulty way down. The 6 bugs that spawn in have very high checks for their disease, and once you fail it makes each sucessive failure easier as it drops you constitution. I died several times as the fail drops my remaining hitpoints below zero. You have to make so many checks, not to mention are subject to so many 20's that it is impossible to win the fight on hardcore.
Posted by acamantor at 2013-01-02 08:29:48 Voted 9.25 on 01/02/13
Very good module. The plot get you hooked leaving you anxious to see what comes next. In the old times it'd climbed up into the HoF quite quickly.
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at 2013-04-26 00:54:47
