"Stories are parasitic forms of life, warping lives in the service only of the story itself. As the great sage explained, it takes a special kind of person to fight back..."
This is a story about stories, and about expectations...
Some are born to be heroes; some are heroes due to circumstances. And yet others are both. Or not.
Set in the Forgotten Realms in a small village northwest of Longsaddle, you take on the role of the third-born son (of a farmer) who is destined to succeed.
(Heavily) Recommended PC: New level 1 non-evil, Male Human or Half-Elf. Any class, though fighter classes will find this easier.
WARNING: NO RESPAWN ON DEATH AVAILABLE. IF YOU DIE, YOU DIE. Save often...
Required Hak Pack: Ar Pharazon's cave roof by Ar Pharazon (Released: 03-07-2007)
(Also available at The Vault. Builders will also need the erf... Link Included here as it ends up adding little to the download after compression.
Update used: toitv2.hak 04-11-2007)
Installation instructions: After unpacking OUaT.rar, put;
Once Upon a Time.mod --> ...\My Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2\modules
Recommended Settings: To get the best visually out of the opening, make sure you have water reflections and refraction on! (You can turn them off again after the opening, if you like...)
Gameplay: ~30 min.
11/15/07: I haven't noticed any problems using MotB (One play test). Let me know if this is wrong...
How about uninstalling the game on dying? I think that's what someone from Obsidian "suggested" in response to some posts in one of the death rules thread at some point... :D _________________________ Forgotten Realms Weave
Posted by Mungo_D at 2007-05-0907:04:48
I was thinking of making the game exit on saving - to get that real fragile NetHack feel. :)
Posted by Lariam at on05/08/07
Another point of view on respawning... I actually think it's cool that there's no respawn - from the point of view of the theme, that is. **** SPOILERS **** The unforgiving death rules emphasize the "fragility" of the protagonist. Were he/she really invincible, the exploration of the stories-have-life-of-their-own stuff wouldn't be so neat, I think. Now, as things are, it is more like the protagonist only is destined to succeed thanks to everyone thinking that he will. In truth, he/she'd have no chance of succeeding if they didn't. That's why I liked the handling of the theme. Being third-born actually only helps in very weird circumstances! **** END OF SPOILERS **** Cheers, Lariam _________________________ Forgotten Realms Weave
Posted by Mungo_D at 2007-05-0901:18:46
Thanks Berliad. Combat is so hard to balance in a 1st level game - what is easy for a barbarian is extremely hard for other classes. SPOILERS! But if you missed the barbarian goblin, you missed the hardest fight - I've seen that sucker take out an entire party including barbarian PC with four swings. That's the 'luck' of a random 'dungeon'... I do indeed intend to add to the module post-contest, with a little more exploration and combat in the caves, including a problem that needs solving. But "No more goblins!" as one of my beta-testers said. Also, I hope to add to the choices in conversations, though I am tempted to seek help in that - conversations aint my strong point. My only problem with the witch sending friends is why would she when her success is guaranteed? I may, however, move her closer to the top. As for respawn, it's a personal thing - the game is too easy with it. I'm a NetHack fan. You die, you are dead! ;)
Posted by Berliad at on05/08/07
A few specific comments for the author (spoilers!!!): * Again, I loved the effect in the opening cut scene. Phenomenal. * Curious -- if the character is destined to succeed, why not allow an automatic respawn? :) * I like Kaidryl's idea of a final battle on the side of the mountain to give the module some more meat. One idea of how to set it up might be to have the witch's friends try to ambush the player and take the gem by force. And only after the player defeats the friends does the witch approach the player and demand the gem. I don't expect you'll continue to work on this module after the contest, but just thought I'd throw it out there. _________________________ My NWN Blog FRW Character Creator
Posted by Berliad at on05/08/07
6 - Good, Qualified Recommendation Character: lv. 1 chaotic good human barbarian Once upon a time is a modest, humorous little adventure with a cool premise, and ultimately is a decent way to start off a character and get him or her to level 2. The premise--that people are just pawns, their lives shaped by stories, which repeat over and over again--is really cool and deserves exploration. I thought that this was going to be a really cool exploration of fate and destiny and a character's fight against impossible odds. Instead, while there's an element of that, the author opted to use the premise as a running gag throughout the module. His take is funny and clever, and I recommend it for that. The module also has a cool underground mines area that was built exterior areas, as well as a spectacular effect during the opening sequence. The actual adventure itself was fine, though perhaps not particularly memorable. Dialogs, as others have mentioned, were fairly minimal and were quite linear, though they were well written. It seems like this could have been a great hack and slash mod for a level 1 character, but I found the combat to be a bit light for that genre. Granted, I played with a fairly uber melee character, which might have made it too easy, but I think that a bit more combat & a bit more exploration (especially in the mines) might have made this a more enjoyable module. Of course, that might have been inconsistent with the punch line... :) _________________________ My NWN Blog FRW Character Creator
Posted by Mungo_D at 2007-05-0815:37:22
Hooray! I'm currently the 25th TOP NWN2 module of all time - so what if there are only 30 modules with 10 votes so far... :) Seriously though, thanks very much for the sheer volume of feedback I'm getting, much of it very good for a builder. Currently (9/5), I am beating even the Birthday for votes per download. Amazing. Don't forget to try out and comment on the other contest modules.
Posted by Lariam at on05/08/07
I thought that this was a great mod to start a new character. :) The introduction was very neat, I think. I also liked the way in which the contest theme had become intertwined with a Forgotten Realms module. (The "minis" were a nice little touch, by the way.) The paradoxical feel of the module was enjoyable, too. It seemed to give an expression to something true and interesting, yet at the same time showed that things aren't that simple. That's very vague, but I'll leave it at that. I also thought that the exploration of the idea was of a good scale. This was a short module that I enjoyed as such. I wasn't left wanting more (which is fully compatible with the possibility of future extensions after which the mod would still constitute an appropriately sized whole), and I liked what there was. I'm feeling two ways about giving a small contest bonus to my vote... I'd like to do that, but, then, these modules will be treated like any other by the Vault. Hmmm... Okay, I guess I know how I'll vote, and I'm still not fully sure about whether the bonus made its way into my vote, or not. (I'm still learning the new standards, anyway, and I may come back one day to readjust my vote.) :) Anyway, thanks for this mod, Mungo! Cheers, Lariam _________________________ Forgotten Realms Weave
Posted by Tiberius209 at on05/07/07
Enjoyed the module. I was extremely impressed by the exterior and interior mountain maps, especially the cleverness of the latter. The opening and closing curscene was also well-done. I agree with other comments about the lack of conversation choices, but with only about a month to work, you can't do everything. Other aspects of the module clearly make up for that shortcoming. I *am* upping my vote a tad, as I don't believe a one-month deadline module should be held to the same standards as the 'work 'til it's done' variety. By these standards, it's an excellent module.
10 - A Masterpiece, Genuinely Groundbreaking 9 - Outstanding, a Must Have 8 - Excellent, Recommended to Anyone 7 - Very Good, Deserves a Look 6 - Good, Qualified Recommendation 5 - Fair, Solid yet Unremarkable 4 - Some Merit, Requires Improvements 3 - Poor Execution, Potential Unrealized 2 - Very Little Appeal 1 - Not Recommended to Anyone
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