Created by Aristan
Reviewed by Dormammu Review Posted on 2007-08-18
Quick Pros:
Wonderful setting and story, very "professional" looking.
Quick Cons:
Can be very difficult and minimally unintuitive.
Summary (No Spoilers)
Number of Players: 1
Hours of Game Play: Approx. 8
Character: Blaine Chase LN Monk
Start Level: 1
End Level: 6
Hak Size: Music-60MB, HAK-15MB
Death: No respawn
Resting: Limited to area and bedroll availability
Requires: SoU, HotU, CEP2
PNP conversion: No
Avertine-A Nation Dreamed is an excellent and immersive single player module based in a unique land, but consistent with Forgotten Realms canon. Greed and power play has corrupted the city, and through an underground network you will take up arms against the corruption.
Author Description:
The Grey Kingdom has occupied the lands of Avertine for thousands of years. Many times over the centuries the people have risen up to throw off their oppressors. Every time they have been crushed by the armies of the Kingdom. The last time was four years ago in the villages of Ventilt and Dornmar. The Kingdom crushed the rebellion and all that stood with them. Men, women, children; none were spared. You had family in Dornmar, a brother. Fighting for the ideals of a free, independent Avertine he died in the slaughter.
Now is your time. In a pub you met Garek Reyne, a veteran of the previous war. He was the sole survivor of the Dornmar massacre and a legend among the people. Through the course of the discussion the talk turned to family and the discovery that Reyne knew of your brother. With a few exchanged words you were drawn in to the rebel movement.
Perhaps the day of Avertine's freedom is finally at hand.
Gameplay : 8.5
As a whole, the module is technically “linear”, but that word is a far cry from how events are played out. Whereas you spend the bulk of your time working towards advancing the very captivating storyline, you don’t feel as if you are trapped by it. Your duties will demand that you travel through the city and nearby territories, cut deals and swing favors with brigands and other unsavory types, rescue a damsel in distress (so to speak), and the more clues you uncover, the more questions get raised. Before you know it, you find yourself neck deep in something that seems way over your head, and you are fighting to stay afloat.
The quests are meted out as needed to further the story. There are not only optional ways of handling conversations, but optional ways of completing quests themselves. Need a favor from someone? Well, you could scratch their back, or you could just shake them down and get the information you need, the decision is yours.
There is not much in the way of optional or sidequests, but one of them I encountered help set the stage for a later conflict, and made the mood in the docks a little grimmer. One need not worry overmuch about sidequests, for the main quest will keep you busy enough.
The city of Avertine itself is made up of five “quarters” (pentacrests?), The Poor Quarter, The Docks, The Merchant Quarter, The Government Quarter, and The High Quarter. Outside the walls of Avertine are the dreaded and mysterious Invanste Swamps. During the beginning of the game, the bulk of your time is spent in the Poor and Docks areas. As you progress, you will become familiar with the entire city.
A unique map system is used by the author to facilitate expedient traveling. One may not only use the map to travel to any quarter of the city on a whim, but may place up to three map “pins” to act as shortcuts to desired and heavily traversed locations.
The sheer amount of authenticity and realism poured into each setting lends itself to the profound immersion of the game. You start to notice the little things like women being better dressed in the High Quarter as opposed to the Poor Quarter or Docks, or a fish market and ringing ship bells by the incoming boats, or even just the riff raff that hangs out in seedy taverns. As these add up, Avertine starts feeling more and more real.
Avertine-A Nation Dreamed is also very esthetically pleasing from a technical standpoint. I encountered absolutely zero bugs of any type. The dialogue is extremely well written, and the conversation trees are ridiculous in their depth. The work on it as a whole is very professional looking, and I must reach to find much to criticize it on at all.
However, there were a couple of small things that grabbed my notice. I am going to use the example of the aforementioned sidequest in the Docks, where you are to find a missing young man that you find out is being taken away by ship soon. There are only three ships in the Docks, so it cuts down your list of places to search very rapidly. However, if it had not been for an accident, I may not have been able to find the ”right” ship, because the only indication you have is a small square area transition at the foot of a small door on one of the (seemingly) unmanned ships. This is one of a few instances where a very small and unmarked area transition is absolutely vital to plot progression. These are incredibly easy to miss and I was forced to review the (extremely well written) walkthrough that was included to figure out a couple of other area transitions of these types.
Another one of my “unintuitive resolution” issues regards a key you find yourself with at one point. My first time through I was forced to take a ham-fisted approach to procure the key, which left me alone with a key and a city full of unlocked doors. Luckily, the door in question happens to be very nearby (you will see!). Likewise, it is possible you can sweet talk the information out of key holder if your Persuade, Bluff, and/or Intimidate points are high enough (I *highly* recommend you max out one, if not all three of these skills), and can avoid being left in the dark.
When all is said and done here, though, this is a tremendously well built and thought out module that is very clean of bugs, and very engaging.
Roleplaying : 9
One of the most appealing aspects of playing this module is how you solve problems according to your PCs strengths coupled with your gameplay style. As a rule, the alignment gameplay gravitates more towards the middle, meaning that Lawful Good and Chaotic Evil may not have as many sensible choices. Playing as a Monk, I had to walk a fine line to maintain my Lawful alignment. There were times when taking a few points towards Chaotic were rather unavoidable, but staying in character kept my choices from taking me away from my alignment.
Whereas the game is incredibly well suited for a combat oriented rogue (as many of the aforementioned skills, plus Hide and Move Silently so often come in handy), just about any class should be able to play this game.
Another interesting twist to Avertine society is the role and treatment of “non-humans”. Any non-human race is viewed upon by the guard as crooks, thieves, and ne’er-do-wells. If you play a non-human race, you can expect to face prejudice from the community. You can also feel that, if you play human, you are encouraged to view non-humans the same way.
Ultimately, your approach will determine much of your outcome during this game. Many of your choices will have consequences for yourself and others. Even if the road is a one-way, you are still in the driver’s seat.
Action : 8.5
There is nothing more pleasing to me than when I find a module that follows my internal code for combat; combat that makes sense to the setting, varied combat, and exciting combat are all part of this, and Avertine delivers in kind.
No one will ever consider Avertine a heavy “Hack and Slash” module, but they will recognize the relevance of the conflicts. If the tough looking guys in the shady hideout don’t like you sticking your nose in where you don’t belong, you can expect them to attack. When you are exploring the unsettled wilds of the swamp, you can be sure there is danger lurking unseen. Most of all, you can expect the unexpected as well. Or can you?
One very gratifying aspect of combat in this module is the fact that you often come in conflict with relevant NPCs, and not just random and nameless groups of orcs. Your conflicts will have purpose, your enemies will have motives, and the violence will often reap rewards of one kind or another. On the flip side, you will also find yourself face to face with creatures that no one can prepare for and you will have to scrap your way out of some sticky situations. Stay prepared and stocked up on healing products!
Visuals : 9
Avertine is an absolutely beautiful city, with each quarter having a distinct personality of its own. The settings are stunningly set and very believable, and great care was taken to make it look authentic.
One of the main attractions, that I touched upon before, is noticing the “little” things. Flower pots set up outside an inn, women wearing fine gowns in the nice part of the city, a bustling market in the square, or shady men in dark corners all build Avertine from the ground up.
The Invanste Swamp was a particular one of my favorite settings in the game. I am not sure how many people would be able to echo this sentiment, but the swamp reminded me of the dark imagery associated with black mana from Magic: The Gathering. As I traversed the dank and putrid murk, I felt sure I was walking through a scene depicted on a Magic card more than once. It was absolutely eerie. The swamps are just a great place in the game.
Another absolutely brilliant setting is upstairs at the ‘Maiden’. Nothing says seedy low-lives like a dark, smoke-filled room with dancing prostitutes and surly men.
Rounding out this category are a couple of very interesting cutscenes that are used near the end to help bring conclusion to the dizzying array of events that have unfolded at your feet in a short time.
Sound : 8
Anyone that has ever read one of my reviews knows that I am categorically critical of sound in modules. This is a rare case of mine being able to heap praise on the terrific use of music and sound effects in a module.
There is the 60MB music download that is worth every byte. Within contains wonderfully selected atmospheric music that enhances almost every area of gameplay. I was particularly glad to see one of my old favorites from Icewind Dale II included (secret meeting with Captain Haller).
We also have an incidence of “little” things to notice in the sound department (that I am so fond of). While exploring a dank and humid little cave out in the middle of…nowhere, I noticed there were some natural hot spring geysers. In fact, I heard them before I saw them, and as I got closer the noise from it got louder. Is it a big thing? No. Did it lend itself to making this mod seem great? Absolutely.
Replayability : 8
If you had success your first time through and felt like you got a lot from the game, maybe you will let it be. However, after playing through with a heavy-handed monk, I was dying to try my Halfling rogue. Simply put, there is more than one way to skin a cat in this module, and I was sorely tempted to find out how.
Documentation : 9
There exists not only a thorough and comprehensive Readme to get things rolling for Avertine, but an extensive Walkthrough to act as your guide in case you get stuck on the way. On top of that there is a great deal of dialogue on the Vault page from players and the author with helpful hints and other pertinent information. A write up for the missing man sidequest was omitted from the walkthrough, but I found the solution on the vault page easy enough.
From an in-game/technical standpoint, the documentation was immaculate. Spelling was very good (I never begrudge a couple of typos), dialogue options were extensive, journal entries were thorough and helpful, and but for the few unmarked area transitions the map pins were spot on.
Solo : 9.5
I can say with absolute sincerity that Avertine-A Nation Dreamed could be used as a definition of what a really great single player mod should be. I have played and reviewed some of the best, and this mod fits right up there with them. I cannot recall the last time I was so thoroughly engaged and challenged by a module. This was a top-notch effort, no doubt about it.
Multiplayer : N/A
Fun Factor : 9
One disclaimer this module might want to add is “Not for beginners”. I love a good challenge, and had a great time playing this mod, but there were a few points where I felt like screaming or tossing my computer out the window. My advice to playing this is, “Be very thorough!”
Not wanting to end on even a remotely sour note, let me reiterate with my closing words that this module is absolutely one of the best designed and well-balanced modules that have ever come out of the NWN online community, and I simply cannot imagine anyone being disappointed with it.
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