by Stefan Gagne

Pros
•  excellent story that keeps you glued to the screen
•  high production value with intro movie and voice actors 
•  gameplay fits the story perfectly  
•  challenging but fun puzzles 
•  tight gameplay area works well

Cons
•  large download (19.6 MB)
•  lots of back tracking

The Bottom Line - Possibly the best NWN module available that does not have either a sequel or a prequel.

Module: Download

Review

The author of the popular Penultima series delivers another blockbuster module with this story-based masterpiece. Very few modules can suck you into the story and keep you off balance, the way that Elegia Eternum can. The intro movie sets the mood for the module instantly and lets you that you are about to enjoy a quality, albeit somewhat mature, gaming experience. The addition of the voice actors and the long conversation trees make you really care about some of the characters. In other words, this module builds up its characters well and this allows you to be more emotionally attached to the events that unfold. 

For players who prefer simple hack and slash games to story-built ones, you will be teased at the beginning of the module with what sounds like a standard hack and slash type quest. At the very beginning, you think the only goal of this module is to find some magical evil staff in a cave and destroy it. Once you begin to hack and slash in that cave, however, you will learn that you were wrong on that assumption. From there, the real story kicks in and never lets go until you finish the module. 

The entire module takes place in a rather small area, which is good because you will have to do a fair amount of back tracking to solve the puzzles. You feel that you really want to solve the puzzles because they are expertly done and the story is wrapped around them like a glove. For example, you have to engage in an all-important insult slinging contest because of the personality of a young boy. 

The negatives for this module are small due to the overall high production value. Nevertheless, people with slow modems may be turned off by the almost 20 MB download and there is a large amount of going back and forth between different locations. Those minor issues aside, Elegia Eternum simply stands out from most other modules in terms of quality. For a good analogy, think of Elegia Eternum as a big-budget movie that delivers on all the hype. 

Game Ogre's Rating (out of 10):

9.50

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