Thea: The Awakening, Lada 2, Part 1

It has been over four months since I played Thea: The Awakening. A lot had changed with the addition of a lot of content and two downloadable content (DLC). However, I was disappointed that when I wanted to start a new game, Thea crashed. A look through the error log revealed that it was caused by the lack of memory in my old computer.

I did some research and came up with a few possible solutions to the crash. I implemented all of them at once (so I do not know which one worked) and managed to get Thea working. I started Thea in GFX Direct Mode since that was the standard recommendation. In addition, I began a new game with a Small World Size. Hopefully, this would reduce the memory requirements although I would not have a large play area. In the beginning, I noticed that the voice-over made the game stutter. Thus, I slid the Voiceover Volume left to zero.

This game of Thea: The Awakening was played on version 1.20.1912.0.

The bonuses of Lada, version 1.20.1912.0.

I chose Lada as the patron deity. It would take 447 XP to unlock her fourth bonus and another 1000 XP after that for her last bonus. It would take a long time to get 1447 XP since I had chosen a Small World Size. That setting would reduce the area available for exploration and the Score Multiplier. On the other hand, the game would proceed faster since locations for Quests were expected to be closer.

The custom difficulty settings.

I chose Gatherers as the Village Focus since Lada is a peaceful goddess.

As I did in my last game with Horos, I set the Enemy Aggressiveness to High so I would not waste Movement Points hunting down weak baddies at night. With Lada's first three bonuses, I decided I could manage with Starting Villagers set to 9. I had never used Reshuffles so I left that option at None. I left Saves set to On as a precaution. I was not sure if I would play a short or a long game. To cater for the possibility of the latter, I set Group Limits to 16. Blood Bath would seriously increase the possibility of villagers dying from combat wounds so I set it to Off.

The Score Multiplier is 125%, which meant that a lot of play was required for the 1447 XP I needed to unlock Lada's final bonus.

I decided to run the Tutorial so I had something to do at the start of the game rather than aimlessly exploring the land.

The end of the Tutorial introduction.

Once the Tutorial introduction was over, I checked the supplies at my village. I had a lot of Meat and 3 Children. I also had a few other types of food from Lada's third bonus. There were some good material but I was more interested in the War Hammers. Those were good weapons against weak opponents early in the game.

Resources available at the start.

I noticed that there were new 2D graphics for attributes, items and equipment. The new graphics do make the game prettier. I also noticed that I was a little disorganized since I had been away from Thea for such a long time.

An Elf visited my village. It appeared to be an Event related to Lada. In exchange for precious food (including Grain!), two villagers gained permanent Attributes.

Can you spot two incorrect words?

When it was time to start the Main Quest, the first location appeared close to my expedition. It was likely to happen, considering the Small World Size.

The first quest location appeared close to my expedition.

A few good resource gathering spots appeared near the village, probably influenced by the Small World Size. There was Wicker. There was also Monster bone and Silver although I would have to unlock these with research before I can begin harvesting.

Good resources available close to the village.

Silver was good for crafting good equipment, which will also increase research. However, it required 2 Advancement Points to unlock. Previously, it only required 1 Advancement Point to unlock any research.

Silver required 2 Advancement Points.

The first part of the Divine Quest for Lada appeared. I thought the text could use more words to describe what was happening because some context was missing. I derive some small amusement from spotting errors in the text. Having less text mean fewer opportunities for errors though.

This text needs more words.

I checked the location for the Divine Quest. It was around a body of water, near the corner of the map. Because of the Small World Size, it was not very far from the village.

The Quest location appeared as far as it possibly could, which was not far.

Sometime after I had unlocked Monster bones, I noticed that Dragon bones had appeared next to the village! I could harvest this rare resource directly from my settlement. It was going to take a lot of Advancement Points and effort to craft Dragon's Banes (2-Handed Axes) with those bones but it would be worth it. Actually, it would be necessary to acquire Dragon's Banes for the tough baddies much later in the game.

A Dragon bone gathering spot appeared next to the village!

Meanwhile, my village attracted a Hunter. He looked like a sad person.

A Hunter joined the village.

With a supply of Monster bones and Wicker, I constructed a Smithy. If I was going to craft good equipment, I would need one. As an added bonus, the Smithy might attract Beasts.

Building a Smithy of Monster bone and Wicker.

My expedition met the Ruins of a House Event twice. The first time, nothing happened as I investigated and I got some loot as I buried the bodies. On the second time I had that Event, I was attacked, twice. Two of my villagers were hurt badly but they survived.

Can you spot the incorrectly used word?

My expedition came across an old tower. There were scavengers inside. After outsmarting the scavengers, I found that they had a prisoner. I hoped that I would get a new villager.

Is that an extra space in the text?

Unfortunately, the prisoner did not survive (either that or he was forgotten). I had to be content with 3 Stone Axes, which I dismantled for Quartz and Dark wood. The Quartz would be useful for construction.

I completed a Watchtower made of Monster bone and Clay. Both of these resources attracted Beasts. In addition, I would be able to see further from my village, which would give me advance warning of wandering baddies.

Completed a Watchtower of Monster bone and Clay.

My expedition found a tree with a crow's nest on it. Strangely, the Event mentioned Morena, another goddess. I chose to climb the tree and loot the nest.

Tree with Crow's Nest Event.

After looting the nest, the crows returned and attacked.

Attacked by Crows.

Not only was the expedition outnumbered, the villagers had to contend with a Royal Crow.

Look at the Armour on that Royal Crow!

My expedition won the Fight Challenge and got lots of loot. Unfortunately, I lost my Hunter (should I call her a Huntress?). The next time I came across this Event, I was more careful to avoid the crows. My people were not ready for fights of this difficulty.

Loot won from the Event.

I had an encounter with the Hochlick from the tutorial. I wonder if this event would have presented itself if I had not done the tutorial. Anyway, one of the options I had mentioned both Morena and Lada.

Hochlick's Debt Quest.

After convincing the Hochlick to tell the truth, I went to convince a few Karkandzas to leave her alone.

The Hochlick finally told the truth.

When I was successful in convincing the Karkandzas, the Hochlick appeared and blessed a few villagers with permanent attributes.

A few villagers gained permanent attributes.

It might have been a mistake to set Enemy Aggressiveness to High. As I was exploring a distance from the village in the late evening, my expedition was attacked by a 3-Skull group. I won but had many badly wounded people.

The sad Hunter was badly wounded.

Fortunately, my expedition was near the Herbalists Hut and my people could get healed for 30 Food, 5 Wood and a completed favor.

The Herbalists Hut was nearby.

My expedition met with a black wolf. This time, an option with the name of Horos was presented.

The Black Wolf Event.

The option involving Horos in the Black Wolf Event made me wonder if having Lada as the patron goddess also unlocked options related to certain other deities. This was something to keep in mind as I continued playing.

The game thus far had been quite peaceful and unexciting. There were hardly any wandering baddies or random creature lairs. Because of that, I was not getting many items or much resources as loot. I am not sure if it was because of Lada's peaceful nature or the fact that I had chosen a Small World Size.

There were random Events - the Ruins of a House Event had happened a few more times. However, I had to be careful with Events. Without Dragon's Banes, I had problems with even 3-Skull Fight Challenges.

Due to the peace, I thought that I should concentrate on Gathering rare resources, Crafting powerful equipment and constructing buildings to attract weird... things. I needed Dragon's Banes and more villagers.

Thea: The Awakening, Lada 2, Part 2
Thea: The Awakening, Lada 2, Part 3
Thea: The Awakening, Lada 2, Part 4
Thea: The Awakening, Lada 2, Part 5
Thea: The Awakening, Lada 2, Final Part

Thea: The Awakening, Contents