40 replies to this topic

[Imrahil]

I recently posted a big review of all the MOD NPC's I've ever played with over on Ironworks. If anyone's interested or wants to make comments or give their own impressions, the topic is located here...

http://www.ironworks...ic;f=2;t=024694

- Imrahil

Edited by Imrahil, 02 January 2005 - 02:12 PM.

[Rastor]

Allison actually does have ToB content.

It would also be a good idea for you to point out each bug or typo or whatever that you found at each mod's forum so that the creator can do something about the problem. As of the present, you just mention the ambiguous errors (which is fine in the review), but if you give the authors specific instances then the problems may be fixed.

Edited by Rastor, 03 January 2005 - 06:42 AM.

[Seifer]

All of those reviews seem somewhat superficial and look based on nothing more then a quick perusal through the dialogue files.

I don't really feel the need to register at another forum so:-
1) K&Z - Give me a list of NON-Romance errors. The dialgues I'm aware of but of all the team, only two of us were native English speakers.

2) Silverstar is currently incomplete and really should have been excluded fromn your deliberations. She has a voice set yet to be implemented and as for the dialogue and banters, again, we've had to translate from Italian for this one.

[Shed]

Name: Yikari
Characteristics: LN Male Human Monk
Str: 16 Dex: 18 Con: 14 Int: 8 Wis: 19 Cha: 4
Equipment: Yikari's Robe, Yikari's Ninja-to (both initially unknown properties, but you find out after his quest), several potions
Personality: D
Yikari is a Monk from Kara-Tur on a quest to retrieve a certain katana which was stolen from his monastery. He's under a vow of silence until he succeeds, so your initial meeting involves an interesting bit of charades. Yikari is more of an alpha release at this point, though, so he has joining-up dialogue, quest dialogue, & leaving dialogue, but that's it as far as personality goes.
Implementation: C-
There's very little of him, but what's there is well done (no spelling errors, even). At the moment, he might better be considered a mini-quest for players who'd like to trade a certain katana for some XP, then let Yikari return home while you go find a more talkative NPC (if you just use him for that purpose, he'd probably rate a B in this category).
Power: B-
Yikari is available fairly early in the game & starts out at level 12 (potentially 18 if you wait long enough to talk to him), so he can be a powerhouse relatively quickly. Still, as a Monk, you won't want to Tank with him, but rather have him as a secondary attacker.
Ease: B+
Yikari can be found in the Temple District, on one of the long north-south bridges in the middle of the map.
ToB: No
Overall: D+
As I mentioned earlier, Yikari might serve best as a nice little quest at this point rather than a full-fledged NPC. He shows some good promise, though, & once he gets some banters & interjections he should be worth keeping around.

It seems that you have reviewed V1.0 of Yikari, which was a one-week NPC. Considering V1.1 was updated many months ago, I find this a bit surprising. V1.1 does banter, and V1.2 will interject, amongst other things.

Edited by Shed, 03 January 2005 - 01:12 PM.

[Rastor]

I think the Allison that he reviewed was v1.0 as well, which was admittedly quite buggy. V1.2 fixes a lot of the issues that were mentioned in the review.

Including what version you reviewed would be beneficial.

[Sillara]

I *know* the version of Tsujatha he reviewed was v1, as most of the errors (including the poor characterization!) were fixed in v2. Tsujatha is now on v7, so don't feel bad about his not getting the latest update!

Sillara

[Imrahil]

Allison actually does have ToB content.

I'll update the listing to reflect that - is it just the Volo/end/epilogue stuff or is there more?

It would also be a good idea for you to point out each bug or typo or whatever that you found at each mod's forum so that the creator can do something about the problem.

I generally do. See Silver Star Beta Bugs, page 3, for an example. If you check the forums for Yikari, Hubelpot, Yasraena, Tsujatha, Keto, Kido, Ghareth, etc., etc. you'll see posts by me.

All of those reviews seem somewhat superficial and look based on nothing more then a quick perusal through the dialogue files.

Wrong. But thanks for calling me a liar. Incidently, there's 35 NPC's there - how much depth were you expecting?

I don't really feel the need to register at another forum so:-
1) K&Z - Give me a list of NON-Romance errors. The dialgues I'm aware of but of all the team, only two of us were native English speakers.

NON-Romance errors for the Kiara-Zaiya Romance MOD? Does that mean I can't mention the demon not spawning correctly (an endless "here comes a demon" animation) or having nothing to say to me when I CLUA it in, or when it kills Kiara despite having the stone (I couldn't get to that point, but I notice others have reported it). Can I mention Amaralis's goons showing up in the Pass even if you never met Kiara & having nothing to say to you (although one of them will start attacking). I guess I can mention that some dialogues loop & you already know about the proof-reading.

2) Silverstar is currently incomplete and really should have been excluded fromn your deliberations. She has a voice set yet to be implemented and as for the dialogue and banters, again, we've had to translate from Italian for this one.

Then might I suggest you remove the download link for her, or at least remove her from the Pocket Plane NPC MOD listing.

It seems that you have reviewed V1.0 of Yikari, which was a one-week NPC. Considering V1.1 was updated many months ago, I find this a bit surprising.

Not too surprising, I hope, since I actually *do* play through the game with the various NPC's but don't spend 24/7 doing it. I think you'll find my last comments in the Yikari forum were in August, but I'll definitely give the latest version a try at some point.

I think the Allison that he reviewed was v1.0 as well, which was admittedly quite buggy. V1.2 fixes a lot of the issues that were mentioned in the review.

I'll give her another go, as well, then (I tend to go by the date on the Pocket Plane listing, & both Allison & Yikari are listed with August dates, so I wasn't aware of the updates).

Including what version you reviewed would be beneficial.

That's an excellent idea - I'll see if I can add that to the existing reviews & will make sure to add it to future reviews.

I *know* the version of Tsujatha he reviewed was v1, as most of the errors (including the poor characterization!) were fixed in v2. Tsujatha is now on v7, so don't feel bad about his not getting the latest update!

Heh... that's very true (I tried to infer some of the improvements based on what I read in your forum) - Tsujatha (& Kindrek) has been evolving much too fast for me to keep up, but I plan to give him another run through as well.

I've started a game with Fade, Alora, & Fonick (plus a rotating cast of Bioware NPC's), & if there's nothing new after I complete that I'll start checking out updated versions of ones I've already played with.

- Imrahil

[Sillara]

Actually, I thought the reviews were quite informative. I like to know about relative power levels and ease of picking up! That helps me plan out my party in advance, which I always like to do. I have noted Imrahil's posts in the forums of the mods for which I am responsible (Tsujatha and Yasraena) as well as though my husband has (Kindrek and Willie Bruce, though Willie Bruce has no forum). They are thorough and informative.

I do hope you will update Tsujatha's review after playing through with him again. :^^:

Oh, and Willie Bruce has basic TOB, not none as currently stated in the review.

Sillara

[Seifer]

NON-Romance errors for the Kiara-Zaiya Romance MOD?  Does that mean I can't mention the demon not spawning correctly (an endless "here comes a demon" animation) or having nothing to say to me when I CLUA it in, or when it kills Kiara despite having the stone (I couldn't get to that point, but I notice others have reported it).  Can I mention Amaralis's goons showing up in the Pass even if you never met Kiara & having nothing to say to you (although one of them will start attacking).  I guess I can mention that some dialogues loop & you already know about the proof-reading.

2) Silverstar is currently incomplete and really should have been excluded fromn your deliberations. She has a voice set yet to be implemented and as for the dialogue and banters, again, we've had to translate from Italian for this one.

Then might I suggest you remove the download link for her, or at least remove her from the Pocket Plane NPC MOD listing.

Keep the attitude Imrahil, I don't need it here.
You're the only one to report the spawning bug so send me a list of romance and non-romance bugs alike and I'll take care of them. If there's anything of which I'm unawares, which you may have done I'll thankyou for bringing it to my attention.

And for the PPG database I don't control it and I HIGHLY doubt they'd remove it even if I asked them. The fact its in the incomplete mods section should be enough warning though.

I might also suggest fort claritys sake, adding how long you've spent reviewing each one and how it turned out.

[Rastor]

I'll update the listing to reflect that - is it just the Volo/end/epilogue stuff or is there more?

She has an epilogue (has since the initial release) as well as a few banters with Sarevok and (IIRC) a few interjections scattered throughout ToB.

[NiGHTMARE]

You forgot Kivan of Shilmista .

[Rastor]

Our anonymous poster there sort of missed the point.

These are one person's evalutations of the mods in question. Most of the reviews reflect Imrahil's playstyle (and I'm guessing that he's more of a powergamer than I am). Yes, he seems to have given higher ratings to the PPG mods, but perhaps that's because they fit more into his playstyle than the others.

You are free to disagree with these ratings and even make some of your own. For instance, I would have rated Kelsey, Keto, and Solaufein somewhat lower than he did and Yasraena would have scored a bit higher. It's all about what the writer of the review enjoys.

One of the things that I have always liked about the NPC mods is their variety. If you don't like certain aspects of a mod NPC, you are free to play another that does agree more.

This definitely took a lot of work to put together Imrahil, and for that you deserve to be commended. I hope you'll try to deliver reviews with the newest versions of NPC mods as often as possible (although I realize that they do come out too quickly to keep up with).

[SConrad]

This is getting ridicolous, people. Users who won't log in, users using multiple accounts (yes, I'm talking about this thread).

Another brilliant example of how modders are attached to their mods like mothers to their babies.

The review isn't objective, not impartial. Naturally I'm proud of seeing Hubelpot high on the list, but seeing the powergamer's nightmare - combined with a lot of bugs and not to mention that it only took us a few weeks to get it out - scoring the same as Chloe, a mod Lucy and the others have spent surely 10 times more time on, with a full-fledged romance, etc. speaks for itself. Of course, I would have scored Hubelpot even higher than Chloe, but then, I'm not impartial either.

So, guys, there is no right and wrong here, since the concept of 'right' and 'wrong' changes from person to person. Please try to meet halfways, alright? Don't snap at Imrahil for trying to do the players a favour, let him review how he want. And Imrahil, please listen to the points the modders make, okay? It's people time and effort you're ruthlessly putting on a scale, without even bothering to ask for permission first.

[SConrad]

domi/Ashara, you could just ask Neil or hlid to change your username.