Interview with ZyraenWhen did you first join the IE Modding community?Can’t really remember. I think about mid or late 2003?
What inspired you to get into modding?Ghreyfains Tutorial at
PPG started it. It looked easy, and seemed comprehensive, and woah when the
NPC showed up in the game I was like, hey I might really do something with this.
Then I was hanging around a chatroom with SimDing0, Jason Compton, SConrad, etc, so having people to ask things about helped. Plus seeing trashy
NPC ideas get support, made me pissed off, I started to ask myself, what hasn’t been done before in the modding community (then) and that’s how BTL really got started.
You started modding very ambitiously, with two NPCs and a very large quest – do you think that was a good way to start?Absolutely, fantastic. It feels good to get more done around a central, themed setting than most others have ever considered possible, even if the exposure was non-optimal.
What is your favourite aspect of modding?Trying to do something that I previously didn’t think possible.
And bringing a Great Story to Life, especially when the story takes over me… and I’m like amazed by some stuff because it reads like someone else wrote it and I get so fascinated I end up reading it over and over again.
I’m really just a storyteller, modding is a tool much like a canvas and paintbrush.
Could you tell us a little about your mod, Beyond the Law?Well its ambitious, and has long banters. It has a cute romance between two people who basically argue, disagree and never touch each other for practically the whole of the mod, featuring cutscenes covering rarely used areas in romances like cooking in inns, fishing in various forested areas, and even banters while morphed as drow.
BTL also has an intricate backstory that wraps up neatly some loose ends of
BG2 (see the Backstory of BTL topic), although it is not spelt out explicitly in the mod. It is only alluded to in the 7-part Quest that spans most of
SoA, from Chapter 2 to Chapter 6, bringing to life quite a few NPCs, many of them from the original game, and even the villains of BTL are not quite simple, run-of-the-mill badguys.
Among topics of discussion, it also covers to some extent, what is good and evil, what is redemption and forgiveness, what is courage and despair, and what does it mean to be alive, in a very “grey” fashion. On a more modern note, one can liken the main characters to a man facing mid-life crisis teamed up with a corporate-climbing woman who has her own life issues despite how good she seems to be doing.
On the forums, you’ve been telling us about your latest project, Silmarillion; could you give us an overview of that?Basically it is meant to bring to life JRR Tolkien’s rather unknown tale of Silmarillion, which occurred in the First Age and in which the elves did many fantastic, and in fact outright incredible things against the first Dark Lord, this a Valar (rather than Sauron who is a Maia). It is really the stuff of legends, only too bad it was never fleshed out, and this mod aims to give it substance as well as replayability. Due to the span of the Silmarillion stretching about 500 yrs and too many places to attribute to a single character’s background, I made use of the cliché time-travel plot device to go back and attend all the more interesting events in Silmarillion, the same time witness the greatness of those legendary characters and how they eventually fell.
The gameplay will detract from
BG2 with its uber equipment, but rather will feature modest equipment, up to +3 weapons which are only obtainable through very special feats and actions, although some items will still “combineable” through a smith. Most scenarios will require the players to conserve their resources, like potions and spells, because the players cannot rest during the whole process of a scenario. Unlike
BG2 as well, there will be plenty of situations that the player has no direct ability to control the outcome, due to overwhelming enemy forces, and will have to think of ways and people to turn to for help, though some NPCs will drop hints. The party may even need to be split up for some maps, to have a decent chance of defeating the encounter properly. Gold will also probably be in short supply, since much will be used to buy equipment and ammunition as well as potions (which don’t drop often).
Most interestingly, enemies and allies alike will probably move in squads around the field, and each and every CRE thus generated is actually pegged to the Player1’s Level – the higher the level the harder the foes. This also aims to solve the issue of the non-scaleable encounters of
BG2, where fights eventually get very boring as the players get powerful. It also ensures that for most of the mod, the party will have to use tactics rather than just charge in blindly, which will rapidly weaken the party and drain away spells and potions and such which may need to be conserved for later. Spawns will eventually come in squads of different classes, like thief or ranger squads, commanders which can wield arcane or divine or both types of spells, and even squads consisting solely of Fire Giants, Werewolves or Balrogs. Levels will be replayable in-game, though the spawns will increase in level according to the party’s level ; literally the player will have an in-game “let’s replay this scenario” device.
Silmarillion will hopefully also feature interesting Party interactions, including some very special relationships between NPCs who may have “departed” close friends or family members joining them. Examples include:
- (original characters) Illuvi and his sister Imari who perished in a war while protecting him some years back, and how she comes to terms with a very different man from the austere serious brother she used to know
- Finarfin the youngest brother of the legendary elven princes Feanor and Fingolfin, and how he comes to terms with his son Finrod, who through his actions caused the demise of Finarfin’s 3 other sons (Orodreth, Angrod, Aegnor), as well as how they interact with Galadriel, who is Finarfin’s youngest daughter and Finrod’s sister
- Turin is a close friend and also the murderer of Beleg (both are joinable). Turin also played a large part in the destruction of Finrod’s kingdom of Nargothrond and the death of his last surviving brother Orodreth, although he ultimately avenged them both by slaying the dragon Glaurung that led the destruction of the city.
- Elrond or Elros watching how their great grandparents Beren and Luthien partook in the quest of the Silmaril ; and taking part in the battle in which their grandfather Dior, who they had never seen before, perished, and where their uncles, still but little children, were abandoned in wild dark forests to starve to death
Naturally with such close relationships on and around the battlefield, there will also be instances where a said Party member may lose his “cool” and rush blindly into battle to try to save a close friend or family member from impending death, or to avenge a fallen person.
Some balances in game may be affected – for eg, Thieves/Rangers will probably have their health tweaked up/down to 1d8 and Mages to 1d6, though their spell access may be more limited. There may also be new spells like mass healing or regeneration spells to help the party recover Life faster outside of battle. HLAs will be adjusted to probably occur once every 3-4 levels or so.
What are some of the other mods you’ve worked on, released or contributed to?I’ve completed Beyond the Law and Zyraen’s Miscellaneous Mods, the latter which I originally wrote more for my own consumption, but turned out to be pretty helpful (especially the super seamless Accelerated Ust Natha, I really enjoy that one…serious!) Spellhold Gauntlet is a nice piece of work as well, but I think no one really plays it because by the time you get there you’re probably about to stop playing
SoA.
Other mods that I have worked on but never released, include the Conductor Bard Kit (discontinued), BTL :
ToB (still in the works; half of the Kova & Kiyone banters are completed), Valasse the Dying
NPC (will do it if there are writers, otherwise no. Most of the coding is done for her already) and the Third Way.
Of these, the Third Way is probably the most interesting, where you assist a Cowled Wizard called Elvan (referenced in BTL) to get you to Spellhold, investigating the ruins of Shanro ( a place in BTL) and even get to disguise your party as Cowled Wizards to infiltrate a Wizard meeting (where you get to meet one of the villains of BTL)
Others that I have contributed to I guess, involve looking at the coding of theacefes, and Miss Sakaki / Fueille. I have provided some ideas for a few mods here and there, including Darian, Chrysta, coding and ideas for Alcander Sidian (never released by the author who intentionally deleted it), and countless many others that never got released (as far as I know).
Given the time and resources, what’s the “ultimate mod” you would like to create?Silmarillion.
More than just being the ultimate mod for me, it is the greatest epic tale I have ever read. I grew up reading Greek Mythology, World War II histories, Romance of the 3 Kingdoms, and I have some knowledge on various classics, yet I personally feel that none of them can hold a candle to Silmarillion. It is sad, in fact infuriating, that the Silmarillion itself is extremely devoid of detail, and due to its format and presentation, very few people actually have even read it. Of those who have, it is unlikely that many of the characters are truly brought to life ; they are more like “wow” and that’s it, they forget about them or the rest is imagination.
I can’t for the Life of Me understand why the World thinks Lord of the Ring is a great epic tale, especially placed against the backdrop of Silmarillion – other than the fact that Silmarillion was sadly never properly done. (though I’ll have to admit LotR is probably the forerunner of all modern fantasy)
What advice would you give first-time modders?- Know where to find your resources, and know how to make sense of them. Looking at the right resource and getting the right tools is a thousand million times more helpful then posting on forums
- Test, Test, Test and keep Testing (shameless plug - use the Uberweapon Z#DIE.ITM from Zyraen’s Miscellaneous Mods to help aid you! ) If you’re not sure if your code works right – test it first and see what goes wrong (if anything), before you ask anyone.
- Unless you are ready for criticisms or disinterest, do NOT post up your Mod Ideas. If it’s a really good or novel idea, chances are that it will simply get ignored (because people can’t say bad things about it). If you really want responses to your Mod Ideas, then post up something obviously bad, so that you can amend and get the press you want.
- Mod for your own satisfaction. Otherwise, its not worth it.
- Don’t be 100% bug-free. Otherwise your forum will be dead for months and months and months on end, like mine, no matter how much fun the people have playing it.
- Never expect Reviews. If they come, they’re a bonus.
- Have friends from the community you trust and who support you and your projects. Note that supporting you (not financially) is more important than supporting your projects.
What’s next for Zyraen?Silmarillion and quitting my job.
Short-answer questions:Favourite canon BG/BGII Character? Viconia
Favourite Mod Character? Keto (excluding Kova & Kiyone)
Irenicus or Bodhi? Irenicus
Vanilla or Modded BGII? Modded (mainly for some balance issues)
Favourite Class? Fighter/Mage (well actually, Reaver)
