5 replies to this topic

[Chunk]

Hello everybody!

Or should I say hello world;

This is mainly the why I finally chose to step outside the shadows and join what seems to be pretty fun around here;

It always bothered me that the endings almost never change. Whether you are a fighter, a mage or a bard you might not end up the same than a druid. Or the things you have done during the Baldur's gate saga ...or not done should have at least an influence. This beyond the impact of the romances. It started first with a couple of ideas about the , in my opinion, unsatisfying ending when you romance Viconia and choose to stay mortal : you become a diplomat no matter what. And she dies and you cannot find a way to raise her back. Which seems odd when you have as friends the most powerful characters in all Faerun.

I have a rough idea of how it could be done. But I am completely new to modding, and aware of the hard coded limitations of the engine. So here is the basic :

Using a rather fix ending backbone text in which through parsing lists of word according to their context and what the player has done could or could not be inserted in the end. It could be words or sentences indeed;
So, can it be done?

Cheers, Chunk

Edited by Chunk, 11 March 2010 - 03:41 PM.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Using a rather fix ending backbone text in which through parsing lists of word according to their context and what the player has done could or could not be inserted in the end. It could be words or sentences indeed;
So, can it be done?

Well, I don't have the files at hand, but I am quite sure it would be easier to make the checks all at once and then launch a single text that is a compilation of all the checks so they all are true. So if viconia is alive or not, is one check, another is did you kill this tude or not, what was the primary class of the character(~10 choises)... and then write 2*2*10*x possible 'end text' and then make a checker that checks those and gives the one that applies. Yes, the text can be copied, but in a sense, you still have to have all the hard copies, not just a line or two of text per each choise... unless you wish to put the whole thing into a dialog box(as it can do the checks themselves)... but that's a horrible idea.

[Chunk]

Good point, sounds simpler , and better as the ending text would be in the same format as the Bioware endings. All I need for now is getting to now the modding tools

[Phobia]

You mean the epilogues? I guess it makes sense. It sounds like a lot of work just for flexible epilogues, but if it matters enough to you, why not? I myself rarely play all the way through ToB unless I'm really into it. But don't let that discourage you!!

Edited by Phobia, 12 March 2010 - 06:35 AM.

[Chunk]

Yes to me it matters as I tend to finish the game pretty often...
I finally though about it
Writing all the epilogues would be a lot of work if flexibility is wanted regarding the possible options. I don't know enough of the engine to see what can be done and what can't. I will try to do a couple of things first and then trying to do it.

[-JR-]

It would be interesting if it could be done closer to the style of Dragon Age, with multi-part epilogues discussing the outcomes of the major choices you made. For example, assisted Phaere or her mother or neither, fought against or with Balthazar (I think a mod makes this a possibility), and so on. I think Redemption added an epilogue for Irenicus, so we know it's possible.

Only problem would be stepping on other modders' toes, as many of the "choices" are introduced in mods. But most of the people I've talked to on here are more than happy to allow borrowed work or cross-mod content as long as permission is asked and it doesn't cut too far into their projects.

Edited by -JR-, 12 April 2010 - 05:22 PM.