30 replies to this topic

[-JR-]

I couldn't pinpoint anything wrong with Solaufein, but I guess I was really attatched to the radically different way he was portreyed in the original game. Separate from both Viconia and Drizzt yet equally interesting. But the mod brought him too close to Drizzt territory for my tastes.

[Cal Jones]

Hmm, maybe it was that. I couldn't really pinpoint anything (other than the fights) either, but somehow I couldn't warm to him. He didn't come alive for me.

[Aliya]

Oh, I dunno 'bout Saeri, I've played once with her, and got my bottom kicked because of that purple dragon in Umar Hills. Order gives you clean exp, not 'quest exp for everyone, so definitely if you're soloing with her in party you should be at level 16 minimum, by then.

Kelsey - haven't played. But feeling bit of shame now.

Tyris is great, she's neat, she has awesome banters. But hasn't got any special abilities, and gets killed quite fast in front line. And unfortunately protection from magical weapons is quite rare in the first portion of the game.

Yasri is awesome, she's completes Viccy and give them cloak of Balduran, you got same kickin' warrior. I ignored that they were at each others' throats. Hmmm...

LR's Irenicus is a cool, cool character. The way he and Edwin managed to turn into 'natural forest animals' cracked me up. And he's Haeri's phoenix.

But my personal favorite is Amber. She gorgeous and flirts with male player2 (and its essential for me, because I always play as a female, with 14 INT). She has great friendship talks, she's CG but edgy and brutal sometimes.

[CaleyM]

An NPC should support you, not vice versa. This is what makes Bioware characters good. Whatever the background, they are in the business to get the job done.

On another note, I will do male voicing if anyone needs. I have real audio equipment and acting experience.

Edited by CaleyM, 23 July 2010 - 04:22 PM.

[Ipsissimus]

On the other hand, it's more realistic if an NPC requires support--like Anomen after his sister's death, or Aerie/Jaheira in general...

[-JR-]

That's true, but someone can require assistance or short-term focus without stealing the show. It seems to me there's a balance that needs to be struck in this aspect.

[Ipsissimus]

Most of the NPCs should be able to deal with *some* problems on their own, I think. And IMO, how needy a character can be is dependent on the player/PC and on their own personality. Jaheira is a strong woman, but even she has to talk to the PC about Khalid, and later about the Harpers. Aerie is very young, naive, and inexperienced, so it seems only natural that she'd want to talk to someone, particularly the big strong experienced PC. But if it's clear that the PC doesn't want to hear from someone, then they probably won't bother him/her any longer. And there are still some characters that seem able to manage mostly on their own, such as Mazzy and Jan.

I think that a good example of balance, though, is in Keldorn's family quest. For the most part, he is an experienced and capable character, but it's clear that he doesn't know how to react in that instance. So he turns to the PC, hoping that he/she would have some idea of what to do.

[rbx4]

I have tried about half the well-known NPC mods since returning to the game. I really enjoy Keto. I also agree that Longer Road is very good stuff. Hublepot is an enjoyable mod for sure, but still seems to be incomplete. I am still holding out judgment on Ninde until I finish running with her. Valen is interesting but overpowered.

update: I strongly enjoy Ninde.

I have not been able to get through Saerileth without becoming annoyed at the peculiarities of this mod. Chloe is better than that, but also steps fiercely on my toes as a player. Probably I have differences with the ways that both of these mods address gaming and Dungeons & Dragons in general.

Playing Kim right now, and I'd say that if relationships in real life were like this, nobody would ever reproduce. That plus giving your players insanely overpowered items means it is mainly for powergamers who think that the Jaheira romance is much too simple. Still, it is amusing to watch Korgan disintegrate everyone while being mostly immune to damage. A warning: you'll have to be creative to run her with Valen in your group, plus make sure your hotkey for Quick Load is assigned to save some time. (Edit: Though a quick check implies that my installation of this mod is bugged...whatever. I'm not playing it again.)

As far as mod romances for bioware NPC's go, Edwin could be best, and I remember Imoen fondly.

I think something could be done with the BG1 NPC's that are currently available in BG2 as TDD characters. Many of them have "untapped power" so to speak.

Edited by rbx4, 07 January 2011 - 11:43 PM.

[rbx4]

Having tried Fade, Tyris Flare, Amber, and Sarah in the latest run, I was surprised in that I liked them all. Some of these had names that did not exactly inspire my confidence, but it turned out that they were designed with some sensitivity.

Amber is possibly the most unusual and interesting out of these. The dialogue indicates that she's enigmatic, and that is definitely the case. I have to question the Good alignment, but this is one of the rare times that an NPC mod has actually gotten the Chaotic part right. Most designers don't seem to understand what the Law/Neutral/Chaos continuum actually refers to. These do understand that.

[rbx4]

And while I'm talking to myself, let's take it to extremes. I want to write a somewhat detailed review of Saerileth.

Nine times out of ten in anything D&D related, you will see paladins characterized as self-righteous, judgmental idiots who have an extremely superficial understanding of any moral issue. Most especially, any question having any moral depth at all is typically portrayed as absolutely confusing to a paladin. I don't approve of that characterization of course, because it fails to convey what Lawful Good is all about. It also portrays the gods as idiots because they are giving great power to idiots.

There is also a shortage of NPC mods with priests and paladins in general, possibly because there's little interest in portraying such characters in today's culture. Most of the time, the mischaracterized idiot paladin is annoying and causes me to use Control-Y on my NPC and cackle as the other NPC's gasp in terror (after all, if the gods smite that self-righteous jerk, how could we survive?!.

On the surface, Saerileth looks like another annoying mischaracterized paladin. However, she has a good excuse for being naive--she comes from Mount Celestia. She hasn't the slightest clue what anything outside Mount Celestia is like. She's been to Sigil and talks about it constantly, but Haer'dalis has a million times more experience with Sigil than she will ever have. The surprising thing about all this is that this mod is acutely aware of how naive Saerileth is. She begins with being blinded by your physical beauty, but then slowly comes down from there to judge you mostly by reputation.

I could take issue with how Tyr is trusting someone who is one step above Clueless with important missions. Saerileth really has no idea what moral complexity is about, but she is functioning mostly without the assumptions that all of us primes are working with. It's actually better than most paladin characterizations because it gives us an interesting new twist. However, you have to play up to Saerileth's naivete in order to play the mod as intended. She's not going to easily stop believing that all things beautiful are equally good, and that ugly things are begging for that Detect Evil check.

However, there are serious downsides that wreck suspension of disbelief at times. What's that Amethyst Dragon doing down there, and do they even know how Amethyst Dragons are supposed to act? Why can't we have an example of a paladin who isn't clueless and naive? I'm sure that one of the mod authors would try to rake me over the coals for saying all that, but that's not the point here. This turned out to be a decent mod, and is not nearly as bad as I first imagined. It's not perfect, but what paladin mod is?

[Irbis]

my question is:
why no one speaks a word about Imoen romance? its propably the most authentic romance mod for BG saga