I'll start by making abstraction of her inflated stats (barring dexterity, which is rendered moot by her equipment anyhow) and the way she seems to gain lore in 5-point increments every once in a while (negating one of the bard's main assets and making her tome superfluous), her many, many innate abilities that make a mockery of how clerics need to gain twice as many levels as her before they manage the same spells naturally (nevermind the lay on hands, healing touch that was supposed to be the PC's own trademark, true seeing by chapter 3, etc.), or how she's better at fighting than a fighter of similar level for most of the first game (thanks to her proficiency-inflating equipment), or how she combines the resistances to conditions and states of all classes (again, due to her gear).
What irritates me the most (and it takes a lot to actually irritate me when playing a virtual game) is the fact that the mod effectively railroads the PC into the role of wide-eyed, starstruck teenager with no knowledge or logic of his own (save when logic = how wonderful and fortunate that Sandrah is here to "cousel" me). One that feels Sandrah is the best thing that ever happened to him/her (and the world). Seriously, the way you wrote the interactions and dialogues leaves no room for roleplaying anything else unless you want to chase her off, let alone a cultured adult with any semblance of level-headedness or stoicism, or even a modicum of self-confidence and self-reliance. I suppose there might have been a point at the start when I could have avoided the romance path with her (which is a tad too sappy and descriptive for my tastes anyhow), but I didn't see it. And there aren't any options to get out of it after it's locked in. It wouldn't be so annoying if there was any other way to play the game besides "the younger and (far) less seasoned wannabe adventurer who is in absolute awe of the ever so beautiful, wonderful, intelligent, knowledgeable counselor that is Sandrah." Nevermind that most of the advice she gives, especially early on, is the type of tutorial-level obvious that would be silly to even need an explanation (and for which the "right" answer is to praise Sandrah for having a lore knowledge that exceeds your own, as I had to gush at her not long ago during a convo). The way she spoonfed me the "explanation" to that note/directions during Elminster's demons quest was particularly grating and condescending, as if a 20+ year-old person who was raised in the Sword Coast's repository of knowledge would have no concept of logical deduction. Nevermind that my PC's charisma, wisdom and intelligence are all higher than hers, if barely.
Compounding the problem is how Sandrah's interactions with the rest of the NPCs (all of them) basically warps their personalities as well. Many NPCs are rendered unable to accomplish things on their own, even when they could before. Someone mentioned Gavin as an example before, so I won't harp on this too much. However, Jaheira becoming respectful and friendly by the second banter (and, thus, with no real foundation for such a relationship, especially considering the age difference) and saying that Sandrah becoming more famous than her father Elminster in the near future is a foregone conclusion... No. Just no. The PC barely reaches that point in TOB. More importantly, Jaheira would never say that to anyone, no matter how skilled or beautiful or well-read they are, the same way she would never have the same stance towards a PC with 18+ Int/Wis/CHA, save for the very late stages of SOA during her romance (which comes with many, many extenuating circumstances).
Speaking of romances, the way Sandrah has romances with literally everyone not explicitly married is, quite honestly, ridiculous (only courtesans have more one-night stands than she does, presumably), especially since none of the characters seem to have any problem whatsoever with all the other dozen paramours she has around Faerun (like Thunderhammer the smith and Bjornin) or in the same party. Sandrah had (has, really) romances going on with the aforementioned as well as my PC, Minsc and Branwen at the same time (WTF?) and none of them make any sort of comment on it, nevermind have an issue with it. Even the PC isn't allowed to complain or break off the romance at any point. Branwen being worshipful of Sandrah's grace during battle was outright out of character too, considering that Branwen is obviously intended as the sort of woman that puts absolutely NO stock in such things, being a warrior priestess that hollers and only delights in a good scrap. And yet your mod turns her from a practical, battle-lustful adult version of the tomboy into an awestruck damsel who likes holding hands for extended periods.
I tried telling Sandrah I'm not interested in women as a last resort. She laughed me off and said it only means she can have me all to herself. What?
And there's also the issue with failure being the only option when doing some quests, like confronting the demon for the shard, with only Sandrah's miraculous solution by use of nuts saving the day (the fight is unwinnable even if you try to go through with it). The demon doing the Dorothy was funny enough (if totally silly in-universe, considering demon temperament, especially when dealing with creatures from the Prime), but honestly, it was rather offensive that you're FORCED to rely on her solving the problem, since the other two dialogue options lead to the unwinnable battle (nevermind that the dragon demon was killable - fairly easy to damage too - despite it being written as the shard thief's equal in all ways).
Child Sandrah also apparently fought well enough to bruise Drizzt during their very first encounter with some random hammer, which she'd never practiced with before. No. Again, just no. Drizzt would have wiped the floor with her, then continued with the walls, ceiling, doors and porch. Of all the people you chose to train her and be bruised by her child self, you had to choose the one character in the Forgotten Realms whose talent at combat is guaranteed to eclipse hers, not even factoring in his skill at arms, his anklets of haste, his decades of experience and his superlative skill at... scimitars. Not hammers. You'd have been better off getting Bruenor or some dwarf hero to do that instead. It would have made more sense, though they'd been just as unlikely to suffer any real hit or bruise themselves.
How Elminster fawns over his daughter and tearfully hugs her seals her status as special snowflake. I don't like using the term Mary Sue, but sadly your Sandrah fits all the boxes, often twice, sometimes more than twice (the many romance partners who have no problem being part of her harem being just the most obvious example). This even making abstraction of how Elminster is never depicted as openly emotional in any media, it was also irritating that the game/mod even had the gall to prevent my PC from making the obvious connection to Elminster after how many times the man's name was cut off after the first syllable in conversations by the time I reached the Friendly Arm inn.
How do all the people in the Sword Coast even know Sandrah anyway? You explicitly wrote her as having been sheltered in Waterdeep save for whatever walking holidays she was on with Elminster (most of which weren't even in the Sword Coast region). The way every relevant named NPC recognizes her on sight is over the top, almost as much as how most of them instantly (or damn near it) agree to a one-night stand with her during the first conversation you initiate with them. Most of those people wouldn't have seen her as an adult, or recently enough to remember her so easily, no matter how beautiful she is, if they know her at all.
All this and I've barely reached Cloakwood.
What somewhat saddens me is that the quests like the search for her blanket scraps, Elminster's task, the idea of visiting Waterdeep (nevermind that the way it's done reduced a multi-week / month-long trek to a few hours with no real explanation save "it's ancient stuff that works, somehow, despite no explicit magic") are actually really nice ideas, and I don't just say that because I love any new quest content. Unlike other people here, I also am totally in favor of tying together all the other big and small mods. Unfortunately, your decision to effectively make it all literally revolve around your NPC works against the quality of your megamod. Without Sandrah's romance, promiscuity and condescension, I would have enjoyed it. As it is, I strongly dislike her as a character and due to the character derailment she inflicts on my PC and everyone else in the game who comes into contact with her.
So, if you're still here reading despite my blunt impressions, here's what I suggest as means to improve your mod:
- Change the dialogue and banters so that the PC doesn't sound like a needy, star-struck teen. Especially not one with more faith in Sandrah that we ever have in ourselves or ever had in Gorion. Especially not within the first few banters. We're a full adult with enough fortitude, resolve and resourcefulness to strike out on our own and make our way through conspiracies, quests, friendships, attempted murders and attempted genocide. Over the course of a single year. Even solo, if we want to play it that way. The way the Sandrah mod is written, it's like everything is only accomplished because Sandrah is there to carry the party through it. All the NPCs agree. Even Neera. That you don't have the PC explicitly state this (at least not all the time) doesn't make it any less obvious or unwarranted.
- To reconcile the concept of your mod with the above, you could do the natural thing and acknowledge the fact that Sandrah is basically tagging along because SHE'S the one in need of OUR help on HER quest, not the other way around. As such, the PC has no reason to be so fervently thankful that Sandrah exists. Especially since Imoen is a much better fit for moral support, with Jaheira being a better fit for confidant. At least give us a choice to not necessarily spill our sorrows in Sandrah's busom (without taking a hit to our sanpoint count).
- All the above could be possible if you implement an adequate alternative to the romance path, a friendship or other where we don't feel a "heat blooming inside us at the sight of her" or generally becoming star-struck despite our own stats, mindset and roleplay ideas
- Allow the PC to break off the relationship (especially if they don't like to be two-timed or, really, multi-timed)
- Lay off on the awe and worship heaped at Sandrah from all corners. She is way too well-known and easy to recognize on sight by everyone, with no justification, especially since she's from way up north. Consider that it takes the PC stopping a war and leading a Siege on Dragonspear before people from Amn recognize him, and even then only by name, with the few exceptions of Bodhi and select shadow thieves and vampires or officials who have an idea of what he looks like.
- Allow the PC to actually have his own opinions and ability to contribute to discussions. Lore-based or int/wis-based dialogue options where he is actually allowed to take over a conversation for once would be appreciated, instead of railroading the convo into the PC hanging on her every word (lest we miss sanpoints), especially since being raised in Candlekeep means mages and bards, at the very least, would possess lore at least equal to her own, not counting the book)
- Make her tome usable by others (because honestly, we and everyone else do have the ability to read, you know, and it's Elminster's encyclopedia, not some coded file or a massive book that the man deliberately wrote in some secret language for whatever reason)
- Don't derail the characters of all other NPCs in the game just to give Sandrah extra love (only Safana, Garrick and Eldoth are likely to not mind her being with... every other named character in the game at the same time). Ideally, you'd have the romance options as independent components during installation, but I realize that may be a tall order. At least institute a romance exclusion/conflict variable because, unlike Sandrah, most people don't want to share (incidentally, how the hell did Sandrah grow up to be so promiscuous with Elminster's example of a faithful, devoted husband? And Kalindra was apparently the same, so what gives?)
- Edit out the instances where people comment on her grace in battle and how she didn't get any blood on her armor or otherwise tarnish her beauty. Branwen comitted a particuarly severe case of assault and battery on my suspension of disbelief here. Sandrah's Dex score is only 12. There is no way she'd be untouchable to the gore and blood of combat. Especially with a hammer (which she isn't a total master/grandmaster of).
- Reel in a bit the frequency of people commenting on her beauty (Solaufein, for instance, will never praise a PC for how pretty they are, even when their charisma is 18+, and Sandrah's is "only" 15 (17 with her boots). Especially after his tragic history with Phaere, who would have been at least Sandrah's equal in int/wis/cha before the tentacle rod torture. Use similar logic for every other character in the game).
- Remove quest and/or quest resolution dependencies where possible: for instance, a PC with high enough int/wis should have been able to trick the demon into letting them leave with the Shard somehow, or a high enough Cha score would have enabled them to convince him to let them leave with the Shard without having to stay for the party (or even stick around for the party would have been an idea). Of course, this in addition to making that fight a viable choice, since the dragon demon was killable when he was supposed to be the "nemesis." I can understand not getting some quests because of them being part of Sandrah's story, but railroading things into us having to (deliberately or not) entirely depend on her saving the day (through the power of nuts or otherwise) is rather offensive when the character we're playing is (supposed to be) equally or more capable than her in the necessary areas.
As a side note, providing proper descriptions for Sandrah's gear and our moonblade would be grand, since this way it only forces us modding-familiar players (which, for megamod players, is nearly guaranteed) to just use Near Infinity to check the effects that way.
I'll continue to play through Sandrah's story, because I played through the whole BG1 part of the Big World Project not long ago without her (as part of the original game BWS, BGEE is just a recent acquisition). I do hope I can look forward to a time when I can actuall claim to enjoy the mod rather than having to put effort into tolerating it though.
setup-bp-bgt_worldmap_pvrz.7z 21.85MB
1289 downloads (can be installed anytime after BP-BGT Worldmap and even in an ongoing game)
