About 3 days after BG2 Release and Hexxat content release (if not less), people were already asking for an Clara official NPC, a character made blank and with the sole prupose of be uninteresting and be an accessory plot for Hexxat, that by itself is proof more than enough of how critical was the failure of Hexxat NPC.
No, it isn't, and you saying it is doesn't make it so. I was very vocal about wanting an expansion on the Clara character. That in no way implies a criticism of the Hexxat character. I am interested in both of them. Other people were interested in neither. Your conclusion does not follow from your premise.
Honestly my detachment from Hexxat as a companion is mostly due to poor writing. Also her backdrop is not fleshed out enough for her to be interesting. For example, as others have pointed out already, I found it hardly believable that there was little-to-none interactions between Bodhi and herself. I also had a hard time relating her character to her age. As a vampire who has survived the test of time and presumably has centuries of knowledge on empires that have risen and then crumbled to dust, she came off as someone that is extremely stuck up from her conversations with Charname and with other companions. I was also slightly offended when she apparently murdered one of the party members right in front of me without any forewarning. It was a nice story twist no doubt. Luckily I was not role-playing this game. If I was then I would have had to kill her right there, despite my playing style being chaotic neutral to lawful evil range.
However, from a playing point of view, I found her specifics interesting. The fact that she has a natural 20 strength opens up the option for her to dual wield. It also improved her backstabbing ability. I found these pretty satisfying. Her perfect armor would be the evil aligned human skin (+4 saves + 20 resis). It made her fairly effective all the way through TOB. So from the game point of view, I stuck with her all the way through TOB.
I don't know about her romance but I must comment on Rasaad's romance dialogues in SOA and TOB which I have experienced through with my sorceror. Regrettably, I am afraid that I have to say that it was not all that great, again due to the writing. I really enjoyed Rasaad's personal quests in both SOA and TOB. The area designs, the story progression culminating to a final battle in TOB was very satisfying indeed. But the writing was slightly lacking for my taste. In fact I decided not to be romantically pursued by him anymore half way through TOB. As a guy playing a female sorcerer, I found it pretty hard to believe that after ending our relationship in SOA, he suddenly started to beg for a chance to rekindle it, not just begging, I mean really begging!
The positives: I found Neera's personality very appealing. Her character is well written and her quests well designed. The same can be said about Dorn. I disagree with people arguing that some of the new NPC quests are over the top in comparison to the old NPCS. Firstly, most of the old NPCS do not have any quests in TOB. So it is refreshing to have at least some side NPC quests in TOB. Secondly Dorn's quest in Lunia is appropriately designed given the fact that the Charname has the ability to form his own pocket in the planes, to traverse the planes at will and to commune with Solars and dead gods. I don't think Dorn's quest is out-competing Charname's in that regard.
While it may be frustrating (for some) that the new areas are all tied to the new NPC quests -- although I'm not sure the areas associated with Rasaad's and Neera's quests make any sense without those NPCs (unless, perhaps, the PC is a sun soul monk or wild mage) -- the NPC quests in the original BG2 also required those NPCs to be in the party. (You couldn't deal with the Roenells unless Nalia was in your party, you couldn't cure Palia unless Mazzy was in your party, etc.)
Nonetheless, it would've been nice had a couple of new areas been added to BG2EE (and BGEE, for that matter) that were not tied to any of the NPCs.
The difference is that the original BG2 NPC quests- as in the ones that require those NPCs- were generally very short and inconsequential in terms of loot, experience, and time. The bg2ee npcs have longer quest chains that offer access to unique items that you cannot obtain without taking those NPCs.
While it may be frustrating (for some) that the new areas are all tied to the new NPC quests -- although I'm not sure the areas associated with Rasaad's and Neera's quests make any sense without those NPCs (unless, perhaps, the PC is a sun soul monk or wild mage) -- the NPC quests in the original BG2 also required those NPCs to be in the party. (You couldn't deal with the Roenells unless Nalia was in your party, you couldn't cure Palia unless Mazzy was in your party, etc.)
Nonetheless, it would've been nice had a couple of new areas been added to BG2EE (and BGEE, for that matter) that were not tied to any of the NPCs.
The comparison between the BG2 NPC quests to the BG2:EE quests is rather inaccurate. Firstly with the BG2 NPC quests there are multiple options available to you to complete or experience the areas. While with the BG2:EE ones you are forced to bring a certain NPC if you want to experience the new areas at all.
Sure without having Nalia in your party you miss out on some banter but it doesn't prevent you from entering or completing the de'Arnise Hold area. Same with Haer'Dalis, you can complete the Mage Lair in the sewers or the Planescape area by ignoring him. And you can enter Harper's Hold without Jaheira. Plus you can enter the Beholder lair in the sewers without Keldorn. Or the Druid's Grove without Cernd. All you miss out is some extra lines of dialog or small interactions with other characters which isn't a big loss.
But if you don't take Rasaad then you can't experience his temple area. if you ignore Neera at the entrance to the Wild Forest you can never get into the Campsite. If you don't follow Dorn around then you can't get to the Helmite Camp or Resurrection Gorge. And if you don't have Hexxat you can't get access to the new dungeons. You either miss out on the new content or you have to fill your party up with specific NPCs. Not to mention some of the most elaborate areas like Lumia can only be accessed if you have Dorn, who is a rather niche kind of evil (Lumia is such a great area artistically but such a shame it is wasted on a rather small portion of the game, not a good distribution of art resources). If you are doing an evil playthrough that is centered around being inconspicuous then you wouldn't take him at all. There's even a case where to finish a Neera quest you have to have Rasaad's areas unlocked.
This is especially problematic if you like to do solo runs of the game. If you go solo, then you don't get to experience any of the new content.
There would have been a simple fix to this if they followed the Nalia formula. At the Copper Coronet you can have her join or you can deny her but she still marks the de'Arnise Hold on your map. At the de'Arnise Hold you can have her join you to enter the Hold or you can again deny her which still opens the Hold to you.
Why couldn't Neera at the entrance to the Wild Forest offer two options? One that would have her join and one that would open the campsite to you. Within the campsite she could have acted like a quest giver and nothing more, maybe she could have been captured too and which you would have to rescue her. With Rasaad, why couldn't he be convinced to stay back while you infiltrate the Monk Temple? With Dorn, why couldn't you instead team up with the Temple of Helm to stop him, thus letting you experience his quests by from the opposite side. Hexxat is a bit tricky since she is incredibly linear, as if they took Icewind Dale and gave it NPC form. There's many different ways their areas and quest could have been constructed to accommodate different playthroughs.
There's the illusion of choice by having multiple dialog trees but they all end up either changing nothing or having the NPC try to kill you. It might be something you'd expect from BG1 or any other roleplaying video game (particularly cinematic Japanese RPGs), but not from BG2. People use the contract to excuse such linear mapping of the new NPCs but I don't really buy it. Because with Hexxat the conclusion to her quest could have had multiple outcomes but instead either nothing happens with her or she dies. The contract is no excuse why they didn't have a third path where she stays with you until the epilogue where she eventually dies.
I fear it was really just the developers opting out for the easier linear storytelling path rather than focusing on how to give the player options around how they choose to roleplay the NPCs for their own campaigns. The least they could have done was give the NPCs alignment shifts like Viconia, Anomen or Sarevok but they didn't. They created Dorn to become a very specific kind of evil that just doesn't work when you compare him to the other evil NPCs or the mandatory portions of the game. You can argue that he has a portion of Korgan's bloodlust but the difference is that Viconia, Korgan, Edwin and the reborn Sarevok are inconspicuous in their evil. They don't try to massacre priests of Helm who are one of the major religions in the region, if not the most powerful and they don't try to enter a celestial realm to cause havoc. They are evil but they still have to navigate around the surface without being burnt alive. It's really unbelievable how it takes until the epilogue for Dorn to die, to think that he manages to walk through Suldanessellar and even be celebrated as a champion. So he is an evil Mary Sue but that is no excuse for him being written as such. Same with Hexxat, vampires are despised especially in Suldanessellar but yet she is similarly lauded as a hero.
It's one thing to create truly evil NPCs, it's another when you waive aside pivotal moments within the game to justify their inclusion. There might have been a way to write a blackguard or a vampire NPC to fit the plot of BG2, maybe with them having redemption arcs but Dorn and Hexxat aren't it. Nothing changes the fact that the game involves such noble acts like saving Suldanessellar which is as far from pure evil as it gets. You could argue that the game itself has an alignment or either Chaotic Good or Neutral but definately not Evil. Viconia was written so that she could at least be taken in by a neutral party, Edwin was written rather comically to take away the edge of evil, Sarevok within the context of ToB is taken along to impart knowledge (with the option of a geas) but I agree Korgan is rather bloody but again he is rather inconspicuous about it and like Edwin written rather comically. There is pretty much no way you can justify Hexxat or Dorn to be part of a neutral party.
When judging the NPCs from a roleplaying perspective (as in allowing for options in how they are played), the majority of BG2 NPCs are superior despite being created a decade ago. It's not a matter of the developers failing to match their own expectations but that they failed in creating NPCs that fit the spirit of the BG2 NPCs which was their brief.
The difference is that the original BG2 NPC quests- as in the ones that require those NPCs- were generally very short and inconsequential in terms of loot, experience, and time.
Jaheira's quest was long, consequential in terms of loot, experience and time.
It made sense for Jaheira's one to be long and consequential since it was part of her romance, not to mention that she is an icon of the series and arguably the canonical romance of BG2. The original plan for ToB would have involved a heavy storyline around Jaheira's connections to the Tethyr region, so she is a major player, if not the most fleshed out NPC of the series.
But still that is one NPC out of 17. Two if you count Anomen who had a similarly lengthy romance quest revolving around his sister.
However with the four BG2:EE NPCs their prolonged quests and areas aren't linked to their romances, so a comparison with Jaheira or Anomen isn't accurate. Besides in BG2 those two quests represented the vast minority of content probably not even 1% while in BG2:EE quests linked solely to the new NPCs represented pretty much 100% of the new content. Minor exceptions shouldn't become the rule.
About 3 days after BG2 Release and Hexxat content release (if not less), people were already asking for an Clara official NPC, a character made blank and with the sole prupose of be uninteresting and be an accessory plot for Hexxat, that by itself is proof more than enough of how critical was the failure of Hexxat NPC.
No, it isn't, and you saying it is doesn't make it so. I was very vocal about wanting an expansion on the Clara character. That in no way implies a criticism of the Hexxat character. I am interested in both of them. Other people were interested in neither. Your conclusion does not follow from your premise.
Neither your deny will change facts dude, you're obviously not the only one to call for an vanilla Clara DLC, so don't take your actions as the sole acts in existence for an Clara Vanilla NPC, cos they aren't.
My conclusion, at least the point you mentioned, is a reference to a fact of another thread(s), by attacking it as an opinion you show some deficience in undestand my statement, i will not hold it on you through, we live we learn.
Sure without having Nalia in your party you miss out on some banter but it doesn't prevent you from entering or completing the de'Arnise Hold area.
Without Nalia you miss out on more than simply some banters.
You miss out on an entire storyline that starts at the funeral of Nalia's father. You can't go to the funeral unless you have Nalia in your party. The subsequent story involving Roenell cannot be completed without Nalia.
You cannot complete the storyline involving Cernd, his former wife, and his son without … Cernd!
So my point stands: there are a number of quests in the original version of BG2 that require the inclusion of specific NPCs in your party in order to complete.
Everything you miss out on because you deny the NPC is just text with the odd surprise battle or two. At least you can still explore and experience the new maps and the important sections of their quests.
Only Keldorn fans care about his family situation, but the majority cares about actually experiencing the Unseeing Eye map. Only Cernd fans care about his baby situation, but the majority cares about experiencing the Druid's Grove map. Only Nalia fans care her father's funeral, but the majority cares about experiencing the de'Arnise Hold map. Only Jaheira fans care about her romance and personal Harper business, but the majority cares about experiencing Harper's Hold.
Do you see the pattern here?
In BG2 the formula is that you can experience a dungeon or area and then have the option to gain extra insight or text by taking a certain NPC along for the ride. In BG2:EE the formula is that to experience a dungeon or area you have to take a certain NPC along for the ride plus you have to sit through their long diatribes. BG2 offers choice like a choose your own adventure novel while BG2:EE forces a specific all or nothing form of roleplaying game.
It would be extremely annoying if after denying Keldorn, the Unseeing Eye map is forever closed off. Same if without Cernd that the Druid's Grove would be forever closed off. Same if without Nalia that the de'Arnise Hold would be forever closed off. Or without Jaheira you wouldn't never get inside Harper's Hold. If that was the case, a large chunk of the game would be off limits to an evil NPC playthrough.
Now with BG2:EE, it would have been improved drastically if you could experience the boasted 30+ new areas whichever way the player liked it. I don't see how you could argue against choice.
As for Korgan, he is inconspicuous in the sense that he isn't dragging you around massacring priests or invading celestial domains on a whim. All he does is talk of bloodshed but most of the time he is sulking around at night, hiding in the corner of the Copper Coronet (which at the time housed slavers and other unpleasants) or questing for objects in tombs. He is absolutely inconspicuous when there are folk like Dorn who pillage for months/years without repercussions. You may just him on talk but as a party member what actions does he do which could be deemed conspicuous?
It made sense for Jaheira's one to be long and consequential since it was part of her romance, not to mention that she is an icon of the series and arguably the canonical romance of BG2. The original plan for ToB would have involved a heavy storyline around Jaheira's connections to the Tethyr region, so she is a major player, if not the most fleshed out NPC of the series.
But still that is one NPC out of 17. Two if you count Anomen who had a similarly lengthy romance quest revolving around his sister.
*sigh*
You can play through versions of both Jaheira's and Anomen's story lines even if you are not romancing them.
You can play through versions of both Jaheira's and Anomen's story lines even if you are not romancing them.
Still that is 2 out of 17, clearly the vast exception to the rule. Not to mention that those quests don't warrant richly detailed one off maps for only themselves. If we were to say that those two are the ceiling for NPC related quests in BG2, then the four NPC related quests in BG2:EE simply smash the ceiling to bits. Surely you can see that the way new content was dealt in BG2:EE is completely out of character for how the vast majority of NPC quests were treated?
Everything you miss out on because you deny the NPC is just text with the odd surprise battle or two. At least you can still explore and experience the new maps and the important sections of their quests.
Certain NPCs, interactions, items, etc., only appear if you have certain NPCs in your party in BG2. Even if you go to the relevant areas, the NPCs will not be there.
Go to the graveyard all you want. Without Nalia, no funeral. (And there is more to Nalia's story-line than simply the funeral, by the way.)
Go to the Harper's Hold all you want. Without Jaheira, no Galvery.
Go to the Jansen household in the Slums all you want. Without Jan, no quest involving Jan's old love, her child, and the Hidden.
The pattern I see is that you personally do not care about the NPC-based quests in the original BG2 (including the unique NPCs and interactions available only through them).
So why care about the NPC-based quests in BG2EE so much?
Okay, I know what you're going to say: the new areas are only available if you have the relevant NPCs with you.
Fair enough. But note that you can only access the Planar Sphere if you have Valygar with you (or at least his body). And numerous BG2 events will happen only if you have certain NPCs with you.
It doesn't matter that you can go into the Fentan household in Trademeet without Mazzy. Without Mazzy you will not get the quest involving Palia's poisoning. Never.
Or without Jaheira you wouldn't never get inside Harper's Hold.
I don't think you realize just how much having Jaheira in your party changes the entire Harper story-line. Without Jaheira, no Galverey, no 'Inquisition', no unique encounters with other Harpers, no special ring, etc.
Actually I have to agree that most of the new area quests involving the old NPCs can completed without having them in the party. Edwin - Thief's guild Cernd - Druid Challenge Aerie - Circus Tent Haer'Dalis - Planar Prison Imoen - Spell Hold Keldorn - Unseen Eye Cult Mazzy - Shadow Dungeon Nalia - de'Arnise Valygar - Planar Sphere (his body dead or alive)
All of these major quests can be completed without the respective NPCs.
I am also wondering why the developers don't offer the flexibility of completing the new NPC quests without their presence in the party. Might be that this option could be difficult to implement.
In fact some NPCs have some minor thing that can only be acomplished with them in the party.
Edwin - Nether scroll Cernd - His children quest Keldorn - Wife's betrayal Mazzy - Sister and priest of Talona & Ogre Challenge in Copper Coronet Nalia - Roenal attempt to coup de grace
Others have Huge quests as Jaheira and Jan Jansen to some degree.
Jan Jansen quest is the only not main char related in fact from what i can take of the quests and the most likely style used to make the New NPC quests, there is an precedent but not the best one to be used as example.
You must have Edwin in your party in order to obtain the Quest for the Nether Scrolls (including the encounter with the Lich who possesses them) and the subsequent encounter with the Red Wizards.
You must have Nalia in your party in order for to be invited to her father's funeral. This opens up a subsequent story-line involving Isaea Roenall's connections to slaver activities in Athkatla.
Let me add some others:
You must have Korgan in your party in order to complete his 'book' quest.
You must have Jan in your party in order to complete his 'lost love' quest.
You must have Jaheira in your party in order to get the 'full' Harper strong hold quest and the Baron Ployer story-line.
You must have Anomen in your party in order to get his 'test' and subsequent story-line.
But none of the those areas (Druid's Grove, de'Arnise Hold, etc...) are dependent on bringing along specific NPCs. You can still explore such regions, you just miss out on some plot developments. You are always going to miss out on certain aspects of the game by taking a party of 5 NPCs when there are 17 in total but you shouldn't have to lose the 30 new areas just because you have a preference of not taking the new 4 NPCs along.
That's the critical point. It's about independant exploration with the option of further, not mandatory plot developments.
Thrasymachus, I agree with what you said. These sub-quests require these specific NPCs to complete.
However, in the original game, whenever you are introduced to a new area via a NPC quest, you are not required to recruit that NPC to complete that quest. You have sub-quests that will require their presence later but definitely not the first time when a map is introduced to the player.
But none of the those areas (Druid's Grove, de'Arnise Hold, etc...) are dependent on bringing along specific NPCs. You can still explore such regions, you just miss out on some plot developments. You are always going to miss out on certain aspects of the game by taking a party of 5 NPCs when there are 17 in total but you shouldn't have to lose the 30 new areas just because you have a preference of not taking the new 4 NPCs along.
That's the critical point.
I not sure what you mean by 'plot developments'. You miss out on entire plots (not simply 'developments'), including unique NPCs, items, etc.
There very well may have been a better way to have integrated the new NPCs, including adding their areas without requiring their inclusion in the PC's party.
But the addition of NPC-specific stories, encounters, and items is not unique to BG2EE. (Maybe BG2EE went 'too far' somehow. I don't think so, but YMMV, etc.)
In the past I sometimes have included Korgan, Valygar, Edwin, and others temporarily in order to play through their unique story-lines. I don't see any reason not to do the same with the new NPCs (aside from RP-considerations, of course; hence I am not interacting at all with Dorn in my current game).
I not sure what you mean by 'plot developments'. You miss out on entire plots (not simply 'developments'), including unique NPCs, items, etc.
There very well may have been a better way to have integrated the new NPCs, including adding their areas without requiring their inclusion in the PC's party.
But the addition of NPC-specific stories, encounters, and items is not unique to BG2EE. (Maybe BG2EE went 'too far' somehow. I don't think so, but YMMV, etc.)
In the past I sometimes have included Korgan, Valygar, Edwin, and others temporarily in order to play through their unique story-lines. I don't see any reason not to do the same with the new NPCs (aside from RP-considerations, of course; hence I am not interacting at all with Dorn in my current game).
Look if you care about Nalia then you will take her along and experience the funeral and what happens later. If you don't care about Nalia but care about experiencing the dungeon she offers, then you will deny her request to join but still clear out the de'Arnise Hold. So you get to experience the plot developments of liberating the hold but you miss out on the further plot developments of the funeral and the drama over the land. But at least you got to experience the map of the de'Arnise Hold.
The first half is the dungeon map the second half is NPC centric plot. Most people can live with just having the dungeon map open, others might care about exploring Nalia's personal drama. There is a choice the player can and has to make. You shouldn't have to make a choice to forsake gameplay just people you don't like a certain NPC, that's something the original BG2 made sure to remember.
But no such choice exists in BG2:EE. You either miss out on the lot or you go through the entire NPC to Area linked quest. So yes, there is a better way to integrate the new content with the new NPCs without forcing an all or nothing preposition. That's the entirety of my point.
Sure you can find examples where you miss out on items or portions if you refuse to take certain NPCs. But there was never a case in BG2 where you missed out on entire maps just because you rejected a NPC. The integration of the new content was way too linear and they should have found ways of giving the player option over how much of the quest they want to complete. They treated the new NPCs in such a rigid, linear fashion that there is no choice besides having them join or them dying. There's never the option to have them open up the dungeons but fall back into a passive spectator role.
To be fair you can experience the Wild Forest without Neera but you can't get into the campsite without her. That's pretty much the only example where you can experience a new map without a new NPC. I think the same might be true of the Amphitheatre.
Neither your deny will change facts dude, you're obviously not the only one to call for an vanilla Clara DLC, so don't take your actions as the sole acts in existence for an Clara Vanilla NPC, cos they aren't.
You said that people calling for Clara "proved" the deficiency of Hexxat as an NPC.
You were wrong. It does nothing of the sort. I am proof it does nothing of the sort, and I am not the only person who liked the idea of expanding Clara without hating Hexxat.
Your conclusion did not flow from your premise. That is why I corrected you.
Honestly my detachment from Hexxat as a companion is mostly due to poor writing. Also her backdrop is not fleshed out enough for her to be interesting. For example, as others have pointed out already, I found it hardly believable that there was little-to-none interactions between Bodhi and herself. I also had a hard time relating her character to her age. As a vampire who has survived the test of time and presumably has centuries of knowledge on empires that have risen and then crumbled to dust, she came off as someone that is extremely stuck up from her conversations with Charname and with other companions.
1) She does interact with Bodhi, so it is "little", not "none".
2) If you'd played through her plotline, then you ought to know she spend 100% of her undead life being trapped in a coffin, unable to move or speak. So talking about "survived the test of time" and "centuries of knowledge" is pretty weird. She doesn't have any more experience than your charname does.
2) If you'd played through her plotline, then you ought to know she spend 100% of her undead life being trapped in a coffin, unable to move or speak. So talking about "survived the test of time" and "centuries of knowledge" is pretty weird. She doesn't have any more experience than your charname does.
However she does have knowledge of the island of Chult, having grown up there and she should have some anachronistic traits to her since she is from a different historical period. The former being mentioned only passingly and the latter not being touched upon at all. No culture or historical culture shock from Hexxat since her plot is largely confined to tombs. Not to mention any non-tomb related plot is scarcely to be found with her. She doesn't seem invested in Charname's journey nor is she phased by anything.
Chalk all of that up to missed opportunities or the writers' over reliance on mystery to explain things surrounding Hexxat.
^ I know. But unfortunately, spending thousands of years trapped in a coffin is not a very interesting concept, is it? I am just saying that her character could be fleshed out more, and her plot could be integrated into the central plot involving Bodhi.
Hexxat fell way below my reasonable expectations, and I didn't go through the romance. My buddy and I who have played pen & paper for years went through her subquests with an open mind, though he's not partial to vampires or evil characters in general. Neither of us liked it; in fact we were heavily disappointed by the bland story and bugs.
I didn't see so far anyone mentioning the bugs, but we had troubles with Hexxat getting stuck in mist form, the monks in the temple getting into fights and then attacking us (thus forcing us to kill a major character), a treasure chest that wasn't lootable until you killed some statues (then it went invisible and was lootable)... I could go on. The sheer severity of several bugs indicates to me as a developer that only the hastiest testing went into her character and subquest content. Which is understandable, given how different her character is from other NPC's.
We did like how the new areas looked and sounded. They were indeed pretty.
As for the story, I've whipped up my fair share of ad hoc NPC's just like any DM, and some of them turn out like this: a strange personality with a half-hearted attempt at a mysterious backstory that keeps the players just barely entertained. Making excuses for a storyline doesn't recover its failure to engage the audience in-game. The best thing to do in rushed circumstances is focus less on its story. Some NPC's don't need much explanation. Unfortunately, the trappings of a classic monster pretty much mandate a good one.
As a diehard traditionalist I don't believe the party should *get* a vampire, but if I were to give a party a vampire it would actually *be* one. She really shatters the immersion by sucking so hard as a vampire. The devil is in the implementation, and the developers took what seemed a reasonable course of action: make an item she has to wear during the daytime that nerfs her. Would it be so much trouble to give her level drain at night and no special powers at all during the day? To give her a permanent resting place with a teleportation rod/gem/whatever instead of a wacky Porta-Coffin? To actually make her immune to normal weapons rather than constantly falling to arrows from some random mugger?
To balance her power without inventing multiple ridiculous items, I would have looked into options for her to leave the party at dawn and rejoin seamlessly at dusk (dialogue-less) regardless of whether she was indoors. But I certainly wouldn't want more bugs. I'd much rather have just a normal Joe-schmoe or Jane-schmane thief with buckteeth and a funny accent as an NPC.
CENTRAL POINT: Don't make new content for a time-proven classic without quality, quality, quality.
I still like their work on improving the rest of the game. I don't have high hopes for the other new NPC's which I haven't played, but perhaps Hexxat is just the anomaly.
Neither your deny will change facts dude, you're obviously not the only one to call for an vanilla Clara DLC, so don't take your actions as the sole acts in existence for an Clara Vanilla NPC, cos they aren't.
You said that people calling for Clara "proved" the deficiency of Hexxat as an NPC.
You were wrong. It does nothing of the sort. I am proof it does nothing of the sort, and I am not the only person who liked the idea of expanding Clara without hating Hexxat.
Your conclusion did not flow from your premise. That is why I corrected you.
Well, let's try again, slow... directly:
There are 2 kinds of dissertation, expository essay and argumentative essay.
I did not gave my opinion, i quoted an fact existent in this forum: The request for an Clara DLC, the fact it was made soon after the release of BG2 EE and the criticize made on Hexxat NPC at that time (what was not much as the NPC was not aknowledge totally, no one at that time had made all her quests to the end).
So, with this admission in screen, let's define an fact: My text was an expository essay.
Ok, now that this issue is defined, let's go back to your phrase:
Your conclusion did not flow from your premise. That is why I corrected you.
To attack and expository essay, you do not attack the personal opinion of the person that expose it, you attack the credibility of those fact quoted. When you use the following phrase above to dismiss my statements (nor arguments), you fail in the very essence of english semantic on the elaboration of your contestation.
Without an "i think" or "i believe" giving voice to my personal opinion in that post, at least in the part you made an contestation, there's no premise of mine to be flowed from.
Ok, now that this point is defined, let me contest your argument:
You said that people calling for Clara "proved" the deficiency of Hexxat as an NPC.
You were wrong. It does nothing of the sort. I am proof it does nothing of the sort, and I am not the only person who liked the idea of expanding Clara without hating Hexxat.
You voiced your opinion, used yourself as an example to enforce your argument. This can give evidence to the existence of divergence and multiple opinions, not proof that i'm wrong, unless you're the only member of this forum, which somehow... i don't belive to be a truth.
In no moment i stated that every person here hate Hexxat, neither stated that every person here want an Clara NPC cos they hate Hexxat, i stated that some people have this opinion and i'm among them, simple, plain and succinct.
I'm not surprised by this dissatisfaction with Hexxat. From day one, I've been unhappy with the nature of that NPC. Even my evil Charname wouldn't bring a bloody vampire with him.. if things go dour, you're on her menu for crying out loud!
I did however bring her along for my evil playthrough.. up until the point i could no longer be bothered with her barely mediocre presence.
As OP said, among the official content NPC's Jan is still our only viable option..
And yes, I still want Clara as a full on NPC. In fact, by now it's starting to feel as if the game actually -lacks- her presence, despite the fact that she was never truly there.. funny, isn't it?
Clara was there. She was a thief girl with obvious problems until she was exchanged for this super awesome and super special vampire thief, who is far more mysterious and cool than a boring normal thief!
Hexxat is just too special. She is from an exotic country, a lesbian, a vampire who doesn't get killed by Minsc on sight and who has not one, but two unique items that circumvent vampiric weaknesses. It's understandable, why people dislike her. I also share the concerns about her writing. Someone tried to make her mysterious by having her communicate only in short sentences. Key word: tried
You voiced your opinion, used yourself as an example to enforce your argument. This can give evidence to the existence of divergence and multiple opinions, not proof that i'm wrong, unless you're the only member of this forum, which somehow... i don't belive to be a truth.
You know, for future reference, you really ought only to try this sort of thing where somebody cannot easily quote what you actually said back at you.
In no moment i stated that every person here hate Hexxat, neither stated that every person here want an Clara NPC cos they hate Hexxat, i stated that some people have this opinion and i'm among them, simple, plain and succinct.
Let's try this again. Here is what you actually said:
"About 3 days after BG2 Release and Hexxat content release (if not less), people were already asking for an Clara official NPC, a character made blank and with the sole prupose of be uninteresting and be an accessory plot for Hexxat, that by itself is proof more than enough of how critical was the failure of Hexxat NPC."
What you said, boiled down:
1) About 3 days after BG2 release (if not less), people were asking for a Clara official NPC (this is your premise)
2) That is proof how critical the failure of Hexxat as an NPC was (this is your conclusion)
Your conclusion only follows from your premise if people calling for a Clara official NPC are doing so because they did not like Hexxat. This is self-evident, since it is the only way that "calling for a Clara DLC" and "Hexxat" are at all related, let alone that the former is proof of the "failure" of the latter.
The fact I was not motivated by this, and neither were several other people, is adequate proof that your conclusion does not necessarily follow from your premise (if people can desire a Clara NPC without hating Hexxat, then there is no reason this shows the "failure of Hexxat NPC"). That is why I corrected you.
Actually, your conclusion also only follows from your premise if you can demonstrate that everyone on the forum feels this way (they didn't), and that the forum is representative of all purchasers of the game (this has not been shown). But I chose to focus on the logical link you yourself made, no matter how much you're now trying to deny that you made it.
Hexxat is just too special. She is from an exotic country, a lesbian, a vampire who doesn't get killed by Minsc on sight and who has not one, but two unique items that circumvent vampiric weaknesses. It's understandable, why people dislike her.
In the year 2014, can we please move past saying that somone being a lesbian is "special"?
Also, Minsc doesn't care about vampires and it's a bit ridiculous given his character to assume he couldn't be talked into not murdering a girl one-third his size.
Comments
I was also slightly offended when she apparently murdered one of the party members right in front of me without any forewarning. It was a nice story twist no doubt. Luckily I was not role-playing this game. If I was then I would have had to kill her right there, despite my playing style being chaotic neutral to lawful evil range.
However, from a playing point of view, I found her specifics interesting. The fact that she has a natural 20 strength opens up the option for her to dual wield. It also improved her backstabbing ability. I found these pretty satisfying. Her perfect armor would be the evil aligned human skin (+4 saves + 20 resis). It made her fairly effective all the way through TOB. So from the game point of view, I stuck with her all the way through TOB.
I don't know about her romance but I must comment on Rasaad's romance dialogues in SOA and TOB which I have experienced through with my sorceror. Regrettably, I am afraid that I have to say that it was not all that great, again due to the writing. I really enjoyed Rasaad's personal quests in both SOA and TOB. The area designs, the story progression culminating to a final battle in TOB was very satisfying indeed. But the writing was slightly lacking for my taste. In fact I decided not to be romantically pursued by him anymore half way through TOB. As a guy playing a female sorcerer, I found it pretty hard to believe that after ending our relationship in SOA, he suddenly started to beg for a chance to rekindle it, not just begging, I mean really begging!
The positives: I found Neera's personality very appealing. Her character is well written and her quests well designed. The same can be said about Dorn. I disagree with people arguing that some of the new NPC quests are over the top in comparison to the old NPCS. Firstly, most of the old NPCS do not have any quests in TOB. So it is refreshing to have at least some side NPC quests in TOB. Secondly Dorn's quest in Lunia is appropriately designed given the fact that the Charname has the ability to form his own pocket in the planes, to traverse the planes at will and to commune with Solars and dead gods. I don't think Dorn's quest is out-competing Charname's in that regard.
Sure without having Nalia in your party you miss out on some banter but it doesn't prevent you from entering or completing the de'Arnise Hold area. Same with Haer'Dalis, you can complete the Mage Lair in the sewers or the Planescape area by ignoring him. And you can enter Harper's Hold without Jaheira. Plus you can enter the Beholder lair in the sewers without Keldorn. Or the Druid's Grove without Cernd. All you miss out is some extra lines of dialog or small interactions with other characters which isn't a big loss.
But if you don't take Rasaad then you can't experience his temple area. if you ignore Neera at the entrance to the Wild Forest you can never get into the Campsite. If you don't follow Dorn around then you can't get to the Helmite Camp or Resurrection Gorge. And if you don't have Hexxat you can't get access to the new dungeons. You either miss out on the new content or you have to fill your party up with specific NPCs. Not to mention some of the most elaborate areas like Lumia can only be accessed if you have Dorn, who is a rather niche kind of evil (Lumia is such a great area artistically but such a shame it is wasted on a rather small portion of the game, not a good distribution of art resources). If you are doing an evil playthrough that is centered around being inconspicuous then you wouldn't take him at all. There's even a case where to finish a Neera quest you have to have Rasaad's areas unlocked.
This is especially problematic if you like to do solo runs of the game. If you go solo, then you don't get to experience any of the new content.
There would have been a simple fix to this if they followed the Nalia formula. At the Copper Coronet you can have her join or you can deny her but she still marks the de'Arnise Hold on your map. At the de'Arnise Hold you can have her join you to enter the Hold or you can again deny her which still opens the Hold to you.
Why couldn't Neera at the entrance to the Wild Forest offer two options? One that would have her join and one that would open the campsite to you. Within the campsite she could have acted like a quest giver and nothing more, maybe she could have been captured too and which you would have to rescue her. With Rasaad, why couldn't he be convinced to stay back while you infiltrate the Monk Temple? With Dorn, why couldn't you instead team up with the Temple of Helm to stop him, thus letting you experience his quests by from the opposite side. Hexxat is a bit tricky since she is incredibly linear, as if they took Icewind Dale and gave it NPC form. There's many different ways their areas and quest could have been constructed to accommodate different playthroughs.
There's the illusion of choice by having multiple dialog trees but they all end up either changing nothing or having the NPC try to kill you. It might be something you'd expect from BG1 or any other roleplaying video game (particularly cinematic Japanese RPGs), but not from BG2. People use the contract to excuse such linear mapping of the new NPCs but I don't really buy it. Because with Hexxat the conclusion to her quest could have had multiple outcomes but instead either nothing happens with her or she dies. The contract is no excuse why they didn't have a third path where she stays with you until the epilogue where she eventually dies.
I fear it was really just the developers opting out for the easier linear storytelling path rather than focusing on how to give the player options around how they choose to roleplay the NPCs for their own campaigns. The least they could have done was give the NPCs alignment shifts like Viconia, Anomen or Sarevok but they didn't. They created Dorn to become a very specific kind of evil that just doesn't work when you compare him to the other evil NPCs or the mandatory portions of the game. You can argue that he has a portion of Korgan's bloodlust but the difference is that Viconia, Korgan, Edwin and the reborn Sarevok are inconspicuous in their evil. They don't try to massacre priests of Helm who are one of the major religions in the region, if not the most powerful and they don't try to enter a celestial realm to cause havoc. They are evil but they still have to navigate around the surface without being burnt alive. It's really unbelievable how it takes until the epilogue for Dorn to die, to think that he manages to walk through Suldanessellar and even be celebrated as a champion. So he is an evil Mary Sue but that is no excuse for him being written as such. Same with Hexxat, vampires are despised especially in Suldanessellar but yet she is similarly lauded as a hero.
It's one thing to create truly evil NPCs, it's another when you waive aside pivotal moments within the game to justify their inclusion. There might have been a way to write a blackguard or a vampire NPC to fit the plot of BG2, maybe with them having redemption arcs but Dorn and Hexxat aren't it. Nothing changes the fact that the game involves such noble acts like saving Suldanessellar which is as far from pure evil as it gets. You could argue that the game itself has an alignment or either Chaotic Good or Neutral but definately not Evil. Viconia was written so that she could at least be taken in by a neutral party, Edwin was written rather comically to take away the edge of evil, Sarevok within the context of ToB is taken along to impart knowledge (with the option of a geas) but I agree Korgan is rather bloody but again he is rather inconspicuous about it and like Edwin written rather comically. There is pretty much no way you can justify Hexxat or Dorn to be part of a neutral party.
When judging the NPCs from a roleplaying perspective (as in allowing for options in how they are played), the majority of BG2 NPCs are superior despite being created a decade ago. It's not a matter of the developers failing to match their own expectations but that they failed in creating NPCs that fit the spirit of the BG2 NPCs which was their brief.
But still that is one NPC out of 17. Two if you count Anomen who had a similarly lengthy romance quest revolving around his sister.
However with the four BG2:EE NPCs their prolonged quests and areas aren't linked to their romances, so a comparison with Jaheira or Anomen isn't accurate. Besides in BG2 those two quests represented the vast minority of content probably not even 1% while in BG2:EE quests linked solely to the new NPCs represented pretty much 100% of the new content. Minor exceptions shouldn't become the rule.
My conclusion, at least the point you mentioned, is a reference to a fact of another thread(s), by attacking it as an opinion you show some deficience in undestand my statement, i will not hold it on you through, we live we learn.
So, to clarify: Without Nalia you miss out on more than simply some banters.
You miss out on an entire storyline that starts at the funeral of Nalia's father. You can't go to the funeral unless you have Nalia in your party. The subsequent story involving Roenell cannot be completed without Nalia. You cannot complete two quests without Jaheira in your party:
1. The poisoning by Baron Ployer.
2. The 'Harper Inquisition' led by Galvarey.
Not being able to complete #2 prevents you from obtaining one of the best magic items in the game (for mages) by the way. You cannot complete the storyline involving Keldorn's wife Maria without … Keldorn! You cannot complete the storyline involving Cernd, his former wife, and his son without … Cernd!
So my point stands: there are a number of quests in the original version of BG2 that require the inclusion of specific NPCs in your party in order to complete.
As for the rest, I'll just comment on this I don't find anything about Korgan's bloodlust 'inconspicuous'.
Everything you miss out on because you deny the NPC is just text with the odd surprise battle or two. At least you can still explore and experience the new maps and the important sections of their quests.
Only Keldorn fans care about his family situation, but the majority cares about actually experiencing the Unseeing Eye map. Only Cernd fans care about his baby situation, but the majority cares about experiencing the Druid's Grove map. Only Nalia fans care her father's funeral, but the majority cares about experiencing the de'Arnise Hold map. Only Jaheira fans care about her romance and personal Harper business, but the majority cares about experiencing Harper's Hold.
Do you see the pattern here?
In BG2 the formula is that you can experience a dungeon or area and then have the option to gain extra insight or text by taking a certain NPC along for the ride. In BG2:EE the formula is that to experience a dungeon or area you have to take a certain NPC along for the ride plus you have to sit through their long diatribes. BG2 offers choice like a choose your own adventure novel while BG2:EE forces a specific all or nothing form of roleplaying game.
It would be extremely annoying if after denying Keldorn, the Unseeing Eye map is forever closed off. Same if without Cernd that the Druid's Grove would be forever closed off. Same if without Nalia that the de'Arnise Hold would be forever closed off. Or without Jaheira you wouldn't never get inside Harper's Hold. If that was the case, a large chunk of the game would be off limits to an evil NPC playthrough.
Now with BG2:EE, it would have been improved drastically if you could experience the boasted 30+ new areas whichever way the player liked it. I don't see how you could argue against choice.
As for Korgan, he is inconspicuous in the sense that he isn't dragging you around massacring priests or invading celestial domains on a whim. All he does is talk of bloodshed but most of the time he is sulking around at night, hiding in the corner of the Copper Coronet (which at the time housed slavers and other unpleasants) or questing for objects in tombs. He is absolutely inconspicuous when there are folk like Dorn who pillage for months/years without repercussions. You may just him on talk but as a party member what actions does he do which could be deemed conspicuous?
You can play through versions of both Jaheira's and Anomen's story lines even if you are not romancing them.
Go to the graveyard all you want. Without Nalia, no funeral. (And there is more to Nalia's story-line than simply the funeral, by the way.)
Go to the Harper's Hold all you want. Without Jaheira, no Galvery.
Go to the Jansen household in the Slums all you want. Without Jan, no quest involving Jan's old love, her child, and the Hidden.
Etc. The pattern I see is that you personally do not care about the NPC-based quests in the original BG2 (including the unique NPCs and interactions available only through them).
So why care about the NPC-based quests in BG2EE so much?
Okay, I know what you're going to say: the new areas are only available if you have the relevant NPCs with you.
Fair enough. But note that you can only access the Planar Sphere if you have Valygar with you (or at least his body). And numerous BG2 events will happen only if you have certain NPCs with you.
It doesn't matter that you can go into the Fentan household in Trademeet without Mazzy. Without Mazzy you will not get the quest involving Palia's poisoning. Never. I don't think you realize just how much having Jaheira in your party changes the entire Harper story-line. Without Jaheira, no Galverey, no 'Inquisition', no unique encounters with other Harpers, no special ring, etc.
Edwin - Thief's guild
Cernd - Druid Challenge
Aerie - Circus Tent
Haer'Dalis - Planar Prison
Imoen - Spell Hold
Keldorn - Unseen Eye Cult
Mazzy - Shadow Dungeon
Nalia - de'Arnise
Valygar - Planar Sphere (his body dead or alive)
All of these major quests can be completed without the respective NPCs.
I am also wondering why the developers don't offer the flexibility of completing the new NPC quests without their presence in the party. Might be that this option could be difficult to implement.
Edwin - Nether scroll
Cernd - His children quest
Keldorn - Wife's betrayal
Mazzy - Sister and priest of Talona & Ogre Challenge in Copper Coronet
Nalia - Roenal attempt to coup de grace
Others have Huge quests as Jaheira and Jan Jansen to some degree.
Jan Jansen quest is the only not main char related in fact from what i can take of the quests and the most likely style used to make the New NPC quests, there is an precedent but not the best one to be used as example.
1. The encounter with 'Gorf the Squisher'
2. The quest involving the poisoning of Palia You must have Nalia in your party in order for to be invited to her father's funeral. This opens up a subsequent story-line involving Isaea Roenall's connections to slaver activities in Athkatla.
Let me add some others:
You must have Korgan in your party in order to complete his 'book' quest.
You must have Jan in your party in order to complete his 'lost love' quest.
You must have Jaheira in your party in order to get the 'full' Harper strong hold quest and the Baron Ployer story-line.
You must have Anomen in your party in order to get his 'test' and subsequent story-line.
That's the critical point. It's about independant exploration with the option of further, not mandatory plot developments.
However, in the original game, whenever you are introduced to a new area via a NPC quest, you are not required to recruit that NPC to complete that quest. You have sub-quests that will require their presence later but definitely not the first time when a map is introduced to the player.
There very well may have been a better way to have integrated the new NPCs, including adding their areas without requiring their inclusion in the PC's party.
But the addition of NPC-specific stories, encounters, and items is not unique to BG2EE. (Maybe BG2EE went 'too far' somehow. I don't think so, but YMMV, etc.)
In the past I sometimes have included Korgan, Valygar, Edwin, and others temporarily in order to play through their unique story-lines. I don't see any reason not to do the same with the new NPCs (aside from RP-considerations, of course; hence I am not interacting at all with Dorn in my current game).
The first half is the dungeon map the second half is NPC centric plot. Most people can live with just having the dungeon map open, others might care about exploring Nalia's personal drama. There is a choice the player can and has to make. You shouldn't have to make a choice to forsake gameplay just people you don't like a certain NPC, that's something the original BG2 made sure to remember.
But no such choice exists in BG2:EE. You either miss out on the lot or you go through the entire NPC to Area linked quest. So yes, there is a better way to integrate the new content with the new NPCs without forcing an all or nothing preposition. That's the entirety of my point.
Sure you can find examples where you miss out on items or portions if you refuse to take certain NPCs. But there was never a case in BG2 where you missed out on entire maps just because you rejected a NPC. The integration of the new content was way too linear and they should have found ways of giving the player option over how much of the quest they want to complete. They treated the new NPCs in such a rigid, linear fashion that there is no choice besides having them join or them dying. There's never the option to have them open up the dungeons but fall back into a passive spectator role.
To be fair you can experience the Wild Forest without Neera but you can't get into the campsite without her. That's pretty much the only example where you can experience a new map without a new NPC. I think the same might be true of the Amphitheatre.
You were wrong. It does nothing of the sort. I am proof it does nothing of the sort, and I am not the only person who liked the idea of expanding Clara without hating Hexxat.
Your conclusion did not flow from your premise. That is why I corrected you.
2) If you'd played through her plotline, then you ought to know she spend 100% of her undead life being trapped in a coffin, unable to move or speak. So talking about "survived the test of time" and "centuries of knowledge" is pretty weird. She doesn't have any more experience than your charname does.
Chalk all of that up to missed opportunities or the writers' over reliance on mystery to explain things surrounding Hexxat.
I didn't see so far anyone mentioning the bugs, but we had troubles with Hexxat getting stuck in mist form, the monks in the temple getting into fights and then attacking us (thus forcing us to kill a major character), a treasure chest that wasn't lootable until you killed some statues (then it went invisible and was lootable)... I could go on. The sheer severity of several bugs indicates to me as a developer that only the hastiest testing went into her character and subquest content. Which is understandable, given how different her character is from other NPC's.
We did like how the new areas looked and sounded. They were indeed pretty.
As for the story, I've whipped up my fair share of ad hoc NPC's just like any DM, and some of them turn out like this: a strange personality with a half-hearted attempt at a mysterious backstory that keeps the players just barely entertained. Making excuses for a storyline doesn't recover its failure to engage the audience in-game. The best thing to do in rushed circumstances is focus less on its story. Some NPC's don't need much explanation. Unfortunately, the trappings of a classic monster pretty much mandate a good one.
As a diehard traditionalist I don't believe the party should *get* a vampire, but if I were to give a party a vampire it would actually *be* one. She really shatters the immersion by sucking so hard as a vampire. The devil is in the implementation, and the developers took what seemed a reasonable course of action: make an item she has to wear during the daytime that nerfs her. Would it be so much trouble to give her level drain at night and no special powers at all during the day? To give her a permanent resting place with a teleportation rod/gem/whatever instead of a wacky Porta-Coffin? To actually make her immune to normal weapons rather than constantly falling to arrows from some random mugger?
To balance her power without inventing multiple ridiculous items, I would have looked into options for her to leave the party at dawn and rejoin seamlessly at dusk (dialogue-less) regardless of whether she was indoors. But I certainly wouldn't want more bugs. I'd much rather have just a normal Joe-schmoe or Jane-schmane thief with buckteeth and a funny accent as an NPC.
CENTRAL POINT: Don't make new content for a time-proven classic without quality, quality, quality.
I still like their work on improving the rest of the game. I don't have high hopes for the other new NPC's which I haven't played, but perhaps Hexxat is just the anomaly.
There are 2 kinds of dissertation, expository essay and argumentative essay.
I did not gave my opinion, i quoted an fact existent in this forum: The request for an Clara DLC, the fact it was made soon after the release of BG2 EE and the criticize made on Hexxat NPC at that time (what was not much as the NPC was not aknowledge totally, no one at that time had made all her quests to the end).
So, with this admission in screen, let's define an fact: My text was an expository essay.
Ok, now that this issue is defined, let's go back to your phrase: To attack and expository essay, you do not attack the personal opinion of the person that expose it, you attack the credibility of those fact quoted. When you use the following phrase above to dismiss my statements (nor arguments), you fail in the very essence of english semantic on the elaboration of your contestation.
Without an "i think" or "i believe" giving voice to my personal opinion in that post, at least in the part you made an contestation, there's no premise of mine to be flowed from.
Ok, now that this point is defined, let me contest your argument:
You voiced your opinion, used yourself as an example to enforce your argument. This can give evidence to the existence of divergence and multiple opinions, not proof that i'm wrong, unless you're the only member of this forum, which somehow... i don't belive to be a truth.
In no moment i stated that every person here hate Hexxat, neither stated that every person here want an Clara NPC cos they hate Hexxat, i stated that some people have this opinion and i'm among them, simple, plain and succinct.
From day one, I've been unhappy with the nature of that NPC.
Even my evil Charname wouldn't bring a bloody vampire with him.. if things go dour, you're on her menu for crying out loud!
I did however bring her along for my evil playthrough.. up until the point i could no longer be bothered with her barely mediocre presence.
As OP said, among the official content NPC's Jan is still our only viable option..
And yes, I still want Clara as a full on NPC. In fact, by now it's starting to feel as if the game actually -lacks- her presence, despite the fact that she was never truly there.. funny, isn't it?
Hexxat is just too special. She is from an exotic country, a lesbian, a vampire who doesn't get killed by Minsc on sight and who has not one, but two unique items that circumvent vampiric weaknesses.
It's understandable, why people dislike her.
I also share the concerns about her writing. Someone tried to make her mysterious by having her communicate only in short sentences. Key word: tried
"About 3 days after BG2 Release and Hexxat content release (if not less), people were already asking for an Clara official NPC, a character made blank and with the sole prupose of be uninteresting and be an accessory plot for Hexxat, that by itself is proof more than enough of how critical was the failure of Hexxat NPC."
What you said, boiled down:
1) About 3 days after BG2 release (if not less), people were asking for a Clara official NPC
(this is your premise)
2) That is proof how critical the failure of Hexxat as an NPC was
(this is your conclusion)
Your conclusion only follows from your premise if people calling for a Clara official NPC are doing so because they did not like Hexxat. This is self-evident, since it is the only way that "calling for a Clara DLC" and "Hexxat" are at all related, let alone that the former is proof of the "failure" of the latter.
The fact I was not motivated by this, and neither were several other people, is adequate proof that your conclusion does not necessarily follow from your premise (if people can desire a Clara NPC without hating Hexxat, then there is no reason this shows the "failure of Hexxat NPC"). That is why I corrected you.
Actually, your conclusion also only follows from your premise if you can demonstrate that everyone on the forum feels this way (they didn't), and that the forum is representative of all purchasers of the game (this has not been shown). But I chose to focus on the logical link you yourself made, no matter how much you're now trying to deny that you made it.
Also, Minsc doesn't care about vampires and it's a bit ridiculous given his character to assume he couldn't be talked into not murdering a girl one-third his size.