Yeah I guess I'll pretend a cleric walked by and raised her from the dead. And she has amnesia that I helped the flaming fist kill her. And if she thinks we're old friends then... uh... I don't know.
This bodes ill for my BG party of Ajantis, Yeslick, Imoen, Garrick, and Tiax. Not a single one of them is a joinable NPC?
I feel you, I have a Yeslick, Ajantis, Imoen, Kivan and Garrick ENDGAME SAVE. Horrible playthrough and NPCs availability in SOD felt they kicked it while it was still down.
I have Montaron, Xzar, Xan, Branwen, and Kivan. I think I'll like sod okay. I saw the cutscene on you tube where it says your companions go their separate way so whatever. But I'm not gonna start bg2 until I get a Montaron and Xzar mod. I'll make it myself if I have to. I have to right that wrong that bioware did to me 15 years ago. If they would have left Xzar up north fine but to put him there and give him amnesia that we were best friends and make it impossible for me to save him or recruit him was terrible. bg2 was a lot of fun but the canon party was the worst idea.
Yeah but if they made characters with alignment/race/class to keep all of us happy... dwarf, elf, hobbit, human. evil, good, neutral. thief, fighter, mage, cleric. 4*3*4. 48 bare minimum.
Could someone help me with Branwen's location? She was in my imported party for the beginning crypt, but I can't find her after -- granted, I haven't left the city yet. Is she not in SoD? And if not, is there a simple way to cheat/spawn her back into my party, perhaps via EEKeeper, or to "create" her and add? Also, is it long before I get back Neera? Appreciate any help/tips/advice.
The evil parties got shafted yet again. If you are really evil (reputation 1-3), you start with just one companion and never even get a complete party as there are only 4 evil companions. Unfortunately, none of the new additions is evil, so you are stuck with the notorious bunch yet again. Even neutral guys are either exclusive to your evil companions (Neera and Edwin) or almost useless (Safana). There is also a distinct lack of any tanks for evil parties (no meaty dwarf around this time).
Could someone help me with Branwen's location? She was in my imported party for the beginning crypt, but I can't find her after -- granted, I haven't left the city yet. Is she not in SoD? And if not, is there a simple way to cheat/spawn her back into my party, perhaps via EEKeeper, or to "create" her and add? Also, is it long before I get back Neera? Appreciate any help/tips/advice.
Branwen isn't in SoD I think, and you get Neera around mid-game I think more or less.
@Aedan Thank you so much for the (fast) reply! Much appreciated. Dang, I feared as much. Hopefully I can find a way to get her back using other means then, via EEkeeper or console or something... otherwise no SoD for me.
EDIT: BTW, does anyone know if there is a way to add Branwen via "unoffical" means? Or create and add a character to an existing party in SoD?
EDIT 2: Never mind, I figured it out -- just spawned her in via console (as a statue, seemed the only option..), then asked her to join. Voila! I can fix her back the way she was in EE Keeper. Joy!
@NightRevan Thanks also! Sorry, didnt see you had replied first, my eyes skipped a few lines apparently... :
I have Montaron, Xzar, Xan, Branwen, and Kivan. I think I'll like sod okay. I saw the cutscene on you tube where it says your companions go their separate way so whatever. But I'm not gonna start bg2 until I get a Montaron and Xzar mod. I'll make it myself if I have to. I have to right that wrong that bioware did to me 15 years ago. If they would have left Xzar up north fine but to put him there and give him amnesia that we were best friends and make it impossible for me to save him or recruit him was terrible. bg2 was a lot of fun but the canon party was the worst idea.
Agreed, the "canon" party idea was wrong at the time, though the reasons for it are valid. Mainly so the developers could cut the pairs up. Same reason they killed Montaron/Xzar without any options.
I cannot understand why it is so defended, the game was dumbed down so that the player didn't have to make a decision as to whether one companion was worth putting up with the other or have to take the decision to kill one of them. It was and still is a good moral dilemma in BG, very much in the spirit of RP.
I can't imagine the canon party was established to split pairs. Characters could have died offscreen without that being established they died with you. A canon party was established because no writer could have accounted for every possible team available in BG1. With up to five companions in any combination of like 23 different characters the math is impossible. They wanted to tell a post Sarevok story so they picked the ever popular Minsc and then the Khalid and Jaheira pair that made story sense because of Gorion and threw in Imoen to play up the Bhaalspawn thing for a twist. I think it would have been better to have Jaheira, Khalid, Minsc and Dynaheir come to rescue you without having them locked up with you or without declaring them the canon party and killed people as they saw fit over that process and ignore a canon party. They didn't do that, it was bad writing. It was 15 years ago. Oh well
Yeah I guess it would be too much work to develop dialog trees for all those characters. I would have been okay with them just developing the ones they liked but also let me get xzar and just let him be a bg1 character. bg1 characters were just cartoonish exaggerations with one dialog when you meet them and then a few one liners when you click on them. I know I'm in the minority but I liked it that way better. I'm not really bashing bg2 fans or bioware. Just my preference.
I remember in neverwinter nights 2 I spent the whole game telling my party members to shut up and then in the end they all deserted me and I couldn't beat the last bad guy.
edit: Sent Sarevok back to hell today and it threw me straight into seige of dragonspear. I just got past the first dungeon and we all went our separate ways. Everything made sense. Montaron and Xzar had short lines to read about how they were taking off after this dungeon. Xan said something similar. Luckily I didn't kill imoen, I left her at the Friendly Arm Inn so it worked that she was there, I guess. The dialog is hilarious. When the new girl tells me she knows where to find some of my old companions I can say, "I guess we're heading to the tavern" or something like that. This game is great so far. Skie was there but I was able to have no idea who she was and she was embarassed for assuming I remembered her. It's all working way better than bg2. (bg2 was still great) Also the AI is way meaner. It keeps hunting down my mages instead of focusing on whoever I put in front. I love this game so far, it's everything I wanted it to be. lol. Also the idiot treasurer lost my 150,000 gold or gave it to refugees or something so I murdered him in cold blood. I hoping it makes sense that I end up in that dungeon with Minsc and Jaheira in bg2. If they can pull that off I'm happy. And then I'll make that Montaron/Xzar mod for bg2. I think I'll copy how Darkest Day did it.
You can use Minsc. Just don't be a mindless sociopath and kill every NPC you see. I played with Minsc in my evil playthrough right up until endgame and had no issues. Just don't let your rep drop below, say, 7. On my evil playthroughs, I rarely let it drop below 8 so I don't have bounty hunters showing up all the time. Remember, you're soldiers fighting against an encroaching army, regardless of your motivations. You just have to be able to work together, you don't have to love each other.
The problem isn't that you can use Minsc - it's that you shouldn't have to. A linear campaign is one thing, but if Beamdog have engineered this scenario to the extent where you can't even pick party members that match your alignment... well, that's not a good sign.
I don't look at it that way, I just try to role play. I mean maybe I'm evil and I can't find 5 other evil people to follow me around and risk their lives for me, that doesn't seem unrealistic. If only a neutral or good guy was around to help me and after I murdered a couple people he started complaining I'd think okay, I have to lay off the murder for a while to keep this bastard happy. Or throw some gold at temple to make my reputation go up or whatever.
I suppose it depends what kind of evil character you play, an intelligent and cunning one would know the value of not appearing to much like a homicidal pyscopath and of using people like Minsc to their advantage so using Minsc as a mage who's evil should work well. I also get other evil NPCs might be less likely to hang around.
But for the more random sociopathic character type, or a Joker type character perhaps a bit of a problem till later, although in their insanity they might find strange kinship with Minsc.
But I suppose BG has always been more directed towards more heroic groups than evil parties. I don't really have a problem with it but I can understand the frustration for those wanting an fully developed evil campaign.
If I happened to be roleplaying an intelligent evil person, I would absolutely hate Minsc. I would hire the Duergar Mercenary that Viconia is hanging out with.
But I suppose BG has always been more directed towards more heroic groups than evil parties. I don't really have a problem with it but I can understand the frustration for those wanting an fully developed evil campaign.
Uh... this has nothing to do with a "fully developed evil campaign". Having a balanced party is a basic requirement for any alignment; BG1 let you choose from four Evil frontliners, three Evil mages, two Evil healers and let Montaron or Shar-Teel do double-duty as the party thief.
I can understand not being able or not wanting to bring back more classic characters (and their corresponding voice actors), but arbitrarily skewing the pool of characters this way seems like a grave miscalculation.
If I happened to be roleplaying an intelligent evil person, I would absolutely hate Minsc. I would hire the Duergar Mercenary that Viconia is hanging out with.
True, but hating or not hating is irreverent to seeing their use as a tool, particularly in a war. In fact you could see Minsc as an assest, much less likely to betray you and ready to sacrifice himself for you. His value outweighes any personal emotions or despisement your PC would have. A manipulating evil mage would look coldy at what use things are to them, whether s/he likes them or not, and then proceed accordingly, if that means Minsc is more effective and useful and they need to make sure they don't murder everyone (which doesn't fit an up and coming manipulative evil character anyway) then so be it.
Comments
NOOOOOOOOOO
I mean, Korgan is a badass but is also psychotic.
You will find Neera later, when you enter Bridgefort. You have to wait.
Thank you so much for the (fast) reply! Much appreciated.
Dang, I feared as much. Hopefully I can find a way to get her back using other means then, via EEkeeper or console or something... otherwise no SoD for me.
EDIT: BTW, does anyone know if there is a way to add Branwen via "unoffical" means? Or create and add a character to an existing party in SoD?
EDIT 2: Never mind, I figured it out -- just spawned her in via console (as a statue, seemed the only option..), then asked her to join. Voila! I can fix her back the way she was in EE Keeper. Joy!
@NightRevan Thanks also! Sorry, didnt see you had replied first, my eyes skipped a few lines apparently...
Agreed, the "canon" party idea was wrong at the time, though the reasons for it are valid. Mainly so the developers could cut the pairs up. Same reason they killed Montaron/Xzar without any options.
I cannot understand why it is so defended, the game was dumbed down so that the player didn't have to make a decision as to whether one companion was worth putting up with the other or have to take the decision to kill one of them. It was and still is a good moral dilemma in BG, very much in the spirit of RP.
And no problems @maliagante Aedan's post was by far the most informative in anycase
I remember in neverwinter nights 2 I spent the whole game telling my party members to shut up and then in the end they all deserted me and I couldn't beat the last bad guy.
edit:
Sent Sarevok back to hell today and it threw me straight into seige of dragonspear. I just got past the first dungeon and we all went our separate ways. Everything made sense. Montaron and Xzar had short lines to read about how they were taking off after this dungeon. Xan said something similar. Luckily I didn't kill imoen, I left her at the Friendly Arm Inn so it worked that she was there, I guess. The dialog is hilarious. When the new girl tells me she knows where to find some of my old companions I can say, "I guess we're heading to the tavern" or something like that. This game is great so far. Skie was there but I was able to have no idea who she was and she was embarassed for assuming I remembered her. It's all working way better than bg2. (bg2 was still great) Also the AI is way meaner. It keeps hunting down my mages instead of focusing on whoever I put in front. I love this game so far, it's everything I wanted it to be. lol. Also the idiot treasurer lost my 150,000 gold or gave it to refugees or something so I murdered him in cold blood. I hoping it makes sense that I end up in that dungeon with Minsc and Jaheira in bg2. If they can pull that off I'm happy. And then I'll make that Montaron/Xzar mod for bg2. I think I'll copy how Darkest Day did it.
hm.. if iam evil and need my evil black guard? :X
i cant use minsc.
But for the more random sociopathic character type, or a Joker type character perhaps a bit of a problem till later, although in their insanity they might find strange kinship with Minsc.
But I suppose BG has always been more directed towards more heroic groups than evil parties. I don't really have a problem with it but I can understand the frustration for those wanting an fully developed evil campaign.
I can understand not being able or not wanting to bring back more classic characters (and their corresponding voice actors), but arbitrarily skewing the pool of characters this way seems like a grave miscalculation.