[Request] Party Leader Speaks for Party
HeroicSpur
Member Posts: 907
Hi everyone,
One very annoying occurence in BG is that every now and again a scripted NPC will trigger dialogue with your party, unfortunately with the closest party member, which can be your warrior with 6 Charisma.
My request is that the party leader be the party leader, and speak for the party whenever they get approached. If I was a paladin leader, I would not allow an unbearable idiot party member to speak for the group. I would step to the front and take charge.
Therefore my request is that whenever dialogue is triggered by NPCs with the group, the party leader should always do the talking, unless it is intended specifically for a party member (in which case they normally speak for themselves anyway), or if you voluntarily trigger dialogue with a character other than the leader.
This is aimed at avoiding contrivances like having the party leader staggered ahead.
CLARIFICATION: The party leader is taken to mean the character in 1st slot, even if the formation then has them at the back (this also helps a lot where your leader is weak, e.g. a wizard or a sorceror, you don't have to put them in harms way just to ensure they do the talking). This does not necessarily mean CHARNAME.
One very annoying occurence in BG is that every now and again a scripted NPC will trigger dialogue with your party, unfortunately with the closest party member, which can be your warrior with 6 Charisma.
My request is that the party leader be the party leader, and speak for the party whenever they get approached. If I was a paladin leader, I would not allow an unbearable idiot party member to speak for the group. I would step to the front and take charge.
Therefore my request is that whenever dialogue is triggered by NPCs with the group, the party leader should always do the talking, unless it is intended specifically for a party member (in which case they normally speak for themselves anyway), or if you voluntarily trigger dialogue with a character other than the leader.
This is aimed at avoiding contrivances like having the party leader staggered ahead.
CLARIFICATION: The party leader is taken to mean the character in 1st slot, even if the formation then has them at the back (this also helps a lot where your leader is weak, e.g. a wizard or a sorceror, you don't have to put them in harms way just to ensure they do the talking). This does not necessarily mean CHARNAME.
18
Comments
That's a bad idea, and it's what made PST a drag to play, TNO had to run around everywhere
The problem this is seeking to address is where a dumb fighter character in position two, finds himself marginally closer to the dialogue initiator and so the whole dialogue needs to be conducted with them. It leads to the ridiculous scenario where the intelligent, charismatic leader, standing 1 foot away just stands and watches while the party members bumbles their way through the dialogue.
At least in these cases the game should really always have the actual Bhaalspawn doing the talking.
*Or if I had been able to...
I also think this is an overall good suggestion. I really like how you want the party leader to be the one talking only if he is close to where the conversation is triggered.
Yes, yes and yes. I hated when someone spoke to another NPC`s as the Bhaalspawn.
dialogue, reaction adjustments will be based on the ‘leader’ of the
group. The ‘leader’ is always the top-most character portrait of all
the characters that are present in the area."
@Iansounet: So someone would need to check all dialogues in the entire game.
Meanwhile I will cover my poop from previous post by massive editing before someone else with the sufficient knowledge goes mad about false info!
PS : This is all about BG2 behaviour btw, so I can't tell about the info from BG1 manual
Seeking some confirmation/precisions in regards to some identifiers for further research in the topic of this thread :
- PC in EA.IDS (IESDP link) Does that really mean any party member? So StartDialogue([PC]) (and other variants) starts a dialogue with nearest party member?
- StrongestOf / WeakestOf in OBJECT.IDS (IESDP link) What determines those? Levels/Experience points/some stat?
p.s. Stalker :P
Will check for more within BG1
"If you are a Fighter, Barbarian, or Monk, when you have completed the The De'Arnise Keep has been Invaded quest, Nalia offers you the keep as your stronghold. If you accept, you are automatically transported into Level 1 of the Keep where you meet with the Major Domo who will give you your tasks. "
my character didn't qualify as a fighter, barbarian or monk but a Kensai did ( i think because when he dual-classed he reads as fighter/mage ), and since it was an MP game I kept getting the dialog as soon as we entered the roof to end the questline.
@Ward There are 2 ways I can see this being accomplished :
- Change all iterations of StartDialogue([PC]) (and all variants of Dialogue action of course) to (Player1) in scripts that initiate dialogues (at least for dialogs that contain CheckStat(), could be extended to dialogues containing tokens referring to the speaker like < GABBER >, < RACE >, etc...)
- Change all CheckStat(LastTalkedToBy, , ) in dialogues to CheckStat(Player1, , ) if the dialogue is initiated by script (Exclude Wish dialogue and some other specific ones). LastTalkedToBy is fine if the dialogue is initiated by the player with a party member that is not CHARNAME
I always wondered exactly why the speaking NPC is assumed to be CHARNAME (the leader). Is this some kind of limitation or oversight into how to pass over dialogue control to CHARNAME or for convenience sake?