From reading it over, Vynd and Sandrah definitely knock boots, there's a fade to black execution right after that proposition.
I don't want to knock on another modder, it takes a ton of work and there was a lot put in here, but it definitely could use some revising to remove some Mary Sue and classical bad fanfiction (modfiction?) elements.
In regards to your own mod, I've spent some time reading over the lines and the characterization and personalities are awesome. I love the quips, quirks, and bounce of the lines, and the humor works. I thought Flara would be my least favorite with the red dragon claiming gig, but it pulls off well as an outrageous absurdity that adds humor and avoids the special snowflake trap. It looks like great work, and I hope to definitely play it once I am done with my SoD Modding, it's definitely taught me a thing or two about dialogue writing. Also really nice portraits, wherever they are from, they fit right in.
Flara absolutely had to be bitter and childish and easily riled. Writing a special character can be fine as long as you take them down a peg every so often; when someone isn't willing to do that, it usually means they're too focused on "special" and not enough on "character."
Wow this is incredibly impressive! Always happy when new NPCs come with their own quests. How well do those lend themselves to being switched in and out of the party? There's just far too many interesting mod NPCs and not enough time, but I'd love to try them in my next playthrough.
To my knowledge, swapping characters out shouldn't break anything, unless you actually tell them through dialogue to go and handle their own affairs. There is one potentially missable quest, though.
Make sure you bring Littlun when you go into the Cloakwood.
Thanks, sounds good then. I appreciate NPCs being coded to proceed in their quests and friendship paths despite alternating in and out of the party. It used to be that mod authors would get offended at the notion of someone not wanting to take their pet all the way through the game, and I could sort of see where they were coming from, but there's just too many interesting NPCs and too little time.
Without wanting to spoil myself too much, dialogue seems to be on par with the excellent Vynd throughout. I want to echo Skitia's sentiment about the Dragon Disciple. I usually dislike these more-special-than-thou characters, but she seems like great fun without turning into a caricature.
Would you recommend taking them all together for the most content or are they just released as one mod for convenience?
There are some extra interactions here and there if you have them in the same party, but it's by no means required to use them all at once. They'll still banter with the main cast, have their full set of talks with the player, and the quests won't be affected.
Testing this mod : I took Moidre with me for this playthrough, what an interesting and mysterious character, but too bad there seems to be so little content for her, I had hoped to get something more after the nashkel mines since at first she joins for these mines, but nothing... too bad ! I just hope you'll be able to add something more for her later.
In short for the others since I didn't keep them : Dave looks interesting, but I had to choose between him and Drake. Since Drake has a mod for himself alone there was probably more content for him, so it was Drake.
For Flara, I met her before the nashkel mines as it's probably intended, but at this point she is extremely weak, sorcerers at low level are really a pain, and she doesn't even have any skill with a ranged weapon, so I decided to try Xan instead (with Tome and blood + more style for mages + might and guile + bg1npc which actually makes him really interesting in fact !).
For your gnome ranger I was interested, but I didn't go to the gnoll fortress in this game since I had already a mage and Minsc was not in my party, and it was a long detour just to try her, so I tried Emily from another mod instead.
For the drow, hum I can't trust him in this party.
Anyway in short they all look very good, I just hope you'll be able to add some more content for them later, and congratulations for the work so far !
Not yet, sorry for the delay, been testing other mods at the same time, and encountered a few problems, some of them hard to fix, so I'll just start a new playthrough ! But thanks it's good to know there is more to come !
I'm very impressed with the characters from what I've seen so far, but I hate having to abandon my characters when I move on to the expansion, or the sequel.
Are there any plans to continue these characters into Siege of Dragonspear eventually? And maybe even Shadows of Amn/Throne of Bhaal after that?
I did leave everyone with a few loose threads to allow for sequel potential, but it'll likely be BGII before anything else. I only played SoD recently, and it'll take time before I know it inside and out the way I do BGII. Also, depending on how everyone's stories go, it might not even make sense for them to be in SoD.
In any case, BGII Vynd was always going to be a thing; I just wanted to finish this project first. After that, we'll see what happens. Maybe check back in another five years, by which time BG3 will be out and nobody will care about modding these games anymore!
!!! Glam!! I can't believe you're back! I need to check this out immediately! you and Liam Esler are far and away the best BG NPC writers, better than the stuff in the game proper, funnier, more emotional, just--good. it's good! it's great, really. I look forward to mainlining this new stuff!
Was it bugging anyone else that Littlun uses one of BG:EE's player soundsets? It was bugging me. What if someone wanted that voice for their main character?
The problem is solved! Littlun now has a brand new, totally unique soundset, courtesy of professional voice actress Haley Jay. I've also fixed some issues affecting Tenya, Imoen, and compatibility with Tutu/BGT installs.
I am most of my way through BG1 run with your NPCs and I love them. And I even didn't let any of them join my party. I am thinking of having another go immediately after because I can't wait to try them out. Great writing, really makes Faerun a colourful place.
Are they scripted to dissapear at a certain point? I noticed that certainly Flara is no longer in The Belching Dragon after clearing the mines - I wonder if there is some sort of conflict. I haven't seen the others for a while but might be I checked the wrong tavern in Beregost.
Fixed a couple more Tutu errors, and an issue that was causing Moidre to disappear when removed from the party. I wish I could report something super exciting like a brand new voice set this time, but I can't.
Maybe now it's time to start getting some crossmod content in there. Watch this space.
For info my group just hit 19 reputation, and Vynd immediately disappeared, really, left the group without any message, didn't even see him leaving, I guess it's because of his alignment and it explains why you advise to use the happy patch... I'd say he is not so evil, more neutral I would say, anyway I might try to install this happy patch then...
This made me laugh for some reason, I remember this happening to me too. I guess I just find it funny how sudden abandoning happens in Baldur's Gate at the high low ends of rep.
You don't need the happy patch mod per say, Glam could consider adding OpCode 360 to the NPCs instead (This is what I did with Vienxay, so she doesn't leave at rep 19/20). This is the approach I would suggest, because some people like myself don't use the happy patch, and I don't see every type of evil character being uncomfortable with high reputation. (I do see most good characters being uncomfortable at 0/1 reputation, however.)
Hello, I mostly play baldur's gate 2. Any chance to have all this NPCs for baldur's gate 2 EE please?
I don't know about all of them, but Vynd BG2 is still happening. Beyond that, we'll see. Making BG2 NPC content is a heftier task, so if I do end up adding the rest of the pack, it probably won't be all at once.
For info my group just hit 19 reputation, and Vynd immediately disappeared, really, left the group without any message, didn't even see him leaving, I guess it's because of his alignment and it explains why you advise to use the happy patch... I'd say he is not so evil, more neutral I would say, anyway I might try to install this happy patch then...
Yeah, it's a real pain. I don't know what they changed in the EE to make it not work, but he just will not stay put at high reputation. In hindsight, I should at least write some dialogue for it so the player knows what happened.
You don't need the happy patch mod per say, Glam could consider adding OpCode 360 to the NPCs instead (This is what I did with Vienxay, so she doesn't leave at rep 19/20).
Oh, is THAT how you do it? I thought you had to mess with the 2das! I thought they'd just hardcoded over it and it wouldn't work anymore! This changes everything!
I think it's finally fixed! Vynd, Dave, Moidre and Flara will no longer leave due to reputation in BG:EE! Big thanks to Skitia for providing me with the pitifully simple solution that's been available all this time. I'm an idiot.
I also teased you folks about potential crossmod content, and this time we've got it! This latest version includes banters with the one and only SANDRAH from the famous Sandrah Saga mod!
Since Roxanne was kind enough to include crossmod for Vynd (purely on her own initiative!) I thought it was only fair to return the favour and write some interactions with the rest of the Glam Gang. Although I didn't have Roxanne's input, I put my heart and soul into capturing the spirit of Sandrah as faithfully as possible, and I'm confident you'll agree I did just as fine a job as she did with Vynd. Keep your eyes peeled for more awesome crossmod content in the future!
My morbid curiosity led me to take a peek at the crossmod, and I masochistically enjoyed the parody. It's stylistically awful but at least it makes no pretenses at being more than what it is. 10/10
Also I think you might still have put more effort into proofreading than a certain someone.
One minor bug actually, this GV#SAN1.baf has the StartDialogueNoSetline talking to Dynaheir who isn't a subject of the talks. Given the paradoxical nature, hard to say if this is a bug or a feature, but I thought to point it out.
Comments
Flara absolutely had to be bitter and childish and easily riled. Writing a special character can be fine as long as you take them down a peg every so often; when someone isn't willing to do that, it usually means they're too focused on "special" and not enough on "character."
Thanks for the feedback!
To my knowledge, swapping characters out shouldn't break anything, unless you actually tell them through dialogue to go and handle their own affairs. There is one potentially missable quest, though.
Without wanting to spoil myself too much, dialogue seems to be on par with the excellent Vynd throughout. I want to echo Skitia's sentiment about the Dragon Disciple. I usually dislike these more-special-than-thou characters, but she seems like great fun without turning into a caricature.
Would you recommend taking them all together for the most content or are they just released as one mod for convenience?
I hope you're happy.
In short for the others since I didn't keep them : Dave looks interesting, but I had to choose between him and Drake. Since Drake has a mod for himself alone there was probably more content for him, so it was Drake.
For Flara, I met her before the nashkel mines as it's probably intended, but at this point she is extremely weak, sorcerers at low level are really a pain, and she doesn't even have any skill with a ranged weapon, so I decided to try Xan instead (with Tome and blood + more style for mages + might and guile + bg1npc which actually makes him really interesting in fact !).
For your gnome ranger I was interested, but I didn't go to the gnoll fortress in this game since I had already a mage and Minsc was not in my party, and it was a long detour just to try her, so I tried Emily from another mod instead.
For the drow, hum I can't trust him in this party.
Anyway in short they all look very good, I just hope you'll be able to add some more content for them later, and congratulations for the work so far !
Are there any plans to continue these characters into Siege of Dragonspear eventually? And maybe even Shadows of Amn/Throne of Bhaal after that?
Thank you!
In any case, BGII Vynd was always going to be a thing; I just wanted to finish this project first. After that, we'll see what happens. Maybe check back in another five years, by which time BG3 will be out and nobody will care about modding these games anymore!
Was it bugging anyone else that Littlun uses one of BG:EE's player soundsets? It was bugging me. What if someone wanted that voice for their main character?
The problem is solved! Littlun now has a brand new, totally unique soundset, courtesy of professional voice actress Haley Jay. I've also fixed some issues affecting Tenya, Imoen, and compatibility with Tutu/BGT installs.
I've already scolded @Glam_Vrock for not mentioning that.. :P
Fixed a couple more Tutu errors, and an issue that was causing Moidre to disappear when removed from the party. I wish I could report something super exciting like a brand new voice set this time, but I can't.
Maybe now it's time to start getting some crossmod content in there. Watch this space.
You don't need the happy patch mod per say, Glam could consider adding OpCode 360 to the NPCs instead (This is what I did with Vienxay, so she doesn't leave at rep 19/20). This is the approach I would suggest, because some people like myself don't use the happy patch, and I don't see every type of evil character being uncomfortable with high reputation. (I do see most good characters being uncomfortable at 0/1 reputation, however.)
I don't know about all of them, but Vynd BG2 is still happening. Beyond that, we'll see. Making BG2 NPC content is a heftier task, so if I do end up adding the rest of the pack, it probably won't be all at once.
Yeah, it's a real pain. I don't know what they changed in the EE to make it not work, but he just will not stay put at high reputation. In hindsight, I should at least write some dialogue for it so the player knows what happened.
EDIT:
Oh, is THAT how you do it? I thought you had to mess with the 2das! I thought they'd just hardcoded over it and it wouldn't work anymore! This changes everything!
Maybe some of them could appear at least as none recruitable characters, either with a quest or just a cameo appearance? I'd love a Flara cameo..
I think it's finally fixed! Vynd, Dave, Moidre and Flara will no longer leave due to reputation in BG:EE! Big thanks to Skitia for providing me with the pitifully simple solution that's been available all this time. I'm an idiot.
I also teased you folks about potential crossmod content, and this time we've got it! This latest version includes banters with the one and only SANDRAH from the famous Sandrah Saga mod!
Since Roxanne was kind enough to include crossmod for Vynd (purely on her own initiative!) I thought it was only fair to return the favour and write some interactions with the rest of the Glam Gang. Although I didn't have Roxanne's input, I put my heart and soul into capturing the spirit of Sandrah as faithfully as possible, and I'm confident you'll agree I did just as fine a job as she did with Vynd. Keep your eyes peeled for more awesome crossmod content in the future!
Also I think you might still have put more effort into proofreading than a certain someone.
Glad my solution could help!