Imoen4Ever updates with a completed Russian version, one more dialogue in SoD, and minor corrections. Thank you Arkie for the Russian translations and Shai Hulud for proofreading the German additions.
Changelog:
-Russian version finished, by Arkie.
-One more dialogue added to SoD: Imoen will react to the second dream.
-All lines from tp2 should be in setup.tra.
-typo corrections and small text corrections.
-Imoen should not give her BGII-Kickout dialogue in BG1 (for BGT).
-All lines should be traified.
-Typo corrections.
-Rephrased note about compatibility with Road to Discovery in the readme: RtD does not have to be installed before Imoen4Ever.
I consider this mod a must have. I always found it annoying to dual class Imoen in BG and while SOD fixed that it also made her leave the party but still follow us around in the first dungeon of SOD. Then she stays back the whole of SOD and then gets kidnapped in SOA. It's bad writing and even some of the Bioware developers admitted that they thought the Imoen situation in SOA ruined the pacing of the game and strained the player.
Imoen forever lets you choose when she leaves or not. It allows you to choose if you want to dual class her or leave her out and come back dual classed. I always keep her in the party at the start of SOD which fixes that writing mess and then I allow her to stay behind once we head out on the war path. In SOA I have her come back to the party and that fixes the whole SOA mess.
This mod is simple and nowhere near as complex or ambitious as some of the content mods on the scene but Imoen forever achieves what it sets out to do and fixes the biggest pacing and writing problems in the BG series without changing the actual story that Bioware intended. It's brilliant and I always install it every time I play through the series. I have experienced no bugs or crashes from this mod and none of the added conversations with Imoen feel wrong or have grammar problems. I consider this mod an "A" class mod.
Thank you very much for the feedback and the kind words!
Just one note: in an EET run, the player still would have to dual-class Imoen themselves if they want her to be a mage in BGII. I4E just brings back the Imoen like she would be in the game, just at different times. This is also why in a BGII(:EE), Imoen outside of Irenicus' Dungeon is not teh same as inside (so learned spells might be lost etc.)
SOD automatically gives her 500,000 XP when she rejoins your party. So when I dual class her it brings her mage level up to level 10 or 11. At least that's how it works on my setup and I only need to go up 1 more level to gain back all of my thief abilities. It practically dual classes her for you as she goes up 10 or 11 levels in mage on her own. That's what I meant by that.
I do agree with you that you need to manually dual class her but I was describing the difference between letting her come back at the end of SOD and simply pressing the dual class button vs dual classing her at the start of SOD with your mod and slowly rising up from level 1 mage until you pass your thief level which means spending alot of time without your thief abilities similar to dual classing her during BG1. It's just nice that you can now choose to do either or and she doesn't have to go missing through SOD and SOA if you don't want her to. I like to have her leave in SOD but not in SOA. Keeping her in the first dungeon of SOD is such an improvement to SOD and having her around in SOA makes the entire game feel much more easy going to explore.
Interesting, I obviously never dual-classed her at this point. Thanks for the explanation!
And again for the kind words.
For me, Imoen4Ever closes a huge gap in the original story design - I never liked the idea of a friend being tortured while my PC goes adventuring. I am happy that others enjoy it, too.
Does this mod allow you to recruit and have Imoen in the party during the Candlekeep Prologue?
I totally forgot this idea was already proposed!
What would be "downside" of having a companion inside Candlekeep? It was mentioned it would be "cheesy", does this only refer to the fights being easier? The gained XP would be splitted into 2, though, I would think?
EDIT And, while we are at it, what would you like to see in such a component, @Thels ?
The Artisan's Candlekeep Revisited lets you recruit Imoen in the prologue and should be entirely compatible with I4E albeit I haven't played with both in the same playthrough yet.
I wasn't aware CR is compatible with I4E, but now that I think about it, there is no obvious reason why it wouldn't.
If I add such a component, it would be optional like most of I4E's, so players would still have the choice with which one to go.
EDIT And, while we are at it, what would you like to see in such a component, @Thels ?
Honestly, it was kind of a joke comment at that time, though with Imoen already in Candlekeep, it wouldn't be farfetched lorewise.
It would be a bit OP, because it gives you access to certain thieving rewards like opening certain locks or picking certain pockets without charname being a Thief. It might also make the Carbos and Shank fights a tad easier by having a second partymember.
If you were to add an Imoen in Candlekeep module, it would probably make sense that she were to interject during some of the quests, when talking to Winthrop, etc...
Rather than having Imoen remain in the party when you exit Candlekeep, it would lorewise make more sense for her to leave when you tell Gorion you're ready, and have her rejoin at the Lion's Way, rather than somehow letting Gorion permit Imoen to join. I don't see that one fly. (If technically convenient, it could be an option to keep her in the party on a technical level, just having her say goodbye in dialogue, and remaining offscreen while Gorion and Charname exit Candlekeep, and keeping her offscreen during the Sarevok encounter, only having her walk on screen with her usual dialogue during the next morning).
That said, CR basically offers an Imoen in Candlekeep already, so if you were to add such a component, you'd have to either skip it when CR is installed, or possibly add onto CR's implementation. It could still be an interesting feature for those that like I4E, but don't care for CR.
Rather than having Imoen remain in the party when you exit Candlekeep, it would lorewise make more sense for her to leave when you tell Gorion you're ready, and have her rejoin at the Lion's Way, rather than somehow letting Gorion permit Imoen to join.
Definitely. It was never my plan to have her leave with the PC and Gorion. (It's much, much easier to script, too. I will not touch those cutscenes!)
I would definitely add checks for CR so this component would be skipped automatically. No need to add to players' frustration if the check is to simple to include.
Comments
Changelog:
-Russian version finished, by Arkie.
-One more dialogue added to SoD: Imoen will react to the second dream.
-All lines from tp2 should be in setup.tra.
-typo corrections and small text corrections.
Changelog:
-Imoen should not give her BGII-Kickout dialogue in BG1 (for BGT).
-All lines should be traified.
-Typo corrections.
-Rephrased note about compatibility with Road to Discovery in the readme: RtD does not have to be installed before Imoen4Ever.
Imoen forever lets you choose when she leaves or not. It allows you to choose if you want to dual class her or leave her out and come back dual classed. I always keep her in the party at the start of SOD which fixes that writing mess and then I allow her to stay behind once we head out on the war path. In SOA I have her come back to the party and that fixes the whole SOA mess.
This mod is simple and nowhere near as complex or ambitious as some of the content mods on the scene but Imoen forever achieves what it sets out to do and fixes the biggest pacing and writing problems in the BG series without changing the actual story that Bioware intended. It's brilliant and I always install it every time I play through the series. I have experienced no bugs or crashes from this mod and none of the added conversations with Imoen feel wrong or have grammar problems. I consider this mod an "A" class mod.
Just one note: in an EET run, the player still would have to dual-class Imoen themselves if they want her to be a mage in BGII. I4E just brings back the Imoen like she would be in the game, just at different times. This is also why in a BGII(:EE), Imoen outside of Irenicus' Dungeon is not teh same as inside (so learned spells might be lost etc.)
I do agree with you that you need to manually dual class her but I was describing the difference between letting her come back at the end of SOD and simply pressing the dual class button vs dual classing her at the start of SOD with your mod and slowly rising up from level 1 mage until you pass your thief level which means spending alot of time without your thief abilities similar to dual classing her during BG1. It's just nice that you can now choose to do either or and she doesn't have to go missing through SOD and SOA if you don't want her to. I like to have her leave in SOD but not in SOA. Keeping her in the first dungeon of SOD is such an improvement to SOD and having her around in SOA makes the entire game feel much more easy going to explore.
And again for the kind words.
For me, Imoen4Ever closes a huge gap in the original story design - I never liked the idea of a friend being tortured while my PC goes adventuring. I am happy that others enjoy it, too.
What would be "downside" of having a companion inside Candlekeep? It was mentioned it would be "cheesy", does this only refer to the fights being easier? The gained XP would be splitted into 2, though, I would think?
EDIT And, while we are at it, what would you like to see in such a component, @Thels ?
If I add such a component, it would be optional like most of I4E's, so players would still have the choice with which one to go.
Honestly, it was kind of a joke comment at that time, though with Imoen already in Candlekeep, it wouldn't be farfetched lorewise.
It would be a bit OP, because it gives you access to certain thieving rewards like opening certain locks or picking certain pockets without charname being a Thief. It might also make the Carbos and Shank fights a tad easier by having a second partymember.
If you were to add an Imoen in Candlekeep module, it would probably make sense that she were to interject during some of the quests, when talking to Winthrop, etc...
Rather than having Imoen remain in the party when you exit Candlekeep, it would lorewise make more sense for her to leave when you tell Gorion you're ready, and have her rejoin at the Lion's Way, rather than somehow letting Gorion permit Imoen to join. I don't see that one fly. (If technically convenient, it could be an option to keep her in the party on a technical level, just having her say goodbye in dialogue, and remaining offscreen while Gorion and Charname exit Candlekeep, and keeping her offscreen during the Sarevok encounter, only having her walk on screen with her usual dialogue during the next morning).
That said, CR basically offers an Imoen in Candlekeep already, so if you were to add such a component, you'd have to either skip it when CR is installed, or possibly add onto CR's implementation. It could still be an interesting feature for those that like I4E, but don't care for CR.
I would definitely add checks for CR so this component would be skipped automatically. No need to add to players' frustration if the check is to simple to include.
Thank you for your feedback!