Reviews for NPC and Quest MODs for my 2021 IWDEE Playthrough

xiaoleiwen

If you interested in why I write these, how I rate MODs, you may refer to this thread:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/81506/reviews-for-npc-and-quest-mods-for-my-2021-bgee-and-bg2ee-playthrough#latest


A) NPCs

1) Dusky
(from Dusky NPC for IWD EE)

Overall Experience: B
Lore friendly: B+

Half-orc is always an unpopular race, as we can see, there is almost no joinable half-orc npc in vanilla BG series or from MOD. If we can have one, they always tend to be some brutal, savage and uncouth fellow that could be why most people don't like to write or use them. However, I decided to bring Dusky in this playthrough without any hesitation after I firstly met him during my test play. He is actually quite good looking and stylish for a half-orc (in his record portrait). His thief/cleric class (treasure hunter in story) is quite unexpected as most orc npc tend to have fighter type class to show their incredible strength. The way he talks has left quite a good impression to me as we rarely see a character that talks with a pleasant manner but will spilt out something rude occasionally ("after all, still an orc" feeling).

I enjoy talking with him very much, especially those friendship talks in tavern early game. The vanilla game is quite boring that time, as you have to visit several long dungeons and fight endless battles just for few short lines from the quest npcs in Kuldahar. Having a short break and chatting about something trivial or stupid with good drinks in between of those quest is quite enjoyable, and increase the immersion of the vanilla stories as well.

The author also did a good job in writing an npc with wide repertoire of dirty jokes, which is the type of character that I normally not fond of in a CRPG. His humors fit his personality and race quite well as I may consider some of the things he said may make me feel low or awkward if those are not from a half-orc rogue (again, suit the "after all, still an orc" feeling quite well). The choices in his dialogues also deserve some praises, as there are quite a number of ridiculous choices and his reactions are very amusing. I enjoy picking all those funny choices with my chaotic good charname very much.

Unfortunately, I do not romance a male npc with male charname in any game, so I did not choose to proceed further in his romance path, and so no more tavern's talk, PID, friendship talks etc after telling him my charname prefers girls. I miss his content since then and almost regret for not romancing him just to see more of his backstory. Fortunately, he still have quite a number of location / story related talks here and there, and also one encounter near end game, so it is still quite fun to have him in the party if you do not romance him. Anyway, I will definitely rate him higher (maybe B+) if his romance path brings out more backstory.

In my opinion his banters with Karihi is as fun as professionally written one. I enjoy seeing how they mock each other in such clever way.

Screenshots:

Interesting dialogue choices and reaction



Humorous guy





This pair is very funny

2) Holvir
(from Icewind Dale NPCs)

Overall Experience: B
Lore friendly: B

I appreciate IWDNPC MOD very much as I can't imagine how to finish the vanilla game without it 7 years ago. However, overall I think the character design is too conservative and thus most of its npcs personalities do not stand out very much. Holvir is actually one of the example, he is what you can expect from a typical paladin, ceremonious and has some "de facto leader" feel in early game (since it is their nature to lead). Things that he said in early games are quite dull and expectable. His backstory is also nothing special and feels like a mod level story. He didn't give me a good starting impression.

However, he also has everything that IWDNPC excelled. The level of interactions is implausibly impressive. Great amounts of interjections and reactions consistently from main game to TOTL, PID or location / story triggered friendship talks, banters with Nella that based on story / item / location instead of timer, the author did a great job in creating a very interactive character. His dialogues are also getting significantly better after the friendship developed, and he even started to show his own way of humor, so I quite enjoy his presence in my group eventually. The author tried to portray him as someone more mature and dependable compared to Nella, as a result the writing of his dialogues has more depth than Nella, who tends to say something too feminine and reminds you that she is not a professional writing. Occasionally, he will also say something sound wise, and generally he is getting more likable in later game.

After all, even it is just for a role play reason, a good nature party always needs someone who shouts righteous and justice when confronting all those malicious enemies or offers his help and compassion when it is needed in the story. He fits this role perfectly.

Screenshot:

Quite cold and formal initially


Very paladin





Banters with Nella



Paladin can joke

3) Nella
(from Icewind Dale NPCs)

Overall Experience: B
Lore friendly: B+

As mentioned above (under Holvir), not to be disrespect to the MOD author (I know how great the author can do in Xan BG2 NPC and The Sellswords), Nella is one of the NPCS from IWDNPC MOD that I consider generally good but the writing feels feminine and slightly amateurish sometime. Her personality has nothing too memorable and shows inconsistency sometime, especially the transition from friendship to romance does not look smooth to me. Her doubts and struggles sometime look childish to me.

I consider her writing weaker compared to Holvir and Dusky, however, I will still recommend to take her in your first MOD playthrough for IWD due to one reason- her story is integrated into the vanilla main story which makes her somehow like your Imoen in BG series (especially early game). She is from Kuldahar, she knows everyone there, she is closely related to Arundel. If you think there is insufficient motivation to fall into precarious situation repeatedly for a village that you simply don't care, then she will give you that. She also made the later event in Kuldahar more dramatic, which I consider quite important, as I don't think I will emotionally resonate with any vanilla npcs in early game (before Severed Hand) without Nella's involvement. Her mournful reactions can also make the player feels the significance of Arundel's loss and increase the depth of his character. Arundrel is no longer just a quest giver, instead, he is like Gorion in BG2.

As mentioned before, I consider the pacing of her romance a bit weird, but it is still fun to play with because some of the dialogue choices and reactions are quite fun especially after the relationship deepened.

Screenshots

Like Imoen in Candlekeep



Sometime dramatic is necessary



Banter


Dialogues options are fun

4) Karihi
(from Karihi, a fire genasi pyromancer NPC for IWD:EE)

Overall Experience: A-
Lore friendly: A

I would say Karihi NPC MOD is quite close to a professionally written NPC in most aspects.

Firstly, the idea of this NPC makes me feel like the author must think like a professional to come out with someone who is so suitable to have in IWD. What could be more interesting than having a Fire Genasi companion, who has inherent high fire resistance but pitiful cold resistance penalty in a frigid place like Icewind Dale? Just imagine how fun it is to see someone suffers and tries to adapt in a place that is against her nature completely. Yes, it is extremely amusing. Every single complaints she made in early game is very entertaining. Her personality is also the type of female character that I always like in CRPG. Her haughty demeanor, her sarcastic and snide reactions to almost everyone reminds me why I love NPCs like Viconia (BG Series) and Morrigan (DAO). I always anticipate what she will say when her portrait pops out.

The pacing of her story is also close to a professionally designed one. She has several tavern's talks early game (like what Dusky has) which provides good break from adventure and opportunity to develop the relationship. The process of thawing her frozen heart may feel slightly too fast, but that is limited to the short adventure that the vanilla campaign provides. However, I enjoy how the authors made her romance path more dramatic. After the relationship developed, her romance will be stopped abruptly due to unexpected twist, and it remains so until a vanilla main plot reminds her of her own mistake, only then she opens up to charname and transpires the truth of her backstory.

Vanilla IWD1 does not have a long and epic quest line like what BG series offers. In my opinion, this has given NPC less opportunity to shine, because their reactions to dramatic main events are an effective way to let player remember the NPC. Hence, an NPC with a good backstory that can pique the player curiosity initially, and is indeed compelling after more stories are discovered can be quite important to make the NPC memorable in a game like IWD1. Karihi impressed me in this. I was quite surprised to find out that her arrogant and offensive attitude are actually a masquerade to hide her deeper torment, remorse and insecurity. She has a well written complex personality. She changed gradually and is actually quite cute and lovable just before the end game (gentle reminder: talk to her via PID after she initiates the talk at the point of no return). She displayed personality development in quite a short game like IWD, which could be something difficult to achieve. I couldn't stop thinking how much possibility the author may expand her story or how he will write her reactions if she has a long and great adventure with charname in BG series. I will possibly rate her much higher.

Her kit is creative. Well, she is indeed overpowered, especially in early chapters, where she kills faster and more than my ranger charname due to the fire damage bonus and long range staff she has. The long list of penalties is basically ignorable because she does not need anything else and it won't make her die faster. At end game, her fire power is god like (yes, please look at the description of blazing inferno and try it out!). I would normally dislike an overpower NPC design. However, IWD1 is simply too easy even at insane difficulty (without extra exp bonus) after middle of chapter 4 with or without her. I even tried doing TOTL at around level 10-11 and it is also not difficult. So, why not trying something different? I must admit throwing her powerful fire magic like fireball instead of boring melee hack and slash at that point of game offers me new fun that I have not experienced before in all these IE games.

*Notes: I can't remember if she talks in TOTL, her content there is like significantly reduced.

Screenshot

Fiery interjections




"Before" and "after"



Burn! Burn! Burn!


Wow!


See the AOE!


And die!

5) Orra
(Orra NPC for IWD EE)

Overall Experience: B-
Lore friendly: B+

I had quite high expectation for her initially. She came from Kozakura, a place that is rarely mentioned in official DND game, and I love eastern culture. I also quite like her tranquil personality who acts like an observer in the party. She has an aura that is similar to grieving mother from POE1. She may not have fascinating personality, but compared to those who are still uninteresting despite the efforts made to be fun, at least she looks like someone that is purposely designed in this way. As she is written by the author who created a lot of weird but interesting quest / character mods, and the readme mentioned something she is not romanceable due to her backstory, I have been anticipating some interesting stories will be revealed some day.

However, it didn't happen (in my game). Generally, she has fewer interjections and talks compared to the others from my party. Her PID may offer some interesting lore, but it can be easily exhausted very early game and is not updated later on. Her friendship talks are not so interesting, and I was quite disappointed when she explained why she left her home. The reason is...unexpectedly simple and worsen my opinion on her. Fortunately, some of her location based dialogues are still ok, and she is the only one who has some interactions in the quest mods from the same author, which I appreciate as it makes those quests look like part of the vanilla game (that mod npcs will normally react). Generally I still enjoy her presence in my party, but I hope she can have more contents and deeper backstory.

She is fun to have gameplay wise. I never use a charname with 3 multiclass and there is no such companion in BG2. I used to think this cannot be good for full party because they will level up slower. In fact, a fighter/ mage/ cleric in IWD1 can buff herself in so many ways that makes her invincible and I always enjoy trying to make her AC as high as possible. She is my best tank starting from the middle game to end game.

Screenshots

A good travelling companion



She will tell you stories from Kozakura sometime



Friendship talks


Reactions in MOD quests



Her AC!

B] Quests

1) Tale of Our Lady Dreamless

Overall Experience: B
Lore friendly: B
Area art: A+

I finished this quest with the violent route first and quite impressed with the mysterious atmosphere during my exploration. You found an area that the art is so beautiful and you may think it is vanilla area if nobody tells you it is from MOD. A snow-covered area with a frozen pond with numerous corpses inside it. The background of the story has been perfectly displayed via area art, which could be something difficult to achieve in MODs. The thing that you heard from the npc here sound strange, and this mysterious feeling is increasing when you further explore the other areas. The frozen grotto is using vanilla materials but it looks like an original area. Eventually you found a strange creature and fought a good fight. I consider it a good encounter on my road to Severed Hand. Anyway, similar to some BG2 MODs from the same author, I still don't know what this creature is, and it doesn't really look like something from this world.

After that only I found there is another "good route". This route has more dialogues and less fight. In my opinion, the experience of this route is not as good as the first one, as we have to run errands for slightly more story that is nothing particularly special.

Overall, this quest mod can be considered as a good additional short quest / encounter on your way to the southern part of map.

Screenshot

Dialogue


Frozen Pond


Grotto

2) Below & Below Inn

Overall Experience: A-
Lore friendly: A-
Area art: A+

Another great additional content to have for the journey from Kuldahar to Severed Hand. This journey is supposed to be very long (according to the map), and in my opinion it is a very good idea to have a break at an inn like this. The idea of this unconventional inn is quite creative. It has somehow reminded me Friendly Arm inn (in BG1), which is also set up somewhere that is not supposed to be an inn. Visiting an underground inn that offers several services with shopping opportunity for some fancy items, learning some stories from the owners, chatting with the guests here, helping with the troubled npcs and doing some minor quests, a very classical fantasy game feeling. The stories here may not be very special, but it does not have to. Everything here feels like original contents and that is good enough for an inn.

I also appreciate the area art of this inn. A main door that looks like the entrance of some creepy old ruin and the first part of interior have been designed in a way to remind you it is located in a cavern, and once I proceed deeper, the shops, bars, kitchen and rooms have great art which looks luxurious and comfortable. Such design make me feel like the cave has been renovated heavily to be used as an inn. A mod area that looks exactly like how it is supposed to be in the story. Very immersive.

The quests from this mod also include something that you have to find during your journey in several vanilla areas, so it takes some time to finish. Such design makes those quests closer to the style like what vanilla game may have, and I have more reason to revisit the MOD area.

The only lacking part is.. there is no rumors when you drink, which is something obviously different from the vanilla tavern. It would be great if the author can add some.

Screenshots

Entrance


Greetings! Time for more quests~



Area Art



Shopping time

3) Night of the Blinking Dead

Overall Experience: A-
Lore friendly: A+
Area art: A-

The story of this quest is actually very short and simple- helping someone to kill a horde of beholders and get your reward, that's all. However, this mod shines because of the extremely cute quest giver- a well mannered beholder with kinemortophobia.

As someone who had played Chapter 2 of SOA (BG2) for numerous times, sometime I may forget that beholder from DND is not only a vicious aberration that attacks mindlessly. In fact, BG2 also has encounters with a Spectator with several amusing lines, and this MOD makes me remember that funny beholder. A powerful beholder that needs your help because he afraid of zombies? This cool idea together with his decent courtesy in speech has resulted a hilarious character that reminds me the sense of humor that we can expect from a Black Isle's game. The reward that he gives is also very laughable. I enjoy this minor quest very much as it was one of the few times I chuckled during this IWD playthrough.

I almost tempted to rate the area art as B+ because the area art of beholder's lair is almost same (just slightly different colour) with BG2. However, his comment on how beholders like to copy design of their lairs made me laughed again. Well, indeed, the lairs in Athkatla and Underdark are EXACTLY same despite the fact that those places are so far away from each other. So...well, vanilla game recycles the area, why can't a MOD do that? At least the colour is different, more effort than Bioware.

Orra has location dialogues here.

Screenshot

Quite surprising during a routine visit to Kuldahar


Funny dialogues



The quest reward is very funny



Your companion reaction

4) Terror of the Skin Eater

Overall Experience: B+
Lore friendly: B+
Area art: A-

A quest MOD that reminds me sometime we do not need to have thousand of lines or intricate plot to have an enjoyable adventure. This MOD has the best exploration experience in all of the four IWD quest MODs that I installed. The quest started when someone in the village asks for your help to kill a monster, who I didn't realize that he is a MOD NPCs at all, even the icon of the new area looks so authentic, everything fits the original flavor perfectly.

Once I stepped in the Dark Forest, I was really impressed, the darkly foreboding and suspicious atmosphere are amazing. The small entrance area gave me the first impression that this is a carefully designed vanilla area, probably due to the smart greyscale recoloring of the materials used. Those dark and tall trees in snowy fields look very lore friendly as a vanilla area in Icewind Dale. Some areas are so dark and look so scary when everyone blacks out suddenly under the shadow of trees which made me stifled, and it is relieving when they appear normal again when sunlight comes through, this is called immersion.

I believe creating a dense forest area that is full of trees could be difficult in IWD, as we do not have so many trees material that would fit a snowy location easily as what we could have for BG series. The way the author made this area into several smaller forest areas which connect to each other like some old school maze-type dungeons, and we have to move from one small area to another through different exits without knowing where it would lead to, and thus can easily leave the other part of the area fully black is a very smart way to conceal the limitation of what a mod can do, while still be able to realize the concept of a mysterious cold dark forest.

The story may be weaker / shorter in this MOD, such as the creature may not look like something from DND (correct me if I'm wrong), or it is ridiculous to see someone tries to kill the party who managed to kill the dreadful monster that he could not...but I don't really care. The overall experience is great.

Orra has interjections and story related dialogues in this MOD.

Screenshots

Let guess, which icon is not vanilla?


Area Art





Zoom out like this looks like some old school game


Dialogue

xiaoleiwen

Thanks again to the modders. Replaying IWDEE made me remember how dull and monotonous most original contents are...There is no reason for me to replay it without new MODs from Lava and Aionz (I completed the game 7 years ago with Kulyok's npcs). It is great I can revisit those beautiful areas in IWD1 again due to the new contents added by the modders. I'm looking forward to my future playthrough as there are some npcs I really interested, especially Urchin, Ina, Minerva and Dendjelion. And I know Aionz is writing more npcs, really looking forward to it.