Join me on my journey of reviewing 75+ NPC mods
Llewren
Member Posts: 44
Hey!
I've not been much more than a lurker on these forums for the last ten years or so, but I wanted to share a project that's been in the works for a long time now.
I'm reviewing a list of NPC mods for Baldur's Gate 1 & 2: Enhanced Edition and the first two are officially done! Bristlelick by @LavaDelVortel for BG:EE and SoD, and Fade for BG2 are up on my blog (The Smoldering Mods Bar) now.
www.smolderingmodsbar.com
The goal of this project is to provide the community with an extensive list of community made NPCs and to bring up newer, lesser known mods that really deserve the attention. Finding new ways to play the game is something incredibly important to me and I want everyone to be able to experience my favourite games in new and exciting ways. Thanks to the amazing souls that mod these games, we're able to do that.
I also want to provide little retrospectives to old mods and give feedback to modders creating stuff today!
I have nothing but love for this community, and I want to give back in a way that I know how, so I'll be playing through with these NPC mods and giving my thoughts. At the end of it all, I'll provide lists on which NPC mods will suit you depending on what you're looking for in your playthrough.
And please, recommend mods to me if you want to see me talk about them!
Thank you!
I've not been much more than a lurker on these forums for the last ten years or so, but I wanted to share a project that's been in the works for a long time now.
I'm reviewing a list of NPC mods for Baldur's Gate 1 & 2: Enhanced Edition and the first two are officially done! Bristlelick by @LavaDelVortel for BG:EE and SoD, and Fade for BG2 are up on my blog (The Smoldering Mods Bar) now.
www.smolderingmodsbar.com
The goal of this project is to provide the community with an extensive list of community made NPCs and to bring up newer, lesser known mods that really deserve the attention. Finding new ways to play the game is something incredibly important to me and I want everyone to be able to experience my favourite games in new and exciting ways. Thanks to the amazing souls that mod these games, we're able to do that.
I also want to provide little retrospectives to old mods and give feedback to modders creating stuff today!
I have nothing but love for this community, and I want to give back in a way that I know how, so I'll be playing through with these NPC mods and giving my thoughts. At the end of it all, I'll provide lists on which NPC mods will suit you depending on what you're looking for in your playthrough.
And please, recommend mods to me if you want to see me talk about them!
Thank you!
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Comments
What plans have you to convert non-EE NPC mods to EE/EET compatibility?
I’m not doing any modding myself. I’m only discussing them on my blog. I’ll only be talking about EE compatible mods and some EET exclusive ones down the line.
My bad! I was excited to see some banter with him and the other companions so I’m glad it is there. I’m definitely going to include him in my regular installs so I look forwards to seeing them.
I’ll update the page accordingly as to not mislead anyone
Thank you for all your hard work, your mods are fantastic!
Cheers!
There are plenty of NPCs to meet ! Are you planning to review old ones like Mur'neth, Silver Star, Amber, Nude, Rolles,...?
I’m only doing EE compatible mods but Mur’Neth and Amber are on my list.
There are also other mods like Grey the Dog by @jastey
Once you are done with these, are you going to do the same with IWDEE NPCs?
And, also, use the official mod versions. I hope that goes without saying.
I’ll be playing with Eddard too, don’t worry.
Grey is on the list for BG1 companions but I’ll do a section for BG2 as well.
I hope to do IWDEE NPCs too. I’ve never played with any outside of IWD2 and I’m really excited to, so I know I’ll at least be playing with them in my own time. For now though the project just remains BG mods and I don’t want to promise TOO much.
Great idea, thanks. I’ll include the mod versions going forwards. I’ve also tried to track down all the official sources for mods and linked them accordingly.
If I’ve made a mistake anywhere with any of your mods down the line then please let me know if you feel inclined and I’ll fix it up!
Is it to much to ask Podlaski f you could also add info about available languages? Some people may be interested to play a mod only to find out it's not available in their language. Thanks!
Fantastic idea, thank you! Didn't even occur to me but I'll definitely include the available languages!
In that case, I'll hold off on doing a BGII part for those mods. I'd rather give a perspective having seen the full picture.
Does Brage have SoD content or is it just for BG1 at the moment? If it's still in development I'll put him on hold for the time being.
I don't have a set schedule, as life gets in the way and many mods take longer to get through the content than others. I mainly use the console to cycle through the banter quickly and Ctrl+J my way around the Sword Coast. I'm also only playing on easy difficulty except for in some select sections of the game to get a better feel for the gameplay side of things.
So I'd say it takes about eight hours or less for one playthrough. Easily done over the course of a week, and then I take one or two days to do the writeup.
I will admit it's a daunting project, but I love these games and I love the thought of doing something for this community that hasn't really been done to this extent in the many years it has existed. It also has the added benefit of the fact that I can attach it to my portfolio of work, since I focus in journalism.
It'll definitely take me into next year to complete this, but I'm having fun so far and really enjoying the interaction I've been having with the community. I will say that feedback gives me a lot of motivation.
Khalid for BG2. It's made me excited to see what else you have in store, @LavaDelVortel
Might go ahead and try out The Cost of One Girl's Soul now!
About other mods I have written: keep in mind that I've been working on mods for like 10 years
Some mods, depending on the character, may also use a bit stronger language or include more explicit content. Verr'Sza is an exacmple of mod will surely be have more of it - in both his quest and romance. It's because well... sometimes I want to explore some other themes. So, I ended up with a portfolio that includes both friendly and warm mods... and some that are kinky, unusual or explicit. Well, after all, there are all sorts of players who expect different things... plus, it would be quite boring (for me) if I kept writing the same character over and over again
Anyway, Skie: The Cost is a mod I am quite happy I created. With Eddard around, Skie will also get a few more chances to say something, comment on things Eddard say... you'll see.
Have fun! Cheers!
I totally get that! I have nothing but the utmost respect for modders and I understand ability and style changes over time.
However I’ll still hold them to the same standard purely for consistency sake. I honestly feel really bad giving negative reviews on things, so I really try to focus on positives.
I really can’t stress how much I loved your Khalid mod though. Absolutely brilliant.
You honour me
Vienxay.
Skie and Eddard.
Having a lot of fun with these. It's nice to see more and more reviews come together.
Do you take request which review to do next or you already have a plan in motion?
Few clarifications: This is an item that was introduced by my The Vanishing of Skie Silvershield mod for BG1EE. It's an item she wants to take from her estate as she knows it may be of use. So it's a BG1EE item, but I thought she should keep it, because some players may have liked it and since both mods are mine, I felt that if I introduced something in one of them, the other one should also reflect it.
It's not the Hawker, but Ribald's customer you can see next to him, that is why he could hear your and decided to give you that lead.
That's not all: if you bring Skie to Vulgar Monkey in Brynnlaw
After these events, you can actually experience some new time-triggered PIDs, in case the player was interested in learning even more. On the other hand, I didn't want to force another series of talks onto players, so they ended up as PIDs and became voluntary... but IIRC, you dislike PIDs, so you might have missed that.
This isn't exactly his personal armor. This is something CHARNAME creates in my BG1EE mod: Shades of the Sword Coast. So this is more like "an item cameo" for those that know my mods well and enjoy stuff like: "Hey! I helped to make that item!"
Remove fear also works for some duration, so you can cast ie before the battle, and will still protect you.
Furthermore, in ToB, if you look in Saradush, that item may be replaced with a new item. Even though it has a similar effect, it offers something new and can trigger new talks.
Yeah, it required some work! BTW, there is also a different version of the portrait: you may tell him that hair can be annoying when it falls onto your eyes during the battle.
* * *
These notes are only to mention there are few more things in there actually
Again, thanks for the reviews! It's always interesting to see such content. I'm sure creating a base of such texts takes much energy and time.