Your review of Vienxay is weird to me - she was already custom-voiced by the time I joined to the community... and that was prior the 2.6 patch. Not sure what went wrong there though.
Your review of Vienxay is weird to me - she was already custom-voiced by the time I joined to the community... and that was prior the 2.6 patch. Not sure what went wrong there though.
Her banter isn't voiced, but she has her own soundset.
Thank la for a very detailed reviews. It will be very helpful for me to decide which NPC I should install in my upcoming EET run.
Do you take request which review to do next or you already have a plan in motion?
Things are already in motion! I've got three reviews that are partially written at the moment but there's no real consistency in which NPCs I play with. Usually I just do what I feel like in order to avoid burnout. However, you can see all the mods I plan to go over here.
Mods like Isra and Sirene showed you can have female paladin mods with romances and have them act like normal people and not a mary sue that hijacks' the story.
which makes Sartileth look even worse then it already did.
Lava said I've got quite a lot on my plate already so we'll really have to see.
What I may suggest is checking which mods have only SoA content and during one run test it with ToB-only mods There is "Kova and Kiyone" aka "Beyond the Law" mod that is SoA-only, there is not ToB content, these may be replaced with Iylos later, who is ToB-only. Then Keto is also SoA-only, then maybe you can check Yoshimo's Remorse (a ToB-only mod that brings back Yoshimo as a companion for the Throne of Bhaal, but he's a bit more like a new character... I don't want to spoil too much, though).
Just for info: Grey the Dog, Brandock the mage, Brage's Redemption, and Imoen4Ever now all have full content for BG1+SoD.
BGII part(s) are still in development.
Ajantis BG1 Expansion also adds Ajantis to SoD.
Your profile picture is gorgeous. Any chance you could link a high resolution version? It'd make for a great Charname portrait.
I could do... but I'm hoping that it will find itself out there in the world eventually in a mod in its own right I actually have quite the repository of portraits that I'm keeping a lid on for now.
Just for info: Grey the Dog, Brandock the mage, Brage's Redemption, and Imoen4Ever now all have full content for BG1+SoD.
BGII part(s) are still in development.
Ajantis BG1 Expansion also adds Ajantis to SoD.
Thank you for the update. I've been meaning to try out Brage's Redemption now that it's been completed!
So, from the vanilla NPCs, I think my favourite is still Jan. Gnomes rule. The other NPCs are
great, though some can be annoying (Anoen or whatever was that name).
From addons, I think Dvaradime is Lava's best NPC overall. I like the idea behind Yvette though -
that was a pretty unique way to get a NPC (also the petrified NPC in another mod, that was
also a great idea).
In regards to Skitia's NPCs, I kind of like that they (or most) have some kind of unique background
story.
Paina as NPC is also great, though the mod that covers her needs some slight fixes IMO.
In regards to NPC power I would probably go with Dusk NPC.
I think the two primary thinks about NPCs I would go for, if we had infinite resources and tons
of people doing NPCs, I'd go with: a) storyline first (I think this is by far the best build-up approach)
and b) uniqueness of the NPC second (that does not mean that a mage can not "merely" be a
mage as such, but things that are unique to the NPC are simply more interesting, be it items,
features, encounters and so forth - just take dvaradime's wax for the beard, but also some
add-ons for Jan).
@shevy123456 If I review Dusk, I'll do so at a later date after there have been more updates. There's clearly a lot of passion put into the project but it is not the sort of mod that I would usually go for, and power is generally not a consideration when I review NPCs (if anything, its a bit of a deterrent - characters that are made with a lack of self awareness in regards to design also tend to lack the same awareness in writing); I want to give every mod a fair shot, though. I do not believe that a review of it now would reflect the state of the mod in a year's time.
Unique quirks are certainly fun and desirable. I do enjoy Dvaradime quite a bit. Skitia's NPCs are on the agenda (I currently have them installed for BG1) so keep an eye out for that.
For more consistent updates you can follow this thread. I'm currently posting a review per week.
Comments
I will 100% take the time to go over everything you mentioned here and adjust the writeups accordingly once I’ve put out the next review.
I think my liking of Bristlelick was partly due to him being a BG1 companion. I will admit I do have a slight bias towards the first game.
Of course, as I progress through new mods new scores may be attached to old reviews to reframe the general rating system I’ve put in place.
Her banter isn't voiced, but she has her own soundset.
Things are already in motion! I've got three reviews that are partially written at the moment but there's no real consistency in which NPCs I play with. Usually I just do what I feel like in order to avoid burnout. However, you can see all the mods I plan to go over here.
My pleasure, it's an essential mod for me.
Ahem. Consider Saerileth done and dusted. I will be glad never to return to this mod.
which makes Sartileth look even worse then it already did.
Ariena https://github.com/RoxanneSHS/ArienaEE
Silverstar https://www.gibberlings3.net/forums/topic/32888-shs-silver-star-npc-updated-to-v200-ee-compatible/
Minyae Beaurin https://www.gibberlings3.net/mods/npcs/beaurin/
Ascalon Breagar https://www.gibberlings3.net/forums/topic/29259-breagar-npc-mod-for-bg1-and-bgii-kerzenburgforum/
I think there are also other NPCs missing, but I am unsure if Llewren wants to make the list even longer, it already looks a bit overwhelming.
I probably won't be covering this one, unless I decide to later down the line and can do some digging for the official release.
SIlver Star is in my bubble of awareness but as Lava said I've got quite a lot on my plate already so we'll really have to see.
I could have sworn I had Minyae on the list. Either way, yes, I do plan on covering the Beaurin Legacy mod at some point.
Also looks interesting! I'll keep it tabbed
Thanks for reading and recommending some mods!
Ah thanks. I didn't know that. Was just happy to see that mod return as I wasn't able to fully test it myself so far.
BGII part(s) are still in development.
Ajantis BG1 Expansion also adds Ajantis to SoD.
I could do... but I'm hoping that it will find itself out there in the world eventually in a mod in its own right
Thank you for the update. I've been meaning to try out Brage's Redemption now that it's been completed!
he already did: https://smolderingmodsbar.com/dvaradime-bg2ee/
So, from the vanilla NPCs, I think my favourite is still Jan. Gnomes rule. The other NPCs are
great, though some can be annoying (Anoen or whatever was that name).
From addons, I think Dvaradime is Lava's best NPC overall. I like the idea behind Yvette though -
that was a pretty unique way to get a NPC (also the petrified NPC in another mod, that was
also a great idea).
In regards to Skitia's NPCs, I kind of like that they (or most) have some kind of unique background
story.
Paina as NPC is also great, though the mod that covers her needs some slight fixes IMO.
In regards to NPC power I would probably go with Dusk NPC.
I think the two primary thinks about NPCs I would go for, if we had infinite resources and tons
of people doing NPCs, I'd go with: a) storyline first (I think this is by far the best build-up approach)
and b) uniqueness of the NPC second (that does not mean that a mage can not "merely" be a
mage as such, but things that are unique to the NPC are simply more interesting, be it items,
features, encounters and so forth - just take dvaradime's wax for the beard, but also some
add-ons for Jan).
Unique quirks are certainly fun and desirable. I do enjoy Dvaradime quite a bit. Skitia's NPCs are on the agenda (I currently have them installed for BG1) so keep an eye out for that.
For more consistent updates you can follow this thread. I'm currently posting a review per week.
Finally I am coming closer to my goal of an all-furry party. \o/
Wilson, Grey the Dog, Verr'Sza, Bristlelick... You'll get there soon enough.