IWD:EE Joinable NPCs - A vital question
kamuizin
Member Posts: 3,704
So here we go, advancing in the IWD:EE project and all... but an old question and fiercely debated, here and in other forums, that is:
Will we get joinable NPCs now?
Much more can be argued about this subject, but this point, the core question of my doubts of IWD:EE, is the first i want to debate (and maybe others too).
Will we get joinable NPCs now?
Much more can be argued about this subject, but this point, the core question of my doubts of IWD:EE, is the first i want to debate (and maybe others too).
2
Comments
I don't agree with the "is/isn't what Icewind Dale is about" sentiments here though. I'm pretty sure the game is about what the story is about. If they wanted to make a pure hack & slash game they would have made just that. And there's several D&D hacky slashy games out there that does the job better, I don't think Black Isle would intentionally make a lesser one.
But you can't do that.
Keep in mind that in BG(II), the NPCs work well, because there's a rich variety to choose from. BG1 has 25 (29 with EE) and BG2 has 16 (17 with ToB, 22 with EE). If both had exactly 5 to choose, and you'd be stuck with exactly those ones, it wouldn't nearly be as interesting, and might even be annoying. Heck, check the EE NPCs. It's already considered quite annoying that you need to have them in your group to explore those new areas...
To do it well, they'd have to add at least a dozen NPCs, possibly more.
I'll keep my hopes up that the IWDNPC mod gets converted and then seriously expanded upon.
(and now I just realized how many shorty NPC's are placed in just garbage starting locations hehe)
Then there are players who start a new game in HoW. Would these NPC's be chilling then in Lonelywood or the barbarian camp? Also what about dialogue and party conflicts? Would they be using a different dialogue file in HoW compared to the original game, and how would that work out for players who temporarily travel from Kuldahar to do the HoW quests? Anyways to me given how the game is structured (compared to BG2 for instance) it would make it more difficult to add in dialogue between NPC's and to add in NPCs.
That it is combat-heavy is very exciting to me, and it will be fun to think about options and strategies while party building.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles (that is negative critics),
And by opposing end them?
@Elminster - I figure if Beamdog would have added NPCs, then they should do it like the IWD NPC Project does it. Make them importable characters rather than placed in Easthaven, Kuldahar, Lonelywood, etc.
It has 5 NPCs, so it does allow you to take one protagonist, and fill them up with the 5 NPCs. Problem is that you'll be stuck with those exact 5 NPCs whether you like them or not. Some of them seem interesting, others do not, not to mention that they're very physical oriented as a whole.
From what I understood, IWD is a lot harder to mod NPC wise, due to the game not supporting it from the base. Since IWDEE will use the BGIIEE engine, adding NPCs to IWDEE should be a lot easier, so hopefully we'll see a bunch of NPCs.
That does make me wonder, though. Is it possible to have a protagonist in IWDEE? It shouldn't be enabled by default, of course, but it would be nice if BeamDog included a "protagonist=0" variable, which mods could set to 1, which would treat the first character generated as the protagonist a la BG style, so NPCs can more clearly identify this protagonist.
IWD and IWD2 have always been my preferred games because of the more combat based nature and the ability to create a party without feeling you are losing anything. BG1 and BG2 just do not work with a custom created party.
In addition, the resources spent creating a decent amount of characters could instead be spent further developing the games, fine tuning the balance (e.g. like a tactics mod let alone rebalancing for the new kit/spell additions), adding items and quests. If they have done any of the above in a satisfactory way remains to be seen.
That, in my opinion, is the problem with leaving it to mods - they tend to go past the point of propriety. I trust the devs to get the balance right, which is why I was hoping for official companion NPCs.
I'm going to live in denial and hope that now we're all having a discussion the devs might be persuaded. I'll happily buy DLC so that those who don't want it, never need to see it in their games.
6 pre-generated characters have been made, if another 6 are made and they're all fleshed out as companions (even if only to BG depth - never mind BG2), that would be a vast improvement to me.
I said it elsewhere regarding new areas/content and companions - this is an opportunity to show what can be done in future projects, it seems a terrible waste to let it pass.