1. Include someone to fulfill each party niche no matter your alignment. Viconia will fill the Cleric slot for evil parties, so I really, really hope Branwen stays for good or neutral parties. The gnome is multiclassed and therefore not as effective.
2. If a party member is going to leave, they let me unequip their stuff first. Kivan is NOT walking away with that Ankheg Plate Mail and making me buy something new and probably less effective for Corwin.
2. If a party member is going to leave, they let me unequip their stuff first. Kivan is NOT walking away with that Ankheg Plate Mail and making me buy something new and probably less effective for Corwin.
I'm pretty sure they're reusing the mechanic from BG2 when Imoen gets captured - all her stuff is transferred to your inventory.
2. If a party member is going to leave, they let me unequip their stuff first. Kivan is NOT walking away with that Ankheg Plate Mail and making me buy something new and probably less effective for Corwin.
I'm pretty sure they're reusing the mechanic from BG2 when Imoen gets captured - all her stuff is transferred to your inventory.
Well the thing is its all guessing. I can think of a few reasons as to why but until the game comes out im thinking beamdog will be tight tight-lipped to prevent spoilers.
(all speculation but now you got me thinking) Maybe she is kidnapped early and so they didnt want to tease you with letting her join Maybe she is in training early on to be a mage and is only coming by now and then to help. Or even perhaps you are helping her in her studies with whoever she is training with. Perhaps as you say she can join the party and we are wrong. I dont recall exactly when she finds out she is a Bhaalspawn, but maybe she is going at it on her own to learn about her Bhaalspawn heritage Also maybe she needs to be out of the party for story reasons seeing as at the start of bg2 she is the one who frees you, then again she was also experimented on soo not sure how that effects things.. PLOT TWIST! perhaps Irenicus is the one who is training her to become a mage! no proof for that but it came to mind and would explain how they were captured! He could be disguised as a helpful mage training(testing) her.
Keeping in mind all her story has to be in the game regardless of if she is in the party or not, meaning its easier to have that happen with 100% consistency if she is not in the party otherwise you come into some issues. Example, what if she is in your party and dead but they need her to do something plot critical, do they just rez her for the scene? there are probably other examples but im sure thats one of the main ones.
Gnomes are improved Dwarves, so 2 Gnomes are like the equivalent of 5 Dwarves
Attached are two pictures. A gnome warrior and a dwarf warrior. How *anyone* could call Gnomes to be improved Dwarves is beyond me. Tell me...have you taken a blow to the head recently? I'm worried about you.
Gnomes are improved Dwarves, so 2 Gnomes are like the equivalent of 5 Dwarves
Attached are two pictures. A gnome warrior and a dwarf warrior. How *anyone* could call Gnomes to be improved Dwarves is beyond me. Tell me...have you taken a blow to the head recently? I'm worried about you.
See your problem there is why would a Gnome be a straight, stock warrior? Obviously swinging blunt objects is the entire traditional role of the Dwarf but Gnomes have OPTIONS! This makes them awesome. being short is great but if you want to be great at being short you're a Gnome
Gnomes are improved Dwarves, so 2 Gnomes are like the equivalent of 5 Dwarves
Attached are two pictures. A gnome warrior and a dwarf warrior. How *anyone* could call Gnomes to be improved Dwarves is beyond me. Tell me...have you taken a blow to the head recently? I'm worried about you.
See your problem there is why would a Gnome be a straight, stock warrior? Obviously swinging blunt objects is the entire traditional role of the Dwarf but Gnomes have OPTIONS! This makes them awesome. being short is great but if you want to be great at being short you're a Gnome
There you go. Gnomes *needs* these "options." A dwarf just needs a hammer.
Sure, once in awhile you get a Jan Jansen. A gnome of epic proportions who can do it all. But usually they are just the commoners trying to make an honest turnip. A dwarf though? ToB showed me that even when starved, worked to near death, and equipped with only a pick...a dwarf is still a force to be damned reckoned with!
Dwarvism... Gnomology... don't fall for such artificial divides. 'They' seek to create artificial differences between us in order to divide and rule. Don't fall for it!
United we stand (albeit not very tall), divided we fall. Shorties of the world unite!
Marginally related, has it been determined if these characters are carrying over to BG2 yet? I'm torn how much to invest as I start my new Gnome play through of the entire series in a NPC bard. I want the Vast as my sidekick in BG2.
Here are my predictions (SPOILER ALERT for BG:EE and BG2:EE):
There will be 17 joinable NPCs in SoD and we already know who they are because they've all shown up at either live streams or screenshots.
4 brand new: Corwyn, Glint, M'Khiin and Voghiln.
4 from Beamdog: Baeloth, Dorn, Neera and Rasaad.
And 8 from Bioware: Dynaheir, Edwin, Imoen, Jaheira, Khalid, Minsc, Safana and Viconia.
That's 16, of course. The 17th is an easter egg and will be significantly less develop than the others, in the tradition of Baeloth and Wilson.
The criteria seems to have been whether a BG1 NPC was recruitable in BG2 as well or not. This is the case for every Bioware NPC we've seen in the expansion - except for Dynaheir and Khalid, for obvious reasons, and Safana, who is pretty much just covering for Imoen.
There's no indication so far that Imoen will be recruitable at any point of the expansion. However, I guess we'll be able to do that in the last few chapters (and I'd even go as far as saying Safana is either going to betray or bail out on the group, opening up a spot for Imoen and setting up a precedent for her behavior on the brief encounter you'll have with her on BG2).
If that sounds familiar, it's because it's exactly how BG2 handles things: Imoen gets yanked out of the party via plot (this time because she has that mandatory dual-class to Mage), you're presented with a substitute (Yoshimo in BG2) and then later they're conveniently yanked out of the party via plot in order to make room for her.
If I'm correct, I would like a "Disciple of Alaundo" badge created just for me. Thanks in advance.
That screws a non-Evil party out of an effective healer, so I hope Branwen stays.
Another problem is that if you get Imoen back when Safana leaves, her thief skills are going to be much weaker than hers. Glint is a Cleric/Thief so he can pick up some of the slack, but unless you're deliberately selecting his skills to complement hers, you'll be out an effective scout/trapper/lockpicker/etc.
I'm going to be more than a little annoyed if the team admits that we've already seen all of the potential companions- this is something they should've been up front about.
They're multiclassed, and therefore less effective- Jaheira also has Khalid attached. I'm going to take Glint anyway since he's got a quest, and my party's already pretty crowded- I guess I just wished he was a full cleric.
Is it known at which point in the saga the four new companions would be able to join a party? Will either of them be available in BGEE after release of SoD, or are they only available for the SoD storyline?
I believe the new SoD Companions will only be available in SoD and not in BG:EE. When they exactly join you in SoD is unknown but im guessing it would be pretty early on in the expansion.
As for if they will be available in BG2:EE they will be not sadly. However the devs have said if SoD goes well and there is alot of interest in the new Companions they may look into doing something which would add them.
Edit: Fardragon sniped me lol. Posted at the same time.
Zim - Do not be high minded- think with what is on the side of your belt- your gold sack. Of course the characters are going to be well done and of course everyone will want to have them in BG2 and of course Beamdawg will see the headlights and get the bright idea of adding them into BG2 - for a small fee per character exactly like they did with BG2. And yes I will not begrudge them a bit of coin for the Glint, Corwin, Goblina, and ?, to be pad over so I can play them in BG2. I would guess they already had each of the new voice actors read lines for BG2 and have them stored away on tape- and also already have the voice actors signed off that they may be used- with requisite remuneration - in BG2. Of course Beamdawg would not voice that but any prudent longsighted money minded computer team is going to do that. Why would they pay twice to fly over and hotel the voice actors to the dread Cold wastes of Canada twice?
Anyway, I will be glad to pay for them in BG2 - if only to donate to the silly foppish hat fund for every man's dreamy bard lady.
Comments
1. Include someone to fulfill each party niche no matter your alignment. Viconia will fill the Cleric slot for evil parties, so I really, really hope Branwen stays for good or neutral parties. The gnome is multiclassed and therefore not as effective.
2. If a party member is going to leave, they let me unequip their stuff first. Kivan is NOT walking away with that Ankheg Plate Mail and making me buy something new and probably less effective for Corwin.
An evil dwarf barbarian or kensai is really needed for SoD.
---
Also updated the formatting of original post and clarified some of the information.
(all speculation but now you got me thinking)
Maybe she is kidnapped early and so they didnt want to tease you with letting her join
Maybe she is in training early on to be a mage and is only coming by now and then to help. Or even perhaps you are helping her in her studies with whoever she is training with.
Perhaps as you say she can join the party and we are wrong.
I dont recall exactly when she finds out she is a Bhaalspawn, but maybe she is going at it on her own to learn about her Bhaalspawn heritage
Also maybe she needs to be out of the party for story reasons seeing as at the start of bg2 she is the one who frees you, then again she was also experimented on soo not sure how that effects things..
PLOT TWIST! perhaps Irenicus is the one who is training her to become a mage! no proof for that but it came to mind and would explain how they were captured! He could be disguised as a helpful mage training(testing) her.
Keeping in mind all her story has to be in the game regardless of if she is in the party or not, meaning its easier to have that happen with 100% consistency if she is not in the party otherwise you come into some issues. Example, what if she is in your party and dead but they need her to do something plot critical, do they just rez her for the scene? there are probably other examples but im sure thats one of the main ones.
Sure, once in awhile you get a Jan Jansen. A gnome of epic proportions who can do it all. But usually they are just the commoners trying to make an honest turnip. A dwarf though? ToB showed me that even when starved, worked to near death, and equipped with only a pick...a dwarf is still a force to be damned reckoned with!
United we stand (albeit not very tall), divided we fall. Shorties of the world unite!
Minsc is a) good and b) tied to Dynahair (unless you bend the rules). Khaled has similar drawbacks.
I'm not convinced Voghin will be much of a tank.
There will be 17 joinable NPCs in SoD and we already know who they are because they've all shown up at either live streams or screenshots.
4 brand new: Corwyn, Glint, M'Khiin and Voghiln.
4 from Beamdog: Baeloth, Dorn, Neera and Rasaad.
And 8 from Bioware: Dynaheir, Edwin, Imoen, Jaheira, Khalid, Minsc, Safana and Viconia.
That's 16, of course. The 17th is an easter egg and will be significantly less develop than the others, in the tradition of Baeloth and Wilson.
The criteria seems to have been whether a BG1 NPC was recruitable in BG2 as well or not. This is the case for every Bioware NPC we've seen in the expansion - except for Dynaheir and Khalid, for obvious reasons, and Safana, who is pretty much just covering for Imoen.
There's no indication so far that Imoen will be recruitable at any point of the expansion. However, I guess we'll be able to do that in the last few chapters (and I'd even go as far as saying Safana is either going to betray or bail out on the group, opening up a spot for Imoen and setting up a precedent for her behavior on the brief encounter you'll have with her on BG2).
If that sounds familiar, it's because it's exactly how BG2 handles things: Imoen gets yanked out of the party via plot (this time because she has that mandatory dual-class to Mage), you're presented with a substitute (Yoshimo in BG2) and then later they're conveniently yanked out of the party via plot in order to make room for her.
If I'm correct, I would like a "Disciple of Alaundo" badge created just for me. Thanks in advance.
Another problem is that if you get Imoen back when Safana leaves, her thief skills are going to be much weaker than hers. Glint is a Cleric/Thief so he can pick up some of the slack, but unless you're deliberately selecting his skills to complement hers, you'll be out an effective scout/trapper/lockpicker/etc.
I'm going to be more than a little annoyed if the team admits that we've already seen all of the potential companions- this is something they should've been up front about.
iomen
jaheria
khalid
isra[ the modded npc]
and neera
most likely gonna replace her with Voghiln
As for if they will be available in BG2:EE they will be not sadly. However the devs have said if SoD goes well and there is alot of interest in the new Companions they may look into doing something which would add them.
Edit: Fardragon sniped me lol. Posted at the same time.
Anyway, I will be glad to pay for them in BG2 - if only to donate to the silly foppish hat fund for every man's dreamy bard lady.