@jastey Interested, yep. Still, as I said above it just bugs me CHARNAME cannot survive petrification and Immy can. I'd say I'd run with it anyway, as the game does not seem to make the distinction much with her and CHARNAME BOTH being bhaalspawn, in the case of game ending moments anyway.
Judging by his research, Irenicus is pretty much a necromancer by the time BG2 rolls around. Let him petrify Imoen, shatter her (but keep her head intact and in his possession), and take off for Spellhold. There, he can depetrify her head and hook it up to machinery and magery as needed. Hey, who says you need a Bhaalspawn whole and hale in body in order to drain its soul?
This provides the Charname with a reason to hang about in Chapter 2, and gives him an active choice with regards to saving Imoen - if he wants to restore Imoen, he needs all of the major bits from the Promenade or whereever they were cast and dispersed throughout Chapter 2/Amn, lest the restoration fails entirely or she wakes up without her legs (or worse). If he doesn't care about Imoen, he can take his sweet time adventuring before seeking out his captor and torturer for revenge. The point of course is that this makes Imoen incidental to the plot if that is what the player wants, or central, if so desired.
Then, when Charname arrives (possibly, if he was feeling kind, towing a big bag of Imoen rocks), Irenicus pulls the plug, or his very departure means the necromantic spells sustaining the head fizzle and Imoen dies with no chance of revival - unless Charname acts very quickly as represented by the dialogue options outlined by @subtledoctor and others.
Yes, I quite dislike Imoen, and her forced insertion into my game even moreso.
@jastey while you're modifying the cut-scene...any chance you could make another one? It bothers me in bgee that Gorion protects himself in the battle, while you tale a couple of magic arrow hits which should have killed you. Could you add a small tweak, that first Gorion casts protection from magical weapons on you, so you dnt get hurt... and I'd be eternally grateful
@jastey while you're modifying the cut-scene...any chance you could make another one? It bothers me in bgee that Gorion protects himself in the battle, while you tale a couple of magic arrow hits which should have killed you. Could you add a small tweak, that first Gorion casts protection from magical weapons on you, so you dnt get hurt... and I'd be eternally grateful
I don't fully understand the "need to rush" issue. Irenicus doesn't break out of spellhold and start experimenting on Imoen until AFTER you pay the shadow thieves. She is captive, but safe until that point. Again, charname doesn't know this, but the player does.
It would be an interesting idea, would use it for evil parties and whatnot. Not fond of the idea of it being timed (I like doing things at my own pace). If it was optional I would be interested.
2) Charname needs a reason to spend so long in chapters 2/3
The reason is already there - collect enough gold to pay for voyage. Use SCS' component if the price seems to easily affordable.
3) Charname needs a reason to complete more quests in chapter 6
Again, it's already justified by needing to level-up the party. I play with reduced kill XP rewards to balance things out, personally.
Then, when you emerge and you need to find the Rhynn Lanthorn, seal Bodhi's lair and require a different McGuffin to open it. And have this McGuffin work exactly as described above, requiring the player to finish 5 or so side-quests to advance the main quest.
Players were originally supposed to find the lanthern broken and pieces scattered across the quest strongholds. Search scripts for "lens". This would be more like UB restoration, indeed.
In my last playthrough I had an (obviously mod added) addition after the first Gaelan talk. This boy Brus comes with his proposals how you can get money. In this dialogue he let slip that the price for the passage would be more than 20.000 and that his uncle would probably serve me that bitter news in small digestable bits. In deed when I came with the 20.000, he told me of certain difficulties and that more money was needed (I don't remember all the details). If I remember well, in the end it was more than 100.000 I had to pay and also Valen and the guys from *Alternatives* did not appear prior to that. I was forced to stay in that part of the game pretty long. So there is some mod that does it, only bad thing is I have a new install already, so no chance to investigate where that surprise came from. It may be some EET related new feature as I never had this in BGT.
Comments
This provides the Charname with a reason to hang about in Chapter 2, and gives him an active choice with regards to saving Imoen - if he wants to restore Imoen, he needs all of the major bits from the Promenade or whereever they were cast and dispersed throughout Chapter 2/Amn, lest the restoration fails entirely or she wakes up without her legs (or worse). If he doesn't care about Imoen, he can take his sweet time adventuring before seeking out his captor and torturer for revenge. The point of course is that this makes Imoen incidental to the plot if that is what the player wants, or central, if so desired.
Then, when Charname arrives (possibly, if he was feeling kind, towing a big bag of Imoen rocks), Irenicus pulls the plug, or his very departure means the necromantic spells sustaining the head fizzle and Imoen dies with no chance of revival - unless Charname acts very quickly as represented by the dialogue options outlined by @subtledoctor and others.
Yes, I quite dislike Imoen, and her forced insertion into my game even moreso.
So there is some mod that does it, only bad thing is I have a new install already, so no chance to investigate where that surprise came from. It may be some EET related new feature as I never had this in BGT.