Starting a new game

[Starcrunch]

I'm starting a new game and am looking for some NPC mod recommendations. The party will certainly contain Jaheria and Imoen. The other slots are open and I don't really care what class they are. My current run through has both Kelsey (an old favorite) and Xan (a newer favorite), these probably won't make it into the game unless I get the urge to make a female PC and try out Xan's romance path (unlikely as this PC is likely to be human). I'm also well aquainted with Keto; she probably won't make the next party for this reason. I've not played any other NPC's, and would like some advise on which ones people like to play and are of high quality. By high quality I mean well written, with obvious pains taken to proofread the dialog, item descriptions, and so on. I've been leaning heavily toward trying out Tashia, Auren Aseph, Amber, Kivan, or the Beyond the Law pair of NPC's and would be curious as to what others thought of them, as I certainly have too little time to try them all (particularly I'd rather not waste time on mods with many spelling and grammar errors and it's difficult to tell before installation how much of a problem it is). Voice acting and ToB content is a big plus as well, but no voice is better than bad voice acting.

 

Thanks,

-Starcrunch

[Domi]

I can happily recommend Amber to anyone. She doesn't have a ToB part, but the SoA part is well thought-out and executed in every aspect. Her joining quest is the best NPC-joining quest, imo with the proper blend of humor and appropriateness for the setting. The mod is much less humorous in its dialogues - something I do miss, but Amber makes a very satisfying NPC as a friend, with enough content to keep one busy, but not over-whelm the game. Make sure you have high CHR and INT if you want to romance her, though. She's chosy. The voice acting is there, it's really good as well. It also features the unique Player 2 romance. Amber also have a copious amount of the cross-mod banter, so she will play well in the party with many modded NPCs. I think that the gammar is continously fixed in the mod, and even in the relatively early version I played, it didn't have more than an occasional error.

[Guest John]

At one time or another, I've tried all of the mods you mention. When I played them, I really didn't pay attention to the quantity of voice dialog nor do I have any sense of how much ToB content there may be because now I usually stop at the end of SoA.

 

So keeping that in mind, I just mix and match as the mood moves me. I have Kelsey, Keto, Kivan, Auren and Xan currently installed. I used to play Tashia because I like her character, music and the riddling content but got disenchanted probably from too many games and with the IMO overpowered items picked up in the game; I believe that Tashia is being updated but haven't seen any ETA. I played Beyond the Law once and removed it afterwards because I did not want to lose the two party slots and found that I personally didn't have any interest in the two characters and that IMO their plot overwhelmed that of the PC. Amber is fun to play but is not currently installed. Other mods you haven't listed but I've tried are Fade (a tiefling?? thief) and Saerileth (a paladin). Amber and Saerileth have specific pc requirements (alignment and ability scores) in order for a romance. Be aware that at least Fade and Saerileth use areas that some other mods might use, so there could be problems there. Fade was fun, too and in light of my faulty memory some of the romance sequences are on a par with the Romantic Encounters mod. I'd also advise reading Saerileth's background story before installing her because the mod generated a bit of controversy because of her age and the romance angle. YMMV.

 

As you may guess from above, I don't usually add evil aligned characters to my group, so I can't give any comments there. Another caveat is that I don't always notice typos and focus more on if the NPC seems interesting to me. In that respect, all of them, even Beyond the Law, were acceptable.

 

Good luck,

 

John

[berelinde]

Amber, while she doesn't have ToB, is an outstanding mod with excellent voice acting and a decent quest. It was very enjoyable, but do make sure your character meets Amber's romance requirements if you intend to try the romance.

 

Kivan is also outstanding, and he's on my perpetual install. And Kivan's got ToB content, but unless you are romancing him or have Deheriana in your party, he'll leave at the end of SoA. One of these days, I'm going to save a seat for Deheriana.

 

For a *really* different kind of NPC, you might want to try Hubelpot. He's low level when he joins, but his presence in the party is rather like a breath of fresh air. It's written in dialect, though (Scottish accent), so if that's the kind of thing that would bother you, I'd give it a miss.

 

The only reason I can't make recommendations about Auren is that I haven't tried v6 with ToB content. V4 was excellent, though. She isn't quite as chatty as some mod NPCs, but some mod NPCs are a bit too chatty. The story arc with Nalia is very well done.

[Kitana]

Ever since last March, I've found that it takes me a lot of effort to force myself to play BG2 without Xan (and later, Kivan).

 

From what I saw of the Amber mod (I keep messing up my installations before I finish a SoA game with her), it seems to be very good quality writing, the music is lovely, and her joining quest is very well done.

 

I've never tried Tashia, for some reason - even I'm not sure why, I suppose I just never got around to it.

[sisterpatrick]

Ever since last March, I've found that it takes me a lot of effort to force myself to play BG2 without Xan (and later, Kivan).

 

I'm like this, too. Without the two of them it doesn't seem like SoA any more. The quality of writing for both is excellent: complex, subtle, imaginative without being melodramatic. I really care about these guys. Very well done.

[ericp07]

I haven't gotten very far in my mod testing so far (still in CH 2!), so the mods I can recommend are limited. I really, really like Yasraena, and greatly enjoy Saerileth. The Kivan mod is wonderful as well, with plenty of interaction between him and the protagonist. Solaufien was the first joinable NPC mod I ever experienced, and though he lacks extended audible dialog, his is a first-rate mod, IMHO

 

Happy gaming,

Eric

[BigRob]

I used to play Tashia because I like her character, music and the riddling content but got disenchanted probably from too many games and with the IMO overpowered items picked up in the game; I believe that Tashia is being updated but haven't seen any ETA.

 

Tashia's update is complete (back in July, as it happens) with expanded content and the items toned down a bit. She can be downloaded here if you're interested.

[Guest John]

Thanks, BigRob. I'll grab it and try it in my next game.

 

John

[Kulyok]

Not about "how good and excellent and outstanding this mod is" but "I enjoyed the story, and I remember my BG2 game with this NPC in party fondly":

 

- Kivan, SoA+ToB

- original Tashia(no expansion\remix), SoA+ToB

- Edwin Romance, SoA(enjoyed)+ToB(never played)

- Irenicus in the Longer Road, ToB

- Fade Romance, SoA

 

No voice acting(except for the soundset) in either of these.

[Fesh]

Saerileth is well done, though some people might have puritanical moral objections to it.

[Simbul]

I'd also recommend Kivan. One of the best NPC mods, imho.

 

I must add I was deeply disappointed in Beyond the Law. It definitely has much work put into, but both characters, and their quest, just didn't seem interesting at all, and I got tired very fast of Kiyone (one of NPCs) repeating all those lines about her love for justice and righteousness all over again (sadly, these words weren't the only ones to be repeated constantly in different dialogues). Still, there are some people out there who liked the mod, so maybe you'll do, too. Tastes differ

 

Edwin's romance is hilarious, although it's best played with a very sarcastic PC - some of the lines you can choose in lovetalks are just too good to be ignored

 

PS BTW what about Tsujatha? I was going to add him on my next BG2 playthrough, heard many good things about the romance...

[Domi]

No, I have no puritanic objections to Sillara's mods.

 

Basically, imo the pros of all Sillara's mods are their completeness. They all come with SoA and ToB, have the quest for the character and the standard amount of banter-interjections-flirt etc.

 

Now, one other feature that is common to all Sillara's mods is her style. And depending on a person's taste it can be either plus or minus.

 

What's common to all three Sillara's NPCs is the fact that they are all outsiders. Tsujatha is from a custom world, Yasraena is a drow and Saerileth is from another Plane.

 

What is also common to Sillara's NPCs is that beside being outsiders each of them pack quite a few additional unique characteristics into their background.

 

In other words, not only Yasraena is a good drow on the Surface - a unique thing as is, she is also a girl-fighter drow, not only that, but she was also a girl dressed as a boy in the all-male academy; not only those 3 uniquenesses each of which is already setting a character apart, but she is also in love with an elven spy in that all-male academy....

 

The same things happen to both Tusjatha and Saerileth, with both mods being conistent with the over-the-top amount of the 'so special' features each NPC gets.

 

Plenty of people like it, as for me, I just could never really take these backgrounds seriously.

[Starcrunch]

Thank you all for commenting. It hasn't necessarily made my choice any easier . I'm strongly leaning toward Kivan or Amber. If I go with Kivan I suppose the raising of Deheriana is unavoidable unless I romance him... either that or have him leave. That means I need to play a cleric or carry Aerie along (if she dies he leaves right?). Actually I think I'll go with PC, Amber (friendship?) --> Deheriana (since Amber has no ToB content yet), Aerie (non-romance), Kivan (friendship), Xan (friendship), and Imoen. I've been meaning to play a PC who can whole heartedly dive into the RE mod. It's a bit pre-meditated, and dropping Jaheria will be hard... It's also a bit elf heavy...

 

I've repeatedly considered the Edwin Romance, as I've seen many positive comments about it. Saddly Edwin is a character I find nearly intolerable in the unmodded game, mostly because he is not very intelligent, and his writers (I mean at Bioware) seem to have confused intelligence with arrogance. This is not to say he shouldn't be arrogant, just that their should be something to back up this exceptionally high opinion of himself.

 

I've played the Longer Road, and enjoyed it. I don't know how fond I am of the overall story arc, but it was nicely done, and the writing is very good.

 

I don't think that it is appropriate to consider the objections to Saerileth as purintanical. It's not just her age that is a problem, it's that she couples being very young with throwing herself at the PC's feet, making her seem even younger and more vulnerable. Also the principal valid argument that there is nothing inappropriate between the PC and Saerileth is predicated on the PC being a teenager of 16 or 17 years; a judgement I don't share (the argument from medieval cultural differences is deeply flawed). The above argument also only works if the PC also experiences love at first sight.

 

Thank you,

-Starcrunch

[vagrant_winds]

I loved the Edwin Romance. Not only is it often hilarious and fun-loving, it's also sexy, and it really flushes out Edwin's character. Not only is there an option for alignment change after critical SoA events, the ToB finale material is deeply moving. Not to mention he has one of the most amusing ways to snap a distraught <Charname> over bad dreams.

 

One of the more enjoyable aspects of that romance is that it comes out to be more a 'relationship among equals' instead of one NPC/PC courting the other.

 

You already played Xan... that's the king of either "love to hate" for the non-bonded path. The bonded path is a completely different story though (in a good way)...

 

Kivan is amazing, romanced or not. My favorite part is that he gives moving, in-character, advice and discussions that... when looking at it from a game perspective (and not RP) aren't always 'good' advice.

 

The romance itself is a very mature one, and takes itself seriously (without taking itself too seriously). It draws a lot of similar themes to the Jaheira romance in my quiet opinion, where if you like the mood of one then you'll probably like the other.

 

As for combat... he turns into a walking and breathing artillery platform as long as your tanks keep the enemy away from him.

 

I, for one, also enjoyed Saerileth. She's fanatically religious, opinionated, a beacon of "goodness" (that she will violently object to evil acts by the player), vein, and very flushed out as a character. She's incredibly intelligent and mature for her age (which, I believe, is 4 years younger than a Human <Charname>) and has a depth of understanding... but is just as completely rash emotion driven as fitting her age.

 

The romance itself is sweet, and can be played either gradually or love-at-first-sight by player choice. Character wise, she's powerful enough but no combat demigod.

 

---

As a side-note, I'm increasing annoyed at a common trend in many (but not all) NPC mods. Half of them seem to know of Yoshimo's "betrayal" beforehand and adamantly distrust his character given no reason but player knowledge.

 

I find the Keto-like approach much more refreshing and moving, where the NPCs become friends and comrades with each other and thus get hurt by the sudden back-stabbing. It's also more realistic in my tastes.