-anonymous-'s game-in-progress review!

[Guest -anonymous-]

Right! So, I've been posting -anonymously- here for a couple months, asking annoying questions about stats and xp and wether or not you can side with Bohdi and so forth.

 

The last question I asked was about downloading Amber with Firefox. I guess what I should have said was I wanted to know details about installing Amber with Firefox, because I remember what a pain in the butt that was with Willy Bruce. I figured it out eventually, but my problems didn't end there.

 

The other two mods I had installed were Valen and Willy Bruce. Now, it didn't take me long to work out, knowing Valen as I did and what I had gleaned about Amber from these boards, that having Valen and Amber in the same party would be impossible. Valen makes your rep sink like a stone; she's designed for evil parties. So unless I wanted to wait until after Valen had dealt with a major league event late in her own mod, I wouldn't even be able to pick up Amber for that game. So alas, those two ladies wouldn't be working together.

 

But I saw no conflict with Willie Bruce (and was assured on these boards that there wasnt any), so I planned for my group to be Anomen, Willy Bruce, Valygar, and of course Amber, with Jan sticking around long enough to get me through the Amber kidnapping quest and then getting the boot, long before Imoen's rescue. In TOB Sarevok would replace Valygar. I know Amber has no TOB content, yet, but as somenoe who had CLUAd party members out of in game NPCs many times before, that did not concern me. I'm fairly sure I'll manage a TOB game or two with her having nothing to say until the TOB part is made. My own character, for the record, is a half-elven Fighter/Mage, Int of 18 and Charisma of 14. I brought the character up from BG1. TOTSC didn't work properly for some reason; the EXP cap was raised but none of the TOTSC areas installed.

 

Anyway, like I said my plan was to have Willy Bruce in the party with Amber. That....didn't work out.

 

Once I finally figured out the installation process, I took my character Azurian through the Irenicus dungeon, etc etc etc, and went to get Willy Bruce before doing what I needed to do with Viconia and Jan. Now, Willy is in the Copper Coronet. His deal is he comes and talks to you, asking to join. Well, he came to me all right, but first he shouted some phrase about Lathlander and then began talking in Amber's voice! Yikes! One of the two kids who is supposed to be talking about Amber is outside, the girl. The boy never shows, and the conversation never happens.

 

Uninstall Amber, reinstall. Same thing again. Uninstall again, reinstall agian. Same thing once more. Finally, uninstall Willy Bruce (and Valen too, just to be on the safe side), uninstall SOA/TOB, reinstall, then reinstall Amber and the TOB patch. Delete all save games and start over with the imported character file from BG1, go through Irenicus dungeon again, blah blah blah.

 

This time it works. No Willy now, so Jan gets to stay until TOB when Sarevok will replace him, meaning Valygar gets to stay. Also it means that until I get Valygar, I would have a party of four, with Anomen, Amber, and my character Azurian sharing front line duties. Gulp. Once I would get Valygar, it would be a party of five until rescuing Imoen, with the sixth spot being temporarily filled by Korgan and Cernd for the duration of their quests only.

 

So, I go through what I need to in order to get Amber. The beauracratic process, while annoying and amusing, was not as nighmarishly bad as some posts on the board would lead me to beleive.

 

I love Amber's personal theme, it is distinctive without being intrusive. I like her portrait, and save on two occasions, I like her voice. I'll get to those examples momentarily.

 

Her stats were fine; save I want her to dual wield. So, she is dual wielding the blade of roses and a plus one long sword, and I just keep dealing with her relatively low hit rolls until such time as she levels up enough (and I can afford to get her one of those belts of giant strength, heheheh). Even with dual wielding, she fought quite well, I was pleased. I use her blinding ability sparingly, though at least once it got an annoying cleric off my back.

 

I thought I had encountered another bug when siding with Bhodi (I only ever sided with the Shadow Thieves once. Never again. Even my most noble characters "accidentally" make the "wrong" choice.) While Bhodi was telling me about the shipment, suddenly Amber was talking to me about her tiefling powers, and then Bhodi was talking agian. Weird. But when that conversation in the romance track came up, it happened normally. So no bug there.

 

There is a minor bug with dialogue; when talking to Brega about the forms to get Amber, or to the Shadow Thief merchant about getting Amber's bracelet back, the first dialogue option is listed 3 times. Not a game breaker, just jarring.

 

The hardest fight for me so far is getting the demon heart to power the Planar Sphere. Amber's dialogue about the lower planes is a nice touch, by the way. But that demon killed us over and over and over again, and I had Valygar by this point. Eventually I used Control-Y to kill all the demon's little imp friends, and then we were able to take him.

 

It was when we were coming out of the Sphere that the slavers struck. I must say, I love how the new quest areas where "added" to Athkatla. Lorraine is brilliant, too. I might have to find some way to control-Q her and Ymmrt into a TOB game in future. Not this particular game, but some later one.

 

The Demon in Ymmrt's house was tough. Not as tough as the Abyssal one, but tough enough. Everyone was frozen for most of that fight save Anomen; he fought that battle mostly alone. Not entirely; but he certainly bore the brunt of the damage and in turn did most of the damage to the Demon. I bet he's still gloating over that one.

 

So, at this point I'm about to take on the Shadow Thieves. The party is standing outside their front door. So far I like this mod a lot. A couple bugs and questions though.

 

I have said there are two occasions when I do not like Amber's voice. Those two are her dungeon comment, and when you make the mistake of touching her hair. She stops sounding like Amber and starts sounding like a querulous old woman. The rest of the time the voice actress is fabulous, so when it comes to those two lines I wonder what happened.

 

I am of course very glad to be free of the "x appears busy" bug. But a new one pops up occasionally; the game has twice crashed. Once it was when Amber was trying to talk to me, and once it was in Irenicus dungeon. Going back to the last save got me around the problem each time, but I still wonder about it.

 

Now, the flirting aspect of the romance. It is fun, and it is clever. But I've learned to quick save when trying to flirt with her. Sometimes she likes me holding her hand, sometimes she doesn't. Sometimes looking in her eyes is okay, sometimes it isn't. Needless to say I won't touch her hair again. Yikes. And I get the impression asking her if she's ever been in love isn't helping my cause any. So what I'm wondering is, since kissing isn't avaiable to me as a flirt yet, which flirt is best for improving AmberLike? Some people have reported really disliking Amber early on, until she warms up later. I don't have that feeling; but I am kind of like the nervous would be suitor, shifting foot to foot, wondering just what, exactly, I'm supposed to do to make her happy!

 

Do the bottles of wine and the makeup kit from Ymmrt's house have any specific use or impact on Amber, in the romance or otherwise?

 

 

Now that the kidnapping is done, does Amber have any more side quests of her own or is it just romance dialogues from here on out? I get the uneasy feeling maybe I shouldn't have hit the guarded compound yet....

 

Overall, so far so good. Four stars out of five, to this point!

 

(to be continued....)

[Meira]

Hey, thanks for the feedback.

 

The dialogue issues you mention (repeating dialogue options and misplaced lines) sound more like installation issues than an actual bugs in a mod (Valen, Amber or Bruce). I hope they will not cause you further trouble.

 

Flirting will never* have a negative impact on Amber, even if she acts as if she didn't really appreciate your PC's affections. For example:

(Amber lets you hold her hand, sort of, anyway. After a few moments, she begins squirm uncomfortably and moves away from you.)

That one does actually yield a very positive reaction from her. In your PC's current position, holding hands and smiling are the best ways to make Amber like him. However, as I mentioned, the other options won't harm you. Both the flirt options and their outcomes will increase in number when time passes and she becomes more at ease with the idea of being close to someone.

 

 

 

*Expect if you act like a bad loser in the riddle flirt. It's pretty obvious though, so I wouldn't worry about it. And there's nothing what a good kiss wouldn't heal.

[Guest -anonymous-]

Amber has gotten very friendly indeed, and quite passionate. Things are going well. Though I do have to wonder what on earth Valygar was doing in that bathing scene. I went back and reloaded that one until I got Amber instead, thank you very much.

 

Slight bug with the morning after dialogue, I got one of her flirts as a possible response. Clicking it caused me to rest again with no further dialogue; I went back and did that talk again. I put that down to the fact that I had to uninstall/reinstall three times.

 

Also I got the Cromwell dialogue loop bug, presumably for the same reason. Even if I drop the sword, I still get it with the bracelet. No biggie, I'll just clua in the Shadow Dragon armor and the bow of gesen. Life goes on.

 

So far I haven't been able to compliment Amber on any kills, but given the only real heavy we've fought is the Shadow Dragon, perhaps that isn't surprising.

 

I do have to wonder if that question about "faith" was a prelude to the argument in this relationship I've heard so much about?

 

I picked up H'D and actually let him join the party, in part because I didn't want him attacking Amber, and in part because I wanted to see the dialogues between them.

 

Well, H'D very quickly pissed both me and Amber off. You're suggesting to her that the relationship with me is already on the outs, Haery, in my hearing? Be thankful I'm not an evil Bhaalspawn; I can think of several of my PCs of games past who would chop you into little pieces for that, bunkie! To the playhouse with you!

 

Question: Does the necklace of opposite alignment serve to make Amber "fit" in evil parties?

[Meira]

Amber has gotten very friendly indeed, and quite passionate. Things are going well. Though I do have to wonder what on earth Valygar was doing in that bathing scene. I went back and reloaded that one until I got Amber instead, thank you very much.

 

Hehee... You stumbled upon on bit of an easter egg. Actually, you're first person to report it. I'm glad to hear that it works. Note that stumbling upon Amber is far more likely than the other options.

 

I do have to wonder if that question about "faith" was a prelude to the argument in this relationship I've heard so much about?

 

Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough.

 

I picked up H'D and actually let him join the party, in part because I didn't want him attacking Amber, and in part because I wanted to see the dialogues between them.

 

Installing either BG2 fixpack or Baldurdash (not both though) will solve the issue with HD's original script. They should be installed first and seeing that you already have dialogue issues due reinstalling, you probably don't want to do that.

 

 

Question: Does the necklace of opposite alignment serve to make Amber "fit" in evil parties?

 

Not really, Amber will still leave when your party's reputation drops. The amulet is just part of Ymmyrt's collection of odd things. It was meant to be useful in a quest that not included in the mod.

[Meira]

I hope that you don't mind that I merged the two "-anonymous-'s game-in-progress review!" topics.

[Guest -anonymous-]

I hope that you don't mind that I merged the two "-anonymous-'s game-in-progress review!" topics.

 

Sure, it's cool.....

[Guest -anonymous-]

Game called on account of -Anonymous- 's computer nuking itself.

[Guest Guest]

Okay, computer not quite dead. but video card is fried. Game suspended until video card is fixed, probably the week after xmas, maybe sooner. The party just entered the Underdark.

[Guest -anonymous-]

okay, we're back with part 3!

 

The underdark didn't really have many flirts in it, except that Amber-initiated one in the Drow Tavern. The rest of the time she was like "now is not a good time."

 

What dialogue I've seen between Amber and Imoen has been amusing.

 

I'm glad I've read the forums as much as I have; otherwise I wouldn't have known not to kill Bhodi right before going to Suldanessalar, which is what I normally do. The Unseeing Eye quest, the Twisted Rune fight, the other Church quests, and the remaining events in the Fighter stronghold remain for after Bhodi. And if that's not enough, I'll rest until it is.

 

Is Amber's second special ability the last one?

[Guest --Anonymous--]

This it the end, this is the end my friend.....

 

 

Well, Irenicus fell down and went boom. Given some of Amber's later romance banters (and one of her dialogues with Imoen!) I'm starting to think that maybe her grandmother really WAS a succubus. Woof.

 

Her comments in hell were amusing, though she didn't have a chance to comment upon reaching the Tree of Life for some reason (the romance was still active, her flirts were becoming more and more frequent) and I found it odd that her final battle comment to Irenicus was unvoiced.

 

But it was an excellent new NPC and romance. She now waits with the rest of us in the Grove of the Ancients, alas without content. But I plan to play it through.

 

After I am done, I will run through again, this time with an evil female wild mage. Besides being sure to help the Ghost Halfling in the Graveyard and basic rep number issues, any other specific points I should watch out for?

 

Overall grade; 95%, eagerly waiting like everyone else for TOB content!

[Meira]

Her comments in hell were amusing, though she didn't have a chance to comment upon reaching the Tree of Life for some reason (the romance was still active, her flirts were becoming more and more frequent) and I found it odd that her final battle comment to Irenicus was unvoiced.

 

Yes, there are parts of dialogue I liked to be voiced too. As for the Tree of Life dialogue... It's surprisingly tricky dialogue to code it and it breaks easily (or at least I've managed to do it wrong like 3 or 4 times). In other words another mod might have blocked Amber's dialogue out. Or there is yet another scenario that I have overlooked. Who was the last character in your party that had the ToL dialogue? What NPC mods (or mods that contain joinable NPCs) do you have installed? Regardless if those NPC were in your party or not.

 

 

Anyhow, I'm glad that you liked the mod!

[Guest -anonymous-]

I don't remember who commented last....I want to say it was Valygar but I'm not sure. I do know that everyone else got to comment except her.

 

At this point I have *no* mods installed other than Amber; I had to get rid of Valen and Willie Bruce to make sure this thing worked. Valen's portrait still remains, though. Perhaps that's why.

 

Any tips for the evil game besides helping Wellyn?

 

Also, CLUA codes for Amber, Ymmrt, and Lorraine for a TOB only game?