Mod NPC Idea

[Ipsy]

In the event that you do want Naomi voiced, you might consider asking at SHS' Resource Request.

 

According to the IESDP, the 4 bioware romances indeed have their own themes, and Aerie's is MXAERIE.mus. I *think* that you could use PlaySong(mysong) for an NPC/NPC dialogue, but I'm not positive. Sorry.

 

Sorry to hear about your computer...hope that you can get it in working condition again soon.

 

Also, just a thought: While I agree that it's good to flesh out your NPC's personality through banters, IMHO it would be better to do so one banter at a time. The Haer'Dalis banter sort of gave me the impression that Naomi was telling Haer *everything* about her views. Perhaps Naomi could discuss with LN/LG Anomen the importance of law and control and their benefits to society, or the importance of a strong and cohesive government with Nalia. Or, for that matter, "survival of the fittest" with Cernd or Jaheira. For that matter, you could even include some material in Naomi's biography, Basically, have the banters/talks build on one another to present a clear picture of Naomi's personality.

 

BTW, do you think it would be possible to "corrupt" Naomi? Not to make her a stereotypical Xvimlar, but to make her more selfish and less focused on society/law.

[berelinde]

Basically, have the banters/talks build on one another to present a clear picture of Naomi's personality.

If you look at BioWare banters, unless one of the NPCs has a serious problem with another NPC, the banters are not all about one of the pair. For example, just about every time Anomen and Keldorn banter, it's about Anomen's faults as Keldorn sees them. They don't talk about Keldorn because as a senior knight, Keldorn has an obligation to prepare Anomen for the trials he faces. When Keldorn and Minsc banter, sometimes they talk about Keldorn and other times, they talk about Minsc. Their relationship is more equal... odd as that sounds.

 

The tendency with a mod NPC is to always have the banter be about the mod NPC, revealing the details of the mod NPCs personality and beliefs while the canon NPC stands by and feeds the mod NPC leading questions. This is a natural tendency. We all know the BioWare crew. We've heard their banters before. Now here's this new NPC, so let's talk about her instead. The drawback of this, besides the fact that it leaps out as mod content, is that it makes the NPC (and perhaps the writer) look narcissistic. OK, if a canon NPC has issues with the mod NPC for whatever reason (bonus points if those issues are justified), it works well, but most of the time, it's good to mix it up a bit more. Besides, the choice of subject matter says a lot about the mod NPC, too.

 

Canon example, a banter between Mazzy and Aerie:

Mazzy: Ah, my spirit always flies so free in this place.

Aerie: Really?

Mazzy: It rides the skies with the solars, Aerie ... One day I shall be a paladin atop a white griffon, and you will be a valiant flying squire. Wouldn’t that be wonderfull?

Aerie: I ... I don’t have my wings anymore, Mazzy, and ... and I’m never going to get them back.

They’re gone.

Mazzy: Dream a little, girl, especially here where the gods are listening. Faith is such a beautiful thing to hold on to, Aerie.

Aerie: But it won’t give me wings ...

Mazzy: No, it probably won’t ... But it gives you a chance to dream, at least, doesn’t it!? Look, an imaginary griffon beats an old nag any day and ... a friend like you beats any halfwit squire who would stoop so low as to help a halfling on her horse ... You see?

Aerie: I - I see, Mazzy ... And - And, thank you.

Mazzy: I thought you might ... Now come, we’ve got a world to face, don’t we girl!?

This banter is mostly about Aerie's insecurity, but the player is left with the impression of Mazzy's kindness.

 

Heh. And I need to follow my own advice more.

 

Oh, and now for some technical advice. You might want to think about avoiding PlaySong(). The vanilla songlist.2da only has 99 available slots, 86 of which are filled by game songs. A player who has many older mods, like Kelsey and Saerileth, already has all of those slots filled. You might be better off using a combination of PlaySong(0) PlaySound("mysong") where mysong is your audio clip. Just saying.

[Endless Twilight]

The music thing is something I'm still only thinking about doing in the first place - if I do go with it, adding music will probably be one of the last things I do.

 

BTW, do you think it would be possible to "corrupt" Naomi? Not to make her a stereotypical Xvimlar, but to make her more selfish and less focused on society/law.

 

No. Making her more selfish and less concerned with society would be a major shift in her beliefs and personality - Naomi has a keen awareness of the fact that the world is very, very big, and she is very, very small. She deems the view of the selfish, unconcerned with society and law, to be ignorance. Even at her most evil moments, which I'm not sure if Charname will learn about, she has crushed people for their own good or that of society.

 

Also, just a thought: While I agree that it's good to flesh out your NPC's personality through banters, IMHO it would be better to do so one banter at a time. The Haer'Dalis banter sort of gave me the impression that Naomi was telling Haer *everything* about her views. Perhaps Naomi could discuss with LN/LG Anomen the importance of law and control and their benefits to society, or the importance of a strong and cohesive government with Nalia. Or, for that matter, "survival of the fittest" with Cernd or Jaheira. For that matter, you could even include some material in Naomi's biography, Basically, have the banters/talks build on one another to present a clear picture of Naomi's personality.

 

That banter with Haer'Dalis was a strange one, and should not be considered typical of Naomi. In that banter, Haer'Dalis and Naomi were laying all their cards flat on the table with each other, establishing the broad strokes of why they oppose each other.

 

With Nalia, Naomi badly irks Nalia by telling her that she [Naomi] agrees with the Ronealls and thinks they have a very good point about Nalia's betrothal to Isea. They're also bitterly hostile over Naomi seeing no problem with slavery, and indeed lauding the institution. With Minsc, one banter brings up Naomi's belief that the strong should rule. With Cernd, hostility stems from Naomi telling Cernd that she doesn't give a hoot about nature and favors the rise and expansion of civilization. With Anomen, on the other hand, they mostly talk about Anomen's issues - sure, Naomi mentions a bit about her family, but they mostly talk about Anomen. Keldorn and Mazzy will be similar, and maybe Imoen. Naomi has different interactions with different people.

 

To put it plainly, Charname won't get a complete picture of Naomi - the evil deeds she's done in her past, for one. She's uncomfortable talking about those actions, and in fact Naomi's romance with Aerie will most likely end SoA in tatters because Naomi isn't the best speaker in the world when coming clean to Aerie about things Naomi has done, though they'll make up by ToB. Naomi would have shared that information with Charname at the turning point in her romance, had I gone through with a Naomi/Charname romance, but as it is, she won't tell Charname about some unabashedly evil things she's done in the name of Iyachtu Xvim. Same for other personal details - Aerie might learn about them offscreen, but not Charname.

[Endless Twilight]

Finally got word that my computer is being shipped back, so maybe I'll be able to do more than talk about Naomi in a few days. >_>