BG: Canon NPCs vs. Mod NPCs

[Nyaore]

I can't speak towards my preferences in the first game, as my computer absolutely refuses to even consider installing the poor thing. However my favorite characters for SoA and ToB are as follows.

 

Non-Modded: Mazzy, Jan, Imoen, Edwin (though I rarely take him with me without the associated mod installed), Valygar, Minsc, and Jaheria.

Modded: Xan, Kivan, Tsujatha, Neh'taniel (I like a lot of others, but I refuse to mention them here until I've actually finished a playthrough with them. I like pretty much all the mods available though, with a handful of exceptions)

[Saber83]

Mostly I'm pretty picky about modded NPCs. They have to be female, romanceable (by male or female) and have content complete up to the end of TOB. My favourite Bioware NPCs are: Jaheira, Mazzy, Minsc and Imoen. If I'm playing an evil party then add Edwin to that list. I've finished a game with Viconia and Aerie as well, but they aren't as appealing to me for various reasons, (Viconia because she can sometimes be such a heartless shrew and Aerie because before you reach TOB there's so much whining to get through).

 

My favourite mod NPCs so far - and who I'm playing with at the moment - are:

Sarah: As far as I know, the only lesbian NPC. Sweet and very cute.

Tyris Flare: Entertaining amazon based on the character from the old Golden Axe games.

Dace: Interesting character so far. Still a long way to go to finish a playthrough, but so far very entertaining.

[Domi]

Wow, thread resurrection. Well, scratch everything I wrote before in 2010 and, well, put Bao-Dur in. Here, I am just pandering to the intrepid KOTOR2 modders I have never met virtually and Obsidian I kicked so many times in the past

[Twani]

Wee, responding to a necroed thread! How fun!

 

In general, I like seeing different writers work. This isn't just a BG thing for me- I like reading books or fanfiction by different authors, so on so forth. So BG mods are fascinating to me. (I'm really trying hard at making one, but I've completely run out of inspiration for the love talks. What do you want to talk about in BG1? HAI SO GORION DIED. HAI SO ASSASINS ARE TRYING TO KILL ME. HAI SO I'M A CHILD OF BHAAL. HAI SO SAREVOK IS MY BROTHER. The end! I'm just... out of inspiration.) There are so many mods, and yes, some do relate the same things. I can't count the amount of 'So Imoen was kidnapped by Irenicus Oh no We Must Rescue Her!!!' conversations I've played through.

 

But I can't count the amount of times I've ended up with interesting, personal, dedicated to the character talks either.

 

In general, I prefer Mod NPC's to Bioware NPC's. Mod NPC's have flirts! Those are fun. And, often, they have more talks overall. That's not to say I don't like Bioware NPC's... Haer'Dalis, Valgyar, Mazzy, and Jaheira (though I like her best unromanced) still hold strong places in my heart, as does dear brother and probably some I'm forgetting. But modded NPC's have so much more freedom in how they develop and why that I find it fascinating. With a mod, you can go any direction... it doesn't need to be ignore/romance all the time, like Bioware NPC's are. There are so many options!

 

I just wish more MOD NPC's interacted with each other. Use more crossmod! Crossmod is awesome! I hate having characters in my party that don't talk to each other.

[Domi]

What do you want to talk about in BG1? HAI SO GORION DIED. HAI SO ASSASINS ARE TRYING TO KILL ME. HAI SO I'M A CHILD OF BHAAL. HAI SO SAREVOK IS MY BROTHER. The end! I'm just... out of inspiration.) There are so many mods, and yes, some do relate the same things.

I don't know if it helps, but when I start a romance, I usually lay out a network of 20 sequential talks topics, trying to hit the NPC background, PC's background and entertaining/learning talks with the 4 standard romantic talks tied to the flirt changes, i.e. NPC confesses, kisses, sleeps and night-after'ing. Then I add about 5-10 talks that are event related (what JC used to call 'sleeper' talks). In BG1, the PC is actually relatively easy to talk to, since everything is new to him/her. Adventure, inns, monsters, death, tragedy/pain, the Realms. I normally try to avoid 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 talk when the NPC dumps more than one piece of information on the PC. One of the worst examples of the 3-in-1 is Atton's KOTOR2 wall of dialogue talk: I am far darker than you think/there was that other girl/I now stand ready for redemption