bg2: moving NPCs for earlier access

[phordicus]

something that still irritates me after 10+ years of playing is that my initial parties tend to look the same for too long primarily because some NPCs are a PITA to acquire early or easily. for myself i can CLUA etc and work around these issues and force myself to ignore any plot incongruities, but IF i were to make a mod to address this "issue", i'd like some feedback on how this is brought about.

 

comment freely. none of this is carved.

 

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mazzy: meet her with her party in Ath. she can join you only on the promise to investigate the temple. her party goes on ahead. timer to go involved.

 

valygar: in his house in the docks. maybe some basic investigations to get him to show: convincing his servant, talking to that CW in government building, etc.

 

cernd: no reason he couldn't join right off the bat and a messenger tells him to go investigate or just hears about it with the party and deems it important. if PC waits too long, he can leave and be jailed as usual.

 

edwin: gotta tell ya, when i used to often play as a thief and wanted that stronghold asap, the Rayic fight was one of the toughest in the game -- and that was before any AI improvements. having to go through that questline at all just to get edwin never seemed kosher either. i have no idea how to recruit him earlier without massively rewriting that quest and probably screwing up other mods like RR.

 

keldorn: i never understood how/why K was fighting a zombie within mere yards of a rakshasa and a burly group of antagonistic adventurers. i'd simply move him to the sewer's entrance and have him fighting that first kobold/slime spawn.

[Rana]

something that still irritates me after 10+ years of playing is that my initial parties tend to look the same for too long primarily because some NPCs are a PITA to acquire early or easily. for myself i can CLUA etc and work around these issues and force myself to ignore any plot incongruities, but IF i were to make a mod to address this "issue", i'd like some feedback on how this is brought about.

 

comment freely. none of this is carved.

 

================

 

mazzy: meet her with her party in Ath. she can join you only on the promise to investigate the temple. her party goes on ahead. timer to go involved.

 

valygar: in his house in the docks. maybe some basic investigations to get him to show: convincing his servant, talking to that CW in government building, etc.

 

cernd: no reason he couldn't join right off the bat and a messenger tells him to go investigate or just hears about it with the party and deems it important. if PC waits too long, he can leave and be jailed as usual.

 

edwin: gotta tell ya, when i used to often play as a thief and wanted that stronghold asap, the Rayic fight was one of the toughest in the game -- and that was before any AI improvements. having to go through that questline at all just to get edwin never seemed kosher either. i have no idea how to recruit him earlier without massively rewriting that quest and probably screwing up other mods like RR.

 

keldorn: i never understood how/why K was fighting a zombie within mere yards of a rakshasa and a burly group of antagonistic adventurers. i'd simply move him to the sewer's entrance and have him fighting that first kobold/slime spawn.

 

All of those sound like good ideas, though there is one thing I'd like to add as an addendum; NPCs that want to skirt off to completely inconvenient locations as their kickout. Mazzy, I love you, but I hate having to travel to Trademeet every time I want to remove you from the party but also don't want to leave you in an inconvenient location. Same goes for Cernd and the Druid Grove.

 

I don't know if that's something you'd want to cover but increased kickout options for NPCs would be nice. The Coper Coronet seems like a nice, central meeting location, though perhaps you could also include Strongholds if the player has attained them.

 

As far as Edwin goes... not sure about that one. You'd have to do some pretty major rewrites.