Recommendations?

[Isewein]

I'm about to play iWDII for the first time and of course I am going to enhance it with this wonderful mod.

Now I wonder whether I should rather play with one party of 5 Npcs straight to the end or switch them during the course of the game; as I used to do in BG. I gather there are no starting locations for those Npcs, so I would have to import them, right?

Which way will I lose less content? By playing twice with two different consistent groups I will miss out certain banter because some Npcs are never going to see each other.

Can somebody give me a push in the right direction?

 

And if I should go for the former, could you give me any recommendations regarding which of the Npcs should definitely end up together in one group?

Thanks!

[Kulyok]

You'll get more content if you play with the same party, I believe. Talks are mostly available by chapter, and some NPCs's stories progress throughout the entire game(Nord, Hildury and all five romantic interests come to mind, especially Diriel).

 

NPCs depend on your gender and romantic preference a lot. Ladies like Rizdaer and Diriel(personally, I love Diriel, especially if you play a female elf), both genders *definitely* should take Salomeya. Two companions are sort of "story-integrated": Nord and his companion, Hildury(if you take them, I do recommend that you take Diriel, too). Since Peony and Jaemal are also romance interests, they must have quite a lot of content, and Peony has a nice sunny personality. If I am not mistaken, you'll be able to choose "Nord's company" during import - a "default" party.

[Cal Jones]

Jaemal has good content and a nice romance for male or female characters. Diriel is only available to elven females. I believe the others are less fussy, race-wise. Hildury has a mini-romance with half-orc males. It's definitely worth a couple of plays just so you can experience the various characters. Some of the content is heavy going (some of the epilogues are quite harsh, and the Diriel romance will definitely make you go "whoa - did he just do that?") But it's all good fun.

[Isewein]

Thanks! I searched some of the old threads for must-have combinations. So if I should go for two playthroughs, content-rich parties could look like that? (I'm not interested in powergaming at all, so this will be no issue.)

 

1st:

Nord

Hildury

Jaemal

Salomeya

Diriel

and a female elf?

 

2nd:

Peony

Nikosh

Prachi

Valeero

Rizdaer

and ...?

 

This way I would have some choice regarding love interests both times. Missed out anything of importance?

 

(I know I'm a bit of a perfectionist... I can't help but plan such things forward.)

[Kulyok]

Sounds good. I'm not a great fan of Jaemal, but if you take Rizdaer in the first playthrough instead, it's hard to choose between him and Diriel, so it's a well-thought plan. Have fun!

[Isewein]

Great, thanks.

...which leads me to the question of my PC's class then. I assume I'll have to play an elven rogue, as bards can't handle locks and traps (dual class doesn't seem to fit any of them). Will she automatically be assigned the party's "speaker" (as she has to remain in the first slot) and ergo need social skills as well? Or is there a convenient way to let Nord/ Salomeya do the talking? The manual doesn't seem to speak about those mechanics...

[Kulyok]

Hmm. In IWD1, I could easily assign Holvir(my paladin from IWD NPC) this role, but I don't remember many, if any, cases where I needed a high charisma. Then again, I always play either a sorcerer or a fighter/rogue, and thus it's easy to find some spare points for CHR. For convenience, I'd recommend high CHR for your character just in case, because otherwise, you'll need intense micromanagement, and that can become annoying. But it's not necessary.

[Isewein]

Oh dear,

character creation isn't easy in IWD2... Thanks for your advice; I'll do as you say. Maybe I can make her a cleric of Mask later then to test this strange new dual-class system in IWD2...