Sandrah Saga

[Endarire]

Intro
Greetings, all!

I've wavered on whether we should install the Sandrah Saga on our group's next EET run.  I know it adds a lot of content, but I've also heard it turns Sandrah into a required party member and notably increases the difficulty to compensate for her assumed presence.

Questions & Forenotes
These questions are primarily meant to be answered by those who have played this mod.

I know this isn't the first thread to discuss Sandrah, but I'd like this community's input, especially since Roxanne has updated Sandrah on GitHub much as of late!  Let's keep the discussion here civil!

-In a minimal spoiler fashion, what content does Sandrah add?  I heard it adds Waterdeep, Black Pits, and other things (including interactions with Bioware & fan NPCs).  Does it add Undermountain and Skullport?

-What incompatibilities should we expect with other mods?

-What technical problems should we expect?

-I've heard items were horribly overpowered.  How true is this?

-How common are spelling and grammar errors in the English version?

-What did you especially not like about the mod?

-What did you especially like about the mod?

-What other Sandrah-related comments do you have at present?

Thankee!

[The Artisan]

3 hours ago, Endarire said:

-What incompatibilities should we expect with other mods?

None of the crossmod was written with original's modder's input so, uh, stylistically... all of them?

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What technical problems should we expect?

The mod is completely linear. As in, if you don't do things exactly the way as intended, things break left and right.

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I've heard items were horribly overpowered.  How true is this?

Let me put it this way. The author deliberately hides stats to obfuscate how badly balanced many of the early items are.

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How common are spelling and grammar errors in the English version?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA-

Ahem.  I challenge you to find one sentence without an error in:

1) grammar

2) punctuation

3) spelling

4) all of the above.

Have fun.

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What did you especially not like about the mod?

Let's see... the titular character has the personality of cardboard, every original NPC is OOC, the good content is largely stolen from other mods... I could make a list, but it'll probably take me several pages to do so.

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What did you especially like about the mod?

ERROR 404 NOT FOUND

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What other Sandrah-related comments do you have at present?

Save yourself the trouble.

[subtledoctor]

11 hours ago, Endarire said:

I know it adds a lot of content

I keep seeing people say this - usually people who never played the mod, or secret alter-ego posts by Roxanne herself - but is it really true? Like, from what I can tell the mod doesn’t add any new areas; it just adds NPCs, dialogues, and quests relating to Sandrah to areas added by other mods. That’s why it lists all manner of other content-adding mods as required for installing Sandrah: all those other mods are needed to do the work of adding areas and content for Sandrah to use. 

I don’t think there’s necessarily anything wrong with that; but I also don’t think we should give Roxanne all the credit for “adds a lot of content” if 90% of it was actually added by others. (Like, very small example, I see people talk about enjoying having Haiass in their party and thanking Roxanne for it, and I’m like wtf, Haiass was made by someone else?)

Separate point: I think I heard that you are trying to set up a modded install to play with your family. My understanding is that the Sandrah mod adds a bunch of non-skippable sexually explicit content. It’s probably not something I would instal for a family game in my house...

Edited July 26, 2020 by subtledoctor

[Endarire]

@subtledoctor
Thanks for the sexual content warning!  Back to skipping Sandrah we go!

I was curious about Sandrah because it seemingly added Waterdeep and access to the Black Pits in the main EET campaign, but I wasn't sure if that was due to Sandrah or another mod.  If it's from another mod, which mod is it?

Thankee!

[southfla79]

It's the Sandrah mod.

[Cahir]

But how is Waterdeep done? Roxanne created new areas from scratch or reused existing ones? I'm curious. 

[The Artisan]

55 minutes ago, Cahir said:

But how is Waterdeep done? Roxanne created new areas from scratch or reused existing ones? I'm curious. 

*sigh* Yes, there are new areas. But they're far from impressive and awe-inspiring. Mostly it's sections of existing maps from various IE games, parts of various maps spliced together cheaply, recolors, and areas with overlaid stock images photoshopped on top that don't even try to look convincing. The custom areas that do look unique, I recognize from elsewhere (what a surprise!)

Just take a look at this abomination. This is supposed to be Waterdeep, by the way.

Now, I don't mean to directly take a jab at the quality (trust me, there's plenty of actual things I could be genuinely nasty about) but this is what the 'tremendous amount of effort' defense that is used amounts to. The whole 'new regions' aspect is overhyped to all hell. New areas aren't exciting when they're just worse-looking carbon copies.

If you want to see actual talent in area making, go see @Lava Del'Vortel instead. He puts us all to shame.

Edit: Oh and can't forget this absolute gem found by an unfortunate player with more patience than I:

Spoiler

 

A 'wonderful picture' indeed. Usage of parentheses in this manner is my trigger. But in this case, it's probably necessary because no one in their sane mind would ever assume that 'painting' is supposed to be there and not some sort of glitch. Lmfao.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2020 by Artemius I

[Cahir]

Oh, I know Lava's work very well Also there is another Polish guy, Selendis, who can make exquisite maps. There is a new Polish mod (unfortunately only in Polish at the moment): Nowe Opowieści z Wybrzeża Mieczy. You can download it from here if you want, if only to check the maps: Download Link. The maps Selendis made was Initially part of another Project (called Project X) that was ultimately not finished. Author of NozWM (or New Tales of the Sword Coast, which probably would be translated like that) intregrated Project X to his mod with the blessings of its original authors. I have (a distant) plan to translate NozWM to English, because the mod is really awesome and deserves to be played by English-base players. But there is a ton of text (there are 10 new NPCs each with Quest of their own), so... it's a distant notion. 

The point is I know how hard is to make a completely new map, that's why I was asking about Sandrah Saga. And also that's why I wouldn't be too harsh alon Roxanne in this particular aspect. 

[Guest Ront]

Polish community really loves bg. Please Cahir, give it a thought about translating that mod. Or sovereign  

[Cahir]

It's definitely more time consuming and difficult to translate from Polish to English than the other way around. And I would definitely need proofreading help of English native speaking  kind soul. 

Still, Siege of Dragonspear translation is a priority to me right now. The team is making a really good progress. 

But it's on my radar, that's for sure (not Sovereign, though, I'm afraid). 

[Chronis]

Anyone know if Sandrah Saga minus Sandrah adds anything to game?

I figured out quickly that the character is not my cup of tea.

What happens if you just kick the Sandrah out of the party? 

[southfla79]

The NPC is needed for pretty much everything in the mod. 

[Chronis]

Ok thanks that’s a shame.

The opening was compelling enough. Make the NPC’s origin more subtle, substantially nerf the items and especially the NPC, remove the limits on player agency and get rid of all all of the “romantic encounters” or at least make them optional on install and it would be very interesting.

It’s technically a very impressive mod but in my opinion in dire need of a dialogue rewrite. 

I think I will do a reinstall of my BGT mega mod run and leave this NPC out until it is fixed.

[Endarire]

We were planning to include the Sandrah Saga in an EET game, but then we discovered:

-Roxanne's EET Setup Tool is effectively needed for this to work, and months of meddling with installs via this tool didn't work properly.

-The game's difficulty assumes she's always in the party.

-The mod's quality is meh to poor overall.

-It makes Sandrah the main character.  (It's called the SANDRAH Saga for good reason!)

PS: Chronis, I like your staff!  It looks like a medical staff.

[Thacobell]

There's a great screenshot lp of it over on the lp archive. Its more insane than you expect.