make NPCs dropped at Spellhold rejoinable?

[Lemernis]

Apologies if this has been suggested a thousand times and is uncodeable:

 

It would be nice if you could drop any NPC at Spellhold and have them show up later at their 'okay, you'll find me at...' haunt on the mainland. Perhaps the game is hardcoded to make this impossible. But if it is doable, it'd be a nifty tweak.

[Zyraen]

A fresh and nice idea

[berelinde]

I second that sentiment. I always take Yoshimo to Spellhold, because I feel I don't have a choice. I am not about to take any NPC I will be forced to abandon there.

 

If I am running a thief besides Yoshimo, I always leave him in Athkatla and go to Spellhold one slot short.

[WizWom]

I second that sentiment. I always take Yoshimo to Spellhold, because I feel I don't have a choice. I am not about to take any NPC I will be forced to abandon there.

 

If I am running a thief besides Yoshimo, I always leave him in Athkatla and go to Spellhold one slot short.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The "Go back" options are set up as response triggers.actionss in the appropriate *P dialogs. moving spellhold's areas from one list to the other would not be hard. Or even, really, making it so anywhere in the game they can go back home, which would be easiest - that would just be removing the triggers from the appropriate dialog response.

[berelinde]

I don't understand a word you said. And I'm glad I don't have to.

 

Sorry.

[Bookwyrme]

I don't understand the technical part myself (I'm glad there are people who do!), but I think that the overall answer is, "Yes, it is possible to make NPC's left at Spellhold rejoinable."

 

I like the idea, too. I usually take Yoshimo, too, for the convenience of having a thief who is, for the lack of a better word, disposable once I pick up Imoen. This time, however, I'm playing with several mod NPC's & am hoping to pick up Deheriana. This means that once I reach Spellhold, I am going to have to drop someone. I'd rather have an in-game assurance that whoever it is will reach Athkatla again.

[jastey]

It would be nice to have a "automatic return option" for left NPCs out of one of those "inaccessible" areas. Why shouldn't it be possible for the NPC to return home, i.e. following the PC and the group on his own. Coding that would be no great problem.

[Lemernis]

Depending on how much work one felt like doing, if you really felt like going to town with it, the conversations could be modified for that particular circumstance to give a better feeling about the whole thing. Eg,

 

PC: Nalia, it looks like we're going to be a seat short on the trip back, are you comfortable catching a later ship back to the mainland?

 

Nalia: No problem, you'll find me at the Copper Coronet. I have some things I need to take care of anyway. Don't worry about me, I can take good care of myself. I'll see you back in Athkatla.

 

PC: Safe journey my friend. I'll find you later.

 

The dialogue could also give an option for the PC and NPC to say goodbyes at that point, again with the NPC stating "if you ever need me you'll find me at..."

 

Even more complicated but more 'real' feeling, would be the point that Imoen is coded to become rejoinable instead have her say "Meet me at the Vulgar Monkey and we'll figure out how to get us all home." And then Imoen would be found there, and the above conversations take place.

 

That would be the 'deluxe' version, of course. Just being able to remove the party member in Spellhold and have them found afterward at their default location would be great.

[berelinde]

The character reactions would have to be in keeping with their personalities, though. Some might be so upset about being abandoned so far from home that they would refulse to rejoin. I imagine it would not bother Minsc much. Aerie would go to pieces. The blow could be softened if you gave them a substantial mount of money.

 

"Nalia, do you think you could meet up with us back on the mainland?"

 

"Well, isn't *that* nice! How am I supposed to do that?"

 

1 "You'll think of something."

"Great. Thanks for nothing. I'll go back to the mainland, but don't bother trying to find me." Reputation & Virtue (if using) drop.

 

2 "I'm sorry, Nalia. But it has to be this way. Here, take this 5000 gold. There aren't a lot of captains going back and forth, but you should be able to book passage with one of them with that."

"For that much, I could probably charter a boat, or convince a priest to dimensional fold me back. See you in Athkatla. Copper Coronet sound good?"

 

3 "I'm sorry, Nalia. It has to be this way. Here, take this 200 gold. Maybe you could go with Claire."

"The company would be nice, but I'd still have to find my way home from Ugloth's Beard." Virtue drops.

[cmorgan]

ooohhh.. the opportunities for good, neutral, and evil paths -- this sounds pretty interesting. There are some sample codes available in the "examples" part of the actual WeiDU program, if you download it and look.

[BigRob]

Perhaps by taking certain routes (giving NPCs money, leaving it to themselves, negotiating for them, etc) the player could allow the NPCs to return to Athkatla at different times, and perhaps vary this for different NPCs to reflect their different personalities. For example, Haer'Dalis might return faster if you let him take care of his own arrangements since he's a glib fellow.

 

Some NPCs should have a harder time getting back than others though, since Brynnlaw is a pirate haven, and considering how the party escapes, there's bound to be some turmoil taking place on the island.

 

Aerie could get in trouble if she were to try and negotiate with a pirate captain, so the PC may need to do the negotiations (perhaps promising half the payment in Athkatla) to ensure a safe/quick return for her.

 

Edwin might well rub his ship's crew the wrong way and get himself chucked overboard, so perhaps he should have a chance to be heavily delayed/not arrive at all if left to his own devices (Perhaps again proper PC notification could amend this)

 

Anomen in LG or LN modes I can see getting himself in a lot of trouble in Brynnlaw without someone to keep him leashed. So maybe a good chance that he just doesn't come back, though perhaps this could be based on what level he is to see if he's got the strength to force his way out if he gets in trouble.

 

Likewise Minsc, though since he's a bit more gullible he may not notice that his transport is a pirate ship and have a better chance to come back easily.

 

Keldorn's not lkely to get himself into trouble, but as a paladin, I can see him having trouble finding someone to transport him that it would be acceptable for him to deal with, so perhaps in his case, the trip back would take longer than normal.

[Lemernis]

Actually, having NPCs leave at any point during the Brynlaw/Spellhold, Sahuagin city, Underdark jaunt opens the door for some mini-quests for each character. Eg, perhaps once back on the mainland a messenger approaches you with a ransom note from pirates. There should be areas in the game recyclable for a pirate cove. Just one example.

 

I mean that's a lot of work, obviously, but it does pretty radically alter the game.

 

It also opens the door for making new custom NPCs available in Brynlaw/Spellhold, the Sahuagin city, and the Underdark.

[berelinde]

Isn't it funny how a simple idea can expand so fast? In 10 posts, we've gone from an area move to a big mod.

 

That's incredible.

 

But it would be fun.

 

I don't know about the rest of you, but I usually blow through the interval between leaving the Underdark and entering Sudanessellar (probably spelled wrong--didn't feel like looking it up). There's this sense of urgency, that it's time to wrap things up. About the only side trips I'll make are the inevitable temple trip to de-vamp my lover and maybe a couple in Thethyr.

 

Speaking about de-vamping your lover, have you ever wondered how you'd lug that corpse around? Sure, a character with a decent strength could do it. But they wouldn't fit in you're backpack, they'd stink, they'd draw a lot of attention, and combat would be practically impossible. I can just imagine Minsc trying to fight with 200 pounds of Anomen on his back (assuming 6'2" height--enough to shade pc--and sufficient bulk to account for an 18/52 strength).

 

Never mind. I'm getting silly.

[Lemernis]

The two times I've completed SoA so far, the romances ended before I got to the point of having to schlep a corpse around. The romances in question being Jaheira and Aeire, respectively. Evidently both are rather finnicky, because the PCs gave the sensitive, supportive, caring, responses throughout.

 

(Imoen didn't die in those games, and after Bodhi is defeated she thanks the PC for restoring her soul. But I wasn't even aware that Bodhi took it from her in the first place. It's never been entirely clear to me what Bodhi did to her.)

 

Any rate, would it make sense to have a temple preserve the NPC's remains until the party is ready pursue completion of that quest?

 

As to our brainstorming on what avenues NPC rejoinability opens up, I'd just make the rejoinability thing from NPCs dropped at Spellhold a tweak for the time being. I'm getting the impression that it's not hard to do, and it immediately makes for greater choice in party composition. It makes BG2 feel less linear, which I think is an improvement (BG2's greater linearity being one of the ways it suffers in comparison to BG1 imvho).

 

But at some point down the road, the replayability of BG2 could be expanded in a big way through such a feature. Mods give us the feeling of having a new game to play, and this is certainly one major way to do that.

[BigRob]

Getting them to move to their normal meeting places would be quite an easy thing to do, as far as I'm aware, so a basic tweak shouldn't take long to build.

 

 

Any rate, would it make sense to have a temple preserve the NPC's remains until the party is ready pursue completion of that quest?

I've always been under the impression that that particular body is a vampire that's been bludgeoned into immobility. As such, it shouldn't be rotting, just waiting for some blood to wake it up, but that's just me.