Isewein

16 hours ago, Caedwyr said:

How compatible is the Imoen Romance with Imoen Friendship technically and conceptually/stylistically?

 

Edit: Further research indicates that the Imoen Romance makes her more moody to reflect her experiences in BG2, while the Imoen Friendship is generally more upbeat and playful, reminiscent of BG1 Imoen.

That's a decent enough summary. They are technically compatible, and in my experience there were no jarring conceptual clashes playing with both, either - in fact, their talks complemented each other quite nicely, brushing different subjects, and the difference in mood, while present, never seemed enough to render her bipolar (at least as far I can recall). Then again, I could never quite have enough of Imoen.  

I strongly disagree that the Imoen "Romance" (a misnomer really, in its current state) makes any extreme changes to her character. It certainly used to, but I have a feeling that this is one of those mod rumours that stick around, but are based on an older version of the mod. The current one is perfectly enjoyable without engaging in the whole notion of sexual attraction (which admittedly only works for very few characters, although it somewhat fits the themes of the game), offering a touching friendship/sisterhood path, character quests and, most importantly, fixing the plothole of Imoen not being treated as a proper Bhaalspawn in ToB.

1. No conflict between any of them.

2. Technically they are all compatible. Valygar Romance in RE was originally part of the Bonded Xan Romance. I can recommend Kulyok's writing, but it seems Corthala Romantique is more extensive. So choose either and keep the IEP Friendship anyway.

3. Yes

Quest Mods

I forgot to recommend Tower of Deception. It is very unobtrusive, a nice side quest that is hardly distinguishable from the base game. Keep it for later though, the battles can be tough.

Fishing for Trouble has no unforgivable flaws and I would install it myself, but it includes a lot of backtracking in giant areas filled with NPCs who have nothing to say - I wouldn't exactly call it seamless integration.

NPC Mods

Angelo - there was not all that much to his portrayal in BG1, so I wouldn't compare it to Solaufein, but it does pretty much turn him Japanese.

Evandra - only sparse on banter because it's a newcomer, great writing, best enjoyed with an Elven Charname

Murneth - not a joke NPC, but he has aged a bit and there are many other contenders for the BG1 party now (back then it was only Finch, Indira and him, really); fits right in with Xzar & Monty

Sarevok Romance - very well written, personal favourite, compatible with Friendship, worth it even if by no means Charname wishes to engage in a romance

As far as I understand, Aura BG2 is simply not yet completed, rather than it being an EET comptibility issue.

Some other unobtrusive, down-to-earth NPC mods you can't go wrong with installing: Afaaq, Isra, Adrian, Valerie, Xulaye, all IEP Friendship & Banter mods, de'Arnise Romance, Korgan's Redemption, Sarevok Romance, Imoen Romance (sic!)

Quest mods are more of a hit and miss, but Lava's (CoI Series, Athkatla expansions, White Queen...) and Kulyok's (Reunion, Sellswords, Return to Brynnlaw, Dungeon Crawl...) integrate well and/or have to be actively sought out, which I consider the standard for a good BGII mod considering the plethora of side quests already flying in your face in Athkatla. Fading Promises is also a nice story. Of the big quest mods, the nerfed versions of DSotSC/NTotSC may be worth checking out.

If you are playing with Ascension, I highly recommend Wheels of Prophecy as well. The latest versions have been made much more stable, and it really helps flesh out ToB.

Some gems like Aurora's, 1pp, etc. have still not been adapted to EE, but those aside the mod selection and maintenance for EET is better than that for BGT, generally speaking. SoD is a highly underrated (paid-for) quest mod. I'd say give it a try.

PS: The book club playthrough is such a brilliant idea. Almost makes me wish Corona was here to stay so I could convince some friends to do this...

Seems like a case of coders on two different levels coming up with solutions to the same separately encountered issue then. Good find!

Oh no, I've been promising to do this for the Solaufein mod for ages. I'm so sorry. Thank quarantine I should be able to get to it this week.

On 2/7/2020 at 8:20 PM, Lauriel said:

I use it.  Anything to improve ToB is worth it.  But seems stable enough to me.  I've not had any issues.  Still wish I could see Balthazar before going after the other 2.  He's ruining the town and that is something the PC can see that's wrong so why would he/she not want to do something about it.  But if you do, he goes hostile.

You can, in WoP, and if you hae high enough stats (Charisma?) you can talk him down from becoming hostile even before taking on the other two.

Oh dear, but that's precisely the point. Since they were made "using sticks and stones", it is only natural that porting them to the modern instances of the engine we would also make use of modern capabilities to adjust balance and integration issues, no? Otherwise, if from the technical limitations that once shaped these mods you derive some Platonic essence of what they are supposed to be, you certainly would not want to have them ported to EET (or WeiDU, for that matter) in the first place, would you?

Your slippery slope analogy simply does not apply, because the yardstick by which balance and integration are measured is not subjective player experience but the original game itself. Nobody is going to change the Tanar'Ri into Tasloi, or at least nobody who would not apply the same treatment to Aec'Letec. But then again, they could just play story mode, so I really don't see whence you derive this fear of a plot to gradually dumb down BG mods. It seems to me you are mistakenly projecting professional industry trends on the modding community.

I hadn't really been following this, but it's a real shame that we will likely never see a continuation of the intricate worldbuilding and narrative build-up which was fostered over so many Dragon Age titles, especially after the wonderful swansong that was Trespasser. It seems that the naysayers were completely right after all, as the pattern pointed out by K4thos should have made apparent to everyone from the start, I suppose. I can't say I enjoyed the mechanics in DA2 or Inquisition at all, but as interactive films they worked so, so well, and I'm confident that was 99% due to the Whedonesque characters of writers like Gaider. I don't really see any developer taking up the character driven, escapist semi-RPG that has worked so well for Bioware any time soon. And even if they did, it gets tedious getting into new worlds again and again. Thedas had to overcome that same suspicion initially, but proved itself by just being a really solid and interesting setting to explore. I pray they don't turn it into another cash cow MMO, but I have some premonition that is precisely what they are going to do.

Hm, the only nice thing about this is that the "shitforbrains" insult just parses as tail-for-brains for me.  Really, can't we keep our insults D&D style, at least?

I for one would never think of installing DSotSC or NTotSC without these balance improvements (and from what I recall from my last playthrough, there are still some encounters / items I would like to see nerfed further). This is not because I do not enjoy tactical challenges (we have the vastly superior SCS for that nowadays), but because gameplay and story integration into the original game are completely messed up otherwise. In my opinion, these pre-WeiDU mods actually trivialise the game when a random orc horde provides for more of a challenge than Sarevok and his goons, and moreover the uber loot of that orc horde would make Firkraag envious. That is why not only encounters, but also items are nerfed. I appreciate the concern for author's intent, but at some point you have to take into consideration that a) modding was, well, non-modular back in the day so you had to combine quest and tactics mods, while today we can easily chose to focus on either and b) strictly speaking, the author's intent was neither for the mod to be ported to BGT, EE, etc., and there is nothing stopping people from installing Classic BG1 and original DSotSC if that's what they prefer. As Jastey pointed out, you could also just raise difficulty to insane (but please leave nerfs enabled on D&D rules!).

So please, Jastey, keep to your current design philosophy which creates a more smooth experience between all the elements of a megamod, and thank you for all the hard work put into NTotSC!

This is working as intended. I personally think it a wonderful end to his arc narratively, and also quite convenient practically considering the number of ToB-only NPCs one might want to free up a spot for. Imagine, he has the real chance to finally be safely reunited with his one true love, after concluding every and all outstanding business he had on earth (his own revenge and aiding Charname's) - why would he not choose to do so?

SPOILER: The way to keep him for ToB is either by romantic attachment or by resurrecting Deheriana. Either require some specific decisions, but honestly I think you are fine - just accept as a nice surprise for your game. If you REALLY wanted to you could probably tinker with some variables to enable him and Deheriana in ToB.

All hail the Internet Archive !

Ah, I knew I played a nicely done Bladesinger back in the day! Thank you for the resurrection! Any chance we could see a resurrection of the resurrection, i.e. does anyone still have this mod in pristine form?

Do my eyes deceive me? This reads too good to be true. It seems virtually everything I was hoping for in a BG1-after-Sarevok mod is included, plus some continuity enhancements - those are always welcome! It sounds terribly complicated to code,  and I cannot begin to imagine how much work you put into this. What a wonderful present for the new year, new BG!

Is this patch gone for good / do you have any plans of incorporating it into the mod, Kish? I love NPC Strongholds!

Ah, just found out this one has not been updated for EE yet. Do you think it is, as K4thos mentions above, still safe to install on EE ? I would rather not miss the alignment corrections, and the new Rhynn Lanthorn component sounds great! I remember this being talked about in ancient history during the inception of UB.

A Barkspawn for Baldur's Gate!  Between him, Afaaq, Solaufein and a familiar the old GemRB dream of ten party members has finally been fulfilled.

Sure, you can set global variables to make or break a romance. Just check in the scripts for the romance in question and then use the in game console or a save game editor. 

I think the racial requirement for Elves is one of the few romance restrictions that make sense in the context of the game. The whole lifespan issue is such a profound difference between Elves and Men that it almost requires a separate romance track by default, more so than gender or alignment actually. Aerie gets away with it by being very naive and Viconia, well, doesn't exactly have great life expectancy herself.

I just came upon this and thought it would make for a great basis for a readjustment of the world map to better fit Faerun geography.

It is true though. The Jastey stamp on a mod pretty much guarantees a smoothly integrated, well-written and bug-free experience. We cannot possibly thank you enough for that.

I see I see - I really hate to be nagging, but is there any chance you could give me an ETA for IA ? If it's any time soon I would just hold off on my EET playthrough - those take a good year for me, on average...

Has this translation been integrated by any chance ? I've played with Breagar before and didn't mind the hodgepodge of languages (German does make for a good stand-in for Dwarven, after all ), but if there is a finalised translation I'd love to give it a try.