Are you satisfied of npc from black isle?

Aegnor · Post by **Aegnor** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 7:16 am

I totally misunderstood. Now I'm relieved I'm not missing anything not having the CE.

Rail · Post by **Rail** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 7:24 am

Sure, Astafas, they're NPC's just like Neeber or Roger the Fence. However, but advertising that the Collector's Edition came with two additional NPCs not available in the regular game, early buyers jumped to the conclusion that they were NPC's like Minsc or Viconia. Unfortunate. I think a lot of people were disappointed.

Gruntboy · Post by **Gruntboy** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 9:00 am

That's marketing and advertising for you. Filthy swines.

DVD's - special features, "animated menus". Well duh.

bootlegcorndogs · Post by **bootlegcorndogs** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 12:43 pm

Originally posted by Gruntboy:
That's marketing and advertising for you. Filthy swines.

DVD's - special features, "animated menus". Well duh.

Know what I hate? When a crappy movie leaves the theaters, immediately the home video version comes out with "additional footage!" Usually about half a minute of stuff that they could have easily shown while the movie was in the theaters, but held off on to sell an extra couple of tapes to the ignorant.

Back to the topic at hand, I would have liked to see a little more variety in the types of characters. Too many humanoids. Wouldn't it have been cool to have a more Planescape or Breath of Fire-ish collection of NPCs? (Well, okay, in BoF they were all humanoids, but you get the idea.) For instance, what about a beholder party member? Maybe the one you meet in the underdark that was guarding the treasure chest...I LIKED that guy! I'm hoping he shows up again in the expansion or something. Or maybe just some more variance in the races of your party members. Maybe a gnoll or a sahaguin (probably just mangled the spelling something awful) or something similar...granted, some of these would have to be weaker than their racial norm for balance reasons, and some stronger, but that wouldn't be TOO farfetched. After all, the vast majority of the humans you meet in the game aren't as tough as Minsc. Extremes will show up in any race. Regardless, you get the idea...the fact that your party is generally made up of nothing but elves and humans (and possibly one token dwarf, if your party can hold an evil, or possibly one token tiefling if you have a high tolerance for irritation) can be a little dull.

-BC

Drakron Du´Dark · Post by **Drakron Du´Dark** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 12:55 pm

And next you would what a dragon, a god, elminster, etc....

This is faeûrm not the planes, and those races (gnoll and the like )are nothing to shout about BTW even if they made they stronger.

I would rather have 16 well devoloped characters with a mind of their on, that 24 what are basicly cannon foder.

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"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not became a monster... when you gaze long into the abyss the abyss gazes into you..."
Friedrich Nietzsche

Saumerez · Post by **Saumerez** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 1:09 pm

I can't really say that I am dissatisfied with the available NPCs. On the other hand, I would have liked to see some NPCs from other classes/kits. Specfically, Monk and Sorcerer.

But that is just a matter of my personal tastes and curiosities.

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 1:28 pm

Well, I think we can have both NPCs with and without their own mind and own quests, can't we? I mean, it is not so difficult to add some NPCs just as NPCs, no additional quest or special interactive with others. Such as a fighter who wants to try his skills in wilderness, a thief who loves gold and jewels (Regis the halfling

), a mage who craves knowledge of magical power...

[This message has been edited by Minerva (edited 01-30-2001).]

arattanir · Post by **arattanir** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 2:32 pm

Unlike all of you, I liked the way they made all the characters more.... real. I played Icewind Dale with my super, hand-made, party and after a while it got kind of boring (No wonder the fights are tougher in IWD).

I like having to deal with the imperfections set by Black Isle, because it makes thing all the more challenging. For instance, I played with the following party and enjoyed the game: Main char (paladin), Minsc, Anomen, Nalia, Yoshimo/Imoen and Aerie. Since I did not have much strength to fight on the front, so I had to discover the advantages of having 5 spell books from my chars. After a while I discovered the advantage of having so many spellcasters. And, BTW, I never reached the exp. cap.

Now I am playing an evil party: me (Beserk/Thief), Korgan, Viconia, Valygar, Edwin, Jan Jansen/Yoshimo/Imoen (Imoen was my favorite NPC in BGI, so she is invited to the group even if she is good). The group has some more balance, but I have to look forward to do dastardly deeds in order to keep my reputation down.

The only NPC I really miss from the original BGI is Xan. I loved his depressing comments and the cool moonblade. But Nalia has been to me a trusty substitution.

bootlegcorndogs · Post by **bootlegcorndogs** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 4:11 pm

Originally posted by Drakron Du´Dark:
And next you would what a dragon, a god, elminster, etc....

This is faeûrm not the planes, and those races (gnoll and the like )are nothing to shout about BTW even if they made they stronger.

I would rather have 16 well devoloped characters with a mind of their on, that 24 what are basicly cannon foder.

What's wrong with a little variety? I'm not talking about needing more POWER here, the existing characters are powerful enough. I'd just like to see a little racial variety in the player's party. You have to admit, all elves and humans is a tad dull. Part of the reason Viconia is so popular is because she's at least a little different. I'm not suggesting putting a dragon in the party, just something different. This isn't Planescape, granted, but there are plenty of nonhuman sentient races to choose from. It's not outside the range of possiblity that the party would stumble across a bored beholder at some point. They could open up a lot of room for different NPC-related quests that way instead of the usual fare of "I need to go home, there's some trouble with my son/former girlfriend/father's estate/former wife/etc." Maybe an illithid party member might have something more unusual to do. You get the idea.

-BC

Saumerez · Post by **Saumerez** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 4:17 pm

arattanir

You make an excellent point IMO. I started Icewind Dale also and never finished it.

I like the fact that the NPCs in BG2 have some quirks and such. My only wish (and it is no big thing) is that there had been a couple more NPCs from the other classes that intrigue me (complete with quirks). My solution to this is that the next time I play through, my protagonist will be one of these classes.

Locke Da'averan · Post by **Locke Da'averan** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 5:05 pm

About Bootlegcorndogs suggestions, i have to agree with Drakron here, besides an illithid party member? They are evil to the bone, without any redemption, and besides how would you bring that party member in the town??? by throwing a hood over his/her head and hope he/she doesn't suck anyone's brains out...

Locke Da'averan · Post by **Locke Da'averan** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 5:08 pm

About Bootlegcorndogs suggestions, i have to agree with Drakron here, besides an illithid party member? They are evil to the bone, without any redemption, and besides how would you bring that party member in the town??? by throwing a hood over his/her head and hope he/she doesn't suck anyone's brains out...

Locke Da'averan · Post by **Locke Da'averan** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 5:16 pm

an illithid party member??? Illithids are almost the very being of evil, they'd kill you without thinking twice, and even if you somehow would manage to find a good illithid, how would you take him/her to towns eh? Throw a hood over his/her head and hope he/she doesn't suck anyone's brains out. Would make a nice assassin though

Drakron Du´Dark · Post by **Drakron Du´Dark** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 5:47 pm

bootlegcorndogs only some Races are alowed to be PC (player charaters) in the Ad&D, the thifling is alowed PC race (in planescape), there are a lot of humans, elves and Half-elves in here but its because those are the most common races in Faerûrn, I would not mind a good aligned Dwarf or a halfing multiclass fighter/thift in the game but puting races that never are PC is wrong, besides everthing in this game have to pass the holders of the AD&D licence (TSR) and its not very likely that alowed that, it would be bending the rules too far.

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"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not became a monster... when you gaze long into the abyss the abyss gazes into you..."
Friedrich Nietzsche

bootlegcorndogs · Post by **bootlegcorndogs** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 7:16 pm

Originally posted by Locke Da'averan:
an illithid party member??? Illithids are almost the very being of evil, they'd kill you without thinking twice, and even if you somehow would manage to find a good illithid, how would you take him/her to towns eh? Throw a hood over his/her head and hope he/she doesn't suck anyone's brains out. Would make a nice assassin though

A few things jump out at me here.

A) You're assuming the player has a Good aligned party, first of all. Illithids don't have any problem working with other evils, hence the drow alliance. Sure they'd have their own agenda, but it's not like that couldn't be said of Korgan or Edwin.

B) Speaking of drow, they're supposed to be "pure evil" too. Shh, no one tell Viconia or she might run off. It's not like racial alignment hasn't been bent a bit before in this game.

C) The Hidden from Jan's quest looked pretty human until he decided to reveal himself, didn't he? (Speaking of whom, he acted more like Neutral Evil at the very worst.) Besides which, the "wearing a hood" thing seems to work pretty well in most situations for Viconia. It's not like she'd cause much less of a stir.

Basically, you missed the point entirely. Even barring illithids, although there's no real reason to do so, there are plenty of other possible races. I still think a demihuman or inhuman party member would add a little variety to the game.

-BC

Quitch · Post by **Quitch** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 7:35 pm

"Hell, I missed Xan.
"We're all doomed.""

Well at least he made it into the Tutorial, better than nothing

Man, Quayle was in BG1? Shame I only played through BG1 to make sure I was up to speed for the follow up, sounds like I missed quite a bit. Then again, wandering around those wilderness locations a second time may have been a bit much......

how hard would it have been to check in the BG1 saved game (if you imported, as I did) to see who you had and modify the dialogue just slightly.

Very hard. I don't think you realise just how many variables there are. Same goes for another romance. Because of the way the characters interact one more romance is not just one more worry, it's an exponential increase in the difficulty of getting all the interactions right.

Of course, another male romance WOULD have been nice. One male seems a bit weak....

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Quitch
"Well since you asked, I would like to register a complaint. I want to kill a dragon. Right now. No, don't look. Go kill one now. Go find one and kill it. Right now. That would be SO cool" - Lilarcor