GameBanshee Forums

So, I played Ninde. And I fully intended to post this on SHS, but the amount of praise the mod got there and all the lavish compliments for the "unique writing style" got me to reconsider. After all, I may be on my own with this.

But I can't help feeling immensely disappointed by the mod, which offered so much and then completely failed to deliver. As an addition to the party, she's not that bad, but as a character, Ninde "I'm So Special" Ambercrown definitely failed to impress.

The mod consists of long, winding stories punctuated with "go on" and similar dialogue options. The readme states that Ninde "enjoys a man who can stand up for himself", yet the options are usually on the lines of "yes, you're right Ninde" worded differently, with the last option clearly intended to make her leave the party. Not what I'd call breathtaking conversation.
Furthermore, the author has no grasp whatsoever of the fundamental law of writing fiction, which is "show, don't tell". The mod goes out of its way to tell us how dark and evil Ninde is, at heart, and yet all this "darkness" amounts to her simply being rude, in the best traditions of evil bioware npcs. Insulting Adalon is not evil, it's stupid, and to make things worse it is done in a crass, juvenile fashion. Just like the dialogue with Bodhi, which could have been so good, and which is resolved with childish name-calling instead. The author also repeatedly calls Ninde's remarks "sarcasm", whilst writing nothing sarcastic whatsoever, just more name-calling. Whoever expected a dark paramour to accompany them on their journey through rivers of blood will... well, will get a spoiled cheerleader instead.

This is especially jarring if we add the amount of shilling this character gets, with special - horrified! - remarks from the Elven Sages, her being put on the same shelf with Irenicus, Haer'Dalis of all characters falling head over heels for her and even abandoning his usual practice of bird names. She's not as bad as Tsujatha in this respect, but close, which is not a good thing at all.

Phew. I feel better for ranting this out And maybe someone will take warning

There is a decent banter when you get her drunk.

Aside from that : Meh.

(look at me, writing short posts for once!)

And what prolific posts they are!

But seriously, there are a couple of really good mods that this one should definitely learn from. Want "darkness"? Valen could teach you how it's done. A romantic relationship with an evil-aligned npc? Enter Sarevok Romance. And for PCs standing up for themselves, just ask Edwin how to do that.

I don't know, I've played a lot of mods that weren't all that great, but this one is really disappointing because I feel it could have been good. As it is, the very first dialogue, "Hi, I know I'm hanging out with vampires that you're here to kill, but hey, let me join 'cos I'm so awesome" sets the tone for the rest of the game. It's as if the author based the mod on a meta-gaming reasoning that since people download mods to play them, they will play on regardless.