GameBanshee Forums

Can the npcs converse at all? I tried talking with them, and I can just tell them to go away. Is that act dependent? I am only in act I. I mean, SoZ is like IWD party-wise?
And second, do SoZ npcs have quests? do they retort in conversations?

hauster wrote:Can the npcs converse at all? I tried talking with them, and I can just tell them to go away. Is that act dependent? I am only in act I. I mean, SoZ is like IWD party-wise?
And second, do SoZ npcs have quests? do they retort in conversations?

1. Nope.

2. Not really, there are however some interrelated quests but they don't need "activation" by the companion. Ex. Doomguide in Port Llast and his girlfriend - you don't need the Doomguide to do the "quest".


I generally pick them up once, and then immediately dismiss them from the party. That way in the second act I have access to them and can use the "level-for-gold" in-game option (in the second act) to level them up how I want (..almost exclusively for crafting purposes).

So, The party aspect for SoZ is down? That's a real shame... We're down to hack&slash? boo hoo... Any rpg reason(with an emphasis on the "role playing") I should keep them at all?

hauster wrote:So, The party aspect for SoZ is down? That's a real shame... We're down to hack&slash? boo hoo... Any rpg reason(with an emphasis on the "role playing") I should keep them at all?

Actually the party aspect isn't entirely down, rather it's been altered to a skill base set.

The thing is - you'll get the same responses regardless of character depending on those skills (and their number of points). Worse, they didn't incorporate any alignment based alterations to those responses - and that's a rather HUGE mistake for any D&D game.

So in this instance you should just make your own characters with different skill-sets - just like with Pen and Paper it rewards you to do so. Differing Class structure also rewards the player with a classic 4 party system of Thief, Fighter, Cleric or Druid, and Mage.

Overall (with the skill-based dialog) and the overland map it is more like Pen and Paper D&D. (..the classic "random encounter based on skills is exceedingly D&D.) Even more, the nearly non-existent locations/dungeons, with one "larger" dungeon crawl at the end is quite like a D&D module.

Sadly though, the minor locations throughout SOZ are far, FAR to minor, and the "large" "dungeon" at the end isn't large enough. Additionally the final battle in SOZ *can* be quite difficult (..or can be easy depending on your knowledge of D&D monsters) - which is better than many campaigns can offer.


Back to companions:

There is of course also *some* interaction when "hiring" each companion.

Moreover the 1st person perspective dialog between a "main character" and a companion as in the OC and MOTB, really isn't D&D. (..you know the ones, with long scripting and multiple "decision trees".)

On the other hand it wouldn't have been that difficult for developers to have some scripts for casual cross-talk in-game between companions (..even your own with specific personality profiles to choose from at character creation). Adding further to that complexity via alignment would have been a huge boost to gaming realism. (BG2 had both elements, including characters that would quit the party based on actions that didn't conform with their alignment.)

Still, SOZ was far more about adding real D&D gaming elements than producing a good game.

Well we all know that BG2 is the best.
Even with little banter that the original game offers(comparing to all the modding content) you get attached to npcs and the game is really compelling party-wise. A shame that another RPG without significent party involvment has come to pass. Hack n slash is bad.