Author Topic: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?  (Read 16964 times)

Offline Kulyok

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What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« on: February 28, 2008, 02:12:22 AM »
I'm a little stuck in HoW now: it's the last portion of the game, so I'm tying loose ends. And as I do, I'd like to ask you a question.

I know what I expect from the mod, more or less - obviously, as I know what's inside.  But what do you expect? What(who) are you looking forward to? What would you like to see?

Offline Alatariel

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #1 on: February 28, 2008, 02:41:18 AM »
I would like to see enough content to keep me occupied; Icewind Dale is too hack'n'slash for my tastes, and so I become tired with it rather quickly. In ID2NPCP there were moments when I have seen all of the flowing content in the first part of the chapter, and the second was a pain. So. I just hope it won't happen here.

As for WHO I am looking forward to... that is quite obvious, isn't it? ;p Our elven ranger, human bard AND the Xan easter egg I am almost certain you will put somewhere ;>.
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Offline Ajnos

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #2 on: February 28, 2008, 03:07:23 AM »
I would like to see enough content to keep me occupied

Ditto.  IWD2NPCs nearly so nearly did, but I gave up when I got bored and checked a map at some game site to see where I was and realized I still had a whole chapter left with Tedious Dungeon #7, Lvls 1 - 4 still to come.  I'd still like to finish but I can't bear the thought of the Targos Docks, again.

So, 1) I do hope to see a goodly number of PIDs, even minor one-line ones can really help, I can soldier on with something to stop and amuse myself with.  2)  Also, I'd like to feel a sense of closure when I'm done.  I don't want to feel like I must go through again to get the story on all the characters.

All I want is just something completely brilliant that will never fail to entertain me for a single minute.  That's not asking too much, right?  ;D
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Or which way the river's flowing

Offline Annatar

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2008, 04:03:49 AM »
The same as the two previous replies, pretty much. I'm not a huge fan of the hackenslashery of the IWD games. I'd like to feel that I can stop at any given moment and blabber about crap with these NPCs and have enough to keep me occupied until I feel like resuming the meat grinder.

As for the induvidual NPCs...none of them leap out to my personal tastes as being wtf awesome (no good girls! At least on Alignment surface) but then again I was never very interested in Branwen either, but when I finally tried her she turned out to be my favourite character in BG1NPC by a looooonnnng way.
(Possibly something to do with the geometric increase in the mentions of cleavage over Dynaheir.  :P )

And what I was trying to say in that rather roundabout and inelegant way is that I very much enjoyed  Branwen's material, and that I'm certain I'll love this mod too.
I'm just looking forward to finally playing this game without feeling like I have nothing but the occasional talking goblin/Griant/angry dragon for company. In that regard I'm sure it'll make IWD approximately 5000% better.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2008, 06:13:53 AM by Annatar »

Offline magrat

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2008, 05:14:20 AM »
What everyone else has said.  I've not played IWD or IWDII before, and I'm keeping it that way for now, so I can play firstly with these characters, and then go onto IWDII and Domi's NPC pack.

I pretty heavily second the thought on 'closure' though.  I'd love to get to the end and not have a nagging feeling that I'm missing something, or I didn't get the full story from someone (unless that someone is deliberately mysterious).  But neither am I a fan of vast expositions that feel like I'm reading a manual relating to a background, a profession, or a family -- I'm not averse to learning such things, bu I much prefer a more natural-feeling to the flow of the conversation.

I'm probably not easy to please, actually.  But you managed it with Xan, so I'm confident you'll manage it here too :)
"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious."
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Offline Kulyok

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2008, 06:18:32 AM »
No pressure, eh? :)

Thank you for your answers. Player-initiated dialogue in IWD NPCs is not as extensive as Xan's(or even Kelsey's), simply because between banters, lovetalks and party interactions(And monsters? Ah, yes, monsters. Sometimes. Between banters and lovetalks), you won't have much time to approach your party members. But there'll be enough to entertain, I hope.


Also: I think Nella is just as Good as Arundel is. They share a Neutral alignment, because that's what druids do. Though, yes, she can be passionate about the Great Tree and Kuldahar, to the point of being ruthless; but... well. You'll see. :)

Offline jastey

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2008, 06:42:41 AM »
I'd like to see a solid told story. I mean a solid story, with just enough romantic, and tension to keep me interested, but preferably with happy ending. I do not wish to perform competition about my love interest with another NPC. And I definitely do not want to experience a "oops, your romantic interest died 20 minutes before the final victory" kind of melodramatic tale.

Offline Gnick O Thyme

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #7 on: February 28, 2008, 07:06:24 AM »
The addition of banter, and possibly a romance would add so much to this already awesome game.

A dwarf NPC, the way Dwarves are supposed to be (LG, stubborn, ect.) would be incredible

Offline Qwinn

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #8 on: February 28, 2008, 01:24:09 PM »
I agree that story is important.  Banter with a point is always better than offhand small talk (unless the small talk is fairly ingenious comedy).  And usually the best way to implement a story is to throw in small little quests, or make the banters key off of existing quests/combats.

A suggestion I would make is to reserve some banters exclusively for later chapters, right up to the very end, so there's always some to look forward to.  One flaw with some implementations of these banter ideas that I've seen is that, if you're the type that must be thorough and check every chest/uncover every square inch of fog of war/etc. (like I am), you often wind up running out of banters fairly early on, and the rest of the game is pretty silent (this is what I experience regularly in BG2 these days, BG1NPC Project was phenomenal precisely because there was so many banters and interjections throughout that you could get into pretty late chapters without running out).  Banters that arise in response to late-game events serve the same purpose equally well.

I, for one, would much rather have the banters a bit more spaced out than to get them all in the first couple chapters and then dead silence thereafter.  Of course, I still do install the banter accelerators because otherwise you could wind up -never- getting some banters, which is even worse.  So a method where the banter accelerator works and you get every banter you should get but they're not all able to be gotten early on is the best of all worlds, IMO.

I'll be honest, none of the implementations of player-initiated dialogue have impressed me much.  Dunno why, they just haven't.  In most implementations I've seen, you can pretty much explore every avenue when you pick them up, and rarely is anything added.  If PC-initiated dialolgues would actually make any change to the plotline or story or could actually even initiate a quest, -that- would be very cool.

And yes, I'm quite looking forward to the romances :)  Although as mentioned before, an option for a "good"-aligned romance that isn't limited to treehuggers/clerics would be cool, but that's just a personal preference :)

Oh - and ditto what Jastey said!  No need to kill off the romances in this game, there's no direct sequel to require it, god knows there's enough situations out there where killing off the love interest -is- required so let's not when it can be avoided, please :)

Qwinn
« Last Edit: February 28, 2008, 01:31:19 PM by Qwinn »

Offline Evaine Dian

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #9 on: February 28, 2008, 03:10:09 PM »
Many PIDs, extensive banters, long romances and happy endings.
"Show me how you do that trick! The one that makes me scream", she said,
"the one that makes me laugh!" she said and threw her arms around my neck.
"Show me how you do it and I promise you, I promise that
I'll run away with you, I'll run away with you..."

Offline Terminater5

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #10 on: February 28, 2008, 07:41:14 PM »
A reason to hack through IWD again.  A well-told story with likeable (or at least memorable) characters.  A fleshing-out of a game that has a nicely-framed (but somewhat limited) plot.  I like the idea of having some flexibility with some of the NPCs' classes, so as not to be too restrictive for a logical PC choice.

Offline Kulyok

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #11 on: February 29, 2008, 12:56:54 AM »
Thank you very much for your replies. I wish I could answer some of your posts, but it would spoil everything, so I'll try not to. :)



Quote
I'll be honest, none of the implementations of player-initiated dialogue have impressed me much.  Dunno why, they just haven't.  In most implementations I've seen, you can pretty much explore every avenue when you pick them up, and rarely is anything added.  If PC-initiated dialolgues would actually make any change to the plotline or story or could actually even initiate a quest, -that- would be very cool.

Have you played Xan for BG2? His player-initiated dialogue(for all three paths) is something crazy, especially the "May I talk to you?" menu.

It was a good suggestion, by the way. Now that Ajnos mentioned it, too, I might add some more options.

Offline Gnick O Thyme

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #12 on: February 29, 2008, 07:48:09 AM »
Is there ANY chance of adding a good Dwarf in there?  Like a Good aligned Fighter or Fighter/Cleric?

Maybe a chaotic Gnome Fighter/Illusionist or Illusionist/Thief?

Shorties are soooooo underrepresented and underrated in these games!
« Last Edit: February 29, 2008, 07:50:38 AM by Gnick O Thyme »

Offline Qwinn

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #13 on: February 29, 2008, 08:05:32 AM »
There's a reason for that  ;)

Down with the annoying midgets!   >:(  Let the trolls eat them first!

 ;D

Oh, and Kulyok, nah, I haven't played a Xan mod.  Not sure if I'm interested in it, being a guy, and not all that fond of his Misery On Stilts personality, heh.  He kinda reminds me of Paranoia from the Red Dwarf episode "confidence and paranoia", if you ever saw that show.

Qwinn
« Last Edit: February 29, 2008, 08:07:36 AM by Qwinn »

Offline Terminater5

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #14 on: February 29, 2008, 03:33:29 PM »
Thank you very much for your replies.

Thank you for asking, and for creating this mod.  :)

Offline Louisa

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #15 on: March 02, 2008, 03:24:06 PM »
He kinda reminds me of Paranoia from the Red Dwarf episode "confidence and paranoia", if you ever saw that show.

I am not sure which of them two irritated me more  ;)

I have sadly no tips or requests for you Kulyok, but can only say that I am very very impressed with your hard work and that I love that you make some thing new for this game. It is much fighting through dungeons and all that, but some times I can just sit and watch the beautiful surroundings and listen to the music for a long time, and now that I know there will be banter and so, I can hardly wait for the mod so I can play it all over again.  :) I love the Heart of Winter too, with the ice place (forgot the name sorry), the dramatic grave mounds, the dragon etc.

(If you need some more tester I am ready to help.)

Offline Gnick O Thyme

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #16 on: March 04, 2008, 07:25:29 AM »
I just looked at the profiles, and realized there are only 5 NPCs.  I think my new request is to just have more options.  Add some more NPCs to add to the replayability (like in BG, I know I've replayed the game many times to just see how different NPCs react with others).

Oh yeah, and make at least one gnome and one dwarf. ;) :P

Offline Qwinn

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #17 on: March 04, 2008, 11:12:44 AM »
Eh, the only-five NPC's thing is something we were notified of going in, when the mod was announced.  It's not intended to be a replayable mod, it's meant to be a one-shot entertaining roleplayable trip through the game.  I'm personally happy with that, especially if she provides a way to make the classes more balanced among those five, which I gather is in the works (please correct if I'm wrong).

Qwinn

Offline Annatar

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #18 on: March 04, 2008, 11:43:00 AM »
I can't imagine that the 'lack' of characters would impede replayability. I tend to play BG1&2 with almost the exact same party every time, frequently choosing the same romance option too. Maybe I'm just boring, but if I enjoy a particular character once I'll continue to enjoy them every time I play through again.
Although, they do have a certain element of randomness introduced with mods like the flirtpack - which still manage to catch me out with a new response every now and again. That's always a nice suprise, I'd like it if there were a few randomised responses to talks and flirts in this mod.


Offline theacefes

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #19 on: March 04, 2008, 03:15:08 PM »
Sexy voicing.
Ace

Offline Kulyok

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #20 on: March 04, 2008, 03:23:21 PM »
Oh. That. :)

Offline Qwinn

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #21 on: March 04, 2008, 04:35:30 PM »
Ditto on the sexy voicing!

Qwinn

Offline Alatariel

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #22 on: March 06, 2008, 01:45:10 AM »
.. a release before Easter? ^^'
"...A moment for the poet's play
Until there's nothing left to say... "

Offline Kulyok

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #23 on: March 06, 2008, 02:00:33 AM »
27th April? I'd like to hope so, but voice actors and artists all have busy schedules. But you'll be playing a closed working beta by then, if you want. :)

Offline magrat

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Re: What do you expect from Icewind Dale NPCs?
« Reply #24 on: March 06, 2008, 03:21:01 AM »
27th April? I'd like to hope so, but voice actors and artists all have busy schedules. But you'll be playing a closed working beta by then, if you want. :)

Oh - I could live without voices quite easily, if the beta has any chance of finding itself travelling in this direction... :)  Though with the prospect of moving house looming on the horizon, I'm almost willing to bet that a release becomes available just as I need to pack up the PC for a few weeks  :'(

"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious."
  - Oscar Wilde

Discovery,
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Hopelessly Ever After

 

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