I decided to take another run through IWD for my xmas holiday. I was starting a run through BG2, but with the whole HLA, timestop, vorpal uber cheesiness, I got bored. I've actually yet to finish that game because of all that nonsense, but that's another story.
I discovered the NPC mod recently and decided to use that. Out of all the IE games, I've always liked IWD best in terms of gameplay. It's much more "toned-down" in terms of power levels, even when you get to the higher levels. However, as we all know, the vanilla game lacks a little depth. I'm still in the early stages (Vale of Shadows, level 4ish), but this mod really breathes some life into to this game. Really, this warrants emphasizing. A lot of mods just add some fun little tweaks, or maybe a side quest here and there, but this makes it feel like a different game. I can identify with my protagonist, while also enjoying the other characters. The characters are invested, and that's great.
So, kudos to the devs for making it. Overall, it's a great mod that I would recommend to anyone.
What I'm about to say next is going to sound like criticism at first, but it really isn't. Side note, I did use Dalekeeper to adjust some proficiencies to make it work a little better for me. Someone in another thread said that Dalekeeper didn't work for them, but it's working fine for me. I'm playing the GoG version, if that matters.
Now, not to be all backhanded-compliment-like, but there was something I wanted to point out. For the mod to function properly, the main has to stay in the first slot. In effect, unless you really want to fiddle with formations and movement (which I don't), your main has to be a good front liner. What would be a good front liner? Well, a paladin is an obvious choice, but there's already one in the party. This isn't that big of a deal. Pale justice aside, you can have two paladins. There are plenty of other good weapons in the game. Besides, I wouldn't want Holvir on the front lines. With his mediocre dex, he's just begging to be a punching bag.
Additionally, there are three things this party doesn't have from the get go. A cleric, a mage, and a druid. Obviously, Nella was made for dualing. Her character just screams druid, though cleric is an option. I agonized over this for a bit. I really wanted a single (or dual) classed cleric in this game with all the undead. However, it was obvious from her dialogue that she was born to be a druid. So, yeah, that's the direction I went there. As for the mage, because Nella went druid, her and the bard can cover that role pretty well. That just leaves me short a cleric.
I started a game as a fighter that I was going to dual over to a cleric at level 3. However, the problem with having a cleric on point is that your healer and resurrector is going to be the first to get the stuffing knocked out of him. That is unless you really want to micromanage party movement across the map. No thanks.
I restarted as a dex-based paladin. Actually, I got a pretty decent roll right from the start so he's no slouch in Str/Con department either. He's my sword-and-shield wielding front man. Holvir is behind him with two handers. Korin is interesting. He's easily my best archer, but he is also my best striker with getting an extra attack with one-handed weapons. I should probably have him in heavier armor, but I'm frequently keeping him in leathers so he can scout for me (I don't like to cheese and armor switch in the middle of things). Nella took ** in clubs and *** in missiles before dualing to a druid. I figured missiles because she'll be better off in the back with slings and darts in between spells. The bard is the bard. He's going to function as my mage. With how much faster he levels, he's not going to trail behind an actual mage
too much, but being a higher level, his buffs will have a longer duration and he'll cap out on damaging spells sooner (or just do more damage if there is no cap). No, he's no mage, but he's no slouch either. Finally, Teri, my fighter/thief. The only odd thing about her is that her dialogue paints her as a swashbuckler, but I'm getting way more use out of her as an archer (and trap monkey, of course).
All in all, this is a first for me. I've never played an IE D&D game (or PnP for that matter), without a cleric and a mage, and here I am running without either. It's odd, but it's working, and I like the party. They feel more like people than your typical fighter, mage, cleric, thief stereotypes.
And here's why I don't mean this all critically:
1) I really appreciate having NPCs with personalities in this game. It fills a void this game desperately needed filled to make it more than a gauntlet of combat. To be honest, and I've really tried, but I just don't like BG2. It's too hokey, and trite, and just over the top at times. These NPCs are more "human" and relatable than anything from BG2. Honestly, good writing is hard to come by in video games.
2) This mod made me give bards a chance. I've never liked them before, but I really respect them now. For a relatively low-magic game like IWD, bards are pretty solid. Your mages in most games generally aren't slinging spells all the time and have nothing useful to do in between. With the bard, I can sing and provide better ranged support (but he is probably better off singing unless using Tenser's). Even though he has fewer spells, he's better able to spread them out and still be viable. And, he can pickpocket, which has come in handy all of three times in this game.
If I were to critique this mod, I'd be tempted to say that I wished the mod content all fit into 3 NPCs so I could run with a party of 4 and hit higher levels by the end of the game. However, each character really made their own contribution and I wouldn't want to run without them.
But I am going to critique one or two things. In terms of the party's functional dynamics, Holvir was kind of a bum. You can use him as a bruiser, but god forbid be pulls any aggro. The most minor change that could be made that would have the most benefit for the party was if his character was actually a cleric (of Tyr, if one would like to run with that storyline) with a Str/Dex/Con in the 15-16 area. This way he could be a back up tank and then have some fun with DUHM at higher levels. I was tempted to edit him in Dalekeeper, but I haven't finished yet and I wasn't sure how changing him from a paladin to a cleric would jive with his future narrative.
The other thing is that I would have worked in some more of the other races. I believe it's three humans, and elf, and a half-elf? Where's the shorty love? In fact, if you were to make a shorty NPC mod (new characters with their own motivations), it would give me a reason to make yet another run through this game *hint hint*.
But hey, no big deal. As far as I'm concerned this dev did better than most professional game designers. The only thing this mod takes away from the game is my desire to create my own custom party. Why would anyone want to create their own mute companions when they could run with characters that makes a dungeon crawl feel like a story?