Ponderings on Tortured Souls Options

[Bill Bisco]

Awhile ago I made some notes about all the Mods I played with during my last run-through of the game. Unfortunately, I lost them all. But at least I have my memory. I enjoyed the fact that you gave some more background to Yoshimo's past. I liked the fact that whenever you kick out Yoshimo or Kachiko, they go to the Sea Bounty's Tavern, which is unique among where NPCs go and I like this. I enjoyed the Chess match. And, I really liked the new Black Knight and White Bishop items that you gave. Pretty cool. I liked the fact that you turned Sime, once a character you say briefly into a potential new NPC to join you. And, I liked how you made her into a unique Ranger/Cleric. Dual-Wielding Maces is pretty cool. I really enjoyed the fact that I got to redeem and keep Yoshimo. I had never really played with Yoshimo before, and part of the reason that I didn't want to play with him was because I knew that I was going to lose it, so for me I had to ask myself "What's the point?" However this mod gave me another option and I liked that a lot.

There were some other things that I noticed about this mod too. While I was adventuring with Kachiko, I was hoping that she would say something for a change. "How do you feel about me working for Thieves? For a Vampire?" What do you think about me doing the Thieves' Guild Quests, Saving the Druid Enclave, Becoming a Hero of Trademeet, ect.

I was hoping for something. I was also waiting for a lovetalk before heading off to The Tortured Souls main quest. Maybe there was one and I gave up too soon. From my perspective anyway. Yoshimo and Kachiko were traveling with me for awhile, we did the Tortured Souls Quest, and then Yoshimo had to leave and Kachiko called him Sweetie as if they had been in love. I then proceeded to beat BG2.

After that, I got Yoshimo back. But once again, neither Yoshimo or Kachiko had anything to say. f What do they think about a Lich taking a young Girl's soul ect.? They don't comment on Imoen either. Where's this romance that I hear about? From my perspective, we went to Kara-Tur, they declared their love, went to Tob, and then suddenly live together for the rest of their lives. Very fast, and there's no build-up to it.

I saw that the ending featured one epilogue for Yoshimo and Kachiko living a happily ever-after. However, when I got Yoshimo back from Saradush, I kicked out Kachiko. In fact, I left her in Saradush and Saradush was destroyed. I could have easily gone to watcher's keep and fought the demi-lich and she could have been imprisoned. Would Yoshimo still have had a happpily ever after with Kachiko?

I noticed some bugs in the Nakanashi Stronghold? I believe. For one, the Traps are messed up. Forgive me, I forgot exactly how. Did your mod have a Rock Golem? I can't remember, but those things are awful. They are pure drone work to defeat. They are not fun and do not enhance the game.

Also, in that one area where you have to challenge the father and his children. You should really allow the players to rest there, otherwise, they have no way to regain whatever necessary spells that are required to beat those challenges. If I wasn't playing multiplayer, I would have had no chance whatsoever of beating him. My character is a Fighter/Mage/Cleric. I cannot use edged weapons and so if I cannot rest to get my Flame Blade spell, I die!

I would also think that they would let me rest so that they could potentially win a fair fight.

I liked Sime's fighting style, but I was a little surprised by her picture and voice. She was wearing that thief's cowl and I was expecting things to go with that. But when I heard that accent and saw that Bright blonde hair, I have to say that that just didn't go with the scene. The Sime that I see talk to me coming off the ship and the Sime that joins my party are 2 totally different people. It would be really good (in my opinion) to make these people the same for the player's sake and to make the game more continuous and make more sense. Personally (just my opinion) I would have rather seen Sime not say anything versus get that Blue text at the bottom.

I didn't pick up Dynaheir simply because I don't like NPCs dependent on other NPCs and because of the way Sime was.

I did pick up Coran and I was very thankful to get him. But again, he didn't have much to say. I don't think he even commented on the fact that there was this big ancient elven city right next door to him. How would he feel about Jon Irenicus? He had no comments at all in ToB. He didn't even have an Epilogue. I would assume that Dynaheir is missing this as well?

Anywho, Do not get me wrong though. I did enjoy your mod. Just some thoughts

[Bill Bisco]

I did notice the IWD areas and creatures, and Indeed those are pretty cool. I read about the 2 paths and that was very nice. I do appreciate mods that allow me the choice of being good or evil. My last run-through was with good characters and thus I didn't get to experience Bohdi. I am guessing one of the benefits to the good path was using Sime, but I did not use her.

I did hear about the Coran, Dynaheir, and Valygar Romance, and I think that that is very cool. However, during my run-through I was romancing Saerileth and so had no yearnings to romance anyone else. However, you mod allowed me to keep Yoshimo and get Coran. Two things which I liked and thus that's why I played it.

Alright, sorry about the Rock Golem. I must have gotten confused with TDD. It uses that same area.

The problem of appearance two Simes in your game is just another indication of that you played a WeiDU version which in my opinion cannot be compared to the stability of the original one

I didn't see two Simes. No, there was still one. What I mean is, the Sime that I talked to after arriving in Brynlaw had join my party had a totally different personality. I let Sime join me for awhile and then later kicked her out. The Later "kicked out" Sime was totally different personality-wise than the Sime that joined my party.

Just one last word - when it comes to judging mods there are many people but much less who wants to help. TS was a serious attempt to make some outstanding mod for BG2 but not many people were ready to help me. I remeber how it was difficult to get someone voicing our characters... I really want to use this chance and thank all those who helped me in making TS, and I remember well those who just criticised it.

I hear ya there! That is an unfortunate human Tendency. And I have seen it throughout my life in different venues. In fact the Story of "The Little Red Hen" is an example of it as well

If it's any consolation. Had I known about the BG modding community 4 years ago, I would have liked to help

I would highly recommend to you playing a non-WeiDU version (5.01-5.05), maybe a half-WeiDU version (5.5) without other mods installed or only with NeJ2

Thanks, but I cannot do that. The Benefit of being able to download any mod I please and integrate as many of them that I can into one game outweighs the benefit of a mod that I can already play. Weidu is too good to go back. There are a lot of mods and things that I want to try out, and I'd like to try out as many of them that I can at once, and Weidu and the BP allows me to do this

I did not mean to offend about my opinion on voicing. I very well understand that it can be hard for people to find voice actors period! And I too would be grateful for whoever agreed to help me. And, it is only my opinion. It does not mean that I am right

By the way, TS is not for multiplayer! It's not scripted for multiplayer. I've occasionally added Multiplayer synchronisation but that's basically all...

Thank you for what you've added. Btw, Multiplayer Rocks!

One thing that I forgot to mention is that if you kick out Yoshimo, you have the option of Sending him back to the Copper Coronet. Similarly, if you go to the pocket plane and try to summon Yoshimo, it'll tell you that he's dead or something, and he should not be if you play through this mod.

This post has been edited by Bill Bisco: Mar 15 2006, 09:53 PM