Some nitpicks Options

[Sergio1992]

1) You write in the readme:
My present compilation comprises the following components:

[...]
Baldurdash Fix Pack for SoA-ToB, v1.76 WeiDU
Tortured Souls v7.06
Keldorn Romance v1.0
Third Path
[...]

When you try to install Vlad’s compilation, the first component you are asked to install is named “My compilation” and I guess it’s the four mods above. Any chance of splitting them?
Especially because TS actually locks you into doing TS. See here: http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?...ost&p=25113

2) Third path: when you meet Drizzt, he tells you that you killed Bodhi and his guild. But that ain’t true. I went third path.


3) When installing Vlad’s compilation
- you get asked to install first “Cromwell in Brynlaww and item upgrade”
then
- item upgrade
Is there a reason these two components are splitted?








TORTURED SOULS

4) I understand your idea of chromatic dragon (chromatic demon a la Watcher’s keep) but... the player has no informations on how to beat him.
I mean... if you were in Watcher’s keep you would get the following informations:
[taken from here: https://sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/Walkthrough...ental-level.php
From the four Library Notes you can learn that:
- Ice is vulnerable to Fire.
- Fire is vulnerable to Ice.
- Slime is vulnerable to Electricity.
- Air is vulnerable to Acid and Poison.
- And also quite important: The Chromatic Demon is next to invulnerable to physical attacks and he regenerates quickly].
But here you are not in Watcher’s keep and there is a chance you haven’t even played it.

Also, Chromatic Dragons are a subtype of dragons. https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Chromatic_dragon
I found the name of the dragon weird, even if I understood that it was related to watcher’s keep chromatic demon.

5) Any chance to remove the death effect if you leave the dueling area with the katana(s)? Just being greedy with loot ahah.

6) Tortured souls: Can you actually touch the content of TS? If you enter the asylum as a patient, then wait for Irenicus, when he appears, he spills his beans and tells you everything about him. I don’t like this, because it totally diminishes the impact of Irenicus by making the player carefully sum each clue he is finding during his playthrough. Reading Irenicus saying that he hates her (referring to Ellesime), that he was an elven mage, etc etc, that he studied necromancy falls short and make the game feel like those bad movies where things are told rather than shown. There is a video here that shows such a phenomena:
https://youtu.be/IcWn3nnJyDI?t=360






7) last but not least important. I would like to install NEJ in my next playthrough, but it seems that Vlad's compilation is a requisite. I wonder if it is due to the fixpack contained inside Vlad. Can you make it possible to install Nej without having to install TS + KR?

8) Any chance you could be making the Gui contained in Vlad's compilation optional?
Some informations on why I'm asking this: http://www.shsforums.net/topic/60658-compa...oject-infinity/

9) Any chance of adding mod metadata inside both Nej and Vlad? See here: https://github.com/ALIENQuake/ProjectInfini...etadata-for-mod

10) Don't forget about this, please: http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showtopic=5457

11) Would it be possible to split Sime romance (given that it has no ToB) and why not, also Valygar romance?

12) Leina's romance issue: https://ibb.co/vxtQHT3
Some more informations of what I’ve done on that game:
1) Bodhi path
2) I spared the father
3) I killed Duvaine right when leaving the labyrinth area


This post has been edited by Sergio1992: Jul 10 2020, 12:27 PM

[Vlad]

Especially because TS actually locks you into doing TS.

It's not true. You can say to Saemon that you don't trust that crazy spell and want to sail directly to Brynnlaw. Y-K will probably leave for good at that point.

Is there a reason these two components are splitted?

Because they are different: Cromwell and Cespenar.

(referring to Ellesime)

You are not supposed to know that he is referring to Ellesime in Spellhold and who is she, quite to contrary he never says that in Spellhold. He is saying something in general that you cannot clue about at that stage of the game. But, of course it can be shorten or removed at all.

last but not least important. I would like to install NEJ in my next playthrough, but it seems that Vlad's compilation is a requisite. I wonder if it is due to the fixpack contained inside Vlad. Can you make it possible to install Nej without having to install TS + KR?

That was possible in the previous versions, all mods were separated. But I came to conclusion that this separation is damaging to the quality, ease of installation, file structure, integration of things in the game etc. etc. etc. So, I have made an effort to release the compilation, simplify and improve a lot of things. So, this is a big NO to separation of the components back to as it was a year ago. By the way, I don't see a problem with installation of all the components and mods. Just ignore them (Y-S, Keldorn etc) during your NeJ game. They are not affecting your game-through.

[EDIT] Thank you for your comments, of course. They are all on my list.

This post has been edited by Vlad: Oct 18 2019, 11:51 AM

[Sergio1992]

I understand totally your reasoning about merging the compilation, but I still would like to show you my player’s perspective:

1) TS forces me to play the “version” of Yoshimo and Kachiko intended by his author, making me unable to enjoy the “original” Yoshimo (take "original" as the one you meet in BG2, where his past is simply unknown)

2) Refusing to go to the island makes you lose both Yoshimo and Kachiko.

3) Going into the isle, you can actually still experience part of the original content BG2 content (Yoshimo's betrayal) if you go evil, but you are still changing original content and not giving the chance to the player to actually avoid it.

4) TS makes me unable to actually choose different content for Yoshimo (e.g Yoshimo's remorse for ToB: https://www.gibberlings3.net/files/file/101...himos-remorse/).

5) TS has features I simply do not care about: Sime's romance (that is also incomplete, having no ToB banters - and I would remove it, because I was truly disappointed knowing later that I had been romancing Sime for naught ) and Valygar romance (a character I find as insipid as Cernd)


Unrelated: the compilation has also Keldorn romance, but after having tried it, I’m back to playing male now.
TS is a huge no for me, as it is currently Keldorn romance.


Edit: last note: if you go evil path in TS, then kill Yoshimo, he drops no heart as in the original. So yes, it is still changed.

This post has been edited by Sergio1992: Oct 18 2019, 05:07 PM

[Senka]

the compilation has also Keldorn romance, but after having tried it, I’m back to playing male now.

You may play female too but not take Keldorn

[Sergio1992]

Would it be possible to also add a few more dialogue options to actually go third path?? Current option is ok, but it's a little too bloodlusty for my taste: I mean, especially if you are good, it feels weird to speak to him like that out of the blue.

https://imgur.com/a/T5C3vCP

[Senka]

I don't understand. If you are good you cannot deal with thieves. Any good Church will tell you this. And Keldorn will tell you too. Just in 1 LT

This post has been edited by Senka: Nov 13 2019, 09:59 AM

[Sergio1992]

Happy birthday Senka!

I feel like third path dialogue option is just a little too aggressive, but nothing irremedeable.

By the way, does Sharteel have banters with the whole BG2 cast ?

[Senka]

Thank you!

I feel like third path dialogue option is just a little too aggressive, but nothing irremedeable.

But this is understandably don't you think? )

By the way, does Sharteel have banters with the whole BG2 cast ?

Unfortunately no. Only with the NEJ-NPC.

[Sergio1992]

Thank you!

I feel like third path dialogue option is just a little too aggressive, but nothing irremedeable.

But this is understandably don't you think? )

By the way, does Sharteel have banters with the whole BG2 cast ?

Unfortunately no. Only with the NEJ-NPC.

okay thanks.

[Sergio1992]

Published my thoughts about Vlad's compilation here: http://www.shsforums.net/topic/60457-reviews/?p=607898

[Senka]

Thank you!
About KR I will answer you here )

this mod is about YOU falling in love with Keldorn

Why does this surprise you? )))

Prepare to see your expectations be whipped around, because there are some concepts thrown around that aren’t exactly faced by other mods (e.g Virginity)

BTW this YOUR choice )))) You can pick another dialog option

The author has a personal idea of how you should be romancing Keldorn – for example, there is a certain scene where even asking a question about what is going to happen to Keldorn without immediately sacrificing yourself is seen as “doubt” and will make you not get the best reward.

No-no. This is not mine. I suggested another way (and your PC got chain) but it was hard to implement. So I agreed with this method.

the author expects you to use the journal, when there are sudden changes. Sometimes the “news” are delivered by the journal rather than you seeing them.

I don't understand. All enters are shown in the message immediately. Didn't you see?

It adds an option I personally don’t agree with that makes you able to spare Sendai

Why? You still can kill her. Your choice. But girls do not offend girls! Hahaha

There is something in your report that surprised me. I was bombarded with rotten tomatoes for killing the daughters of Keldorn, but this did not seem to bother you. It's true?

[Sergio1992]

1) What I meant is that it felt to me like here Charname felt in love at first sight with Keldorn, but I may
- remember wrong
- or just have experienced the romance differently from you: first because romances are subjective (that's why no matter what I think about them I always recommend to players to play them), second, because I don't have a frame of reference with male-girl romance. I mean, I always play male and I never experienced Anomen's romance or any other female-to-male mod romance (apart from berelinde's keldorn Romance and only for ToB)

2) Okay thanks

3) Okay got it.

4) Yes, there was the journal line. But the implementation was not that elegant, that's why I wrote about it. Rather than reading what happens, I would have preferred to see it shown.

5) About Sendai: I get your idea, but I will be sincere with you: Sendai is evil, she is a murderous drow, she conspires with Ilithid, and I can make a longer list if you wish. In my mind, I doubt even that Keldorn would let you spare her. What I like about the third path is that it respects the ethos of paladins in AD&D. Paladins are not supposed to consort with thieves and you kill them all. But you leave an evil bhaalspawn alive - and that bhaalspawn was also planning a massacre (or at least it's hinted) against Amkethran.
If there was to be an added option, it would be Keldorn talking with Balthazar to actually stop him. Balthazar has a point, but his suicide is stupid and I think that he would listen to the voice of reason, that of Keldorn's one.

6) About the daughters. What can I say.... maybe my sensibility is different from the other people.
I remember to have found their deaths believable. The thing is... Keldorn may have a blood link with them, but his duties are to the order first.

If you don't nurture it, love slowly decays. Unless it has really solid foundations.

And judging by Keldorn's personal quest, I truly much doubt he was as good to the daughters as it was to the order. In the end Keldorn's life was that of a lone paladin doing his duties. Knowing about your daughters living or not may crush him initially, but in the end he would come out at worst (slightly) scathed.

I'm a pragmatist, am I not?

This post has been edited by Sergio1992: Nov 18 2019, 03:48 PM

[Senka]

- remember wrong

You remember right )))

or just have experienced the romance differently from you: first because romances are subjective (that's why no matter what I think about them I always recommend to players to play them), second, because I don't have a frame of reference with male-girl romance. I mean, I always play male and I never experienced Anomen's romance or any other female-to-male mod romance (apart from Keldorn's berelinde Romance and only for ToB)

Got it. This is for girls you see

Yes, there was the journal line. But the implementation was not that elegant, that's why I wrote about it. Rather than reading what happens, I would have preferred to see it shown.

What shown? This is what PC thinks! Nothing more )

5. She may change! I believe in her
In my version Balthazar will alive too )

6. Thank you for understanding )

I'm a pragmatist, am I not?

Do you remember Crazy Celvan? ))))
"There once was a knight pure of heart,
From his wife he is always apart.
Has his heart grown colder
As his deeds grew bolder?
What is finished can never restart."

[Sergio1992]

6. Do you agree with me?

[Senka]

Of course I am! )))

I wrote this mod more than 15 years ago. Now I wouldn’t write like that, of course. And much would change if there was an opportunity. But... )

[Sergio1992]

Isn't the opportunity coming?

[Senka]

No ))) We are done with this.

[Sergio1992]

Hello Vlad and Senka,
and happy new year! I'm here pestering you a bit.

1) Any chance you could be making the Gui contained in Vlad's compilation optional? Some informations on why I'm asking this: http://www.shsforums.net/topic/60658-compa...oject-infinity/

2) Any chance of adding mod metadata inside both Nej and Vlad? See here: https://github.com/ALIENQuake/ProjectInfini...etadata-for-mod

This post has been edited by Sergio1992: Jan 2 2020, 07:59 AM

[Senka]

Hello Sergio!
Thank you and happy holidays to you

[Sergio1992]

Hello Vlad,
how are you?

I'm wondering: do the improved Abazigal, Illasera, also contain the new items they have in their inventory?