Most Needed Mods

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Okay, it's no secret that there a LOT of mods for SOA and TOB but most of the ones I've come across (and I've not played them all admittedly) seem to focus on adding extra characters, items, areas, quests to a part of the game that was already fine originally: chapters 2 and 3. Very few mods, if any, seem to make any effort to improve the areas that are sorely lacking in depth.

I thought a new mod for Irenicus' dungeon would be nice. Yes, I know about the Improved Ilyich and Dungeon Be Gone, but what about a mod that adds a extras to this area? More often than not, people use the DBG mod and jump straight out of here.

Or Spellhold, an area I always felt was seriously lacking. I expected big mage battles from all the inmates - there were none. I expected a horde of magical monsters - there were not many. How about a mod that changes aspects of Spellhold and makes it a little more challenging for people who have been through it a dozen times?

Or the Drow city? The first time I was there it was great: lots of little quests, some wicked items, nice twists in the storyline. But every time I play through it's the same. A mod turning Ust Natha into an area as quest-filled as any of the areas in Athkatla would be wonderful.

Or how about Saradush? Now much to do there aside from find the missing spellbook and rescue the noblewoman's son. Maybe a mod could have you infiltrating the fire giant camp to wreak a little mayhem? Or striking a deal with Gromnir - who could then join the party as a recruitable character.

How about a mod that adds a few extra quests in Amkethran? There's precious little there as it is but surely a few more quests would help.

And a mod adding the one thing TOB most needs: a few more areas! Every area in the game needs to be visited to reach the end (Watcher's Keep being the only exception). One thing I liked about BG1 and SOA was the vast amount of areas that didn't require visiting in order to complete the game. There are none of them in TOB although with the Bhaalspawn war raging across the land, the possibilities for extra areas are immense.

Joinable NPCs in TOB: yes, there's Sarevok but why not any others? I'd have quite liked to convince Jamis Tombelthem I was a good guy (which I have been several times during the TOB) and have him help me out in defeating the *real* bad guys. Or maybe Nyalee, Yaga-Shura's mother? She struck me as a character sorely under-used. Or maybe the gambling Cambion from Watcher's keep - anyone else think he would have made an interesting choice for a new party member? And why not have Drizzt pop up again? He was there in BG1 and 2 - why not in TOB as well? You could recruit him in the party and use his abilities to help get the better of the Five.

And so on...

 

http://rpgdungeon.myikonboard.com/

Have you tried SimDing0's Oasis 2 Mod? I believe it allows you to talk your way out of the fight with Jamis.

 

I'm totally with you on that stuff, but the time I reach ToB with any party, I'm getting bored of the characters and such, and I'm looking to get some new party members that are more interresting than Sarevok... There are plenty of good choices to be had, but why not a few randoms, or maybe some NPC's of the sorcerer/monk classes? There aren't any at all that I know of

 

There are two sorcerer NPC mods available, Tashia and Kelsey. Also there was a mod that added a monk, but I'm not sure if it's still being supported. Check the big mod list at the top of the forum.

 

If possible, a mod that lets you take more than 6 party members. (You'd have to scroll down to see them all of course.) The 6-member party limit is an artificiality. Also, I don't think it's necessarily an advantage if you take more people with you, because xp would be further divided, so you'd have more people, but those characters would be of lower levels.

 

While having more than six people in the game would be nice, it is virtually impossible until the source code for the game is released. It is one of those blasted HARDCODED FEATURES™.

 

Maybe if more than 6 party members isn't possible, a mod that allows extra NPCs to tag along with the party like with Bodhi and Balthazar in Ascension? They don't join the party as such but you still get to benefit from their abilities.

 

That is possible, and there was once a mod called Company of Eight that did something similar. That particular mod is no longer available, but it apparently has been incorporated into the Check the Bodies mod.

At last check, a hirelings component has been mentioned for inclusion in the upcoming Blades of Brynnlaw mod, as well.

 

The question is, if a mod were developed to let you take those other characters along, similar to the way Balthazar is in Ascension, will those characters still participate in banters, interjections, and still level up? I love the dialogues, and that is the only reason I'd care to have more than 5 NPS around.

 

Level up, no. Participating in banters or interjections is possible, but not with the stuff Bioware wrote for the game, as all those require that the NPC in question in "In the Party" (portrait at the side of your screen).

 

Is there any way to trick the game into thinking that "in the party" could apply to any NPCs who might be in the general area? I don't know a lot about coding (in fact, nothing) but I'm sure some enterprising modder could figure out a way to handle this sort of thing.

 

No, the InParty() trigger to which Rastor refers is (to borrow from icelus) a HARDCODED FEATURE™. You could conceivably get around it with a whole mess of trigger replacements (perhaps a combo of something like Allegiance and See) but it would take a lot of coding and testing.