#neverwinter nights 2 build

[lordfentongaming]

Neverwinter Nights 2 Brute Squad Rogue Shadowdancer Fighter Weapon Maste...

[quenthel]

like thinking abt it my favorite type of game protag for games where you can make your own guy is the one that already has some hooks built into the characterization... like either you have a backstory vaguely outlined (like kotor2 exile always blowing up malacor V, durge always being durge, bhaalspawn always coming from candlekeep and being bhaalspawn) or some recent event having a deeply personal effect on the pc (watcher getting their powers, courier 6 getting shot in the head, the pc accidentally fits the nerevarine prophecy, Areelu kidnaps the pc). Like having that little extra something elevates the story and allows for more coherence bc the writers have those hooks to draw together whatever the game is trying to say and what story it can tell. imo

[shuunnico]

You like rpgs. Do you recommend any games like baldurs gate 3?

Absolutely. I'll assume you mean CRPGs and not RPGs in general.

Computer Roleplaying Games (CRPGs) refers to a style and genre of game that BG3 follows. Some have started calling CRPGs "Classic RPGs" instead. CRPGs are typically identified by an isometric, top down view style, a heavy focus on story and exploration.

I'm going to split my list it three main categories based on accessibility factors. These factors include the amount of reading involved, the depth of mechanics and the level of abstraction/math required.

Easy Entry Level

Baldur's Gate 3 - 2023 - Larian Studios. The current gold star for easy entry CRPGs. Exceptional graphics, every character voice acted, very little reading and fairly straightforward mechanics and concepts.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 DE- 2017 - Larian Studios. This is basically a less polished, more complex version of BG3 and made by the same studio.

Disco Elysium, Final Cut - 2019 - ZA/UM. Disco Elysium is a detective/social focus game that dives into heavy narrative concepts. Failing rolls is just as viable for the story as succeeding them, making the game's mechanics take a backseat to story. However, there is a lot of reading and that may be a barrier to entry.

Tyranny - 2016 - Obsidian Entertainment. A game about being evil, it's mechanically pretty simple, but there's a fair bit of jank due to it's low budget, and the game ends on a cliffhanger, but it's story is very solid.

Mid Entry Level

Wasteland 3 - 2020 - inExile Entertainment. The long awaited third installment of the Wasteland franchise and significantly less complex than its predecessors. Post apocalyptic, frozen Colorado, grim reality and goofy ideas. This is the franchise that originally inspired Fallout.

Shadowrun: Dragonfall DC/ Shadowrun: Hong Kong EE - 2014/2015 - Harebrained Schemes. Set in the Fantasy/Cyberpunk hybrid setting of Shadowrun. Fair bit of reading, but the game's mechanics are relatively easy to grasp and don't require a lot of math. Always play Dragonfall before Hong Kong.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire - 2018 - Obsidian Entertainment. A unique setting, exploring a fictional parallel to the age of piracy. Very wordy (but a lot is voice acted), with a lot of world building, but well worth engaging with. The first game, Pillars of Eternity, is less accessible, but still good.

Kingmaker/Wrath of the Righteous/Rogue Trader - 2020/2022/2023 - Owlcat Games. Owlcat adapts existing systems into CRPGs, like how BG3 is an adaption of DnD 5e. Do not be fooled, these games are where you start hitting a lot of complexity, a lot of math and a lot potential to damage your playthroughs by accident. This is where things start to get difficult.

Difficult Entry Level

Baldur's Gate 1/2 - Bioware - 1998/2000. The prequels to BG3, these games use an older, much more complex version of DnD's rules. Be prepared for a lot of reading and complex mechanics, but you'll be rewarded with some amazing storytelling.

Planescape Torment - Interplay - 1999. Another game using DnD's older mechanics, Planescape is a completely different beast from BG3. Many consider this series mechanically inferior to the Baldur's Gate franchise, but with better storytelling and world building to compensate.

Fallout 1/2 - 1997/1998 - Interplay/Black Isle. One of the most widely known game franchises started as an isometric CRPG. Universally considered more complex, rewarding and deeper than the Bethesda portion of the franchise, you'll need some experience to get into them, but you'll be happy you did.

Games I haven't played but I've heard good things of:

Wasteland 2, DC - 2015 - inExile

Torment: Tides Of Numenera - 2017 - inExile

Neverwinter Nights - 2002 - Bioware

Arcanum - 2001 - Troika Games

Ultima 7 Part 1/Part 2 - 1992/1993 - Origin Systems

Icewind Dale - 2000 - Black Isle Studio

[luniidae]

  ~Of Gold and Blood~

~ A New Home ~

Chapter II

Note: Hi everyone! It's been an eternity since I posted anything about this fic. Unfortunately, this is not the next chapter, but chapter 2 update !

I'm never entirely satisfied with what I write, but I hope you'll appreciate this new version nonetheless ✨

You can read it on AO3

The next days, Korrilla returned to Neverwinter to keep an eye on the strange girl she had met and who seemed to have, for some obscure reason, caught her master's attention. 

She didn't really understand the point of watching her, but she certainly wasn't going to argue with his orders anyway.

She had no trouble finding her young target's house, given its proximity to the tavern she had visited the other night. She recognized the roof from which her little spy had observed her, but there was no door or other window from this side of the street.

The warlock therefore went around taking a few alleys until a building which looked like any other: nothing very elaborate but not a dump either, it was actually quite pretty. That said, the dwarf had the strange feeling that something was off with this place. She kept a good distance away when a woman came out. The latter was rather well dressed but the way she held herself seemed odd. Despite her neat appearance, her walk was almost awkward, as if her outfit was inconvenient.

Korrilla waited until she was far enough away, then she approached the flowered windows. 

To her great astonishment, she couldn't see anything through it. Indeed, a mountain of dust covered all of the windows from the inside and it was almost impossible for her to see anything. The street wasn't very busy at that hour, but she decided not to linger so she wouldn't bring attention. She kept an eye on the house, monitoring the possible comings and goings of its inhabitants, but apart from the woman she had seen earlier, no one else left the place, and no one returned either. It seemed almost abandoned....

Korrilla felt like she was wasting her time, she was supposed to be gathering information about the supposed "Dracanist", but she had learned nothing new since she was here. However, she couldn't afford to return to the House of Hope empty-handed.

 So with a hint of annoyance, the young woman decided to use a metamorphosis spell to change herself into an animal small enough to pass through a gap. Usually, she would have opened a portal, or teleported herself, but she didn't know what was inside and she had to remain discreet anyway.

          And the dwarf changed into... A mouse. Luckily, she had no trouble finding an entrance, and once inside the house, she was able to see that everything from the outside was clearly nothing but a facade.

The place was dilapidated, unsanitary, it felt like a slum. The walls were decrepit, the floor was littered with all kinds of debris and most of the furniture looked like it was about to collapse under a shroud of dust and dirt. It made her wonder how the hostess had managed to keep her clothes this impeccable. Speaking of the "lady", she saw a portrait of her and a man on one of the walls. Their smile making them look creepier than they already were.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming from the stairs and Korrilla quickly hid herself under the table. It was a child, a blond elf, probably 10. His clothes were dirty and he looked thin, but he wasn't the person she was looking for. Maybe it wasn't the good house, after all.

As unfortunate as it seemed, she was so focused on the boy that she didn't notice the mousetrap she was walking on. When she realized the extend of her mistake, it was too late. She managed to avoid being smashed by the mechanism, but her tail got caught nonetheless and she cursed herself for being so stupid. But in the other hand, she hadn't imagine finding a mousetrap in a place so neglected... The sound caught the kid's attention and he approached, kneeling down to take a look under the table.

A mischievous smile appeared on his dusty yet angelic face, and he took the trap with the mouse hanging from it. He looked amused and revulsed at the same time.

" Ugh, disgusting... Haha, I never thought I'd catch one ", he said to himself.

He poked the tiny creature with his fingertips to see her reaction, without knowing he was bothering a warlock in disguise. The latter, clearly annoyed by the situation, was about to take her usual form back and kick his ass to teach him a lesson. 

But when he seemed about to smash her on the ground, he was suddenly pushed to the side, dropping the trap. He then fell on the floor, coughing because of the dust, swearing because of the fall... He stared at the person who dares to push him, a hint of anger in his eyes.

"What's yer problem, goat ?! I'll show ya ! "

The elf was talking to a horned girl, a bit smaller than him. He stood up quickly on his feet and threw himself at her, his face as red as a tomato.

The person who "saved" her was the one she was looking for. The two kids were fighting but the elf was a bit stronger and fierce, obviously hurt in his ego. The sound of their argument caught the attention of three others. Three children, hidden in the stairs, two humans and another elf. They were probably between 3 and 6 years old. 

" WHO D'YOU THINK YOU ARE ! STAY IN YER PLACE ! " he shouted at her while beating her face. She was trying to fight back but at some point, she covered herself with her forearms instead.

Once he was done with her, he left her on the floor, threatening her. 

"Don't ye dare touch me again with yer dirty hands, freak "

The ones hidden in the stairs were chuckling, apparently amused by the situation.

" You served her right! ", said one of them.

The room quickly felt silent as the kids disappeared in the shadows of the house. Korrilla, who was still stuck to the trap, was looking at the girl who was laying down before her. The latter slowly got up, leaning on her elbows. She seemed looking for something, then she stopped when her eyes locked on the mouse. She approached her, a few bruises on her face and a bit of blood dropping from her nose. 

Korrilla could notice once again that her blood looked "magic", because of this strange reddish glow which was emanating from it.

" It's ok ", she whispered to the tiny creature. She removed her tail from the trap delicately and took the mouse in her hands. 

" You can stay with me if you want ", she added in a low voice. 

The warlock didn't expect to have to keep this shape any longer, but she considered her words for a second. It would be easier for her to watch the girl if she stayed with her after all... So she climbed on her forearm, reached her shoulder and hide in her hair, making her giggle.

              And so she spent the rest of the day with her, gripping to her, observing her. She could notice how lonely she was, since she was the only one of her kind and the other children avoided or mocked her because of that. They mocked her horns, her eyes, or called her a demon because they all have noticed how quick she would recover from her injuries. And the dwarf noted it too. 

The bruises she got from her fight with the elf boy had completely disappeared, just like nothing ever happened.

            From time to time, Korrilla thought of the moment she'll come back to the House of Hope. She was looking forward to reach her bedroom, take a bath and have a big drink of wine or anything which could make her forget her time as a tiny defenseless creature. But the time when she could finally reveal herself would come soon. 

When the sun went down and the sounds from the tavern could be heard, the horned creature headed to her bedroom. 

" I'm goin' to show you somethin' funny ", she said with a smile, " There's a place behind, with lots of people. I like watchin' them at night", she looked excited about it, " They drink, they laugh. They even sing and dance strangely sometimes "

But her enthusiasm vanished when she struggled to open the door of her room. She looked through the lock and saw something stuck inside, something she couldn't remove despite her attempts. She heard someone chuckle from the end of the corridor and saw the elf boy... He stood in the crack of his bedroom's door, grinning.

" Good night, goat, greet mum and dad for me ", he said before closing the door. The warlock mouse could feel the little girl's heart racing all of the sudden. She remained silent for a few seconds.

" ... Neve'mind ", she finally said, trying to keep her calm, " I have an idea ".

She went back downstairs, decided to open the main door to reach her bedroom from the outside, since her window was never really locked. She climbed on a chair to reach a pot on a furniture, looking for something inside. But her face quickly changed. 

" The key... ", she paused for a few seconds, "Someone took it... But it's alright... ", she murmured to herself.

The dwarf understood that she couldn't actually go out as she had planned to, and it was apparently a problem. She could feel that something was wrong, her face was calm but her eyes were sad and worried. Since they were alone, Korrilla thought it could be the right moment to take back her usual form, she was tired of being a rodent anyway. 

She jumped from her shoulder to the table nearby. The little girl quickly got off the chair, thinking the mouse fell down, but her eyes widened in an expression close to the fear when she saw the tiny animal turned herself into a humanoid being.

But surprisigly, it wasn't the warlock's transformation that worried her, but her simple presence.

" You.... You're not supposed to be here! ", she whispered, trying not to raise her voice despite her worry.

Korrilla was a bit taken aback with the girl's reaction, but she kept her composure and spoke quietly.

" I mean you no harm, I... "

" You must leave! ", interrupted the child who was losing her nerves. She didn't seem to be afraid of the warlock herself, but rather of what awaited her if it became known that she had let in a stranger. 

" I can help you ", the dwarf insisted, but the horned creature shook her head nervously. 

" You - " , she didn't finish her sentence. Her face froze as she heard footsteps getting closer from the street. She recognized this sound, she knew too well who it belonged to. Korrilla quickly transformed into a mouse again in order to hide and see what would happen next. Lurking in the shadows, she observed the scene, listening closely as the sound of a key in a lock could be heard, and the door opened. 

She recognized the person who entered: it was the woman she saw this morning, but she wasn't alone. A man, the same as the one of the portrait she saw earlier, was following her, his face stern and reddish, but he seemed even more upset when he saw the child in the middle of the living room. 

" What are ye doin' 'ere, freak ", he grumbled. He looked menacing, and so did the woman. 

" Go back to yer damn room, right fuckin' now ", she shouted at her.

The little girl was standing before them, her knees slightly shaking, "playing" with her fingers in a vain attempt to ease her nervousness.

" I... I cant, they blocked th- ", but she couldn't say more. The man slapped her face so hard she fell on the floor and Korrilla thought, for a moment, that the young girl had been knocked out, but she moved weakly.

" Don't answer back ! ", he yelled at her. 

She was holding her painful cheek, turning slowly her head so she could look up at him, a few silent tears rolling along her face.

But the bastard thought it was a defiance stare and got even more mad at her. He grabbed her neck, his fingers pressing her throat as she was now standing on tiptoes, trying to catch her breath and holding his big hand, desperately trying to make him ease his grip. Korrilla was still watching and her heart skipped a beat when she saw this huge guy attacking the fragile being. 

" He's going to kill her... ", she thought, a thousand scenarios racing through her mind. 

She wasn't sure it would be a good idea to take the girl with her to the House of Hope, since Raphael only wanted more information about her but nothing more. But she couldn't just... Leave ? 

In a fraction of a second, memories came back to her mind. The memories of her own past, her previous master... He was just like him, brutal, violent, threatening. Korrilla remembered how she felt when once, he was so angry that she thought he would eventually kill her and her sister. That was the night she met Raphael for the first time... 

The dwarf was suddenly brought back to reality when she heard the man shouted something.

" I dunno why we keep ya anyway, you piece of shit. Always disobeying, sneaking outside.. They said you would bring us a lot of money but you're nothin' but one more mouth to feed "

"They" ? Who "they" ? Korrilla wondered... But she didn't have any more time to think, she needed to act quickly. 

So she suddenly turned into her original form again, ready to strike. The imposent couple jumped, letting out a scream of surprise. Korrilla was standing there, menacing, with a flame in the palm of her hand.

" Get away from her ", she commanded sharply.

" Who the hell are ya ?! ", the man shouted, still holding the child.

" Get rid of her ! " yelled the woman at him.

But the dwarf had no patience for this now. She had spent the entire day as a mouse, in this miserable and dirty place, and clearly, she had enough of this. She threw a small fire ball at the man, precisely on his forearm so the young girl could break free from his grip. He screamed in pain, holding his injured arm as he took a step back.

" You bitch ! "

Korrilla put the horned girl behind her.

" This one is coming with me ", she said while an orange portal opened in their back.

" B-But you can't.. ! "

The woman stared at the couple, her gaze darkened as she put an index on her mouth.

" Sssh.... "

Then she turned on her heels to go through the portal, taking the girl with her. 

         Korrilla had no trouble bringing the young girl to the House of Hope. She's been living in unenviable conditions, and she needed nothing more than the promise of a new life to convince her to follow the dwarf.

When she saw the place for the first time, her eyes shone with admiration, because she couldn't imagine that there could be a more beautiful place in the world. Everything was luxury and excess, and the little girl didn't fail to notice the impressive amount of food which was on a large table. She felt her stomach growl at the mere sight of it. But her attention was quickly diverted when she had to face the master of the House: Raphael.

            The latter was in his library, sitting in a fancy chair, reading a book in front of a huge fireplace where a comforting fire burned. He looked up when he heard Korrilla's footsteps, and a surprised look appeared on his usually serious face. But he kept his composure as she approached with the young girl. 

He closed his book, put it on a pedestal table and stood up from his chair, taking a few steps forward. 

" What - ", he interrupted himself when he saw his warlock covered in dust and raised an eyebrow, " ... No matter "

He took a look at the tiny figure before him, his arms crossed, his chin resting on one of his fists.

" Korrilla, explain yourself... "

" It is a long story ", admitted Korrilla who was too tired to elaborate, " But I had no other choice but to bring her here ", she paused for a second or two, then added quickly, " At least, you can check if she really is what you think "

The devil's eyes slightly widened. That was her ? She looked so fragile, so vulnerable... The Cambion didn't expect her to be in such a bad condition.  

" Are you sure, Korrilla...? ", he asked, not convinced by the child. 

The dwarf nodded and did her best to hide her annoyance. She hadn't spent the entire day as a mouse to be doubted, she thought. 

" There is no mistake. Today was very... Instructive, I would say ", she answered, " Shinning blood, fast recovery... She looks like a miserable Tiefling but I can assure you that she's definitely more than that "

Raphael considered her words and leaned towards her to examine her better. She indeed looked like a Tiefling, but there were slight differences. Her horns were thinner, for example, and as the warlock told him the other day, she had no tail and none of those characteristic sharp traits at some places.

When their eyes met, the child didn't look away, fascinated by this stranger who had something both reassuring and threatening. That was also the first time she saw a devil and she couldn't help but stare at his wings.

" You don't look afraid of me, aren't you ? ", he finally said.

She looked at him again but didn't answer, not afraid but impressed nonetheless.

Raphael had the time to read more about the Dracanist people while he was alone, and he wanted to check something. He gently grabbed one of her horns between his thumb and index, checking its consistency. He could feel a discreet kind of vibration emanating from it, almost like a silent purr. There was some magic in it, he thought.

His face was less severe, but he needed another proof... This vibration thing wasn't common but it wasn't enough for him.

" Make her bleed ", the devil said.

Korrilla looked a bit surprised, she wasn't expecting him to ask such a thing now, even if it seemed logical.

" Just a scratch ", he added nonchalantly, noticing her sudden reluctance, " Needless to make a mess of her "

The woman approached her who was staring at her with an apprehensive look, but she remained perfectly still.

" It's going to be ok ", she whispered, taking her wrist in her hand. 

Raphael raised his eyes to heaven in her back, his arms crossed, he wasn't a very patient man sometimes. 

The warlock held the little girl's hand opened and pulled out a penknife from her pocket. The child watched her puting the blade on her palm without moving or saying anything, as if she was absent.

" Make it quick ", insisted the Cambion.

The dwarf took a breath and in one motion, she cut into the delicate flesh. 

The horned creature groaned in pain, her fingers twitching, but she didn't try to remove her hand. A few drops of blood fell on the floor, but the rest was like floating. Her eyes changed too, they were still red but... Different, like two scarlet lights in the dark, and her pupils were completely gone. It lasted until the bleeding stop.

" My my... ", Raphael said, suddenly delighted by what he was observing, " Now, that is interesting "

He put a knee down to take a closer look, grabbing her tiny hand and brushing his thumb over the fresh wound, making it sparkle and making her slightly tremble. The child frowned but did her best to hide her discomfort. Also, he could see the wound starting to close itself slowly already. 

The Devil looked at her again.

“ What is your name, little mouse? ”

She hesitated for a few seconds, intimidated.

" .... L... Luvia.. ", she replied in her small voice.

" That's quite a name. Well Luvia, welcome to the House of Hope "

             Then he snapped his fingers, and the child's rags changed into a fancy dress, with a dark blue tiny doublet with long red sleeves, decorated with golden details, reminiscent of Raphael's outfit. Her hair was clean, and her face was clear. It was as if she had taken a bath without realizing it.

                         “That’s better.”

To be continued...

Bonus: Chapter 2 first version

[shadowfalllen]

More TDTG lore? Yes please.

2. Describe their tent setup! What’s on the outside? The inside?

4. What would your Tav’s romance scenes look like? How many would they have?

7. Describe their arc. How would a player help resolve it? What choices can be made? Can your Tav be turned down a dark path, or pulled to a lighter one?

14. Where are they from? What was home like?

16. What do they do for fun, when not adventuring? What are their hobbies?

24. What does your Tav consider to be their own biggest character flaw?

25. What is something they would die on a hill over?

29. What fears keep them up at night?

30. What does your Tav want more than anything?

Hi Shirlsie! Thank you so much for the questions, some of them really put me thinking which is a good thing! 😊❤️

Your Tav as a Companion 2. Describe their tent setup! What’s on the outside? The inside?

Tav's tent would be simple in design, but deep burgundy in color. Outside, she'd have a training dummy like Lae'zel has, but instead looking like a mind flayer, it would be made of wood with a bucket for a head. The dummy would be used to practice fencing moves. There would also be a small round table with two chairs, a deck of cards, and some dice on the table, inviting other party members to play. Inside, the setup would be minimalistic—a sleeping bag with an extra pillow for comfort, and maybe an additional blanket (I can easily imagine Tav nestling into some pillows and blankets). 4. What would your Tav’s romance scenes look like? How many would they have?

If my Tav were an Origin character, she would have three romance scenes—one in each act. The first scene could tie into the tiefling party: celebrating the thrill of victory would excite her, leading her to go all the way in the first scene, showing off her old habits of casual sex and thrill-seeking. The next day, she would be surprised that the player wanted something more than just sex but would agree to continue whatever they have going on. As the romance progresses, the second scene would involve her grappling with her growing feelings for the player, while fearing that they aren't reciprocated or that the player is just using her for their own gain. The final scene, in Act 3, would show Tav finally accepting that the player truly loves her, and she would admit that she loves them in return. 7. Describe their arc. How would a player help resolve it? What choices can be made? Can your Tav be turned down a dark path, or pulled to a lighter one?

Tav's arc could tie into the underbelly of Baldur's Gate. Many of the other companions have clearly two routes: trying to achieve something they think they want and then becoming powerful "bad guys" or finding healing and quieter, but more happier existence. Tav's dream might be to dethrone Nine Fingers Keene and become the leader of the Thieves’ Guild. Succeeding would lead her down a darker path, where her personality takes a darker turn. Initially, she’d believe she could do some good with her power, but as bitterness from her past takes over, she becomes an iron-fisted ruler of the underworld—thus becoming the very thing she despises: a tyrant who abuses her power. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, after all.

The "good" route would involve the player convincing Tav not to dethrone Nine Fingers, helping Tav realize that power would only corrupt her and make her become like the people she despises from her past. Tav would come to see that she now has real friends who care about her for who she is—a found family that won't betray her trust. She might even give up thrill-seeking altogether, pursuing honest work and building a home and stable life, something she hasn't had since running away.

Back to Basics 14. Where are they from? What was home like?

Tav was the youngest in the Thornwood family, a mediocre noble family residing in Neverwinter. Her mother and father were distant, preoccupied with climbing the social ladder. As a child, Tav never felt loved for who she was; there was no warmth in her home. She was closer to her siblings (she had four older ones) than to her parents, but they all left home one by one as her parents married them off to families that were wealthier and higher in social standing, while Tav's oldest brother was destined to inherit their modest estate. An arranged marriage awaited Tav as soon as she came of age, so she decided to run away from home. 16. What do they do for fun, when not adventuring? What are their hobbies?

Tav is an adrenaline junkie, which is why she continues to work as a rogue even after the Absolute crisis and her rise as the savior of Baldur's Gate. This fame could have allowed her to pursue an honest line of work. Tav enjoys gambling—dice, cards, you name it—because it gives her a thrill. One thing she has kept from her noble past is fencing.

Deep Dives 24. What does your Tav consider to be their own biggest character flaw?

Her inability to cope with her emotions. She tends to bury her feelings until she numbs herself, and then seeks risks and adrenaline rushes to feel alive again. She knows this isn't healthy and wishes she could find better ways to deal with her emotions and heal from her past experiences. She also has a habit of seeking love in the wrong places, often from people who aren't emotionally available or don't reciprocate her feelings. 25. What is something they would die on a hill over?

Tav despises people who abuse their position of power. This has happened to her personally, both before the events of the game and during them, when she witnessed her friends being manipulated by powerful people or divine beings, their lives toyed with. The hill she would die on is opposing oppressors and tyrants, whether they are petty mortals or even pettier gods. 29. What fears keep them up at night?

Before the events of To Defy The Gods, Tav’s biggest fear was never seeing Shadowheart again, so she kept meeting her no matter how much it hurt to part ways each time they met and know Shadowheart's heart belonged to Shar. Tav feared Shadowheart would never turn away from Shar, that she was in too deep. Tav also worried that their secret affair would ultimately end in tragedy because of Shar and her hold on Shadowheart.

Now, Tav's fear is that even after turning away from Shar, Shadowheart will never be able to fully escape Shar's wrath, and Tav fears for Shadowheart's life. Even though they’re back together, Tav is still afraid that something will come between them. She isn’t used to having stability or true love, and she fears losing what little she has now. 30. What does your Tav want more than anything?

To be loved for who she is. Tav has not had many people in her life who have loved her unconditionally, including family members. Her past romantic entanglements have either been for the thrill or have been one-sided.

[felassan]

Check out Mark Darrah’s latest video in the Memories and Lessons series, “Jade Empire - Memories and Lessons”, for insights into and commentary on the development of Jade Empire. In it he talks about KOTOR & Neverwinter Nights, cancelled BioWare projects (Jade Empire 2, Jade Modern & Revolver), the tech stacks BioWare had going around the time when they were developing the first Dragon Age and Mass Effect games, and the possibility of and his thoughts on a Jade Empire 2 or Jade Empire 1 remaster coming out in the future. I thought the segments on Tho Fan and alien language and Kung Fu Panda were particularly interesting.

Video description:

Jade Empire was BioWare's first new IP since Shattered Steel (right at the start of the companies existence) While I was a lead on Baldur's Gate 2, Jade Empire was the first time I did things like scheduling and triage. Early in the development of Jade Empire, I was pulled onto Neverwinter Nights to build the DM client for that game as it closed in on ship. Chapters: 0:00 Impact 0:50 Five Fingers of Death 1:24 Paper Prototypes 3:01 Neverwinter Nights 4:45 Scheduling 8:51 Tools 11:34 Consistent Fidelity 13:16 XBox and Memory Hacks 14:42 KOTOR 16:19 Tho Fan and Alien Language 17:42 Balance != Fun 18:54 Focus on Shipping 21:03 Jade Empire 2 and Jade Modern 25:03 Stream Arquitect and Nintendo DS 25:58 Kung Fu Panda 27:49 Jade Empire 2 / Jade Remaster

[source]

[thecrushheb]

Just finished Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous and I need to get some thoughts down about it. I mean, 130 hours is so much to dedicate to something, of course I have thoughts. *SPOILERS*

A few things to premise my thoughts:

1. I played a Chaotic Good, Half-Orc, Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager) w/ 9 levels of Dragon Disciple. Full tanky strength build (could get to like 48 str when fully buffed. Probably could have gone higher had I understood mechanics a bit better, more on that later).

2. I played the Azata mythic path

3. I romanced Wenduag

4. Had to put the crusade on auto because it was unbearable

*Mechanics*

Okay so I’ll start by talking about the mechanics. I really enjoyed building my character, and even spent a bunch of time in the respec screen without saving just seeing what I could make of my guy and my companions (Wenduag Rough Rowdy double throwing axes is ludicrous), it was fun. My issue was that I felt like if I didn’t min max as hard as I possibly could I would be completely left out to die against some of the games many wild difficulty spikes. I started by just dropping the difficulty a bit, but then realized I really had to just look at some build guides for certain characters because we were still getting wrecked. It helped a lot (again, Wenduag could get ridiculous, also had a good nenio build I liked), but I don’t like that to even play at .8 damage against and slightly weaker enemies I had to optimize like a champ. 

And I mentioned the difficulty spikes, my goodness. There were a bunch of random fights that I had to look up strats or just see if people found them as crazy hard as I did, then just drop the difficulty to get through the extra tough ones. I know that this is sort of a “git gud” situation, but like, it’s just not why I play crpgs. At least not to that degree. I loved Neverwinter Nights 2 and never messed with the difficulty, even turned the difficulty on Divinity Original Sin 2 higher because I enjoyed it so much, but the combat just felt less strategic and more tedious, to the point that I realized if I tried a couple things and still couldn’t get it, I was just going to enjoy myself more turning the difficulty down rather than trying to puzzle the fight out like I would in Divinity. Couldn’t beat it with all my summons and buffs and positioning my guys right? Well, not worth trying again adjusting my strategy incrementally, easy mode it goes.

I think this partially stems just from the pathfinder system and how much randomness is in a d20, but also they really went full power gamer for this game, so it was completely self inflicted. The mystic paths gave such a ludicrous power jump that to keep up with that there had to be power spikes for enemies, and if you didn’t optimize all choices and understand every buff system and spell system, there was stuff that was just going to be too hard. I mean, there was a point where I looked up a guide for a quest and it mentioned that one of the only ways to really have a good chance against a certain mini boss was to debuff it in a particular way that I just would never have thought of, and didn’t have the spell for. So like, what am I even doing right? I did end up completing the game on .8 damage against and slightly weaker enemies, but, the occasional mini boss had to be nuked on easy just to get the story, which I didn’t feel good doing. It also made you really consider party makeup mechanically which I don’t want to do with so many good competing personalities. Sure I was the only tank, but I wasn’t about to lug Seelah around just to not die when that slot could be taken by a character with a personality. 

Verdict: really fun character building system, characters got too powerful and power spikey to handle in a fun way eventually.

*Main story*

Kinda ass. Okay I’ll be more thorough. I did not give even half a shit about the main story until... Minhago? and even with her and staunton I was really just reaching for things to hang onto, then wasn’t engaged again until mid act 4. The biggest issue was that there was no characters to attach to anything and generic fighting demons on a crusade against evil just had nothing that hooked me in; until they put character to the plots. Once Areelu was an actual character involved, and the demon lords (minor as well, looking at you minhago) showed up, actually making the conflict personal, I got into it, but that was like 90 some odd hours in except the small Minhago and Staunton thread. Everything else having to do with the main story until then felt like a complete drag and time sink. Galfrey might have been able to save it a bit if she had a stronger personality early on, but even then, meh. 

It didn’t help that it starts with absolutely no context, you don’t know who you are (horrible trope), and have no relationships. I compare here to Neverwinter Nights 2 that starts you in town with friends and everyone knows you and talks to you letting you in on who you are, it made the next bits of story actually hold weight. Here it does not. It throws you into a conflict, kills a dragon you don’t know, then tells you to make your way to the surface with Seelah, who has the personality of a bud light. But I’m getting ahead of myself, this is about the main plot. I’ll wrap it up though: Put faces to your main plot movers and I’ll care. Baphomet’s portion of plot in act 5 felt entirely like a side quest (maybe it was, it’s hard to tell what you actually had to do and what was skippable), but I also wanted desperately to face him because he had personality and weight (and maybe the best portrait).

Areelu’s lab was terrible and not engaging until I viewed it in retrospect. Everything Areelu in the 5th act was amazingly done and engaging, but context was left too late. All the Demon lords were awesome, loved Noctula, what a well written and performed character. in fact

Voice Acting: A+ the best I've ever heard in a game, and from so much of the cast.

Alushinyrra was so frustrating to navigate I almost quit on multiple occasions, and like everything in the game, I spent 70% of it just trying to knock out quests, then was really engaged in the final bits of all the quests. This was the section with the best quests, and had it not been for the infuriating navigation would have been the best section of the game. Great characters and good writing in here, but too much running around spinning the camera to build into those quests. 

The final revelations, where you leave each major player from Galfrey to the demon lords to Areelu, was all phenomenal. What a way to wrap up an enormous game and made it all feel worth it in the end (despite all the bitching). Incredibly well tied up, but the good writing was entirely back loaded (likely they wrote out the very intricate story beforehand and then when parceling out revelations couldn’t figure out how to evenly spread it without spoiling parts or wrapping up some things but not others in a way they wanted. I can see the dilemma as a writer, but it doesn’t make it work).

*Azata (short section)*

This was fine, it lent cool gameplay moments throughout the rest of the game being able to drop in songs and heal parts of the land, interactions with beings from Elysium, allowing me to be the paragon of chaotic good with a love of nature I so love to be (and sort of am irl). However the actual story parts that were azata story missions were really mid. Nothing particularly interesting happened there (”a floating island!” doesn’t really feel too crazy in Golarion, idk why everyone there treated it like it was nuts, like we’re in the worldwound guys). Also, the characters were the most irritatingly written. I really don’t want to meet the person who wrote the dragon companion’s dialog and wasn’t embarrassed to put that shit out to the world. 

*Characters (finally)*

I spent most of the game with: Wenduag, Daeron, Ember, Nenio, and Arueshalae. I also did quite a bit of Camellia’s quest. I know I missed out on so many companions and this is the biggest driver of any future replay I might do. 

Imagine a paladin who drinks, that’s Seelah. And that’s why I didn’t bring her as soon as I had enough companions to make choices. Game was too long for her decent personality to not get old way too fast as it was way too one note and she doesn’t react much to your choices. Flat.

Something I did absolutely love: “Choose between two for your next companion” is awesome! And a little almost self contained module to lead you to your decision, it just was so engaging and made me so much more attached to my choice that they were the companion I cared about most, and the only one I cared about really, for the next 30-40 hours, until the rest of them had some time to make half the impression that the choice gave you. Great writing.

I went with Wenduag. I knew nothing about the story or world yet except that there was a demon lord upstairs who just killed a dragon everyone told me was powerful. Did Wendu seem evil? Sure. But she also had a really good point about Lann’s weakness, and he didn’t do anything to dispel that notion. I needed her, and knew that if it came to it I could ditch her later too. But then she lied to me and I was captivated. I was captivated because in her lie, she also was clearly lying to herself. And the voice actor, my lord, what a performance. Without the acting and subtle writing I might have missed her lying to herself, but it was there for sure. She *did* care about her tribe like she’d initially said, just maybe not too much, but also why would she lie and say she didn’t at all when she was confessing to lying about saying she did? Immediately she showed an insecurity that made her interesting. As a chaotic good I just kept poking and prodding her toward goodness and showing her I cared, that she belonged, and exploring her insecurities, and her arc was brilliant. There were definitely a few writing blunders where I think she came off a little too uncaring and evil a little too late in her arc, but how it ended and the times it got it right along the way were next level good. The actor’s performance for her final questline, voice shaking and choked with emotion, was the best (I ran out of superlatives). Immediately makes it onto my s tier character writing and performance all time.

Ember... She was alright. I think finding her warranted more build, more story, like Wenduag had. She’s too bizarre to just drop in like the others. Once I did feel like I got what her deal was (as much as you can with what you’re given), I liked having her in the party. Her banter was good (they all had good banter tbh), her quest was compelling but felt very obvious and without nuance. I liked getting an end slide that she made Noctula become the redeemer queen, like that was seriously awesome, but she didn’t have many facets to her (also her quest glitched at like, the last moment and I never technically completed it. though, getting that Noctula end slide tells me I did enough. her being sad at the end though because a quest wouldnt complete when i completed it made me sad). 

Camellia, what a creep. Interesting plot to her story, delightfully nasty, but being even a little good made it almost impossible to go along with anything she wanted lol. She’s evil as hell, so it could be better with an evil playthrough, but I didn’t get the sense she would really arc at all. Basically you just find new levels of perversion, which is interesting and engaging, but I didn’t finish her questline so I don’t want to say too much. 

Nenio’s quest was so compelling but lacked personality. It was very spotty too picking up bits of it randomly and again with no real story to it. And that megadungeon to finish her quest was damn near unbearable. She was annoying but it made for good banter, especially with NPCs and enemies, loved having her in the party, spent entirely too much time on a quest with no narrative for her though. I felt like it had the potential to be more fleshed out.

Daeron had a fantastic personality, great banter, great quest to meet him, great personal quest too. Only issue I had, which takes him down a half a notch, is that the end to his quest was really lackluster. It was such a cool premise and then you don’t interact with it for ages and when it finally comes back its just a small confrontation where you’re forced to kill Liotr, for what? Can’t see myself playing through without him, or at least if I do to make room for other companions on a new playthrough I will definitely miss him. I was disappointed that despite seemingly not really being truly evil, just fronting to keep face as an aristocrat since he came with me and just did good acts for the entirety of the game, he was just regular evil for the closing slides. 

Arueshalae had the most satisfying change in her character (except maybe Wenduag), redeeming herself from being a succubus. As an azata, this might have been the most fitting romance for me, but just going through her quest platonically was so satisfying. Going into her dreams and watching her learn to have feelings like a human was well done. My one gripe was that she seemed so naïve for someone who had apparently ruined tons of lives eating souls as a succubus. She should have been a lot more mature, and I feel like she was made kind of clueless just for “Born Sexy Yesterday” trope’s sake. Her parts of her quest where she was dealing with things she genuinely wouldn’t understand, or dealing with her past where she had to acknowledge the things she’d done were the best bits because they forced her into the character she should have been. Coincidentally her banter was poor because of her unfathomable childishness outside of those. 

Overall I enjoyed the game a ton, but the strength of the ending really rose tints what was a slog for a huge portion. The fact that I’m saying I’d consider replaying would have sounded insane to me between hours 40 and 90. The biggest thing holding it back was that it just had so much fucking stuff. So much breadth that it took ages to get to the depth of any piece of it, and so little was self contained until you started wrapping things up at the end. I started out thinking the characters were super weak, and ended up considering Wenduag, Arueshalae, and Daeron(’s personality only), among the best companion writing, maybe straight up the best companion writing I’ve ever played. I also consider the strength of the personalities in the game, from many companions to the many demon lords, the guy that ran the battlebliss, areelu, some of the most compelling personalities I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. 

[maximuswolf]

My Review for Dragon Age Veilguard after 110 Hours

My Review for Dragon Age Veilguard after 110 Hours This Review is an exact copy of my Steam Review of the Game.TLDR: BIOWARE IS BACK IN TOP FORM, THEY HAVE CREATED SOMETHING SPECIAL HERE.Rating: 10/10Dragon Age Veilguard Very Well May Be / Become a CLASSIC0 FETCH QUESTS!Bioware has been honing there craft at game development of RPG's coming up on 30 years now, they have created Legendary Titles from Baldur's gate & Neverwinter Nights to Star Wars KOTOR & Jade Empire to Their own Personal IP's of Mass Effect and Dragon Age...They are a Legendary Studio, and They have crafted a Diamond of a RPG!I'm sitting at just over 110 Hours, I'm a max level 50 rogue Duelist, I have completed every quest i could find, Done every companion Quest, Reached Max Level, Done Every Faction Quest, and Every Side Quest Or Activity i could find, Every story Quest, killed every dragon, Defeated Multiple Gods, Saved the World, Had a Romance. ive completed the game.My Opinion: This game isn't good, its not great, its Close to Perfection (For What I Think Dragon Age Should Be)I Love This Game, Everything is Improved from previous gamesStory was Perfection, twists and turns, tons of memorable moments, struggle, decisions / consequences, great boss battlesCombat was Brutal and Weighty and Immensely Satisfing.Companions were all Interesting / Their Companion Quests Were all Amazing / I Love Them AllEnviroments and Citys Were Georgous / Exciting to ExploreFight Sequences and Boss Battles were Crazy, On Another LevelRPG Mechaics were solid, Progression feels good, max level of 50 feels good,Abilitys / Skills / Specializations Feel distinct, useful, and worth tryig out different builds. (Only Tested rogue)Armor / Weapons / Trinkets / Base Customizations: Varied, good looking, synergize with your build,, faction prefrence and back story.Endings(s): PERFECTION, everything id hoped and more.3 Classes, 9 Specializations, 7? Backstorys, 7 companions...that seem to all be Romancable... (You've Waited Long Enough Harding Lovers), 7 Factions, Multiple Cities, Tons of Locations, Tons of Loot, Lots of Puzzles and Secrets, Great Exploration, Many Different Choice Outcomes, Various Endings, Over 100 Quests, 2 evil gods, 2 arch demons, 10 dragons...... 1 Huge Adventure!0 FETCH QUESTS!Score: 10/10Dragon Age Veilguard Very Well May Be / Become a CLASSIC Submitted November 17, 2024 at 10:22AM by TheRealShmoov https://ift.tt/t3MeQE9 via /r/gaming

[puppy-wife]

okokok i have charged up the social batteries and am ready to yap back @ u!!!!!!

so again, ty for such a big answer 😭 i love hearing ppl yap about their special interests, v cool v nice

questions i have are:

why is 3.5e your fave? im only familar with 5e so i dont know much

playing wit tarot cards instead of dice sounds cool af, which game do u do that in?

for ur world building, how do u personally go about starting such a vast project?

as for meee i havent actually played a TTRPG yet 🤓 i have only watched 5e campaigns on youtube so far! but i love the creativity that goes into this stuff & it has become one of my favourite pieces of media to consume

no YOU'RE very cool very nice I love opportunities to talk about my favorite stuff, so I am absolutely super happy lmao

1.) I really liked 3.5e because it gave a lot more variety and ways to make your character unique vs 5e today (don't even get me started on fucking OneD&D or whatever they're calling it. trash). Firstly, back then wizards was making so many books for that edition that you could make any kind of character you wanted to play. They even allowed official material to be printed by other companies!! you want to play the ultimate evil wizard who gives people cancer? that exists. you want to play the perfect necromancer, and maybe even be undead yourself? you can do that. You could build your characters skills to different levels and choose exactly how good you are at certain things. You could take a Flaw, a permanent debuff on your character but in exchange get a Feat! god fucking Prestige Classes!! those were the coolest fucking part of the game, building a character and leveling them up enough to unlock this special class with wild abilities you can't get from a basic class. this isn't to say that 3.5e didn't have its faults, it could be confusing and the math could sometimes really add up. in some ways it needed a bit of streamlining but 5e basically threw a lot of that away in order to streamline everything. If you want a good example but how fluid 3.5e could be, you should play the videogame Neverwinter Nights 1 or 2, the system they use in that game is taken directly from 3.5e. It just made characters feel so mechanically unique that each character felt different. These days it almost feels too formulaic and too streamlined.

2. I honestly don't know what the name of using it is called, anytime me and my friends have done it, we just use the reference book that comes with a tarot deck and spontaneously decide the outcome based on the way the card could be interpreted. For example, let's say you're fighting a monster, and you want to try and escape from the monster, maybe even lure it away from your friends so they can escape. If you drew the Ten of Swords, I would say that would mean that you successfully draw the monster away, but you fall prey to it in the process. or something similar, yanno? but I don't know if that style of playing has a name given to it lol

3. oh I actually had someone ask me that yesterday! I'll send you the post once I find it, I was very active yesterday so it may take me a minute lol

you're so valid for that!! it can be hard to find a good group to play with, every group I've had has kind of fallen into my lap, but also to be fair I am known for being very into ttrpgs lmao

what are your favorite shows/campaigns you've watched? fun fact somewhere out there exists about 30 episodes of a d&d actual play podcast that I DM'd from somewhere around like... 2019? I think? lmao. technically I have a TON of episodes in a backlog somewhere that I never edited but that campaign kind of fell apart and I never finished it.

[lordfentongaming]

Neverwinter Nights 2 Focused Arcane Archer Ranger Shadowdancer and Wizar...

[ultramaga]

"Show me one." No, you lazy git, go look yerself. "These things don't exist" Uh huh. (*yawns*)

"The game you are so devoted to is a projection made up in your mind" I put in 12 000 hours into fallout 4 - once it was heavily modded. In that time, the bugs I reported were never solved. I did notice the unofficial patch did solve quite a lot, which screwed Bethesda over when FO76 launched, because suddenly all the bugs that had been there since almost day one were exposed as STILL BEING THERE. You don't have to believe me mate, but I don't really see the difference between that and not believing that the Vietnam War ever happened. We were there, we saw it, then you come along and say we were hallucinating. Nah, get fucked mate, if you couldn't be bothered in all those years seeing ONE video that countered your point of view, or taking the time to have a look at the forums, that's one you. It's ancient history. You can rave about it all you like. "Obsidian did not use a computerized bug-tracking system" Whereas Beth flatly ignored theirs. You are talking to one of the people who gave up reporting bugs. "You want to hate Bethesda games" Twelve. Thousand. Hours. Gosh, I must just be a hater! "The entire New Vegas fandom is like this!" Nah, mate, the entire Fallout fandom is like this. Polls went by pretty regularly. NV was the favourite, year after year. I don't know if the current wave of gamers ever played it, but quite a few checked it out. It takes tweaking to get it to work on modern systems, but there's still a lot of love for it.

Is it that you just don't read what I type, or you do read, then erase it from your memory when it is inconvenient?

"NV and NWN2 refused to fucking launch on 1/3rd of people's computers" I had no problem. I didn't like Mask of the Betrayer, and I think that was the only expansion I bought, but it wasn't the technical side of things that stopped me.

Reception of Neverwinter Nights 2 was generally favorable.[75][74] It placed number 6 on Amazon's video game pre-order list the week before its release,[77] and was a best-seller for several weeks afterwards.[78][79] It received GameSpot's "Best Story" award for 2006, beating out the reader's choice, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.[76] It was also nominated for a Golden Joystick Award for Best PC Game of 2006.[80] The editors of Computer Games Magazine presented Neverwinter Nights 2 with their 2006 "Best Writing" award, and it was a runner-up for their list of the year's top 10 computer games.[81] Oh yeah, it's just a hallucination, everybody hated it ....

88 new mods just this week for a game that was released 14 years ago.

Fallout 3?

7. New mods. Wow. Now Fallout 4 blows both out the water, the fact is I think when modded, it's better than both, because YOU IGNORE THE BETHESDA STORY AND CREATE YOUR OWN GAME. Which is why mods like Sim Settlements 2 and The Fens Sheriff's and the Depravity series are so popular. They overwrite the main quest so you ignore it. Nobody cares about finding Shaun. Not even the devs cared. As they said in the recording, they couldn't be bothered because they figured the players would just build shacks and shoot things.

When the truth was, we came here to rock.

impossible challenge: show me some way in which New Vegas is actually (as in actually) about politics and has something to say about or some means of engaging with politics...

...and this message or theme has to be stronger and more prevalent than the "the US could have won Vietnam if they had tried harder" theme

[jesawyer]

This is subjective but If you agree, why do you think Oblivion is so successful (in terms of quality) when making sequels to existing IP's? I'm thinking specifically games like Fallout: New Vegas, Knights of the old republic 2, and Neverwinter Nights 2. Really great games that were leaps in quality from their predecessors

Yeah, it's very subjective, but sequels/spin-offs have (presumably) a solid base to build off of. Even with fewer resources, it's typically easier to execute on a plan because of that foundation.

[lyriumrain]

Yknow what? Here's a readmore to hide my disgusting dragon age opinion.

Hm.

I loved Inquisition. For all my criticisms, i did thoroughly enjoy my time with it. But I don't think Witcher 3 is solely to blame for the game's lack of longevity, outside of the fandom space. (That being said, I'm pretty sure DA:I was GOTY in a lot of gaming publications, so it's not like it had no impact.)

I just dont think it succeeded as an RPG. Which maybe I'm biased about, given that Bioware used to make excellent RPGs: Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic.

The story of DA:I and the choices presented to us as role playing elements didn't leave an impression with me. There wasn't a whole lot of room for creativity in character building. The individuality of the inquisitor mainly comes from the player's headcanons.

I harbour no ill will towards bioware for these things mind you - modern game development is hard and expensive, especially when they have to try and account for many different choices. I think the issue is I've seen what they can do, or used to do, and it makes me sad thinking that we won't see another game quite like their old catalogue. These days there are other developers picking up the torch, like with Divinity Original Sin 2 and Pillars of Eternity (and possibly Baldur's Gate 3? I'm not sure how well it's going to stand in comparison to 1 & 2 irt roleplaying. It seems like it's more about the companions that it is about the character we play as, but maybe I just didn't play enough of the early access to see anything else.)

Modern dragon age feels closer to an action adventure game with light roleplaying elements, and that's ok. It's ok for bioware to change, they don't have to be The RPG Guys forever.

[blue-shadows-in-the-night]

time for a nerd rant

man i want them to make a Neverwinter Nights 2 remake so badly. i love the game’s music, story, atmosphere, characters, and D&D 3.5 is actually so interesting and fun to use if you can get over how needlessly complicated it can be (it being mostly automated with the rolls and stuff because PC Game makes it considerably better) but the thing has so many obvious bugs and glitches as well as bad graphics and missing animations.

i want them to remake it and add in the missing combat animations (female Half-Orcs are just broken both in and out of combat.) make it so player created characters are not butt ugly anymore (some are ok but the rest are horrible even considering the game’s age.) i want the cutscenes to be more elaborate. the missing Romance paths need to be re-integrated (NEESHKA MY BELOVED) and the current ones need a little reworking. ADD SAME-SEX ROMANCING FOR CHRIST SAKE! I WANT MY COOL AF AASIMAR GIRL TO BE IN A LOVING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE KLEPTOMANIAC TIEFLING!!!!! speaking of Tieflings, make their horns bigger and ALLOW YOU TO PUT A TAIL ON THEM!!! 

add more weapons and better armor designs. rework some of the racial stats (MAKE HALF-ORCS FUCKING PLAYABLE GODS DAMN YOU) and rework some of the classes (Favored Soul is cool and all but it feels lackluster. Spirit Shaman is absurdly situational. Wildshape Druids are some of the WORST builds in the game. just a few of the things that need fixing.)

i just love being the Kalach-Cha and fighting for West Harbor and meeting all those colorful people that join your party and getting to know them and fighting alongside them and fighting in the War of Shadows and the ENTIRETY of the Amon Jerro story and just everything about it is so awesome JUST MAKE THE GAME BETTER LOOKING AND MORE ENGAGING PLEASE WIZARDS OF THE COAST/ATARI/OBSIDIAN/WHOEVER OWNS THE RIGHTS TO IT I BEG OF YOU

end rant

[rpgchoices]

Useless rpgs recs. Rpgs where you can own/buy a home (minor spoilers)

Dragon Age 2: You can reclaim your old family house  Dragon Age: Inquisition: You claim and repair a fort Heaven’s Vault: Your ship is your house The Witcher 3: You get a house with vineyard as a quest and can repair it with another quest Mass Effect games: Your space ship is your home Hero-U Rogue to Redemption: You get a room (and a roommate) in the school Fable: You can purchase multiple houses Fable II: You can purchase multiple houses Fable III: You can purchase multiple houses Arcanum of Steamworks and Magick Obscura: After the evil ending of a certain quest, you can buy a manor Pathfinder: Kingmaker: You reclaim a castle (decorations of the kingdom change based on your alignment) Greedfall: you own a house Shadowrun Hong Kong: You will have a base to return to Shadowrun Dragonfall:  You will have a base to return to Kult: Heretic Kingdoms: You can buy two houses in the two main cities Expedition: Vikings: You own a house Skyrim: You can buy a house or a land, where you can then build and furnish your own house. Oblivion: you can purchase a house Pendula Swing: You own a house, and you will inherit an apartment in the city which you can keep or give away Pillars of Eternity: you reclaim and repair a fort Pillars of Eternity Deadfire: Your ship is your house Baldur’s Gate 2: You can purchase a stronghold, a different one based on your class Neverwinter Night 2: You claim and customize a fort (sorry I accidentally put Hero-U twice!) Divinity Original Sin 1: You get a whole magic house in another dimension.  Enderal: You can purchase two houses Divine Divinity: You can purchase a house

ADDED by commenters: Divinity 2 Ego Draconis (you can claim a fort)

[autumnbrambleagain]

Morrowind has had a really weird modding history. In its early days, Morrowind was one of the few only fantasy games that had open, accessible modding to the degree that it had. No, let’s be honest: it, along with Neverwinter Nights, was one of the only 2 fantasy games that had any real meaningfully accessible modding whatsoever.

It also came out about the same time as Lord of the Rings, and it attracted a lot of what is a dying genre--the wicca-in-aesthetics, the kind of people who have little fairy statues all around the house, who are dragon otherkins but in the 80s understanding of dragons, people who have “winsome dragon statues” made of cheap resin sitting on their computer desks, who go to renaissance faires in vaguely-medieval dresses and buy lots of incense and quote Monty Python often.

No judgements, this is the kind of person I wanted to grow up to be as a kid and I’m deeply disappointed we never made it to that point but life kind of sucks forever, so whatever! Except for the quoting Monty Python part, we have an ENTIRE OTHER rant saved up for that.

Our point we’re trying to make: Morrowind has a very strong, very cohesive setting and aesthetic. Compared to stuff like Ultima, which had a lot of “lore” but was ultimately still very much... very much generic fantasy by comparison? Morrowind takes place in a weird place undergoing colonization, but also trying itself to execute colonization/slavery on OTHERS too.

A place with a deeply entrenched religion, a uniquely bizarre culture, it was, at the time, absolutely mindblowing to see something BESPOKE in a fantasy game when the alternative was, always, remixes of the same handful of generic Tolkein-derived nothings.

Not to say that Morrowind’s setting is honestly like, super great or mindbreaking--it was great in the CONTEXT relative to its contemporaries. Morrowind’s setting is honestly kind of bland in a lot of ways to me these days and it’s why I fuck around in my own settings so much, even if you don’t get to see very much of it. You dont’ see us playing Morrowind either not everything has to be shared with you.

ANYWAY.

Our point: Bethesda, back when it had some good things still in it, went “Here’s this bizarre fucking fantasy setting, it’s weird as fuck and has a ton of internal contexts and consistencies.”

And the modding community went “Nice, I want to put Drow in.” Some of them went as far as “dark elf” and went “Ah, the Dunmer must be like the Drow, they probably have the same culture.” Some modders went “neat, a fantasy game, here’s my mod that adds a pixie who runs a shop in Balmora!”

You had people like Sabregirl who was putting in races from their original setting so you had fox people and bird-dragons with dialogue about their space civilization. You had moogles. You had Lord of the Rings.

People just layered their generic fantasy onto Morrowind, never engaging with its weird setting, and it was wild. It was weird. It was all there--the setting was waiting to be explored, and people just wanted... here’s my magic unicorn elf dragon fantasy girl with huge eyes and dragonfly wings :3 in this... setting about racism, xenophobia, and lies.

it was great.

One of the best examples of this is the venerable and amazing Uvirith’s Legacy+Building up Uvirith’s Legacy. It’s a great, great fucking “house” mod that expands Tel Uvirith from a shitty little tower into an entire expansion pack with dozens of quests, very minor city management mechanics, a bunch of fun new characters.

Stuporstar made it out of several previous Uvirith mods and did a lot of work bringing it up to code as something new and great and all their own (although I also gutted it and redecorated the interior to suit my moods better but that’s Morrowind baybey)

And it, for the most part, does engage with the actual Morrowind of Morrowind--but it has a TON of holdovers of this older, sillier Morrowind, and I think it’s a great window into it.

It lets you be a proper Telvanni--here’s your tower, here are the slaves you hold in the basement and they’re trying to escape so you chase them down and catch them. This slave complains and makes it clear you are an absolute fucking bastard and you can, you know, free her, or you can take her out into the Molag Amur and murder her.

Your head-of-guard staff is a torture fetishist and you have a prison of prisoners you can exploit. Your library has a skeleton who lives in it. There’s a lich tomb deep underground you can break into and find the original Uvirith and you can fucking just kill him fuck that guy you’re cooler than he is. It’s very “You’re a Telvanni, they’re basically immoral, immortal assholes.”

But it also has things like an ogrim named Cartman because he’s FAT XD

It has, I think it’s a holdover from the earliest versions of the mod, a companion named: Sara N’Trasha.

Who is a Dunmer Ashlander from a thousand years ago.

Wearing modern Orcish armor.

Now, see, Dunmer Ashlander culture has names with phonemes like “Ashamal Abaddamasad” and “Ahhe-Ari Zainsumani”

This character is named Sara N’Trasha.

Sara is a Bretonic name--probably the least interesting of TES’ fantasy is a place literally called Bretony, and yes, someone named “Sara” would be from Brettony. N’Trasha... oh boy. The X’Y structure is seen in Khajiiti names, but N’ isn’t a valid prefix, at least in the time of Morrowind. Trasha also isn’t really a valid Khajiit name--Rasha is, but a “tr” sound for a female is usually followed by softer, vowel-heavy syllables. Rasha would be a male name, anyway. female names are more like “Ahnassi” “Tsrazami” etc.

Also Orc armor--I guess maybe she looted it from an Orc warrior during the 1st era wars I guess? I don’t know man.

But this is my favorite example of the complete disinterest in engaging with the setting in early Morrowind modding. They saw characters sometimes had names with apostrophes in them. They knew there were guys called Ashlanders.

Sara N’Trasha.

Stuporstar has talked about updating the mod and I think renaming Sara was on the docket, but I haven’t seen much word of any updates in years and I’m strongly tempted to just dig around in the mod and rename her myself so it doesn’t bother me as much, el oh el.

But my point is, it’s, it’s an incredible example of the complete lack of interest in very early era Morrowind modding to actually engage with the setting of the thing you’re putting so much work into. It’s mindblowing.

We have a bit of the opposite problem of that in the modern era, I think.

Uvirith’s Legacy has a bit of that, too, and it’s a good intro to this other problem: trying to alter the vanilla game to fit a plothole you yourself created.

UL also adds magic pages that summon a daedra when you interact with it. At some point, whichever modder (stuporstar or someone else??) started it went “How can Gothren have permanantly summoned Daedra when YOU the player CAN’T?”

And invented the pages as the way to summon daedra, and wrote a bunch of dialogue where oh, of course Gothren used these magic pages to summon them permanently.

Except. Except that wasn’t a plothole. We know that there are rituals that bind daedra long-term, but for gameplay reasons the player only ever gets short-term summons. It’s an example of inventing a plothole and trying to fix it.

I feel like we’re dangerously close to seeing that with Tamriel Rebuilt.

Tamriel Rebuilt’s original inception of the Telvanni lands has a lot of the touches of this old philosphy. The silly, Python-esque, do-your-own-thing stuff. There’s an edgelordy Morag Tong base where they go “Don’t kill anyone at night... a true assassin does it in the daylight... watch me cut this hair in half with a knife now.”

And they’re planning on going back to the Telvanni zones and redoing them! That’s great.

But also like, I had a look again at their design documents and on the docket is: demoting Archmagister Gothren to a Wizard or whatever. Why? Because they wrote DIFFERENT lore where there’s an even older COOLER Telvanni wizard, who fits the Telvanni lore better, and now he’s the archmagister.

They are now at the point of looking at Morrowind’s original lore and setting and going “not good enough” which is, which is fine, Morrowind is lacking in a lot of ways. Gothren is a pushover baby bitch, unless you’re using MDMD, in which case no I’m sorry I made him so he can fuck you up rightly. But he’s a boring nothingburger, that’s true, sure. 

But now we have Tamriel Rebuilt considering completely redoing House Telvanni on the mainland too--which would make every single Telvanni mod that isn’t updated to match the new improved TR lore out of date.

That’s mostly because they invented an OC and to fix the plot holes their own invention caused, want to alter all of the original Morrowind, rather than fitting TR to fit the vanilla.

Thankfully they seem to be backtracking Mouths being mind-wiped mind-clones of the Wizards which they invented to fix a problem they themselves also invented--my point! My point. 

We now have mods taking the lore more seriously than the base game, and creating plotholes in the opposite direction--it now makes the original game look unimaginative, so the original game is going to need to be heavily modified to fit the new TR stuff.

But there’s so many mods coming out for vanilla that also respect and improve on the lore. And now there’s no central governing body. RandomPal did TelAruhn Chronicles which makes it feel way more like a center of power for the isolated Archmagister. MDMD (that was me!) made Gothren powerful and scary so it feels like yeah, yeah this guy could have survived with a bullseye on him this long no problem.

We have mods like UL, which, even if needing a few updates to sort of fit the more lore-respectful era we’re in, reference Gothren as Archmagister. We have mort’s redone Rise of House Telvanni for goodness’ sakes.

And here comes Tamriel Rebuilt... just... planning on rewriting the vanilla game to fix a plothole they themselves invented, which will, itself, create even more plotholes with every other mod that hasn’t been updated to match their own homebrewed lore.

hurr Autumn if this upsets you so much why don’t you do something about it fuck you okay look, we don’t have the time or energy to do Tamriel Rebuilt right now. Life is really fucking dumb (so fucking incredibly dumb) and if we’re going to put that much energy into a creative work it’s going to be something of our own stuff because, honestly, honestly, none of us ever liked working in someone else’s playground when it’s so easy to make your own that just lets you do what you wanted without having to skirt dissonance levels.

Morrowind modding has always been, and will always be, kind of a giant fucking mess, and I love it for that.

I mean this is the game where the default body mod everyone based everything else around, because it was so early back in the day that no one else could MAKE body mods, the one standardized body mod we all use has giant fucking tits because LOL.