Adventurer's Hall

[mokona]

At $2.6M, Obsidian added the Adventurer's Hall to the world. If you don't like a companion, or if you don't like any of the companions, you can build your own custom parties to play through the game.

 

6 races and 11 classes have been confirmed for Project Eternity. There are sixty-six (66) potential race-class combinations from godlike rangers to aumaua paladins. The player's main character will take up one of those options and Official companions will fill up seven to eight of the other possible combinations (your main character may or may not overlap with one of the companions).

 

Do you think you'll hire someone from the Adventurer's Hall?

 

Can you permanently make a hired adventurer part of your Player House or Stronghold if you plan to swap them in and out of your party regularly?

 

I suspect that at least half of my party will not be the main companions so I want to make heavy use of the Adventurer's Hall.

[Mr Moonlight]

I don't think I'll make use of the Adventurer's Hall, I'll probably want to hear the companion's stories and chatter and see where they end up.

Edited October 23, 2012 by Mr Moonlight

[comebackhome]

I'll probably use the Adventurers Hall on my second play-through of the game I think the addition of having an Adventurers Hall adds replay value to the game.

[Brannart]

I have thought about it. I toyed with the idea of starting a pair in the BG series but decided that was pretty much Main+Imoen so never did. Having a pair of characters as best buds or siblings or spouses or maybe even business associates might be fun.

 

I guess if I could create two or three right off the bat and had a concept that I thought was cool I would. But it looks like the Adventurers Hall is going to be a place we come to at some point in the story, as in we start alone and maybe halfway through chapter 2 or something we get to the Hall and are able to add characters. And if that is the case I will probably won't use it.

 

But alot of decisions about how this is going to work have not been made yet.

Edited October 23, 2012 by Brannart

[nikolokolus]

I'll use it on subsequent playthroughs with the hardcore difficulty settings cranked up (path of iron or whatever it's called, etc.). Chances are I'm going to need every advantage I can get, and it's kind of fun to experiment with trying to field an "optimal" party within the framework of the game's play mechanics.

 

On my first or second (and maybe third?) playthrough I'm going to want to explore the story and get to know the characters that MCA and Ziets are going to be cooking up and I don't want to miss out on that stuff because I'm building my min-max army.

[Super_Cat]

I will experiment with it, though I'll mostly be using the NPC companions for the first playthrough.

 

I would be neat if you could move them to your stronghold or house or something. It would also be cool if they could have a very basic personality that could be conveyed in some way, like making short comments about an area or situation, but that might be asking too much.

[Marceror]

Not likely on my first runthrough. Maybe on my second. It will totally depend on who the 8 companions are, and what I'm looking for in a party. Generally speaking, I'd rather have a well-written, pre-made companion who isn't the "perfect class" for my party over a better class choice that is not going to interact in anyway.

[Merin]

It depends on the feel of the game. My sense right now is that you won't have access to the Adventurer's Hall right away, that you have to "find" it... as in the game story will progress far enough that the "in-game tutorial and prologue" will finish before you get your full party compliment. More than any cRPG developer, Obsidian (though others with companions sometimes do this, too) like to give you your companions slowly over the story, introducing them at story-relevant points. So the game won't be designed to handle a maximum sized party at the start, and hence you won't be able to create party members until after a certain point.

 

I could be wrong on that, but it's how I see things right now.

 

I like the idea of a Wasteland / Storm of Zehir approach, where you make most of your party but still recruit a few companions. It won't work that way in PE, but I'm hoping to get maximum replayability out of the game by only taking a few companions per play, and getting to see new companions' stories and additions to the game in subsequent plays.

 

I have a playstyle with companion-based cRPGs that I pick a party and play with it through the whole game, unless the game forces characters into or out of your party at times (and I despise this), as this allows me to focus on a party dynamic, role-playing, and, again, maximizing replayability. With the ability to still have a full party, make most of my party like I prefer to anyway, and focus even more laser-like on a limited number of companions for story and RPG purposes... well, I'm a very happy camper.

[Monte Carlo]

I eventually will do a power-gaming run on the hardest settings. I will create the most meta-gamed, twinkie party possible. So, yes, I will rely heavily on the AH.

[GhostofAnakin]

I don't think I'll make use of the Adventurer's Hall, I'll probably want to hear the companion's stories and chatter and see where they end up.

 

This is how I feel, and why I might not even get around to trying out the Adventurers' Hall.

 

I prefer Developer-made party members with dialogue and backstory over self-made mutes.

[SunBroSolaire]

Probably not on my first play through. The companions are what I'm most pumped for, and I don't want to miss any of it.

 

When I go for the super hardcore mode play through I will probably create most of my own party.

[Larkaloke]

There's a fairly good chance I'll make use of it every time. I still, all these years and many replays later, have never finished a game of Baldur's Gate where I didn't create the whole party (despite starting a few games with the intention of picking up the NPCs instead). I suppose I just prefer custom parties when the option is available.

 

Who can say for sure at this point, though? I might end up taking the NPCs the first time through if they seem particularly interesting, or if it seems to make a good deal of sense for my character to take them (at least for a time). I can't really see myself doing that more than once or twice, though, so I'm sure that overall I'll make heavy use of the Hall either way.

[.Leif.]

I really hope the folks you recruit from the Adventurer's hall aren't mutes. They should react to your actions. Obviously they won't be as fleshed out as the main companion NPCs, but it'd really suck if they never said anything ever.

[Larkaloke]

I really hope that it truly is creating additional characters, and that they don't react or say anything on their own. That's what the NPCs are for. If I want to create another character, I want to create another character.

[BBBD]

Probably won't use it until I've at least gotten a good feel for the companions available. I enjoy the stories etc from in game companions.

[Paul D]

Probably on my second play-through with a different character; first time round I'll probably stick to the supplied NPC companions.

 

But I may change my mind between now and 2014

[Bos_hybrid]

Absolutely.

 

How else can I have a party of Mages?

[Shevek]

I think its great they included it. In my first playthrough, I will use it sparingly (maybe for one or two character slots). In successive high difficulty mode playthroughs, I will use it much more.

 

Personally, I hope I can choose a portrait/soundset/bio/color scheme for AH characters like you could when making characters in an IWD game or multiplayer BG2 game. These characters will obviously not have party banters or dialogue (its hilarious some folks in this thread expect player-made character to have that stuff, LOL!) but it would be nice if we could customize them a bit.

[Hellfell]

I plan to play on a hardcore difficulty with 1 save and perma death. When one of my companions dies I won't be able to load a save so I will have to use adventurers hall.

[Oerwinde]

I might check it out, but probably won't use it. Maybe on second or third playthroughs.

[Dorateen]

Adventurers Hall all the way, from start to finish! Brought to us by the developers of Icewind Dale, Temple of Elemental Evil, and NWN2: Storm of Zehir.

 

Culminating in a 15 level mega-dungeon.

 

Well done, Obsidian

 

Harumph!

[rjshae]

Do you think you'll hire someone from the Adventurer's Hall?

It depends on whether at least five of the existing characters are ones I want to adventure with. I was able to put together a well-balanced group I enjoyed in the BG series, so I have high hopes. If not, then yes I'll go with the Adventure Hall recruits.

[jb.]

Since there's permanent character death, I plan to make use of the Adventurer's Hall. That way I can have a hired adventurer on hand, probably fighter of some sort, and if a battle starts going badly I can have the hired chump hold them off while the rest of my party runs away.

[Merin]

Just to be clear to some people on here - there's going to be limited voice acting. Like BG and PST (and even IWD, though you didn't have recruitable NPCs), most of the time everyone will be "mute" and there will be no cinematic cut scenes, not even animated dialog scenes I'd wager (though I don't know if that's been said one way or the other) so, you know, everyone will be standing still while you pick dialog choices.

 

The whole "my character standing mute" is usually used to refer to unvoiced PC's in a cinematic dialog scene, like BioWare does (or Obsidian did in sequels to BioWare games, like KotOR 2 and NWN2.)

 

I'm playing SoZ right now, and being able to pick who answers in dialog, and them (because of different stats, alignments, classes and skills) having different things they can say had developed into quite the fun role-playing experience for me. Picking who speaks up, who says what... and in my head filling in the small details of what is happening... I know it's not for everyone, but I find that so much more fun than sitting back and have cinematic cutscenes of developer written characters interact with each other (I know that's not what PE will be like, but that's the end goal of what "having fully fleshed out NPCs as companions" is)

 

I've had more fun with IWD parties than with any combination of characters from BG or BG2.

[Marceror]

I imagine there will be a few "voice sets" you can choose from for your created characters. So characters will probably say things like "whadd'ye want?" or "how may I serve?" when you select them. So no, likely not totally mute.