Adventurer's Hall

[Merin]

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.

 

Like IWD then, where you gave "voice sets" to all the characters you created?

 

But then when you picked dialog responses there was no sound?

 

I think that was my point. Sorry if it was poorly worded enough to not convey this.

 

EDIT - not just IWD, all IE games for you characters you create, plus the NWN games for your characters, too. Yes, fully expect the "bark sets" (I think this is what they call the barks.)

Edited October 23, 2012 by Merin

[Gfted1]

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

 

The Adventurers Hall is not for me. Thats exactly what I hated about IWD II, having to make all the party members myself. I prefer a fleshed out character that already has a built in story and banter.

[tajerio]

The answer to this heavily depends on whether I can convince myself to play with permanent death--if I can stomach losing a companion NPC for good, then I imagine I'll end up using the Adventurers' Hall. If not, then not.

[chisled2bone]

i will use ti for mutliple play throughs... prolly not my first or second though

[Gfted1]

If you are playing the difficulty level that includes permanent death, you will pretty much have no choice but to use the Hall, no? I mean, unless you are an RPG god you are almost certainly going to have each companion die at least once and with no resurrection magic you will have to resort to the self made NPC's or go it solo.

 

I have no idea how people play like that. Im pretty sure Ill have someone die while doing the obligatory level 1 quest of clearing the basement of rats.

[Monte Carlo]

[Malkaven]

I probably won't use the Adventures Hall thefirst time around unless the companions that I pick up aren't providing enough synergy.

[Sedrefilos]

I might use it to fill up my party if i haven't met 5 or more companions yet. Else I won't. I prefer to go with the story and see the companions' stories and how they can react to me and to eachother.

[Kane_Severance]

It depends on how much I like the pre-made companions. So far, going by nothing more than the concept art, I'm not thrilled with Cadegund or Forton. They may end up being great characters, but if they are just bland or unlikeable then I'd prefer a character of my own creation.

[GhostofAnakin]

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.

 

For me, it's not about my created characters not speaking, period. But it's more about the backstory, and learning about that backstory from a developer character that has a history I'm not aware of (until I talk to them and learn about it). For example, getting to know Cassidy's story and what lead her to New Vegas in the first place added a lot more to my play through than if she was a created character with no interesting story to tell.

 

It's also about extra content. Most games with companions tend to have quests related to their backstory. Whether it be BG2 (I'm currently playing it, so it came to mind) or the newer games like Mass Effect or Fallout: New Vegas, the companions had side quests of their own.

 

Created characters aren't going to have those sidequests and fleshed out history associated with them.

 

That's why I'm the complete opposite of you; I enjoyed the BG/PS:T party member setup much more than the IWD one because of the added stuff it brought to the game.

Edited October 23, 2012 by GhostofAnakin

[Karkarov]

Maybe on a second playthrough. I see no point in using made up characters who have nothing to do with the story for a original game when I have the option of picking people who actually have a impact in the world itself and lore. It is in there purely for the twinks who have to have the "best of the best" party.

[Rufusstan]

Its too early to say for sure.

 

I enjoyed both approaches when the game imposed it on me -- Loved building my own party in IWD for example, but equally have recently restarted a Balder's Gate play through and couldn't imagine not having Minsc around.

 

In the end I'll probably use the preset companions for the first run through, and what happens on that game would determine what I did next

[Dorateen]

Being slavishly devoted to the developer's "lore" and "background" characters is in there purely for the twinks who have to have the "best of the best" party no imagination and cannot think for themselves.

 

Harumph!

[Monte Carlo]

Maybe on a second playthrough. I see no point in using made up characters who have nothing to do with the story for a original game when I have the option of picking people who actually have a impact in the world itself and lore. It is in there purely for the twinks who have to have the "best of the best" party.

 

[Merin]

Maybe on a second playthrough. I see no point in using made up characters who have nothing to do with the story for a original game when I have the option of picking people who actually have a impact in the world itself and lore. It is in there purely for the twinks who have to have the "best of the best" party.

 

Yeah, no.

 

It's there for those of us who like creating more than one character. Wasteland 2 is doing it, just like Wasteland did. Wasteland - my favorite game ever.

 

Did you guys read Chris Avellone's blog on him creating his characters for Wasteland? It was fun to read! It's even more fun to do that yourself!

[Pshaw]

Unless I'm doing a harder difficulty play through I'll probably avoid the adventures hall. I like that it's in the game but I like characters and people from the adventures halls aren't characters they're just bodies. So if I'm playing on a high difficulty yes I'll be using it to min-max my party to the best of my ability. Otherwise I want to hear party banter while I explore the world and hear their opinions on my actions as I make choices.

 

The most I can see myself using it is for 1 companion to fill a hole in my party or if the provided companions don't fit my current play style. I hate playing a greedy/evil character and having noble/good companions complaining all the time. I'd rather have a party that agrees with my actions or at least tolerates them. If it means that I need to take AH companion to fill a role in order to not have to kill or kick out a real one then yeah I'll go pick one up.

[Attero]

I hope i wont have to use it , they said you will be able to play with party size you like (1-6). So if i wont be able to fit my party with companions i will probably just take more exp per member rather then taking animal-like follower that has no opinion of his own.

[eselle28]

I don't expect to use the Adventurer's Hall. Icewind Dale is just not my style of game, and one of the reasons I like isometric RPGs is that they allow for big parties and more companion interaction.

 

There are eight companions. I expect I'll like enough of them for two playthroughs, and since I finish games at a glacial rate, there will probably be some mod-created companions available by the time I've done that.

[Darkpriest]

I don't expect to use the Adventurer's Hall. Icewind Dale is just not my style of game, and one of the reasons I like isometric RPGs is that they allow for big parties and more companion interaction.

 

There are eight companions. I expect I'll like enough of them for two playthroughs, and since I finish games at a glacial rate, there will probably be some mod-created companions available by the time I've done that.

 

I am fairly sure that we will see some more companions with an expansion.

[Brannart]

All you people trashing Icewind Dale make me sad

[Merin]

All you people trashing Icewind Dale make me sad

 

Same here.

 

All the talk about "gronards" and being "old school cRPG fans" always makes me sad when they treat IE as if it's classic. It's like people treating movies from the 90's as classics, the word "classic" starts losing meaning if it just refers to "what came out a generation ago."

 

IE is not classic cRPG's... they are 2nd Gen cRPGs. I like them, yes... but the whole "one PC and recruit companions" model is a late 90's invention. Almost all the prior cRPG's with parties had you make your entire party. There are more games that do that party build than there are ones that do the IE party build method.

 

It's like at BSN watching one person try and argue for silent PC, or less voice acting so we get more choices, and the legion of fans raining down that "I don't want to read" and "the voices and cinematics MAKE the game" and "I can't play those older games, and even DA:O is boring with how much I had to read."

 

Grrr.

Edited October 23, 2012 by Merin

[Merin]

Found something of use for this thread -

 

 

 

Could you perhaps clarify the "over time" part of "Over time, you can build your own custom parties to play through the game" from the last PE update? You don't build a party at the start, but unlock party slots as you progress through the story? Or?

 

 

 

You build your main character at the start of the game. You can use the Adventurer's Hall over time to build/add more characters to the party. Because the game will be paced for a certain party size (at least near the beginning), starting the game with six party members would probably make a lot of early content trivial.

- http://www.formspring.me/JESawyer