11 replies to this topic

[Beetle]

Avast! There be spoilers here!!!

I just finished Shadows of Amn with Auren for the first time and figured I should offer some brief feedback.

I really like Auren. She’s an interesting character with nice banters and interjections (I particularly liked her comments on Tiana and having a statue erected in Trademeet). She’s enjoyable to have in the party, and I enjoyed her history and desire to prove herself without becoming bloodthirsty.

The Nalia relationship was told very well, with the dialogues providing colorful snapshots of the growing relationship. It was definitely the right way to go. Charname would be too absorbed with freeing Imoen and dealing with his emotionally fragile cleric love interest (in this case, Viconia) to follow the budding Auren/Nalia romance. So the dialogues were nice interludes showing the there are actually a few things in faerun that don’t revolve around Charname. Auren's having to justify not helping Nalia when first asked was well done.

As far as being an effective character goes, Auren more than held her own. She did fairly well right from the start. After she got three stars in two-weapon fighting and a strength belt she turned into the most effective fighter in the group (beating Minsc and a fighter/druid charname)

There were a couple of things that were puzzling. First, her hit points seemed to be too high. Dadrek (the sword) is a nice concept, but it was quickly replaced by other magical blades (she still has it, though). Also, there weren’t any dialogues when Nalia rejoined the party after her arrest or at the final battle with the Roenalls, which seemed odd. But they say you should always leave your audience wanting more.

I’m really looking forward to finishing ToB with Auren. Thanks for creating her. It's modders like you who keep the game fresh and fun after all these years.

(now please quit your job, cut off all contact with family and friends and use the time to finish Sarah ToB )

[berelinde]

Beetle, on Dec 10 2007, 08:10 PM, said:

(now please quit your job, cut off all contact with family and friends and use the time to finish Sarah ToB )

Don't want much, do you?

But if that's all you want out of a modder, theacefes has no reason to complain.

[theacefes]

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Avast! There be spoilers here!!!

Argh matey!

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I just finished Shadows of Amn with Auren for the first time and figured I should offer some brief feedback.

Awesome!

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I really like Auren. She’s an interesting character with nice banters and interjections (I particularly liked her comments on Tiana and having a statue erected in Trademeet). She’s enjoyable to have in the party, and I enjoyed her history and desire to prove herself without becoming bloodthirsty.

Thank you. If anything, I had hoped for her to become a welcoming comedic relief to the well...comedic relief character of the game (Minsc?)

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The Nalia relationship was told very well, with the dialogues providing colorful snapshots of the growing relationship. It was definitely the right way to go. Charname would be too absorbed with freeing Imoen and dealing with his emotionally fragile cleric love interest (in this case, Viconia) to follow the budding Auren/Nalia romance. So the dialogues were nice interludes showing the there are actually a few things in faerun that don’t revolve around Charname. Auren's having to justify not helping Nalia when first asked was well done.

Again, thank you. My original idea was to have an NPC NPC romance told from an outsider's perspective. Obviously we won't be seeing Auren and Nalia getting smoochy with one another right in front of CHARNAME.

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As far as being an effective character goes, Auren more than held her own. She did fairly well right from the start. After she got three stars in two-weapon fighting and a strength belt she turned into the most effective fighter in the group (beating Minsc and a fighter/druid charname)

I'm actually quite surprised at this, as I've heard from several that Auren was underpowered. Oh well!

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There were a couple of things that were puzzling. First, her hit points seemed to be too high. Dadrek (the sword) is a nice concept, but it was quickly replaced by other magical blades (she still has it, though). Also, there weren’t any dialogues when Nalia rejoined the party after her arrest or at the final battle with the Roenalls, which seemed odd. But they say you should always leave your audience wanting more.

Auren originally had content for this but it was taken out due to continuous crashing and freezing of the game.

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I’m really looking forward to finishing ToB with Auren. Thanks for creating her. It's modders like you who keep the game fresh and fun after all these years.

Thank you and you're very welcome. I loved making Auren (and my other mods) and I hope you enjoy ToB, though I must warn that I am still bug hunting (as always!)

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(now please quit your job, cut off all contact with family and friends and use the time to finish Sarah ToB )

Ack! I would but I'm still trying to make up for the lost time I had in my isolation crypt when I was making Sarah SoA!

Thank you very much for your review!

[theacefes]

berelinde, on Dec 10 2007, 07:01 PM, said:

Beetle, on Dec 10 2007, 08:10 PM, said:

(now please quit your job, cut off all contact with family and friends and use the time to finish Sarah ToB )

Don't want much, do you?

But if that's all you want out of a modder, theacefes has no reason to complain.

Hmm...will have to restock my freezer with enough ice cream to last me through the *joys* of ToB modding.

[Caedwyr]

From a strategic perspective, Dadrek is a great sword to hold onto for Magic Golems and for beating a mage to death through their protection from magical weapons. I dont' use it all the time, but I still frequently switch Dadrek in when it is called for.

[Beetle]

berelinde, on Dec 10 2007, 10:01 PM, said:

Don't want much, do you?

I try to be reasonable in my demands.

Seriously, though, I sometimes think that modders put too much pressure on themselves to deliver something spectacular in ToB. So the whole thing turns into such a chore that many mods end up stuck as SoA only. Personally, all I want is a chance for the story to reach its conclusion. Give me a couple of appropriate interjections, some flirts (if it's a romance) and, most importantly, an epilogue and I'm a happy gamer. Anything else (quests, banters with every NPC, etc.) is extra.

[strayshift]

On that last point -

I pretty much rate Auren as my favourite none vanilla npc for several reasons simular to the ones stated above, but to sum it up quite simply it has a story and a character which does not try to 'overpower' the main plot or character but exists as a nice (yes *nice*) contrast alongside the epic scale of the main story.
I especially like the learning/teaching to read and write elements and the frustration/attraction dialogues (although the 'I'd die for you too' one came a little too soon for me...)
Her stats mean that the player needs to consider her development but she has the potential to be the main fighter in the party (usually alongside Minsc) - this to me is better than it all 'on a plate' as it where and is a much underused element of mod design.
The morality of their homosexual relationship does not bother me but I think that it would have been good to explore intolerance within the party (Anomen? Korgan? Keldorn?) and obviously the difference in social classes is also an issue for exploration.
Overall though excellent and I just had to write to compliment all involved in the development of thios mod.
Cheers
G

[theacefes]

Thanks for your review and regarding the relationship between Auren and Nalia, I did not really go much into depth on the opinions of the other NPCs simply because I have not researched the society view of homosexuality in Faerun, and I did not want to make any assumptions as to how a character would react.

I am sure that had I done more research, it would have been included, but I suppose it goes a bit beyond the scope of the mod.

Again, thank you!

[strayshift]

No probs - an excellent mod
G

[Beetle]

theacefes, on Aug 19 2008, 08:07 PM, said:

I did not really go much into depth on the opinions of the other NPCs simply because I have not researched the society view of homosexuality in Faerun, and I did not want to make any assumptions as to how a character would react.

If I'm correctly remembering the 10 pages of discussion on this topic that took place in the Viconia Relationship forum (which I have no intention of re-reading, but feel free to check it out), the upshot was that it probably wasn't a big deal.

Edited by Beetle, 21 August 2008 - 08:57 AM.

[calcevaine]

First of all, thank you really, really much ! I'm currently playing soa with Auren, and i absolutly love that character.

She's funny with a great voice. I like her background and her relationship with Nalia is ... I'm not sure if that's the word everybody would use, but i would say it's "innocent". There is no "under the belt" oriented episode, just a growing and mutual affection between those two character until love wins over them.
In fact, if i keep Nalia in my team actually, it's only because Auren's presence makes her an enjoyable character at last.

( sorry, my english is far to be good as you can see ^^' )

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The morality of their homosexual relationship does not bother me but I think that it would have been good to explore intolerance within the party (Anomen? Korgan? Keldorn?) and obviously the difference in social classes is also an issue for exploration.

I admit that some comments from others NPC, could add some more funny or hostile moments. For example, how druids see homosexuality ? Or what quotes can we expect from Minsc or Jan Jansen ?

Anyway, I thank you again one more time for that great character, as we say in my country, " chapeau bas "

[theacefes]

No problem, I am glad you are enjoying her!!