10 replies to this topic

[Cal Jones]

Just wondering if there were options other than the usual fight (a la Improved Oasis II) as I always thought it sucked that you were forced to kill off General Tombelthen's troops right after witnessing the Saradush massacre. One minute your PC is wailing "oh the humanity!" and the next they're cheerfully hacking apart clerics of Lathander. Hmm.

[Icendoan]

I hope so.

You raise a total of ~200k from that map alone.

Icen

[DavidW]

No changes at all, basically because I think Improved Oasis II handles it fine. I agree with the objection to the original Oasis, but I don't want to reinvent the wheel.

[Demivrgvs]

Probably a stupid question, but is Oasis II compatible with Ascension + Wheel of Prophecy + SCS II's "give Ascension enemies SCS AI"?

[DavidW]

Demivrgvs, on Aug 17 2008, 10:22 AM, said:

Probably a stupid question, but is Oasis II compatible with Ascension + Wheel of Prophecy + SCS II's "give Ascension enemies SCS AI"?

So far as I know. (Come to think of it, I had all four installed on my playthrough.)

[Sister Vigilante]

Cal Jones, on Aug 16 2008, 03:19 PM, said:

Just wondering if there were options other than the usual fight (a la Improved Oasis II) as I always thought it sucked that you were forced to kill off General Tombelthen's troops right after witnessing the Saradush massacre. One minute your PC is wailing "oh the humanity!" and the next they're cheerfully hacking apart clerics of Lathander. Hmm.

Honestly...I mean, I'm no big fan of the caliber of ToB's storytelling in general, but I can see why they would have wanted to set it up that way. Following Saradush is precisely the right time to nudge the player that yes, no matter how good their intentions, they're involved in this war that's resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent people.

Tombelthen is a general and, one assumes, under a potentially numbing amount of political pressure. He's made his decision as a commander--namely that the best way to protect people is to kill as many Bhaalspawn as quickly as possibly, rather than let those who may or may not be good-intentioned eventually kill off those who are "evil." I haven't seen how it's handled in Oasis II but I would take some hard convincing to believe that, after rallying his elite troops and marching them all that way, he would perform a quick scry, turn to his men and go, "Okay yeah, about that? That mission that was supposed to be the most glorious of your career and save the people of Tethyr? Well, change of plans, about face, let's just sit this one out"

"I was just playin witcha all"

I agree the scene isn't all it could be, but well.

[zixi]

Cal
‘Oasis II’ (rofl at the name which smacks of soft drinks and ‘Wonderwall’) does allow you to argue your way out of a fight or if you’re impecunious, kill the lot of them. So, if ‘Oasis’ made you sad then ‘Oasis II’ is the fix and the argument offered is fair enough, as Valygar would say, in a game context but it wouldn’t work in reality. Sister V is right, the guy’s a general, moving armies is expensive, fight first and let the courts decide afterwards. But the kind of dialogue required to persuade him would be extensive and I’m not sure how much the average player would tolerate – I’m certain the games industry has worked that one out. ‘Oasis II’ doesn’t tax player tolerance, so don’t expect soul searching and sophistry but you do get to make a case and the General (bless him) listens.

But if you haven't already then try 'Wheels...' because it does make a difference to the feel of ToB and well, I love it - there I've said it and I feel much better now.

[Cal Jones]

Yes I have tried Oasis II (god I hate Oasis, monobrowed Mancunian pub singers, bah!) and I can understand the various viewpoints - was just enquiring whether Wheels included something of that ilk or not. But if not, that's fine, can install both.
Will try Wheels in the next runthrough, for certain.

[zixi]

Ahhh you're being too hard on some Beatles wannabes... 'Wonderwall' is actually quite singalong. (No I'm not a fan).

But to return to the sheep... no 'Wheels' doesn't have that kind of content. It's more a reorganisation of the structure of the game and some development of character. It gives you some freedom as to how you get through ToB.

I've always felt that ToB ended with a whimper despite the finale after the battle which I always find quite emotional - David et al have given it some bang.

[Sister Vigilante]

zixi, on Aug 27 2008, 12:08 PM, said:

Ahhh you're being too hard on some Beatles wannabes... 'Wonderwall' is actually quite singalong. (No I'm not a fan).

Well now we have a bone of contention! Oasis i' th' best tuppin' band in th' world an' Wonderwall i' tuppin' brill'int!

[Daulmakan]

I'm a big fan, but their last album sucks bigtime, and I'm guessing the one coming up will be even worse.