Been re-playing from the start, and picked up Ronald the Cleric on the second floor of the church in Homlet. Just wanted to thank his creators, and note that he's easily the most interesting NPC in the game. So, guys, thanks. For those who haven't tried him, most of his dialog only shows up when talking to him. He has quite a lot to say, almost all of it voiced (or sung), and some interesting conversation branches. New conversation branches can open up according to the class of the speaker and the races in the party. If the other NPCs were this interesting, I wouldn't habitually ignore them. Within the limits of the engine, very nicely done. Hopefully there's a way buried somewhere to get NPCs to initiate conversations. From a mechanics point of view, power gamers may want to use the console or ProtoEd to tweak him a bit, but that's true of any NPC.
Ronald it's a must have in any party. He also has something to say in lots of situations, and just wait to get to the final stages of the game and he becomes more powerful... :clap:
I'd say he's overpowered already But yeah, Endarire made a great character there. The NPCs in KotB should initiate conversations - I did some testing with that (particularly with Two Swords), but it was switched off due to being more annoying than anything else. More testing needed. I have in mind a BG-style thing where the party periodically comment among themselves. EDIT: Has anyone actually played Ronald through to the end, when he 'completes' his plot?
Yup, that would be ideal. I keep thinking there should be a way to make it a one time thing on map changes; the first time you get to the Moathouse, the first time you get to the temple, the first time you enter one of the taverns, etc. Meleny, for instance, should nag you to buy the house in Nulb; that gives your character some understandable (if misguided) motivation to do so. Ideally she should mention wanting her own house once or twice before you get there. Anyway, I'll let you know how Ronald performs in the end game.
Surely a global_ vars for each NPC is all that is needed? Check the global_vars when entering the new map, in the first heart beat or something, then bumping it up to the next number to avoid it repeating then just repeat for the next area etc etc..? might be an idea to add a different time delay for NPC's voices to multiple NPC's speaking on top of eachother too.
Yah: I'm currently working on time delays and san_new_map, and comments based on the party make-up at any given time - later, I will probably add them based on reputation as well, so if you are acting evil good party members might say something, then later leave the party. So the way Meleny says "Look at this place! I've never been here before!" when you get to the Moathouse, or "Look at that building! Wow! This is going to be a fun adventure!" when you get to the Temple, or Elmo says "Let's go get a beer! I'm buyin'!" when you enter the pub (some of the time)? We have those What we don't have is the Nulb chapters of 'Elves in the Temple' oke: EDIT: Hey Half Knight, we could do with an end-slide for completing the game with Ronald, come to think of it. "After personally seeing St Cuthbert during the course of your adventure, Ronald became a reformed character and very holy man, eventually rising highly in the service of the ArchCleric of Veluna. However, upon discovering his great-great-great-aunt had some orcish blood, he hung himself in disgrace". Or perhaps something more pleasant
Yes; what we could have (OK, what I as an unrepentant BG I & II fan would like to have) is a full dialog in each of those situations, or at least the option for one. Mel shouldn't drop one line then stop; she should say her line, then initiate a dialog; important dialogs should, once opened, remain available as part of her conversation tree. Er...look! Over there! A large, distracting thing!
I thank you for thanking me about Ronald. You're welcome. As for what happens to him after ToEE, I intended for him to be Hommlet's moral support and spiritual leader until Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil.
