Ascension Mod

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I'm considering trying out Ascension after I finish my current game (currently I'm trying out an all-tank party for the challenge...and I think having no mages or clerics is enough of a challenge with the normal difficulty).
I know the end battle is a lot harder, but is there much more in the way of RP stuff with this mod?

 

Uh, some interesting dialogue options that have some interesting consequences depending if you're goodytwoshoes or as evil as they come.

The final battle is much more interesting RP-wise, never quite did get where those slayer-wraiths spawned from and what in the world were they in the first place. There's some baddies that IMHO don't quite fit there for you to fight, but it's more epic battle than the lame'o Amelyssan of the regular game. Go for it

 

Having Imoen and Sarevok leads to some interesting choices at the end. Also, you can have a rather lengthy conversation with Balthazar. The end fight is VERY hard, and on my old system was virtually unplayable so I never got to do it the "proper" way.

 

That's cool. I will definitely try it.
Amazingly, although I must have played through BG2 10 or 12 times, I have never tried any mods.

 

10 to 12 times, no mods at all?
That's... a lot.

I've played it a dozen times, because of the mods, but plain vanilla game... four times was enough for me.

 

Also get Turnabout mod, it adds cool RP options if you have Ascension!

 

I'll look into some mods when I've done with this game. I've just started with Ascension (I dumped the all fighter party quite quickly as it was boring, to be honest - my current party has Imoen, Edwin, Valygar and Cernd - I'd never bothered with Cernd before so just wanted to see what he was about - and now Sarevok) and had a nice fight with Illasera, and was pleased Sarevok recognised his sword, which he doesn't in the unmodded version. Now if only someone would make a nice mod where you could get his armour back... Heh.
I'd like to try some romance mods for my female PC as I detest Anomen, so any recs would be appreciated. Solaufein looks intriguing but as you get him so late, it could be problematic.

 

You can get Sola early if you rush to Spellhold&Underdark. And believe me he is wel worth it, he has the richest dialogue (so fancy I could only understand 1/3 of it with my limited English literature) and some cool poems, plus real cool special battles as well. The author has really put a lof time, thought, and effort in it, it shows.

He has extensive banters with bioware NPCs, his dialogues with Imoen really cracked me up, so very very in-character they are! Does not feel like an add-on or mod at all.

He is also pretty useful and can easily become the most powerful character in your party, for the power gamer in each of us:Fighter/mage, with such high natural magic resistance, he can become pretty invulnerable with right buffs.

 

This thread, from not too long back, had a few NPCs linked to in Kulyok's post:
http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=45683

For convenience's sake (and because I'm such a nice guy), I'll repeat them here:

Kelsey is a fairly standard alternative, although not everyone enjoys him- I liked the guy at first, but when the romance hit ToB, I was close to giving up in disgust. The romance just ain't my cup of tea. Still, he is arguably the least obviously modded character available.

Kivan and Xan I haven't had as much experience with (only started their romances before leaving BGII for a bit and not feeling like returning to those games when I did return). However, the experience of them I've had suggests that they could both be interesting to try.

Angelo looks rather appealing, I must say. Chances are that I'll romance him next time I play through the game as a female character.

Of course, the above three characters will make an awful lot more sense if you have already played through BG and met them.

In terms of dialogue, Silverstar is right that Solaufein probably has the deepest talks- the chap is a bit of a budding philosopher. However, I have to say that it feels more like dialogue between close friends rather than a romance for quite some time. He is powerful (very much so!) and the added battles are indeed 'special', but I have to disagree on one point- Solaufein feels very much like a mod character rather than a standard one to me.

If you like Edwin enough to consider taking him again, there is an Edwin Romance mod that I consider very well written. It is one of my favourites, largely because some of the dialogue made me laugh out loud. But then I've always been keen on Edwin.

In a similar vein, there is also Tsujatha, if you like your lovers to be both intelligent and proud. He goes for more of a 'dark and brooding' look than Edwin and is not quite as funny, but I hear that he has his fans.

If you fancy a change from the standard heterosexual relationships, there is also Chloe and Sarah. I simply could not stand having Chloe around in the party for very long as her attitude and dialogues grated on my nerves, so I can't honestly recommend her. Sarah, on the other hand, I found to be both pleasant and interesting. Besides which, there aren't all that many Rangers out there.

As an aside, Romantic Encounters adds quite a large amount of additional content, albiet in the form of short flings. It doesn't really provide a romancable character, but does contain some interesting diversions.

There are proably a few more available, but those are all I can think of just now. Rather than personally review each one, i'm going to settle for the lazier option and suggest that you look at the readme of each of them and, if still interested, have a glance at their respective forums. That should tell you most of what you need to know about their characters. Of course, you can always hold out for someone putting more effort in than me and giving you proper recommendations. Your choice.

 

Hee hee. Well I must admit I have a somewhat cheesy strategy of doing almost everything before going to Chapter 4 so that whatever mage I have on board can clean out nasty things like the illithid dungeon in the Underdark with Mordenkainen's Swords.
To me it also makes more sense - whilst there's a definite urgency in your need to get Imoen (if you aren't totally evil and do care about her, of course!) there is more of an urgency to sort out Irenicus and Bodhi after Spellhold, when you are both missing your souls. I'm not sure why you would want to run around after the likes of Nalia or Lord Firkraag when you're about to snuff it! Anyway, that's just my view...

Some intriguing mods there, though - I could be playing this damn game until I die at this rate! I liked the idea of the Eddie romance - if it's well written as you say, then I'll give it a shot. Generally I'm more keen on mods involving characters already in the BG universe already and Kivan sounds good also - I never bothered with Xan in BG but Kivan always has a place in my party because, firstly, he is awesome, and secondly, he sounds like Dirty Harry. How can you not like that? So yes, it would make a great deal of sense for my PC to take him seeing as she knows him already.
Angelo does sound interesting though as father to a fully grown woman one does wonder how old he is... But I'd definitely be interested to hear more about his mod if anyone has played it.

As for the newbies, Kelsey sounds most appealing - Tsujatha sounds a bit Mills and Boon-y for my tastes (which is precisely why Anomen can b***er off!)
The lesbian thing doesn't do it for me, but being the dirty woman that I am, I could be interested in a gay romance for a male PC. [insert dirty laugh here]

 

Did someone say gay romance?

 

Same here.

As paradoxal as it sounds, I actually like Kivan too much to try his romance...

 

Kivan is turned into a real chatterbox though. He is no longer the brooding silent type (what defined him in BG1 IMO).

 

Mm so you're saying he's not really Kivan, as such?

 

That's because he's evolving. Domi did a really great job with Kivan. He's one of the three best NPC mods to get. Xan and Amber being the others IMO.

 

I agree with Shaitan's assessment- Kivan is definitely not quite the same as BG1, but that is no bad thing; he has simply changed slightly. Instead of being brooding and silent, he tends to be just brooding. I found that he actually felt as if he had travelled with you for some time- the bond of friendship was, IMO, quite clear.

 

Just adding my to what Decados and Shaitan are saying.

Kivan is worth listening to. He is one of my favourite NPCs (Minsc and Xan being the other two.)

 

That's cool then, I'll give him a try. I do miss him from BG!

 

Try him and tell us what you think.

Kivan is my favourite NPC in BG1, so perhaps I felt that he was a little out of character in the mod because of that. I'm not criticizing the mod itself, it's just that it doesn't correspond to my vision of this NPC.

I've come to realize that I prefer silent brooding NPCs (in BG2 my favourite NPC is Valygar).

 

Ha! I like Valygar too. I always felt he was BG2's Kivan.