Aielund Saga Improvements (Need Input/Feedback)

[Legacy_Jugonshi]

               

Yeah, Spartan can wear cloth armor and can be equipped with gear in every other slot, I wonder how many people don't do that.

 

Also wonder whether it makes a ton of sense to play dress-up with a dragon and whether doing something slightly different (like innate gear he gets that scales up automatically) would be better.

 

Well, according to DnD 3.5e book "Draconomicon", a true dragon can use most of the magic items created for humanoids, as most magic items automatically fits to the size and shape of the user. But I can understand that some may say that is too convenient and not so realistic.

 

Making Spartan unable to use any additional items, and instead giving him auto-scale innate gear, may well work, IMHO.

 

Giving him more innate spells will be good, too. In PnP DnD, true dragons tend to use at least Mage Armor and Shield.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Jugonshi]

               

Is it possible to add more romance option in future?

 

In Japanese BBS, a player just asked if  the Princess and Robert are the only romance options in the Saga, and mentioning especially about Nellise. Also, personally, I always thought Nellise is attractive.

 

Vallenia, Ronan, and Maggie (if a PC is a male Halfling) are good options, too. Far-Eagle clan always need some strong hero's blood, isn't it?

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Mac-Biodiesel]

               

I'll definitely look it over, but yes, that might be it.  Savant probably expected you to actually be fighting the Ironlord.

Right, but if you're a frail wizard, you're probably keeping your distance, especially if you've run out of useful spells. 
 
 

The campaign is certainly not designed with Dev Crit in mind, no, and there's a very good reason it was disabled.  It's not like strength based melee builds are weak in the module anyway.

Agreed, and Savant says as much in the description that he didn't want to make every important enemy crit-immune.
 
 

Except players don't know exactly what they're missing due to the bugs, so they have no way of knowing if the horses are too buggy.

That's my point - horses are not required, so if a user does not like how they are behaving, he can opt not to use them. That said, if Savant would prefer they were removed, then I think they should be removed. But we'd still get to fight mounted NPCs, right?
 

I also agree that adding henchmen is probably way too much of an undertaking without involving Savant.

Do the encounters in Aielund Saga level up to be appropriate with the PC's level? If I use the DM tool to make myself level 30 in the first act, will the monsters scale up to compensate? It seems like this doesn't happen, so is it possible to do?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Mac-Biodiesel]

               I just finished Act I again, and remembered another bug (or odd behavior) regarding henchmen. If you ask the henchmen to search dead bodies, they are capable of seeing and recovering items that the PC cannot. For example,

   Spoiler
   

Robert Black's dead body has only armor, helm, and cape for the PC to take, but the henchmen can also pluck a nice shield and +2 bastard sword.

This happens elsewhere, too, but I can't remember all the places. I think in some of the large battle sequences in later acts, the henchies can find extra items on the knights.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_werelynx]

               

they can probably take non-droppable items

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Jfoxtail]

               Re Horses - bugs - missed convo...

I tend to agree - leave them in.

Players can choose to not use them.

I have two or three versions actually and even with walking or riding you had the ability to miss important convo triggers. I actually believe the romance trigger of the princess was one that was noted to be 'buggy' - it was in the area of the monks temple as I recall as you head off.

The really interesting thing is I never used consol. I simply played the game slowly often walking back over an area to trigger the convo.

In fact if I had one piece of advice for any player of any version of this game is don't rush , and read, and walk, and appreciate the world Savant created.

I have not played it in years but based on the extensive guide I missed nothing 'with or without' horses by simply slowing down. '>

There were very few areas that horses actually came into play ..... and  players needed to use some role play smarts to think about it. Your Paladin could possibly summon his /her mount in the Dwarven Mines, Avenging Druids forest, or small island full of undead... but it didnt make role play sense to do so

At any rate I leave it to your sensibilities.

I am unsure if newer mods incorporated horses but I cannot recall one that did incorporate the horses so effectively with the plot... especially the hunting grounds in the early chapters.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Snowdog65]

               

I only played it once. I don't think I had any issues with horses, and I thought they added flavor. Whenever I remember the game I remember riding on horses.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Empyre65]

               

I just started another play-through of the old version that I have and found another minor issue. In Bracksworth, when you go to the paddocks and kill that cunning wolf that was threatening the livestock, you get no experience points, and there is nobody anywhere to talk to to get an experience point reward. You get nothing.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_alordofchaos]

               

I just started another play-through of the old version that I have and found another minor issue. In Bracksworth, when you go to the paddocks and kill that cunning wolf that was threatening the livestock, you get no experience points, and there is nobody anywhere to talk to to get an experience point reward. You get nothing.

Did you exit the area, find the farmer (one of the boys' father, IIRC) and speak to him?  It's possible that you have to speak to him before you kill the cunning wolf for a reward, too.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Empyre65]

               

I talked to their father before going to the paddocks and he only mentions his sons in the paddocks just before walking away after you take care of the intruder in his barn. When the wolf appears, the boys in their cow costume flee. After I kill the wolf, the boys and their father are nowhere to be found. If I kill the wolf before taking care of the intruder in the barn, the boys' father is still there, but there is no mention of the wolf in the dialog.

 

I have encountered another issue in chapter 2. After taking out the Assassins Guild, I talked to commander Deckard, retrieved the sealed letter from the Bartlett estate, talked to deckard again, got the key to the Johnson estate from Sir Godfrey, and then decided to confront the Thieve's Guild about setting us up, but when I tried to talk to Perri, instead of a conversation opening up, the words "Good luck with the Assassins Guild" appeared over his head. Maybe you could make it a little bit more robust against the player doing things out of order.

 

If it helps any, the old version I have reports itself as being version 1.24. The issues I find might already have been solved since that old version. The build I am playing now and the one I plan to play next take advantage of Dev Crit. After that, I plan to update to the version you are making now.

 

EDIT: That's strange: I just noticed that Chapter 2 reports itself as version 1.16.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Mac-Biodiesel]

               

I think that's all there is to the cunning wolf quest - you should have received ~100xp for killing it.  There is no more story after that.  Did you check your journal to see if that quest appears in the completed section?

 

I mentioned earlier on the thread the issue with Peri.  

 

I just ran into an Act II issue.  Desmond enchants weapons for you and your henchmen, but after he takes you to go talk to Salinder (after completing Night of the Long Knives), he will only enchant your weapons, not your henchies.  I tried reloading the area, releasing/re-enlisting henchies, and getting new henchies, and none of those things made the dialogue come back.  I had to reload the game prior to that conversation.  

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Empyre65]

               

I got no experience points for killing the wolf, which is what prompted me to try to get an exp reward from somebody. The quest did appear in the Completed tab in the journal. This problem might have been solved in between my old version and your newer version.

 

Thanks for reminding me. I need to go talk to Desmond.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               

Is it possible to add more romance option in future?

 

No, sorry.

 

Right, but if you're a frail wizard, you're probably keeping your distance, especially if you've run out of useful spells.

 

Did you not have a tank character in the group?

 

That's my point - horses are not required, so if a user does not like how they are behaving, he can opt not to use them. That said, if Savant would prefer they were removed, then I think they should be removed. But we'd still get to fight mounted NPCs, right?

 

You're missing my point -- the user won't even realize what they're missing.

 

And yes, NPCs can/will still be mounted.

 

Do the encounters in Aielund Saga level up to be appropriate with the PC's level? If I use the DM tool to make myself level 30 in the first act, will the monsters scale up to compensate? It seems like this doesn't happen, so is it possible to do?

 

In general, no.

 

Some areas do use the Bioware encounter system but that's not really a very good system in general and doesn't actually scale very well.  At most it'll spawn a few more creatures if you're a few levels higher, not enough to compensate for level 30 in Act I.

 

but the henchmen can also pluck a nice shield and +2 bastard sword.

 

You need to look on the second page of the inventory, not just the first page.  The shield and sword are definitely lootable.

 

Re Horses - bugs - missed convo... I tend to agree - leave them in. Players can choose to not use them.

 

I'm not trying to be a jerk about this, but this is a moot point.  The horses are going to be removed.

 

1, Savant doesn't want them in.  That alone is sufficient reason to remove them:

 

"Yes, remove the horses! Seeing the result, I should have tested them before putting them in. The mounted knights and other characters are fine, it's just the PC"s that they screw with. Do it "

 

2, saying players can choose not to use them is not a reasonable answer, since they don't know what potential bugs they're incurring.  Think about it from the perspective of someone new to Aielund, not someone who's played it half a dozen times already.  The latter can choose to risks the bugs, knowing how things are SUPPOSED to work.  The former has no idea.

 

This problem might have been solved in between my old version and your newer version.

 

It should have been -- in the newer version the wolf should only spawn AFTER talking to the boys.

 

I just ran into an Act II issue.  Desmond enchants weapons for you and your henchmen, but after he takes you to go talk to Salinder (after completing Night of the Long Knives), he will only enchant your weapons, not your henchies.  I tried reloading the area, releasing/re-enlisting henchies, and getting new henchies, and none of those things made the dialogue come back.  I had to reload the game prior to that conversation.  

 

Noted.

 

I have encountered another issue in chapter 2. After taking out the Assassins Guild, I talked to commander Deckard, retrieved the sealed letter from the Bartlett estate, talked to deckard again, got the key to the Johnson estate from Sir Godfrey, and then decided to confront the Thieve's Guild about setting us up, but when I tried to talk to Perri, instead of a conversation opening up, the words "Good luck with the Assassins Guild" appeared over his head. Maybe you could make it a little bit more robust against the player doing things out of order.

 

I'll look into it.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Empyre65]

               

The wolf did indeed appear after I talked to the boys, but I got no experience for killing it. It just occurred to me that maybe I got experience for talking to the boys but didn't notice it.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Empyre65]

               

I found an exploit in chapter 2. On the Isle of the Dead, there are some sarcophaguses (sarcophagi?) that will spawn a mummy when an item is removed, but a mummy will also spawn when the item is put back in. The player can move the item in and out of the sarcophagus over and over, reaping the experience points.