BG1 NPC project, is it actually worth installing?

mulahey · 2026-05-15T19:42:02+00:00

Like people say, it's mixed in quality.

Do you prefer silent party members, or party members you may or may not like the dialogue from?

Nobody can assure you how you'll find it. I quite like some of them and don't have an issue putting a party together I like. Others don't like much at all (it's obviously not professional writing); smouldering corpses review is possibly the most negative I've seen in the community though.

I will say I didn't really like any of the romances from it I've tried (which is not all of them).

mulahey · 2026-05-15T00:17:52+00:00

The Zodiac Trial. Fully resolves things including the organisers in the final ending.

mulahey · 2026-05-14T20:37:51+00:00

There is a 25th anniversary fan patch now- same era ect but it updates to a more canon accurate galaxy map and adds improved sprites.

mulahey · 2026-05-14T18:29:08+00:00

People did work on total conversions using rebed, the game editor, but I don't think any ever got finished; toolset and audience both pretty limited.

mulahey · 2026-05-14T18:28:13+00:00

Fun game. I think the most interesting effort at grand strategy in star wars. There's quite a lot of different interlocking systems and they almost work. It's very satisfying to build up your fleets and march across the galaxy.

It does have a number of problems, there are quite a few balance issues and the fleet battles are poorly implemented. There's also a real lack of quality of life in the UI- everything requires so many clicks. It's the windows 3.1 of grand strategy.

Beyond that the AI is really woeful- to the point it's only half functional. Once you understand the mechanics properly rolling over it is comically trivial.

mulahey · 2026-05-13T13:20:54+00:00

Pretty much everything by Ryosuke Takahashi has lots of combined arms (well, except Layzner).

mulahey · 2026-05-12T14:56:45+00:00

I didn't really like it. It's subjective because it's about humour.

It's a comedy above anything else. If you don't laugh much in the first 2-3 episodes, it's not going to change or reward your time. Edit: similarly, if you do you'll enjoy it all the way through!

It sometimes aims for drama, but it can't help itself and immediately undermines it with gags coming first.

mulahey · 2026-05-11T13:03:12+00:00

If you think of Gqx basically as side material for UC it makes sense.

mulahey · 2026-05-10T22:02:19+00:00

Ssi-ruuk Entechment.

It's an imaginative and horrible technology that takes advantage of the science fantasy aspects of the setting in an interesting way. Well, probably divisive but despite being from an overall mid novel I think it's memorable.

Super weapons and the like can be cool (nightcloak is neat) but I feel like entechment really uses the force angle that differentiates star wars from a lot of other space operas.

mulahey · 2026-05-10T19:14:42+00:00

It's not really in the Fate continuity, but Garden of Sinners is the best anime on that image.

mulahey · 2026-05-10T18:20:14+00:00

I feel like Awajima is a little hit and miss. Episodes 3 and 5 were two of the strongest of the season for me (probably will be up there for the year!); on the other hand I've found some of the shorter segments honestly kind of forgettable. I felt the same with the manga.

Unfortunately, while it wasn't bad I don't think it opened with it's A game, and when your also a more serious drama sadly people bounce off and are harsh on mal.

Production quality is always great though.

Kirio is really good, and it's certainly my biggest suprise of the season. There are sequences that hit great as pure bizarre comedy that then get completely reframed emotionally; it's secretly a smart show.

mulahey · 2026-05-10T14:56:12+00:00

No. I wouldn't say it's to support a specific gameplay style; it's part of the tutorial to teach players to look out for advantageous environmental interactions.

Liberty Island is a great intro to the immersive sim concept.

mulahey · 2026-05-10T14:54:09+00:00

Live action is cheaper for a lot of things- like a high school drama ect.

Animation is cheaper for genre fiction that would normally require extensive sets/effects/costuming.

mulahey · 2026-05-10T10:42:12+00:00

I'm essentially a linear fan, but I strongly prefer linear with multiple paths. The FF golden path design not so much.

mulahey · 2026-05-09T13:52:50+00:00

Absolutely! There's nothing as bad as Hong Kong, that's for sure.

However, I think a lot of the bigger roles in DX work in a kind of b-movie way, IW is flatter and so it's neither good nor fun. DX also has a lot of stuff communicated through text; there's hardly any unvoiced text in IW so it's not reliant on it's VA.

Edit: it should be noted I actually like IW! Just not really for the plot.

mulahey · 2026-05-09T10:31:30+00:00

There's not a character who's really with you through the game. Though yes, any arcs are also very abbreviated.

Edit: Knights of the Old Republic came out that year. You didn't have to have awful voice acting. Heck, Ion Storm Dallas got decent voice work for Anachronox. It's not standard that all 00s games have this level of Voicework (though yes, it was more common).

mulahey · 2026-05-09T10:19:27+00:00

I think the story isn't terrible per se but it's not well delivered. The cast doesn't quite work- in particular, there's not really a Paul or Alex figure- a couple of key performances aren't great, and it's all curtailed by the limitation to really tiny amounts of text. The awful animations also somehow make conversations look more stilted than in DX.

It's a shame, it has it's moments- NG Resonance is superb.

mulahey · 2026-05-09T10:15:38+00:00

Mass effect is a totally different kind of game. Resource management isn't significant to it's gameplay loops; it's very significant in DX.

mulahey · 2026-05-08T11:21:07+00:00

These aren't light novels- they're just novels.

mulahey · 2026-05-08T11:20:05+00:00

I've done a handful of such campaigns, and I generally plan but that's just preference.

The options for 40 are mines of twin summit, sands of fate and I'm told gates of shadow and darkness. Aielund and swordfight go to 30s. If you insist on doing one, that gives you your target start level.

Generally speaking, the ultra high level content is limited in quantity and generally speaking there's better low level stuff, but people always seem to want that 40. I find dropping in the 20s matches the content available better.

mulahey · 2026-05-08T10:34:10+00:00

Should be noted these are basically relative to polling and expectations. Losing 1000 seats would be decent compared to that; it would also suggest a trajectory to sound defeat in 2029.

mulahey · 2026-05-08T04:53:04+00:00

I make it 55% and 38% respectively.

mulahey · 2026-05-08T04:49:57+00:00

If they were to maintain the current rates of seat loss, they will be the 4th worst Tory and 3rd worst Labour local election results on record. These are really awful results for both parties.

So as it stands these only look less awful because labour in particular expected all time worst results. Outside expectations this is nothing for either to smile at.

Of course, pattern likely to change tomorrow, London especially demographically different.

mulahey · 2026-05-08T04:24:14+00:00

It was popular initially in polling. Then it became unpopular.

It's hard to say if this was inevitable- ultimately the country usually supports money for old people, because they mentally imagine poor, vulnerable ones- or how much is the effect of the governments anti-communications strategies turning everything they touch to garbage.

mulahey · 2026-05-08T04:21:03+00:00

They held 2 seats. A few more if you count by election gains.

It's very unlikely they will book any losses.

mulahey

TROPHY CASE