Coran BG2 NPC Released

[Kulyok]

I am happy to announce that your old BG1 companion, Coran, thief, archer, romantic and wyvern hunter(and a hopeless womanizer!), is now available in BG2, as well. A full friendship path, banters with all Bioware BG2 NPCs, player-initiated dialogue, ToB content, and in the next version of Crossmod Banter Pack, banters with Ajantis, Kivan, Tiax and Xan for BG2.

Read more and download here:
http://www.pocketplane.net/oneday

And happy International Women's Day, everyone!

[Shadow Stranger]

For those like me who have not played BG1, it might be handy if you provide a synopsis of what they did then.

[Kulyok]

That's a great question. The thing is, nearly each BG1 character has one really strong quirk: Xan's "we're all doomed", Kivan's stoic silence, Quayle's amazing brain, Tiax's world domination. For Coran it is risk-taking and, speaking plainly, womanizing. In short, everything in the post above. He is an adventurer and wanderer, with a good nature, but who is not above grabbing some gold. Just like with Xzar's/Edwin's/Viconia's dialogue in BG2, Coran will assume some prior contact, but you'll know more about him as you progress along the friendship track. He is from the forest of Tethyr, so he'll say something about that and about Suldanessellar.

And if you want a synopsis of BG1, it's provided at the beginning of BG2: Sarevok, a son of Bhaal, sought a war of sacrifice to prove his worth to become the next Lord of Murder, PC killed Sarevok and stopped the war. Coran joined PC with a business proposal at first(kill a wyvern, bring his head to the temple and get the bounty), but later on stayed as a friend. There might've even been some prior romantic relationship with a female PC: if the player chooses, Coran and PC can speak about that.

[Shadow Stranger]

In BG2, you met NPCs from BG1 and you had no idea how the party met them back then, what they were like then or what they might have done in BG1. There was little character development for these guys.
Edit:
If you are really feeling adventurous as a modder you can try fixing Icewind Gate, the Third Edition version of BG2.

[Kulyok]

I'm not sure how, truly. I'm working with adapting some mods for DavidW's "Icewind Dale in Baldur's Gate 2" engine, because that seems interesting, but IWD engine is very hard to work with, as I learnt while making IWD NPCs. Maybe someone else will pick Icewind Gate up later.

[Zoltan]

is it an official mod? or custom made?

[Shadow Stranger]

In BG2 you got no real indication of how the NPC knew the protagonist in BG1, they just appeared from nowhere with no coherent background.
NPCs are always gassing off, that is a good oppurtunity for background, ditto the initial meeting.
IWD2 is by all accounts notoriously hard to work with, there are few mods for it. It is set in its ways, hard-coded.

Icewind Gate is like hang - gliding, you do it for the adventure not because it is the easiest way from point A to point B. I gave it a go at one point. It is illuminating on at least two grounds:
(1) it shows the differences between Second Edition and Third Edition.
(2) it shows the differences between the BG2 and IWD2 games. BG2 has really sophisticated magical combat lacking in the latter.
Icewind Gate is a beta, Weimer Republic is the homepage, so it is not wholly official.

[Attalus]

Originally Posted by Shadow Stranger In BG2 you got no real indication of how the NPC knew the protagonist in BG1, they just appeared from nowhere with no coherent background. NPCs are always gassing off, that is a good oppurtunity for background, ditto the initial meeting. IWD2 is by all accounts notoriously hard to work with, there are few mods for it. It is set in its ways, hard-coded. Icewind Gate is like hang - gliding, you do it for the adventure not because it is the easiest way from point A to point B. I gave it a go at one point. It is illuminating on at least two grounds: (1) it shows the differences between Second Edition and Third Edition. (2) it shows the differences between the BG2 and IWD2 games. BG2 has really sophisticated magical combat lacking in the latter. Icewind Gate is a beta, Weimer Republic is the homepage, so it is not wholly official.

Nice explication. I too liked BG2's magical system much better than IWD's, and I never finished IWD2