Icewind Dale NPCs Released

[Kulyok]

Icewind Dale 1 remained the last of the five original Infinity Engine games not to feature a lively, interactive party of NPCs. The release of Icewind Dale NPCs changes all that.

Team your hero of the frozen north with an eclectic band, thrown together by circumstance to face down the forces menacing the Dale.

IWD NPCs features five fully-realized joinable characters with all the depth you would expect from PPG companions, complete with original portraits, voice acting, inter-party and PC-focused dialogue, and romantic possibilities. Most characters can be customized with multiple class combinations.

Homepage: http://www.pocketplane.net/iwdnpc
Readme: http://mods.pocketplane.net/kulyok/Readme-IWDNPC.txt
Forum: http://forums.pocketplane.net/index.php?board=89.0

[Black Swan Gauntlet]

Time to return to the Dale, then...this is gonna be fun.

[pritchke]

I am thinking about replaying this after a long..long..long..vacation.

[CerebroDragon]

Oh wow! I can't believe I missed this one...*bump*.
Has anyone on Ironworks tested it out yet and has some thoughts on it?

I thoroughly enjoyed the IWD2 NPC pack, though it had some noticable slow downs on my already beleagured system. It added such a strong sense of personality to the party a la BG2, that the over emphasis on combat became easily forgettable due to the great banters and deep interactions.

Downloading this now, for sure (Ponders reinstalling IWD for the sixth-seventh time!)

[pritchke]

Hmm.. started a game in HOF it makes it more interesting to have your party interact with each other and most have things to say with different NPCs and encounters in the game. I think it is worth playing through with this unique party one more timw, so far the character members have behaved and acted similar to their descriptions. Than again I only just started chapter 1

[CerebroDragon]

I couldn't resist and have subsequently already started Pritchke. I installed HoW+TotLM, Aurils-bane, the tweak pack and then the IWD NPC pack. I've just hit Dragon's Eye.

Massive kudos must go to Kulyok for the hard work on this project. It's concepts like this that really do extend the lifeline of the infinity engine and make replays of this great game feel fresh and new.

Here's the party I went for via the installation options. I probably prefer the greater range of choices available in the IWD2 NPC pack if I were to compare, but there's still enough range of playing styles possible for the main PC.

PC Conjuror (Kerithrion)
Holvir: Paladin
Nella: Fighter/Cleric
Korin: Cleric/Ranger
Teri: Thief (straight - but I may try reverse dualing to fighter at 13th)
Severn: Mage (although he is a bard)

I've never been one for multi-classing generally, so it has been quite a different sense of progress so far. I'm having fun and enjoying it, though the character/dialogue probably isn't quite as compelling as the IWD2 pack thus far. It's still fantastic however and I love anticipating the banter/dialogue options.

Again, thanks to Kulyok for inspiring me to install this ol' chestnut again.

[Kulyok]

You are very welcome.

[Cloudbringer]

Thanks for bringing this one back up! I've actually been playing IWD2 lately. I never finished my game and my pc had to be wiped last year. So I lost my saved games. I started over and even though we've had to rebuild my pc this month, hubby saved my newly started games. I checked a walkthrough and can't believe how close I was to the end before I lost the original saved games! Once I get through it this time I may just have to try these!

Does anyone know if they work in multiplay?