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My compliments on Kivan


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I just wanted to say that the author has done a great job on this mod! It feels as if Kivan really should be in the game. I love his interjections and banters (love the ones he has with Nalia), I love his voice, his alternative portrait, I just love having him in the party! I like his wife too, she's great. :)

 

It really feels like Kivan was in the game from the start. He was MEANT to be in this SoA.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is thanks for making this mod, Domi!! :)

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I'd just like to add to this and say that I don't know how I'll be able to take along Xan and Kivan in the same party... Im so greedy... ;) I can't stand the thought of Deheriana getting Kivan back, nor can I only persue a friendship with Xan! :( Kudos on this project though... Kudos.

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I agree heartily! Awesome mod! Kivan does seem liek a natural, original NPC. I"m very much enjoying all the background stuff and deep talks. Well done Domi! :)

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I am glad you are enjoying the mod. Yep, you need 10 to transfer.

 

You know, I have not been at BG2 for so long, that I don't remember the exact code for Anomen's romance. At a guess it would be

 

GetGlobal("AnomenRomanceActive","GLOBAL")

 

if that doesn't work, try asking at a more generic modding sub-forum, I am sure plenty of folk know it by heart. :)

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I want to say that this mod has single-handed rekindled my love for the Baldur's Gate games. It made the story feel new again, which is amazing considering the amount of times I've gone through the games. Kivan feels like he should have been part of the game and although there were a couple of insignificant things in the writing that I found jarring, he's become my favourite romance character, not just my favourite Baldur's Gate romance. Thank you so much for creating this mod and sharing it with us lucky lucky people. :)

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I don’t even know where to begin. Kivan is just amazing, Domi.

It such a well written mod that I sometimes forget that it is a mod and I absolutely adore Kivan. :)

 

And I have played it so many times that I almost know it by heart. Well, almost... :)

It is sweet, tragic, wonderful… *sigh* and absolutely beautiful.

 

I really don’t know what else to say…

 

Thank you.

 

It is simple, but it is all I can say. Thank you, Domi.

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Warning: very long, spoilers and screenshots-heavy post

 

Hi again, Domi!

 

At one point during our exchanges about variables and bug reports, you've mentioned your surprise at how much people liked Kivan, because you thought it would be more of a niche mod. Well, for what's it worth, I do believe I can be classified as a niche player, for up until now, I've played, from beginning till the end, a grand total of two NPC Mods (three, if you count the Ajantis romance in the BG1NPC project a separate mod NPCs as well), and have only read the .d/.tra files for the majority of the others. I mention this because I want you to understand that I expect you not to take my opinions that seriously, because in no way do I have the necessary expertise for it. Nevertheless, I just wanted to make sure I at least try to thank you for your work on Kivan, even though not all the words in the world could do justice to how much I've loved it.

 

Enough of that, though, and back to Kivan. I think I've first thought to play with Kivan in BG2 during my first time through BG, thanks to the BG1NPC project. He had a line which went something like "CHARNAME, friend of my friend and enemy of my enemy" (exchange in question can be found here, here, here, here and here), and it, in conjuction with all his other friendship talks, made me interested enough in him to create a PC for him. I am happy to say that till this very day, I have not regretted it. Playing Kivan has been a very intense, exciting, wonderful and overall fascinating experience.

 

I have to be honest and confess I was more than a little bit wary with regards to the Deheriana part of the Mod. You see, I will never play anything other than a sorceress/arcane caster of some kind (in games which allow me to do so), I loathe Aerie with a vengeance and have no room for Cernd in my parties; as such, I was positive I'd never get to see that particular arc of the story, and even if - provided some actual miracles happened - I somehow managed to get her back to life, I was pretty sure I had no interest in her as an NPC. Yes, I am petty that way and don't particularly fancy either female NPCs in my party - unless I really, really, desperately need their skills -, or F/M/C NPCs, and as much as I might regret this fact in theory, when it comes to actual practice, I really shrug at the entire business; I only mention this because I want to make it clear that my lack of interest in Deheriana has nothing to do with your writing. Anyway, I've downloaded Kivan and have taken a look through his files to make sure that overall there were no actual nasty surprises. What I've seen was so beautiful, that I became determined to play the mod. So I created a PC for him, 'cause I am obsessive that way and must have a different (personality wise) and special PC for every game I actually bother to go through (oh, four games, look at how experienced I am /end self sarcasm).

 

I hope you don't mind, but in order for Kivan's romance to work for me, I played a sorceress named Livia who got engaged to Ajantis during BG1 only to lose him in Windspear Hills. I figured this would make sense from a roleplaying point of view: two friends who suffer tremendous losses, only to reach a happy ending after their many trials because I am infatuated with happy endings that way. This actually turned out to be a good decision for me, because many of the PC replies could be interpreted as indicators of a warm friendship between her and Kivan, a fact which lead me to imagine the romance as not entirely PC driven, but also like a friendship which changes into love, with the participants quite often unaware of what their words and actions really meant. I offer two examples to support my assumption: the first one can be found here (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) and the second one here (1, 2 and 3). Of course, this is not to say that I am right, just that it was an interpretation which greatly enhanced my immersion in the game, and one of the factors which made me love it so much.

 

One of the first things I noticed about Kivan during my playthrough in BG 2 with him was his introduction speech (talk about obvious...): it was so powerfully written, the way he greets the PC in Waukeen's Promenade and how he comments on his tracking of his friend. Very, very, very lovely, mainly because it was so damn good to get him again after so much time spent in Irenicus' Dungeon with NONE of the NPCs I actually had in the party during BG1. I don't know if it was your intention, but you really made me feel happy, because I finally had someone I actually travelled with again with my PC (as opposed to who BioWare assumed I had in my party during their first game... ugh!).

 

Soon after he joined, I got the dryad acorns talk in Adventurers' Mart and I was again enthralled: the musical theme you have chosen (Karelia, by Amorphis) was superb; same goes for his other theme, which I understand is from Planescape Torment. I was captivated and have since grown to have those two songs in my usual Winamp playlist. "The catching up" cycle as you call it in the list of content thread was great. I was feeling more and more as if Kivan was always meant to be there, and his friendship with my PC was something special. I particularly enjoyed the way you wrote Kivan's interjections in normal quest-related dialogue, interjections which sometimes allow for PC input. My favourite exchange till this day remains the one during the Bridge District murders quests, which warms its way all the way into my heart: aww, just aww!

 

Another thing which I really should mention but can find no adjective to describe it: how non-boring Kivan's dialogues were. Interesting sounds like an understatement to how much I actually cared about what he had to say: concise, to the point, not self-repetitive, and sometimes even wrong in his advice, and acknowledging this fact! It was awesome, and it felt as if the NPC was so alive, what, with his comments on almost everything! I loved the fact that I could use PID and ask about his opinion whenever we travelled to a new area, I loved how he offered his advice, even if sometimes it turned out to be wrong. I also loved his banters with my other party members (Keldorn, Anomen, Jan and Kelsey). His banters with Jan were especially funny, while his conversations with Keldorn were quite endearing, complex and subtle. Oh, and thank you for not writing huge animosities between Kivan and Anomen; I liked that even if they were not the best of friends, they still got along well and, most of all, there was no Anomen bashing (which I happen to hate).

 

Powerwise, Kivan fitted into my party. I really don't care about NPCs doing tons of damage, so you won't see me ranting about +3 Arrows and how they suck. I gave him the Gesen bow as soon as it was assembled and it is what he had throughout the rest of the game, even though I did upgrade his bow twice (once, with the Elf in SoA Docks District, and the second time via Cespenar) and even though I never took it out of his inventory. About his quests... I like to think of myself as a roleplayer, so I did the Lovers Ring quest the way Kivan suggested. I have to confess I fretted for a little while that I won't get Lilarcor, because the NPC who gave it to the party was a little bit late, after my paranoid calculations. I did mind the less experience I got after I've gone through this route, 'cause I play with a full party of which more than half are casters who really need the experience given by the original Lilarcor quest in the beginning. But I've lived through it. :) The apparition of Jozzi the Seasnake in Sahuagin city was a pleasant surprise, for I remembered her from Baldur's Gate I. I was happy to view the quest in its entirety and I enjoyed Kivan's contributions to it.

 

I really loved the multiple array of PC replies I had access to. Very refreshing. I especially loved one of the first talks with Kivan, in which you, the Modder, gave me the chance to de-emphasize Imoen's importance. Gods, how grateful I was for that particular exchange (1, 2, 3, and 4), because I was sick to my stomach of all the NPCs in the game (modded and original) who kept insisting how important she was supposed to be for my PC, without ever giving me a chance to say she was just as important as my other companions (well, to be honest, awfully less important, but please ignore the double standards :( ). I won't start an Imoen rant here, but I hope you know what I mean.

 

I believe that what fascinated me the most during Kivan's romance was how intimate and natural it seemed. How it was so easy to imagine my PC's friendship with him ever since BG, and to imagine it evolve into something more, as they went through more events together, many of them unpleasant ones. Heh, as a side note, my favourite LT has to be the one about stars, because it made my mind draw a connection between it and the one my PC had with Ajantis. I don't think it was your intention, but the LT in question nevertheless made a strong impression on me due to above mentioned process of thought.

 

I was a little bit disappointed with the talk about former companions, though I (hope) I understand your reasons behind it. Disappointed, as in, the list of NPCs I could talk to him about did not include any of my party members from BG (with the exception of Xan). I liked it, nevertheless, because it enhanced the friendship between the PC and Kivan and gave them some good common ground to relate on. I think it was sweet because this way, their shared past makes me, as the player, feel more immersed in the story. Speaking of shared past, I also loved the entire Tazok cycle, which had very nice moments such as this one. Oh, and BTW, I liked so much the interaction between my PC and Kivan during the Drow Transformation; it was so very cute, in a strange kind of way.

 

To sum up, when it comes to Kivan's LTs per se, in SoA, I thought they were enchanting and I especially liked how many of the discussions with him were event related, because I go very fast through the game. They all felt very natural and I anticipated each one of them with great enthusiasm. As I said, my favourite remains the one about stars, but I also adored the one where he gets a cut in his cloak, the "vanimaer" one and finally, his words at the Tree of Life. I think it was written beautifully, and I believe that the Tree of Life speech, his Hell reaction and his first LT in ToB were the most amazing things in the entire Mod, because they are surprising, intense, and overall emotionally binding. Moving on, his LT in ToB were also splendid. They were so awesome, that I cheated. I love spoilers and can't stay away from them, so I read all his LTs in d/tra files, and THEN played them all. This did not diminish my enjoyment of the experience, though, because it was still a thrill to hear his music start and the first lines to occur whenever they did. Also loved the flirts! Very unique and diverse and I spent a lot of time trying to view as many of them as I could, 'cause I knew there was no chance I'd play the game again only to try different options.

 

By the way, one thing which I've seen mentioned around in your forum and have experienced myself, is about the first LT in ToB. I missed it the first time: I had Ascension installed, and, because I knew I'd face Improved Illasera as soon as the party transitioned from SoA to ToB, I spent about 15 minutes buffing. Couple that with every auto-pause option enabled (bar one), which is the way I play on Core Rules, and by the time the battle was done, the cutscene played, the Solar and Sarevok speeches ended, Kivan's timer had expired and he said nothing of his first LT, but instead behaved as if we already had it, and thus gave me access to his full flirt menu. I solved this by speeding up the buff process/battle and clicking through the above mentioned dialogues, but it was still a pain to deal with. Not your fault in any way, but my own for having so many auto pause features enabled, which really make real time pass fast. Perhaps there is a way to make sure that his first LT fires no matter how long the Solar takes with her long exposition? Just a thought.

 

Secondly, while I did manage to get around the bug in the Kiser quest as described here, I wish it was solved somehow and did not have to guide my sister through solving it the same way, 'cause she really sucks at such actions and they break her enjoyment of the game. She's also wary about the console, so... Your help would be much appreciated, please.

 

About the encounter with the Gorion malevolent spirit, or whatever the hell that floaty undead thingy is, I am sorry to say that I felt a lack of conclusion to it. After reading some of your posts, I feel this was intentional, and it is perhaps my fault I still feel confused by the encounter's lack of resolution. I sort of expected that - even if I did not get to tell Kivan how it was all an illusion, in spite of my PC's huge wisdom - some resolution would occur. Was it an illusion, or reality? I don't know, it just felt weird to see Kivan reacting to the apparition, without acknowledging any of the PC's replies, and without ever talking about it again.

 

I dearly wish Kivan was voiced. Had it not been for your exceptional writing, I wouldn't have played with him (I am prejudiced that way, and I am sorry about it). I think an excellent Mod like Kivan could only benefit from the addition of voiced lined (especially considering that his soundset does not lend itself well to the committed part of the romance; I mean, it's odd to hear him say "Don't bother me!" whenever my PC wants to talk to him).

 

About the problem at the end (i.e., getting only Kivan's reaction to PC's choice), you already know about it and I hope there is something you can do so that my sister can play it as it was intended. What you don't know, is how much I adored your writing there. How a few short, but poignant sentences can make such a huge impact on a player such as me. Even if I wanted that, at least once, my PC ascended, and all was well, every temptation to do so disappeared upon hearing Kivan wondering about happy endings.

 

Also, I have a new question. In Setup.tra, there is a description for something called "Wreath of Shilmista" which goes like this:

 

@176 = ~Wreath of Shilmista~

@177 = ~This is a wreath of leaves and twigs that Kivan made for you.

 

STATISTICS:

 

Weight: 1~

@178 = ~This is a wreath of leaves and twigs that Kivan made for you.

 

STATISTICS:

 

Special: + 1 bonus to Charisma

Special: Protects Against all forms of panic and boosts morale.

Weight: 1~

 

In this forum, there is also a thread which mentions a gift from Kivan for the PC. Was this something I was supposed to get in the game? Because I've never seen it. Or was it actually something that did not get implemented?

 

BTW, the epilogue? LOVED IT! Thank you, thank you, thank you for leaving it so open ended, concise and sweet; I dread the epilogues in general, because I always feel my PC will be saddled with a bunch of kids, whether she liked children or not. I did not enjoy how other Mods handled this, but yours did it perfectly, so thank you. Now I can use my imagination to wander around thinking about what my PC and Kivan did in their long elven lifespan. Thank you for that (self repetition is intended, I assure you, as I want to emphasize just how much I adore your epilogue).

 

Finally, I apologise for the long post; it's a habit of mine of which I seem unable to get rid of. :( I hope you at least skimmed through it and are aware how much I appreciated your work with Kivan.

 

Edited to add a screenshot.

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It's not every day that a modder gets a letter like this. :) It is much, much appreciated, thank you.

 

Well, when I talked about a niche mod, I very much expected it to be played by a player similar to you - someone who formed friendships in BG1, and generally liked Kivan, and felt it was appropriate to continue the relationship in SoA-ToB.

 

I would like to explain what's up with me sitting on the bug reports for both Kivan and IWD2NPC - currently, all the time I can get for modding is by getting up at about 3 am and modding till I have to go to work, or till the baby wakes up on the weekend. That is about 3 hours at a stretch at best and not every day, 'casue I am getting old. When you are on the go with a mod, it's Okay (so I code NWN2 stuff), but because I have let both IE mods lapse, and frankly am badly out of practice with the Infinity Engine, I really need a big chunk of time to look into the issues. To add to this, I have a feeling that that hijacking interjections issue is due to it failing with an I_C_T2, so I probably used Interject or the ToL Grim's structure. So I need to ask around how to do it properly. At any rate, I am tentatively guessing that I will be able to have a few hours for modding when my in-laws are visiting in the end of April, so hopefully it will help me to get things sorted out.

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I'm not verbose. But I agree with pretty much everything Ana Christina said. :(

 

@ Domi

 

Although I must say I'm waiting impatiently for a new version of Kivan with the few bugs left fixed to start my next BG2 playthrough, I urge you to take care of more important things than modding first (e.g sleeping and taking care of the baby) :)

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Heh, those two things are not necessarily intercompatible, trust me. :) And I like doing both. Still, I think that I will be modding for a while yet, if much more low key then I used to. So, just be patient with me - it's not a case of abandonware, it's a case of severe need for the TimeStop or Simulcarum spell.

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