Octavo

Not a request, but a workaround to suggest to an above post. For showing custom statuses you can always use Enlightened as long as you don't mind it having that icon. Possibly keep giving enlightened at 1/turn until your effect wears off, then stop.

As a wise man once said, "Yay-a-lujiah!" OK! with append_char_name, my Method A becomes possible, with relative ease. You can refer to characters by name in dialog, and perhaps even better, you can state who is to say a response, yes? example: Bear Chase Man Help, Hercules! I'm being chased by a bear! 1. (Party) (Help him) 2. (Hercules) Come again? 3. (Xena) ... Why should we help you? 4. (Conan) Stop, Bear! 5. (Conan) Stop, Bear Chase Man! 6. (Merlin) Alakazam! Bear-disappear-o! ... except less illogical.

... wow ... (staring wide-eyed at the screen) This is so incredibly different from where I come from. I fall asleep and miss a day and my carefully-watched-for-a-single-post technical topic explodes into a 20-post, fairly intellectual philosophical debate. OK. 1st thing: I admit that I forgot another carefully-pondered option, the premade party. Its advantages and disadvantages are probed more deeply here than I could hope to do. Now I will not get involved as to whether pre-made parties are better storytelling, but I believe that both options should be supported possibilities for BoA. Am I to assume that because nobody contradicted me, my assessment of available functions is correct? If it is, here's what I think is missing for the any-party storytelling. Item 1: %pc1% tags or something to that effect to get a name. Item 2: Something similar, but applying to any string. I just want to get a string from somewhere, and be able to have it expanded in all text. I could use this to simulate Item 1 functionality, or I could make one equal to each pronoun (she/he, his/her, etc.) to simplify storytelling when gender is unknown. Item 3: A way to test if the party is 1, 2, 3, 4; maybe even to force a number. This goes in the 'maybe' pile. With this, you could tell this story: A party is brought into the scenario. 2 pre-made parties are provided to choose from, or it can be a party brought in. It is tested that the party is at least 2 in number; extra following characters make up the difference. The most divine character is found by the scenario and their name, gender, etc. are divined. (ok bad pun) These are stored in quick-access strings. Then someone near the start runs up calling one member holy one etc. The status 'enlightened' is applied to this character, just for fun. Geneforge-y alignment is kept, based on what you say to people. If by a point your replies are more towards accepting you are a divine messenger, eventually this party member turns on the other 3 and you have your epic battle, Divine One and minions versus 3 Ones and the old order. The player chooses a side. On the other hand, the other final battle is more straightforward: party vs. this dark deity's minions, complete with alternate messiah. (Naturally this would require tweaking to be a real scenario; it's just an example, after all.) On the other hand, for telling with a premade party: Item: Calls to manipulate the party, as in Avernum 1. At least as powerful, although there are areas that could be made even better. This would allow you to tell Final Fantasy 6. In FF6: You begin with a character named Terra. (All names listed here are default; there are name change options available.) She has lost her memory, having spent the past who-knows-how-long as a mind slave of the Empire. Then a character named Locke joins your party, followed by Edgar and Sabin. Your party is now full at four. Locke splits off to infiltrate the captive city of South Figaro. An NPC named Banon joins in his slot- I'd use Slot 5 to implement him, personally. Shortly after, your party is split, and you can choose in which order to follow the stories of Locke, Sabin and the group of the three others. Party management continues in this vein until you acquire a base of operations, where all your characters wait except a group of up to four that you select to go on your mission. Am I the only one who sees a strong correlation between this and the potential Avernum 1-style party management could provide? Either, in conclusion, has its uses, and its potentially enabling features.

I agree with, well, just about everything that has been said here. It would be simple enough, I think, to add a new call that just calls the old call, yes?

Here's my problem. To my knowledge, the party may be 4 li'l images walking around on screen, but to all plot purposes, they are only 1 character. This is true in even the greatest scenarios I know of. One-character-ness is fine for Geneforge, where all your party is made by one person anyhow. But in Avernum, each should have the potential to be very independent characters. How does one get around it? Things I've tried in my mind: A, my favorite: Pick a character, treat them differently. Example. Have a little something near the start check for the trait Divinely Touched. If it exists on one character, perfect. If more than one, or none, possesses it, break ties with Wisdom, then Priest Spells, then random. Store the number of this character. Then have someone run up to the party, yelling 'Holy One', or something. In conversations throughout the game the player will have chances to agree or deny that this character is some sort of divine person. Responses in conversations can be labeled by which character is to say the response. In cutscenes the character can be used independently. Also, Split Party can be useful. Then, in a climactic scene, Charm can be used to have the character turn on the party for a major final battle. Advantages: 1. Nice plot capability! 2. Could theoretically be extended for different behavior toward all characters. 3. Nice & compatible with any party you bring in. Flaws: 1. I don't believe that there is the tag to get a party character's name. You'd have to refer to this character always as Holy One. 2. This has no meaning at all if the player brings in an abnormal party, or changes/rearranges their party during the scenario. B: Party Storage Use Avernum 1 - style character adding and storage to make the party store their characters at the start, then use real characters for the middle of the game, and finally take away the scenario characters and return the original ones, bumped up in XP's by whatever the other characters collected. With this one could make Final Fantasy 6. Advantages: 1. Complete control of characters, names. 2. Control of entry levels and equipment. 3. It really makes a very nice plot, with as many characters as you want coming and going. Disadvantages: 1. Ya can't do it until/unless this character management is added. 2. You would need short areas to make the player exchange the characters, that happen in no plot-time, unless the tools are really good. 3. Ya can't do it until/unless this character management is added! C: Use the built-in 5th-6th slots party management only, or use Doom Moon style extra character. Ick. The 5th and 6th are fine for somebody you found who is helping you for one quest, but not for major plot characters. Doom Moon style characters, managed through scripts: this is Avernum. We should really not have to resort to that. Besides which, neither one levels up. And the party 4 characters are still only one personality. So, my favorite to use in near ability is A, or ideally B. We currently must resort to C. Am I right here, or am I more crazy than usual?

...ok. That's what I thought I had read. Aaugh! So they use slots 5 and 6, like in Nethergate. And they can only follow the main party, not be a part of it. They can't be the whole thing, and they can't be player controlled. And if I read right, you can't take them outdoors. So at any one time, the party can only be 3 'characters' in the plot, 1 player controlled! I hope to goodness this is fixable in the engine. Just think of the greatness of plot possible if it'd run like FF6, or even FF5 (which used the same 4 for most of the game after the initial meeting-period, save at one point trading one character for his daughter).

Has this horse that follows already been beaten past death? Party manipulation like I remember from Avernum 1. Storing, adding, etc.ing characters. Among the reasons for this would be if you wanted to control the player's party level and type without just shipping with a party. Also, if you wanted a game like - does anyone remember Final Fantasy 6? (3US) You started with one character, Terra. Later you met Locke, Edgar, and Sabin. Then Locke left to go spy on South Figaro, and his slot was filled by Banon. Etc. Then in the second half of the game, you had more than 4 characters available, and they waited in your base of operations while you chose four to explore. It would let the characters be more than 1 character-unit in the game, and instead be a personality apiece, nicely complementing cutscene ability. If I read right this is not in BoA now at all.