Party composition and its effects on dialogue

[Pemptus]

I'm in the "waiting for the Windows version" club atm, trying to prepare myself for party creation, and reading various minor technical spoilers as to not screw myself in some way. You know how it goes.

 

So, from what I've been reading here, party members in Avadon have concrete personalities this time around. I'll almost certainly will be willing to create a nice, tidy, balanced party, one from each class (well, minus one, so either a sorceress or a shaman, I suppose). The choice of the main character apparently matters dialogue-wise, am I right? Also, it reflects which NPCs I bring along, and I'm pretty sure some are much more interesting than others.

 

It's the Dragon Age (or most other dialogue-based rpg games too, I suppose) dilemma all over again - I want an effective and balanced party with a full array of skills, AND some interesting conversations.

 

I've read something about an adorably power-hungry teen mage somewhere, and I take it I'd be missing quite a bit if I don't bring her along, correct? It's things like that I'm concerned about.

 

Or should I just focus on creating a party that hits things pretty well, because dialogues don't play that big a part here? I'm undecided. What would you recommend to a guy who wants to see the most interesting things on his first playthrough?

[A less presumptuous name.]

The dialogue doesn't really affect the game in any major aspect: it's more of a bonus. That said, any combination of characters will give interesting dialogues. Playing through right now, my party of

Click to reveal..

Shadow Walker (me), Blademaster and Sorceress (I'm bad with names) as my partners

is working quite well. It's a balanced party and the companions' dialogues mesh well.

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Pemptus

It's the Dragon Age (or most other dialogue-based rpg games too, I suppose) dilemma all over again - I want an effective and balanced party with a full array of skills, AND some interesting conversations.

I simply cheated that need by building a main PC so powerful that he didn't really need any support except for disarming traps and picking locks and such. Then, I could just take whoever I thought would be the most interesting party companions all the time.

[Pemptus]

I'm not above cheating when it comes to getting past some arbitrary mechanics I don't agree with, but this sounds a mite excessive. For another playthrough, maybe. If that ever happens...

[grumblycakes]

I'm much more of a role player than a power gamer so I would be interested in hearing what people have to say about this. Which characters have interesting personalities and what are their classes? It would be nice to know before creating my character.

[The Ratt]

Well shadowwalkers and sorceresses are the only ones with lockpicking abilities, that something important to keep in mind.

[Alorael at Large]

Originally Posted By: grumblycakes

I'm much more of a role player than a power gamer so I would be interested in hearing what people have to say about this. Which characters have interesting personalities and what are their classes? It would be nice to know before creating my character.

All of them are interesting, although I think Nathalie the cheerfully murderous sorceress is the fan favorite. In general, different people have more to say in different places, usually in the places closest to their homelands. It's fun to play with many combinations of characters, though.

—Alorael, who recommends playing a blademaster or shadowwalker. They're probably the classes that play well with all others the most. But really you can get away with with any class combined with any other classes in your party, except maybe having two shamans.

[Enobarbus World]

I wouldn't call Nathalie the fan favorite.

 

I would say that people tend to have the strongest reaction to her, be it positive or negative.

[Randomizer]

I always liked Nathalie and she sounds like Jeff's description of his daughter playing video games. Or at least how he thinks his daughter will grow up playing video games.

 

Shima has some great lines contrasting a traditional ninja type versus the player's charge in there and kill things.

 

You really need two play throughs to see almost all the dialog.

[Necris Omega]

Well part of the appeal with this game is that, at least on the "normal" difficulties, you should be able to get away with playing whatever kind of party you want at a given moment.

 

If Hard and Masochist are more the "THOU SHALT PLAYETH THINE HEALER AND THINE TANK OR ELSE THOU SHALT SUFFER" type of game then so be it, but I suggest choosing a character based off what looks coolest (the Shadowwalker) and then juggle your party according to what you find works best.

[Vent]

Originally Posted By: The Ratt

Well shadowwalkers and sorceresses are the only ones with lockpicking abilities, that something important to keep in mind.

When I started the demo I quoted this point and had suffer too much of similar problem in some RPG like DAO so I pick a shadowwalker.

Later I pick the Mac Store version and get confused with the save games so started a new character, like a newbie without to think, so I pick a shaman because in any RPG I'm always curious about Druids or Shaman classes.

Well the lack of lockpicking ability hurt a lot in limiting companions mix, it's either Shima+Jennel, either Nathalie+Nevilin, because no close range character in the party isn't an option, and no lockpicking character in the party is a very weird option, not really one.

I don't know how this problem of lockpicking could have been solved but it's a real problem.

[Pemptus]

So you can pretty much mix&match party members on the fly? Do they gain xp while in the "waiting room"? Or is it very disadvantageous to not stick to a particular party?

[nikki.]

Any characters you don't take with you get level ups at the same rate as your travelling party - if you gain three levels on a trip, when you return to Avadon anybody who stayed behind gets three levels too.

[Enobarbus World]

Not quite. All PCs get the same amount of XP no matter where they are. However, since they start with different amounts of XP, a total gain of 3000 XP (for example) may result in 3 level-ups for one PC and 2 for another. But that has nothing to do with where they are.

[nikki.]

Ah, that explains why in the later levels I had some characters at one level, and others a level or two higher/lower. I just never had the inclination to work out why.

[Vent]

Originally Posted By: Pemptus

So you can pretty much mix&match party members on the fly? Do they gain xp while in the "waiting room"? Or is it very disadvantageous to not stick to a particular party?

As other replied but I'd like add some more points.

It's a plus of games with a roster well designed like Avadon to use party mix/match. But I would suggest stick to a party choice for each main missions and linked subquests. You'll get a better spreading of the companions living (their dialogs) during the mission. If you don't it will work but not necessarily as well because of the spreading companions dialogs on more companions in the mission.

If there are more than one mission in a same region, then use for each mission a different party set is cool to get the companions reactions on a region.

Also there are some companions exchange dialogs, but well there isn't that much and you won't be able see all in a single play, so it's not important to be focused on each mix and more on having or not a companion in a mission.

[Pemptus]

The leveling of inactive characters is certainly convenient. I guess I'll create a shadowwalker then, due to the mentioned lockpicking woes. Plus he sounds kind of ninja, man, so that's always good.

[Vent]

For the best party flexibility Shadowwalker is certainly the best choice.

 

About this lockpicking point I'd say it's not a problem for games having 6 characters in a party. But for those with 3 or even 4 and using the companions and roster approach, it's a design problem. Not a major one but still an unpleasant one.

 

That said I don't see good solution but to make it a hero skill only, not class related. A design point a little hard to justify from a story point of view.

[dave s]

I went Sorceress. I maxed out lockpicking with her, so I take who I want based on the area I am going to mainly. That is, I take the character who is from that area or nearby, and someone to balance out the party.

[Sub zero]

What i found so far:

Experience do not split, so you can take as many members as you wish.

Sorceress can have crit very early, starting from 2 lvl.

[Frozen Feet]

Originally Posted By: Play within a movie in a book

All of them are interesting, although I think Nathalie the cheerfully murderous sorceress is the fan favorite.

... is it wrong that after, like, five minutes of interacting with her, I want to grab a hold of her and shout "WHAT THE **** IS WRONG WITH YOU GIRL!?!"

[spidersilk]

Frozen Feet - I don't know if it's "wrong", but I certainly had the same reaction. I'm a little bit reminded of Parker on the TV show Leverage, and the way Eliot keeps saying to her "There's something wrong with you!" Except that Parker is likable-crazy, while Nathalie is just annoying-crazy.

 

Personality-wise, I tend to like Jenell and Sevilin the best. Shima's OK, though he tends to come off as a bit too "Woe is me, for I am noble and long-suffering and everyone hates me", hand-stapled-to-forehead type of thing. Actually, I suppose both the fighter-types are a bit emo, but Shima the more so of the two.

 

Jenell initially comes off as the most mature of the lot - wise and in tune with nature and what not - but then as soon as you take her to Khemeria, she turns into a scary homicidal hothead, which was kind of a a cool, if somewhat jarring, transition.

 

BTW, I think my favourite bit of character dialogue thus far is when Jenell complains about Nathalie running off on her own and generally being an idiot, and you get to say "Didn't you just do the exact same thing?" and she gets all flustered.