I'd just like to thank authors of this mod for their work and having that opportunity I'd also like to write sort of a little review of this mod. The forum here seems kinda quiet but I give it a shot anyway because I feel that thanks are not enough. Firstly, please excuse my poor english. Secondly, right in the beginning I'd like to state that in my opinion The Longer Road is simply brilliant achievement which substantially enhances whole Baldur's Gate saga experience.
When I played Throne of Bhaal for the first time I had no mods installed and I thought it was rather bland series' finale, mostly probably because its "less talk, more fight" approach. Shortly after I discovered mods I realized that TOB was somewhat neglected in mod department but at least there was Ascension which seemed quite interesting. Apart from that one only other speciffically for TOB designed mod which I found interesting was one rather cryptically titled The Longer Road. I always found the ending of SoA highly unsatisfying so adding Irenicus to the mix afterwards seemed like it should have some potencial.
Firstly I'd like to say something regarding my discontent with the SoA ending. Well, Shadows of Amn is a great game. It has lots of side quests, interesting npc's, roleplaying possibilities, challenging battles and so on. Thanks to modding community even much more of that all. One of the things I think is lacking in SoA is main villain's characteristization. For most of the time he is somewhere far away while your're dealing with side quests, romances or a handful of main quest "checkpoints". Because the game has such a rich settings I don't mind that the main plot seems to be somehow thin but I remember that during my fisrt playthrough more I was closer to the end, more I was anticipating some in depth view into Irenicus' character and motivations. While in the end there was some of this it felt really one-sided in the context of circumstances and the whole resolution was rather shallow. I think that game authors did much more justice to the Bodhi character which thanks to her well nuanced personality remains my favourite SoA villain.
So, when I was starting TOB with Longer Road installed I was hoping that the mod will do Irenicus' character some justice. I had my reservations though. I was little worried how well will this mod's writing blend with the original. Well, after my two playghtroughs with Irenicus in the party I can safely say that the mod highly exceeded all my anticipations. Writing not only retains original Irenicus' characteristic, it also very sensibly expands upon them, overall goes much more in-depth and finally adresses all those moral ambiguities tied to the whole "non-soulness" business. And it does all in really first-rate quality way. Right from the start it is clear that the authors put really lots of effort in making of this mod. From cutscenes to additional npcs' portraits, everything is just really well done. The most imortant part of the mod is writing and that's where Longer Road really shines. Irenicus really has a lot to say and he does it in the great manner but probably even better is the fact that the same opportunity belongs to pc. Discussions with Irenicus are always interesting and detailed and really make player think about own responds. What I find really great about them is the fact that they address lots of previous game's issues and thus retrospectivelly add depth into it. Playing SoA's main quest again after finishing Longer Road is quite new (and better) experience.
Redeeming Irenicus is made in believable way and it is also quite hard and I'm glad for it. When I finished this mod for the first time I got the ending SPOILER- in which Irenicus took my soul -SPOILER
and it was really one of the most memorable game-ends I ever encountered, especially after beating Ascension for six hours beforehand, hehe. I really appreciate that mod has such possibility.
Also the quest with deva is quite intricate, rather original and also touching and only adds to my great impression of this mod. Voicing and additional music blends well with the game and I am also glad that Irenicus' original voice was kept because adding a new voice actor would probably ruined the continuity. My favourite Irenicus' spoken line is when I click on him and he says: "I cannot be controlled!", that's marvellous.
Hm, since in description I called this a review I probably should mention some factors which I found negative, but quite frankly there are minor to none. Initially Irenicus is maybe a bit too powerful but I restricted the number of his spellslots to match those of my other npc-mage and I didn't spot any unbalancing issues afterwards. Also probably due to 1PP avatars, when I give him some robe he completely changes his appearance to those elf-mage which I actually like better because I find his original appearance little bit distracting. Also the deva quest may be a bit too hard given it is time restricted and takes place in quite hectic areas but I personally enjoyed it as it is, especially because the stress factor is nicely balanced in somehow calm way the quest ends.
While in the vanilla series Throne of Bhaal was my least favourite part now I feel that thanks mostly to this mod it became actually my favourite. After my initial mod-free saga playthrough I did it twice more, always with lots of mods installed and while many of them markedly increased a fun factor, none of them had such deep impact on game as Longer Road. This mod really adds entirely new layer into ToB (and to extent also indirectly into SoA), nicely balances lots of combat with lots of dialogue and overall makes ToB more fulfilling and fun. It also gives the game more adult feel which is only fitting the fact it's the final chapter. The chance of forgiving and redeeming two main villains from previous parts make the series really special in my opinion. Also I would like to add that my favourite storyline told in a computer game is by far Planescape: Torment and the quality of writing displayed in The Longer Road strongly resembles that of Torment's.
Therefore I really thank to all who participated in making of this great mod and especially kudos to Dorothea! Everyone who enjoys Baldur's Gate should at least once play your mod.
Strolling Down The Longer Road
Started by
-DeepOutside-
, Nov 20 2007 10:51 PM
2 replies to this topic
#2
JihadSteve
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- Member
- 5 posts
Posted 21 November 2007 - 03:47 AM
I haven't played this mod all the way through, just took a glimpse at it before installing the trilogy, and accumulating everything for it. From what I saw the mod is wondrously scripted, dialogue is very impressive, a bit long winded, but seemingly in character the entire time. I have to agree that this is one of the more impressive mods I've seen around, and that from what I've experienced I've enjoyed it a lot. And oh, nice review.
#3
dorotea
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- Modder
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- 1927 posts
witch extraordinaire
Posted 15 January 2008 - 09:28 AM
Ahem, well, thank you. This was in fact my aim when writing and coding the LR - to make ToB feel like 'real' ending that actually has a climax, and brings closure of sorts...
It was a labor of love one might add, love for the series, for the RPG Game of the decade (IMHO) , and for the amazing storytelling and writing. I fear the RPG genre went quite a different way since then... but then there is always hope that miracles such as Torment and BG series can happen again in the future.
Cheers to Bio in the first place, and - once again - my thanks to the modding team that worked with me.
It was a labor of love one might add, love for the series, for the RPG Game of the decade (IMHO) , and for the amazing storytelling and writing. I fear the RPG genre went quite a different way since then... but then there is always hope that miracles such as Torment and BG series can happen again in the future.
Cheers to Bio in the first place, and - once again - my thanks to the modding team that worked with me.
Freedom cannot be equated with goodness, virtue, or perfection. Freedom has its own unique self-contained nature; freedom is freedom ? not universal goodness. Any confusion or deliberate equalization of freedom with goodness and excellence is in itself negation of freedom, and acceptance of the path of restraint and enforcement.
Nikolai Berdyaev - Christian Existentialist, Philosopher of Freedom.
The Longer Road mod
Redemption mod
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