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Mod author: Ghreyfain

Version used for review: 15.1

“When asked about her past, INDIRA tells you in a slightly defiant tone that she was raised in a small elven village just east of Scornubel. […] Indi was one of the few who were bitten by wanderlust, and in Scorunebel she found a like-minded group of mercenaries who hired themselves out as seekers of ancient artifacts. It was with this group that Indi journeyed to the Sword Coast and together they remained until the disastrous ambush in the Firewine Ruins at the hands of kobolds.“

Indira is a lawful good, half-elven fighter/mage that very neatly fits into the profile of a plucky, naive adventurer. When you meet her in the Firewine Ruins, she’s severely wounded, having recently experienced the decimation of her party. She’s quick to join you and put an end to the threat that lies within the dungeon, and to adventure on with you afterwards.

This is a small mod, but a charming one. Indira seems to fit in with the BG1 crowd pretty well; she doesn’t have any dialogue with the player beyond her joining and leaving conversations, but she does banter with almost every other BioWare companion, which is completely voiced on her end as well. The characterisation of the BioWare NPCs is pretty good as well! I especially enjoyed Edwin and Jaheira’s interactions with Indira.

What little writing Indira has is — forgive me — endearing, and her voice actor is doing a fine job with the lines she has. I would certainly have enjoyed the mod less if not for the voice acting. Indira is a vibrant and willful personality, and she feels like she was pulled straight out of a tabletop AD&D session — there’s a homeliness to the way that she embodies her character tropes so fully, and the mod pretty much instantly nicknames her as “Indi”. It’s cute. It’s fun. There’s not much lurking beneath the surface here, much like the classic BioWare companions, and that’s fine. Her portrait too is simple and to-the-point, and I actually really like the way it looks, even if it’s a little too zoomed in and bright compared to some of the other BG1 portraits.

As an optional component, Indira comes with unvoiced interjections. There are quite a few of these, though not so many that it feels overbearing. They added a lot to my experience with her beyond her bantering with other companions. Though throughout my entire experience with the mod I was consistently bothered by the double-spacing that is littered throughout it. This is pretty common to see in older mods so I presume that it’s a fault of the engine, but it still stands out as looking off to me.

With her voiced banter and interjections, Indi feels like she would fit in perfectly with a mod like the BG1 NPC Project, but otherwise she falls into an odd little midground where she’s more talkative than the BG1 companions but markedly less so than the BG2 companions. She’s a fairly easy character to enjoy either way, though.

What makes her easier to enjoy is the fact that as a fighter/mage, she fills a mechanical void left by the other companions in the game. Her stat spread feels very correct for her character, and it’s still quite generous. Should one take Indi along as a party member, they will find her to be quite the powerful companion.

Her starting equipment is less generous, but adds to the sense that she is truly on her last legs down in the Firewine Ruins. A few arrows, a broken sword, and a shortbow, the only thing truly of note is that Indi comes equipped with some personal chainmail that she can cast spells in.

Overall, Indira is a cute little mod that has been lovingly preserved by the community for many years, and I believe that it’s worth your time if you don’t mind a diversion from traditional NPCs, or if you’re after an NPC that fits in with the original BG cast a little better than the Beamdog NPCs. I would definitely have enjoyed a larger mod or even a BG2 version of Indira, as she’s just an enjoyable character, but I’d rather be left wanting more than disappointed.

Thanks for reading.