BG2: Should I take Yoshimo for my first playthrough? (SPOILERS)

archon

I played BG2 when I was a kid and barely knew english back then - still don't, but whatever. I remember that Imoen is unavailable for a long part of the story and I know about Yoshimo's fate. For some reason I never cared about him (maybe I had a problem with asians wielding katanas in a fantasy setting), but now I can relate with the guy.

The problem is that I'm more interested in taking Jan Jansen as my thief for a few reasons: in my experience, a half mage is much more useful than a pure thief, and the sole fact that he is a shorty makes my party much more interesting (really, every D&D band should have one). I've seen a lot of people saying his banter is amusing, so that's also something to consider.

On the other hand I've read somewhere that Yoshimo "is very knowledgable about the criminal underworld in Athkatla" and has a lot of dialogue with charname once they reach the city, because the game sorts of presume you accept him. That sounds very nice.

So is Yoshimo worth for the banter alone? I'm planning to take one of them until Imoen is available again.

woowoovoodoo

Yoshimo is involved in some quest abouth the criminal underworld. Banters are a matter of preference, but I personally find Jan to be much more funny. Anyways, it is worth to play with Yoshimo at least once.

hispls

Yoshi is definitely worth taking along at least once for the sake of the storyline, and there's no rule that says you can grab him + Jan.

Skie

Yoshi seems like the cannon replacement when you don't have Imoen, and taking him is worth some xp in the future too.
I used to play a lot with Jan, he's cool, but if I plan to use Imoen as my thief, then I'll take Yoshi meanwhile.

Both Imoen and Jan are mage thieves in the end. Imoen probably has better stats, though Jan is a specialist. It comes down to who you'd prefer between those two.

Heindrich

If you already know Yoshi's plot, then there is no reason why you must have him around. For somebody playing totally blind, a canon BG1 party, followed by Imoen/Yoshi in BG2, creates the most meaningful story, and is likely closest to the "canon story" that Bioware "intended".

I am not a massive Yoshimo fan, but I'd still have him around most of the time because:

1) I find Jan kinda annoying, he's more of a gnome stereotype than Yoshi is an Asian stereotype. But hey, that's subjective.
This is not a spoiler if you know about Imoen and Yoshimo, but it is a major spoiler for other beginners.

2) I will never leave Imoen behind in Spellhold, or another companion to make room for her, so Yoshimo is convenient as the story naturally allows Imoen to replace him.

Edit: I added a spoiler warning to the thread title. It's impossible to talk about this subject without spoilers.

CaeDares

I think Yoshimo is there as a convenience for when Imoen gets taken by the Cowled Wizards, and he will eventually betray you, but by then, you should easily know where to get another thief (Hexxat, Jan)

JuliusBorisov

archon said:

For some reason I never cared about him (maybe I had a problem with asians wielding katanas in a fantasy setting), but now I can relate with the guy.

"I am not worried. I am sure these...setbacks are only temporary."

Actually, Yoshimo has special lines about nearly every major quest in the chapters 2-3. I think every BG player should read them and chuckle at least once.

I like both Yoshimo and Jan, they are my favourite characters in SoA and it's hard to choose only one of them. The moment you start thinking about power you forget Yoshimo but any character is much more than only being powerful or not.

Yet, even if we're talking about power, use Special Traps of the Bounty Hunter kit a lot. You can throw them right next to the enemies and they're very useful. Yes, mage spells are wonderful and maybe don't have an alternative but still Special Traps can be your main weapon.

But, as I say, any character is not only a number of skills and tricks. You should take his personality into evaluation too. And I like his personality, his voice-over work, his comments regarding quests and other NPCs.

Belanos

archon said:

So is Yoshimo worth for the banter alone? I'm planning to take one of them until Imoen is available again.

I'd say that Yoshimo is worth it just for his ability to set traps. He came in very handy for me when dealing with the Mindflayers in the Temple district sewers.

hispls

Belanos said:

archon said:

So is Yoshimo worth for the banter alone? I'm planning to take one of them until Imoen is available again.

I'd say that Yoshimo is worth it just for his ability to set traps. He came in very handy for me when dealing with the Mindflayers in the Temple district sewers.

Or dragons, or demi liches. My very first BG2 playthrough I dusted both dragons and Kangax with the help of traps at very low level. Of course in original unpatched game there was no limit on traps in an area so it was even more abusive.... still though it can soften up some tough opponents to make them quite manageable.

I'm doing a playthrough right now with Yoshimo and enjoying his banter and commentary. I have Viconia, Minsc, and Jahira. I'll probably pick up Jan as well and I may even grab Hexxat for a minute just to reap the XP from her quests. There's really no rule that says you can only have one thief. It further makes sense if I'm going to ally with the thieves guild as well.