BG1 Imoen or BG2 Imoen?

xetatan

So, Imoen has been my favourite BG npc in the whole series and will continue to be that way.
But she changed dramatically between the original and it's sequel.

Do you guys prefer BG1 Imoen? or BG2 Imoen?

feel free to leave replies on why you think so on your vote.
would love to see everyone opinions

Calmar

In BG1, Imoen is nice, but mostly blamk and somewhat childish. In BG2, she has more depth.

Kamigoroshi

I can't stand any of them, but I do like monster girls.

blackchimes

It's not like Imoen in BG says anything ever. So it's kind of hard to compare them.

Both of her portraits suck though.

SharGuidesMyHand

BG1 Imoen had a nice portrait IMO, but not a fitting one - it looked too old and "mature."

BG2 Imoen had a more fitting portrait, but it was one of the worst portraits in either game IMO.

Tysonm1

I was torn between choice... so I chose neither, I tend to ditch one of them whenever the chance arises. Imoen had such a naggy voice in the first one and in the second one her portrait looked too damn glum that even she depressed me!

O_Bruce

I prefer her BG2 design. Plus, in Polish version of the game, Imoen in BG1 has a very irritating accent.

Permidion_Stark

Imoen is my favourite character in BG1 (but I am yet to find a portrait that seems to fit her voice and personality).

I don't like what they did to her in BG2. I think she should have been kept as a pure thief and not dualled into a magic user - she just doesn't seem like the kind of person who would spend hours studying magic. I also resent the way she is used as a plot device.

I like Imoen so much that I sometimes play with her as my CHARNAME by creating a character with her stats and using her BG1 soundset. In BG1 it is easy enough to avoid having Imoen the character bump into Imoen the NPC but obviously this is not possible in BG2. However, I just tell myself that the Imoen who comes and gets me out of the cage is just another of Irenicus's creations sent to torment me.

Shin

I rather like both, with her full story arc taking her from innocent and playful teenage thief to seasoned and slightly darker archmage. The BG1 NPC Project mod presents her in a way I enjoy, where you can see a curiosity and interest in magic in her from the beginning.

doggy

I know she is canon but she surely lacks some banters and interaction in BG 2. Still I tend to bring her along with good aligned parties as a replacement of yoshi

Banex

Quite a strong NPC in either game,as mage/thief.I do take her in BG1 runs but i do wish she'd button it at times.I always change the portraits,the BG1 portrait is just terrible.

Corvino

Her stats are solid and she fills a useful role in either game. Her dialogue's not great though. I often bring her along in BG2 due to the relative lack of good-aligned pure mages, but the utter lack of SoA interaction sucks.

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elminster

blackchimes said:

It's not like Imoen in BG says anything ever. So it's kind of hard to compare them.

This. She says more in BG2 so I'd have to go with that.

Southpaw

I like Imoen. In BG1, she is an innocent friend of the main protagonist and a very good thief/mage. In BG2, her story darkens, her personality changes, but she still keeps being interesting.

Zanian

I chose both, because it's the very transition of personality from BG1 to BG2 that makes me appreciate her character even more. Off-screen character development is not easy to pull off.

demented

I found her both boring and annoying. I always ditch her the first chance I get.

Kouga

As more people said, in BG1 like all other vanilla characters they don't have alot of depth but you can use her and imagine a story just as you see fit. In BG2 she has far more depth like all other characters. But I like it eitherway.

Starflower2525

I like both of them

Aranthys

BG2 Imoen is pretty awesome
Lots of great barters with many characters

OneAngryMushroom

I've always liked Imoen. BG1 or BG2. But I feel like Imoen's character and party role is much more important in BG2.(No, duh. Does the myconid have any other gems of obvious wisdom he wants to drop) I like to imagine Imoen being a support pillar for CHARNAME, Helping him up after he's fallen, giving him a pat on the back when the stress of the world starts to get to him, just in general being a caring sister. Besides, I really don't think her portraits are that bad.

MERLANCE

BG2 Imoen gets to become The Slayer, and theres nothing better than The Slayer + Miniature Giant Space Hamsters. Right?

KidCarnival

It's hard to stand out as bland and boring in BG1 where none of the NPCs have much dialogue, but Imoen does that AND her few lines are annoying and childish. I have no problem with happy-go-lucky or annoying characters - I like both Alora and Skie. I just don't like both in one NPC, with the annoyance factor likely not being intentional. The portrait is frankly really bad, it neither matches her age, nor class nor role as NPC. It would be a good portrait for someone's mother or a barmaid, but not someone who joins an adventure.
BG2 fixes that; the portrait matches the class and looks like an adventurer. The character does get deeper and better developed, but nothing can resolve the real issue that lingers from BG1: Charname didn't travel with her, yet the plot says he did. In BG2, I almost exclusively play/ed evil thieves and simply never needed her - I can deal with thief duty myself and have Edwin as one of the few evil companions. To charname, Imoen is the annoying sister/elementary classmate, not a valued friend. So I struggle to find a real motivation to save her or see the importance; charname grudingly saves her because "meh, I'm already here anyway".

It's not her fault, sure, its just my charname preference. But in the end, Imoen has the same significance as Gorion - a reminder of a past and an element of the story, but no-one I (or charname) is attached to beyond that.

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Kamigoroshi

IMOEN: "Heya! It's me, Imoen!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImunFOi-Vbw

CHARNAME: "Get me out of this hell-hole!"

Ascerion

I really enjoy BG1 Imoen the most, just because she is refreshingly happy and helps you stay positive, even though you are being hunted to death by assassins.

It seems like to be a female protaganist in (the series), something horrible has to happen to you. I mean, Imoen in BG2 was tortured, Jaheira's husband was dissected, and she got to see it first hand. Aerie had her wings ripped off, which raped her of the gift of flight she was born with. Even Viconia is an outcast, an exile, and is almost burned at the stake.

Even poor Neera accidently blew up her friends and fellow apprentice mages. I'm not going to go into what Shar-Teel's description alludes to. It's pretty easy to infer why she hates men.

I guess it helps them seem more real, more human. Ironic, that it's brought forth from acts of inhumanity.

SCARY_WIZARD

BG I Imoen is purdy. That is my explanation for my decision.

Beetle

I greatly prefer BG2 Immy to regular BG1 Immy, but the BG1NPCmod closes the gap to almost nothing.

KidCarnival

Kamigoroshi said:

IMOEN: "Heya! It's me, Imoen!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImunFOi-Vbw

CHARNAME: "Get me out of this hell-hole!"

You, sir, are a monster.

Purudaya

A lot of people complain that BG2 Imoen is whiny and overwrought, but I thought she was very well-written. I think her change in character depth and disposition is somewhat jarring because she was basically just a plucky sidekick in BG1...it's probably true that Bioware didn't anticipate the depth and sophistication of storytelling they were going to implement in the sequel when they were making the original.

Yeah, she can be dark and depressing; but seeing her overcome her trauma over time is part of what's great about her character. I've never done a playthrough without her in my party at least most of the time.

Purudaya

Beetle said:

I greatly prefer BG2 Immy to regular BG1 Immy, but the BG1NPCmod closes the gap to almost nothing.

Speaking of which, does anyone know if there's an ETA on that mod for BG:EE? I saw a post about it in the forums a while ago, but haven't seen much since.