How to choose a good male companion to romance? Anomen vs Rasaad

Alesthes

I am not a newcomer to BG2, but this playthrough I am going to play a good aligned female romancing a male. This gives me Anomen (good path) and Rasaad as options.

Can you help me to choose?

You could say that I should just pick the one I prefer, but character and story development are often not linear and I would really love some suggestions about what should I expect from one and the other romance as the playthrough progresses.
How would you describe them respectively? Predictable, cute, passionate, deep, courteous, devote, etc.? What was your personal experience with them and what did you like/dislike in their respective romances?
I am not looking for full spoilers, rather hints of what the writing is going to offer in one case or the other, which are the main differences and similarities, to what extent they are compatible and when I will have to choose...

Thank you in advance for you kind help!

shawne

Anomen's romance has been criticized for almost 15 years as being rather problematic for several reasons:

1. His lack of respect for the PC (of the "you're just a girl!" variety)

2. His personality can, at best, be described as abrasive.

3. His quest is rigged in such a way that there's no satisfactory conclusion - whatever decision you make at the end will have the opposite result.

Sylph

I haven't finished either romance through to the end of ToB... so I can't comment on the completion of them... but earlier on, Rasaad was inquiring about charnames wellbeing at the same time Anomen was wondering why she's not asking him to talk about himself more :P
It didn't go on for very long until I had to pick one fairly early on.

Mornmagor

The real question, is who to choose between Rasaad, and Rasaad

No really, Rasaad is an awesome character imo, but Anomen, although problematic, is more deep than he seems at start.

He's like a real life person that has complexes and his past haunting him. He has a problem with his ego too. But compared to other characters, he might feel more "real", exactly because of those problems.

Luigirules

Anomen is probably the most despised NPC in the entire game.

Pick Rasaad.

element

there realy is no choice id pick no one over Anomen

DMC

I rather like Anomen's romance. He starts off as a total self-absorbed jerk, but his interactions have real depth to them, and he comes across as 'real' because of his flaws. In addition, if you are pursuing a Good path, the knighted Anomen really develops into a respectful, strongly loyal, and affectionate romantic partner. His is a romance that requires real investment into, but I personally feel the payoff is well-worth it.

I haven't played through Rasaad's romance yet, as I am still 'experimenting' with Hexxat, but from what I recall of his interactions in BGEE, he's pretty thoughtful and seems to care what philosophical and ethical paths that CHARNAME embraces. I'm going to try him after I finish with this saved-game.

mylegbig

I'm using Anomen for the for time ever (though not as a romance) and so far I actually sort of like him, but for the exact same reasons everyone hates him. He's so ridiculous that he ends up being rather amusing.

BaldursCat

Anomen has many many faults but it's those faults that actually make his romance rather worthwhile.

There are lots of some frustrations with the dialogue, especially the earlier exchanges, as the only way to keep the romance alive is to reply with the most innocuous responses, which just don't seem right for a Charname who doesn't take any crap elsewhere in her life, I feel it's a shame you can't answer him in a way that shows him you're not altogether happy with his attitude without it being a deal breaker. It's also possible to reply with what you think is a pretty innocent reply only to have him chuck a hissy-fit and end things; this happened during my latest playthrough, as it happened it didn't matter as I'm running another romance mod but it would be annoying otherwise. But as @DMC said, as the romance progresses his attitude changes and it becomes really rewarding, quite aside from the small matter of him being a hugely useful NPC.

There are also some loose ends with his personal quest that don't make much sense in terms of what has gone before but all in all it's ultimately worthwhile.

Alesthes

What an excellent feedback. Thanks. It strikes me, though, how different the evaluations are. As it is to be expected, more people experienced Anomen during all these years, so most good or bad feelings are about him.
If others want to add other hints, particularly about the less well known Rasaad romance, feel free to go on. I am certainly still reading this thread and I guess others are in my same position...

GamingFreak

Anomen's a massive dick. Like the king of douchebags. To be fair, he has his reasons (play his personal quest and you'll find out he has some deep issues). He's a pretty good Cleric though, considering he's got the muscle to back up his needs (though you better give him those Gauntlets of Dexterity).

Rasaad is... well... Rasaad. He's definitely not a jerk, and is probably the nicest "vengeful bound" character you'll ever see. Don't know about his romance, though.

Millardkillmoore

Anomen gets mountains of Character Development. He starts out as a vain, egotistical, arrogant jerk, but ends up a Knight in Shining Armor. Rasaad starts out as a really nice guy, but ends up going a darker route. His romance is basically "Nice guy goes on a quest for vengeance and looks to female Charname for stability and reassurance on his dark path."

Anomen probably has more depth than any other companion in the series, but it takes a while for him to become likeable. He comes across as the most realistic person in the game. The only other character close to him in terms of depth and development is Jaheira. Even before his development, he's still a decent guy at heart. I always found him interesting, but some people dislike having to deal with the jerk so long.

I'd recommend him over Rasaad since he's just a more interesting character. The fact that he's very powerful from the outset and doesn't need to be a high level to be extremely effective certainly helps. However, Rasaad's isn't bad and I'd recommend trying him out too.

Adia

+1 to everything Millardkillmoore said. Anomen is a character I've always liked because of the massive character development (but also as a character - his backstory and story in-game are some of the most interesting of all the characters). The romance is something that does tend to grow on you, though even as a fan of the Anomen romance, I'd love the opportunity to call him on his earlier dialogue (and, in particular, his attitude to Mazzy). I'd definitely recommend the romance as one to try if you do like character development (though he gets that either way - romance or just friendship).

Schneidend

Blah blah blah throwing my hat into the ring with @Adia and @Millardkillmoore. Not that it matters. People only care about character development of NPCs that worship the ground your CHARNAME walks on. Viconia is a sexist bitch all the time, and people don't react nearly as strongly against that as they do Anomen's chauvinism. Hell, even I put up with Viconia's nonsense. But then, I can also put up with Anomen's.

Nachti

Fine....deleted as it doesnt matter.

Avenel

@Nachti
Ahh, why are you bothering to post? This doesn't feel quite like your right forum. How about we move along, and get back onto the actual topic.

jukaga

I'll have to give Anomen another shot when I play a female PC. I got tired of his bleating in my current game that I booted his ass from the party when he got killed, never to be rezzed again...