I remember I really liked Jaheira when I first played BG1. Then she went down in BG2 as I found her too bossy and condescending; she should know by now my character knows what he's doing. But then she gradually crept back up again over the years.
I always liked Aerie, but bashing on forums actually made me like her even more, as I started to think more critically about her character and realized how completely unfounded it all was.
Skie went up because I read a really good fan fiction about her that made me think a lot more could have been done with her and Eldoth.
Korgan always just seemed like a nasty little bully, but I guess I find him more amusing now.
Haer'Dalis is still 'meh'. I feel that brevity is the essence of wit and that you shouldn't use ten words when one will do - Haer'Dalis thinks the opposite of that.
On my current playthrough I have revised my thinking on Aerie a bit. I've often had her as a secondary caster and not romanced her, so have been exposed to all the early "whiny" dialogues.
On my current playthrough I've played psychotherapist and now she's a lot more palatable. All her dialogues seem to be about being positive and useful to the group. Quite a turnaround.
I thought I'd like Korgan, but I seem to be the only one to not tolerate an NPC to challenge you. specially when the option is either kick them out, kill them, or being a lamb. Where is the option of changing them? Same with Dorn, who in BG I only used to get the elven mail and the rest of the time just had him apart, and in BG2 I merely kill him when I see him.
As for me, Jaheira was a total turnaround. At first I didn't like her Str., her proficiencies and her manliness.
But then the romance started to unfold, her quest line, I found the usefulness of fire elemental and insects...to be honest now Jaheira is my favourite NPC and the backbone of all my parties.
I feel the opposite about Minsc. He was very cool at the beginning and my first playthroughs. I loved him swinging large swords and bashing evil...but the fun started to fade away as I was exploring varios strategies and more complex approach to battles. Now i find him boring and simple and try to avoid using him
I can't begin to track the change in opinion I have had for some of the characters over the years. Generally, for several years now, my opinion of most of the characters has been fixed.
I like them all, really, with the exception of Aerie who I have always hated even though I have tried.
Anomen is grating and I rarely make time for him, though I can tolerate him after a sustained absence for 2 or 3 playthroughs.
Minsc has gotten tedious.
I have always loved Jaheira, and she has consistently been - in my opinion - the best and most beautifully written character in the series, romanced or otherwise.
The EE content for the old characters I totally ignore. I find it very interesting, but good or bad I do not let it factor into my opinion of these NPCs, just as I don't use any NPC mods to 'enhance' the original NPCs: it is from a different, illegitimate source, at the end of the day (no offence to anyone).
The EE characters will all expire on me very swiftly, I believe. Dorn was interesting, Rasaad is fairly bland, Hexxat is more despised by me than even Aerie, so she has that accolade to take home with her to her lonely grave, and Neera seems like she might actually be worth making room for: I probably wouldn't love her over the originals as her dialogue is a bit full-on and probably quite monotonous after it becomes familiar, although in this regard she isn't dissimilar to Imoen, and I still make room for her every now and again.
Viconia has fluctuated a bit over the years; she's just like that I suppose. Overall, I like her as a character, but she's just such a witch with a b. For example, Aerie is often attacked for being nasty about Khalid; but for Aerie that kind of thing is very unusual and normally she does try to get on with Jae and win her approval. For Viconia, it's not unusual at all which I guess is why fewer people take any notice when she's mean about Khalid. But Viconia doesn't need to be in the middle of fighting over the PC to be mean; she has banter insulting Khalid to Jaheira's face even outside of the romance. And Jaheira was one of the few to actually support Vic joining the party as well... she's got to quickly start regretting that decision.
With most BG1 NPC's, there's a little bit when you first meet them, a biography, and that's about it really. Maybe a couple of very short banters and sound sets, but for the most part you end up having to fill in most the details about their personalities and relationships yourself anyway. Which I suppose is why I'm more easily influenced to having my mind changed about any of them than the BG2 ones. I mean I have tried to not like Aerie so much, but it just takes too much effort to be that unreasonable and irrational about her. Wheras just a well written fanfic or mod about Alora could perhaps convince that she's actually an amazingly complex character.
The more I play the more I appreciate the details woven into the game. Mazzy telling Nalia's aunt the trolls didn't eat her because she was so sour. Haer'dalis and Jaheira arguing outside the city.
At this point I rate characters based on: 1). Voice acting 2). Banters 3). How annoying their on click comments are
Good to see that Anomen has grown on so many people. I think he used to be the most generally despised NPC. I always found him (and still find him) hilarious though, especially the CN version:
"Hehe, so long as I never have to breathe the same stuffy air as those rusted suits of armor at the Order, well I'm with you."
Bang! I love it. Reminds me of my own life (used to be an unhappy suit and tie wearing lawyer for a few years, but no more of that stuffy office air for me lol). Also, I don't really dig "paladins" from a roleplaying perspective (and LG Anomen could be seen as one). Exceptions could be Mazzy perhaps because she's cute, though she'll surely have problems with my lack of moral scruples, and Isra is all right, quite liberal and upbeat for a pally.
I used to dislike Edwin. Being evil doens't mean one has to be rude and insulting all the time... nevertheless he' has my appreciation now. I think we have an understanding of sorts, he wouldn't ever tell me so, but I know he holds the Bhaalspawn in high esteem. He would have left him otherwise.
My feelings are quite similar to a lot of the others in this thread.
Minsc: When I was a kid I loved Minsc, and while I still acknowledge that he is iconic to this game...I can't have him in my party anymore. The comic relief faded a long time ago and in terms of power he is lackluster compared to others.
Viconia: This is one I might differ on because I always HATED Viconia with a passion. I hated how bitchy she was and I hated that to romance her you had to be alternatively coddling and insulting. However I have found with time that I have softened on her and while and she does find a place in some of my parties.
Mazzy/Jaheira/...dun dun dun and Nalia, too: I have always loved these characters and my love for them has only grown with time. So many playthroughs have been started with the intent of passing them over, and I can never bring myself to do it.
I'd say Mazzy and Cernd are the two that have changed the most for me (in a positive direction). Jaheira and Minsc are probably two characters that I don't generally include in my groups anymore. Minsc because he works best in smaller groups and Jaheira because there are other (better) melee characters to choose from. Though she has probably one of the more interesting romances.
Huh, I definitely share that feeling about Mazzy with Elminster. She went way up in my mind. My first experience with her was having her treat Valygar poorly, so I didn't really like her or use her much at first. Now I love her.
I kinda had the opposite with Jaheira though. I used to find her too bossy to be likeable, but now think she is a very integral character to the game.
Khalid and Jaheira both grew on me quite a bit. Way back when I first played I kind of just thought they were boring; Khalid was obnoxious and Jaheira was a snob. Wasn't until replaying years after the first time that I ended up fairly endeared to them, because I love relationships where the couple seems really mismatched but still adorable.
I am STILL not over Khalid's death
I like Imoen a lot more in BG2 since she basically grew a personality.
I was originally pretty meh about Keldorn (not to fond of paladins) but since then it's changed to 'yes I must have this BADASS old guy in my party at all times cause he's AWESOME'
OBVIOUS SPOILERS in post: When I began playing BG1 in the 90s I hated Kagain. Some time after he was almost always my choice as the frontline. I used to tolerate Aerie and Anomen, now they just get on my nerves... Valygar, I never considered him that much... but now he's almost a must take in every campaign. Viconia... never took her many times, later however I used her a lot, in fact one of most fun campaigns was a human male neutral evil necromancer who romanced Viconia and chose to stick with her in the end of ToB. Imoen is just Imoen, only in very few campaigns haven't I taken her with me from start to finish. Sarevok is just a badass... can't say anything more about him. Edwin is just to funny and talented, must take for me if not playing an arcane caster PC.
Comments
I always liked Aerie, but bashing on forums actually made me like her even more, as I started to think more critically about her character and realized how completely unfounded it all was.
Skie went up because I read a really good fan fiction about her that made me think a lot more could have been done with her and Eldoth.
Korgan always just seemed like a nasty little bully, but I guess I find him more amusing now.
Haer'Dalis is still 'meh'. I feel that brevity is the essence of wit and that you shouldn't use ten words when one will do - Haer'Dalis thinks the opposite of that.
On my current playthrough I've played psychotherapist and now she's a lot more palatable. All her dialogues seem to be about being positive and useful to the group. Quite a turnaround.
As for me, Jaheira was a total turnaround. At first I didn't like her Str., her proficiencies and her manliness.
But then the romance started to unfold, her quest line, I found the usefulness of fire elemental and insects...to be honest now Jaheira is my favourite NPC and the backbone of all my parties.
I feel the opposite about Minsc. He was very cool at the beginning and my first playthroughs. I loved him swinging large swords and bashing evil...but the fun started to fade away as I was exploring varios strategies and more complex approach to battles. Now i find him boring and simple and try to avoid using him
I like them all, really, with the exception of Aerie who I have always hated even though I have tried.
Anomen is grating and I rarely make time for him, though I can tolerate him after a sustained absence for 2 or 3 playthroughs.
Minsc has gotten tedious.
I have always loved Jaheira, and she has consistently been - in my opinion - the best and most beautifully written character in the series, romanced or otherwise.
The EE content for the old characters I totally ignore. I find it very interesting, but good or bad I do not let it factor into my opinion of these NPCs, just as I don't use any NPC mods to 'enhance' the original NPCs: it is from a different, illegitimate source, at the end of the day (no offence to anyone).
The EE characters will all expire on me very swiftly, I believe. Dorn was interesting, Rasaad is fairly bland, Hexxat is more despised by me than even Aerie, so she has that accolade to take home with her to her lonely grave, and Neera seems like she might actually be worth making room for: I probably wouldn't love her over the originals as her dialogue is a bit full-on and probably quite monotonous after it becomes familiar, although in this regard she isn't dissimilar to Imoen, and I still make room for her every now and again.
With most BG1 NPC's, there's a little bit when you first meet them, a biography, and that's about it really. Maybe a couple of very short banters and sound sets, but for the most part you end up having to fill in most the details about their personalities and relationships yourself anyway. Which I suppose is why I'm more easily influenced to having my mind changed about any of them than the BG2 ones. I mean I have tried to not like Aerie so much, but it just takes too much effort to be that unreasonable and irrational about her. Wheras just a well written fanfic or mod about Alora could perhaps convince that she's actually an amazingly complex character.
At this point I rate characters based on:
1). Voice acting
2). Banters
3). How annoying their on click comments are
Now I want to do a game that does all the quests in the opposite order of what I normally do.
P.S. The Mazzy line is even more awesome because she follows it with oops did I say that aloud.
Blimey. Time to restart BGII.
"Hehe, so long as I never have to breathe the same stuffy air as those rusted suits of armor at the Order, well I'm with you."
Bang! I love it. Reminds me of my own life (used to be an unhappy suit and tie wearing lawyer for a few years, but no more of that stuffy office air for me lol). Also, I don't really dig "paladins" from a roleplaying perspective (and LG Anomen could be seen as one). Exceptions could be Mazzy perhaps because she's cute, though she'll surely have problems with my lack of moral scruples, and Isra is all right, quite liberal and upbeat for a pally.
I used to dislike Edwin. Being evil doens't mean one has to be rude and insulting all the time... nevertheless he' has my appreciation now. I think we have an understanding of sorts, he wouldn't ever tell me so, but I know he holds the Bhaalspawn in high esteem. He would have left him otherwise.
Minsc: When I was a kid I loved Minsc, and while I still acknowledge that he is iconic to this game...I can't have him in my party anymore. The comic relief faded a long time ago and in terms of power he is lackluster compared to others.
Viconia: This is one I might differ on because I always HATED Viconia with a passion. I hated how bitchy she was and I hated that to romance her you had to be alternatively coddling and insulting. However I have found with time that I have softened on her and while and she does find a place in some of my parties.
Mazzy/Jaheira/...dun dun dun and Nalia, too: I have always loved these characters and my love for them has only grown with time. So many playthroughs have been started with the intent of passing them over, and I can never bring myself to do it.
I kinda had the opposite with Jaheira though. I used to find her too bossy to be likeable, but now think she is a very integral character to the game.
I am STILL not over Khalid's death
I like Imoen a lot more in BG2 since she basically grew a personality.
I was originally pretty meh about Keldorn (not to fond of paladins) but since then it's changed to 'yes I must have this BADASS old guy in my party at all times cause he's AWESOME'
When I began playing BG1 in the 90s I hated Kagain. Some time after he was almost always my choice as the frontline. I used to tolerate Aerie and Anomen, now they just get on my nerves... Valygar, I never considered him that much... but now he's almost a must take in every campaign. Viconia... never took her many times, later however I used her a lot, in fact one of most fun campaigns was a human male neutral evil necromancer who romanced Viconia and chose to stick with her in the end of ToB. Imoen is just Imoen, only in very few campaigns haven't I taken her with me from start to finish. Sarevok is just a badass... can't say anything more about him. Edwin is just to funny and talented, must take for me if not playing an arcane caster PC.