Gee, my First was a LONG time ago when I was 15 and this young gal who lived next door was into experimenting. We were bored one afternoon and no one was home so..... Oh, wait. That isn't what this thread is about.
My first play through was based on my 'Default' Charname, a human Wizard of CN alignment who is power obsessed. Not actually EVIL, but more concerned with the accumulation of power than with doing the right thing. I always fall back on him as Charname and have played through maybe 10 times with him as the protagonist.
I started playing around December 1999. (And BG was only the second computer game I had tried after Age of Empires II: Age of Conquerors. So I was really spoiled right out of the gate, although no games in my experience came close to equaling either of them in the following five years or so. So I sort of stopped looking).
My first attempt was as a wizard who was immediately killed outside of Candlekeep. My second attempt was as a pure class fighter with sword and shield who promptly got killed in the second map by Black Talon archers. So then I did a little research and found an article that detailed how to create a custom party. So I figured, okay, maybe that's the way to go. I created a custom party of six and of course I was able to survive much more easily at the outset. The main character was a CG half-elven Fighter/Mage named Lemernis (and I have used that as my nick ever since).
I was a bard, believe it or not. Knew nothing about the game or D and D. My husband was all, "Bard? Bards are useless! Whaddaya wanna be a bard for?" So I was a bard, and it was difficult, and I finished the game.
But my first . . . ah . . . was Anomen, if you know what I mean.
A CG mage, modeled after me stats-wise iirc, I was lucky stats don't matter too much for them I guess. When BG2 came out I replayed with a Paly/Cavalier which was the first one I finished the whole story with.
Ok, if we are going there, my first, last and only is Viconia. Something about her skin and hair and her whole attitude just get me. She knows how to make a man beg (usually for their lives) and she takes no crap from males. Much like most of my IRL relationships. quite what that says about me, I do not know.
Yuuuup Viconia breh. Still waiting on that Safana romance mod though
My tastes have changed a lot. When I was a little kid I thought Aerie was sweet. Then in high school I was all over Viconia for obvious reasons. Now honestly out of all of them I'd go with Jaheira because she *actually* cares about you unlike the rest (particularly Neera, cough... Neera is a VERY accurate depiction of many of the young ladies of my generation just saying).
Heeeeey guuuuuyyyyyys? Look how weird and nerdy I am! Isn't that weird? You should all be, like, weirded out? See? I'm a weird nerd? Trololololololololololo! Wasn't that, like, so random? I am so random? *smack face against wall* see? Random, right?
It is sort of true, though. She reminds me of the me in middle school, actually: a total moron who really wanted to stick out and be UNIQUE but mostly came across as self-centered, obnoxious, and slightly off my rocker. Neera is... well, she has decent intelligence, but... I don't know. I didn't like her romance, though I suppose I'm not the target audience.
It is sort of true, though. She reminds me of the me in middle school, actually: a total moron who really wanted to stick out and be UNIQUE but mostly came across as self-centered, obnoxious, and slightly off my rocker. Neera is... well, she has decent intelligence, but... I don't know. I didn't like her romance, though I suppose I'm not the target audience.
I mean to play her romance sometime, see if it's any good. At 15 and straight male, I guess I'm the target audience?
@meagloth I think you are. Her romance does strike me as very 'modern day' teenage woes, though Neera I suppose does have more problems then the average teenager does (though never as much as the average teenager thinks they do- meaning no offense to teenagers, as we've all been there). I know I was the target audience for Rasaad, in any case: I find him adorable. (And naive and likely to get killed the second he steps away from CHARNAME, but that's the way of things.) And Hexxat's nice, but too secretive: most conversations are just trading 'I like you/I like you too' rather then finding out more about her.
...My first, like probably every female who played BG, was Anomen. Yeah. About as disappointing as my real life first, and that guy didn't even have a tragic backstory to work with.
For me, Neera ventures awfully close to "Aerie" annoying
So, she gets upset and a bit depressed about the horrible things done to her in her past for a short time, but is otherwise completely fine and very nice? That doesn't really seem bad at all. But I've not managed to complete any of the new romances yet. My initial thoughts on Neera is that she's kind of a teenypopper and even sillier than Imoen. Quite a lot like Imoen in fact, like she's made for those fans who really, really like Imoen, but don't like the guilt.
Lmao exactly about Neera ... glad you guys get my gist.
@Coutelier You need to stop getting personally offended any time somebody dislikes Aerie. She's a good character, which means people will like her and people will dislike her.
Lmao exactly about Neera ... glad you guys get my gist.
@Coutelier You need to stop getting personally offended any time somebody dislikes Aerie. She's a good character, which means people will like her and people will dislike her.
Hm? I'm not actually personally offended. I feel sometimes the Aerie-jokes are a bit cheap and overdone, like blonde jokes in a bar or a pub, and maybe I overdo it sometimes by trying to redress the balance a little. But no, I don't think I ever take it personally and I'm often flumoxed when people seem to take my comments far more seriously than I really do and act like their personal liberties to not like a character are being infringed upon and want to go to the European Court of Human Rights over it. But I just reserve the right to disagree and defend a character I like if negative are often said about them.
I know its impossible to create a character liked by everybody. What's most surprised me on this forum is the numbers of people who dislike Imoen, since she always just seems so innocuous and harmless in the games, and basically just 'there' and not really a bother to anyone.
But why? Is it just because you think the original writers gave in too easily to fans when they decided not to kill her? Too annoying? Too much of a teenybopper? I mean, I think she is annoying, but that can okay if she's given foils.
I think you have to think about it backwards. Like if everytime people started a talk about characters you love, Aerie is the best love interest, Let's talk about Aerie thread, someone came in and starting ragging about how Aerie is the worst character ever, sucks, and is a waste of space. That would generally be trolling. It's sort of the same thing, to go in a thread where people are ragging on a character, and start talking about how that character is great and awesome- every single time it happens.
As for Imoen, the game forces her on you (turn her down, and she joins up anyway in BG1), was only kept around due to fan support (making her not seem to fit in to the game all that well- notice her lack of banters), kills off a (in my opinion) more interesting character specifically to make room for her (that's been admitted on the Attic way back), and then lays on a guilt trip (especially if you have Jaheira along) if you decide you don't want her in BG2. She also seems to take over the first half of BG2, in which even if all the time you choose 'Irenicus is what I want' options, everyone you talk to seems to treat it like you told them you want Imoen (Aran is very much guilty of this). For that, she annoys me.
But I don't really 'dislike' any characters. That's too strong of a word for characters that, to be honest, aren't all that well characterized. Characters in BG2 (and BG1 especially) are more like tropes brought to life then real distinct people to debate over: they aren't as 'real' as characters in Bioware's later games, in my opinion.
@Coutelier Too annoying, little to no dialog until ToB, (which I don't play), sticks out like a sore thumb last-minute add-on. She replaces a much cooler NPC they had to knock off instead. I don't need some clingy, happy–go–lucky buffoon in my adventuring party. Her voice is also grating. In the first game, I drop her off at the Friendly Arm Inn for good. In the second game, I'm so worried she's going to harm herself, I figure she belongs in Spellhold, so I ditch her there. I simply don't understand the appeal there, like at all.
I think you have to think about it backwards. Like if everytime people started a talk about characters you love, Aerie is the best love interest, Let's talk about Aerie thread, someone came in and starting ragging about how Aerie is the worst character ever, sucks, and is a waste of space. That would generally be trolling. It's sort of the same thing, to go in a thread where people are ragging on a character, and start talking about how that character is great and awesome- every single time it happens.
And every time there is a thread about Aerie or pretty much any NPC, that will likely happen. And to be honest, I don't really mind people offering a differing opinion, proving it's not just deliberately to be provocative or offend anyone. I'm sure there are people who really like Neera and if they were reading this would like to say things in her defence and the things that are great about her... it's fine by me.
I'll confess my langauge can seem that way at times, because it sounds differently in my head and maybe sometimes I read comments in a different 'voice' to how it was intended. I will try to bear that in mind more in the future, and try to assume that most people don't mean things as an attack, but I suppose it's just a limitation of this kind of communication.
But do I really do it every thread? I don't actually read most threads, so I assumed most were getting by anyway.
As for Imoen, the game forces her on you (turn her down, and she joins up anyway in BG1), was only kept around due to fan support (making her not seem to fit in to the game all that well- notice her lack of banters), kills off a (in my opinion) more interesting character specifically to make room for her (that's been admitted on the Attic way back), and then lays on a guilt trip (especially if you have Jaheira along) if you decide you don't want her in BG2. She also seems to take over the first half of BG2, in which even if all the time you choose 'Irenicus is what I want' options, everyone you talk to seems to treat it like you told them you want Imoen (Aran is very much guilty of this). For that, she annoys me.
And she is literally a damsel in distress. The things that annoys me about her is that her whole life seems to just revolve around her sibling and she never expresses any real thoughts or opinions of her own. I've always felt she needs to be more independent somehow, even just having a conflict with an evil character, for example.
Lmao exactly about Neera ... glad you guys get my gist.
@Coutelier You need to stop getting personally offended any time somebody dislikes Aerie. She's a good character, which means people will like her and people will dislike her.
Oh, god. I think a made a girl cry when I made a pro-Khalid joke(in the spirit of the thread, mind you) in her anti-Khalid discussion. I don actually know if she creied(probably not) but she did make a "why are people so mean on the internet?" thread. That was an ordeal.
I'm one of the pro Arie people, but not to strongly. I get tired of her whining, but I usually play good so I don't want to be mean to her, and an elf chick her age should be... Worth it?:P(despite her con score)
As for imoen, yea..... I kinda like her, but I agree she doesn't really fit, and the game really forces her down your throat. Any RP justification for a char that doesn't care for imoen(especially a neutral one) to go to spellhold is pretty weak.
Lmao exactly about Neera ... glad you guys get my gist.
@Coutelier You need to stop getting personally offended any time somebody dislikes Aerie. She's a good character, which means people will like her and people will dislike her.
Oh, god. I think a made a girl cry when I made a pro-Khalid joke(in the spirit of the thread, mind you) in her anti-Khalid discussion. I don actually know if she creied(probably not) but she did make a "why are people so mean on the internet?" thread. That was an ordeal.
See, if I made a comment like 'Viconia is just a teenage boys fantasy of what a woman is like', I'd just expect people to disagree with me and tell me why she's a great character who has fantastic arc and I'm a terrible person for thinking that. Which I don't really think about Viconia btw. I do think it about Safana.
I'm one of the pro Arie people, but not to strongly. I get tired of her whining, but I usually play good so I don't want to be mean to her, and an elf chick her age should be... Worth it?:P(despite her con score)
Her con isn't actually bad (and actually it's higher than Viccy's). But 8 or 9 I believe is supposed to be average, so they only seem low because they're being compared to other NPC's/individuals who are obviously supposed to be exceptional. I still want to try and play through the game with the most average character possible, with just all 8 or 9 in stats at the start. Haven't decided what class yet though.
I think the appeal of Imoen is just history, as she's the first companion you have in the game and the whole childhood friend backstory. And like the other BG1 npc's the fact she has so little interaction actually enables you to flesh her out yourself. But like, personally I would dearly wish for her to show more independence and show herself capable of actually getting through life without relying her sibling for everything.
Comments
Cures Light Wounds, my CHARNAME Elven Cleric
Imoen
Edwin
Kagain
(Seriously, that gave me a chuckle)
It would suck for the kids whose parents named them Shillelagh, Grease or Slow Poison
My first play through was based on my 'Default' Charname, a human Wizard of CN alignment who is power obsessed. Not actually EVIL, but more concerned with the accumulation of power than with doing the right thing. I always fall back on him as Charname and have played through maybe 10 times with him as the protagonist.
My first attempt was as a wizard who was immediately killed outside of Candlekeep. My second attempt was as a pure class fighter with sword and shield who promptly got killed in the second map by Black Talon archers. So then I did a little research and found an article that detailed how to create a custom party. So I figured, okay, maybe that's the way to go. I created a custom party of six and of course I was able to survive much more easily at the outset. The main character was a CG half-elven Fighter/Mage named Lemernis (and I have used that as my nick ever since).
But my first . . . ah . . . was Anomen, if you know what I mean.
My tastes have changed a lot. When I was a little kid I thought Aerie was sweet. Then in high school I was all over Viconia for obvious reasons. Now honestly out of all of them I'd go with Jaheira because she *actually* cares about you unlike the rest (particularly Neera, cough... Neera is a VERY accurate depiction of many of the young ladies of my generation just saying).
Wasn't that, like, so random? I am so random? *smack face against wall* see? Random, right?
It is sort of true, though. She reminds me of the me in middle school, actually: a total moron who really wanted to stick out and be UNIQUE but mostly came across as self-centered, obnoxious, and slightly off my rocker. Neera is... well, she has decent intelligence, but... I don't know. I didn't like her romance, though I suppose I'm not the target audience.
...My first, like probably every female who played BG, was Anomen. Yeah. About as disappointing as my real life first, and that guy didn't even have a tragic backstory to work with.
I did get far enough in ToB to experience my other first though, with Aerie.
@Coutelier You need to stop getting personally offended any time somebody dislikes Aerie. She's a good character, which means people will like her and people will dislike her.
I know its impossible to create a character liked by everybody. What's most surprised me on this forum is the numbers of people who dislike Imoen, since she always just seems so innocuous and harmless in the games, and basically just 'there' and not really a bother to anyone.
As for Imoen, the game forces her on you (turn her down, and she joins up anyway in BG1), was only kept around due to fan support (making her not seem to fit in to the game all that well- notice her lack of banters), kills off a (in my opinion) more interesting character specifically to make room for her (that's been admitted on the Attic way back), and then lays on a guilt trip (especially if you have Jaheira along) if you decide you don't want her in BG2. She also seems to take over the first half of BG2, in which even if all the time you choose 'Irenicus is what I want' options, everyone you talk to seems to treat it like you told them you want Imoen (Aran is very much guilty of this). For that, she annoys me.
But I don't really 'dislike' any characters. That's too strong of a word for characters that, to be honest, aren't all that well characterized. Characters in BG2 (and BG1 especially) are more like tropes brought to life then real distinct people to debate over: they aren't as 'real' as characters in Bioware's later games, in my opinion.
Too annoying, little to no dialog until ToB, (which I don't play), sticks out like a sore thumb last-minute add-on. She replaces a much cooler NPC they had to knock off instead. I don't need some clingy, happy–go–lucky buffoon in my adventuring party. Her voice is also grating.
In the first game, I drop her off at the Friendly Arm Inn for good. In the second game, I'm so worried she's going to harm herself, I figure she belongs in Spellhold, so I ditch her there.
I simply don't understand the appeal there, like at all.
I'll confess my langauge can seem that way at times, because it sounds differently in my head and maybe sometimes I read comments in a different 'voice' to how it was intended. I will try to bear that in mind more in the future, and try to assume that most people don't mean things as an attack, but I suppose it's just a limitation of this kind of communication.
But do I really do it every thread? I don't actually read most threads, so I assumed most were getting by anyway. And she is literally a damsel in distress. The things that annoys me about her is that her whole life seems to just revolve around her sibling and she never expresses any real thoughts or opinions of her own. I've always felt she needs to be more independent somehow, even just having a conflict with an evil character, for example.
I'm one of the pro Arie people, but not to strongly. I get tired of her whining, but I usually play good so I don't want to be mean to her, and an elf chick her age should be... Worth it?:P(despite her con score)
As for imoen, yea..... I kinda like her, but I agree she doesn't really fit, and the game really forces her down your throat. Any RP justification for a char that doesn't care for imoen(especially a neutral one) to go to spellhold is pretty weak.
I think the appeal of Imoen is just history, as she's the first companion you have in the game and the whole childhood friend backstory. And like the other BG1 npc's the fact she has so little interaction actually enables you to flesh her out yourself. But like, personally I would dearly wish for her to show more independence and show herself capable of actually getting through life without relying her sibling for everything.