The most liked npc

laptopman666

hello everyone, some of you may remember i made a poll about the most "annoying npc" some time ago. now i'm curious to see what the community's most liked npc is. i encourage friendly debate but no flame wars please. :P

laptopman666

i just realized i hit enter before i could add more options to the poll by accident, any way to fix that?

SionIV

BG1 - Xzar + Monty (You can't have one without the other).
BG2 - Saemon Havarian, there is only one person that can backstab that many powerful people and get away with it.

Ravenslight

I’m going to go with one that will probably bring the forum gods down on my head. Anomen. Now this is in spite of the fact that in my first game, he put me off so badly that I didn’t even take him into my party. It was only after I had read that he was a female PC’s one chance for a romance, that I begrudgingly pretended that I was not immediately offended by his manner and took him into the party. I’m glad I did.

I was impressed by the insight you were allowed to gain about why he was who he was. In the end, he struck me as more believable then some of the other NPCs. I did, at times, feel that his brash manner was carried a bit to far. I understand completely why many players came to hate him for it. Still, I believed his story, believed his character, saw his vulnerable side. I cared what happened to him.

Having said that, it is really hard to compete with Jan Jansen.

jackjack

"I'll teach yer grandmother to suck eggs!"

Blackraven

I went with Jan, but I might have well have picked Xzar. They're among my top 5 best liked NPCs in the entire game. The others, Minsc and Korgan, do little or nothing for me.

@laptopman666, if you can't create more options by editing your initial post, you'll have to create a new poll. Check with @Dee if this is ok with him. Forum policy dictates that the forum is not to be 'spammed' with polls. Maybe he could delete your current poll, so that you can create a new one?

dstoltzfus

...not the best selection. Out of those, I'd pick Xzar, because he's hilarious, but I'll abstain, as I have others that I like a little more.

meagloth

laptopman666 said:

i just realized i hit enter before i could add more options to the poll by accident, any way to fix that?

You could do another one, and ask for this deleted, but it's probably better that it isn't a poll anyway. There's two many NPC's to fit into a poll(limited to 10) so I'd be hard to get anyway.

On topic, It doesn't say "joinable", so dradeel and thalantyr+Melimcamp are some of my favorite characters, and xanis my favorite joinable, with Khalid tailing right behind him. For bg2... I haven't played enough, but contrary to popular opinion, I really like Saemon Havarian. Sure, he's a backstabbing jackass, but where would you be without him? And I imagine him as really cool and charismatic, and he's very smart. We would be bros. or as bros as you can get with CN backstabbing jackass.

elminster

There are 25 NPC's in BG1, 12 NPC's that weren't present in BG1 were in BG2, and another 6 have been added between BGEE/BG2EE. Even with 4 different polls you still wouldn't be able to fit them all.

Kamigoroshi

Not to mention all the non-joinable NPC's of both games. Anyway, I always felt that Cespenar was one of the most likeable characters in this Saga. Not as much as Schlumpsha the Sewer King, mind you, but still.

booinyoureyes

The real interesting NPCs are the ones that some people love but others hate (Anomen, Jan Jansesn, Imoen and Aerie as well as Minsc and Jaheira to a lesser extent). It seems like there is a lot of passion for or against these characters, while other characters are generally well liked but not loved.

What is funny is that I like ALL these controversial NPCs, yet I am not very fond of characters like Korgan that seem to be universally liked but not necessarily loved.

I generally think the more controversial characters are "better". If people passionately dislike them for their personalities and not because of poor writing then I think they do their job.

Then there are Keldorn, Xzar and Sarevok. EVERYONE seems to love those guys. 'Cuz they rule.

laptopman666

okay so i guess we'll just leave this be so to clarify what i meant for the poll, before i derped and created it, i didnt mean just joinable NPC, i meant any NPC. so have fun guys interesting so far

Rhaella

Hahaha, I'd have liked to see you try to create with every NPC ever on it.

I'm very partial to Jaheira (and Khalid). Not gonna lie, I kind of like Harpers in general, and Jaheira's conflicts with them in BG2 just made for a pretty believable dilemma. I just wish she had more to say to a female PC, or had been conceived as a platonic relationship instead of the romance.

Honorable mention goes to Haer'dalis, who singlehandedly made me interested in the Planescape setting.

meagloth

Rhaella said:

Hahaha, I'd have liked to see you try to create with every NPC ever on it.

I'm very partial to Jaheira (and Khalid). Not gonna lie, I kind of like Harpers in general,

That's funny, I hate harpers, as an organization. Especially sense I'm not let in. If Any organization that large and omnipresent, with all that power, wants to fix the world, then they can do it within the gaze of the public. They meddle to much. I'm the only one who can meddle. Anyone else will cock it up.

FrozenDervish

BG1- Imoen - Always in my party
BG2 - Haer'dalis - Great character and fights me for Aerie wish the entire love triangle thing was finished.
TOB - Sarevok always joins me.

Honorable mentions as they join my party a lot - Minsc, Imoen, Jaheira, Kagain, and Valygar's corpse.

Montresor_SP

Of the joinable NPCs in both games it's Jan Jansen for me. He's CN and eccentric without being dangerously insane, he's fun to have around, and he teases the hell out of the other NPCs ("Ano the Dung Orc", "The Great Flesh Golem Eating Contest", etc.).

element

joinable only

bg1, Alora
bg2, Mazzy

Blackraven

booinyoureyes said:

Then there are Keldorn, Xzar and Sarevok. EVERYONE seems to love those guys. 'Cuz they rule.

I don't like Keldorn. I prefer Mazzy, Anomen and Valygar in neutral/good-aligned parties. Without spoiling anything, Keldorn's too rigid in his ways and his views for my taste (maybe due to his age). I also think he's helped a lot by having one of the best warrior kits assigned to him and by the Gauntlets of DEX pretty much waiting to be picked up for him... My Undead Hunter will team up with him though.

I do dig Xzar and Sarevok and all the controversial NPCs you mentioned!

TheElf

BG1- Xzar
BG2 - Viconia/Korgan, Jaheira's romance is good.
ToB - Sarevok/Immy.

Rhaella

meagloth said:

Rhaella said:

Hahaha, I'd have liked to see you try to create with every NPC ever on it.

I'm very partial to Jaheira (and Khalid). Not gonna lie, I kind of like Harpers in general,

That's funny, I hate harpers, as an organization. Especially sense I'm not let in. If Any organization that large and omnipresent, with all that power, wants to fix the world, then they can do it within the gaze of the public. They meddle to much. I'm the only one who can meddle. Anyone else will cock it up.

@meagloth - Heh. They're definitely an acquired taste. They can be obnoxious, and I don't like everything they do, but I enjoy the politics of the group as a whole. Especially the part where they kick one of their leaders out. I'm on Team Blackstaff forever.

To be fair, though, I like the Zhents and the Red Wizards too. I enjoy the flavor of the feuding organizations in general, and I'm such a lore hound, having them around just makes me happy.

recklessheart

Of the ones that stand a fighting chance, I'll have to throw my hat into the ring for Jaheira & Viconia. Excellently written NPCs with vivid and believable character nuances. Compared to their romantic counterparts, they are wonderfully layered and play out all (or at least most) of the conflicting emotions that go along with every great love.

Of the ones that don't stand a fighting chance-..

Oh, forget it. You all know who I'm going to say anyway.

the_spyder

So, for me the most entertaining joinable NPC in the game is...... Jan Jensen. I just love his endless stories and his bickering with various other NPCs. He's just the gift that keeps on giving.

dstoltzfus

Well, I guess I'll give a better answer then: BG1: TIAX RULES ALL!, BG2: Valygar, TOB: Saravok. I actually dislike Jan.

Quartz

element said:

joinable only

bg1, Alora
bg2, Mazzy

So ... the halfling babes.

Anduin

I always liked Noober...

the_spyder

I do have to give props to Tiax, but he really only comes into his own in BG2. "One day I will Point and Click!"

Lemernis

BGEE: Imoen, Garrick, Kivan, Xzar, Coran

BG2EE: Yoshimo, Haer'Dalis (maybe Rasaad, haven't been able to play BG2EE yet)

Jenzafar

Branwen is my charname's homegirl. I wish she was in BG2.

element

Quartz said:

So ... the halfling babes.

guess I must have a thing for giant hairy feet

Avenger_teambg

booinyoureyes said:

The real interesting NPCs are the ones that some people love but others hate (Anomen, Jan Jansesn, Imoen and Aerie as well as Minsc and Jaheira to a lesser extent). ...

I never heard of anyone admitting to love Anomen.

Anduin

Anomen is not as bad as people think.

...

Chopped up, properly marinated and served in a curry Anomen is the best. Much better than the shorties and the elves who have hardly any meat on them...