Comic relief party! Who are your most amusing NPCs?

Genryu

I played the originals to death back in the day, and now that I have become hooked on the series all over again thanks to the enhanced editions, I was thinking I would do something different on my next playthrough.

I've always loved the npc interactions, and so I'm going to run through with a party consisting of the more fun and colourful characters the game has to offer.

1) Main: Jester (obviously!)
2) Minsc
3) Jan
4) Edwin
5) Neera
6) TBA

I'm more interested in funny, interesting banter than party balance. Any possible problems I am likely to encounter? I've never kept Minsc and Edwin in the same party before, will they eventually come to blows? If so can I keep them from leaving?

Also I'm stuggling to decide on my final member. Wilson looks pretty fun, but as I have never tried him before I have no idea if he has any kind of random banters with myself, or the other NPCs, does he respond to situations and conversations I have with other NPCs like Baleoth did in BG1? Or is he just a novelty NPC with no real interactions beyond letting him join?

Anyone else you find funny? Who may have amusing interactions with the above mentioned NPCs? I've always liked Korgan too, especially when teamed up with Mazzy.

Tresset

Neera and Minsc both fight with Edwin... Actually I don't think Neera is even willing to be in the group while Edwin is there.

Genryu

I didn't even consider the Neera/Red Wizard issue with Edwin. I'll have to rethink this.

hispls

Adding one goofball to a serious party can be just as good as all clowns.

I managed to play through SoA almost to the end with Korgan and Aerie in the party before he chased her off. You may or may not run into actual conflict depending how fast you play through the story and whatever random element will trigger the actual come-to-blows event. Of course it's highly probable you can cheat the game variables to keep anybody together if you're so inclined.

dockaboomski

Wilson doesn't actually talk, so I'm not sure if any of his interactions would be that groundshaking. Korgan and Mazzy are solid choices, but you're very short on divine support, so the only realistic addition would be Anomen. He has some great interactions with Jan, and would help you in melee.

elminster

Korgan
You probably should have a divine caster of some kind. I'm going to go with Viconia...(because you can't have Neera and Edwin in a group).

dunbar

Baeloth.
He has a wicked, dry sense of humour and provokes interesting reactions (the only problem is that you don't meet him until level 4 or 5).

Tresset

@dunbar wrong game.

dunbar

My mistake, I just liked the idea of the party so much I forgot to engage brain before typing.

Elysium

My favourite funny party was:

PC: Fighter->Assassin
1.) Edwin
2.) Viconia
3.) Keldorn, replaced fairly early (apparently his "KILL THAYVIAN AND DROW" script triggered damn early) by Korgan
4.) Aerie, replaced (due to schoolyard bullying from the dwarf and drow) by Imoen
5.) Minsc, later replaced by Anomen (in time for both of them to hit on Edwina)

I'm just big fans of Edwin, Viconia, Imoen, and Anomen, but I can't stand Jan's stories. He just strikes me as tremendously unfunny.

Mykra

I really like the interactions Jan-Anomen-Keldorn have together in a party, although the humor is almost all Jan.

So mine would probably be: PC Mage, Keldorn, Minsc, Anomen, Jaheira, Jan Jansen.

DreamingViks

No Haer'Dalis? I find his dialogue to be the most amusing in the game. Minsc and Jans conversations are too brain-dead..

Elysium

I find Minsc his funniest bantering with Edwin, but I never take Minsc along. He was hysterical the first run through, then funny, then irritating, then I sided with Edwin to chunk Minsc to little Boo-sized pieces.

Haer'Dalis's modded romance is probably my favourite, though, and I love playing a Blade and having the two of us as the only tanks. #livingdangerously

AndrewFoley

I don't know how many dialogues he's actually got, but pretty much everything I wrote for Wilson other than portions of his epilogue made me laugh out loud.

I also think Dorn can be a pretty funny character. People who are perpetually cheesed off tend to lose their filter and say the darndest things. Like "Let's kill all those people," and "I really think we should kill all those people," and "I can't help but notice we haven't killed all those people yet, which, you know, I REALLY THINK is something we should do. I mean, I can do it myself, if you're not interested. No trouble at all. My larger point here is that those people aren't dying horribly by my hand and that... it just really bugs me, you know?"

Tresset

AndrewFoley said:

I don't know how many dialogues he's actually got, but pretty much everything I wrote for Wilson other than portions of his epilogue made me laugh out loud.

@AndrewFoley Hah! So I am not the only one who laughs maniacally when I write a funny dialog for a character! Good to know! I should really write more lines for my joke character "Th' Stupid Leprechaun" which I invented as a running joke in HoMM 4 maps that I edit. Just thinking about that guy makes me laugh!

I know you and @LiamEsler were the primary writers for BG2:EE (let me know if I missed someone) and I just wanted to say that some of the stuff you guys wrote was hilarious! I mean, I got the impression that some of it was trying to be like the original writing for the games and wasn't necessarily always succeeding, but, despite that fact being a little off-putting, you guys probably did a lot better of a job than I could have! I think I should try to bump my shameless developer appreciation thread and try to get it back on topic (even though I was the one that kinda derailed it...).

Gallowglass

@AndrewFoley - in my current run, I have (for the first time) kept Wilson as a permanent party member, to see how it goes. His dialogue is quite sparse compared to many other NPCs (as befits a bloody great bear who doesn't speak Common), but yes, what there is of it is very entertaining. Well done and thank you.