Which game had the better portraits? - Edwin, Imoen, Jaheira, Minsc & Boo and Viconia
Buttercheese
Member Posts: 3,766
Hello everybody 
From all the companions from the first Baldur's Gate, only five (well, six
) return for the sequel:
Edwin Odesseiron, Imoen, Jaheira, Minsc & Boo and Viconia DeVir.
They all get new portraits and I would like to know which you prefer: The original ones or the sequel ones.
Here for comparision:
From all the companions from the first Baldur's Gate, only five (well, six
) return for the sequel:Edwin Odesseiron, Imoen, Jaheira, Minsc & Boo and Viconia DeVir.
They all get new portraits and I would like to know which you prefer: The original ones or the sequel ones.
Here for comparision:
- Which game had the better portraits? - Edwin, Imoen, Jaheira, Minsc & Boo and Viconia143 votes
- I like all their BG1 portraits best.23.78%
- I like all their BG2 portraits best.26.57%
- I like some of each (please comment which).49.65%
4
Comments
Imoen, Minsc and Viconia prefer BG2.
Imoen, Edwin, Minsc (and Boo) -> BG2
Imoen: It's almost not even fair because she's such a different character in both games! BG1 she has little to no lines, and BG2 starts her out as a survivor of torture and gods know what else. But I gotta go with her BG2 portrait because it tells a story: her scars, her solemn expression. You could tell this girl used to be happy. Not anymore.
Jaheira: I like them both, but I just wish they'd kept her hair color consistent. I prefer the BG2 portrait because it's the one I'm used to and it shows off her pointy ears, but then WHY IS SHE SUDDENLY BLOND? WHY? WHYYYYYY?? I've replaced her BG2 portrait since because it bothers me that much. >.>;;
Minsc: Both of them are great, but our BG2 incarnation gets a better shot of Boo. So BG2 wins here.
Viconia: Uck. BG2, no doubt. Her BG1 portrait doesn't even look like a drow, just a psycho elf with a knife over her head and some scary tattoos. Not really a fan of her blue skin in the sequel, but it matches her character better by far.
Imoen is the only exception to my vote. As @Nonnahswriter said, the BG2 portrait tells her back story nicely. The BG1 portrait also makes her look older than she is.
Jah: Alien eyes vs kick ass-stare down. You have to go with the stare down + she looks more half-elven than elven in BG1.
Minsc: Both are good, but BG1 shows compassion.
Vic's BG2 portrait is hot, but what do you expect from something that is lifted off a porn site. I like the lighting in her first one if anything, the purple hair is a throw off.
On balance I prefer Imoen's BG2 portrait, she seems a little younger in it, which is more appropriate but you can see what she's been through in her face, there seems to be more personality there.
Viconia's BG2 portrait is better overall even though it feels a little more cartoonish, just because you properly tell she's drow.
Jaheira
BG2>BG1:
Imoen, Minsc and Viconia
Don't care/about the same:
Edwin
None of Viconia's portraits are fitting. Her BG1 portrait depicts a homicidal Wild Elf. While her BG2 portrait has both the wrong skin and eye colours... making her more similar in appearance to a Half-Drow than anything.
Better in BG2: Minsc and Viconia
Undecided: Edwin
One of the things that always bugged me most about BG2 portraits was that there were random pieces of string tied in everyone's hair. Very off-putting.
The skin tone of Drow ranges from obsidian all the way to deep ash grey. Viconia's BG2 skin tone however is blue with dots of brown mixed in. A trait that half-drow may or may not possess, but surely no surface dwelling Drow bathing in sunlight.
With lore-correct colours she would look something like this:
Either way, Baldur's Gate gets a lot of the lore wrong. Minsc for example should actually have brown skin and would never ever shave his head, he would actually have long black hair and probably a beard. Rashemi don't shave their heads to show they are different from their arch enemy, Thay, where everyone who isn't a slave shaves their head and usually also all body hair, though most Thayans are Mulan, which don't have a lot of body hair to begin with. Oh, speaking of which, Edwin should be bald as a bowling ball. And Dynaheir should be wearing a mask 24/7, since the Wychlaran are not allowed to show their faces in public outside of Rashemen.
While I do have a few small complaints about the BG1 portraits (for example, I hate how some of them are overly cluttered with shade/glow effects), they're leaps and bounds above the BG2 ones IMO.
The BG2 portrait, while "sexier" perhaps, is completely wrong - it depicts a nymph mage rather than a drow cleric.
Incidentally, this is actually my favorite (alt) portrait of Viconia, which improves upon the original IMO.
Imoen - meh, both are fine. The BG2 makes sense.
Jaheira - easy BG1
Minsc - BG2
Viconia - easy BG2
Edwin - he just looks more "means business" in the first game portrait which is more in keeping with his personality imo.
Imoen - looks WAAAAY too old to be 16-22 in that portrait for BG1.
Jaheira - I don't like her AT ALL in the second game sadly. And I dislike her portrait as much as I dislike her, the creepy old cougar that she is.
The reason is two fold - because of the shoehorned in romance for BG2 that is all kinds of horrific they clearly attempted to sexify her by giving her pouty lips and making her blonde (because who doesn't wanna bang a hot blonde amirite boys?); and because she is quite clearly wearing platemail in the picture and she can't actually wear plate in game.
Addendum; her BG1 portrait is hotter than her BG2 portrait to me.
Minsc - I do indeed prefer Minsc's BG2 portrait. Both he and boo are much clearer and easier to make out.
Viconia - I am conflicted on Viconia. I outright dislike her BG1 portrait; she doesn't even look Drow. But her BG2 portrait? I am not a fan of that for the same reasons I am not a fan of the Jaheira picture. They sexified her because of the shoehorned in romance. However it works a little better for Viconia than it does for Jaheira.
First - its a vast improvement over the BG1 pic because she looks like a drow. Wahey!
Second - She still has some clear imperfections in her sexified version, and still looks like she could pull of menacing and ballbusting that is in keeping with her personality.
I usually wind up finding a set of fan-made portraits that I like even better, though.
But I generally like the BG2 portraits of other characters better than most of the BG1 options.
To be honest, though, I've been gradually replacing all the original portraits with fan art.