Your favorite EE NPC
SmilingSword
Member Posts: 827
I see a lot of hate for these guys, well mostly for Dorn and Hexxat, so I was wondering if there was any love for the rest of them? So just pick your favorite.
Ooh also if you comment, please list your least favorite as well.
Ooh also if you comment, please list your least favorite as well.
- Your favorite EE NPC101 votes
- Rasaad yn Bashir: A really nice guy, for a religious extremist.13.86%
- Neera: Our most lovely, kind of bubbly, completely unreliable hamster cheeked wild mage.32.67%
- Dorn Il-Khan: The stupidly evil, bi curious half orc of DOOM and also cheese.15.84%
- Baeloth Barrityl: As flamboyant as he is evil, As powerful as he is flamboyant.22.77%
- Hexxat: The sneaky vamp, everybody seems to love to hate.5.94%
- Wilson: Truly the bear minimum needed for a bonus NPC.8.91%
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Comments
I can't use Neera without EEing her to not wild and even then I don't like her much, but Rasaad broke my game once and made me have to replay like 8 hrs of gameplay, so yeah I kinda hate the monk most.
Rasaad - Mark Meer. Nuff said.
Neera - A romance with her resembles a real life relations. + Wild magic makes her an interesting character.
Dorn - My favourite EE phrases come from him. "It will be even bloodier than you hoped!" "We should hold here. You... look tired."
Baeloth - Mark Meer again. And hilarious humour.
Hexxat - I'll always remember that moment of the first meeting with her. Also, I like Clara. I look at her as if she's an EE NPC as well.
Wilson - it's completely unbearable not to take him.
It's so hard to choose.
I'd probably go for Dorn as my most favourite. As for the "least" favourite of them, I'll pass.
I really like Hexxat; I'd say she's my 2nd favorite. Her special abilities are cool and she has some sexy banter with other NPC. I didn't feel that Korgan was afraid of her; just that he was speechless for once and had some ambivalent feelings about vampire bites. The quest to get her is fun, but the following are a bit boring (I did not do her ToB quest yet)
Dorn is a fun character with some interesting quests. I just don't really like totally evil characters. Hexxat you feel she is reluctantly evil and even Korgan has a few redeeming values (he doesn't like slavers or people who harm children).
I don't like Rasaad much. He's useless in BG1 and just when I was getting to like him in BG2, he left my party to stay with the temple at the end of his quest.
My least favourite is Hexxat, I reckon she's a serious fail. A jarringly inappropriate character concept with little story, and with new content which (after the first quest, which is fine) is both unimaginatively repetitive and completely disconnected from the rest of the game, and an absurdly contradictory finale.
As for the others ...
Neera has a decent story and fits into the game quite well, and I think they did a good job with her in BG2ee, but in BG1ee I think her new area is a weak design. Overall a creative success, but not quite as well-done as Rasaad. Might have been better if she had been BG2ee-only.
Dorn had a good story and credible questline in BG1ee, and fitted into the game well, but then in BG2ee I found him becoming less and less plausible as the game progressed. A good concept and a good start, but poorer work later. Not a fail, but not a total success either. Would have been a definite success if he had been BG1ee-only, but the game needed another Evil warrior for BG2ee:SoA, so they continued him even though they were clearly struggling for credible ideas.
Baeloth is a surprisingly full character for an Easter Egg, with some story and interaction. He's a rather over-powered addition to the party, but fits the game tolerably well, and conveniently links the main story to the Black Pits. They were probably correct in deciding that they couldn't give him a satisfactory continuation into BG2ee. Pretty good work.
Wilson is a lovable concept, but much more of a bare-bones Easter Egg. He can fight in melee, but he's rather squishy for a front-liner and can't do anything else at all, so he's not very useful. Nice work as an amusing Easter Egg, but there's not enough to him to be more than that.
Dorn: Already have 2 evil front-liners ingame
Neera: Her wild surges have wiped out party gold more than a few times, which has earned a quick assassination each time
Rasaad: I never could get into his (back)story, and I always seem to end up babysitting him because of low damage and terrible AC
Hexxat: Never had any use for a single classed thief.
To be honest I agree with @Gallowglass 's assessment of all the characters. I guess we have very similar taste. If this was just for Baldur's Gate 1 EE then I'd go with Dorn, while I think Neera is consistently decent as well.
Dorn is a close second. He is shallow and evil. You get to fill out the holes yourself only to figure out there is nothing there. That said I could never romance him with a female charname. He came out so hard and abusive with my male blade I would never expose a woman to that even a very evil bhaalspawn.
And with hexxat I finally got an entire evil party where I didn't have to be a thief. Brilliant. Though I have never romanced her. I'm thinking the following scenario: Charname - I love it when you kiss my neck...hey wait a second...
So is her romance worth it? As in should I give it a try?
Let me repeat that.
Pink.
Hair.
Why is this even an argument, I mean COME ON.
Baeloth is 2nd place; great voice/personality... but so little of it. No banters, no mini quest, no return in BG2, no nothing. Sure, there's Black Pits, but that is a different game. I like having a sorcerer NPC, I'm fine with another drow, but in the end, he feels very tacked on (not too surprising, being an easter egg addition).
Never took Wilson. Can't say anything about him.
Dorn. Well. Well, well, well. It all started really good in BG1; good voice, nice quest (except for hogging items unrelated to his class), enough weakness in his stats to be ok with the illegal class/race. In BG2, he shows his true colors of being a rather flat, stereotype RAAAAAAAAAH MURDER character with a cringeworthy "romance". It doesn't help that he is the only m/m romance and not even gay. It's fine to have a bi character/romance, but it just seems unfair that lesbians get an "exclusive" romance and guys don't. Or that Dorn is the fantasy counterpart to a leather biker daddy stereotype. That aside, party conflicts left and right, too many hoops to jump through for mixed parties.
Hexxat. Points for not being a stereotype/butch dyke, points for being exclusively lesbian and not lazy writing one size fits all romance. No points for being a freaking vampire. Non-playable races are fine if all others are covered. That is not the case in BG2. No male elves or halflings, no female gnomes, dwarves or half orcs. There certainly were enough options for NPCs, yet she has to be a non-playable race. I do like her voice and personality, her quest is... well, nothing to write home about, but alright. Mechanically, the switching items is annoying. Can't the lady get dressed for daylight on her own? I'd still put her 3rd place.
Neera. I hate Neera. I hated Neera in BG1, I still hate the krazy penguin of d00m in BG2. She rivals Aerie's immaturity, just brattier. The quest is just as quirky and I can't stand "quirky" people or things. Her grating voice just tops of her annoying personality. Shame, because I like the kit and that she is neutral (yet still clashes with NPCs, which is another negative on a long list).
Rasaad - stands around and spin kicks, will not interact (unless you leave him where he is and return from the mines; he'll help kill Nimbul, but still not approach you). This is in line with the original NPCs - standing around and waiting for you to approach, with a few exceptions (Viconia, Yeslick, Imoen).
Dorn - shows up after cutscene, helps you fight, after that he at least takes no for an answer. Still a lot harder to ignore this event compared to Rasaad quietly kicking Nimbul and not talking to you.
Hexxat - approaches, but it doesn't feel out of place because Nalia does as well. I'm not really a fan of how packed the Copper Coronet is - these two, Anomen and Korgan? Did Hexxat really have to be there from the start, too? I find it a bit much to have not one, but two NPCs talk without prompt. Nalia has the older rights AND the stronghold for fighter classes. Hexxat could have been elsewhere.
Neera - ugh. Drags you into her fight no matter what you say or do; you actively have to avoid her line of sight to ignore her. That's not even 'ignoring', that's 'jumping through hoops to escape her'.
"I must admit, you have a rugged...tusked allure yourself."
"Well, it's about damn time. This will be a night for the ages."
"Well, you know my love of cages and chains..."
I was fangirling at the screen every time a dialogue happened. "OH MY GOSH! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT MY CHARACTER WOULD SAY!!" And paired with Dorn's amazing voice set... *shudders*
Now, all of that being said, Dorn's definitely not for everyone. He fits a very niche spot in Baldur's Gate 2, as opposed to Baldur's Gate 1. In BG1, you know he's on a revenge quest and he's not a saint, but whoever's wronged him can't be all that good either, so I find that even a good-aligned party could take him along under the right circumstances. However, in BG2, he's so downright Chaotic Evil that--even though I had the most fun playing with him--I couldn't justify ever using him again in any other party besides a pure evil one.
And I'm still heartbroken that he can't serve you as a blackguard after you become the Lord of Murder. ;_;
A very close second-favorite is Rasaad. I love Rasaad for all the things that Dorn is not. He's kind, gentle, chivalrous, not an asshat a-la Anomen, and I find his difficulty with jokes absolutely adorable. (The first time I romanced him was with a mischievous Chaotic Good bard, so she loved to tease him. Again, I think I just got lucky and picked the BEST persona to romance him.) He seamlessly fits into the world, down to Mark Meer's voice acting to his manner of speech to his story, and he's really easy to bring into the party. Yeah, he's pretty weak in BG1, but with the help of some items, I still enjoy using him--and then he becomes a powerhouse in BG2.
I haven't tried Baeloth yet, but I really really want to. Same goes for Wilson.
Neera. Oh, Neera Neera Neera... I wanted to like you. I tried so hard to like you, and on a good day, I do! But... I just can't. I despise her BG1 romance; to this day I still can't find a suitable protagonist who wouldn't drop her like a rock the second she rounded on them with the whole "IT'S ALL ABOUT YOUUUU!" crap. -_- (Never even apologized. That brat.) She's better in BG2, but... Again, still can't find a good romance partner for her. And god, some of the voice-acting in her quest is... Uggghhh. She's great conceptually. Like, as a character, she's the most consistent. I think I just dislike her character type.
Hexxat is another character I really wanted to like. An evil thief! FINALLY! But... Her story and her quest have so many holes that @shawne expertly pointed out in his character analysis thread that she feels incomplete. How did she become a vampire? What was her life like before that? Did she and Cabrina have a thing, and why is it over? How long as she been in service to L? What about her mother? The mother that she talks about so affectionately inside the Tomb of the Unproved, yet is never brought up again? And I really wanted more interactions with Bodhi, cause you know, VAMPIRE. She has some good dialogue with Korgan and Viconia, nice abilities, and her voice set is lovely. I just wish I had more of her to like instead of this half-empty shell.
Romance is even more restricted to "raging lunatic". I tried the romance with Eldoth as charname... Yeah, no. It's comedy, but not good comedy.
Other evil NPCs have qualities that make neutral and sometimes even good NPCs get along with them - let's say, Keldorn and Korgan respecting each other. Dorn, not a single one would just shrug off such an extreme bloodthirst.
Rasaad's personality gives more options to relate, across alignments, and more types of charnames that get along enough to travel with or romance him. I haven't played his romance, I just conclude from his normal banters. There's nothing that would make think only a very specific kind of person would romance that guy.
Neera - The reason to buy the EEs. Funny, engaging story, challenging BG2 battle. ToB quest wasn't as good but still fun.
Rasaad - Rasaad is a meh. Kinda like Cernd: not terrible, not great, kinda dull. Good loot in BG2 but I still haven't tried his ToB quest. I liked that it was easy to get rid of him once you had the loot -- good decision on the part of the devs.
Dorn - Never played his BG2 content and never will. Wish I could get points for killing him and saving the radiant heart.
Baeloth - Never played.
Wilson -- Bearly qualifies as an NPC. Took him once and had a good time.
Hexxat - Uggh. Her quests were fun but I couldn't finish the romance. No.
Clara -- Gief Clara!
Seriously, I can't imagine many people voting for Wilson. I get the impression that most of us like him, but there's just not enough substance for him to be many people's favourite.
I think I agree on almost all points on Neera on Nonnah's analysis of her. I even gave her a second chance when she decided to wild-surge and end a no-reload by script, but... I dunno, I couldn't form a persona in my head that would react to Neera well. Another no-reload was put on hold precisely for this reason, as I've lost any personal sympathy for my characters, and once that happens, death comes swiftly.
Again, I don't play Evil often, and we meet Hexxat as she flat-out murders the woman she dominated to help her. After she begs for mercy. What's a Good or even Neutral party supposed to do? Is there any reasonable way to let her live? All the other Vampires in the story end up as mortal (... Wait, they're undead. So... Non-mortal?) enemies, so if you've met any of them I can't think of a good non-meta reason to even consider her joining your side.
Baeloth and Wilson I have no opinions on; I haven't played through with either.
Rasaad is the last one, and even without romancing him he's pretty good to have around. His quest in SoA isn't bad at all, though there are several plotholes in it. Combat-wise, he's probably second best since y'know, Mage, but 84% MR by itself is nothing to sneeze at for a mundane, and by endgame is probably one of the strongest warriors anyways.
Dorn - Having a blackguard is cool... but he's not the sharpiest tool in the shed and i don't like to draw attention unless it warranted. Besides... why settle for him when the PC makes a better Blackguard.
Neera - Like so many... i wanted to like her. But she is so annoying... she makes Imoen very likable.
Raasad - I would say he's my second fav to Baeloth. If he wasn't such a wimp. I might have kept him around.
Hexxat - Despite being a bitch, i would trust her over Safana anyday. I just didn't care to be her errand boy. So i ditch her...
Clara - She had potential...
Wilson - Never recruited him... but im pretty sure he was boring and was only good as a tank