Evidence for Removed NPCs in SoD
billbisco
Member Posts: 361
@Faydark noted in another thread that Phil Daigle said in the SoD Q&A session that you would be able to import your BGEE party to SoD.
I believe this is probably true, but only to an extent, and only for the SoD Canon NPCs. Evidence follows:
1. Canon Party Composition
Avenger_teambg noted that the Neutral canon party was: Khalid, Dorn, Jaheira, Safana, Neera
The Beamdog Twitch video has this:
This shows that the Canon Good party is: Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc, Dynaheir, Safana
and the Canon Evil party is: Dorn, Edwin, Baeloth, Viconia, Safana
We notice some definite repeats here: Khalid, Jaheria, Dorn, Safana. Why repeat? The only sensible answer is to lessen the number of different party members.
a. Alora and Imoen are both Good Thieves and Coran is a Good Fighter/Thief, but the canon good party has Safana. This is a soft confirmation that Alora, Imoen, and Coran aren't playable.
Soft Confirmed Gone: Alora, Imoen, Coran
b. Tiax and Montaron are both Evil multiclass thieves. However, neither of them was chosen for the canon evil party. This is a soft confirmation that Tiax and Montaron aren't playable
Soft Confirmed Gone: Alora, Imoen, Coran, Tiax, Montaron
2. Skie's Grand Plan
This can also be caught from the Twitch Presentation:
A quest to rescue Skie. Soft confirmation that Skie isn't playable
Soft Confirmed Gone; Alora, Imoen, Coran, Tiax, Montaron, Skie
3. Imoen Staying Behind
This happens in the prologue apparently. Imoen stays behind with a couple of flaming fist officers while your party explores.
Soft Confirmed Gone; Alora, Imoen, Coran, Tiax, Montaron, Skie
Semi-Hard Confirmed Gone: Imoen
4. Halen using Montaron's portrait and Default BGEE NPCs
If Montaron was playable in the game, the developers would likely not want Halen to share Montaron's portrait, they'd give him a different one
The default BGEE NPCs in addition to the above include the following portraits:
If the developers cared more for Montaron, Branwen, Alora, Xan, and Faldorn then they would likely try to use other portraits. Jaheira, Khalid, Imoen, Dynaheir, Minsc, Edwin, and Viconia portraits were not used. Neither were the Enhanced Edition NPCs of Dorn, Rasaad, Neera, and Baeloth. Any of those could have been used as a default NPC portrait, but were not. They are more favored canon NPCs.
Soft Confirmed Gone; Alora, Imoen, Coran, Tiax, Montaron, Skie, Branwen, Xan, Faldorn
Semi-Hard Confirmed Gone: Imoen, Montaron
5. SoD NPCs overlapping BGEE ones
Glint Gardnersonson is a Cleric/Thief, the same as Tiax. Voghiln the Vast is a human bard (skald) while Eldoth and Garrick are human bards.
Schael Corwin is a Female Archer Ranger and presumably overlaps with Coran, Kivan, and Shar-Teel Thematically.
Soft Confirmed Gone; Alora, Imoen, Tiax, Coran, Montaron, Skie, Alora, Imoen, Coran, Tiax, Montaron, Skie, Branwen, Xan, Faldorn, Kivan, Shar-Teel
Semi-Hard Confirmed Gone: Imoen, Montaron, Tiax, Eldoth, Garrick
6. Andrew Foley's Comment: Safana the Odd Woman Out and Further Commentary
Around 2:07 In the Twitch Demo. Andrew Foley describes "The beloved Ranger Minsc" and mentions the BG2 canon party members except when he gets to Safana he says "Safana, the Odd Woman Out"
This is an indication that Beamdog does not have much love for Safana and likely all the BGEE Bioware NPCs that don't make it to BG2EE. This is an off the cuff remark from a Beamdog employee with intimate knowledge of the current state of the game. It reflects a feeling that Bioware npcs that didn't make it to BG2 are "odd".
Andrew Foley later posted on the forums that he "actually quite like[s] Safana". and that "Everyone in the office has party members from BGEE that they love that didn't make it to BGIIEE."
I believe Andrew when he refers to himself. However, given the nature of his comments, it leads me to the next point.
7. The Deafening Silence
No Dev has ever said "All BGEE NPCs will be playable". The trailers only show Khalid, Jaheira, Dyanaheir, Minsc, Imoen. With other Twitch announcement screenshots including Edwin and Viconia as well.
The Rock Paper Shotgun interview at http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/07/17/baldurs-gate-3/ states:
"Perhaps your companions can help answer that question. Many of Baldur’s Gate’s most famous characters are back, including several who didn’t make it to the sequel. Khalid returns, Dynaheir joins him and Minsc is the same omnicidal extrovert as ever"
If the devs intended to support all BGEE characters, the interview should say all not "several". Why would Beamdog report to the interviewers "several" if they intended "all". No mentions of any NPCs in these interviews other than the canon BG2 party.
The devs have decided not to release the voice actor list yet. Other than not securing the voice acting yet, it seems likely to delay official knowledge of who won't return.
Dee and Andrew Foley have both commented in this thread only to cast doubt on conclusions drawn from 6 above. No casting doubts on any of the other logic presented in this thread. If what Phil Daigle said was explicitly true, players can transfer and keep their party from BGEE, why wouldn't the devs explicitly say that all BGEE NPCs were returning or choose to cast doubts on the other points mentioned?
Andrew Foley's comment may be telling:
"The idea we don't care for the BGEE-only NPCs is a serious mischaracterization of the reality."
Exactly what is this reality? The reality he referred to could be merely that they "do care" , but it could also refer to the reality that many BGEE NPCs aren't returning.
8. Exception for Rasaad
Because of Beamdog preference for Beamdog NPCs over Bioware ones, Rasaad will most likely return even though he isn't party of any canon starting party.
The following comment gives some credence to Rasaad's inclusion:
9. Removal of Twitch Video removing the Live Demo
The original Siege of Dragonspear Announcement, Interview Q&A, and Live Demo video from Twitch has been removed. Unlike the the parts of the announcement, the live demo portion has not been uploaded to Youtube.
Beamdog is likely trying to remove spoiling content from easy public view. However, since they are still tight-lipped regarding their voice actors they would likely want to remove evidence for removed NPCs, Imoen and Skie have been converted into Quest NPCs for at least a significant portion of the game.
10. Reaction to the Dead BGEE NPCs staying Dead in SoD thread
If you notice the reaction I got from this thread: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/42442/petition-for-dead-bgee-npcs-staying-dead-in-sod#latest
11. German website listing English actors
http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-siege-of-dragonspear/artikel/siege_of_dragonspear,51968,3233354.html
Translated to Englis from German:
Beamdog invited some of the well-known English voice actors for a new dialogue. So we get some new sets of Jim Cummings as Minsk heard. Again taking part are the voices of Dynaheir, Edwin and Imoen. Mysterious: In the list of speakers, there is also David Warner, known as Upper Rogue Jon Irenicus from the second part. Likewise Sarevok spokesman Kevin Michael Richardson is back.
Missing is Jaheira whose NPC is definitely coming back and whose Voice actress has been absent from the business for a long time. Most obviously missing are all of the other Bioware voice actors whose characters did not make it to BG2. Beamdog is unlikely to keep on an NPC with no additional voice acting next to other NPCs who have it.
11. Conclusion
The most likely outcome is that the only playable NPCs in SoD for a significant period of time will be: Jaheira, Khalid, Minsc, Dynaheir, Safana, Dorn, Neera, Edwin, Baeloth, Viconia, Rasaad, Captain Schael Corwin, Voghiln the Vast, M'Khiin Groubdoubler, Glint Gardnersonson
The other BGEE NPCs will likely be converted to cameo or quest roles.
I believe this is probably true, but only to an extent, and only for the SoD Canon NPCs. Evidence follows:
1. Canon Party Composition
Avenger_teambg noted that the Neutral canon party was: Khalid, Dorn, Jaheira, Safana, Neera
The Beamdog Twitch video has this:
This shows that the Canon Good party is: Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc, Dynaheir, Safana
and the Canon Evil party is: Dorn, Edwin, Baeloth, Viconia, Safana
We notice some definite repeats here: Khalid, Jaheria, Dorn, Safana. Why repeat? The only sensible answer is to lessen the number of different party members.
a. Alora and Imoen are both Good Thieves and Coran is a Good Fighter/Thief, but the canon good party has Safana. This is a soft confirmation that Alora, Imoen, and Coran aren't playable.
Soft Confirmed Gone: Alora, Imoen, Coran
b. Tiax and Montaron are both Evil multiclass thieves. However, neither of them was chosen for the canon evil party. This is a soft confirmation that Tiax and Montaron aren't playable
Soft Confirmed Gone: Alora, Imoen, Coran, Tiax, Montaron
2. Skie's Grand Plan
This can also be caught from the Twitch Presentation:
A quest to rescue Skie. Soft confirmation that Skie isn't playable
Soft Confirmed Gone; Alora, Imoen, Coran, Tiax, Montaron, Skie
3. Imoen Staying Behind
This happens in the prologue apparently. Imoen stays behind with a couple of flaming fist officers while your party explores.
Soft Confirmed Gone; Alora, Imoen, Coran, Tiax, Montaron, Skie
Semi-Hard Confirmed Gone: Imoen
4. Halen using Montaron's portrait and Default BGEE NPCs
If Montaron was playable in the game, the developers would likely not want Halen to share Montaron's portrait, they'd give him a different one
The default BGEE NPCs in addition to the above include the following portraits:
If the developers cared more for Montaron, Branwen, Alora, Xan, and Faldorn then they would likely try to use other portraits. Jaheira, Khalid, Imoen, Dynaheir, Minsc, Edwin, and Viconia portraits were not used. Neither were the Enhanced Edition NPCs of Dorn, Rasaad, Neera, and Baeloth. Any of those could have been used as a default NPC portrait, but were not. They are more favored canon NPCs.
Soft Confirmed Gone; Alora, Imoen, Coran, Tiax, Montaron, Skie, Branwen, Xan, Faldorn
Semi-Hard Confirmed Gone: Imoen, Montaron
5. SoD NPCs overlapping BGEE ones
Glint Gardnersonson is a Cleric/Thief, the same as Tiax. Voghiln the Vast is a human bard (skald) while Eldoth and Garrick are human bards.
Schael Corwin is a Female Archer Ranger and presumably overlaps with Coran, Kivan, and Shar-Teel Thematically.
Soft Confirmed Gone; Alora, Imoen, Tiax, Coran, Montaron, Skie, Alora, Imoen, Coran, Tiax, Montaron, Skie, Branwen, Xan, Faldorn, Kivan, Shar-Teel
Semi-Hard Confirmed Gone: Imoen, Montaron, Tiax, Eldoth, Garrick
6. Andrew Foley's Comment: Safana the Odd Woman Out and Further Commentary
Around 2:07 In the Twitch Demo. Andrew Foley describes "The beloved Ranger Minsc" and mentions the BG2 canon party members except when he gets to Safana he says "Safana, the Odd Woman Out"
This is an indication that Beamdog does not have much love for Safana and likely all the BGEE Bioware NPCs that don't make it to BG2EE. This is an off the cuff remark from a Beamdog employee with intimate knowledge of the current state of the game. It reflects a feeling that Bioware npcs that didn't make it to BG2 are "odd".
Andrew Foley later posted on the forums that he "actually quite like[s] Safana". and that "Everyone in the office has party members from BGEE that they love that didn't make it to BGIIEE."
I believe Andrew when he refers to himself. However, given the nature of his comments, it leads me to the next point.
7. The Deafening Silence
No Dev has ever said "All BGEE NPCs will be playable". The trailers only show Khalid, Jaheira, Dyanaheir, Minsc, Imoen. With other Twitch announcement screenshots including Edwin and Viconia as well.
The Rock Paper Shotgun interview at http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/07/17/baldurs-gate-3/ states:
"Perhaps your companions can help answer that question. Many of Baldur’s Gate’s most famous characters are back, including several who didn’t make it to the sequel. Khalid returns, Dynaheir joins him and Minsc is the same omnicidal extrovert as ever"
If the devs intended to support all BGEE characters, the interview should say all not "several". Why would Beamdog report to the interviewers "several" if they intended "all". No mentions of any NPCs in these interviews other than the canon BG2 party.
The devs have decided not to release the voice actor list yet. Other than not securing the voice acting yet, it seems likely to delay official knowledge of who won't return.
Dee and Andrew Foley have both commented in this thread only to cast doubt on conclusions drawn from 6 above. No casting doubts on any of the other logic presented in this thread. If what Phil Daigle said was explicitly true, players can transfer and keep their party from BGEE, why wouldn't the devs explicitly say that all BGEE NPCs were returning or choose to cast doubts on the other points mentioned?
Andrew Foley's comment may be telling:
"The idea we don't care for the BGEE-only NPCs is a serious mischaracterization of the reality."
Exactly what is this reality? The reality he referred to could be merely that they "do care" , but it could also refer to the reality that many BGEE NPCs aren't returning.
8. Exception for Rasaad
Because of Beamdog preference for Beamdog NPCs over Bioware ones, Rasaad will most likely return even though he isn't party of any canon starting party.
The following comment gives some credence to Rasaad's inclusion:
The Devs during the Q&A session said that Dorn, Neera, and Rasaad were returning. Although this does not necessarily have to mean that Rasaad is a playable NPC, given the above, it's much more likely that he is playable instead of not.ReadingRambo said:During a conversation with Rasaad and Jahiera, the PC mentions mentions a place called Bridgefort and that Khalid and her were seperated there.
9. Removal of Twitch Video removing the Live Demo
The original Siege of Dragonspear Announcement, Interview Q&A, and Live Demo video from Twitch has been removed. Unlike the the parts of the announcement, the live demo portion has not been uploaded to Youtube.
Beamdog is likely trying to remove spoiling content from easy public view. However, since they are still tight-lipped regarding their voice actors they would likely want to remove evidence for removed NPCs, Imoen and Skie have been converted into Quest NPCs for at least a significant portion of the game.
10. Reaction to the Dead BGEE NPCs staying Dead in SoD thread
If you notice the reaction I got from this thread: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/42442/petition-for-dead-bgee-npcs-staying-dead-in-sod#latest
From that reaction and Ardanis's agreeing with elminster's quote The devs are unlikely to implement scripting to remove dead NPCs from SoD. They are similarly unlikely to implement scripting to have 2 versions of an NPC: 1 quest giver and 1 joining NPC at the same time. This is additional confirmation that Skie and Imoen won't be a joinable NPC at all or at least for a long time.elminster said:@Ardanis would love the scripting involved in this one I'm sure.
11. German website listing English actors
http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-siege-of-dragonspear/artikel/siege_of_dragonspear,51968,3233354.html
Translated to Englis from German:
Beamdog invited some of the well-known English voice actors for a new dialogue. So we get some new sets of Jim Cummings as Minsk heard. Again taking part are the voices of Dynaheir, Edwin and Imoen. Mysterious: In the list of speakers, there is also David Warner, known as Upper Rogue Jon Irenicus from the second part. Likewise Sarevok spokesman Kevin Michael Richardson is back.
Missing is Jaheira whose NPC is definitely coming back and whose Voice actress has been absent from the business for a long time. Most obviously missing are all of the other Bioware voice actors whose characters did not make it to BG2. Beamdog is unlikely to keep on an NPC with no additional voice acting next to other NPCs who have it.
11. Conclusion
The most likely outcome is that the only playable NPCs in SoD for a significant period of time will be: Jaheira, Khalid, Minsc, Dynaheir, Safana, Dorn, Neera, Edwin, Baeloth, Viconia, Rasaad, Captain Schael Corwin, Voghiln the Vast, M'Khiin Groubdoubler, Glint Gardnersonson
The other BGEE NPCs will likely be converted to cameo or quest roles.
Post edited by billbisco on
9
Comments
However, I've got a couple of counter points:
Your first screenshot is of a load game screen, not a new game screen. Potentially those parties and save games were made specifically for the announcement gameplay sessions and have nothing to do with canon or not.
Also, remember Biff the understudy? What if the screenshots you show of Imoen talking but not in the party are due to Imoen not being in that party by player choice, so the game makes her an NPC for that quest(line)? Potentially if you have Imoen in your party, she stays with you and doesn't remain behind etc.
Re: Sharing of portaits - that's very likely at this stage of development. It could just mean they haven't got a unique portrait ready for Halen yet.
Potentially some of the characters could leave your party. I almost expect this actually, for the beginning of SoD. Kinda like the start of BG2, but with your custom party instead of a canon forced party. It could be kinda cool to go out on quests and gather your party at the start of the adventure from missions you sent them on (meta, between BG and SoD) etc.
It's all speculation at this point.
Personally, if you can't play through with your complete party from BG:EE for most of SoD, then why bother importing the party in the first place. Just make it import charname only if that's the case.
The main limitiation is obviously the time required to write and test the dialogue for returning NPCs, and the logical approach is to add them one at a time. So there may be one or two more returning NPCs who will join the Dragonspear expedition that aren't in the current build.
A character who has been conspicuously absent so far is Rasaad.
My personal preference is for lots of high quality story content for each party member, rather than having a large potential roster of one-line wonders.
I agree with you about the probable composition of the canon parties for each alignment.
I agree that the inclusion of Safana in all three parties suggests a shortage of Good or Evil Thieves. Imoen is around but doing something else, and I guess Montaron (presumably with Xzar) has headed off to Athkatla for BG2 story reasons. What has happened to Alora and Tiax remains to be seen, but I agree that they'd have been logical choices for their respective parties if they were available, so presumably they're not. You didn't mention Coran as a possible Thief for the Good party, but again he wasn't picked so he might not be around ... but we know from BG2 that he gets together with Safana sometime, and perhaps SoD will include that, although that wouldn't necessarily mean that he's playable.
Good catch on the quest texts. I knew I'd seen those flash past in the announcement video, but then I couldn't find them again later.
The fact that we're rescuing Skie means that she's present in the area, so possibly she'll be a recruitable option later in the game when we rescue her. It's been the case before that rescuing someone is how we recruit them, so I don't see this as evidence that Skie is unavailable.
I agree with @Faydark, we can't conclude anything at this stage from duplicate portraits.
I reckon you're making too much of overlapping classes, especially when only partially overlapping. I agree that where a new NPC quite directly overlaps a BG1 NPC, then the devs have less motive to spend the money on new dialogue and voice-overs to bring in the BG1 NPC and are likely to retire them, but I don't think there are as many close overlaps as you imply.
With Voghiln arriving, Garrick is spare and may be promptly leaving for Athkatla for BG2 story reasons, but Eldoth isn't so spare - Voghiln is a Good guy, not a natural pick when an Evil party wants a Bard. Furthermore, since we know Skie is involved in the story (and might be recruitable), it might also be the case that Eldoth is still with her (and might also be recruitable) ... so I wouldn't rush to assume that he's written out.
Similarly, Glint and Tiax may both be Cleric/Thieves, but Glint is probably Good (because he worships a NG god) and we know that Tiax is Evil, so they're not easy substitutes for one another. Nevertheless, I agree that Tiax would have been a more obvious Thief for the Evil party than Safana, so he's probably not playable.
You're painting with a wide brush for Corwin. It's a big assumption that she's an intended replacement for Coran and Kivan and Shar-Teel. My guess is that she's Neutral (because the Fist are officially LN), so she could substitute on alignment grounds, but she doesn't make all of them redundant. If she's an Archer, she'd replace Kivan very directly, so they probably wouldn't spend the money on extending Kivan into the new game as well, but in that case she wouldn't overlap so much with Shar-Teel, who is much more usable in melee than an Archer. She'd substitute for Coran's ranged skill, but not his thievery, so again not too much overlap. On the other hand, if she's a Fighter with bow skills, then she overlaps Shar-Teel quite closely, and not too far from Kivan's skills except for his stealth, so both of them might be redundant, but she still has nothing to offer in place of Coran's thievery. Thus I reckon Corwin's presence means that Kivan is probably going to head elsewhere looking for more bandits to kill, and Shar-Teel may be heading off to find more men to kill, but she's not so much of an argument for Coran being unavailable. So with the additional possibility of explaining his BG2 story with Safana, I reckon there's quite a good chance that Coran will be in the game, and perhaps playable.
There are several more BG1 NPCs whom you didn't mention.
I think it has been officially confirmed that the EE NPCs are all in (and of course they would be for commercial reasons). Therefore Rasaad is available to recruit.
We've seen no evidence either way about Ajantis, but the scenario is one in which it's easy to imagine that he'd choose to be involved, so I reckon there's a fair chance that he'll be written in, and perhaps joinable.
Yeslick is interesting. There's no obvious story reason for him to leave us, since he has no home, no hearth, no clan ... a terrible state for a dwarf. The story logic is that he should want to stay with the party. He'd have been a natural for the default Good party, except that there's no room for him with the BG2 canon characters already included. But it'd make sense for him to be available as a playable option, so I reckon there's a good chance.
Branwen would have been a natural for the Neutral party if she were around, so her absence suggests that she's not available. On the other hand, there's no extant story reason why she'd want to go away, so maybe we can again recruit her too.
Faldorn needs to go to the Druid Grove for BG2 story reasons, and is fairly redundant in SoD with Jaheira and Viconia (and perhaps Yeslick and Branwen) available and Druid-like M'Khiin coming in. Thus I'm fairly sure Faldorn will be written out.
Now Quayle must be heading to Athkatla pretty quickly for BG2 story reasons, but there's no direct evidence. Still, it's a strong story reason, so I reckon it's unlikely that he's available in SoD.
What of Xan? It'd be a logical story that after the resolution of the Iron Crisis which he was sent to investigate, he'd want to return to Evereska. But there's no evidence, so maybe he hangs around for a while, in which case he might well be playable.
Kagain is more natural Evil-guy-in-the-Neutral-party than Dorn, but they're pushing Dorn as own-brand, so probably Kagain will be promptly returning to Beregost to mind his shop.
If we assume that Montaron is leaving, then obviously Xzar goes with him.
Edit: spelling
What I think is gonna happen is that you start SoD alone and then gather your party in the city all over again for a new adventure on dukes' behest. There are some screenshots with only 4 party members in Baldur's Gate - that's most likely the beginning of SoD.
1. Saved game screen: I think you're reading too much into this, interpreting this as four separate parties. Based on the image you posted, you have two starting parties, then an auto-save and a quick-save with the "good party". That's just using multiple save slots with the same party. I've got several (dozen) saves with the same party during a playthrough. If I did a demo playthrough of BGEE and I didn't include material from Chapters 5-7, you'd never see Skie. That doesn't mean she's not in the game.
Regarding Montaron, if you have Monty, you'd probably want to include Xzar too (where would Monty be without the mad wizard?). The developers may have just decided that 2 mages is enough for a starting party and prefer Edwin & Baeloth to Edwin & Xzar or Baeloth and Xzar. Story-wise, I can see Monty saying "Good riddance to yer bad rubbish!" at the prospect of aiding a war effort for Baldur's Gate. It would be in character.
2. Skie: Just because Skie has a quest on her own doesn't mean that she's not playable. For example,
3. Imoen: Imoen could join the party later. For example,
4. Halen: The pre-generated character Halen used Montaron's portrait in BGEE (and Canderous uses Xan's, Jade uses Alora's, Tarana uses Branwen's, and Faenyrs uses Faldorn's). Montaron is still a playable NPC in BGEE.
5. Minsc is a ranger. Valygar is a ranger. Didn't mean that Valygar replaced Minsc in BG2.
Unfortunately this also affects a lot of the playability of BGEE. Why bother with certain party members who will not transition and benefit from the additional 25 hours of content.
@Gallowglass Corwin is wearing leather armor in a screenshot, so high probability she's a Ranger with the Archer kit. That means she's a good alignment. And, yes thematically this clashes with the Flaming Fist.
It was mentioned that Rasaad will be in the game in the Q&A session, that doesn't mean he'll be a playable NPC though. Of course, since Beamdog favors Beamdog NPCs instead of Bioware ones, he has a better chance of being recruitable or transferring from BGEE to SoD.
I do think that because of Imoen's new portrait, she does have a better chance of appearing later in the game. No changes to OP until further evidence though.
@AstroBryGuy
Thanks for the screenshot. I'm surprised they didn't do an NPC of each alignment. The re-use of Montaron's, Branwen's, Alora's, Xan's, and Faldorn's portraits seems to indicate less concern about those NPCs. They didn't re-use Imoen, Viconia, Jaheira, Edwin, Minsc portraits nor any of Dorn, Neera, Rasaad, or Baeloth portraits either. That seems to be a soft confirmation of Montaron, Branwen, Alora, and Xan removal.
So, the pre-built Halen continuing to use Montaron's portrait in SoD means nothing more than they didn't update the portrait that the CHR file was referencing. Unless you're suggesting that Beamdog initiated a covert plot years ago before BGEE was released to signal which NPCs would not appear in the then yet-to-be-developed-Adventure Y.
Therefore it is essential to the quality of the project that numerous BG1 NPCs must be removed in the expansion, as we're playing it, at various appropriate times, with coherent story reasons. That's the primary plot objective of doing this as an interquel. Exactly unchanged from the previous situation of playing the many BG1 NPCs who aren't playable in BG2. They won't be with us forever, but we work together for a while, and we can enjoy that experience before going our separate ways. I was squinting at that, trying to make it out, but I wasn't sure. Maybe your eyesight is better than mine. Okay, if she's an actual Archer, then that's fine by me. Even though the Fist are normally depicted as tinheads. Hmmm, mind you ... it doesn't say anywhere that she's an actual member of the Fist, it says she serves the Fist ... so maybe she's not a Captain in the Fist itself, but rather the Captain of a mercenary company which has been hired by the Fist. That'd make sense of it all. I'll eat my hat if Rasaad isn't playable. He's their own-brand product, of course they'll make him playable, it'd be commercially ridiculous not to do so. Even though, to fit the BG2 story, he'll have to leave eventually.
Grab a copy of Gold & Glory - the AD&D 2nd Edition sourcebook on Faerunian mercenary companies. The Fist are noted as having a "general alignment" of Lawful Neutral, which would be compatible with a LG ranger. Also, here's part of what it says about the Flaming Fist's garrison in the city of Baldur's Gate: "The forces in Baldurs Gate include 10 rangers, 10 wizards, 150 priests, 10 assassins (the best of which are a pair of elven wizard-thieves), 15 thieves, and 1,200 fighters..."
Just as long as Corwin doesn't wander around spouting "I AM THE LAW!", it'll be all good.
I think the point about "thematic clash" is simply to do with visual portrayal - in lore the Fist have some members of other classes, but on-screen they're always shown as Fighters in plate armour, not Rangers in leathers. Not really an issue.
Around 2:07 In the Twitch Demo. Andrew Foley describes "The beloved Ranger Minsc" and mentions the BG2 canon party members except when he gets to Safana he says "Safana, the Odd Woman Out"
This is an indication that Beamdog does not have much love for Safana and likely all the BGEE Bioware NPCs that don't make it to BG2EE.
Any word for the CHARNAMES races and classes for the neutral and evil Default parties