As a player, I do find it pointless to add a shell of a character into the game. I personally like Dynaheir and she was always in my party at the end of BG1 but I don't want her in BG2 if she's not going to have any indepth development. If you haven't noticed a trend in rpg's is that the banter and development of your party memebers has been a great enjoyment for the players. Seeing the characters interact with each other and express a kind of personality was a good thing. It was one of the better improvements in BG2. But there is a difference in asking a company to alter something than it is to ask a modder. I think there has to be a level of professionalism, namely, they can't do something half a** (but don't think you're off the hook for all the bugs Shadowdancer has Devs!!!). That being said, if they are seriously considering bring Dynaheir back into the game, then the game MUST reflect that in all aspects. Not just some, 'how here you go' added tweak. And for all the resources and time they have, it should be spent on something that actually does have some consistency. For what you want, I think a modder is more appropriate.
Dynaheir is my favourite mage in the series, and I would love to see her return. As was mentioned previously there are several ways to explain her return. Some of these have some pretty major issues and work required, others not so much. I feel this reintroduction could add a lot to the story if done well, although I would rather she stay dead than simply an 'I got better' and then no further character development.
My personal solution would be for her to make a return after Minsc has accepted Aerie as his witch. This opens up several interesting options. - Minsc's guilt at pledging to a new witch - how would Dynaheir handle this? - Aerie's timidness. Does she bow down in favour of Dynaheir or does she jealously guard Minsc now that he is pledged to her. This might seem a little out of character, but consider this. She's had no-one all her life. She finally finds someone who is for all intensive purposes 'hers' and then someone wants to take him from her? Ooh, it's on. - Is Edwin in the party? How would Dynaheir cope knowing that her sworn enemy has been travelling with you in her place?
And then not to mention how did she actually survive? Did she bargain her way out of Hell so as to return for Minsc and perhaps CHARNAME? Did she somehow escape and is now on the run from Daemons? Did she survive under Irenicus and end up in Spellhold? All of these examples can explain how her personality could be different.
Then how is she re-introduced to the party? I personally like the idea of finding her in Spellhold. But there could be an introduction similar to the introduction for the secret NPC in EE1. She escapes the underworld and enters the material plane by focusing on Minsc's life-force, her strongest tie to the material plane. Or perhaps she turns up to help the party during a particularly tough fight and the story of how she escaped (Irenicus or Spellhold depending on story) is not something she's willing to talk about. Instead leaking it out over multiple conversations - cue CHARNAME romance.
Personally I'd rather see her return than see a new character introduced. There are already so many different characters in the game, surely it would be better to develop current characters further before introducing new ones?
Comments
My personal solution would be for her to make a return after Minsc has accepted Aerie as his witch. This opens up several interesting options.
- Minsc's guilt at pledging to a new witch - how would Dynaheir handle this?
- Aerie's timidness. Does she bow down in favour of Dynaheir or does she jealously guard Minsc now that he is pledged to her. This might seem a little out of character, but consider this. She's had no-one all her life. She finally finds someone who is for all intensive purposes 'hers' and then someone wants to take him from her? Ooh, it's on.
- Is Edwin in the party? How would Dynaheir cope knowing that her sworn enemy has been travelling with you in her place?
And then not to mention how did she actually survive? Did she bargain her way out of Hell so as to return for Minsc and perhaps CHARNAME? Did she somehow escape and is now on the run from Daemons? Did she survive under Irenicus and end up in Spellhold? All of these examples can explain how her personality could be different.
Then how is she re-introduced to the party? I personally like the idea of finding her in Spellhold. But there could be an introduction similar to the introduction for the secret NPC in EE1. She escapes the underworld and enters the material plane by focusing on Minsc's life-force, her strongest tie to the material plane. Or perhaps she turns up to help the party during a particularly tough fight and the story of how she escaped (Irenicus or Spellhold depending on story) is not something she's willing to talk about. Instead leaking it out over multiple conversations - cue CHARNAME romance.
Personally I'd rather see her return than see a new character introduced. There are already so many different characters in the game, surely it would be better to develop current characters further before introducing new ones?