So I'm playing (yeah yeah wayy behind the times) BG for the first time .. gotten through the Nashkel mines and currently adventuring through the country side and managed to beat the Ogre Magi on the coast (sorry can't recall the name.. looked like a huge samurai to me ..) but not without Minsc taking critical hit and dead for good. Wanting as pure a first playthrough I rolled with it and managed to save everyone else (Imoen, Jahira, Dynaheir and Khalid) back in beregost. I realize it's way early in the game .. has onyone else experienced something similiar? and is Minsc even going to be missed? because honestly he died ALOT ...
I liked reading the sincerity of your enjoyment for the game. I wish I had the resolve to stick with a tough decision like that in my first playthrough. Whenever Minsc died in my party the first thing I did was load. That being said, Ajantis is a good substitute for Minsc. In any case, with Minsc out of the way its time to take a good hard look in the mirror and say... I want to be evil. Its time for Edwin.
Ahaha I was reading your post, nodding in agreement at how Ajantis is a good replacement at all and then ... LOL wow! True that, Edwin kicks serious ass.
You can certainly play without Minsc in your party, but for me he is a must have. Xan and he are pretty much always CHARNAME's best friends in my game.
@Awong124: Geez, it almost sounds like you got a personal issue with Minsc. If you hate him that much, you can always, like, ignore him and pick up other characters instead. >_>
I do pick up other characters, but I don't want to ignore him. It gives me personal gratification to watch him blow up. I guess he is good for something then.
So I'm playing (yeah yeah wayy behind the times) BG for the first time .. gotten through the Nashkel mines and currently adventuring through the country side and managed to beat the Ogre Magi on the coast (sorry can't recall the name.. looked like a huge samurai to me ..) but not without Minsc taking critical hit and dead for good. Wanting as pure a first playthrough I rolled with it and managed to save everyone else (Imoen, Jahira, Dynaheir and Khalid) back in beregost. I realize it's way early in the game .. has onyone else experienced something similiar? and is Minsc even going to be missed? because honestly he died ALOT ...
I liked reading the sincerity of your enjoyment for the game. I wish I had the resolve to stick with a tough decision like that in my first playthrough. Whenever Minsc died in my party the first thing I did was load. That being said, Ajantis is a good substitute for Minsc. In any case, with Minsc out of the way its time to take a good hard look in the mirror and say... I want to be evil. Its time for Edwin.
Heh .. thing is Edwin was killed off earlier on .. doesn't like to be turned down I suppose ... anyway I'm playing an elven thief (who will be assassin once to BG2 ) who is LE ... finding good help is so frustrating ... *sigh* such menial tasks!
So I'm playing (yeah yeah wayy behind the times) BG for the first time .. gotten through the Nashkel mines and currently adventuring through the country side and managed to beat the Ogre Magi on the coast (sorry can't recall the name.. looked like a huge samurai to me ..) but not without Minsc taking critical hit and dead for good. Wanting as pure a first playthrough I rolled with it and managed to save everyone else (Imoen, Jahira, Dynaheir and Khalid) back in beregost. I realize it's way early in the game .. has onyone else experienced something similiar? and is Minsc even going to be missed? because honestly he died ALOT ...
I liked reading the sincerity of your enjoyment for the game. I wish I had the resolve to stick with a tough decision like that in my first playthrough. Whenever Minsc died in my party the first thing I did was load. That being said, Ajantis is a good substitute for Minsc. In any case, with Minsc out of the way its time to take a good hard look in the mirror and say... I want to be evil. Its time for Edwin.
Heh .. thing is Edwin was killed off earlier on .. doesn't like to be turned down I suppose ... anyway I'm playing an elven thief (who will be assassin once to BG2 ) who is LE ... finding good help is so frustrating ... *sigh* such menial task!
Ahahaha your Lawful Evil character killed another Lawful Evil character. Bloody brilliant. I guess you two had a debate of power, who was in charge, or something. ;D
@Quartz: How easy for you to judge me and generalise my behaviour on the whole scale of these forums, eh? Let me tell you that I'm not that easy to offend. I am just honest and will thus honestly voice my opinion. I don't care whether this 'sparks controversy' or not. If it does, it's usually what others turn it out to be. If a comment or a person's behaviour rubs me the wrong way, I will tell them so. I'm not going to hide in a corner or fake my opinion. Also, @Awong124's recent comment, which insists on how pleasurable it is to see Minsc 'explode' isn't really helping matters.
Minsc is one of the strongest characters in the game, if you know how to use him.
First of all, his class is *ranger*. So you should be using him as just that - a *ranger*.
He is very good with a composite bow at all stages of the game. He should not be a frontliner.
He is also very good with any two-handed weapon, using that superstrength. Once you have equipped him with the right equipment to have a decent AC, you give him a two-handed sword, and then place him *behind* two high-AC frontliners, like Jaheira, Khalid, Ajantis, Branwen, your PC, and lots of other possibilities. He will either be firing his composite bow from range, or he will be fighting with his greatsword from behind the two frontliners.
Later, if and only if you have equipped him properly to have a high AC of his own, he can be a devastating frontliner with his strength. But he is never going to be your best frontliner in BG1, unless you equip him in full plate, and the gauntlets of dexterity, plus give him priority for your rings of protection, and preferably a magic shield and a one-handed weapon to boot.
People who keep getting Minsc killed just don't know how to use him tactically.
@Quartz: How easy for you to judge me and generalise my behaviour on the whole scale of these forums, eh? Let me tell you that I'm not that easy to offend. I am just honest and will thus honestly voice my opinion. I don't care whether this 'sparks controversy' or not. If it does, it's usually what others turn it out to be. If a comment or a person's behaviour rubs me the wrong way, I will tell them so. I'm not going to hide in a corner or fake my opinion. Also, @Awong124's recent comment, which insists on how pleasurable it is to see Minsc 'explode' isn't really helping matters.
I couldn't care less whether you like my opinion or not. And I don't have any particular desire to "help matters". If the fact that I take pleasure in killing a fictional character in a game "rubs you the wrong way" enough that you feel the need to voice your displeasure, then you're the one with issues, not me.
To take a page from your book: "I'm not going to hide in a corner or fake my opinion" either.
@Kitteh_On_A_Cloud - I honestly voice my opinion too and you just took huge issue with it. Apparently I was "judging you" and "generalizing you" because I requested that you be a little nicer to people. I was just trying to ask you to tone it down a little, and if you don't want to that is, of course, totally up to you.
I just want you to be a little more calm and friendly, that's all.
Also @Awong124 I really liked your post, you had good points, except this part lol:
People who keep getting Minsc killed just don't know how to use him tactically.
I totally agree he is powerful if you know what you're doing. But the OP is a newbie so I'm not surprised Minsc died. You have to babysit him ... which is exactly what you're talking about doing.
And I don't have any particular desire to "help matters".
Seemed a little overly aggressive but, whatevs.
Well, Kitteh_On_A_Cloud saying that my post "isn't really helping matters" implies that I am for some reason expected to post something to appease him/her. I was just saying that I have no such inclination.
By all means I think one should take Minsc along for one, maybe two playthroughs. He's a classic character. Even so, I found he got repetitive. I mean... It's like the dumb character on a sitcom (ie. Joey from 'Friends'): They're amusing to a certain point, but after a while it's all the same stuff and they lack the intellectual or sustained entertainment of characters who can interact on a variety of levels. To summarise: Minsc is funny, but he's only one kind of funny. Eventually it gets old.
So I'm playing (yeah yeah wayy behind the times) BG for the first time .. gotten through the Nashkel mines and currently adventuring through the country side and managed to beat the Ogre Magi on the coast (sorry can't recall the name.. looked like a huge samurai to me ..) but not without Minsc taking critical hit and dead for good. Wanting as pure a first playthrough I rolled with it and managed to save everyone else (Imoen, Jahira, Dynaheir and Khalid) back in beregost. I realize it's way early in the game .. has onyone else experienced something similiar? and is Minsc even going to be missed? because honestly he died ALOT ...
Minsc met his end when I took to long to rescue Dynaheir i.e. he gets mad and attacks me. Strangely, he went down pretty much like that guy at the beginning of casino royale; he made me work for it. :P
Oh and the hamster totally let him do all the work. :P
IF I take him, Minsc is my parties pack mule and nothing more. But yes...that Ogre mage is a newbie trap...I generally prefer to soften them up with a backstab and/or a couple wand of fire charges just as my other mages blind goes off (add a doom prior for extra stickage)..webs are also nice, but you really need someone immune to web to kite him around till he's stuck...but after that...rape party.
Here is my sincere recommendation when you face an Ogre Mage in an ambush (before you are lvl 3-4+):
RUN!
I play only no-reload games. And I know that an Ogre Mage can be total party kill at low levels. Don't risk it.
Meanwhile, Minsc rocks!
I miss the dullard when I do a playthrough without him. And in my current one, he has over 50% of all kills, chunking foes into small foe shaped bits!
Though, if your not playing no reload, go for it. If you do manage to get it, they drop like 2000 gold worth of loot. Once I got one at like level 2 in an ambush, and it dropped a katana, an emerald, a diamond, and some magic scrolls! (Then I died and had to reload, but still. It was there)
(Oh, sorry, didn't even notice that I necromanced an old thread -- I was just looking up some nice Minsc related reading... Carry on. Minsc is awesome. Nothing new here...)
(Oh, sorry, didn't even notice that I necromanced an old thread -- I was just looking up some nice Minsc related reading... Carry on. Minsc is awesome. Nothing new here...)
Was just teasing you! Nothing wrong with talking about Minsc
So I'm playing (yeah yeah wayy behind the times) BG for the first time .. gotten through the Nashkel mines and currently adventuring through the country side and managed to beat the Ogre Magi on the coast (sorry can't recall the name.. looked like a huge samurai to me ..) but not without Minsc taking critical hit and dead for good. Wanting as pure a first playthrough I rolled with it and managed to save everyone else (Imoen, Jahira, Dynaheir and Khalid) back in beregost. I realize it's way early in the game .. has onyone else experienced something similiar? and is Minsc even going to be missed? because honestly he died ALOT ...
During my first (and so far, only) complete playthrough of BG:EE, Minsc was killed by single kobold arrow in the Nashkel mine, which I found to be rather ironic for such a supposedly "mighty" warrior as Minsc. I was so annoyed that I never bothered to resurrect him, replaced his dead body with Xan (even though I didn't even intend to keep him), and then went on to rescue Dynaheir without him.
As for whether or not you'll miss Minsc... well, I didn't much, if at all. Although he was a great damage dealer in melee, he lacked versatility, wasn't much of an archer, and as Quartz correctly pointed out, his dex/con weaknesses undermined his ability to be an effective melee fighter.
As Quartz suggested, once you get Kivan, you probably won't think twice about Minsc. Also, if you don't mind having an evil NPC in your party, Dorn is probably an even better damage dealer than Minsc, plus he has other very useful innate abilities, and is associated with an interesting sideplot.
Comments
First of all, his class is *ranger*. So you should be using him as just that - a *ranger*.
He is very good with a composite bow at all stages of the game. He should not be a frontliner.
He is also very good with any two-handed weapon, using that superstrength. Once you have equipped him with the right equipment to have a decent AC, you give him a two-handed sword, and then place him *behind* two high-AC frontliners, like Jaheira, Khalid, Ajantis, Branwen, your PC, and lots of other possibilities. He will either be firing his composite bow from range, or he will be fighting with his greatsword from behind the two frontliners.
Later, if and only if you have equipped him properly to have a high AC of his own, he can be a devastating frontliner with his strength. But he is never going to be your best frontliner in BG1, unless you equip him in full plate, and the gauntlets of dexterity, plus give him priority for your rings of protection, and preferably a magic shield and a one-handed weapon to boot.
People who keep getting Minsc killed just don't know how to use him tactically.
To take a page from your book: "I'm not going to hide in a corner or fake my opinion" either.
I just want you to be a little more calm and friendly, that's all.
Also @Awong124 I really liked your post, you had good points, except this part lol: Seemed a little overly aggressive but, whatevs. Ummm ... no. He gets a +0 range bonus with his 15 Dexterity. I totally agree he is powerful if you know what you're doing. But the OP is a newbie so I'm not surprised Minsc died. You have to babysit him ... which is exactly what you're talking about doing.
To summarise: Minsc is funny, but he's only one kind of funny. Eventually it gets old.
Oh and the hamster totally let him do all the work. :P
RUN!
I play only no-reload games. And I know that an Ogre Mage can be total party kill at low levels. Don't risk it.
Meanwhile, Minsc rocks!
I miss the dullard when I do a playthrough without him.
And in my current one, he has over 50% of all kills, chunking foes into small foe shaped bits!
As for whether or not you'll miss Minsc... well, I didn't much, if at all. Although he was a great damage dealer in melee, he lacked versatility, wasn't much of an archer, and as Quartz correctly pointed out, his dex/con weaknesses undermined his ability to be an effective melee fighter.
As Quartz suggested, once you get Kivan, you probably won't think twice about Minsc. Also, if you don't mind having an evil NPC in your party, Dorn is probably an even better damage dealer than Minsc, plus he has other very useful innate abilities, and is associated with an interesting sideplot.