BG1 or BG2 NPCs - which were cooler?

SharGuidesMyHand

Note that the poll only asks which you thought were cooler - NOT necessarily which were more efficient.

Atian

There were some great NPCs in the first BG but BG2 gets my vote because there was just so much more to see. The party banters and... stuff.

deltago

Just because there were more interactions between themselves and Charname in vanilla giving them more depth.

Kefka

BG2's NPCs are the best part of the game for me. There were too many in the first game and most of them have little to no personality.

ajwz

Ambiguous.
All the bg2 NPC's were much more fleshed out and could interact with you a lot more, and even had their own questlines.

The best (and most memorable) NPC's are mostly in BG1 however.

CaptRory

The BG1 NPCs, for what they were, were done very well. They were memorable. Perhaps moreso than the BG2 NPCs, and they conveyed a LOT in a small package.

ajwz

Admittedly, I only fell in love with my favourite NPC (Vikky) after BG2.

SharGuidesMyHand

I voted BG1 NPCs.

Although the BG2 NPCs were more well developed and had more dialogue, somehow I feel the BG2 NPCs generally weren't quite as likable or memorable. Seldom, if ever, when playing BG2 did I say, "Man, that guy's awesome!," or "That guys kicks ass!," the way I often said about Kivan and Coran. IMO, none of the BG2 NPCs were as menacing as Shar-Teel, as seductive as Safana, or as humorously emo as Xan. I do feel there were exceptions, of course - BG2 Viconia is creepier and more sadistic than the BG1 version, for example - but when playing BG2, I sometimes feel like there is a void left by NPCs like Coran, Shar-Teel, and Safana. Despite being effective fighters, NPCs like Valygar, Mazzy, and Keldorn just seem bland and fail to leave a lasting impression on me, at least in terms of personality.

Marric

Yeah the BG2 NPCs got more fleshed out, but they're not nearly as cool. Kivan is way more interesting then Valygar, Xan and his moonblade put Nalia to shame, and even if Jan's turnips make me smile, he's no where near as fun as Zxar and Tiax.

Dee

As great as the BG1 characters were, the BG2 NPCs were what laid the groundwork for most of what we see in western RPGs today. In fact, it's doubtful that you'd see any romances at all if they hadn't been a large part of BG2's experience.

recklessheart

I didn't dislike BG1 NPCs, but they certainly traded quantity for quality when it came to BG2. A lot of the BG1 NPCs fit stock personalities - and that isn't a bad thing! But at the end of the day, when the game proceeds to those stages of ultra-epic proportions and soul-stealing drama, seductresses like Safana or morons like Quayle just don't have their place.
Because BG1 was more about the adventure and discovery and the 'finding your way' aspects of D&D, the myriad of personalities you could consort with on your adventures had a very immersive quality.
We can even see that certain personalities were 'stepped up' to have a more fitting role in the grandiose latter of the BG saga: Nalia was born from the same rough concept as Skie; Valygar was born from the same concept as Kivan.

The_New_Romance

I like both. However, BG2's characters are indeed much "meatier".

Velkir

Thing i hate about BG1 is there was too many npc i wanted in my group...some of em were not that useful but ya know

etagloc

i think its hard/unfair to compare those, if you take vanilla version of both games. BG2 npc's had much more flavor.

Marric

Actually I think I'll run down all of the BG2 NPCs and compare them to their closest BG1 equivalent. This is subjective on a number of levels, but I think still enlightening.

Jan Jansen vs. Zxar/Tiax - Crazy/Comedic Mage or Thief guys - Zxar/Tiax by a mile, BG1

Anomen vs. Yeslick - Fighter/Cleric "good" guys - Yeslick, for being less annoying and a Dwarf, BG1

Haer'Dalis vs. Garrik/Eldoth - Resident Bards - Garrik's a classic spoony bard (but hey some people like that) Eldoth has that cool charismatic bad boy thing going for him, but I'd say Haer'Dalis the interdimensional "hawk" wins this one, BG2

Mazzy vs. Coran - Resident archer - both are good and entertaining in their own ways I'd say it probably comes down to personal taste, tie

Ajantis vs. Keldron - Resident Paladin - Keldorn wins on cool old guy cred (and I feel like Ajantis was pretty flat even compared to the other BG1 NPCs), BG2

Korgan vs. Kagain - Evil Dwarf mercenary, their names are almost the same - A more rollicking personality versus 20 constitution, I'd call it a tie, heck they're so similar I often wonder why they didn't just import Kagain.

Nalia vs. Xan - Mage's with Magic Items (that aren't Edwin) - I don't think anyone will disagree that Xan and his moonblade are almost infinitely cooler. As an inexperienced kid the first time around, I always wanted to use Xan, but could never do it effectively. It will be interesting to see if a bit more experience make a difference, BG1

Valygar vs. Kivan - Rangers out for Revenge - oddly enough Valygar might actually be my favorite BG2 NPC (at least gameplay wise), yet I can't deny that Kivan's grudge against Tazok is a way better story, BG1

Yoshimo vs. Safana - the Thief who isn't Imoen - Yoshimo's got a nice story tie-in, but femme fatal Safana is certainly the cooler character, BG1

Aerie vs. Branwen - I find Aerie's weird combination of naivety and traumatized (loss of wings bit) off-putting, Where as Branwen is a bit of a faux action girl what with getting turned to stone and all, still she got turned to stone which is way better than meeting someone at a circus plus a neat spiritual Hammer ability, so I'll give it to Branwen, BG1

Cernd vs. Faldorn - Resident Druids - Cern is the weakest of the BG2 NPCs and Faldorn's a crazy awesome shadow druid type so that's pretty clear cut (I just wish druids didn't have such a completely inferior spell selection to clerics), BG1

Sarevok vs. Shar-Teel - Badass fighters - Sarvok is my all time favorite Bad Guy, but he lose a lot as a party member, and Shar-Teel has the who crazy chick with a sword thing going for her, I'll call this a tie.

Final Tally: 2 for BG2, 3 ties, and 7 for BG1.

IchigoRXC

Thes question was not what characters were more fleshed out, or talked more. It was cool.

Coolness factor instantly goes to BG1, easy. The variation in fantastic and different characters meant there was something for everyone.

Shar-teel the man hating sword master (and sometimes archer). Kivan the broody avenging elf.
Xan the pessimistic but hilarious Elf, whipping around his amazing moonblade.
Monty and Xzar, the Zhentarim agents who probably hate you, as well as eachother.
Khalid the whipping boy.
Eldoth, well... some people liked him.
Kagain, changed the dictionary definition of meat shield when he rolled around.
Adjantis, showing us how a little charisma can go a long way.
Alora, she is just so chirpy, everyone should be this happy. (not really)
Tiax, what can I say, He rules all!


Ok BG2 NPCs only

Valygar, meh.
Jan, funny once maybe twice through. Not after that.
Cern'd, no.
Yoshimo, poor fucker, but still I didn't care.
Korgan, the Kagain clone.
Mazzy, she was made brilliant by pairing her with Korgan.
Anomen, possibly the bane of any self respecting female player who wanted a romance, scrap that, any self respecting human being who played a female character.
Keldorn, old paladin, not cool.
Aerie, oh my god please shut up about your wings. Seriously, use greater restoration already.



Ok I have intentionally missed out some, those people just did not have any real effect on me. Ones within both games are not included.

Obviously Viccy and Edwin are the coolest that are within both

allhailsteve

I think I prefer the BG1 NPCs overall. They had fewer interactions but were more well-rounded and fleshed out characters.

DJKajuru

Bg2 NPC's were a bit darker than BG1 one's.

SharGuidesMyHand

IchigoRXC said:

Thes question was not what characters were more fleshed out, or talked more. It was cool.

Exactly - thanks for clarifying that.

IntoTheDarkness

BG1 NPC are quite... quiet.

LordsDarkKnight185

The Mighty Minsc and Boo were in both.

DeathMachineMiyagi

Not really a fair competition, at least in unmodded gameplay. BG1 NPCs don't have party banter. They extremely rarely react to events during the game. Their presence is just as rarely noted by anyone. They are about one step above the characters you might make to accompany charname in multiplayer.

In regards to actual content, BG2 wins by default.

LadyEibhilinRhett

The BG2 NPC's certainly get more characterization and have deeper, more interesting stories, but I've always prefered the BG1 NPC's. That's what the BG1 NPC project is for. Fleshes em out real good. And no, this isn't a "getting attached to the ones you meet first" thing. I actually played BG2 BEFORE playing BG1.

DeathMachineMiyagi

IchigoRXC said:

Thes question was not what characters were more fleshed out, or talked more. It was cool.

Yeah, but being fleshed out and talking more makes you cooler. A BG2 NPC gets repeated chances to show their personality and react in cool ways to events; a BG1 NPC is a soundset and a set of statistics, for the most part.

Quartz

I vote BG1 because they have way, way more variation. BG1's weakpoint was lack of fleshing out the characters though. Skie, for instance, has a very interesting setup and could have a fascinating story, but nothing ever ends up really happening. BG1 NPC project fixes a lot of the "lack of fleshing out." Hopefully that mod gets done for BG:EE right quick.

I like BGII's character development though, it's relatively good as far as RPGs go. I can't give it my vote though because they directly replaced Kagain with someone not even half as entertaining (Korgan), killed off my #1 favorite NPC (Xzar), taunted you with mere cameos of BG1 NPCs, killing off many of them, most of which I loved (Safana, Montaron, potentially Coran, Ajantis, there's probably a whole lot more that I'm not remembering), killed the only entertaining thief (Yoshi), made Imoen into a plot device rather than fun, the list goes on ... there's just a whole lot of dissatisfaction.
That said, Viconia, Edwin, Sarevok, and Jaheira became so much better in BGII, which was just awesome. I downright hated Jaheira in BG1 because she was annoying and had a disturbing accent, but in BGII she became much more likable. With Viconia we could finally have the dirty sex we all dreamt of (but seriously, her romance is actually excellent), Edwin was far more rounded, and Sarevok ... I mean you can redeem him if you like. How awesome is that?
Also, Minsc is far less annoying. He's still annoying, but not even half as annoying as he was in BG1. In BG1, he seemed Chaotic Neutral, truly. In BGII he actually feels like your comrade, your knight in shining armor, even if he is stupid. That was a very welcome change.
Again, they killed Imoen for me. She was your fun little sister in BG1, and in BGII she's just a whiner and a plot device.

So yup. There's my two cents.

Heinrich

If BG1 had banters and interjections like they did in BG2 then the choice would be difficult.

The BG1NPC Project mod did an excellent job at giving NPC's personality but since it's not canon, my final answer would have to be BG2.

Mungri

Tiax rules all, but Jan Jansen has flasher bruiser turnips, and chats with even more insane wall of texts about his grand pappy and more turnips!

I could listen to him blabber about turnips all day, his voice is like ambrosia.

SharGuidesMyHand

DeathMachineMiyagi said:

Yeah, but being fleshed out and talking more makes you cooler.

I have to respectfully disagree there. What makes someone "cool" is their fundamental nature - simply talking more won't change a char's nature.

For example, I think Anomen is an annoying chauvinist jerk, and Keldorn is bland and forgettable (ONLY in terms of personality, mind you). No many how many extra lines or subplots you give either one, Anomen will remain a chauvinist jerk (in fact, he looks like even more of a jerk the more he opens his mouth, LOL), and Keldorn will still be boring in my eyes.

By contrast, Xan, with no subplots and only his occasional monotone pipes of "We're all doomed," is cooler and more likable than either of those NPCs. Same goes for Shar-Teel and her imposing Amazonian persona.

For the record, I do agree that the BG1 NPCs could've used a lot more fleshing out.

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Alsaroth

With cooler I mean they had more depth in BG2. However, they were somehow more colourful in BG1;like Xzar and Montaron, Tiax and Kagain. Hmm... Onlt evil examples. Could that be because one could not have a full party made up entirely of evil characters in BG2? Could be, could be...

Schneidend

BG1 had more variety.
BG2 had quality over quantity.

Chose BG2 because it was my first game with romances and where my PC got to chat up his underlings a lot. I had no idea romances were even a thing until Viconia started hitting on me.