Thoughts on the Yasraena mod?

SharGuidesMyHand

Back in the early days of BG1, I was too intimidated by/computer illiterate to actually give any mods a try, but there was always one mod that piqued my interest: Yasraena (mainly because I really liked the portrait).

Since the release of the EEs, I've been experimenting with mods, and I finally got around to giving Yasraena a long-awaited try. I've seen a few very conflicting opinions on her in other forums, so I'm curious what posters on here think of her. So far, I like her as a very efficient NPC (though I wouldn't necessarily argue with someone who thought she was OP), with some really nice weaponry. I know some people have complained about her seemingly bland and aloof personality, but I think that it suits her as a non-evil drow (who are typically cold and emotionally indifferent) who is exploring a giant new world for the first time. I haven't played with her nearly enough to know how her quests turn out, though, so I don't know if there's any sort of let-down or any other issues that crop up along the way.

Thanks for any comments, though please be conscious of spoilers in your responses.

Masterteo

I have almost always used her, both now in BG2EE and years ago in old BG2.

I greatly enjoy her, but mostly because i play for fun. I don't care that much about stats and such.

But i bet that the opinion given by lots of users would be : overpowered

Yes, she is overpowered. But she is also interesting, enjoyable and it's entertaining having a full voice-acted drow tank from the very beginning of the game.


The only problem is that not only she is not romanceable, but if i get it right she was made purposely not romanceable. To show players that a baalspawn can't always have all the women falling for him or something similar.

Mah. I don't complain, my baalspawn already has Tashia or Amber. But this choice of making Yasraena not romanceable in my humble opinion makes not a lot of sense.

Anyway, as a companion she is great. ( Maybe in ToB there is a certain fight that is a bit too much unbalanced...)

ThacoBell

She was okay. I liked that she had proficinecy in a weapon type not commonly used. Her writing was pretty good and her acting was not as bad as some other fan works. I have no real complaints, I was just never gripped by her.

Short version: She is worth trying out.

TheArtisan

Yasraena is a pretty bland character that could have maybe been salvageable if her creators' writing style wasn't so notoriously poor - as in, incapable of portraying emotion through subtext level of bad. Every bit of emotion is essentially given through third-party parentheticals, it's awful. And yet despite this I still can't tell you what her personality's supposed to be. I can at least make a rough summary of the characterization of most mod characters I've experienced but I can't do it with Yasraena beyond her pining for her beloved. It's also worth noted that the player responses are really bad at giving agency and you can accidently railroad yourself into becoming lovestruck with her just so she gets a chance to turn you down.

Overall, I have very little to say about her that's good, but I personally will never try and tell someone to not use a mod regardless of how bad I think it is. I'd still go for the full experience so you can make up your own mind. This is just a warning.

megamike15

while not as bad as the other two mods made by the same author [ Saerileth and Tsujatha] she is still just the lesser of 3 evils. she kinda just exists and her spawn point is bad. i mean i know adiran also spawns inside the starting dungeon but he is in a spot that makes sense while our drow friend is at the very exit and just seems she is there for no real reason.

I only really know about her because she was in an lp i watched and she is nothing special.

if you want a fighter your better off with other offerings like auren or isra.

StefanO

I like Yasraena and Isra and include one of them in a party once in a while when a fighter is missing.

Auren is pretty boring if Nalia isn't in the party too.

AWizardDidIt

Once I played the game with almost every mod npc I could find added just to get a taste of each one. I installed Yas and Tsujatha without knowing they were done by the same person as Sarelith and only knew Sarelith by reputation but I almost immediately picked them out as all having the same mod author... and not in a good way. Their writing style is just really overwrought to me.

Yas is probably the least offensive of the three but I also found her pretty bland. Like Artemius_I said, even after playing with her a bit, I couldn't actually tell you what her personality was. Say what you will about Tsujatha and Sarelith, at least they were pretty well defined. Even cold or aloof characters should leave some kind of impression on you.

But also if you're enjoying her as a part of your party then don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. Maybe you found something I didn't in my (admittedly short) time with her.

Masterteo

Anyway, i enjoy Yasraena but i would change her anytime with Tashia, if i was forced to choose only one of the two.
At least Tashia as a character is entertaining, even if i'm not a fan of sorcerers.

RVNS

I am not overly fond of the character but I am very picky about my npc mods. No two people will enjoy the same npc mods however. Best thing to do is find a personality or writing type that works for you.

Quickblade

I had her installed once, fortunately that run was stalled by a computer crash.

I found her slightly appealing in theory, and utterly annoying in practice.

She commented on damn near everyone and everything, with full voiced dialogue. Until Yas, I'd not thought there could be TOO MUCH voice-acting for an NPC, but Yasraen proved it.