Over/Under-rated NPCs
MilesBeyond
Member Posts: 324
Over the near-15 years since it's release, the BG community has formed a pretty solid set of opinions with regards to which NPCs are good, which are mediocre, and which are pretty terrible.
But I'm sure most of you disagree with at least one of those assessments. There's always someone out there who thinks Tiax has actually got the potential to rule all, or who hates taking the canon party because they find Minsc useless.
So what is it? Which commonly-exalted NPCs are, in your opinion, mediocre at best, and which "crappy" NPCs have actually got a lot to offer, in your books?
But I'm sure most of you disagree with at least one of those assessments. There's always someone out there who thinks Tiax has actually got the potential to rule all, or who hates taking the canon party because they find Minsc useless.
So what is it? Which commonly-exalted NPCs are, in your opinion, mediocre at best, and which "crappy" NPCs have actually got a lot to offer, in your books?
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Comments
That being said I always liked Alora. I found her oddly adorable, and since I always have Imoen I have lockpicking and traps down but rarely do I have any pickpocketing. Stat wise shes still nothing impressive but I found her oddly likable company. The only real trouble is she comes in very late in the game. By then I usually have a full party. I rarely got Quayle or Tiax for the same reason.
(You're probably wondering how I could have Vicky with a good party rp wise? Well after my Undead Hunter goes through all that torture he's not really big on the whole slaying evil right away. He believes he can redeem evil because himself being have evil god is pretty good.)
I kind of don't like Minsc, I really don't have a reason for it. However, for some reason, when I play an evil Charname, and find a way to kill him, I enjoy it immensely.
in BG2 i like Mazzy, like alora she seems to get missed alot also
I also really like Eldoth. He (and Garrick) have a tough time as vanilla bards, but his stats are fine except for the no brainer combo Long Bow prof, 12 dex. However, with dex gloves and his poison arrows, Eldoth is excellent. He's also versatile - 16 int gives him a decent spell selection (and you can feed him the INT tome to scribe more if neccessary anyway); 15 con is already not bad and sometimes I save the tome for him, and he'll make a fine frontliner with scimitar and elven chain. Why he needs the spear proficiency is beyond me though; it's annoying to switch if he also has Dead Shot. Eldoth has also one of the best voicesets in the game for me.
Then, there's people claiming Xzar is an inferior caster and not worth bothering because there's Edwin and now Baeloth. From his mage side alone, yeah, everyone is inferior to them. But Xzar has very decent stats for a mage - 14 strength, 16 dex, 16 wis. This makes him the most versatile NPC - you can either dual him to thief or to cleric, he'll do good in ranged and can be quite decent in melee as cleric, too. In other words, he and Monty can cover all bases - fighter, thief, mage, cleric. Again, excellent voiceset and very entertaining.
hmm...I had Quayle on a playthrough that I had finished with an archer (he was my main cleric) and i thought he was pretty awesome gameplay-wise (not so much RP-wise) except for his low constitution.
I have not tried Tiax or Eldoth, but I will soon.
Although it's cool to dual Shar-Teel and all, I never thought much of her personality.
EDIT: Oh yeah, in BG2 I liked Valygar a lot
Also, I do like Korgan. I think many find him effective, but I also find him entertaining.
Druids in general can tend to be underrated. Especially druids not named Jaheira.
The issue with most of the late game NPC's is that almost all of them kick butt, but the party you have by then is already better than they are and, more importantly, more customized to your tastes.
I kind of hate Aerie merely because she is so darned annoying as a person. She might be extremely powerful. I still don't like her.
I used to hate Yoshimo, but his particular play through I decided to actually USE him and find him very useful indeed. Though I still think that Jan is an overall better choice for thief in the party.
- I like Kagain and his thirst for ale. also - a good tank
- I like Kivan as a venegance-ridden loner - perfect archer
- I disliked Shar-teel, Safana, Skie and Jaheira
- actually liked to play with Eldoth and Quayle (and put them to good use)
BG II -
- I like to play with Yoshimo and Valygar
- dislike Aerie and Anomen
- Mazzy was quite funny and a good NPC. Especially with Valygar in too.
- Cernd can be a bit boring, but a good druid and liked him much better than Jaheira. I've actually used him on all my non-Viconia runs.
Minsc - He's a cliché who stops being funny, fast. But people think he's hilarious.
BG1 Viconia - She actually kinda sucks in BG1 but people act like she's godly. Dunno where people get this idea.
Imoen - For being a last minute shoe-in thus upsetting the balance of the Thief NPCs, for making BGII's plot revolve around her (fun fact she was originally supposed to die in Spellhold) and people still like her even though she has been responsible for mucking up the game constantly ... probably just because she has good stats and the game says she's your sister.
Korgan - He's an annoying asshole. You have to kiss his ass for him to stay in your party, but any worthwhile Evil character isn't going to kiss his ass. So he doesn't belong in many parties. People love him for some reason idk I don't get it he's annoying and honestly BioWare insults the players' intelligence with how blatantly evil he is. "HEY PLAYER. KORGAN'S EVIL DO YOU GET IT YET? WHAT ABOUT NOW? WHAT ABOUT NOW?"
Underrated:
Alora - She's fun and enjoyable and in BG:EE she is godly amounts of powerful thanks to the Lucky Rabbit Foot, easily the best single-class Thief.
Quayle - He's funny as hell, and powerful in the right hands.
Skie - She would be held up as extremely powerful were it not for Imoen being added at the last minute. Essentially Nalia's Beta, BioWare could've really expanded upon her character, too... So unfortunate.
Garrick - Yeah his stats aren't great but at least there are no penalties and he can use essentially any equipment due to having a respectable strength. I find him an enjoyable fun personality.
Khalid - He's actually a respectable fighter, and I don't know how anyone would find him annoying personally.
Anomen - How dare he be a realistic, ROUNDED character and have flaws! GRR!! Really people?
Yoshimo - Holy crap I love this guy. He's amazing. Still mad at BioWare for not bothering to bring him back. What a bunch of shit.
Garrick, although oft maligned, when put to full use is actually a valuable character if only you use him well.
Don't use him as a meleer. Forget about his stats. They don't really matter. Use him in ways that he can actually contribute:
Throughout the game you come across a ton of wands. (You're also soon swimming in cash, so you can buy some for him too, if need be.) The wands are powerful. Have him use them!
You also acquire a lot of spell scrolls, far more than you will ever need to scribe. Maybe not all of them are useful--but a lot of them are. Have Garrick cast them from a quickslot. This of course in addition to his memorized spells.
Give him the Light Crossbow of Accuracy, and he gets two attacks per round with it. When Hasted or with Oil of Speed he's spraying bolts with it like a machine gun. Bolts of biting are especially powerful weapons.
Very soon Garrick identifies virtually every item. This alleviates a lot of hassle and saves gold.
You can use Garrick's pickpocketing ability to pinch Drizzt's swords (although I realize that's a controversial subject), Algernon's cloak, and whatever else. Have him actually use Alergnon's Cloak once daily. The Charm spell is one of the most powerful in the game.
And finally, Garrick can use Gregan's Harp, an extremely powerful magical item.
Mind you, all this would be true of any bard. But still.
Overrated
Minsc, although undeniably a great character, has a worse-than-worthless special ability. Personally, over the years I also find that his personality can wear a little thin... but he's still one of the best RPG characters ever written. I can't really knock him beyond this, though. (Boo taking up a quickslot is no big deal, so I can't complain about that either.)
Edwin or Dynahir, or Xzar are all better wand users than Garrick. And although they can't use the Xbow of speed, they have other ways of contributing to combat. I'd much rather have a fireball or skulltrap at the ready than the Xbow of speed. Or give that Xbow to kagain?
And with the plethora of thieves in the game, why need another character who can fill that function? Imoen is great as a thief. As is Montaron. And they have better stats and can provide varyingly better degrees of combat efficiency without needing something special like the xbow of speed.
Oh, and I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have paid to identify something. If the Lore isn't high enough, memorize the 1st level spell while the clerics are healing up the rest of the party.
Just saying that 'For me', not enough gain for what you have to sacrifice. But then that is simply my opinion.
I much prefer Eldoth because I usually want the Crossbow of Speed for charname or Shar-Teel as thief, but Garrick is certainly not useless.
Underrated? That is easier. I like using Xan, up close and personal with his sword. Just seems appropriate to use a weapon that cool as it was meant to be used. With the right protective spells, it can be effective, too. How about Quayle? Not many speak about him but he's been very useful to me.
Also, considering how HLAs make Bounty Hunters the most worthless kit ever, his death might even work out in his favour LOL
(I've always had an issue with that. Them and Skalds. Take a kit's speciality and add an HLA that does it even better and is available to all kits. Thanks, Bioware. Thank goodness for Rogue Rebalancing)
@Paladin, Xan's sword is best used on incapacitated opponents...I think that's quite consensus; he'll never be worth buffing to fight with his sword. That said, I love Xan. I've used Quayle and I've found him very good (minus his constitution), but his personality is terrible...I wish he had the same personality as BG2.
If not Garrick, Alora in BG:EE is a rather amazing character, and she is typically overlooked because people have usually formed their parties by chapter 5.
Similarly, Faldorn is actually a strong character. She is probably almost never used, though. Usually the player settles on another healer before chapter 4.