Who's Your Favorite NPC?
Quartz
Member Posts: 3,853
Simply what the title says. Which is your favorite Baldur's Gate NPC and why, whether it be for stats and/or personality traits?
This includes BG1 and BG2. Some of us might have a favorite in BG1 and a different favorite in BG2, and if that is the case feel free to share both.
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I'll start off.
In BG1 -
Kivan is my favorite because of many things. For one, he is a badass but he doesn't seem like a forced badass. I've seen too many franchises that had a character who was supposedly a "badass" but it seemed completely forced so it didn't work. (e.g. Shadow from Sonic the Hedgehog)
His badass isn't forced because he is a very capable character, and he isn't overly rude (except to Viconia!). He seems like the "strong silent type" but without being unbelievable. I mean, his wife got killed, and he's a vengeance-monger. Of course he's gonna be a little quiet.
It's also funny that, despite his Charisma of 8, nearly everyone seems to be impressed with his capability. Even Xan. Oh, and Safana hits on him, which is good fun.
I like how versatile his stats are. With his strength being the third-best in the game, he is obviously far from weak. Slap a Strength tome on him and he is a legendary killing machine. His Dexterity is 17, which means he gets a good bonus, though not perfect. Hand that bro a Dexterity tome and you can rest easy knowing he has the full bonus. His Constitution seems frustrating as he is 1 point short of a hit point bonus, but thankfully, with that 14 Con you can either give him a tomb and he gets a HP bonus, or you can slip on the Claw of Kazgaroth without having to worry about any penalties.
In BG2 -
Viconia! With a Wisdom of 18 she is a fantastic cleric, and that 19 Dexterity is always appreciated.
Past statistics, her personality really shines in this game. BG2 had a good habit of doing that. For me, romancing her was a blast. She is such a babe, but also makes you feel kind of threatened whilst seducing her ... or is she seducing you? Hmm. Things to ponder.
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This includes BG1 and BG2. Some of us might have a favorite in BG1 and a different favorite in BG2, and if that is the case feel free to share both.
--------------------------
I'll start off.
In BG1 -
Kivan is my favorite because of many things. For one, he is a badass but he doesn't seem like a forced badass. I've seen too many franchises that had a character who was supposedly a "badass" but it seemed completely forced so it didn't work. (e.g. Shadow from Sonic the Hedgehog)
His badass isn't forced because he is a very capable character, and he isn't overly rude (except to Viconia!). He seems like the "strong silent type" but without being unbelievable. I mean, his wife got killed, and he's a vengeance-monger. Of course he's gonna be a little quiet.
It's also funny that, despite his Charisma of 8, nearly everyone seems to be impressed with his capability. Even Xan. Oh, and Safana hits on him, which is good fun.
I like how versatile his stats are. With his strength being the third-best in the game, he is obviously far from weak. Slap a Strength tome on him and he is a legendary killing machine. His Dexterity is 17, which means he gets a good bonus, though not perfect. Hand that bro a Dexterity tome and you can rest easy knowing he has the full bonus. His Constitution seems frustrating as he is 1 point short of a hit point bonus, but thankfully, with that 14 Con you can either give him a tomb and he gets a HP bonus, or you can slip on the Claw of Kazgaroth without having to worry about any penalties.
In BG2 -
Viconia! With a Wisdom of 18 she is a fantastic cleric, and that 19 Dexterity is always appreciated.
Past statistics, her personality really shines in this game. BG2 had a good habit of doing that. For me, romancing her was a blast. She is such a babe, but also makes you feel kind of threatened whilst seducing her ... or is she seducing you? Hmm. Things to ponder.
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Comments
Jan in BG2 for funny lines and useful special abilities/thieving skills and some spells.
BG2 - Viconia, I was fascinated by her tales of the underdark (the first I'd heard of it).
I never much cared for her personality in BG2, though. How about you?
Bg2 - mazzy
Yes I agree. She's great in BG1 but I really didn't like what they did to her in BG2. I like her so much I find it quite hard seeing her miserable and actually try to get out of Irenicus's dungeon without resting so she doesn't get more freaked out.
I think the reason I will never love SoA the way I did Baldur's Gate is because first they changed Imoen's personality and then they took her away from me. And made it so it was impossible to get her back without doing a whole load of sidequests. You seem to spend half the game without her. And it irritates me that having taken her away they feel the need to provide you with Nalia, who is essentially a cut price copy of Imoen, to tide you over until you get her back.
Funnily enough, I'm really not keen on either of the official Imoen portraits. In BG1 she looks far too grown up and sophisticated and in BG2 she just looks so sad. I usually replace her with an IWD portrait (which isn't ideal because she's got the wrong colour clothes and hair).
I think it is fair to say that I am a little bit obsessed about Imoen.
Minsc - He is always positive, strong and above all good. He is true friend, and Boo... Boo is the bravest hamster I know.
Valygar - He is such a trustworthy companion and friend. I like his loyalthy and moral.
Imoen - Well, she is my(protagonist) sister so she is dear to my(protagonist) heart.
Aerie - She is very versatile with both mage and cleric spells and that combined with her charm makes her lovely.
Jaheira - Old friends are always the dearest ones...
Cernd - There is something tragic about this character. He is the strong and silent type in my opinion. His ending cinematic is somehow tragically beautiful to me.
Keldorn - Who doesn't love Keldorn, with his iron will and devotion.
There are other charecters that are awesome, too. I'll leave to you to mention them.
As for what you say on Cernd; I really need to pick that guy up and experiment with him more. I wish his rolls weren't so awful, which discourages me using him, but... Yeah. I should do it.
BG2 - Viconia 10/10, but edwin, korgan, sarevok, imoen are 9/10
BG2 - Keldorn, love how he struggles to be "good and rightius"
Overall, very hard to decide, they are all rather nice.. But I dislike Cernd, Mazzy and Imoen. A shame so many of the NPC's in BG1 come so late in the game..
BG2 - Minsc, Jan Jansen, Viconia, Jaheira (she is better without Khalid)
BG2 - Viconia is very well done, especially the romance. Keldorn is an awesome paladin, upholding his virtue while not rubbing it in your face. 'Lead by example'. Plus, very few games feature an elderly chap as an NPC.
Honourable Mention: Jaheira. I almost always have her in the group, I feel so bad sending her away, it's like I'd send away an intregal game part.
Imoen was chipper and awesome in BG1, despite having no dialogues. A shame BG2 mistreated her so, it could've done with a little less grim doooom.
My top3 would be
BG1: Dynaheir the mythical power, Minsc the wild barbarian, Yeslick the cool guy
BG2: Viconia the awesome
I shall drink ten pints of ale in repentance!
...
Fifteen pints of ale maybe, I have erred most horribly.
Baldur's Gate II: Lord Jierdan Firkraag
I admit that I knew something was amiss when he offered me 10,000 gold pieces for what seemed like fairly mundane work. I completed my task, got into some serious short-term trouble with the Order of the Radiant Heart, and then "stumbled" upon his manor.
Fighting my way through, I knew that he was far beyond some simple Lord. Once I got past the terror of opening a door and seeing multiple metal golems standing in a row, I thought that Jierdan was a very powerful Wizard...and then I come upon the final chamber.
The final chamber that opened up into a huge cavern with very tall ceilings. I've been gaming long enough to know what this meant. A dragon.
Lo and behold, Firkraag initiates conversation with me before I even see him. Unfortunately for him I had some equipment to deal with dragons, but the fight was not easy.
In my head, these two are now unfortunate lovers, kept apart by a political marriage with Khalid. Alas, poor Yeslick heard of his passing too late to seize his chance.
As for BG2, its got to be Korgan- even if I'm playing as a good party- he's just awesome
BG2 - Mazzy's story was so sad, and her voice was lovely. And I know that I'm going to come in for abuse over this, but I actually crushed quite hard on Anomen.
For general NPC's I'm going to say Elminster. Mostly because when I first played the game I never knew of his power.
Now if we're talking party members,
Haer'Dalis
Xan
Keldorn
Minsc
Imoen
Jaheria
Jan Jansen
Mazzy
Khalid
Huh... that's weird... I would have expected there to be more females on this list for some reason. o_O
I love Kagain as well, although on a related note I despise Korgan. He feels like a try-hard.
And for all you mentioning Yeslick, yesss, Yeslick is awesome! Love that guy.
BG2: Viccy and Edwin. (Bring back Xan for BG2, we need some serious pessimism surrounding the Bhaalspawn)
A mod for you then!
Though really, throw out the new soundset and use the BG1 version. The new one does NOT do him justice.