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Who's your favorite character? (Survey #1)

DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447

Who is your favorite character, and tell us a story about why.

We all have our favorite characters. This week, we’d like to know who yours are, and what are the moments that made you fall in love with them. It could be an NPC from the original saga, one of our “Enhanced” NPCs, or even one of your own creation. If you have a story you want to tell, this is the place to tell it.

Warning to unwary readers: spoilers may appear in full force in this thread. Consider yourself duly notified.

Why are we asking this question?

Throughout the month of December we’ll be asking a lot of questions about your experience with these games. We’ll post a new thread when there’s a new question to answer, and we’ll be reading (though not necessarily commenting on) your responses and discussion.

We're looking for things about Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition that grabbed you, that made you sit up on the edge of your seat, that made you think "Yes, this, give me more of this!"

Me personally, I’m hoping it will make for some interesting holiday reading. But you also never know who might be reading along, looking for ideas…
JuliusBorisovStarflower2525FlashburnCahirLeoNegusBaldursCatAldericCrevsDaakBelgarathMTHSCARY_WIZARDMarkyDiscoCat
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Comments

  • forktheworldforktheworld Member Posts: 88
    As a person who has played through these games several times, both enhanced and original, I know the character's combat abilities pretty well and plan my parties before I even begin a run most of the time. For this reason, I don't consider a character's combat abilities when it comes down to whether or not I "like" them because each of the NPC's has their own niche (even though some niches are more broad than others). I think the most fun I have had with the games have been the first times I picked up Jan and Neera. Jan's stories and Neera's small "aside" comments literally made me laugh out loud and I now play with those two whenever possible. The writing and voice-acting for those two characters probably made them the most enjoyable for me.

    However, the overall awesomeness of Hexxat's quest made me like her as a character too, because it was something different for the series.
    JuliusBorisovFredjo
  • scorpiovascorpiova Member Posts: 87
    edited December 2013
    Imoen: I am always a fan of well developed characters, NPC's with a thought out storyline. Imoen's plot line from BG through BG2 shows change and transformation. I always make a place for her in my party. Her connection with the PC really connects her to him/her and to the central storyline.

    When the player finds out her bloodline connection, it really became a "that's so cool" moment, that when I first played the game as a youth, I had no idea that plot twist would come in BG2. I was hooked on the idea of saving her when she was imprisoned, and when she was finally rescued I was gleeful that she was once again a part of my team.

    Ultimately, she has a fun personality with great lines. Her character development is superb.
    booinyoureyesnanoBelgarathMTHcory5694
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    Wilson:

    This guy is a complete boss, I love this npc, out of all the new content I have seen for this game, this is my number one favourite, I love his portrait, and I always imagine this guy is the sort of bear, who just likes to chill, sit back, sniff things, and so on, he actually kind of reminds me of my cat Socks, and the fact that you can have a bear on your team is just wicked awesome, although I don't understand why his race can't be shown on the character sheet screen, Hexxat's can, but not Wilson's? must be an engine problem I assume, plus getting him is kind of a pain in the ass, although he is more of a goof/ easter egg type npc, he is still great, I love his sound sets, especially his ineffective one, he just seems so confused and I find it humorous, and too bad he doesn't have his own gear that only he could wear, because being naked through the whole series kind of weakens him a bit, even if he only had gear that gave him a +1 AC bonus, +1 to all saves, some elemental resistance to something, make his regeneration a bit faster, etc.. but all in all, but npc I have ever played in any game, and who ever came up with the idea of Wilson and what Wilson is about is my hero, :)
    JuliusBorisovbooinyoureyesCrevsDaakAndrewFoley
  • elementelement Member Posts: 833
    edited December 2013
    yeh im gunna cheat

    Bg1: Alora shes fun has enjoyable lines and quotes Ren and Stimpy. I always liked halflings in this setting and Alora is kind of everything I would want from one. she also benefits visually from being a female Halfling thief which I think has one of the coolest character models in the game.

    BG2: This is tough because it constantly changes I think overall Id say its pretty close between Viconia and Mazzy but mostly because Viconia has more dialogue and a romance. Viconia has a great personal story and great character development that can even include an alignment change, also she has one of my all time favourite voice actors so that certainly helps. I think though Mazzy just shades it. Mazzy is great simply because shes in many ways the best of all the characters, constantly striving for an ideal she may never reach, yet never questions her worth. Shes serious but friendly and still has a nice light side to her. Oh yeh and shes a little pint sized wrecking ball.

    id also give Neera an honourable mention I haven't played with her enough(comparatively) to put her top but from the run I did make with her I enjoyed her a lot. Like Alora shes just a lot of fun to have around and has a great personal arc and a romance line which I felt culminated extremely well in TOB. I could not decide if she's up there with Mazzy but in time she could be. It also helps shes my favourite arcane caster class
    Post edited by element on
    Quartz
  • shawneshawne Member Posts: 3,239
    edited December 2013
    Hmm. Well, I'm sure I'll revise my answers once I actually play BG2:EE ("ceci n'est pas une Ascension", as they say) but for the moment I'd say my top three are (in no particular order):

    1. Edwin: The thing I remember most about Edwin in BG2 was how I wasn't expecting him to be the comic relief in an Evil party. There was Korgan, sure, but Korgan's humor is very crass and highly dependent on who you take with you (with Aerie and Mazzy bringing out the "best" in him). And then you had Edwin, a Red Wizard of Thay, accidentally genderbending himself and striking out with Viconia and getting hit on by Salvanas. It made him so much more enjoyable than he was in the first game.

    2. Dorn: I knew from the moment Dorn was announced that he'd be a mainstay in my party throughout both EE games. Setting aside the fact that Gord Marriott's voice acting is flawless, this is a character who, like Hexxat, the game absolutely needed to have: Evil PCs finally had a champion, a counterpart to Ajantis and Keldorn. That he turned out to be bisexual was a bonus for the sheer novelty of the concept.

    3. Cespenar: Because he always, always makes me laugh.

    Honorary Mention goes to Baeloth, because hearing Mark Meer channeling Mark Hamill's Joker made me take back everything I ever said about his voice acting (even though Jennifer Hale remains the Superior Shepard), and to Sarevok, because I love the Defeat Means Playable trope.
    CrevsDaakbooinyoureyes
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    Well, the question in the OP is so HUGE in terms of how it's hard to point only one character - all of them are great and I consider all of them, Cernd and Faldorn included, to be legends of RPG NPCs.

    One can always say "They are all heroes; Minsk and Boo and even Xan".

    But I'll try to answer.

    3rd place - Yoshimo. I like his personality, his accent, his picture. "HIIIII-YA! *chuckles* The tourists love that stuff!" is simply amazing. And I will never forget my feelings when I discovered the end of his story the fist time I went through it.

    2nd place - Jaheira. Nearly every other female character is a damsel in distress when you meet her (and it happens so often in RPGs). But when you meet Jaheira in BG1 she is happily married and a well known Druid and Harper. Then she lost all of that following you and still remained by your side. It's seems very emotional to me. Her character is very real and truly shines when you romance her.

    1st place - Edwin Odesseiron! (You simians may merely refer to him as 'Sir,' if you prefer a less... syllable-intensive workout) He's ridiculously powerful, funny as hell, and looks good in the color Red.
    booinyoureyes
  • AnterosAnteros Member Posts: 37
    Minsc, because he's both deadly and very fun. He's good both at melee and ranged combat, his berserker rages can be very useful in certain circumstances, and his blend of enthusiastic heroism and innocent craziness is awesome.
    Also, Boo rules.
    booinyoureyes
  • Mrpenfold666Mrpenfold666 Member Posts: 428
    Well, out of the baldur's gate series my favorite is minsc the reason being i just really enjoyed him, he stuck in my memory when we moved and sadly lost the discs in another country, i didnt have paypal and i was oung so i could only hope to find a copy of baldurs gate in game / charity shops but alas this wasnt the case and so the years rolled by and i had made friends with people who had never heard of baldurs gate but then wen i was old enough i bought it and i ignored everything else and went straight to minsc and it was like i had never stopped playing it.

    out of the enhanced editions its neera, i have never seen such a double edge sword in a concept work. ive played mods on games that try to hint at wild magic and i played with the wabbajack from the elder scrolls games but neera is the icing on the cake, using her and being a wild mage is SO MUCH FUN, i can say with all truth i have never -EVER- had so much fun in an RPG than i did playing with neera in my party, dragon age origins is my favorite RPG and i really enjoy playing it, but theres enjoying a game and being immersed in its story and characters then there is laughing at your computer screen when neera does some impossible thing like give everyone haste at level one or makes a final boss battle in the kobold mines over in two spells because it turned into a fireball and the boss is set to your level which is level 1-3 at most.

    what would i want more of in the games? i'd like more areas that change the rules, the wild forest is one of the greatest things to EVER exist, like a quest the reverses everyone's weapon choices so minsc sucks as a front-liner but becomes a beast with a bow. or more areas / quests that have an impact on your alignment or some quests that can only be done by certain alignments.

    i'd also like to see a bit more dialogue for characters and have them react more when i do some of the side quests

    these are things i'd like to see not that i demand to see. im very happy with what ive gotten any more is just icing, and you can never have too much icing
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    Minsc, ah Minsc. His ramblings and generally bombastness never ceased to entertain me since that first run through all those years ago. To this day I dont think I've done a single run through without him.
  • CoutelierCoutelier Member Posts: 1,282
    Of the new NPC's, I'm undecided as to which is my 'favorite', but I haven't had thirteen years to get to know them, although I think they integrate quite well into the original game (one or two issues with Hexxat's banters with some NPC's seeming a bit OOC and causing problems/questions). But otherwise it's all fine. I like Rasaad's awkwardness and Neera is a bit like Imoen in terms of being silly (too similar really for them to have a really good relationship dynamic, but still plenty of fun).

    I feel like I should mention Tenya as well, even though she's a very minor character in the first game. I always felt sorry for her and it never felt right just leaving her, and fanfic writers had done great things with other minor characters, so I decided to make her a more significant character in fics. Lots of fun, like a perpetually angry Dalek (although she can be a little compassionate and sweet sometimes). She's also ended up being the first character I've written anywhere to have her own catchphrase (I mean Imoen had one already), when Safana suggested tying her hair in pigtails and her eye started twitching and she said 'I... should just kill you now.' And this all before I'd seen Kick-Ass or Game of Thrones. I may try making a mod for her as well.
    BaldursCatSCARY_WIZARD
  • MessiMessi Member Posts: 738
    First of all even though I've played through these games many times I still haven't really got experience with all the NPCs. Also I haven't got almost any experience of the new NPCs in BG2EE.

    Out of the ones I do have experience with Jaheira is my favorite. In my opinion she is by a good margin the best written NPC in these games. Even though her mourning process is obviously on fast track, because of the time limitations games have, I found it reasonably believable and interesting. More importantly she actually seems to evolve as character over time. As an added bonus having her in the party can be pretty amusing as well with right party combinations.

    Also even though she will forever be remembered for the inventory baby I have to give her a honorable mention to Aerie as well. The Aerie is ToB is quite different from how she behaved when you first met her. Watching her get more confident was a pretty gratifying experience.

    For completely different reasons I like Edwin and Jan. Their dialogue always brings a smile to my face, and especially for Jan there is also more serious side to make the character seem much more three dimensional.

    Overall I like pretty much all the BG2 I have experience with. They are all relatively well written, and watching what they say about other panty members is big part of why BG2 is so re-playable. In BG1 most characters don't really have enough content to say anything about them.

    Out of the BGEE Overhaul NPCs I like Neera the best. Her's, and Dorn's, story got me interested right from the start. Dorn is fun to have around as well, but his character in BGEE, and very early BG2EE seems a bit too predictable. Maybe that changes later on. Rasaad on the other hand just seems bland and boring, at least in BGEE. I don't really give a crap about his religion talk that seems to define him, and because I don't really like him that leads me to not caring about his brother either.
    JuliusBorisov
  • trinittrinit Member Posts: 705
    unfortunately, i still consider viconia my favourite character from bg saga, mainly for all the reasons @element has already stated. i had hoped new NPC's will replace her position.

    of the new npc's dorn was most promising to me (also based on bg.ee where i consider him the best addition of the three), i liked him and i really saw him as a great potential but his ultimately one dimensional character, very obvious lack of relationship content and predictable evil behaviour and epilogue made him a bitter disappointment for me in the end.

    neera seems quite pleasing to have around in bg2:ee and has much improved since bgee where she was just off-sounding and annoying. she was a positive surprise. hexxat seemed a bit bland and seemed to have no interesting contributions outside her quests, but it's nice to have a proper thief for once.

    character that has made the most impression on me however was cabrina. yes, that snarky, sarcastic side quest NPC. her comments really made me laugh more than once and she seemed interesting and pleasing to encounter. i regret there are not more evil NPC's like her mysterious, comical without being silly, and in general very very charming. this is what i miss in bg saga- characters that make evil behaviour seem seductive, pleasing and charming so player is almost happy to get along with it. i see cabrina as such potential NPC.
    killerrabbit
  • Nic_MercyNic_Mercy Member Posts: 418
    I have to say I really love Imoen. She really feels like a "sister" from start to finish. I know some folks don't care for her but I find her charming and have never been able to play without having her with me.

    For the new npc's Dorn is probably the most interesting though I did enjoy Rasaad's interaction with Viconia over their faiths.

    For "unofficial" characters I'd have to give props to the Faren npc. He's well written and feels like he "belongs" as a member of the cast.
    scorpiovaBelgarathMTH
  • killerrabbitkillerrabbit Member Posts: 402
    1. BG2 Viconia. As @element said, great character development. I liked the hard on the outside, sweet on the inside theme to the romance -- perfect mind candy. I was sorry to see the story cut short in TOB -- I imagined a plot where Shar abandoned her, she came to worship someone else and ended with the party taking on the queen of the demonweb pits but I understand the pressures that Bioware was under. I'd like to see another character like this one -- a long, drawn out redemption story.

    She was also essential party member -- having all those 'chaotic commands' slots makes the mind flayer lair so much more fun.

    2. Jan. As lots of others have said. Truly laugh out loud funny. Essential party member. The Jan-Aerie peg leg / cracker story deserves an award for 'best use of a MacGuffin in a video game.' Hire whoever wrote this character.

    3. Neera. Great writing. Great voice. Her 'we are about to meet Irenicus' lines made me laugh. Writing was good enough to remind me of a friend from high school.
    BelgarathMTH
  • popadinecpopadinec Member Posts: 17
    edited December 2013
    Yoshimo. This character implementation was really clever - during 1st playtrough, everybody I know took him, because he was the best thief. After his betrayal, everybody had room in party for Imoen - that was really brilliant. Adding Hexxat as a "missing thief" actually spoils this genius plan of BG2 creators. On the other hand, most of BGEE2 players have already played the game in the past and wont take Yoshimo anyway, but you have spoiled the 1st time experience for new players in my opinion.
    (Btw. i am not yet in spellhold during my bgee2 game with hexxat, so maybe I will be nicely suprised :) )
    booinyoureyes
  • BusticationBustication Member Posts: 49
    Sister Vigilante and Kulyok's Angelo NPC is by far the best written and most complex character I've seen for this game. He adds a tremendous amount of content to the game without falling into the trap of stealing attention from the main storyline. He's a believable character with a thorough and compelling backstory, his language is entertaining and flows beautifully, and his dialogues are funny, thought-provoking, and captivating. Perhaps most importantly, his relationship to the PC and assorted NPCs (especially Sarevok and Shar-Teel) adds depth of character to all of them as well as himself. He's a really solid, flawed character that you want to get to know.

    Of the Bioware originals, I'm especially fond of Irenicus. His over-the-top melodrama was so beautifully delivered and his lines so expertly crafted that I recall thinking I'd never seen any character so well-developed and emotionally appealing with so little actual content outside of a novel. He makes a great villain regardless of the nature of his foe.

    Of the new content, I'm most fond of Hexxat. She brings something new to the table as her own interests are always more important to her than the PC's situation and there's a reasonable explanation for that. Her qualms over her own recently acquired immortality and redefinition of "surviving" are poignant without being overstated.
    booinyoureyes
  • MoczoMoczo Member Posts: 236
    Honestly? I know I am in the minority on this one, but Aerie. I just derive a great deal of satisfaction from watching this character who starts SoA as an utterly broken and crushed young woman, who despite trying SO HARD to stay positive and good is clearly on the verge of a suicidal breakdown... And see her, over the course of the game, grow and piece herself back together, regaining her will to live and finishing ToB as a strong, confident woman secure of her place in the world. It really just warms my heart that I helped with that.
    Drugar
  • YemethYemeth Member Posts: 36
    Kivan - great voice, pic and touching story :) Broken man with only revenge that gives him strength to go on...I am still sad he is not in BG 2.

    CrevsDaakAvenel
  • LordRumfishLordRumfish Member Posts: 937
    Time to cheat.

    In general, I'd say Xan. I like characters with a humorous bent, and Xan manages this while still being serious. He is my go-to arcanist in BG1, and any time I start building a theoretical party in my head for a playthrough, I always try to justify having Xan along. In my most recent playthrough of BG:EE with my jester Veraka, I geared up Xan the best I could and would occasionally send him into melee in low-threat fights. In the caverns below Candlekeep he single-handedly dispatched the remaining mercenaries with his moonblade while the rest of the party was held or feared (he tanked Agannazar's Scorcher like a champ with 50% fire resistance coming from his sword). Between him and Minsc, I've had to force myself to stop using them in BG1 so I can experience some other NPCs in more depth.

    The jury is still out for my favorite among the new NPCs. I did appreciate how grand Rasaad's quest felt when we raided the monastery in the mountains and fought with trolls, I felt like it captured the adventure of the Gnoll Fortress from Minsc's quest while having more story and greater challenge. It'll take me a while to work through all of them in BG2 because the entire game is pretty new to me. I may end up liking Neera the best, but time will tell.

    Finally, my personal character favorite is Veraka, my chaotic neutral human female jester. I've had a lot of fun as many different races, classes and alignments, but something clicked with me when I started playing a powerful, low-Wisdom, capricious jester who I felt free to be ridiculous with. She was usually nice to people, unless it involved sparing a guilty person's life or there was a joke to be made. I've discussed her before in other threads, and I even started writing an epic for her: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/22604/veraka-s-saga-spoilers#latest
    RnRClown
This discussion has been closed.