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Rejecting Edwin

OmnievulOmnievul Member Posts: 4
in Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
Hello everyone!

First of all, this is my first post on the forums so I would like to briefly introduce myself. Skip to the next paragraph if you do not care about my existence. I played Baldur's Gate for the first time around 12 years ago when I was a kid. With the release of the Enhanced Edition recently, I decided to play it again since I barely remember anything from the plot, apart from a few scenes and Minsc owning a hamster. So far, I am loving every single second of it. You will probably get to see me lurking in the forums a lot now that I started playing BG and BGII, since I always liked spending time in forums (when I am not gaming or being otherwise lazy).

And now that my "cool story bro" moment has ended, let's move on to my original question: I made it to Nashkel and met Edwin on the bridge. Now, I remember fairly well that Edwin's really powerful, but since I tend to prioritize RP before metagaming - party / character optimal strength etc, I told him that I would not help him if he gave me no more information on his quest to kill whatshername. He got frustrated and left. I saw him entering the inn nearby when he left, so I figured he'd be there as an NPC in case I ever decided to aid him, but he is not there. Bottom line is, is he gone forever? Will I never encounter him again?

Cheers for the replies! :)

Comments

  • MitchforkMitchfork Member Posts: 390
    edited January 2014
    In BG1 a lot of NPC's leave by walking to an area exit but they don't actually transition between areas- they just disappear. Many of the joinable NPC's in BG1 do vanish permanently if you refuse to take them in when first talking to them. Off-hand I remember that Xzar/Montaron, Garrick, and Viconia follow this, and probably a lot more, so that's probably what happened here. The only way to get him again would be to reload the game to before you talked to him or use the console to "cheat" him back into the game so you can talk again.
  • OmnievulOmnievul Member Posts: 4
    I see. Well, I thought of the "Load" scenario, but then again I made the mistake of overwriting my main save after rejecting him, so the last save before that was like 1 hour of gameplay away. Plus, in any case, I don't think I would want to kick any of the current members to let him in.
    Thanks anyway :)
  • syllogsyllog Member Posts: 158
    Yeah.
    Really annoying game design.
    If you don't meta game / aren't a crazy person you'll lose a lot of opportunities to get npcs.

    If you want the dialogue to allow a more beleivable acceptance of Edwin try this:
    Talk to Minsc. Avoid Edwin. Rescue Dynaheir.
    Then talk to Edwin with her in the party. He'll stop himself and just ask to join the group so he can keep an eye on the untrustworthy witch...
  • victory_rosevictory_rose Member Posts: 72
    I never use Edwin (I may have done it briefly some 10+ years ago, can't really recall) - he's evil and I think he's super annoying, but in my recent runs, I seem to recall that if you don't outright reject his offer, he may walk away, and I think the next time you're in Nashkel, he's standing again on the bridge, and could (theoretically) be recruited. If you however tell him decidedly off and he struts away in anger, the next time you see him (sometimes it's been across the bridge in the farm land/forested area below the bridge), he attacks you and then I quite gleefully kill him (and then his corpse lies there for the rest of BG1 as a happy reminder of what happened). :)
  • OmnievulOmnievul Member Posts: 4
    victory_rose said:

    I never use Edwin (I may have done it briefly some 10+ years ago, can't really recall) - he's evil and I think he's super annoying, but in my recent runs, I seem to recall that if you don't outright reject his offer, he may walk away, and I think the next time you're in Nashkel, he's standing again on the bridge, and could (theoretically) be recruited. If you however tell him decidedly off and he struts away in anger, the next time you see him (sometimes it's been across the bridge in the farm land/forested area below the bridge), he attacks you and then I quite gleefully kill him (and then his corpse lies there for the rest of BG1 as a happy reminder of what happened). :)

    Oh, I was not aware of all this. I've been through Nashkel again but there's no Edwin, only the typical bugged Kagain following me around and asking me to rejoin. *sigh* Ah well, I was not so hot on getting Edwin on my party, anyway.
  • Midnight910Midnight910 Member Posts: 6
    There is no reason to take Edwin in BG: EE. I know a lot of fanboys go on and on about how he gets extra spells, the fact is that he sucks. Let's go over the reasons. First, he can't cast Identify, one of the main reasons you need a mage to begin with. Second, his DEX sucks. Third, he has a sidequest that can take forever. Just take Baeloth. He gets more spells per day. Has magic resistance, and comes with some good gear.
  • AigleborgneAigleborgne Member Posts: 24
    No reason if you want power-gaming. If you are role-playing an evil character, Edwin is a perfect fit. I dont care of his stats.
    Midnight910 said:

    There is no reason to take Edwin in BG: EE. I know a lot of fanboys go on and on about how he gets extra spells, the fact is that he sucks. Let's go over the reasons. First, he can't cast Identify, one of the main reasons you need a mage to begin with. Second, his DEX sucks. Third, he has a sidequest that can take forever. Just take Baeloth. He gets more spells per day. Has magic resistance, and comes with some good gear.

  • Midnight910Midnight910 Member Posts: 6
    Aigleborgne said:

    No reason if you want power-gaming. If you are role-playing an evil
    character, Edwin is a perfect fit. I dont care of his stats.

    Baeloth is better in every way. More spells per day, better starting equipment, better stats, doesn't have a barred school, doesn't have to prepare spells beforehand, etc.

  • MitchforkMitchfork Member Posts: 390
    You do have to wait until level 5 to recruit Baeloth though, so you are going to want a mage to tide you over until then even if you plan on taking him. His stats aren't that much better (he gets 14 DEX instead of Edwin's 9- but due to 2e's weird stat scaling he gains no missile THAC0 or AC, they're mechanically identical. Same for STR but with a minor carry weight bonus). Baeloth also never gets level 5 spells, so you can't load up on Cloudkills or anything like you can with Edwin.

    Identify is nice, but you can do without it very easily. Even if you pay 100gp for every Identify you use, you're netting money selling the miscellany that you acquire.

    Baeloth is really good but it's not a slam-dunk or anything.
  • Midnight910Midnight910 Member Posts: 6
    You can survive until Level 5 without a mage.

    Identify is important. If you're evil, you're going to be spending enough gold due to increased prices and paying the temple so you don't have Flaming Fist after you. Spending hundreds of GP for something every other mage can do for free is idiocy.

    I don't consider Cloudkill a great spell. It has its uses, but I never use it and I do fine without it.
  • mjsmjs Member Posts: 742
    i'm playing a reduced evil party and i've not missed identify at all and for once i'm actually not equipping items until they've been identified. xzar is a solid lore character, but i'm still spending a bit on ID'ing stuff at the shops. i've just resigned myself to the fact i'm not getting the shadow armour for a LONG time.
  • styggastygga Member Posts: 467
    Well I don't understand why "every other mage can do it". Even when my mages know identify I NEVER load them up with more than one at a time, and I generally only do that if I know I'm going for a tome or something that I can use right away. By mid way through the game a few characters can identify almost anything in the game themselves (Xzar for one has great lore).
  • jackjackjackjack Member Posts: 3,251
    edited January 2014
    I never worry about identify as I usually play Bards and/or have Xzar in my party.
    Edit: and I have never once cared about a mage's DEX score. If your casters are close enough to worry about melee combat, you're doing it wrong.
  • nanonano Member Posts: 1,632
    Dex is nice so your mage doesn't get shot full of arrows, though Con is better and Ed has plenty of that. I'm with midnight, I found Edwin pretty meh because you can only haste so many times before fatigue catches up and you have to rest anyways. I fill my level 1 slots with nothing but identify, maybe with a magic missile or two. Even Garrick's lore progression isn't fast enough for me. Maybe a charname bard would be different.
  • jackjackjackjack Member Posts: 3,251
    Yeah I guess I always throw items that provide bonuses against missile attacks on my mages. Fair point.
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