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Jaheira and Safana

Hi everyone,

Just wondered to what extent that these characters had been changed in SoD? Safana I'm not so worried about as I don't think there was much to her character to begin with, but having played with jaheira in my party throughout my first entire playthrough (and romanced her in BG2) obviously this one is a little concerning to me.

I keep hearing mixed things on how they have been changed.. Can some elaborate on this a bit? No spoilers if possible though please :).

Thanks!

Comments

  • kotekokoteko Member Posts: 179
    They are both very faithful to their BG1 & BG2 presence. They are well written. Without spoilers, that's pretty much it XD

    The best way to find out is of course to play ;)
  • Grimo88Grimo88 Member Posts: 191
    I've played through twice now and I can see no difference. I am an enormous BG nerd who has been playing 15 years, every year, without fail. There are 0 character inconsistencies. That interview was blown way out of proportion. Funnily, anyone complaining about these so called changes has so far failed to produce any evidence from the game whatsoever.
  • Excalibur_2102Excalibur_2102 Member Posts: 351
    Grimo88 said:

    I've played through twice now and I can see no difference. I am an enormous BG nerd who has been playing 15 years, every year, without fail. There are 0 character inconsistencies. That interview was blown way out of proportion. Funnily, anyone complaining about these so called changes has so far failed to produce any evidence from the game whatsoever.

    hm... To be honest, a few times ive seen people post about this matter they also mentioned in their post that they haven't played the game..

    I was fearing jaheira might have changed compared to her BG2 representation. Like you say though, the best way to find out is play myself... Though I'm waiting for patches and will play through BGEE first. In the meantime I might start playing Pillars :)
  • UlbUlb Member Posts: 295
    I'm also interested in this.
    Amber's comments about Jaheira being sexist and changing her character were the only things that really bothered me about this whole issue.

    So, I'd be interested in some more (honest and calm) opinions about this. Also, I don't think I even remember what BG1 Jaheira is like without the NPC Project, so maybe someone who has played with that mod as well could weight in on that.
  • Greenman019Greenman019 Member Posts: 206
    Ulb said:

    I'm also interested in this.
    Amber's comments about Jaheira being sexist and changing her character were the only things that really bothered me about this whole issue.

    So, I'd be interested in some more (honest and calm) opinions about this. Also, I don't think I even remember what BG1 Jaheira is like without the NPC Project, so maybe someone who has played with that mod as well could weight in on that.

    They couldn't get the Voice Actress back for Jaheira so I don't think they changed as much as they might have done.

    I really didn't notice anything drastically changed when I played

  • DemonocratDemonocrat Member Posts: 9
    They haven't changed. Jaheira is similar to her BG2 depiction, whereas Safana is simply fleshed out - the problem with them in the original (well, with pretty much all recruitable NPCs) was that they were flat, one trope characters. Amber pointed out that "nagging wife" and "really gets around", when they're the extent of your characterization, have sexist undertones, but the trope wasn't removed from those characters - it got built around.
  • UlbUlb Member Posts: 295

    They haven't changed. Jaheira is similar to her BG2 depiction, whereas Safana is simply fleshed out - the problem with them in the original (well, with pretty much all recruitable NPCs) was that they were flat, one trope characters. Amber pointed out that "nagging wife" and "really gets around", when they're the extent of your characterization, have sexist undertones, but the trope wasn't removed from those characters - it got built around.

    I think you hit the nail on the head.
    When I hear Jaheira I think of her as one character for BG1 and BG2 but truthfully, without mod content there isn't that much character left in BG1 if I really think about it.

    I guess that is what caused a lot of people to take offense at Amber's interview.
  • Excalibur_2102Excalibur_2102 Member Posts: 351
    I guess the remaining question is do the returning male characters, khalid especially, get equally fleshed out?
  • Diogenes42Diogenes42 Member Posts: 597
    I am happy to report that they do my friend. I enjoyed a good chat with Khalid while doing his sidequest.
  • AedanAedan Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 8,550
    edited April 2016
    I am travelling with Minsc, Dynaheir, Khalid, Jaheira and Glint.

    Dynaheir and Khalid have been greatly fleshed out. Brilliantly. Thank you very much, Beamdog, for giving me the chance to know better these fine companions.

    Minsc and Jaheira are both consistent with the personality you see in BG and BG2.

    Glint = pure awesome ;)

    I am really satisfied by the quality of this game and I hope they will develop an expasion between SOA/TOB. A TOB addon would be good as well, since we all know that it desperately needs improvement.
  • sffrrromsffrrrom Member Posts: 60
    Actually the only criticism of the writing that I genuinely agree with is leveled at Safana. Admittedly she didn't have all that much character in the first game, but I thought about half of her content in Dragonspear was faithful to her character concept and the other half was jarringly bad, IMHO, especially anything involving the mini-romance arc. Other characters who are fleshed out, such as Viconia, Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc, and Dynaheir, I thought were all much better.
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