What was the REAL criterion for NPC's,,,
 

,,brought from BG1 to SoA?? Were some of the voice actors unwilling/unable to reprise their role?

SPOILERS!!!!

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SoA starts out with PC, Minsc, Imoen and Jaheira..all fully formed characters. Khalid is of course, killed off early(digression: anyone find this a weak plot link? I mean, you can resurrect to your hearts content thruout the game, but you can't bring back Khalid? There shouldn't have been a Khalid body, just a dialog reference to his being chunkified. Digression out).

Quayle, Edwin, Xzar/Montaron, Viconia, Sarevok(ToB), Faldorn all return(some joinable, some not). Why was Viconia's role greatly expanded? Certainly didn't see that coming in BG1 !!

I guess what I'm wondering is how much the game plot was affected by actor/actress availability?

Anyone have any knowledge on the actual making of the game?

Re: What was the REAL criterion for NPC's,,,
 

I wish I knew. Two of my favorite characters, Coran and Kivan, were both unjoinable. Hell, Kivan wasn't even in the game!

Re: What was the REAL criterion for NPC's,,,
 

I don't think voice actors were an issue. If they had no problems with changing portraits for the NPCs (I remember the first time I saw the new Imoen... "wtf? what did they do to her?") then surely giving them new voices wouldn't have been a problem either.

Re: What was the REAL criterion for NPC's,,,
 

I am pretty sure Vicona’s role was expanded to appease sexually frustrated geeks. That way they could not only have a drow in their party…but they could bed her as well. Other than that, she serves no purpose

Re: What was the REAL criterion for NPC's,,,
 

I think they pulled names out of a hat.

Re: What was the REAL criterion for NPC's,,,
 

Well, maybe not Khalid. He was killed on purpose.

Re: What was the REAL criterion for NPC's,,,
 

True if Khalid were still in the picture you couldn't have a "romance" in jaheira. which brings up the question, I've never pursued the romance quests but is there a female NPC that can join the party with which you CAN NOT have a romance?

Re: What was the REAL criterion for NPC's,,,
 

I agree with IronDragon regarding Viconia... The addition or leaving of several characters seems obvious for a few of them- did anybody actually use Quayle or Alora?- but a few others baffle me. For example, Xan. How could people not love Xan? I was going to suggest that characters like Safana didn't have fully formed personalities, but the same could probably be argued for Viconia... though Viconia probably had more potential to develop as a character.

So, they kept Viconia and Edwin. This makes sense, considering the lack of evil-aligned NPCs in this game. But why the two of them? What about Tiax? (Granted, he had one of the funniest cameos in the game- I remember completely losing it when I found him.) Of course, they could have just made more evil NPCs, couldn't they?

Perhaps it just had something to do with what the characters could contribute to the story arc. Jahiera and Viconia are romancable, Imoen is kind of important to the plot, but then what's with Minsc and Edwin? Were they just too funny to leave behind? What about Tiax, as mentioned above?

FSA- Mazzy, Nalia, and Imoen are not romancable by Charname.

Re: What was the REAL criterion for NPC's,,,
 

I think Imoen should be a given, Illumina :D

Still. Characters like Xan, Kivan, and Coran... well, I would have loved having htem back in my party, quite frankly.

Re: What was the REAL criterion for NPC's,,,
 

Yes. Should be. But I'll never forget the day I found this place, there was a post titled "IMOEN SAME SEX ROMANCE!" and I sat there and thought, simply, "Huh."