Recommend me some party members...

[shamrock_uk]

Feeling the urge to dust off my copy of BG2 and setting myself a mission to explore all the characters that so far I have never taken with me, in all my games of BG2. I am primarily looking for good banter between characters (by that I mean either funny, deep etc) rather than a well-balanced party.

Here is a list of characters that have never made it into my parties so far (I tend to stick to a select few!):

Jan - I think he's almost a must.
Keldorn
Haer' Dalis
Anomen - his personal quest sounds quite complex so I'm pretty tempted. But I gather he's rather annoying...
Cernd
Valygar - never taken him much past the planar sphere quests
Viconia - never done the romance
Imoen - never taken her in ToB

I'm also considering Kelsey, as he's widely considered to be quite an in-depth character (and I greatly enjoyed the dialogue with the likes of Sola for example, so anticipating something similar) but am unsure whether his dialogue options are reduced if you don't romance him?

Any recommendations on characters to include in my party would be gratefully recieved. Also, if a character has a good personal quest, but lousy dialogue, then please mention that too because I can always take them for a short while and drop them after the quest is finished.

Oh, and I assume that the Banter Packs would be a good idea?

Thanks in advance [img]smile.gif[/img]

PS Minimal spoilers would be welcomed in this thread - thanks!
PPS I have no particular need to go for a full party of six either

[ 11-23-2004, 12:16 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

[slicer15]

If you have Anomen I recommend Keldorn. He gives him a lot of advice, and the two banter pretty well. I think Keldorn humbles Anomen a little, especially if you help Anomen in a certain situation (his personal quest). Otherwise, Anomen's arrogance can get a little irritating, and I don't like him much myself. But definitely consider Keldorn if you're considering Anomen. [img]smile.gif[/img] The advantage is that Jan Jansen apparently has some funny banter with Anomen too, so that could work pretty well.

Mazzy has a lot of banter options with Valygar, I've heard. Something similar happens to him and Mazzy that happens with Minsc and Arie/Nalia.

I don't know much about Haer'Dalis...he has a potential romance with Arie, but that's all I know. And I'd recommend a party of six as that opens more banter possibilties. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Hope that helped!

[ 11-23-2004, 12:01 PM: Message edited by: slicer15 ]

[solace in fire]

From what I've been seeing in my most recent game, Jan developes an interesting relationship with Viconia. She hates his guts, and he is totally oblivious (as he is to everything). I guess he doesn't fear the wrath of an angry drow female.... because he certainly evokes her anger several times.

"(CHARNAME), why do you journey with such incompetent companions?!"

[shamrock_uk]

Ah thank you both. That's very helpful.

At the moment i'm thinking a charismatic male PC

Viconia for the romance
Jan for the humour
Keldorn and Anomen for their banters.

That leaves me with one place left to fill. I'm very tempted by Kelsey to give me some decent magic, although my PC could yet be a mage.

Valygar probably won't be in the lineup because I've taken Mazzy in virtually all games and I'll give her a rest this time [img]smile.gif[/img] Unless he has any significant dialogue with another person, it's not his lucky day!

PS I know about the possible conflict with Vicky, but I'll just try and keep the emotions in check. If things bubble over, well, life's like that I guess.

[ 11-23-2004, 01:36 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

[Riftmaker]

You really don't want Vikki to die though....she's the best NPC cleric in the game.

I'd suggest definitely making your PC a mage type. But that sounds like an awesome party besides the alignment conflicts :|

You're gonna have to find some sort of reputation control (ShadowKeeper works) so that Vikki doesn't leave you.

[jcompton]

Originally posted by shamrock_uk: [QB]I'm also considering Kelsey, as he's widely considered to be quite an in-depth character (and I greatly enjoyed the dialogue with the likes of Sola for example, so anticipating something similar) but am unsure whether his dialogue options are reduced if you don't romance him?

Kelsey has a substantial amount of banter even if not romanced, actually, as well as a few conversations with the PC. He actually has more banter than most if not all of the stock NPCs.

Oh, and I assume that the Banter Packs would be a good idea?

Yes. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[shamrock_uk]

Thanks Riftmaker and JCompton, much appreciated. [img]smile.gif[/img]

@Riftmaker: I was anticipating intervening on the side of my love (assuming the romance is going well) and protecting her by force if necessary. I think I shall be playing maybe a chaotic neutral character, certainly not a good one anyway.

Would not a high charisma hold the group together such that the alignment conflicts aren't a problem? And presumably if I kept the rep between 2 and 18 neither good nor evil characters would leave? I intend to use the Virtue mod which should hopefully mean I can keep my virtue in relatively neutral numbers, despite the game bias towards rep increases.

[Riftmaker]

Good choice on the Virtue mod. It's virtually impossible to control your reputation otherwise if you intend to have Vikki as your romance or don't want her.

A high Charisma does nothing, except control initial reactions (which I recently experienced with my CHR 3 Barb...who had to kill someone because they had something I needed, and said person didn't respond well to talking).

I don't know if you can even interfere (short of zapping Keldorn).

If you have Virtue installed, then your Virtue score is used to determine whether people leave or stay. This is handy, because Virtue is WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY easier to control than Reputation.

I'm talking with the author of Virtue about developing a similar thing that controls "Law". We'll see how that goes.

[Malthaussen]

I like Jan, because he seems to get into it with everybody. For the same reason, many players hate Jan.

I don't think Keldorn and Vikky can stay in the same party very long. Only a PC paladin can rationalize running with her. [img]smile.gif[/img] Keldorn's interactions with Anomen can be pretty deep, but I have never had a party yet where their scripts actually ran in the proper sequence, so their back-and-forth usually ends up incomplete and nonsensical to me. For example, in one game Anomen apologized for being so snotty to Keldorn when he had said nada, nit, nothing to him at any other time. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I haven't used the banter packs yet (don't hit me, Mr Compton!), but I am sure they will add immesurably to the game once I get back into it. I've been spending most of my time recently with Silent Storm, however, an altogether different genre.

-- Mal

[Albromor]

Maulthaussen is 100% correct about Keldorn and Viconia being in the same party. They'll be fallout along the way and from everything I've read Keldorn gets the upper hand.

I have used Cernd and though I eventually replaced him with Mazzy (one of my favorite NPCs)I did enjoy his character and the quests out of Trademeet was very interesting. However, his stats are pretty weak.