Can of Worms

[Cal Jones]

Frankly, for the first few plays I'd say stick with an unmodded version (well, add Ascension to ToB, but that's it). I went through BG2 about a dozen times trying out different romances, character classes (strongholds!), good and evil options (evil options are limited, mind you...) and party combinations even before I added a mod.

You will like it more than BG - it has much more content.

 

For a first run, I'd say take Imoen, Minsc, Jaheira, Yoshimo and a romance (if you are male you can romance Jaheira, Aerie or Viconia - if female, then you're stuck with Anomen, who I really dislike as a romantic interest, though he's a useful cleric/tank. He has his fans though). The best mage is Edwin but he will clash with Minsc, and you need to keep your rep below 18. However, he does provide some comic relief. I much prefer him to the female mages, but then I'm female. I'm a bit more forgiving of male characters.

 

For ToB, pick up Sarevok. He rocks.

[berelinde]

I'd say definitely add BG1 NPC Project, though. It adds transforms the BG1 portion from a dialogue wasteland to an oasis.

[Domi]

I've never played with Ascension, so I would say a completely vanilla BG2, but modded BG1 (TUTU+BG1NPC), since you've already player vanilla BG1 anyways, and BG1 is greatly improved by the extra mods. As for the characters, if you do want to stick to the good and continuing ones, your choices are actually pretty limited.

 

It's Dynaheir, Minsc, Imoen, Jaheira and Khalid in BG1, and

{Yoshimo, Jan or Nalia} --> Imoen, Jaheira, Minsc and any 2 'new' characters in BG2, most likely Aerie, Nalia, Mazzy or Anomen depending on which class you are playing. I'd recommend Nalia if you are playing a fighter's stronghold, Anomen if you like redeeming characters, Aerie - if you lack a mage or a cleric, and Mazzy - if you lack a fighter/ranged character.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[spoiler ALERT!]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In ToB, I agree that Sarevok is what makes the ToB game a bit more interesting.

[Amaurea]

Definitely YES to BG1NPC!!! It's what the game should have been!

[Fyorl]

Just a couple of comments. I'd agree in that you need the BG1 NPC Project because the vanilla NPC quality pales in comparison to BG2 where they're really quite fun.

 

Secondly, you shouldn't need to worry too much about which NPCs to pick based on their classes. You do need a half-decent, well-rounded party to win the game without touching the difficulty slider and get a nice sense of achievement. But if you want the most out of NPCs, choose the ones here that people have suggested because they sound the most appealing to you, don't worry about their classes. Just go and install the Level 1 NPCs mod and change Aerie to a Wild Mage if you feel like it. That way you end up with a well-rounded party full of the liveliest NPCs (well, I say 'well-rounded' but if you go ahead and turn Keldorn into an Assassin you're probably taking the liberty too far).

 

Oh and thirdly, I'd recommend Xan. Make him a Sorcerer though.

[Lemernis]

I like mixed alignment parties. I use the BG2 Tweaks 'happy patch' feature to avoid NPCs leaving because of the party's the reputation score.

 

For example, on my current run through BG2:

 

PC Chaotic Good Cleric-Ranger (shamelessly ignoring alignment, in practice I'm playing him as a mercenary type)

Yoshimo (True Neutral)

Korgan (Neutral Evil via BG2 Tweaks)

Anomen (Lawful Neutral)

Edwin (Lawful Evil)

Valygar (Neutral Good)

 

So there is some interesting banter because of the alignment mixes. In a non-happy-patched game, violence would eventually break out between two of them. (Only verbal conflict with the happy-patch.)

 

I always take Imoen along for the whole journey--she's too integral to the plotline for me not to.

 

I guess by now after... Good God... almost ten years? of intermittantly playing the game, my most favorites NPCs are

 

 

BG1

Kivan

Khalid and Jaheira (pair)

Yeslick

Xan

Xzar and Montaron (pair)

Edwin

 

BG2

Korgan

Haer'Dalis

Edwin

Anomen

Yoshimo

Jan Jansen

 

Some because they are so effective, some because they are just entertaining.

[Sir_Carnifex]

A lot of the fun (for me anyway) of playing BG1 and BG2 is getting to know what the characters are like on my own. I played BG2 non-mod until I had gone through all the way through SoA and ToB with every single Bioware NPC. Some of the characters I didn't (and don't) like, and I'm unlikely to take them again, but I still had fun with them the first time because they were new.

 

So for the first play-through, I don't think there's really a bad choice of characters. Grab some and go... Then play it again with new ones! ...And again...