Party with Xan!

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Planning on dusting off BG1 for another go-round. I’ve already played the game with the NPC Project twice; this time, I’m creating a female charname to try out the Xan Romance I’ve heard so much good stuff about.

 

Question is, who else should I bring along for the ride?

 

I have two possible parties in mind. The first:

Xan

Imoen

Minsc

Coran

Alora (or Garrick?)

 

It amuses me to think of saddling poor Xan with a party made up of the most disgustingly upbeat, optimistic, and happy-go-lucky NPCs in the game. Could make for some interesting banter, but I’m not sure.

 

The second option is all-elves:

Xan

Coran

Kivan

Jaheira

Khalid (or Viconia?)

 

So G3’ers, which one would you recommend? Or perhaps you’d recommend a different gang altogether? I’m entirely open to suggestions.

 

Oh, and thank you to all the modders who’ve reinvigorated my love for this game.

[Ipsy]

Planning on dusting off BG1 for another go-round. I’ve already played the game with the NPC Project twice; this time, I’m creating a female charname to try out the Xan Romance I’ve heard so much good stuff about.

 

Question is, who else should I bring along for the ride?

 

I have two possible parties in mind. The first:

Xan

Imoen

Minsc

Coran

Alora (or Garrick?)

 

It amuses me to think of saddling poor Xan with a party made up of the most disgustingly upbeat, optimistic, and happy-go-lucky NPCs in the game. Could make for some interesting banter, but I’m not sure.

What, no Dynaheir? From my experience, most of Minsc's banters don't make sense if Dyna is missing, and aren't as funny if she's dead. I can verify first-hand that Alora, Imoen, and Coran make for entertaining companions with Xan in the group. If your PC is eligible for Coran's romance as well, Xan and Coran have some rather amusing dialogues. Garrick, too, is amusing. Perhaps swap Minsc for Garrick and play a tank PC instead.

 

The second option is all-elves:

Xan

Coran

Kivan

Jaheira

Khalid (or Viconia?)

Meh. Tried this group, and I didn't particularly like it. I liked all the characters, but something just didn't do it for me.

 

ATM, my favorite groups with Xan are: Ajantis, Minsc, Dynaheir, Xan, and Kivan, for a mostly serious group; Eldoth, Skie, Shar-Teel, Edwin, and Xan for the Drama group; Alora, Garrick, Imoen, Tiax, and Xan for comic relief; and Ajantis, Kivan, Coran, Xan, and Garrick (or Gavin) for OMG-why-do-they-like-CHARNAME-so-much (since Kivan and Garrick both have several friendship talks with the PC).

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What, no Dynaheir? From my experience, most of Minsc's banters don't make sense if Dyna is missing, and aren't as funny if she's dead. I can verify first-hand that Alora, Imoen, and Coran make for entertaining companions with Xan in the group. If your PC is eligible for Coran's romance as well, Xan and Coran have some rather amusing dialogues. Garrick, too, is amusing. Perhaps swap Minsc for Garrick and play a tank PC instead.

Thanks, this is the kind of advice I was looking for.

 

I wasn't sure how much splitting up officially paired NPCs (like Minsc and Dyna) might have on the mod's banters, but I'll avoid it just to be sure.

 

RE Xan and Coran: After the out-of-character, off-putting catfights that occurred in BG2, I'm a little leery about having two romanceable NPCs in the same party. It's for that reason that I avoided having Branwen and Dynaheir together in a previous run-through. Perhaps I should have a little more faith in the modders.

 

The second option is all-elves:

Xan

Coran

Kivan

Jaheira

Khalid (or Viconia?)

Meh. Tried this group, and I didn't particularly like it. I liked all the characters, but something just didn't do it for me.

I was wondering about that. It seems group chemistry is important, and a particular NPC may have a lot more to say with one group than another. For example, in my last playthrough I found Alora to be rather boring, but perhaps paired with Xan she might be more interesting.

 

ATM, my favorite groups with Xan are: Ajantis, Minsc, Dynaheir, Xan, and Kivan, for a mostly serious group; Eldoth, Skie, Shar-Teel, Edwin, and Xan for the Drama group; Alora, Garrick, Imoen, Tiax, and Xan for comic relief; and Ajantis, Kivan, Coran, Xan, and Garrick (or Gavin) for OMG-why-do-they-like-CHARNAME-so-much (since Kivan and Garrick both have several friendship talks with the PC).

The last two sound intriguing, and close to what I was looking for. However, my previous reticence about multiple romantic possibilities remains--I'd think managing Ajantis, Coran, AND Xan in the same party would just be asking for trouble...and not in a good way.

 

Thanks again for the advice!

[berelinde]

If you are worried about conflict dialogues, they're more subtle in BG1 NPC than they are in most BG2 romances. There's a bit, sure, but it isn't too unnerving. If you can manage the timing properly, Ajantis and Coran have this fantastic romance challenge that really must be seen to be believed. It is difficult to manage the timing, though.

 

Since your primary romance interest this playthrough is Xan, you shouldn't have any trouble, provided you recruit everyone at more or less the same time and choose the same romance timers for everyone. Ajantis and Coran don't commit until talk 16 but Xan commits after talk 12, so as long as you recruit Xan early on, before Ajantis and Coran have had many talks, you should wind up with the romance you want.

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If you are worried about conflict dialogues, they're more subtle in BG1 NPC than they are in most BG2 romances. There's a bit, sure, but it isn't too unnerving.

Cool. I should have figured that, considering the quality and time put on the project.

 

If you can manage the timing properly, Ajantis and Coran have this fantastic romance challenge that really must be seen to be believed. It is difficult to manage the timing, though.

Interesting. Might be worth another playthrough.

 

Since your primary romance interest this playthrough is Xan, you shouldn't have any trouble, provided you recruit everyone at more or less the same time and choose the same romance timers for everyone. Ajantis and Coran don't commit until talk 16 but Xan commits after talk 12, so as long as you recruit Xan early on, before Ajantis and Coran have had many talks, you should wind up with the romance you want.

Good to know. May need to think about doing the Xan/Ajantis/Coran/Kivan/Garrick route after all. We'll see.

[Ipsy]

If you can manage the timing properly, Ajantis and Coran have this fantastic romance challenge that really must be seen to be believed. It is difficult to manage the timing, though.

Interesting. Might be worth another playthrough.

Yep. Definitely. It's awesome.

 

Good to know. May need to think about doing the Xan/Ajantis/Coran/Kivan/Garrick route after all. We'll see.

Eep! I wouldn't recommend it. Kivan has a friendship path, and Garrick has a couple banters with the PC. Combined with lovetalks from 3 NPCs...it's insane. Waaay too much, and rather immersion-breaking. IMO it's best to have 2 romanceable NPCs, max.

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Good to know. May need to think about doing the Xan/Ajantis/Coran/Kivan/Garrick route after all. We'll see.

Eep! I wouldn't recommend it. Kivan has a friendship path, and Garrick has a couple banters with the PC. Combined with lovetalks from 3 NPCs...it's insane. Waaay too much, and rather immersion-breaking. IMO it's best to have 2 romanceable NPCs, max.

Wait a moment, didn't you list that team in your "favorite groups with Xan" list?

 

Hmmm, okay then...

 

I think with the advice I've received, I'll stick pretty close to my original group:

Xan

Imoen

Garrick

Coran

Alora

 

It's pretty much the same as Ipsy's "Comic Relief" team, save switching Tiax with Coran (which will add the benefit of some romantic conflict). Although surrounding sour-puss Xan with so much cheerfulness seems almost cruel, I just can't resist.

 

We'll see how things go. Wish me luck.

[Ipsy]

Good to know. May need to think about doing the Xan/Ajantis/Coran/Kivan/Garrick route after all. We'll see.

Eep! I wouldn't recommend it. Kivan has a friendship path, and Garrick has a couple banters with the PC. Combined with lovetalks from 3 NPCs...it's insane. Waaay too much, and rather immersion-breaking. IMO it's best to have 2 romanceable NPCs, max.

Wait a moment, didn't you list that team in your "favorite groups with Xan" list?

As a joke group of sorts. It did sort of freak me out with how often everyone was talking with my PC.

 

I think with the advice I've received, I'll stick pretty close to my original group:

Xan

Imoen

Garrick

Coran

Alora

 

It's pretty much the same as Ipsy's "Comic Relief" team, save switching Tiax with Coran (which will add the benefit of some romantic conflict). Although surrounding sour-puss Xan with so much cheerfulness seems almost cruel, I just can't resist.

 

We'll see how things go. Wish me luck.

Have fun!