[SPOILER] What's you take on returning characters from BG1-2?

[aramintai]

Aside from Minsc, I think the rest were done poorly. I think it was a big mistake to bring them back.

Minsc is ok because you had little agency over his character development in BG1-2 anyway. So in BG3 he's still same old Minsc who got bliped and only recently has returned. Could have added Edwin for some fun though.

Jaheira, Viconia, Sarevok - Larian forced their own retconned version of these characters into the game just to parade them as famous cameos and done it quite poorly, sometimes to cringe level. Reminded me of new Star Wars trilogy where they dusted off those old geezers from past movies just to murder their characters in worst ways possible and ruin fans fond memories forever.

Shouldn't have done that at all, since it invalidated everything you've done with these characters in previous games. Romances, alignment changes, possible childbirth and death for Viconia - all gone to give us these vague, larger than life versions of these characters, all congregating in this random city they've no actual love or affiliation as far as BG2 endings are concerned.

At the very least they could have asked old voice actors to return, some are still very much active, like Grey DeLisle (Viconia's VO) for example.



And another bad take on returning characters from Larian - Balduran aka. The Emperor. Didn't even explain how a simple human like him lived for hundreds of years before turning into an illithid. And made up a ♥♥♥♥ ton of op background lore for him than he ever deserved.

Anyway, my opinion - let legends stay legends, don't ruin memories of them with your headcanon fanfics.

[Otter in a scarf]

I'm okay with Minsc and Jaheira, but Viconia feels extremely wrong. What they did to her contradicts not just her romanced ending (which was optional), but her regular one, that showed plenty of character growth. Should have just used some random Shar priestess. It feels like they character assassinated Viconia for the sake of a new companion's development.

[Elfie]

Originally posted by aramintai:

Anyway, my opinion - let legends stay legends, don't ruin memories of them with your headcanon fanfics.

In terms of lore consistency this whole game is basically a very low-quality non-canon fanfiction.

Also because of no alignment the "changes" you mention won't really exist in this game's universe since there is no alignment. And even if they did, definitely won't have such dramatic effect on personalities.

[Mizu]

So, just to correct one part, it wasn't actually Larian that made it canon Viconia and Sarevok stayed on team evil. My understanding is that WotC did that by releasing an official table top supplement stating that Viconia and Sarevok were not redeemed in the 'canon' version of events that Larian has to work from lorewise.

[Mizu]

Originally posted by Elfie:

Originally posted by aramintai:

Anyway, my opinion - let legends stay legends, don't ruin memories of them with your headcanon fanfics.

In terms of lore consistency this whole game is basically a very low-quality non-canon fanfiction.

Also because of no alignment the "changes" you mention won't really exist in this game's universe since there is no alignment. And definitely won't have such dramatic effect.

Oh, don't give me that nonsense. You don't need for alignments to be something you can detect with magic for someone to be 'good' or 'evil'.

[goodbye_bonito]

I have it other way around. Only Minsc looks like a poorely fan service and comedy relief placeholder char. Viconia in character, Jaheira is done pretty well

[goodbye_bonito]

Originally posted by Єноти🦝:

I have it other way around. Only Minsc looks like a poorely fan service and comedy relief placeholder char. Viconia in character, Jaheira is done pretty well

That's actually canon state for each of the chars. If it doesn't align with your personal bg2 ending which is not canon, it's on you.

[Ronin Gamer]

Jaheira was done amazingly and I won't hear any more on that bull. Finding her keepsakes from her husband and the amount she talks about it damn near gave me tears and it's been forever since that time, on top of her still being a sarcastic sass ****.
She's amazing.
Everyone else feels believable as well. Can't fathom why anyone would be upset.

[aramintai]

Originally posted by Єноти🦝:

Originally posted by Єноти🦝:

I have it other way around. Only Minsc looks like a poorely fan service and comedy relief placeholder char. Viconia in character, Jaheira is done pretty well

That's actually canon state for each of the chars. If it doesn't align with your personal bg2 ending which is not canon, it's on you.

Which is my point here - they've basically invalidated those whole two games. None of that was canon. Only the worst, most badly written crap got to be the canon. Especially that dumpster fire fuel of a book about Abdel Adrian.

[aramintai]

Originally posted by Ronin Gamer:

Jaheira was done amazingly and I won't hear any more on that bull. Finding her keepsakes from her husband and the amount she talks about it damn near gave me tears and it's been forever since that time, on top of her still being a sarcastic sass ****.
She's amazing.
Everyone else feels believable as well. Can't fathom why anyone would be upset.

What if some people romanced her in BG2? They may be upset. I for one didn't care about her whiner of husband in the old games, couldn't care less reminiscing about him here.
Or people who romanced Viconia and changed her into a good person? They may be upset as well.

[Lord_WC]

It always baffles me that modern Xth installments of an IP try this 'pay homage to the characteristic figures of old'.

They think it will enhance their product by being 'relateable' while in reality it usually just shows how poor the writing is compared to the original works that founded the IP.

This is the case here as well.

[goodbye_bonito]

Originally posted by aramintai:

Originally posted by Єноти🦝:

That's actually canon state for each of the chars. If it doesn't align with your personal bg2 ending which is not canon, it's on you.

Which is my point here - they've basically invalidated those whole two games. None of that was canon. Only the worst, most badly written crap got to be the canon. Especially that dumpster fire fuel of a book about Abdel Adrian.

It's canon by WoTC, who these "they" you are talking about?

[Ronin Gamer]

Originally posted by aramintai:

Originally posted by Ronin Gamer:

Jaheira was done amazingly and I won't hear any more on that bull. Finding her keepsakes from her husband and the amount she talks about it damn near gave me tears and it's been forever since that time, on top of her still being a sarcastic sass ****.
She's amazing.
Everyone else feels believable as well. Can't fathom why anyone would be upset.

What if some people romanced her in BG2? They may be upset. I for one didn't care about her whiner of husband in the old games, couldn't care less reminiscing about him here.
Or people who romanced Viconia and changed her into a good person? They may be upset as well.

So you're one of those weirdo types that expects a new developer, let alone the old developer, to account for and produce voice lines for EVERY SINGLE THING that could have happened in the old games when we NEVER IMPORT A SAVE FILE so the game would never know to begin with.
Yeah you aren't worth having this discussion with. Good day sir.

[DarkRaven]

Originally posted by Lord_WC:

It always baffles me that modern Xth installments of an IP try this 'pay homage to the characteristic figures of old'.

They think it will enhance their product by being 'relateable' while in reality it usually just shows how poor the writing is compared to the original works that founded the IP.

This is the case here as well.

I agree, couldn't have said it better. It's like packaging ♥♥♥♥♥ in a retro wrapper to have oldies go for it only cause they recognize the wrapping.

[aramintai]

Originally posted by Lord_WC:

It always baffles me that modern Xth installments of an IP try this 'pay homage to the characteristic figures of old'.

They think it will enhance their product by being 'relateable' while in reality it usually just shows how poor the writing is compared to the original works that founded the IP.

This is the case here as well.

Well said. It's even worse when new writers actually hate the source material and have the arrogance to think they can do better. Like the abysmal The Witcher series on Netflix.

[aramintai]

Originally posted by Ronin Gamer:

Originally posted by aramintai:

What if some people romanced her in BG2? They may be upset. I for one didn't care about her whiner of husband in the old games, couldn't care less reminiscing about him here.
Or people who romanced Viconia and changed her into a good person? They may be upset as well.

So you're one of those weirdo types that expects a new developer, let alone the old developer, to account for and produce voice lines for EVERY SINGLE THING that could have happened in the old games when we NEVER IMPORT A SAVE FILE so the game would never know to begin with.
Yeah you aren't worth having this discussion with. Good day sir.

I expected at least some measure of choice since completely different things could have happened in the old game. If they couldn't do it, shouldn't have inserted these old characters at all.
But whatever, bye, don't slam the door on your way out. This topic is mainly for people who were really invested in playing old BG games back in the day.