Best Lone Wolf Origin Pairings

[Vorpal Spoon]

I have not played this game for some time, and I would like to pick it back up. Starting over, this time around I am considering playing a run with two lone wolf origin characters,

This is not a question regarding builds. It is a question about character synergy and story progression. So canon wise and development, what do you suggest are some of the best origin pairings for dual lone wolf playthrough and, avoiding spoilers if you can do so, why does your suggested pairing make for a good story?

I get that might be hard to explain without spoilers, so if that can't be avoided then I can take you at your word, if you've gone through the game with those pairs you recommend.

Thank you, and any input is greatly appreciated in advance!

[Vorpal Spoon]

Anybody?

[Vorpal Spoon]

Wow, this post and the forum are quite lonely...guess I will need "many cheeses"

[Dr. house]

I mean, you could always pair up fane with another undead. both could have high geo/poisson with summoner.
to be fair, there are quite a few combos that work well together.
summoner with lonewolf is broken at the start.

[Xaphnir]

You're not getting answers because all the characters' stories are fairly self-contained. There's not really much in the way of "story synergy" between different characters.

[Vorpal Spoon]

Originally posted by A Brick:

I mean, you could always pair up fane with another undead. both could have high geo/poisson with summoner.
to be fair, there are quite a few combos that work well together.
summoner with lonewolf is broken at the start.

Thanks for the response, but what I'm asking is about pairing two of the Origin characters specifically in their unique story and how that unfolds.

I understand they each have their own story, but I'm curious if there are pairings that fit together to make for a better overall story, together. This would probably involve NPC's and unique dialogue. Again, I'm not talking about build synergies, but character camaraderie toward the overarching story of the game.

Originally posted by Xaphnir:

You're not getting answers because all the characters' stories are fairly self-contained. There's not really much in the way of "story synergy" between different characters.

So the characters are flat in regards to each others side story and development? No interacting dialogue between characters, really?

Like a good example of who not to pair would be Sebille and Fane Red Prince, since they have conflicting issues in regards to their perpsective side quest. I wouldn't pair them obviously, on a duo lone wolf run. It would be nice if there was a pair that fit the story together better than others.

[phenir]

Originally posted by Vorpal Spoon:

Originally posted by Xaphnir:

You're not getting answers because all the characters' stories are fairly self-contained. There's not really much in the way of "story synergy" between different characters.

So the characters are flat in regards to each others side story and development? No interacting dialogue between characters, really?

Yes, hardly any if at all. I've never seen it anyway.

[Vorpal Spoon]

Originally posted by phenir:

Originally posted by Vorpal Spoon:

So the characters are flat in regards to each others side story and development? No interacting dialogue between characters, really?

Yes, hardly any if at all. I've never seen it anyway.

Shame, I was really expecting these Origin characters to develop relationships/bonds within their party after Fort Joy as the story continues. Kind of a let down considering DOS1 had the party, specifically the two MC's, have a bond.

[Chaoslink]

I think the most entertaining might be Red Prince and Sebille. They naturally hate one another and it leads to some interesting dialogues. Beyond that, they're designed to be pretty independent of one another. The only real interaction issue is that Sebille as a companion will kill a particular NPC that Red wants to talk to. Not a big issue if Red misses it, but the NPC himself is a vendor for fire spellbooks and losing access to that can be an issue if you plan on using any Pyro spells. It also leaves Red's questline open-ended for a bit until you stumble on the next NPC to talk to.

There are benefits to choosing either Red or Sebille in this pairing. Note that Red is a prince of the lizard empire, notorious slave owners and Sebille is a slave-turned-assassin seeking vengeance against those who had her turn her blade on her own. So you can see the obvious conflict. I feel like playing AS Red and trying to convince her to like you is a bit more entertaining long term, but having more direct control over Sebille gives you more benefits mechanically (choosing not to murder NPCs) and offers the potential for a different style of RP from her whereas Red doesn't change as much regardless of whether you play with him or as him.

[Vorpal Spoon]

Originally posted by Chaoslink:

I think the most entertaining might be Red Prince and Sebille. They naturally hate one another and it leads to some interesting dialogues. Beyond that, they're designed to be pretty independent of one another. The only real interaction issue is that Sebille as a companion will kill a particular NPC that Red wants to talk to. Not a big issue if Red misses it, but the NPC himself is a vendor for fire spellbooks and losing access to that can be an issue if you plan on using any Pyro spells. It also leaves Red's questline open-ended for a bit until you stumble on the next NPC to talk to.

There are benefits to choosing either Red or Sebille in this pairing. Note that Red is a prince of the lizard empire, notorious slave owners and Sebille is a slave-turned-assassin seeking vengeance against those who had her turn her blade on her own. So you can see the obvious conflict. I feel like playing AS Red and trying to convince her to like you is a bit more entertaining long term, but having more direct control over Sebille gives you more benefits mechanically (choosing not to murder NPCs) and offers the potential for a different style of RP from her whereas Red doesn't change as much regardless of whether you play with him or as him.

This. This is exactly the kinds of things I was looking for when I created this post. Thank you Chaoslink.

As a good practice and a courtesy, I will scour through topics to find my answer before asking, which for this all i could find were build combos, not character combinations and others have addressed here why: it's just lacking that.

As I searched, i noticed that you spend a good deal dishing out good detailed advice for others, and if you don't receive the credit you deserve for that, well I say thank you for doing it. Keep doing what you do, because you answered alot of questions others asked that I asked myself before, but never posted.

PS: Your explanation makes me reconsider pairing those two despite the quest conflict setback. I did not know it was still doable.

[Chaoslink]

Yeah, I can offer the lowest spoiler means of how you can work their one main conflict regarding killing that NPC early on so you get the best of both depending on who you choose to play as. Its really only a problem if Sebille is the companion.

I'll note, the reason you don't fine much when you search is that there isn't much. All their stories are designed to be independent of one another so you don't have conflicts. The problem here is that, by doing so, none of them pair together much better than any others. The only reason Red and Sebille do is their natural conflicts due to their race and the nature of the world itself. They're really the ONLY ones with any unique interactions between one another that you won't get with any other combinations.

The only real reason to consider who you pick is build related, which you already stated you're not looking for advice on. If you change that idea, the community will probably explode on the thread and go from useful build advice to some unrelated discussion off topic about something like the balance of magic versus physical damage or why summoning sucks. Something like that. You can find enough of that searching though.

[phenir]

Originally posted by Vorpal Spoon:

Originally posted by Chaoslink:

I think the most entertaining might be Red Prince and Sebille. They naturally hate one another and it leads to some interesting dialogues. Beyond that, they're designed to be pretty independent of one another. The only real interaction issue is that Sebille as a companion will kill a particular NPC that Red wants to talk to. Not a big issue if Red misses it, but the NPC himself is a vendor for fire spellbooks and losing access to that can be an issue if you plan on using any Pyro spells. It also leaves Red's questline open-ended for a bit until you stumble on the next NPC to talk to.

There are benefits to choosing either Red or Sebille in this pairing. Note that Red is a prince of the lizard empire, notorious slave owners and Sebille is a slave-turned-assassin seeking vengeance against those who had her turn her blade on her own. So you can see the obvious conflict. I feel like playing AS Red and trying to convince her to like you is a bit more entertaining long term, but having more direct control over Sebille gives you more benefits mechanically (choosing not to murder NPCs) and offers the potential for a different style of RP from her whereas Red doesn't change as much regardless of whether you play with him or as him.

This. This is exactly the kinds of things I was looking for when I created this post. Thank you Chaoslink.

As a good practice and a courtesy, I will scour through topics to find my answer before asking, which for this all i could find were build combos, not character combinations and others have addressed here why: it's just lacking that.

As I searched, i noticed that you spend a good deal dishing out good detailed advice for others, and if you don't receive the credit you deserve for that, well I say thank you for doing it. Keep doing what you do, because you answered alot of questions others asked that I asked myself before, but never posted.

PS: Your explanation makes me reconsider pairing those two despite the quest conflict setback. I did not know it was still doable.

He's overselling the Prince/Sebille interaction. The one npc in act 1 she kills, Prince just reacts with something like "I can't believe you just killed a lizard" which, if prince isn't present, some other random party member will react instead. This interaction happens an hour in; the game is easily 100 hours long and you won't see anything like that interaction again. You might get one or two unique lines of dialogue when talking to her directly as Red Prince.
Romancing Sebille as Prince isn't any harder than any other character. If you just fulfill all her requests and let her talk to everyone she wants to, she'll put out just like any other character would. No extra steps needed just for playing as Prince.
There is no reason not to take a party member because of who you are playing as or with. No one will object, everyone can be convinced to follow you all the way to the end.

[Chaoslink]

Originally posted by phenir:

He's overselling the Prince/Sebille interaction.

Can't really say that I am to be honest. I did specifically say that "they're designed to be pretty independent of one another," in there. However, comparatively to the others, these two have the most unique dialogues and the conflict naturally between them does offer a unique dynamic none of the others have. Comparatively, they're the most unique in terms of differences. However, we're still talking something minor in the grand scheme of things. There's probably 3-4x the amount of unique interactions with these two. However, on a scale of 1-10, they're still a 2 whereas everyone else is a 1. There's not that much interaction to be had in any case.

[MF]

Originally posted by Vorpal Spoon:

I have not played this game for some time, and I would like to pick it back up. Starting over, this time around I am considering playing a run with two lone wolf origin characters,

This is not a question regarding builds. It is a question about character synergy and story progression. So canon wise and development, what do you suggest are some of the best origin pairings for dual lone wolf playthrough and, avoiding spoilers if you can do so, why does your suggested pairing make for a good story?

I get that might be hard to explain without spoilers, so if that can't be avoided then I can take you at your word, if you've gone through the game with those pairs you recommend.

Thank you, and any input is greatly appreciated in advance!

I learned early that lizard boy and the elf don't mesh well - she murders someone he's talking to. But it was at least entertaining. Having said that, I find that the females don't agree with the males most of the time. I always play a human, but for my money the Red Prince is great fun to be around.

[Vorpal Spoon]

Thank you everyone for clearing that up. i had expected there to be more substance and depth between the Origin characters, and I guess there just isn't much there to be had. I put this game on hold years back and after Larian's release of BG3 and everything within it, I had expected DOS2 to have some of that and it sucks that it does not. I still expect it to be a great game even if it lacks that element to it.

Again, thank you community for clearing that up.

[Chaoslink]

I’d argue it was just one of those things they didn’t have the budget to stuff in at the end. BG3 didn’t have those limitations. It’s a very expensive venture to really flesh out characters like that. If you don’t do enough of it, the cost isn’t worth it. However, if you look at many of the iconic cRPGs in the past, the characters are usually the first hung you remember about them. Garrus, Wrex, Liara, Tali, from Mass Effect for instance. They’re some of the first things you’ll think about when you think back to Mass Effect. Usually it’ll be in the form of a specific interaction they had that stuck with you. Those games actually put effort into building their characters and fleshing out who they were. It’s one of the things that made those games so great. Many newer games try, but don’t put as much effort in and the characters end up forgettable as a result. It’s why many games go for the randomly generated companions like Bannerlord does so they don’t really need stories instead. It’s far more cost effective.