None. Kensai/Mages don't need friends.
Alright, seriously. Tempting though it is to go overboard and make this a solo campaign on top of everything else, I don't think I'd get very far on the "no reload" aspect if I did that. Not even as a Kensai/Mage. So we're going to need a party.
As I mentioned earlier I do intend to complete the character-specific quests, so at the beginning stages of the game my party will be changing a lot, both to obtain said quests and to keep apart NPCs that don't like each other and will end up in a catfight if left unsupervised.
However, sooner or later, those will all be done, and I'll have to decide on a (mostly) finalised party to take through the remainder of the game.
My initial thoughts on this are as follows:
JAHEIRA: She's not a very strong character, but she's going to have to stay with me from start to finish.
Why, you ask?
Because I need to follow the romance path, and since none of the potential love interests understand the concept of "me time", if I ever kick her out of the party then the romance will be broken, which will, as far as I know, prevent her whole Harper plotline from taking place. She also won't get taken hostage by those bandits, which means two quests left undone.
Note, however, that this is up in the air. I'm fairly sure that completing certain less savoury aspects of the game may cause her to become disgusted with you and leave the party, and if I decide that the need to do those parts outweighs the need to complete her personal quests then she'll become just as expendable as everyone else.
JAN: I need a thief to deal with those pesky traps and locks, and Jan's pretty much the only thief that's actually any good at being a thief. In fact, he's *really* good at being a thief because of all the equipment he gets that boosts his thief skills. There's Yoshimo, of course, but he won't last me through the game for reasons you should already know about.
KELDORN: Dispel Magic at twice character level? Yes please. Also, I'm sick to death of having to sell Carsomyr. It's like receiving a Porsche as a gift and having to keep it in the garage because your licence has been suspended. You know, since it's your fault that kids suck at crossing the road.
But yes, it's high time I put that sword to use.
VICONIA: The candidates for Party Cleric consist of Aerie, Anomen and Viconia.
I wouldn't exactly call this a "choice".
PARTY MEMBER 6: I'm torn here. I'm thinking of Edwin because, to quote Mae'Var, he's a bloody good spellcaster, even though he got BONED in terms of stats. However, I'm a mage and Jan's a mage. Do I really need another one?On the other hand, I could have another tank, which would probably be Korgan. As much as I like Minsc, I think that Korgan *just* about pulls ahead because of the higher CON and Grand-Mastery. TRUE Grand-Mastery as introduced by BGII Tweaks, rather than the nerfed version that was in the original game. However, I'm a tank and Keldorn's a tank, and Jaheira's kind of a tank. Do I really need another one?
Seriously, I hate slot 6. You never know what to do with it. It's just a good thing that I don't often play a straight power game, because otherwise I'd have to go through this every single time.
(EDIT: After some deliberation, I ended up deciding on Korgan.)
0 comments:
Post a Comment