Imoen, Nalia or Jan?

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@Caradhras

If you dont have baldurdash patch, you can. Dont take Yoshi to spellhold. When you return to the Copper Coronet, pause and then talk him into joining you. The script will kick in and he will die. But since he is in your party you can ressurect him.

Ofcourse there is no Yoshimo in ToB.

 

@Shrikant: I have the baldurdash fix and I play ToB so it's hopeless, thanks anyway.

It would be easier to create a character from scratch -a silent, faithful retainer?
A character who wouldn't take liberties with you as Imoen does, a character who wouldn't have an obsession with turnips like some infamous gnome I will not mention again, finally, a character who unlike Nalia would know his place.

 

I think Jan is the best, followed by Nalia, and then Imoen. Imoen is so annoying in BG2, especially her horrible accent, which is more than enough to put me off keeping her in my party for long.

I did like her in BG1 though.

 

Of course, if you want to be really cheesey, you could just take him with you, but dismiss him from your party in a store in Spellhold, so you can have him with you in the Underdark!

 

I tend to have imoen and another arcane spellcaster - aerie/Jan/Harry - as I often get her relatively late in the game. However, Jan has a few tricks up his sleeve - including being the only active thief save yoshimo. So not only is he customizeable, but he can eventually become very useful as he gains in levels. Even if the PC is a
X/Thief or pure thief, a backup comes in handy - especially as Detect illusions can be quite useful here and there.

 

Uh.. Harry?

I'd take Imoen over Nalia anyday. Their mage level differences are minimal at best. Imoen Has IIRC 40000 XP in thief levels, while Nalia has less, don't remember exactly how much, which means Nalia only barely is a better mage.

Jan rocks! When he finally get's level 6 spells and can cast mislead, he can backstab anything to tiny pieces. Of course, so can Imoen and Nalia, but they are useless backstabbers IMHO...

Just an odd question; why are there no evil thieves in BGII? We have Imoen and Nalia on the good side, Jan and Yoshimo on the neutral side, yet there is no evil version?

 

I prefer Nalia partly because of the fact I can have her throughout the entire game, but mainly due to the fact that I am usually the party thief. (A human dualled fighter/thief by preference, though I've finished the game as an elven swashbuckler) Yes her and Imoen's stats have only minor differencs, but Immy's lower XP when I get her back definately count against. Finally, I'm not toting a library round for Imoen just so she has some worthwhile spells!

As for Jan, I like him, and his stories even though they are rambling and incoherent. Maybe because they're rambling and incoherent. if I have him, I like to have Valygar too for backstabs. Regardless of whom I pick, I want a second mage somewhere. Haer'Dalis did that job once, but Aerie is probably better. IO jut can't bring myself to be evil.

@Thor: Jan calls Haer'Dalis Haerry. I assume that's who The Shaman is referring to.

 

That does seem to be people's problem.

 

I've taken all three all the way through at time or another. I usually play a f/t so use both Nalia and Imoen as primarily mages. Jan I just plain like. I have never taken him with either Nalia or Imoen. I use him in a neutral or evil party. It might be fun to take him with Nalia or Aerie.

 

I usually take Jan because he is the only Thief in BG2 that is current as a thief. His magical abilities are good and with his equipment his thief skills are not that bad at higher levels. I do like Nalia, although she is annoygin as well as Imoen. If possilbe I like to have all three of them since I like to employ as many magic user as possible. Here is my normal group in BG2...
Myself as a F/M or a M/T.
Imoen - after Spellhold.
Nalia
Jan
Minsc - my tank or sorts
That goodie to shoes Fighter Cleric. Can't think of his name right now.

All players eventually can cast spells including Minsc and all spells from my Magic Users are offensive while my cleric spells are healing and defensive. It make a great combo.

I just wish there was a C/M/T multi-class combo. I think that would be a blast to play for a class.

 

I liked Imoen the best, havent gotten to Jan yet. Nalia is whiney and stuck up, so I dont like her. Imoen while she is a bit whiney is also kinda cute (in personality) and innocent-seeming too.

Aerie is alright, not nuts about her though. Im waiting for Viconia... ^_^ I heard she is the best RP wise.

 

personally i prefer nalia, i find imoens voice really grates on me, she has a really whiney voice, and is alway doing the woe is me routine.....scrapped!

same reason that the elf girl is such a pain (aerie)

i like to use nalia as my 3rd archer. plus atmo i suck at getting the best out of my casters anyway.

 

Until my most recent game, I always kept Nalia until swapping her for Imoen in Spellhold, and if I ever encountered Jan in the Government District, I just let him go on his way after the first interaction. In my current game, I swapped Jan for Nalia, and I like him and he's been funny (*burp*, pardon, turnip reflex).

As for choosing one over the other, it depends on who else I have in my party. If I have Yoshimo, then I'd easily go with Nalia over Jan. However, in my current game, I didn't take Yoshimo along with me, so I went with Jan.

[ October 10, 2005, 01:21: Message edited by: Aerie's Number One Fan ]

 

I dont see why everyone likes Imoen, she is obnoxious. She isn't a very good thief, so I don't have much use for her (my PC is usually a thief).

Nalia can be replaced by a more powerful mage.

Jan is awesome! Of course, I've never gotten him too powerful, but he is much more interesting, and after playing the game a bunch of times, is fun to have.

[ October 10, 2005, 02:55: Message edited by: Saber the Arsonist ]

 

I always use Nalia instead of the other 3 because of a few facts. 1, she can cast lvl 8 spells, Jan can not. 2, she has better strength for lugging around equipment. 3, I can have her throughout the game. Imoen might be a slightly better thief, but with lower strength and her not being around, Nalia has all the good spells by the time I have her join up. I never liked Jan. He has lower intelligence, strength, and his vain attempt at humor reminds of the first DnD movie, utterly horrible. Unless you really need a thief, I wouldn't take him, and even if you do, you won't use him in combat with backstab anyway. His max lvl only give his 3 more thac0 (big wups) and he still can't wear armor and cast spells, plus his strength sucks. At least Nalia has her spiffy ring to give her an edge, the others have nothing for defence, and I never liked Jans crossbow, seems useless after a while.

 

Personality-wise, I'd take Jan - the two others are utterly boring (well, not perhaps not Imoen) and they whine too much for me to take them along. You gotta' love the gnome, though. Go with Jan!

 

Seriously all I find the lack of faith and love in Imoen disturbing She's the most powerful non-evil mage and her thieving skills aren't bad either. Plus her personality is one of an Angel. What's not to like about her?

Meh!

 

Nalia sucks, Imoen too, but Jan's not only effective, but fun.

 

Jan being multi classed if far from being effective. Can't cast high level spells is effective? And he is not fun, he's annoying and not very funny. Everyon complaining about Imoen or Nalia's personality actually like Jan? I had voice sound off after his first banter when I actually tried taking him to see what he was like. God I hate him so much.

 

One thing's for sure: Bioware made a real effort to create as many annoying henchmen as they could. What's up with that?

Imoen never got on my nerves simply because she has so little to say. I'd have an opinion on her personality if she actually had one.

Nalia at least has her own sidequest, some drama in her life, and her character does mature a bit if you stick with her.

Jan is hilarious and so what if he can't cast necro spells? Reminds me of the BG1 players who automatically write off the great and mighty Xan just cuz he can't cast Magic Missile. I mean, for Pete's sake these games are about more than just how quickly and affectively you can kill stuff.