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I have tried and tried and tried, but every time I have a file in BG2, I can never build up the heart to dump Minsc or Jaheira. Jaheira's not that great, but since i got her at the beginning, I cant seem to let her go. And for some reason I am overwhelmed at minsc's damage, so I cant let him go.

I know there are better characters, like mazzy, but i cant seem to let them go...what should I do?

I can`t let them go either.I think you should keep them.They are your Baldurs Gate friends afterall.Becides,Jaheira will get you some very neat items and MInsc isn`t so bad with The Vorpal Sword.

I personally despise Keldorn and Mazzy.It would be a sin to take them instead of your old friends.

As you can see...I support Minsc and Jaheira all the way.

I dont normally take mazzy, i just take Keldorn so he can hold the Carsomyr +5 and be a very powerful tank.

Well I have been searching the walkthrough pages and found a party I might try out, and it has minsc and jaheira in it.

ill just see how that goes, cuz i dont want to get rid of 'em

I had that problem too. Then I came up with a good rp reason not to take them: because the pc is a bhaalspawn and trouble follows him wherever he goes, dynaheir had died, and khalid had died, and now imoen's life was in grave danger. He couldn't bear to have the same happen to jaheira and minsc, so he bluntly boots them from the party.

I normally keep Minsc and get him to focus on Halberds (for the excellent one found in the Underdark), he's a strong character in his own right. As for Jaheira, it depends on the time in the game, sometimes she will leave the party forever and other times you can leave her when you need a different character.

I agree with the idea that having old companions could be seen as a 'curse' by the PC character.

I kept Minsc for a first couple of games, but I decided to ditch him after that.

Partly I wanted to try different party formation (and see the conversation among them), and also Minsc's "Hamsters and rangers everywhere!" shout while hiding and tendency to be confused/chamred/panic easily got to my nerve.

And, I hardly ever keep Minsc much after saving Dynaheir in BG1 anyway these days (Kivan's my favourite ranger there), so I don't have much heart for him in the first place.

As for Jaheira, I keep her until I finish her harper quest at least. I like having both cleric and druid in my party, and she is the best option available, unless I use ShadowKeeper to change someone into a fighter/druid.

It's easy. When I don't want Minsc and Jaheira in my party, I pretend they don't exist. Why should I assume that they were with my character when she was captured by Irenicus? The game doesn't give me much choice about Imoen (my character would be trapped in Irenicus's dungeon forever and I wouldn't have anything to do after Chapter Three if Imoen wasn't a party member), but Minsc and Jaheira are strictly optional. Just stay away from their cages and make your way out of Irenicus's dungeon without them, and you'll never have to think about them again.

[QUOTE=Berethor]I have tried and tried and tried, but every time I have a file in BG2, I can never build up the heart to dump Minsc or Jaheira. Jaheira's not that great, but since i got her at the beginning, I cant seem to let her go. And for some reason I am overwhelmed at minsc's damage, so I cant let him go.

I know there are better characters, like mazzy, but i cant seem to let them go...what should I do?[/QUOTE]

Define "better." We all know that it's possible to beat BG2 with any combination of party NPCs, so it's a case of X vs. Y causing so much overkill, when either will still destroy all opponents. Since that's the case, why not settle for party members who are perfectly capable of winning for you, even if they won't do it in the quickest or easiest fashion all the time--provided these are characters you like?

I think VonDondu has the right idea. Don't want Jaheira and Minsc ignore them. I do on a regular basis (although I do think about them - slowly suffering in their cages with no hope of escape, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling on the inside)

My biggest problem with this game is that it made assumptions that certain characters would be more popular than others e.g. Minsc, Imoen, Jaheira, Edwin and Viconia and that players would want to contiune with these characters over say Coran, Safana, Kivan, Branwen.

The decision to have Imoen as the driving force behind the PC, contiunes this assumption, why would every player actually care that she is kidnapped and want to rescue her. From my initial encounter with the character in the original BG 1took an instant dislike to her, which was only compounded by the fact that like the parasitic face-hugger in Alien she latched on to my character following Gorion's death despite his protests that he did not desire her company. Although I never got incredibly far into the game I got far enough to realize which characters I would consider taking further Kivan, Edwin, Kaigan, Safana, Garrick and those I'd happily bury, Jaheira, Minsc, Imoen. Thus imagine my horror upon starting BG2 to learn that not only had the designers deigned my character actually travelled with Imoen, Jaheira and Minsc, (I actually quite liked Dynaheir and suspected Khalid would be quite fun if he ever got free of his shrew of a wife) but that once more I'm faced with the horror of Imoen, who I then have to risk my neck rescuing!

Oh and Lonelypilgrim I'm a sinner and proud of it! (in the case of Mazzy anyway!)

[QUOTE=foot]I had that problem too. Then I came up with a good rp reason not to take them: because the pc is a bhaalspawn and trouble follows him wherever he goes, dynaheir had died, and khalid had died, and now imoen's life was in grave danger. He couldn't bear to have the same happen to jaheira and minsc, so he bluntly boots them from the party.[/QUOTE]

Then, in order to continue roleplaying, you'll HAVE to stay solo, as you probably doesn't want to pick up innocent adventurers and curse them into having a life of misfortune? Bad RP reason, I'd say. Why not stick with the reason originally given to dumb them? You dont remember them, and who'd trust a ranger who talks to a frikkin' hamster?

[QUOTE=Raven_Song] ...but that once more I'm faced with the horror of Imoen, who I then have to risk my neck rescuing![/QUOTE]

Actually you don't have to care squat for her. In each and every dialogue option where you can state that you want to save her, you can also state that you're headhunting the badass who captured you, Irenicus. I guess they made an alternative option for those who dislikes Imoen.

Afterall, even if you're a cold-hearted bastard who doesnt care in the least if their "allies" gets chopped into pieces, You'll probably still want to chase after the man who tortured you for such a long time. You don't really have anything better to do now, do you?

True, but I find Minsc's conversations with Jan quite entertaining! I also like the one when hes like look boo, squirels! or somethin like that. I like jaheira because of her strentgh as a semi-tank in my file

It is BioWare's idea of who's most likely continue travel with you after BG, and not Your idea anyway. All three of them you have met quite early in the game in BG1 (without doing too much side quest before going to Nashkel, that is), so it is natural to think they would be BioWare's first choice. I never took Jaheira to Baldur's Gate (the city of, that is), so it was odd to hear what her say about "travelling with you"; but it would be even stranger if someone else said that, I guess, considering her friendship with Gorion.

Also, Minsc and Jaheira available at the begining of the game give players (especially when you play for the first time) to have companions in all classes; wizard, priest, rogue and warrior, regardless the choice of class for PC. After all, the first dungeon is where we learn the game, system, and gives idea what to expect from the character classes.

Still, it is up to you, really. They say "we travelled long together", but not necessarily in everyone's game. As VonDondu said, you can just pretend they are not there. It is not like they ended up in the cage for rest of their lives, anyway.

[QUOTE=Thrifalas]Then, in order to continue roleplaying, you'll HAVE to stay solo, as you probably doesn't want to pick up innocent adventurers and curse them into having a life of misfortune? Bad RP reason, I'd say. Why not stick with the reason originally given to dumb them? You dont remember them, and who'd trust a ranger who talks to a frikkin' hamster?[/QUOTE]

Actually, I thought of this when trying to come up with a reason why my CG diviner would take in korgan and dump minsc. I wanted korgan because I was playing a no-magic-items party and needed a strong character who could take a single weapon made by the enchanted weapon spell (axe, mace, long sword, short sword). So if anyone prefers the evil NPCs but doesn't actually like playing evil in the game, there's your excuse .

Originally posted by Thrifalas
Actually you don't have to care squat for her. In each and every dialogue option where you can state that you want to save her, you can also state that you're headhunting the badass who captured you, Irenicus. I guess they made an alternative option for those who dislikes Imoen.

Yes but then bioware have automatically assumed that you'd want to seek revenge on Irenicus. I was playing a back-stabbing thief who quite frankly is smart enough not to be messing around with uber-wizards, she'd rather spend her time turning arrogant knights of Helm to the dark-side then tossing them aside for frat boy sorcerers (*maniacal laughter*). Plus you still end up rescuing the little wench in any event.

Originally posted by Minerva
It is BioWare's idea of who's most likely continue travel with you after BG, and not Your idea anyway. All three of them you have met quite early in the game in BG1 (without doing too much side quest before going to Nashkel, that is), so it is natural to think they would be BioWare's first choice. I never took Jaheira to Baldur's Gate (the city of, that is), so it was odd to hear what her say about "travelling with you"; but it would be even stranger if someone else said that, I guess, considering her friendship with Gorion.

Yes but that assumes you are going to do the Nashakal quest immediately and not go wondering. Also you meet Xzar and Montaron before Jaheira and Khalid, and before Minsc there's Garrick, Kaigan (in Beregost) and others if you stray from the beaten path a little Ajantis, Kivan (whom i agree is a much better ranger), Safana, Shar-Teel.

Besides given the high instances of death in the original BG it makes more sense that the characters you find later in the game are more likely to be with you at the close of the game, as they would not have the luxury of power word: reload

Just imagine the beginning this as a beginning of Bg2. Your Pc is freed from his/her cage by his/her future overlord, Tiax (he will rule you know). You immediately hasten to free Eldoth and Quayle from the nearby cages if only to quiet their complaining, and irritate Tiax. Quayle informs you of the tragic loss of Alora (happy happy joy joy - well she wasn't so joyful when Irenicus had finished with her) and Eldoth suggests that you search for Skie as the poor dear is likely to find being in this dungeon rather icky. After stumbling round in the dark for a bit the quartet stumbles across the horribly mutilated corpse of Skie. Eldoth almost manages to shed a tear as he performs a dirge-like little ditty in honour of the loss of his cash cow.

its all good(and confusing )but I cant seen to go solo either...it seems too hard