The companions one chooses determine a lot of the game strategy

Dec 10, 2012 15:53 GMT  ·  By

I love any game that allows me to control more than one character at a time and I was disappointed when the Dragon Age series only allowed me to have four party members in its most recent installment. A return to the main character and five companions structure of Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition is therefore welcomed.

At the moment, I am running a group featuring my main character, the Chevalier with heavy armors and a long sword, and the following: Imoen, Neera, Minsc, Dorn and Rassad.

I have met a number of other potential companions: Khalid and Jaheira, the pair that Gorion wants me to join, a dwarf who wants me to accompany him to save a caravan that was attacked, a mage I rescued from mines and two hapless adventurers I met early on and they seem incapable of surviving any kind of fight.

It’s interesting to note that 3 of the members of my party are characters that Overhaul Games has added to Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition and that they seem, so far, to be well integrated in the game universe and showcase some very interesting classes.

Rassad is a monk, which means that he travels light and gains special abilities that can stun and otherwise impede enemies, something that other melee classes cannot do.

Dorn is a Blackguard, which is basically a reverse Paladin, and he also has abilities that tend to disable enemies and is quite useful in the early game, although his morals might be a problem for my good aligned party in the long term.

Neera is the most interesting of the trio, a Wild Mage.

She can cast a few special spells, but the real attraction is that her power varies when casting, making all combat encounters much more unpredictable.

Her backstory is also interesting and I cannot wait to talk to her some more.