I don't like Minsc.

[StupidSeal]

I will be upfront, I don't like Minsc. I find him loud, annoying, and very childish (not in a good way). I found a 10 second clip which sums up how annoying Minsc is. Screaming blue murder, acting like  a weirdo and talking about squirrels. This YouTube video showcases how annoying he is (in a lighthearted way). I'll talk more about him in depth below. 

Why I dislike Minsc: 
He's seen as the face of Baldur's Gate. I don't like the humor around him, ''haha hamster crazy XD'', he's a little simple and childish, I can't take him seriously, highly regarded as being the best NPC, when in fact Edwin is more accurate. I'm not a fan of the ranger class. It's a nerfed fighter in my viewpoint. 

Perhaps other than his personality what I don't like most about Minsc., is his berserking. Whenever he goes Bersek he will attack his own party and secondly, when characters like Aerie or Nalia are in the party Minsc will take them as his ''witch''. I find that cool. Here's the bad part. When either one is Minsc's witch, if they fall in battle in other words die Minsc will automatically berserk. A fight, let alone a boss fight is difficult enough without your own party members attacking you. 

Secondly because of this, it makes me not want to take either Aerie or Nalia who are two interesting NPCs in a party with Minsc as they can cause him to turn on the party and ruin a fight! In terms of stats, Minsc is great. Very strong. I just don't want to ever play with him. Or see him in Baldur's Gate three. 

I just don't like him. What are your thoughts? Am I just being a stupid seal? 

[MedicineDan]

I have virtually never seen such overt trawling in my time on the boards, and that's considerable.  However, I'll bite.  I didn't like Minsc.  I mean, I don't hate the idea of him.  I just hate the over the top, on the nose, and beat you over the head execution of Minsc.  You can beat the game on every difficulty level without Minsc, and so he's not vital.  To be fair, think that goes for every NPC, but why take an annoying one if not needed?  I think more people venerate Boo than Minsc and, moreover, I believe the duo is more of an Easter egg/vanity project by the devs.  Still, I don't begrudge the Minsc/Boo fandom.  I'm just a hack who can't act, write, or convince anyone of anything.  Who am I to say what's good or not other than to voice support for the OP.

Nevertheless, before someone makes idiotic accusations, Seal ain't Eldar.  He should take that as a compliment.

[Orogun01]

I also didn't like Minsc, he displays may symptoms of low functioning autism. But I also don't like Baldurs Gate, the game has an interesting view of what evil is, I would just tell rude people to f off and when they became belligerent I defended myself. Then I met Minsc, who was standing around for weeks at that point in the same spot. When I told him that his witch was probably dead (a reasonable assumption due to the amount time passed) He flew into one of his autistic rage episodes and attacked me, after putting the mentally deficient bastard down the whole town's guard came after me. Apparently acts of self defense are not lawful in Baldurs Gate.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I usually dumped Minsc for Korgan or Anomen by the time the gang hit the bar. There's not much use in keeping around a plain ranger when you can get warriors with lots of spells or Keldorn ir Valygar in the party. Edwin was OP due to his necklace, but Aerie, Nailia, Jan, and Imoen beat him in terms of versatility so I usually ended up bringing them instead.

In terms of tone, Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 jump from dead serious to cheesy constantly, so Minsc does fit the game. Maybe he'll show up in Baldur's Gate 3 and a new number of players can deal with the disabled ranger.

[Skazz]

I like Minsc.

[algroth]

Someone dislikes Minsc?! What?! Boo is outraged! See his fury! It's small, so look close. Trust me, it's there.

[Wormerine]

Still more dramatic depth then the entirety of Kingmaker. 

[Majek]

I like Minsc. Edwin is a moron though, even if powerful and useful.

 

But the one i loathe is Anomen. And i think anyone who likes to use Anomen or even ugh likes him, should be forever locked away in solitary cell somewhere.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

19 minutes ago, Majek said:

I like Minsc. Edwin is a moron though, even if powerful and useful.

 

But the one i loathe is Anomen. And i think anyone who likes to use Anomen or even ugh likes him, should be forever locked away in solitary cell somewhere.

I'll bite.

Anomen is useful as a Fighter/Cleric. His usefulness slacks off and he is the most annoying companion by far, and is even more bloodthirsty and petty than the evil characters, but he's useful for a time. Minsc on the other hand gets edged out by several other martial characters who can pull his weight and do more for the party than he is able to.

[213374U]

I used to dislike Anomen too, the petulant twerp. His arc is one of the best, though, and it's the reason he needs to be an insufferable brat when you first meet him. After all, it's hard to develop someone into a honorable and reasonable adult if they are already honorable and reasonable.

Mechanically he's fantastic. Cleric is already a pretty broken class, and the dual classing rules used in BG whereby his fighter levels don't matter at all XP-wise make it even better.

[Hurlshort]

So far, I can say I like this character better than ComradeMaster and SonicMage. 

But I also liked Minsc. 

[HoonDing]

hes ok

[Sarex]

Never had issues with him, character wise. Especially considering how old the game is.

[Humanoid]

BG2 was more than half a lifetime ago and to be honest, I didn't really roleplay back then, and was more concerned with effectiveness and probably ended up as a pretty milquetoast semi-completionist good guy. These days - well, these days I wouldn't play the game at all because I'd find the large parties and micromanagement insufferable - but pretending I could tolerate that, Minsc (and all the other ones who give you lip) is probably the kind of NPC I'd ignore. Anyway, perhaps as a consequence of not bothering much with the roleplay aspect, I don't really remember anything but the catchphrases. Did the game even let you leave him in the cell at the start?

[Zoraptor]

Minsc? Brave Minsc, following equally brave Khalid in trying to single handedly attack an Ogre in the Nashkel wilds. That's also how I knew that the 'Minsc' in Irenicus' dungeon was an imposter so left him there to be squashed flat. The thought of Minsc teaming up with Lilarcor, it's enough to make me consider taking a drill to my frontal lobes even without having experienced it directly.

Other observations:

1) Jan Jensen is all the comic relief I'll ever need. Turnips >>> Boo.

2) Disturbing lack of appreciation for Edwin in this thread

1 hour ago, 213374U said:

After all, it's hard to develop someone into a honorable and reasonable adult if they are already honorable and reasonable.

Meh, Anomen was so insufferable I always deliberately 'failed' his quests. I guess that does make him good at eliciting a reaction though and thus by some measures a good character...

[majestic]

6 hours ago, Hurlshot said:

So far, I can say I like this character better than ComradeMaster and SonicMage. 

But I also liked Minsc. 

Silly me was giving him the benefit of the doubt after the reaction to Eye of the Beholder 2, but I guess that thread just settles it then.

[rjshae]

Go for the eyes, Boo.

[MedicineDan]

1 hour ago, rjshae said:

Go for the eyes, Boo.

Doofus!  lol  :good natured grin:

Anyhow, Tristan is considerably better than Minsc.  He's a devs teen wet-dream.  Whatever.  At least I don't hate Boo.

[StupidSeal]

19 hours ago, Orogun01 said:

I also didn't like Minsc, he displays may symptoms of low functioning autism. But I also don't like Baldurs Gate, the game has an interesting view of what evil is, I would just tell rude people to f off and when they became belligerent I defended myself. Then I met Minsc, who was standing around for weeks at that point in the same spot. When I told him that his witch was probably dead (a reasonable assumption due to the amount time passed) He flew into one of his autistic rage episodes and attacked me, after putting the mentally deficient bastard down the whole town's guard came after me. Apparently acts of self defense are not lawful in Baldurs Gate.

Huzzah! A man of culture! I admit the Baldur's Gate series is flawed (a lot of quests aren't timed for example). 

 

17 hours ago, KaineParker said:

I usually dumped Minsc for Korgan or Anomen by the time the gang hit the bar. There's not much use in keeping around a plain ranger when you can get warriors with lots of spells or Keldorn ir Valygar in the party. Edwin was OP due to his necklace, but Aerie, Nailia, Jan, and Imoen beat him in terms of versatility so I usually ended up bringing them instead.

In terms of tone, Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 jump from dead serious to cheesy constantly, so Minsc does fit the game. Maybe he'll show up in Baldur's Gate 3 and a new number of players can deal with the disabled ranger.

Good choices! Rangers are very boring in Baldur's Gate, apart from being able to charm animals. Your reasons highlighted above, make sense. 

 

 

22 hours ago, MedicineDan said:

I have virtually never seen such overt trawling in my time on the boards, and that's considerable.  However, I'll bite.  I didn't like Minsc.  I mean, I don't hate the idea of him.  I just hate the over the top, on the nose, and beat you over the head execution of Minsc.  You can beat the game on every difficulty level without Minsc, and so he's not vital.  To be fair, think that goes for every NPC, but why take an annoying one if not needed?  I think more people venerate Boo than Minsc and, moreover, I believe the duo is more of an Easter egg/vanity project by the devs.  Still, I don't begrudge the Minsc/Boo fandom.  I'm just a hack who can't act, write, or convince anyone of anything.  Who am I to say what's good or not other than to voice support for the OP.

Nevertheless, before someone makes idiotic accusations, Seal ain't Eldar.  He should take that as a compliment.

Someone not liking a character is now trolling? I just find Minsc so loud and annoying like you mentioned. ''Who am I to say'', is a silly question IMO. You are you. If you can't speak for yourself and deny yourself your own opinion, then your opinion doesn't really matter.  

[Mamoulian War]

17 hours ago, Hurlshot said:

So far, I can say I like this character better than ComradeMaster and SonicMage. 

But I also liked Minsc. 

Now comes the plot twist:

Spoiler

 Considering his way of bashing EOB in the other thread, using one's signature move nostalgia blindness, he might be Sonic after all

 

Edited September 13, 2020 by Mamoulian War

[Gizmo]

16 hours ago, Humanoid said:

 Did the game even let you leave him in the cell at the start?

Not only in the cell, but the cell is welded shut, and the PC has the option to question how and where he was able to hide Boo during his capture & imprisonment.

Edited September 13, 2020 by Gizmo

[Wormerine]

I think there was the only playthrough of BG2 I managed to do without Minsc - it was an evil one. And none of BG1. I am a sucker for continuality so BG1 is always with Imoen, Jaheira/Khalid, Mincs/Dynaheir. I never found MInsc annoying, but he is not my highlight of BG2 either. Still, I could never bring myself to leave him in the dungeon, and he is just too earnestly enthusiastic for me to be able to leave him behind. He might be a simple one, but there is beauty and purity in simplicity.

 

Edited September 13, 2020 by Wormerine

[Hurlshort]

45 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

Still, I could never bring myself to leave him in the dungeon, and he is just too earnestly enthusiastic for me to be able to leave him behind. He might be a simple one, but there is beauty and purity in simplicity.

 

This is very well said. Earnest enthusiasm seems to be the key to living your best life. 

Just be careful not to get wrapped up in a roman numeral sex cult. 

 

[Chilloutman]

I never found anyone in BG series annoying.. maybe they all have like 10 lines of dialog max? But I don't like Jan for some reason, I was never a fan of short races in BG engine

[Gizmo]

Xan

 

Certainly he was intended to annoy, but had the enchanted sword as incentive to keep him around.

Edited September 13, 2020 by Gizmo