Excellent/favorite minor NPC's

[Lephys]

Aria always seemed to me like that 11 year old punk who starts selling pot in the halls at middle school and thinks he's a hardcore gangsta. Nowhere near as cool as she thinks she is. The writers were trying to hard to sell her as this badass mastermind but I just never bought it.

Yeah, I get that. But, Shepard (at least in my playthrough) kinda calls her out on that, and she sort of admits to it without actually doing so. Her persona always felt to me like she was kinda purposely going all-out with it, to use her reputation for some manner of control without actually having to deal with as many incidents/issues.

 

I think the truth of her is a bit of both. She really is sort of like a big kid who thinks she's way cooler than she is, while at the same time actually pretending she thinks she's even cooler than that to really sell it to anyone who might consider 1-upping her.

 

Of course, her quality is all within the context of the Mass Effect series. I mean, she's not the best character ever or anything. I just thought she was notable, for being a minor character, within the Mass Effect 'verse.

[TXTwilight]

 

 

Aria T'Loak, from Mass Effects 2 and 3. Really good voice acting, and she did a pretty damned good job of being "bad" without being "evil."

Except, that she killed a lot of people just for the sake of power. I consider this quite evil.

 

Meh... mostly a bunch of evil people who were prepared to kill her just for the sake of power. She didn't just go around slaying babies and laughing. If she killed someone, it was for a reason. She basically just instituted martial law on her own terms, simply because it's either that or complete chaos in Omega. Did she like what she did? Sure. But she still had a good reason for doing it, and that reason wasn't just to make her feel better. *shrug*

 

I just liked the conversations with her and such, and her general character style, even though you only talk to her like 5 times. Of course, I didn't play the Retake Omega DLC, which I don't understand being DLC and not just an inherent part of the game. But I digress.

 

And now we can discuss, when a killing is justified or not ^^

Sure, her victims wwere all gangsters, but she could also just have them baished from Omega after she broke their powerbase. Most of them would had a bounty on their heads, so she could just hand handed them over to the authorities and so on.

About the enjoying thing, what was the story with the Krogan patriarch again? If I remember correctly after she broke him and his followers, she kept him as a pet, purely for her own entertainment and to scare of rivals.

But yeah, she is one of the more fleshed out NPC´s in the Mass Effect universe and I also enjoyed the dialogs with her. BTW, don´t bother with the Omega DLC, it is pretty underwhelming, like most of the ME3 DLC´s.

[milczyciel]

Ok, here comes another one I've came up, after the thorough look of my "gamebrary".

 

Doctor Marc Miller, head of hydroponics on the Von Braum (System Shock 2 for those who don't remember) who -for me at least- turned out to be far more memorable than Melanie Bronson, chief of security. And just let me tell you, that Bronson seems to be one of the most memorable side characters for quite a few people I've discussed about SS2.

But lets go back to good 'ol doc Miller. My "sentiment" for him may have a lot with the disgust of mine for characters hurting (or preying upon) women and/or mother figures. Still, I can't explain with my broken English how much terrified or should I say terrorized I felt, when I learned his story for the first time. And the "ghost" scene between him and one of his victims -Erin Bloome- only sealed the deal. The not so heroic pleas for life from late nurse only added to the impact he's story arc had over me. On the interesting side note: his voice acting wasn't as great as one would expect after reading my praises.

So just to sum it up, let me quote chief nurse Angela Loesser, when she found out what he did to 16 of her staff: "That son of a bitch. That_son_of_a_bitch!"

 

There is another one, and I recall it made me quite numb (at least for a moment before another attack). Hybrid-turned security guard Turnbull who turns out to be carrying audio log she kept recording while parasite took over. Disturbing as hell, especially when you listened it just seconds after adrenaline rush caused by her sudden attack (scripted).

 

 

I find myself honestly grateful that I've played the game back in the day, when it was fresh and groundbreaking (and when I had no internet so no one was able to spoil it for me ).

 

PS

I've added some links for those more interested about, or (gasp!) oblivious to SS2 story.

And if you'd like to relive the experience of System Shock audio logs here's another handfull link.

[centurionofprix]

From Vampire: Redemption

Count Orsi and the neverending decadent monologue. I don't know if they made him so long-winded on purpose, but the guy goes on and on and it's absolutely hilarious. Plus, what a bastard.

The letters from the council of voivodes and Libussa the Defiled.

 

From Vampire: Bloodlines

The fragments of Alistair Grout's decline on the recordings in his mansion.

Jezebel and the rest of the plague-bearers. Jeannette, Theresa, the embittered ex-supermodel Nosferatu - hordes of wonderful minor characters.

Sebastian LaCroix. Not so minor, but fabulously written and acted. He makes such a human, yet perfectly despicable, worm overlord.

 

From NWN2

Amie was likeable. I was actually quite gutted emotionally to have her die on me - ditto for Sandhra.

 

From MOTB

The souls you could view at the Thay academy, and the devils in the basement. Funny, tragic, weird.

I get the feeling there were a number of such characters in MOTB that I forget. The guys in the furnace.

Oh yeah, and the crones most of all.

 

I liked that evil cleric in BG who raised zombies like they were his family.

 

Bassilus definitely. That was a fabulous little encounter, even if the skeleton of the quest could've been more fleshed out.

 

Prism and Greywolf too. And Brage. These atmospheric little vignettes were the very best.

Edited July 18, 2013 by centurionofprix

[Tick]

This is surprisingly hard to think of. My brain wants to name major characters. The problem is the fact that the roles are so small that they're easy to forget in the grand scheme of things.

 

 

The Overseer in Fallout 1 was great. I think he was well done for his role in general, but one unique ending for the game and this made his character awesome.

There's also the guy with a low intelligence in one of the towns who, if you have a low intelligence as well, you can have a politely mannered conversation with in-depth.

 

Also. The crazy dude in the church, way later on, that makes a reference to "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire." It was worth going back to the messages log to read the full conversation with that guy (the game kept skipping to the last line). :D

 

In Mass Effect, beyond what I saw pointed out earlier, there was a turian at Noveria. Not very important, but the writing was entertaining. There was also Leeroy Jenkins, way back at the beginning, and the crazy man who was foretelling everyone's doom shortly after.

Also, Nihlus.

 

A lot of the minor characters in BioShock were well done, they had individual stories that helped portray different perspectives of what had happened and often went beyond one audio diary.

Also, in BioShock 2, Mark Meltzer was great - if you had the viral campaign's backstory.

 

The despairing hero/soldier guy in Demon Souls - he's extremely cynical, sits at the first stone. It appears that his lack of will, or his general inaction, causes him to lose his life/soul/existence.

In Dark Souls, the first knight you meet during the introduction.

 

Ish in The Last of Us. Tommy, Marlene, Tess. Sarah was well done.

 

Rattmann in Portal. Where would the cake meme be without him? ;]

The corrupt spheres in both games were great, too.

[Ulquiorra]

Fallout New Vegas

 

Also well done minor characters, even talking to minor gang member was athmospheric. My favorites is Boone and Cass

[Sensuki]

Kresselack

[Ulquiorra]

Other rememberble characters from Gothic 1 and 2 night of the raven.

 

there are some characters that even don't have a name like "town guard" or "novice" and there are still wery climatic events in this game, I also think that giving characters names like Alvarez or Gomez also gived some to this athmosphere.

[Wolfenbarg]

I also immediately thought of Little Buster before I even scrolled down and saw you linked the line I was thinking of as well. New Vegas has a lot of memorable NPCs, Chief Hanlon definitely being my favorite. Despite how much he talks, I actually wish he had more to say about current events in the Wasteland.

 

In a similar vein was Bassilus, I really like the crazy gnome who uses Basilisks to forge a rock garden he wants you to be a part of in Baldur's Gate. It's so ludicrous that it ends up being funny, and the condescending dialogue options you can choose really play into that.

[Woldan]

Noober of course!
 

Aria T'Loak, from Mass Effects 2 and 3. Really good voice acting, and she did a pretty damned good job of being "bad" without being "evil."

I agree, Aria was badass, not bad.
Loved the relationship between her and the protagonist, there was some sort of fragile stunted trust between them because they needed each other (and nobody really wanted to admit that openly). Carry-Ann Moss' voice acting was excellent also.

 

Aria T'Loak, from Mass Effects 2 and 3. Really good voice acting, and she did a pretty damned good job of being "bad" without being "evil."

Except, that she killed a lot of people just for the sake of power. I consider this quite evil.

 

She did that to prevent chaos which probably would have lead to huge piles of bodies. Omega was a violent place.

Another NPC I really liked -even though its role wasn't so minor- was Solar from Baldur's Gate II Throne of Bhaal, great character. I liked the concept of having conversations and being guided by a truly benevolent being from a heavenly-plane.

Edited July 21, 2013 by Woldan

[SophosTheWise]

Also came here to say Noober. Altough I liked so many characters in Baldur's Gate. For example the bard from the Firewine Bridge.

 

I've a tale, a tale to tell
Of Knights so bold and dungeons hell

And slumber broke upon the shore
Of nightmare's reef when dawn no more.

[Eiphel]

Whilst almost everyone in New Vegas counts, this morning Vulpes Inculta sprang to mind. Your first encounter with him can't fail to make an impression.

[milczyciel]

That hermit named Portalbendarwinden, living in the wilderness outside of Nashkel.

I'm amazed nobody mentioned him already. Maybe it's because 4th wall breaking joke? Oh well - more fun for me :D
I suppose he wouldn't be so memorable, if not for that particular rant of your PC, in reaction for his gibberish prophecy / advice. Still, back in a day, it made me laugh so much, that I've decided to take a screenshot of our conversation and then copied it to floppy disk, because I wanted to share it with all 3 BG-playing friends of mine. And I find it amusing to this day. True story

 

Chicken turned mage apprentice Melicamp.

His short story had both humor (as always in dialogues) and drama - at least before I've learned that he can be saved and all I needed to do, was to keep reloading the quicksave. That randomness of his survival in the curse removal process, was quite refreshing and different from most of the game.

Edited July 22, 2013 by milczyciel

[Nonek]

Too many to mention in all honesty, the minor npc's of Ultima 6&7, Betrayal at Krondor and Torment all spring to mind.

[quechn1tlan]

Gluupor, the stupid as bricks low-life Rodian who, for whatever reason, was hired by the Sith to plant evidence in KotOR's murder trial on Manaan. The way he talked about himself in 3rd person(with how it correlated with the alien voice acting) and the conversation itself to me were hilarious and very memorable. Also the fact that even other NPCs regard him in a condescending manner also added flavour.

[Starwars]

Ingress, who accidentally stepped through a portal on her homeplane in Torment and unwittingly ended up in Sigil. Her story really moved me, especially her paranoia about not wanting to go under *any* arc in fear of it being a portal to another plane.

 

Really touching for some reason, felt really happy when I found out that you could help her.

 

Someone mentioned Bloodlines above and I have to agree. They really nailed it there with the characters. Grout's voiceactor on the tapes was fantastic for example.

[Thuringwethil]

Torment was indeed filled with excellent NPCs - Fall-From-Grace, being a recruitable companion, probably doesn't count as 'minor' but I was especially moved by her promise to search the Lower Planes for the Nameless One's soul in the 'best' ending of that game. (Excellent setup, I thought, for a potential sequel centered around her finding out what happened to Nameless and why, and attempting some manner of rescue even if the best that can be done for Nameless' soul is total oblivion... but alas, there isn't much market for games starring a fully dressed, chaste succubus.)

 

A more recent (so new I haven't played all the way through the game yet) freeware NPC who deserves some love: The starting city in Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok includes a little boy named Heime who is usually seen practicing with his wooden sword (I spotted him 'dueling' a snowman in the street once, even) and often talks about how he wants to grow up to be a great warrior... and if you happen to be playing a warrior, he'll talk about being strong and brave like you.  Heroes deserve a little hero-idolizing now and then, don't they?

[motorizer]

Fallout

Harold, Butch Harris, Set..

I could go on....

 

had to add this )

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJwu8evy9NU

Edited January 18, 2014 by motorizer

[Monte Carlo]

BG!: Melincamp and the chicken saga. The self-destructing ogre. The sexist evil fighter chick.

[Reever]

Torment was indeed filled with excellent NPCs - Fall-From-Grace, being a recruitable companion, probably doesn't count as 'minor' but I was especially moved by her promise to search the Lower Planes for the Nameless One's soul in the 'best' ending of that game. (Excellent setup, I thought, for a potential sequel centered around her finding out what happened to Nameless and why, and attempting some manner of rescue even if the best that can be done for Nameless' soul is total oblivion... but alas, there isn't much market for games starring a fully dressed, chaste succubus.)

 

A more recent (so new I haven't played all the way through the game yet) freeware NPC who deserves some love: The starting city in Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok includes a little boy named Heime who is usually seen practicing with his wooden sword (I spotted him 'dueling' a snowman in the street once, even) and often talks about how he wants to grow up to be a great warrior... and if you happen to be playing a warrior, he'll talk about being strong and brave like you.  Heroes deserve a little hero-idolizing now and then, don't they?

 

Yeah, I like all of the Torment companions very much, but especially Morte, Anna, Fall-From-Grace and Dak'kon. Nordom was funny too, although I didn't take him along. And the first three's bickering was just great throughout the game! =)

I'm also happy we could help Ingress!

[AGX-17]

 

Aria T'Loak, from Mass Effects 2 and 3. Really good voice acting, and she did a pretty damned good job of being "bad" without being "evil."

Not a minor NPC by any definition. She was played by Carrie-Anne Moss and had an entire DLC devoted to letting players, as Shepard, try to bone her.

Edited January 18, 2014 by AGX-17

[lolaldanee]

the drugged Volos in Mass Effect 2

BIONIC GOD!

i hate drugs with a passion, but that scene is just priceless

 

the Gothic series had a few very memorable characters too

[samm]

The Krug from Dungeon Siege III :D

 

Swift Thomas from IWD 2, quite handy too

 

That tough woman (Shadowrunner with gangster boyfriend) from Shadowrun Returns as well as the Shaman girl and Sam, if he counts as minor. Really well written game, even if I really forgot all the names...

 

Hrothgar in IWD, maybe thanks to his voice actor. Could quote the intro from that game at least until the heroes emerge after the pass to Kuldahar. Loving it. Also the mage shopkeeper in Kuldahar, and Larrel (?) with his astrolabe and... ah, too many good, atmospheric things about this game

 

Mage with fleshgolem in High Hedge in BG1. Was a pretty location for that game.

 

The guy disguised as a zombie in PS:T's mortuary, and "the post", and Louis at the brothel.

 

That damn pet headcrab in Half Life 2 that likes hiding in important machinery.

Edited January 19, 2014 by samm

[lolaldanee]

and Larrel (?) with his astrolabe and...

 

now that you mention him...

EVAYNE!

Larrels daugther

how could i not think of her?

one of the most memorable NPCs in my gaming career, although you do not even meet her once

i absolutely love that whole part of icewind dale around the severed hand

Edited January 19, 2014 by lolaldanee

[Frenetic Pony]

"Tiax rules all!"