OK, everyone's favorite foppish idiot returns to right past wrongs. As many of you recall, I started an NPC elimination style poll, that ended about a month ago. Due to a set of circumstances that were partially within and partially beyond my control, I feared a cyber-lynch mob was ready to come for me.

So, what I am attempting to do now, is to put out a new poll that attempts to give us an answer as to who is the most popular NPC, and avoid some of the pitfalls of the last tournament.

This is not an elimination style tournament. It is a single poll that will end in one week.

Rules:

1. Vote for the NPC's that you like the best. It is not who would win a fight (or in this case a battle royal) between them. Just who you like the best due to stroyline, banters, romances, humor, whatever. It's probably the NPC's that you use the most.

2. There are three questions in this poll. The first question asks you to pick your three favorite NPC's based on the criteria listed above. The second question asks you to pick your two favorite NPC's. These two NPC's should be two of the three you already voted for in the first question. The third and final question asks you to vote for your favorite NPC. This NPC should have been one of them that you voted for in questions 1 and 2.

3. The votes of all three questions will be tallied at the end of the voting period, and the results from the three questions will be added together to declare a winner. By setting it up this way, it allows each person to give their favorite NPC three votes, their second favorite NPC two votes, and their third favorite NPC one vote. By doing it this way, it allows you to weight your vote, and since very few people will have the same three favorite NPC's, it reduces the chance for a tie.

Here is a quick example of how you will cast your votes, using myself as an example:

I chose NPC's based on entertainment value. The more they humor me, the more I like them. Therefore, my three favorite NPC's are (in order) Edwin, Minsc and Jan. As such, I would vote as follows:

In the first question, I would check three boxes (the maximum you can), giving a vote to Edwin, Minsc and Jan. In the second question, I would check two boxes (the maximum), giving a vote to Edwin and Minsc. In the final question, I would check only one box, giving a vote to Edwin.

By doing this, I will give three votes to Edwin, two to Minsc and one to Jan.

If you are wondering why we are using this system, check on the link on this site, where several people gave me valuable input. I won't rehash all of those statements here though. Onto the poll!!!

Poll Information
This poll contains 3 question(s). 61 user(s) have voted.
Voting starts at July 07, 2003 18:41 board time.
Voting stops at July 14, 2003 18:41 board time.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: New and Improved NPC Results! (61 votes.)

Chose your three favorite NPC's: (Choose 3)
* Imoen - 39% (24)
* Minsc - 28% (17)
* Jaheira - 33% (20)
* Yoshimo - 10% (6)
* Aerie - 20% (12)
* Nalia - 5% (3)
* Anomen - 2% (1)
* Korgan - 25% (15)
* Viconia - 28% (17)
* Jan - 23% (14)
* Valygar - 13% (8)
* Keldorn - 8% (5)
* Haer Dalis' - 10% (6)
* Edwin - 25% (15)
* Cernd - 3% (2)
* Mazzy - 10% (6)
* Sarevok - 20% (12)

Chose your two favorite NPC's: (two of the three you checked in #1) (Choose 2)
* Imoen - 30% (18)
* Minsc - 18% (11)
* Jaheira - 20% (12)
* Yoshimo - 7% (4)
* Aerie - 16% (10)
* Nalia - 5% (3)
* Anomen - 0% (0)
* Korgan - 16% (10)
* Viconia - 20% (12)
* Jan - 16% (10)
* Valygar - 11% (7)
* Keldorn - 2% (1)
* Haer Dalis' - 8% (5)
* Edwin - 11% (7)
* Cernd - 2% (1)
* Mazzy - 5% (3)
* Sarevok - 13% (8)

Chose your favorite NPC: (one of the two your checked in #2) (Choose 1)
* Imoen - 16% (10)
* Minsc - 11% (7)
* Jaheira - 15% (9)
* Yoshimo - 2% (1)
* Aerie - 3% (2)
* Nalia - 0% (0)
* Anomen - 0% (0)
* Korgan - 3% (2)
* Viconia - 11% (7)
* Jan - 10% (6)
* Valygar - 8% (5)
* Keldorn - 2% (1)
* Haer Dalis' - 3% (2)
* Edwin - 7% (4)
* Cernd - 0% (0)
* Mazzy - 0% (0)
* Sarevok - 8% (5)

Yeah, new NPC poll! Go with Viconia and Edwin people :D !

Finally, a chance to try and right an injustice that occurred when Lady Jaheira ended up losing to that bald dunce.

It's nice to see her kickin' some butt this go around, at least in the early going.

Jaheira ... Jaheira ... :love: :love: :love:

[ July 08, 2003, 20:41: Message edited by: Beren ]

Am I the only one who voted for Mazzy after pick 3? Ridiculous! Damnit where's Ragusa when we need him?

This is a hard one. Except for Minsc . Don't forget Boo. My golds on Minsc.

Hey, it occured to me that Minsc should be disqualified for cheating.
There should be separate entries for Boo and Minsc ! ;)

hmm i get the feeling people here vote for the npcs they love most. thus we will have some kind of 'looserfinal' instead of the battle of the best.

I voted for Valygar, Sarevok and Korgan. And people, please vote for normal non-snappy and non-buggy NPCs, will you? We can't have Jaheira winning here, even if I did like her in one fic. That one, where she ended up with Jan.

*ducks

I went Imoen, Yoshimo, and Sarevok, because of their importance to the storyline which made the game so fun.

hmm i get the feeling people here vote for the npcs they love most. Yeah, that's the whole idea. Check rule 1:

1. Vote for the NPC's that you like the best. It is not who would win a fight (or in this case a battle royal) between them. Just who you like the best due to stroyline, banters, romances, humor, whatever. It's probably the NPC's that you use the most.

I went for Cernd-Jan-Keldorn with Keldorn as my favourite...

This poll is much better than the elimination version. Well done. Well, I went for Jaheira-Edwin-HaerDalis, although my all-time favourite is Xan (only available via a mod, though, so not listed here).

:jawdrop:

OK, for those of you who don't like math, here are the results after 32 votes.

Viconia leads all contestants with 23 total votes. Imoen, Jaheira and Korgan are currently in second with 20 votes each. An honorable mention goes out to Jan, who is just behind those three with 19 so far. Minsc is currently in sixth with 17, and everyone else is probably too far behind at this point to win.

More surprising is who ISN'T getting voted for. How can Sarevok have only 9 votes when he beat Korgan when they went head-to-head a few weeks back? Korgan is getting more votes now competing against everyone than when he was just up against Sarevok? :confused:

This one completely blows my mind. Keldorn has only 6 votes. To put that in perspective - that's as many votes as Yoshimo has at this point, and he's only involved for half of SoA, and none of ToB. How can this be, when he made the semi-finals of the elimination tournament?

In the "losers" division, I give you Haer Dalis', with only 4 votes. Cernd and Mazzy have 3 each. Anomen managed a single vote. But the winner is... with absolutely ZERO VOTES - Nalia! That's right! We've had 32 people vote - that's 96 potential votes, and not one of them for Nalia. You know you've hit rock bottom when you're losing to Anomen in a popularity contest!

[ July 08, 2003, 19:51: Message edited by: Aldeth the Foppish Idiot ]

I took Valygar-Cernd-Sarevok, in that order...

What about Edwin!? :sosad:

Finally, a chance to try and right an injustice that occurred when Lady Jaheira ended up losing to that bald dunce. Sorry to say but that "bald dunce" is probably going to win. I don't know why so many people like him...he spouts off a few annoying lines here and there and that's it! No romance, no ties to the storyline; just mindless comments and a big sword.

I went with Aerie, Imoen, and Serovok (in that order) because: Their importance to the storyline A "good" romance They actually have FUNNY dialogs None of them annoy me They are all useful to the group
Now, any questions? :rolling:

Hm, I was going to vote for Nalia but Cernd snatched that vote away.

I voted three votes for Viconia, two for Valygar and one for Haer' Dalis. Those three are the coolest.

At this point, we probably have 2/3 of the total votes in. Unless a whole bunch of people join SP in the next few days, I can't see the total votes going much beyond 70.

So, here's the update currently - with 46 votes tallied. I'm only listing the top ones, because if they aren't near the top now, it's unlikely that there are enough votes left for them to come out on top.

So we have:

1st - Imoen - 34
2nd - Viconia - 30
3rd - Jaheira - 29
3rd - Minsc - 29

Korgan, Jan and Edwin are the only other NPC's over 20. Jan and Korgan are the highest ranked NPC of the BGII originals, currently in 5th and 6th place.

@ Kitrax

Why do you think Minsc is going to win? He has never been in the lead at all when I've looked, and I check quite often. Or did you mean you expected him to beat out Jaheira?


One more quick note here. Jaheira actually has the most 1st place votes. However, Minsc, Viconia and Imoen all have more 2nd and 3rd place votes than her, which is why they have more total votes.

It's a little ironic really. The people who like Viconia, Imoen and Minsc - but did not select them as their favorite character - may in fact be responsible for one of those characters winning the vote. :hmm:

[ July 09, 2003, 22:05: Message edited by: Aldeth the Foppish Idiot ]

You people are almost forcing me to create multiple accounts :D . Come on Viconia!

I went Sarevok-Imoen-Yoshimo, whose fate is bound to your soul (and not looks... ;) ) one way or the other. Go Bhaalspawns !

After 48 votes - the ones in contention are as follows:

Imoen - 36
Minsc - 30
Viconia - 30
Jaheira - 29
Jan - 28

So Imoen's lead is growing. I hope that one comment about opening multiple accounts was a joke. While I would prefer ANY of the others near the lead to beat Imoen, it would destroy the integrity of the poll.

One more question - are we just saying the winner of this is the winner, or are we doing as DMC suggests and have the highest scores do a run-off? Looking at the top 5, most people did not vote for one of them as their favorite (only 25 of the 48 who voted) so I don't know if there's anything to gain by doing a run-off. Although, like I said before, Imoen is NOT leading the results in the last question, but has many more votes than anyone else in the first two questions.

@ AtheFI - That's why I suggested a 5-3-1 breakdown, rather than 3-2-1. . . . Second and Third place choices get more bang than they should IMHO.

DMC - that's really not what I'm asking. The rules have been stated for this poll, and so you can't change that now.

If we used your system, the current scores wouldn't change significantly. The top five would like:

Imoen - 86
Minsc - 74
Jaheira - 73
Viconia - 72
Jan - 70

So the order is nearly identical to the way we're calculating it now. Imoen still has the lead, with the other 4 contenders having nearly equal scores.

What my question is do we have a 2nd poll after this one, with the top 5 canidates to see if anything would change. Keep in mind that out of 48 total votes, 23 people (or nearly half) voted for someone besides the top 5 vote getters on the final question.

Regardless of what we do, a process such as what we have done up to this point had to be instituted to either declare a winner or at least narrow the field.

@ AFI - point taken. I just reviewed the results and Imoen is behind by one point (7 to 6) on first place votes, but ahead on the others, hence the disparity. I see no need for a runoff if matters hold as they are. She's clearly winning as the most popular NPC (it's not like she's way down on the first place votes and making it up as everyone's next best thing).

Minsc is my numder 1 as he is good for a close combat warrior , has a love for animals as a ranger and is very funny.
Jan is my number 2 as he is useful and funny too, his funny remarks are insulting sometimes but so long I am not his target, it's fine with me :p
Viconia is my number 3 as she is so beautiful and useful too.

Just wondering if there are anyone who cheat by using multiple accounts to vote?
I believe there are...But hey! I'm not the one!!

Ok, either this is really really pointless or I don't understand it at all.

What is the point of doing another poll? The only problem with the last one was the time that the poll closed.

What is the problem with elimination? If a NPC gets beaten by another one it shows that it is not the most popular. Elimination work fine to find 1st place, any other it isn't to accurate.

The only thing that will change this result from the last time is if different people vote. Now Imoen 42 votes which is quiet a bit more than anyone else. Jahera, who is coming second at the moment has only 33 votes. (52 votes total)

@Alex I've upped it to two.

Valygar, Sarevok, Imoen.

Valygar is cool and I like the family background. Sarevok is a beast and just mows down baddies. Immie's scar is just to hot, least for me it is.

@ RotKU One of the wonderful things about living in a democratic society is if you don't like the way an election is being conducted, is you can exercise your right not to vote. The reason that the elimination system doesn't work is it is a one on one competition. If your favorite gets eliminated in the first round, you start voting for your second, third, whatever favorite. If you look at the last elimination tournament a very vocal group stated that their favorites had long since been eliminated, and that they were choosing between Minsc and Imoen, because they were all that were left. Plus, your theory obviously doesn't work, because if it were true, the final tally would be Imoen in first place, and Minsc in second place. Imoen is in first, but after 53 votes were in, Minsc is in 4th place. Both Jaheira and Viconia are ahead of him, even though neither of them reached the finals in the elimination tournament. (In fact Jaheira was eliminated by Minsc in the last tournament.) You see, with the elimination tournament, once your favorites are eliminated, you start voting against characters you dislike, instead of for characters you do like. (Oh and sorry RotKU - this isn't a flame, I'm just trying to answer your question for an explanation).

@ Skywind - I have no idea, and I doubt those responsible would admit to it. I do not do it, but like you, I suspect some people do. My evidence is the fact that very few people admit to voting for Imoen, yet she seems to always win these polls.

Anyway, currently Imoen rules the day, and will likely maintain this lead and win. Here are the top five votes:

Imoen - 43
Jaheira - 33
Viconia - 33
Minsc - 31
Jan - 30

One more thing - Why does Imoen always win? She is a so-so thief, and a slightly above average magic-user, who is moderately funny, has no romance (un-modded), and is not present for the first half of SoA. I guess what my question would be if someone else in the game was your sibling, do you think they would win?

One more thing - Why does Imoen always win? She is a so-so thief, and a slightly above average magic-user, who is moderately funny, has no romance (un-modded), and is not present for the first half of SoA. I guess what my question would be if someone else in the game was your sibling, do you think they would win? Well, for me I guess it was voice acting that tipped the scale (as minor as it seems) - Imoen just feels most lively and lifelike - she makes easily believable character (in contrast with, e.g., Viconia). Add to this that she is second best mage, adequate thief, has quite a few funny qoutes (especially in ToB) and bhaalspawn - it all adds up (for me of course). I always have Yoshimo/Imoen in my party.

Oh - and my choice was Imoen-Jaheira-Yoshimo.

I hope that one comment about opening multiple accounts was a joke. While I would prefer ANY of the others near the lead to beat Imoen, it would destroy the integrity of the poll.
Yeah, it was a joke. But I still would prefer to see anyone but Imoen on top.

I guess this will be then the second time you're going to be disappointed -Imoen leads. :rolleyes:

Regarding Aldeth's complaints about Imoen: I agree completely. As a character from a power gamers point of view she sucks totally. Not to mention her has a mage never made any sense to me. Solution: Shadowkeeper. Imoen back as a rogue is much more entertaining. More specifically as a Swashbuckler she can be quite devestating.

I don't understand Imoen's big attraction. Yeah, in BG1 she had a bubbly personality. But in BG2 she seems to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. With good reason, admittedly, but still... I don't keep her around long enough to find out if she gets her sense of humor back.

As far as pure usefulness goes, she duals at a poor time (before maxing her backstabbing), and she was mistakenly cut short about 20 ability points on top of that.

As a mage, she misses all the XP from chapters 2 & 3. So in my game it took her until 18th level to catch up to Aerie, who was *also* a 20th level cleric at that point, not merely a low level thief.

So roleplaying loyalty is the only reason I can think of to have her along. But she'll certainly never be my favorite.

If you want the bubbly personality back, just restore her old voice set. :)

Ya, go Minsc! Boo Jaheira and Imoen!

:mad: :( :confused:

OK, it the last day fo the poll, so unless things change dramatically, the final results are:

1st place: Imoen (52 votes) she also had the most 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place votes.

2nd place: Jaheira (41 votes)

3rd place: Viconia (36 votes)

I'm surprised that Minsc made the finals in the elimination tournament, but only managed a 4th place finish here.

OK, Imoen is the most popular NPC, but why? My question - if any other character turned out to be your sibling - do you think they would be your favorite character - I smell another poll!!!

At least Vicci is third :D .

Yes! It's about time that Minsc triumphing over Jaheira travesty was righted!

While a 1st place finish would have been nice, a 2nd place finish does me proud. And I admit that I don't begrudge finishing behind Imoen, who's my second favorite NPC.

Adventuring is a serious business, and NPCS like Jaheira and Keldorn treat it as such. In this regard, the spunky and cheerful Imoen provides a very nice and likeable contrast.