Top CRPG for Joinable NPCs

I think we've had a thread or two on this subject, but I've been having poll withdrawal so after a little discussion started by blatantninja in the NWN forums on the topic, I thought I'd raise the subject in the form of a poll.

Putting the other gameplay aspects aside, which cRPG had the best NPCs which could join your party and adventure with your character through part or all of the game?

I think NPCs can exist on one or more of several levels, as viable standalone characters with pasts and futures, as enablers and purveyors of skills that free up your definition of your player character, as questgivers and romance options, etc.

For the purposes of the poll, you can select the game that best pleased you in this NPC area for whatever reason, any or all or none of the above. Please also feel free to explain your choice and list your top single favorite NPC. Personally, I'm going with Mort in Planescape:Torment, and that is also the game that I thought all around had the most satisfying NPC characters and character interaction.

Because of the limitations on numbers of choices in polls, I've grouped series or games by certain developers together, as well as the many older games I've never played since I can't judge which of them might be the best examples. The category Pre-1999 CRPGs is for those games, and obviously, there's a fertile field there that will need some specifying if you choose it.


I'm sure I've missed some examples, and I've also left out some top cRPGs like Fallout, The Witcher and Gothic because NPCs in those games could seldom join your party in a significant way, but feel free to dispute that point also.

Eh......where's the poll?

Damn you're quick JDR--there's a lag there while you put in the options. Sorry--it's there now. And fortunately I thought of you and put in KotOR.

BG2 For me. There's so many of 'em and they're all good.
Best romances and best banter too.

Why are the Elder Scrolls games included? :lol:

Don't they have joinable NPCs? (Can you tell how much I've played them?)

Jaz will have to edit them out--sorry guys.

There are a few escort type missions where you can fight alongside friendly NPCs, but no one ever actually joins you, at least not without a mod.

Drat. I've only played a very little Daggerfall, but I really should have remembered that from Morrowind--this probably qualifies me for that part of America's aging population destined for Alzheimers.

Jaz, I rely on your poll editing magic to bail me out.

For a pre-1999 one, I would say Ultima VII (both parts). The interactivity with the joinables isn't quite what you would expect from today's games, but it was one of the first, if not the first (shocking) to have them interact with the main character or the story. And since fans of the series had been adventuring with most of these characters since Ultima IV, going into it we'd really built up likes, dislikes, back stories, etc. on the characters.

PS-T should be the hands down winner. There are NO other NPC's that even come close!! ( IMVHO ) Nordem (sp) is still my all time favourite. While I loved the BG series, I hated the whining NPC's!! Viconia was the only decent one.

No love for Wiz8? Vi Domina is a mouthy little girl. I don't do RPCs often, but I picked up Vi for one run just to hear her talk.

Not sure it's a fair contest with PS:T. Those RPCs were fleshed out far more than usual due to the nature of that game. Numerous good ones there.

My favorite NPC actually only makes a short appearance. Right at the beginning of HotU, you meet a goblin named Grovel. What a card. I would pick Grovel over Deekin, which is no mean feat.

So, after all that, I guess I'll vote for HotU.

I loved both PST and BG2 ... tough choice. And KotOR ... and NWN ...

Dte, while I love Wiz8, like you I primarily used my own created chars. Vi was good, but for pure fun you had to choose that Pvt. Sparkle!! I also liked the 'meatbag' robot in KotOR, but I still prefer PS-T.

One Game to rule them all: Torment (At least when any kind of Writing is concerned).

I liked a lot of the joinable NPCs in Baldur's Gate 2, Jan Jansen in particular. Everything about him cracked me up. I thought Korgan Bloodaxe and Edwin Odesseiron were well done too.

I think it's interesting that all the neutral characters in the game were annoying (even Jan, but in his case that was the point). I especially hated Cernd, but most people would probably say Anomen Delryn was the worst.

Easy one for me as I havent played PST. BG2 stands far above the rest when it comes to joinable NPCs (even if I'd argue some other games have more interesting non-joinables). Then there is a large gap to BG1 and Arcanum where the NPCs play a more limited role. NWN1 has very uninteresting NPCs (the kobold bard is amusing, but that's it) and I didnt play very far into NWN2 (got bored by the time I reached Neverwinter City) but I did find the NPCs annoying more than anything else.

M&M VIII has joinable NPCs too, but they dont impact the story (except for that you need two of them at various points) more than Sogg Mead Mug did in Arcanum.

So, I edited your poll, magerette, replacing Elder Scrolls by Wiz 8 (hi Dte), though I persoally had rather added the Final Fantasy series.

Anyway, I voted 'Others', because *the* CRPG with the best joinable NPCs ever is - in my opinion - Jagged Alliance 2, hands down. It's from '99, so 'Other' is the only category that fits.
PS:T was a great game, the NPCs interesting, but even they couldn't compare to the JA2 mercs and their inter-NPC-interaction. Ever tried to put Florence in a team with pretty much anybody else? Ever heard Gruntys touching speech when he was the one to bring down the alien queen (in SciFi mode)? Ever felt bad about Igor's drunken binges? Jeez. What a game. What NPCs.

Yeah, Jagged 2 is awesome.

Thanks Jaz. You make Jagged Alliance2 sound very attractive--however, no pointy-eared elves or tree-hugging druids probably takes it out of my ballpark. I am making a mental note to check for a demo though--you never know. If there's a sci-fi aspect, I can usually get into that.

Wiz 8 does indeed have some memorable NPCs, not to mention the voicing, racial picks and portraits give a huge measure of individual personality even to your own created party members. Thanks for the suggestion dte.

I think all this poll shows is that approximately 1/3 of RPG Watch readers still haven't played PS:T!