Just chiming in to concur with the prevailing opinion on 3's returning characters: Jaheira? Her portrayal was delightful; I could tell the writers really got her. Couldn't have asked for a more loving and faithful representation of the character. Minsc? An only slightly less glowing review -- it's Minsc, you know? Hard to get that guy wrong.

But the other two familiar faces, those whose alignments were a bit more fluid? After how strong Jaheira and Minsc's portrayals were, I wasn't prepared for how unsatisfactory, frustrating, and reductive theirs would be.

It stung to see characters every bit as iconic stripped of their complexities and used as cheap enemy fodder. Sarevok in particular was so exciting a character in Throne of Bhaal that I was left perplexed by the decision to downplay, ignore, and outright retcon his development across that game, whether redeemed or not. To say nothing of the sheer, glaring inconsistency of it all. How does a guy who explicitly lost his Bhaalspawn essence go on to sire a family of Bhaalspawn? Why is he still enthralled by the dark urge when his freedom from it was among the first things he noticed upon resurrection? From whence did this newfound Bhaalist zealotry and "murder worship" even spring? He never gave a damn about daddy's religion, he was in it purely for power, he never killed without purpose. Bringing Sarevok back as a villain was bad enough, but as a depraved, incestuous, pathetic relic of an evil heritage that was no longer his anyway? What an utter disservice to the character. He could, and should, have been so much more.

Much the same applies to Vicky, but if nothing else, her faith in Shar isn't without foundation and the player can at least choose to spare her. (Why they'd ever do so when she comes off as such a shallow, cruel, and abusive monster is another matter, but the chance to evade literal character assassination is greater grace than Sarevok got.) His was a fundamental mischaracterisation so staggering that I, like you, expected him to morph into a doppelganger upon death. But no, I guess that's just the sum of his character in this new canon: wasted potential, a stain on the floor. A massive disservice to what was, by ToB's end, a nuanced and engaging character who'd have been awesome to revisit in a story more faithful to what came before.


It blows my mind that the same writers behind 3's excellent take on Jaheira would do her two most compelling contemporaries that dirty. I'm not so delusional as to hope for a do-over in the inevitable enhanced edition, but this whole thing was a crude, almost malicious gash on an otherwise beautifully nostalgic painting and I'm glad to know I'm far from alone in my eleventh hour disappointment.