I've enjoyed Jaheira so far - she seems right; still fierce, but softened a bit with age. Minsc is there, I guess - it would be a stronger, better story if Aerie were the one to rescue him. But I admit by the time I get to the city I've grown attached to the other party members. Even Lae'Zel who I thought would just be a generic warrior character I've come to like.
I disagree about Aerie, compared to Jaheira,she was kind of forgettable and I'm glad, she wasn't made a companion again.
No, I think, it was the right decision to go with the two iconic companions from the first two games. Even though, I'm not a big Minsc fan, I recognise, he has a big fanbase.
I would say she had a lot of potential that wasn't fully realized (like she was never given a real chance to be shown standing up to abusers and slavers - it was tacked into her epilogue. And not enough made of her gnomish connections; like followers of Baervan are supposed to play pranks on their friends so she could have been grown into a more light hearted and whimsical character). But she was, if not chronologically, in every other way the youngest character in BG2 so it would be great to bring her back as still the same big hearted and determined core character, but grown in manu other ways. Despite that all the OG romances have their fans (to be honest I never really cared for Aerie's; I always thought she would have been better written as a little sister type while Imoen can't be around).
Ah, I just recognized your username and wanted to say I'm replaying BG2 with the Aerie expansion mod ("Wings") I think you helped work on? And completely loving it; I always wanted my lady Charname to be able to befriend Aerie, and now she can! She's written really well and it gives her so much more depth.
(And if I have the wrong person, uh, just ignore me).
What's unfortunate about Aerie in BG2 is (mods aside), you don't really see the best part of her character development unless she romances Haer'Dalis and they break up at Spellhold, after she gets so angry at Irenicus for what he has done and commits herself to fighting evil. Most players obviously don't see that development (and I didn't for the longest time because I didn't care for the thought of Aerie and Haer'Dalis together). That attitude shift makes her new voiceset in ToB, and her epilogues, make a lot more sense.
As for Aerie in BG3, it would make perfect sense for her to still be around. She's an elf and, in most of her epilogues, she ends up fighting evil in some way.
