For some reason, when I try to talk to certain characters I cannot. I click on the NPC and the dialogue box advances but there is no text in it. This happened to me with some merchant at the carnival and with Minsc, which is particularly annoying because I cannot get him in my group and complete his quest. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

It has happened to me to. Quick-save and load and you should now be able to talk to the character.

Hmm. Didnt work for me. Thanks for the tip anyways though.

Minsc may not talk to you if your CHA or reputation are too low, or if your alignment is 'evil'.

Well my CHA is only 7. My reputation is 12. Maybe my charisma is too low?? I have an NPC in my party that has a CHA of 17. Does the game only take into account the main character's CHA?

You should be able to talk with another character - you may need to set that character as party leader, though

Still didnt work. Oh well. I guess I will raise my reputation more and see if he'll talk to me then. Thanks so much for the tips though folks, I do appreciate the help.

Have you got a save before you talked to Minsc ?

This thread suggests there may be a bug if you talk to him with a low CHA character :

http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=638972&forum=19

There is also a post in the thread from someone who got around the problem by rescuing Dynaheir / return to Minsc / drop Dynaheir from party / reinvite Dynaheir / Minsc joins too (whew!)

I've had this happen several times. Usually I go outside and rest and then come back and everything is fine. Also, you can quicksave/load and all should be well.