What do you think about follower mods?

[LeddBate]

I'm in between... I obviously appreciate custom voiced followers more than any of these vanilla voice followers, I rarely download or even keep these vanilla voice followers in my game. However, I don't think that all these vanilla voice followers are necessarily bad. Some of them have a lot of effort put into them; ex. custom armor, warpaint, skin, backstory, ... basically the whole package expect a custom voice. Emphasis on 'some' though, for every high-effort follower mod you have to go through 5 low-effort follower mods...

 

Grab the followers mentioned above and use a follower mod like Amazing Follower Tweaks to fine tune them to be your merry band.

 

However, don't use commands from AFT (or any other follower mod) on Inigo, it tends to break his mind and make him go "durr".

[NicotineCaffeine]

I dont use followers. They are just in the way. So i dont care. (I dont adopt either or get married. Neither do i build houses.)

My thought exactly. Of course it depends which game one is talking about.. On fallout new vegas the vanilla ones are already cool and useful enough. On Tes games they are totally useless and they only get on your way, so i really don't understand why people waste time on doing even more of 'em..

[KirielS]

I voted "nice and good" but that doesn't mean I like 95% of the follower mods. I want more like Inigo and Vilja. I don't particularly like a lot about Vilja but she has a lot going for her. There is nothing I dislike about Inigo. I like the two of them together. I like some of the ones from Interesting NPC's.

 

We need more that have quests. Lots and lots of lines and are reactive of where you are and what you are doing.

 

 

[WaffleLoyalist]

They provide eye candy, they fight and carry stuff. That is all I really need them to do.

[strawbqwerty]

Needs to be a forth option. Like them but just a few less than a million. So those that don`t like a gaggle of followers around also have vanilla style inns, all nice and empty? Yes you could use a populating mod that spawns vanilla npc`s and fills up the empty spaces. i have a couple that do this. Plus you can,as I have, down loaded a bunch of unique and interesting to look at followers, some with dialogue. Then I merged them and hey look Inns and places with lots of interesting npc`s. I like to have a couple around for adventuring. So I pick a couple at some town and adventure till I am at another town and swap them for a couple more. Adds a bit of variety to the game.

[VulcanTR]

Needs to be a forth option. Like them but just a few less than a million. So those that don`t like a gaggle of followers around also have vanilla style inns, all nice and empty? Yes you could use a populating mod that spawns vanilla npc`s and fills up the empty spaces. i have a couple that do this. Plus you can,as I have, down loaded a bunch of unique and interesting to look at followers, some with dialogue. Then I merged them and hey look Inns and places with lots of interesting npc`s. I like to have a couple around for adventuring. So I pick a couple at some town and adventure till I am at another town and swap them for a couple more. Adds a bit of variety to the game.

 

No need actually. I just wanna see the reaction of people against millions of useless follower mods. x the follower, y the follower, z the follower etc etc etc...

[Mandragorasprouts]

 

Needs to be a forth option. Like them but just a few less than a million. So those that don`t like a gaggle of followers around also have vanilla style inns, all nice and empty? Yes you could use a populating mod that spawns vanilla npc`s and fills up the empty spaces. i have a couple that do this. Plus you can,as I have, down loaded a bunch of unique and interesting to look at followers, some with dialogue. Then I merged them and hey look Inns and places with lots of interesting npc`s. I like to have a couple around for adventuring. So I pick a couple at some town and adventure till I am at another town and swap them for a couple more. Adds a bit of variety to the game.

 

No need actually. I just wanna see the reaction of people against millions of useless follower mods. x the follower, y the follower, z the follower etc etc etc...

 

Actually they are not useless, because they are popular, ppl download and upvote them. that means there is demand and modders will continue to create millions of other follower mods.

[Darkstorne]

 

 

Needs to be a forth option. Like them but just a few less than a million. So those that don`t like a gaggle of followers around also have vanilla style inns, all nice and empty? Yes you could use a populating mod that spawns vanilla npc`s and fills up the empty spaces. i have a couple that do this. Plus you can,as I have, down loaded a bunch of unique and interesting to look at followers, some with dialogue. Then I merged them and hey look Inns and places with lots of interesting npc`s. I like to have a couple around for adventuring. So I pick a couple at some town and adventure till I am at another town and swap them for a couple more. Adds a bit of variety to the game.

 

No need actually. I just wanna see the reaction of people against millions of useless follower mods. x the follower, y the follower, z the follower etc etc etc...

 

Actually they are not useless, because they are popular, ppl download and upvote them. that means there is demand and modders will continue to create millions of other follower mods.

 

Agreed, but popularity doesn't mean quality though. People download and upvote mods like Schlongs of Skyrim in the hundreds of thousands. I guess there's a market for any old nonsense, and the vast majority of follower mods definitely cater to a similar target audience as SoS (oh look, another anime-faced scantily clad female follower).

 

I'm a HUGE fan of follower mods that put in the effort to create interesting, unique, voiced characters that fit into the game world. Interesting NPCs, Inigo, and Aurlyn are great examples. Sadly the vast majority of follower mods are just white noise.

[BlueGunk]

Here's my opinion (and it is just that...! )

 

I really enjoy having the custom voiced followers in game, like Recorder, Vilja, Sofia etc. They make the game less lonely and add lots of interest for me.

 

Regarding the vanilla unvoiced followers that arrive in larger numbers, I like seeing modders bring these followers into the scene. Everyone has a different take on a follower and from time to time one will turn up that catches my interest and I'll add them to my game. And I am sure there are many gamers for whom this is the case.

And don't forget this is a world-wide community, so some follower designs may appeal only to certain markets.

 

The thing is, I don't want to discourage follower mods of any kind, because I appreciate the work folks put into followers (for many it is their first mod), and it helps provide the richness we have on Nexus for our games. Many of these first-timers could go on to produce high quality followers in the future, too.

So therefore I am all for them, even though a great number have no interest for me.

[skinnytecboy]

It's always nice to see Benjamin Doon listed alongside some really great mods like Inigo, Sofia and of course not forgetting the legendary Vilja.

 

It puts a smile on face larger than a giant's todger. ;)

 

But back to the topic at hand..

 

It's possibly ironic, but other than Vilja, I only ever really played poor old lydia as a follower before I started to create my own. I rather liked her grumpy attitude when you ask her to carry something. ;)

 

For me, playing a game is a solitary experience (well of course it is) so a well made follower should break that mold and allow you to feel like you really are travelling with someone to share your burdens and be dynamic to your current situation. The vanilla followers don't really offer that ability unfortunately.

 

In Ben's case, I wanted a follower who would natter away in the background and see things from a funnier perspective, because at that stage when I was writing him, I had played skyrim already for two years... so much of his dialogue is exactly what i was thinking about a two year old game.

 

Personally, I think followers get a lot of bad press in the modding community and are often frowned upon and regarded as easy to make and therefore requiring little skill.

 

Of course, I completely disagree, and perhaps that is why I keep making them. To me, there is just as much effort in crafting a story through dialogue as there is in building a worldspace out of vanilla assets.

 

Regarding Slooty Followers, well, whatever floats your boat. That's the beauty of the modding community. There is something for everyone.. it all comes down to personal taste at the end if the day.