So do you think having a follower enhances the experience or make it worst?

[djjohnjarvis]

I personally like followers for the chatter. If you get an intelligent follower with a lot of interesting dialogue that comments on the current quest, your location and other stuff then it doesn't feel quite so lonely. That's why I made my own to suit my needs, and love her or hate her she is anything but dull. I mean there are followers that you can just talk to and get them to sing and *cough*get drunk*cough* and other stuff.

[rhyls]

A follower/companion is one to look at and maybe try. You wouldn't want her dead tho' as she is a brilliant AI personage in her own right.

Many people always play with her in tow. Read her info on the Vilja mod.

[Signette]

I can't enjoy having followers in all Bethesda games starting from Morrowind to Fallout3/NV to Oblivion and Skyrim. They are done very awkwardly, getting stuck a lot, most times when you need them they can't reach you, sometimes coming (teleporting) to you from wrong directions and etc. Modded ones have better chatter than vanilla but in combat or during travels they are mostly useless, even in pack mule role...

That said I'm big fan of classic party RPGs like BG, Icewind Dale, NWN and so on.

Edited July 5, 2014 by Signette

[TwilightDB]

I Use UFO and My Home is your Home to place "followers" into two categories which are Companions and Followers which determine their roles in my game.

 

As Companions, I use those as additional guards and patrols around my homes whether hearthfire ones or downloaded ones since they don't really have much of a personality that makes them stand out and are kind of more eye candy.

 

As for Followers, I really enjoy the ones that have their own personaiities such as Thorald, Inigo, Vilja and Sofia which i can interact with; they add so much immersion when travelling together with all their chatter that makes them stand out by making me feel like they're really are a part "our" world of adventure.

 

I don't use any of them as pack mules but do outfit them appropriately for their purpose.

[powerchimp1]

Best used as companionship/banter when doing familiar stuff or help when at lower levels, using Enemy AI mods / Requiem type playthroughs.

 

Often though they complete quests for you (like killing the bandit leader etc) which can get annoying.

 

A well done personality is awesome though. Try Inigo, Arissa and Sofia for that.

[GameTourist]

Amazing Follower Tweaks has a "NPC Keeps Distance" setting that has been great for me. They basically follow further behind giving me space to stealth. If im in over my head I can run back to where they are to disperse some aggro. Its made a big difference for me as I was doing all that manually before.

 

That said sometimes I feel like they make a lot of fights too easy but then they'll be the one or two fights where I definitely needed their help.

 

I do find for me they make the story a bit more lively. I like to think of the characters and how they interact.

Edited July 6, 2014 by GameTourist

[Lord Garon]

I was sneaking around some ruin with my squishy mage on Legendary. Was lvl 55 or so and Lydia was pretty much maxed out, but my toon was ragdoll fodder unless I was ready for a fight. All of a sudden, from behind, I hear some sarcophagus lids fall off, some draugr spawning sounds, and Lydia drawing her sword. In these cases, after the initial feeling of "Oh, #%^@!", I have to move away quick and get ready to fight; hesitation is a 1-shot trip to Sovngarde. I bolted forward casting my mage armor spell, summoned an atronach, and turned around to see what was happening. Lydia was whacking a draugr wight into submission and another one was lying nearby. Before I could get off a blast, Lydia finished him. I clicked on her to get the charge status of her enchanted sword. "I've got your back", she said.

 

Lydia: don't leave home without her.

[Primalsplit]

I didn't like followers before too. Because of three reasons basicly. First, the game is so easy sometimes that having an extra hand felt like plainly cheating. Second, the AI sometimes acts weird. Third, those followers were plain boring.

 

With mods however, the game can be made a lot more harder and more interesting companions can be found. AI will always act weird I guess, but disabling followers to trigger traps and sneak with you are possible via mods. After all those obstacles are non existant, followers actually add up to the game. They give a lot more party feeling. Plus their comments on certain times etc. sometimes crack me up :D

 

Interesting NPCs mod also have a bunch of follower NPCs. Most of them are quite interesting :)

Edited July 7, 2014 by Primalsplit

[Adipose]

Ah, well, from my point of view there are several variables to consider. How tough is the level you're playing. What kinds of mods have you installed. Whether you like the feeling of being alone. etc. ad infinitum. Myself I'm running vanilla Requiem right now so I want a small army of followers, otherwise the entry level enemy NPCs are gonna eat me. Concurrent with Requiem I'm running Frostfall and RND. All in all I find it a challenge from the get go, so I want lots of help. At this time my biggest complaint about followers is that mine don't aggro onto an enemy until it's either among us romping and stomping, or I've put myself out on a limb in order to attract hostile action so that they'll aggro on the baddies. I personally would prefer that they'd be more aggressive but I can't get them to do that.

[Lord Garon]

...

I personally would prefer that they'd be more aggressive but I can't get them to do that.

 

Have one of them attack an enemy, maybe the rest will follow.