Which companions do you use?

[majikmonkee]

I've gotten used to having at least one partner running around with me during the course of my characters' travels, and depending on the character's skill/strengths, I've had varying numbers of companions following me around at different times. Here's a brief description of the companions I've used, and how.

 

My main character, a knight named Christian, has been in use for a few hundred hours now, and spent a lot of that time going solo before I started using mods. The first companion to grace him with their presence was Ariana Trudeax, and she was the only one for a while. However, Ariana experienced some problems navigating the various ruins Christian found himself exploring during the Heart of the Dead mod, and she eventually "retired", spending all her time wandering the halls of Battlehorn Castle. Coincidentally, around this time, Christian acquired Katrina (Kat) from H.O.D., and she took Ariana's place. Kat remained the only partner for a fairly lengthy time, until the events of Ruined-Tail's Tale began. Despite liking Kat better than Ruin, Ruin proved to be a handful, and given that Christian was already in the mid 30's level wise, more than one partner seemed a little unnecessary, so Kat eventually joined Ariana in Battlehorn castle while Ruin and Christian did their thing. Unfortunately, through what appeared to be unavoidable scripted events, Ruin attempted to physically take advantage of Christian while he was sleeping, so Christian took all of his gear, engaged him in a fist fight, and attempted to outrun Ruin in the wilderness. Further scripted events caused Ruin to be abducted by assassins, at which time, Christian decided to leave well enough alone and did not pursue Ruin further. So now, it's Christian and Kat wandering Cyrodiil, and no additional partners ever seem necessary.

 

My newest character, a thief named Corrine, carries only a silver dagger and tries to avoid fighting whenever possible. However, there are times fighting really can't be avoided, and I decided this would be a good time to further explore the world of companions. Corrine's first companion was Dublin Stormfallow from H.O.D., filling the role of "mage" in her party. Corrine also recruited Ariana Trudeaux, equipping her in the BAB Elven Forest Ranger gear so she could fill the role of "archer", and finally, I took a stab at creating a companion with CM Partners, and created an orc warrior named Basher. Basher fills the role of "warrior" of the party, and is equipped with the Armor of Sauron (sans helmet) and Sauron's Mace (lots of fun watching the group fight together then all get flung back by the "knockback" effect the mace uses). Having four people in the party seems like a nice traditional D&D type party (it worked for Gauntlet too), and all of the major classes seem to be represented in this most recent group. So far, no challenge has proven too great for the crew, although last I used them, they were searching for the Uderfrykte Matron in the hopes of slaying the beast...

 

Sorry for the long-winded post...but I'm curious now...who does everyone else use? How many companions do the rest of you take around? Anybody totally "anti-companion"?

[WastelandAssassin]

well, i have to say, i have never used companions (well, tried it once, and it didn't go too well)

the thing is, even with OOO and such mods, that make the game rather hard, it just wasn't ever too hard for my character (especially with the magical gear i got from mods)

however, i think that companions could do a lot of good, if you manage to play a character that needs them (as an assassin, i never really needed companions, but playing a mage was much harder to do alone)

 

i do have two companion mods (Saerileth and Viconia DeVir, which i like both, just never got to play too much with them)

 

but i think that if i'll get the time, i'll start a new game with OOO and MMM, and on a hard difficulty, and then i will definitely use companions

 

do you recommend these quest mods you mentioned?? (like H.O.D and Ruined-Tail's Tale)

i saw that many people like them, but never gave them a try.....

if you would recommend this, i guess i'll try my hand at Oblivion again, and see how hard it could be :biggrin:

[chakaru11]

I am absolutely "pro" companion, since I am an RPG player at heart and love teamplay. I do not care if my companions walk into walls or get lost along the way. I take that in stride because I love them.

 

One of my favorite PCs is Ljus, an archer, who has a custom class so that she specialises in Restoration too. That means she is not really a monster in a fight and needs companions. Since I use the Companion Health Hud, which gives Companion play a ton of immersion imho, I take up to 4 companions along for the ride whenever I play Ljus.

 

Alba - The Warrior.

She is one of the oldest "romance" mods around, she is actually a really old German mod, but an EV is available on the Nexus. She can not ride horses, her AI is somewhat rusty, she suffers from the double face glitch after fast travelling and her "romance" part isn't much more than putting strawberries into your inventory. But she packs a punch in a fight, can teleport to the PC from anywhere so she does not get stuck and does everything a good companion should. Aside from that she is just adorable.

 

Pym - The Battlemage

She is a CM partner based on one of my PCs and is the second melee fighter/tank of the team. As every basic CM partner she tends to get stuck in doors and her path finding leaves a lot to be desired, but ranged spells and good close combat is always a plus.

 

Neeshka - The second archer of the team (ranged AOE)

She is also available on the Nexus and imho one of the best Non CM partners around. I use the archer version and usually take every sword she has away from her so that she is forced to use her bow. Combine that with enchanted arrows that have a nice area of effect and you have great backup. But don't let her out of your sight: she steals! Preferably shiny silverware.

 

Ramy (enfant) - the mage

She is one of the most adorable companions around and despite a lot of reviews about her saying that she is usless in a fight, I can assure you that is not the case! Make her a mage, give her good equiptment and her summons pack a punch! Aside from that I love her snarky, no-nonsense attitude. From her point of view you are lucky to have her around.

 

Of corse so many companions tend to kill each other in bigger battles, but if you give them equipment with good magic defence, it works out in the end.

 

Organizing and keeping tabs on 4 companions is really hard and repairing their stuff is a pain in the butt, but in my oppinion it is worth it. As an archer I can keep in the back and do what an archer does: ranged attacks. And I am so used to the companion health hud by now that I can't live without it anymore.

[majikmonkee]

Wow, I applaude you Chakaru for being able to keep track of that many companions! I'm an old school MMO player myself, the companion HUD you mentioned sounds cool, I may have to check it out. Sounds like you have a great team there all around, I doubt there's much that can stand up to a group like that!

 

Wasteland, I do recommend HOD if you like companions and don't mind puzzles. The companions from HOD have some unique interactions the CM standard ones do not. I cannot necessarily recommend Ruined-Tail to everyone. When you first get him, he will almost constantly engage you in unavoidable discussions on ethics which cannot be avoided unless you just don't speak to him, and sooner or later, you'll have to to give him commands. It's part of an eventual quest though so some folks may not mind.

 

My mains are always well equipped enough to solo everything, I deliberately left Corrine poorly armed and weak at combat to create the need for companions.

[WastelandAssassin]

well, that is good to know

i'm also an RPG player at heart (in real life as well) and i do miss having companions around

that's why in New Vegas, i always had companions with me

and as it seems, you have ignited my old Oblivion flame, so i guess i'll give it another go, and this time, force myself to use companions

 

thanks for the motivation, i guess i really needed it :)

whenever i get to try it again, and decide on which companions to use, i'll report back here, to share whatever insights i'll have :thumbsup:

[majikmonkee]

Sounds good. It really can add an old school D&D or RPG feel to the game if you have companions. The key is don't use too many at once and don't let yourself get too over powered or they won't be as useful.

[chakaru11]

There are health bars for companions in a mod here on the nexus (which is called status bars) or something like that. But I like the "HUDcompanion0.1.1" better. Google it, it should be the first link you get. It uses OBSE and Pluggy and is scripted to list up to 4 companions (hence I have 4 of them xD). It's a neat little thing and you get used to it in no time. It is an asian mod so the readme is useless, but if you follow the readme Pluggy provides you can't do anything wrong. :D

 

That's what it looks like: http://www.tesnexus.com/imageshare/images/1711501-1285397615.jpg (I know I know, the cuteness probably burned your retinas, but it was the only picture I had XD)

[magus6721]

It took me a while to final decide to use a companion. I tried a couple and never really found one I like. Then I started using Vilja and really enjoyed having her around (but I did have to turn the frequency of her comments down). I don't keep her with me all the time. I usually call on her when I know I'm going to get beat down in a fight. Otherwise, for some reason it feels like cheating to me to have someone helping me.

[majikmonkee]

It took me a while to final decide to use a companion. I tried a couple and never really found one I like. Then I started using Vilja and really enjoyed having her around (but I did have to turn the frequency of her comments down). I don't keep her with me all the time. I usually call on her when I know I'm going to get beat down in a fight. Otherwise, for some reason it feels like cheating to me to have someone helping me.

I beat basically all of the official content solo over the past years, so I've been using this as a way to create a different experience. My main character does almost all solo questing, he's a very powerful fighter.

Edited December 21, 2010 by majikmonkee

[Deleted1848331User]

I end up having my companions lying lifeless on the ground, due to them getting hit with Goldbrand, usually killing them in one hit lol