Deleted1572091User Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 I'm already well aware that there are plenty of ES fans who don't want companions, feeling instead the need to accomplish tasks single handedly. But there are also folks like me who like to have them around, not so much to have an edge as just to reduce the lonely factor or something. But this is a thread for both camp A and B, in a way. So, when playing Oblivion, near the end of the game I decided to take with me a number of companions. Dark brotherhood underling, a knight of the nine, the annoying fan (whoops, I mean adoring), a mage apprentice, and possibly others. It was just kind of cool to go in a dungeon and have them do all the work. My personal army. But companions in Oblivion have a number of issues. Pathing issues, sometimes they disappear from the game when going through a door, and often get left behind in fast travel. Their loyalties aren't always clear cut either, as if you do bad guy stuff like stealing or attacking a guard, sometimes they side with you, other times they turn against you. Just recently, I started a new game of Morrowind. Somewhere along the way, I decided I mostly just wanted to kill everyone and take everything. I ended up getting a slave companion in Hla Oad, and realized I wanted more helpers. So I grabbed a naked Nord and the boots of blinding speed girl in the West Gash, traveled to Firemoth and then swam back to shore to get the 3 strong helpers, and finally made a lengthy voyage to Tel Ahrun to buy 6 slaves. I had to kill the mage from Firemoth because he was using AoE magic. But that still left me with 11 fighters. Surprsingly, the game didn't break. I tested their strength in a number of places. Fighter's Guild, Mage's Guild, town guards... they all fell before my army's might. I even made a difficult trip to Vivec to challenge Vivec. I attacked him, but stepped back to let my minions do the work. He managed to kill a couple with magic, but once they were actually attacking him, he became helpless and couldn't fight back. Took 'em awhile, but they did kill him. Mostly with bare fists. But again, Morrowind has companion issues as well. Mostly just pathing. Had to constantly go back to grab a straggler. When I had 11 companions, often 1 or 2 would start running in the opposite direction out of sight. *ahem* but what does all this have to do with Skyrim? Well, if most of the issues associated with companions have been fixed, will this change anyone's mind about using them? I know I generally do it for fun a little, but then get annoyed with them. In the way, not following, etc. Do you think creating an army in Skyrim would be thus easier? Would that just make the game completely unfair? (obvious answer) Just any thoughts you have on companions in Skyrim, and how you would like to see it fixed/limited/whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TroloWiseEared Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Gosh, I HOPE that certain areas & fortresses REQUIRE an army to breach.No more of this 2 Guards out front and then groups of 3 as you venture through the inside.I want there to be places barred off to the Lone warrior playstyle, as well as places designed to thin my ranks if i travel with a legion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimembrain Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Oblivion They were un usable imo .. They got in the way .. you ended up hitting them and by the end of the battle you had to kill them :/ .. this happened multiple times .. But in F3 they had vastly improved .. they still had flaws and still got in the way not and then .. but it was much better .. mostly due to vats but the targeting was also much more direct and you could tell where your hits were landing .. NV they were nearly flawless .. but they were also a lot less realistic .. they didn't die .. they gave you all their xp .. and they tend to be a bit over powered .. Skyrim seems to take a lot from NV with the new options to control them .. The AI also looks much better this time around and hit detection/feedback is very strong .. all this combined means that if you want one they will work! So really its just personal taste this time .. If your a loner or if your up for some company on the trails... I'll do a bit of both Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babis8142 Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 What was wrong in companions in FO3? I mean didn't they fix problems like pathfinding already in that game? I think they'll be just fine although I prefer NV companions better than FO3. I mean with story and quests behind them instead simple hirelings like how they will be in Skyrim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimembrain Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 What was wrong in companions in FO3? I mean didn't they fix problems like pathfinding already in that game? I think they'll be just fine although I prefer NV companions better than FO3. I mean with story and quests behind them instead simple hirelings like how they will be in Skyrim. there are stories and quests for them in Skyrim .. except they will use the dynamic quests system .. You make friends by doing tasks/quests for them and then with some of them you can drag them along .. todd did say there might be some more detailed NPCs for hauling along in your quests but not to the extent of F3 or NV .. certainly not as detailed as new vegas.. But they are not all hired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elderiii Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 I'm hoping for another CM Companions mod in Skyrim. That mod alone added 100 hours to my Oblivion gameplay, whether through pre-made companions, or through making them myself. Depending on how good they are in the "vanilla" game I may or may not make extensive use of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alistat Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Gosh, I HOPE that certain areas & fortresses REQUIRE an army to breach.No more of this 2 Guards out front and then groups of 3 as you venture through the inside.I want there to be places barred off to the Lone warrior playstyle, as well as places designed to thin my ranks if i travel with a legion ya I was thinking of making a mod like that, one that would make bandits more organized especially in their defense. Ya instead of the silly 3 by 3 thing they had going on before there will be so many guards patrolling areas and if you get spotted and don't kill the guy he cries out for help alerting 5 or so bandits to come check it out. I was also thinking of making most of the bandits into 4-6 clans so that if you attacked a stronghold and were actually winning a few of the bandits would try to run off and alert other bases and they would send reinforcements over to help defend it. That and they would each be waring for areas of the map so you could randomly come across groups of 10+ bandits of one clan ambushing a smaller group of another :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xochen Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 I heard them saying that companion(s) in Skyrim will be like it was in fallout 3, you can have 1 at a time, and use the npc as more or less a pack mule. If thats the case its fine by me, never really cared for companions.. but i did almost always still take that ghoul from fallout3 with me.. so i can understand the appeal. Still i can't say if im going to use them in a TES game, as i never have before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmturrent Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 I'd love some undead companions for my Necromancer. I'd pretend my char animated them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted1572091User Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 Yea, I noticed the guy from Ripten in his article mentioned only having 1 companion at a time. It was kind of disappointing, but when I thought about it, that does make the game more balanced. Since they seem to have more characters/opportunities available for following you around, letting you carry around an army so you don't even need to play would kind of break the game in terms of difficulty. And there's always modding for when you've mostly finished the game and just want to do something crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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