Custom-voiced Companions, separate Nexus category

[Sonja]

I am wondering... with the evolving changes at Nexus, if there is any chance of creating a separate sub-category for Custom-voiced companions. Currently, they get lumped in with those followers using the vanilla sound sets, and in most cases... these two types of followers are worlds apart in what they do.

Because vanilla-voiced followers are popular to make, they tend to flood the front pages of Nexus. For a while now, I've resorted to blocking the authors of such mods, but I'd really prefer not to have to do that, because hey.. maybe eventually one of those people will create something I'd enjoy using. Not to mention, it just feels wrong, and personal, as though I'm specifically boycotting or censoring particular mod authors, which isn't the situation at all. It's simply a way of me trying to make sure the content I'm interested in isn't obscured.

I also know I'm not alone in this sentiment... I've frequently seen much the same expressed at Reddit and elsewhere.

Edited August 12, 2017 by Sonja

[Jeir]

You are not alone.

What would also be nice is if we could get tags to separate them, too. For example, Companions - Male, Companions - Female, Companions - Mixed. (More here.)

I would love to be able to block the three billion female packmule mods on this website, but can't due to the limited tags (and because blocking one tag blocks every single mod with that tag, even if it is something you want to see. A 'fix' could be a 'favourite tags' option, so if I were to pick a 'Companion - Male' tag as a favourite, I'd see it even if it was also tagged as 'Companion - Female', which I would obviously block.)

 

But, er, yeah. Being able to separate custom-voiced from vanilla-voiced would be a start. I think they tried that by having both a 'Companion' and a 'Follower' section, but people just use those interchangeably.

[Moksha8088]

Sonja, that makes a lot of sense. There are a dozen phenomenal companion mods and occasionally new ones are created. On the other hand, there is a multitude of generic followers, many of whom seem to be creations for a Japanese computer design school class project. Post a character on the Nexus by the end of the semester and pass the class. Post even more characters for extra credit. With so many generics being produced, it is easy to miss more creative efforts like Song of the Green, especially since that character also possesses that weird conception of elf ears resembling those of goats. If we knew the character had both custom dialogue and perhaps a quest, it would be of interest to many players.

[TheFoxQueen]

I agree. I'm in the same boat as you, as I'm hesitant to block mod authors who post generic followers because I'm afraid they might end up making a custom-voiced one and I'll miss out on it because I blocked them. Like Jeir said, I think too that the 'Follower' and 'Companion' category were supposed to differentiate vanilla-voiced and custom-voiced followers respectively, but they're all mixed up now so it's kinda annoying.

[BlueGunk]

I too would like to see a separate category for properly voiced followers. There seem to be three levels now: common followers, followers with some tricks and some re-worked vanilla voicing, and fully voice-acted companions.

 

I am perfectly happy for modders to create vanilla 'pack mule' followers; it's good experience for them and sometimes some really good results appear (for me, Mion being a very recent one - which I happily put in my game). Their experience can lead on to voice-acted followers, too.