Serana: Welcome or Unwelcome?

[StayFrosty05]

Since the release of Dawnguard to PC quite a number of threads pop up over Serana for differing reasons, all in all she has caught the attention of a number of the Skyrim gaming Community and the responses to her have varied.

 

Is Serana a welcome or unwelcome addition in your game and why?

[Freya1997]

I love Serana. She's my favorite companion. <3

 

Why? She's voiced by one of my favorite VA's, she's a vampire(and you can cure her if you play your cards right, but why one would do that is beyond me) and is generally speaking a decent person. Plus she's not killable and that helps A LOT since she's a companion. Now if only she was marriable. Don't get why they didn't add that given it'd be easy and not expensive, but the boat sailed on that one and isn't really all that important.

 

Oh and she supplies you with bloodcursed arrows. Very handy to have if you're a vampire.

Edited August 23, 2012 by Freya1997

[sinnerman69]

Last night I was upgrading my weapons and gear and I couldn't dismiss her as a companion because she was part of quests I was doing for dawnnguard, well I was smithing she most of said to me, 50 times, "how can I help you" and annoyed the hell out of me, I was in the levelers tower so maybe because of the other sales lady near by the whole floor was set as bartering or something!..

[StayFrosty05]

Serana is 'unwelcome' in my game....due to a few reasons....

 

1/ My personal favoring's are firmly towards the Animal nature (Werewolves) rather than the Undead (Vamps)...am not a Vamp fan.

 

2/ I never use Followers as they drive me nuts with taking off after every red dot, messing up the stealth, charging forward...that inevitably often leads to an arrow up their butt and my Dragonborn's position given away....Serana's enforced Follower status for such an extended period drove me insane, considering the fact also that I never Fast Travel...ended up breaking that rule a few times with Serana in tow.... :(

 

3/ Serana's idling behavior and banter messed with dialogs from other NPC's on a number of occasions....funny story speaking of which....My Dragonborn had Serana in tow when he attended Kodlak's Funeral....there's Kodlak's body laid out on the pyre on the Skyforge, everyone standing around paying their respects and Serana thought that would be a grand moment to start working the Forge....what!!.... :blink: .... :happy:

 

4/ I like quiet and thus so does my Dragonborn....Serana's banter at his back was not welcome.

 

My Dragonborn is a Werewolf and has been RP'ed for quite some time as having a vehement hatred for Vamps...suffice to say he wasn't actually a complete *ss to Serana, but he wasn't warm either....was aloof....of course he lost the opportunity to get her to give up her Vamp status...I do have plans in the works for him to be able to do something about that, but am still working out any possible implications first.

[BrettM]

When Serana is forced on you, it does help to tell her to "wait here". Even when she won't actually wait, she will agree to hang back and follow you at a distance. This keeps her back far enough to not start chattering or running blindly ahead into trouble. I'm glad I found that out because I was ready to kill her after an endless time in the Volkihar ruins with her saying "We're getting close! I can feel it!" every 5.2 seconds.

 

I have a hard time considering her comments "banter", though. They mostly seem to consist of complaints. If it's sunny, she wants dark. If it's dark and snowy, she says the sun would be better. If you're outdoors, she wants to go in a cave. If you're in a cave, she complains that she's already spent more than her share of time underground. Nag, nag, nag.

[kevkiev]

I'm on the welcome wagon.

 

Probably a lot to do with the contrast between her character development and the almost complete lack thereof for other followers (and, for that matter, almost if not all other NPCs in the game). It was cool to be able to have conversations with her, and I ended up initiating dialogue quite a bit because it seems some of her dialogue options appear only the first time you're in a particular location (e.g. first travel through the castle underforge or whatever it's called) though I wonder if I ended up getting it all. I'm glad I had her along for the DG questline because of the various scripted parts for her (her dialogue when you come across that one snow elf at the first wayshrine; her helping you up after the snow elf's evil brother knocks you down; her picking up said brother by the throat, for example.) I'm assuming you'd just get nothing with a regular companion, though I never tried so don't know for sure.

 

I love her voice - Laura Bailey (I think that's the name), who did Christine in FONV's Dead Money. Maybe that's even a bit 'cuz it reminds me of the Christine character, who I liked a lot.

 

I rarely travel with a mage so it was cool to have a magical backup. Her friendly fire is a bit annoying, but my char's such a tank it doesn't matter too much. (Besides, what's an ice shard in the butt between friends?) Her vampiric drain can come in really handy, especially when up against a Might Dragons dragon.

 

She was getting a bit annoying with her constant "yeswhadijawant" comment, but I found that this mod cuts that out completely. (I have the least intrusive version.) Although it shuts up other NPCs too, but I like that. Her weather comments do get a bit annoying, but nothing I can't live with.

 

I really like her sandboxing, notwithstanding that she gets in the middle of my char and a speaking NPC sometimes. But, with the mod I mentioned, at least her dialogue doesn't stomp on the one I'm listening to.

 

I actually haven't had many problems with her blowing my stealth cover (couple times, but not too often) so I'm okay with that aspect of things.

 

I hated her hood though, so I got rid of that via console asap. (Hoods actually, she's equipped with a couple.)

 

I can't seem to get the follower dialogue after I get her to wait, so that's kinda bothersome. But, again, nothing I can't live with.

 

My biggest complaint, and why I eventually ditched her in my 1st run at DG, is that she sometimes won't snap out of sneak mod along with my char and I have to wait until I go into another cell. I think that's a pretty rare problem though, as I haven't been able to find anything about it in my (somewhat limited) searching. And I had that problem with Aela in the base game as well, so I can't say it's a uniquely Serana bug either.

[sinnerman69]

 

 

3/ Serana's idling behavior and banter messed with dialogs from other NPC's on a number of occasions....funny story speaking of which....My Dragonborn had Serana in tow when he attended Kodlak's Funeral....there's Kodlak's body laid out on the pyre on the Skyforge, everyone standing around paying their respects and Serana thought that would be a grand moment to start working the Forge....what!!.... :blink: .... :happy:

 

 

 

This happened to me too at Kodlak's funeral yesterday with her

 

I hope someone makes a behavioral ethics fix for her or a mute button :thumbsup:

 

I just seen this Serana dialogue fix mod

 

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z383/Craigsters/fix.jpg

Edited August 23, 2012 by sinnerman69

[StayFrosty05]

When Serana is forced on you, it does help to tell her to "wait here". Even when she won't actually wait, she will agree to hang back and follow you at a distance. This keeps her back far enough to not start chattering or running blindly ahead into trouble. I'm glad I found that out because I was ready to kill her after an endless time in the Volkihar ruins with her saying "We're getting close! I can feel it!" every 5.2 seconds.

 

I have a hard time considering her comments "banter", though. They mostly seem to consist of complaints. If it's sunny, she wants dark. If it's dark and snowy, she says the sun would be better. If you're outdoors, she wants to go in a cave. If you're in a cave, she complains that she's already spent more than her share of time underground. Nag, nag, nag.

 

I didn't know that about the 'wait here'....I had resorted to just trying to put as much distance between her and my Dragonborn as possible, he would zoom ahead or take the most difficult path (down a cliff face, etc...) to get some reprieve.....Yes, there were a lot of complaints from her come to think of it....I had pretty much eventually tuned out and so a lot of it became white noise from her....(I have kids, maybe a skill I have needed to learn... :tongue: ...)

[StayFrosty05]

I'm on the welcome wagon.

 

Probably a lot to do with the contrast between her character development and the almost complete lack thereof for other followers (and, for that matter, almost if not all other NPCs in the game). It was cool to be able to have conversations with her, and I ended up initiating dialogue quite a bit because it seems some of her dialogue options appear only the first time you're in a particular location (e.g. first travel through the castle underforge or whatever it's called) though I wonder if I ended up getting it all. I'm glad I had her along for the DG questline because of the various scripted parts for her (her dialogue when you come across that one snow elf at the first wayshrine; her helping you up after the snow elf's evil brother knocks you down; her picking up said brother by the throat, for example.) I'm assuming you'd just get nothing with a regular companion, though I never tried so don't know for sure.

 

I love her voice - Laura Bailey (I think that's the name), who did Christine in FONV's Dead Money. Maybe that's even a bit 'cuz it reminds me of the Christine character, who I liked a lot.

 

I rarely travel with a mage so it was cool to have a magical backup. Her friendly fire is a bit annoying, but my char's such a tank it doesn't matter too much. (Besides, what's an ice shard in the butt between friends?) Her vampiric drain can come in really handy, especially when up against a Might Dragons dragon.

 

She was getting a bit annoying with her constant "yeswhadijawant" comment, but I found that this mod cuts that out completely. (I have the least intrusive version.) Although it shuts up other NPCs too, but I like that. Her weather comments do get a bit annoying, but nothing I can't live with.

 

I really like her sandboxing, notwithstanding that she gets in the middle of my char and a speaking NPC sometimes. But, with the mod I mentioned, at least her dialogue doesn't stomp on the one I'm listening to.

 

I actually haven't had many problems with her blowing my stealth cover (couple times, but not too often) so I'm okay with that aspect of things.

 

I hated her hood though, so I got rid of that via console asap. (Hoods actually, she's equipped with a couple.)

 

I can't seem to get the follower dialogue after I get her to wait, so that's kinda bothersome. But, again, nothing I can't live with.

 

My biggest complaint, and why I eventually ditched her in my 1st run at DG, is that she sometimes won't snap out of sneak mod along with my char and I have to wait until I go into another cell. I think that's a pretty rare problem though, as I haven't been able to find anything about it in my (somewhat limited) searching. And I had that problem with Aela in the base game as well, so I can't say it's a uniquely Serana bug either.

 

I have to admit, I certainly did welcome the idea of actually being able to have a conversation with someone in Skyrim...and though Serana was driving me up the wall, I was still trying to catch every conversation there was to be had, wanted to engage in them all...I did enjoy actually being able to converse....As for the VA, I have never heard of her before, I liked her voice though.

 

Oh, those 'Ice Shards' up the rear, how did I forget those.... :blink: ....EVERY time my man tanked....yup, Ice Shards.... :wallbash: ....it would not have been so bad if I hadn't thought those Huskies were so damned cute and took Bran at one stage....what a nightmare that turned out to be.... :ohdear: ....Serana would hit Bran as much as she was filling my man up and so Bran would inevitably turn on her and she would kill Bran.... :( ....reloaded a few times because of that...ended up fast traveling the dog home.... :(

 

Yes, that 'sneak pose' bug effected my game too....Serana not coming out of it....I just looked at it this way, it gave my man more opportunity's to out speed her and leave her behind....always a silver lining.... :P ....I had the same trouble with Farkas in my vanilla game.

 

That Silence NPC's Mod....I have been hunting everywhere for that mod.....THANK YOU KIEV!!.... :woot: ...I use to have it, but lost in when my PC had to be scrubbed and haven't been able to find it since....I LOVE that mod....Thank you... :biggrin:

Edited August 23, 2012 by StayFrosty05

[StayFrosty05]

 

 

3/ Serana's idling behavior and banter messed with dialogs from other NPC's on a number of occasions....funny story speaking of which....My Dragonborn had Serana in tow when he attended Kodlak's Funeral....there's Kodlak's body laid out on the pyre on the Skyforge, everyone standing around paying their respects and Serana thought that would be a grand moment to start working the Forge....what!!.... :blink: .... :happy:

 

 

 

This happened to me too at Kodlak's funeral yesterday with her

 

I hope someone makes a behavioral ethics fix for her or a mute button :thumbsup:

 

I just seen this Serana dialogue fix mod

 

 

Serana's sand boxing behavior does seriously need to be toned down...kind of interesting to watch at first, a novelty...but it wears thin fast as it's intrusions become more and more frequent and immersion breaking...(aka: Kodlak's Funeral)...she is like a fly in a bottle... :tongue: ....a behavioral mod for Serana would be a god send....Thank you for the link sinnerman...very much appreciated....though I think I will be going for the 'Shut everyone up' Mod Kiev's posted link....I have really missed that much less intrusive and quieter world.... :happy:

Edited August 23, 2012 by StayFrosty05