Serana: Welcome or Unwelcome?

[kevkiev]

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:

 

Wow, here I thought I was like the only person with the sneak bug... doesn't solve things to have company in my misery but, as the old saying goes :teehee:

 

You're quite welcome on the silence NPC mod. Lol, oddly enough I also had it in my previous game but that went totally borky and I missed it when I reinstalled everything. I saw it in another post only about a week ago myself and I was, like, "Huzzah!"

 

Note to self: huskies no mixy with vampire girl :no:

[Perraine]

I think that Dawnguard is more of a "Test case" than anything else ...

Serana in particular is definetly an NPC AI test bu Bugthesda, because I think that Bugthesda got roasted a lot due to the pathetic AI and the woeful character depth in Skyrim, with people so used to seeing this depth in Bioware games ...

I think that with the next DLC (and possibly patches) we'll see a lot more of Serana type characters (though probably toned down somewhat) and maybe some further "enhancements" to the AI and NPC behavior in the main game over all

[Stemin]

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.... :(

 

I also never use followers unless playing a pure mage character, in which case I don't know how you survive without one unless you're using some kind of mod that buffs destructive magic, but I don't have any of the problems you're suggesting with stealth. I have a feeling your sneak rating is too low when this is happening. Yes, followers do draw enemies to them because they're clutsy as hell and yes they do set off traps, but once your sneak is high enough, NPC's will still generally dash right passed you after your companion.

 

I never bothered to look in the CK, but I think some NPC's are more "alert" than others as well.

[StayFrosty05]

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.... :(

 

I also never use followers unless playing a pure mage character, in which case I don't know how you survive without one unless you're using some kind of mod that buffs destructive magic, but I don't have any of the problems you're suggesting with stealth. I have a feeling your sneak rating is too low when this is happening. Yes, followers do draw enemies to them because they're clutsy as hell and yes they do set off traps, but once your sneak is high enough, NPC's will still generally dash right passed you after your companion.

 

I never bothered to look in the CK, but I think some NPC's are more "alert" than others as well.

 

I never play Mages, so I haven't encountered that problem myself, though I could well imagine it would be hard....as for giving away my Dragonborns position, yes, it most often happened at lower levels....though he was 100 Stealth when he had Serana with him and on a couple of occasions she gave away his position, most usually when positioned in narrow area's....and it doesn't help when his follower is being caned I RP him not to sit back but to move into tank position....the irritation with that is, if Serana had stayed back.....most...if not all...of the opponents would have been dispatched coupling the Bow with stealth....but I RP him in that he cannot sit back and remain in safety if his follower is being swarmed.....Am definitely much happier and the game more fun running him alone.

[Obliviongamer91]

I must say that Serana was welcome, until I realized you can't marry her.

That's just stupid.

You can marry a random person whom you retrieved some ridiculously cheap item from a tomb with five draugr inside?

I mean, I saved her live, I protected her from hoards of falmer, I broke the suppression from her dad, I retrieved 3 (!) Elder Scrolls, I told Ismar not to kill her, she was the first NPC in any Bethesda game I really cared for.

Wouldn't it be only logical (With Skyrim logic) to be able to marry her?

And she's like: Na Bro, let's just be friends.

I always feared the Friendzone, but the first friendzone I get is in a game? Like, Seriously?

Before you ask, yes, I am slightly mad.

[ChromeWarriorXIII]

I must say that Serana was welcome, until I realized you can't marry her.

That's just stupid.

You can marry a random person whom you retrieved some ridiculously cheap item from a tomb with five draugr inside?

I mean, I saved her live, I protected her from hoards of falmer, I broke the suppression from her dad, I retrieved 3 (!) Elder Scrolls, I told Ismar not to kill her, she was the first NPC in any Bethesda game I really cared for.

Wouldn't it be only logical (With Skyrim logic) to be able to marry her?

And she's like: Na Bro, let's just be friends.

I always feared the Friendzone, but the first friendzone I get is in a game? Like, Seriously?

Before you ask, yes, I am slightly mad.

Same thing happened for me. My character actually went through an entire personality change because of Serana. He went from hating everyone (her included) to being warmer and more caring (to a degree). I was so disappointed that I couldn't marry her.

 

Other than not being able to marry her, she is very welcome. My afore-mentioned Orc loves her company, though I don't think my evil overlord Dunmer will think of her as fondly.

 

I never had any problems with her except for after a battle with a dragon she just stood there in combat mode. Normally when she gets stuck, I can knock her down and she'll get up and be fine. This time however, she actually "died" (was on the ground). I tried fast-traveling to the location I was at (normally fixes her) but instead, she completely disappeared. I actually thought I had lost her for a bit, and had almost come to terms with it when she comes running up to me an hour (in-game) later, and is perfectly fine :dry:

[bookout8]

My biggest problem with Serana was to get her to follow. She kept referring to "let your other followers go and then I might join you". This was after all followers had been let go for several game days and quest stages. She was hard wired to these "phantom followers" like no other Skyrim character. Then when I did finally make a non-cheat, quest acceptable workaround on the followers and got her as a companion, she would not recognize the reading of Valerica's journal and donate her blood to the cairn. As such I was blocked on the Dawnguard quest lines and not wanting to do the Vampire bit, I had to give up Dawnguard completely. My vote: Serana needs a lot of programming work. :down:

[AnkhAscendant]

I also never use followers unless playing a pure mage character, in which case I don't know how you survive without one unless you're using some kind of mod that buffs destructive magic, but I don't have any of the problems you're suggesting with stealth. I have a feeling your sneak rating is too low when this is happening. Yes, followers do draw enemies to them because they're clutsy as hell and yes they do set off traps, but once your sneak is high enough, NPC's will still generally dash right passed you after your companion.

 

I never bothered to look in the CK, but I think some NPC's are more "alert" than others as well.

 

I got a cloth-wearing pure mage to level 51 without a single mod installed and without using a follower unless a quest forced it... It involves a lot of stealth and dodging. :P

 

As for Serana, I'm indifferent leaning toward 'unwelcome'. I don't like followers just because it's a single-player game, if I wanted help I'd play a multiplayer game, and while I appreciate that she has better AI I have no real use for a character who was obviously created for everyone to like. Not being marriable or killable (can you kill her while playing the DG side? Never tried.) just makes her so much scenery.

 

(I hate not having options. In a perfect world, everyone in Skyrim would be marriable, unessential, and have interesting AI.)

[ginnyfizz]

As a stealthy type player, Serana can REALLY test your patience the way she charges in. Otherwise, I like her.

[StayFrosty05]

As a stealthy type player, Serana can REALLY test your patience the way she charges in. Otherwise, I like her.

 

There's a mod for that now.... :happy: ....'Sneaky Serana'....has been a blessing and god send ... :happy: ...:

 

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/25131

 

Funny, Serana always seems insulted when my dude tells here he prefers to be alone.... :tongue: ....I have her with him at the moment (enforced) and have to admit she is starting to grate on me....a constant flow of negative comments from her always.... :( ....It's a pity Bethesda didn't give her a more mixed dialog.