Celan

I think what people mean by the "bad ending" is that there's a certain amount of chaos in the Deadfire due to the Huana's decentralization and no faction getting a leg up on any other. For instance in my ending which also had the Principi taking over food supply to the Roparu, the Gullet becomes a hive of piracy and Neketaka sounds like it turns into a free-for-all.

Why are we "supposed" to talk to the Prince first, when we're forced to go through Periki's Overlook to get to the palace? Getting Tekehu into see the prince, even babysitting him on a trip to the Gullet, is no rationale for him joining your crew permanently. His reason for that is a lark that gets him away from the guild. My problem is that the writing doesn't make any sense, and as far as Tekehu goes, the fact that he expresses no concern over the giant statue stomping through his country and just wants to go on a lark to get away from a guild he signed up to join. Though you also remind me that the writing on the prince's task is pretty strained also. He finds a Principi coin and this means there's a smuggling ring? And he needs a stranger to go check it out for him, a stranger who is trying to save his countrymen from Big Stompy?

That still doesn't explain what his motivation is for joining your crew, other than a lark.

I don't recall that. He and the guildmaster argue about him wanting to present himself at the palace, but they don't say why. He says he sent the prince a letter but doesn't mention the contents. If you invite him to join your crew, he says something about the adventure and to get away from the guild. Later the prince said to take him with us to the Gullet, but didn't say why.

Then there's no reason for him to join your crew. He could have hired on any ship blowing through the harbor if he just wanted to get away from the guild. I really think at this point I won't bother recruiting him at all.

That just makes no sense. Especially in light of learning, hearing it from Eothas' own giant mouth, that the gods are frauds. I mean, take what you can from them, but don't give them more credit than due. The whole way you recruit him irritates me, too, in retrospect. "If it gets me away from the guild" or "i needed to go to the palace anyway"... these are his motivations for wanting to join you, not the fact that a giant adra statue is stomping through his country?

You need the dragonwing sails and blackwood hull, and an experienced crew. I think it was a deckhand and a boatswain skill check.

Seriously? He can't assume leadership of the Watershapers' Guild without proselytizing for his mama? If so, that gives me a good reason to not bother recruiting him at all. And well, a couch potato's got goals, I'm sure- but it's a stretch to call them that.

There's a whole series of dialogues between them. Xoti has a fit about Pallegina disrespecting the gods. Then in later dialogues, Pallegina erupts and Xoti admits she's been trying to "help her see the light."

It's not what others want from him, he is expected to unite the huana in the political sense and lead them into a better future... simply because he was born with scales and tentacles. Great reason to push a person to do something they don't want to do, about the same level as "You're ginger so you should fight for animal rights". And even if his watershaping can be used to save lives directly, it doesn't mean he has to dedicate himself to it, or that any other applications of his gift are somehow unworthy and devoid of meaning. I think this is a rather dangerous territory to tread, we can't decide for others what their lives should better be spent on. Sure, I was encouraging him to go his own way, so I respect that he doesn't want to be political figurehead. But in the end he apparently just wastes his talent completely, so I did regret that I'd led him down that path. And the reason I'm deciding at all is that the game gives my character that power. In the end you don't force him, but I also don't have to like his choice.

Xoti shouldn't have tried to convert Pallegina, and vice versa. It never works out. So, to be clear- no, I would not be a fan of Pallegina taking a vulnerable moment in Xoti's life and using it to try to convert her to a particular point of view.

Druid PC- almost always roll with Eder, Pallegina, Xoti and Aloth. I would prefer to sub Serafen for Xoti, but it forces me to play healer and babysitter so Xoti comes along.

Art that almost no one sees? Mmkay. His gift can actually be used to save lives.

But... he apparently has no goals, because as far as the epilogues go he does nothing with independence other than live in isolation and make big water statues in the middle of the ocean.

I don't care for the character, either. I had had high hopes for his romance because my character is godlike and I couldn't see her with any of the others, but it can barely be called a "romance" IMO- and what was there was kind of gross. I ended up restarting and only had him in my party for the Gullet part and Ukaizo, which was anticlimactic. Then because I had encouraged him to be independent, he went to the middle of the ocean and started making even bigger water statues for the rest of his life.

People want less companion content?? That's a new one.

That's pretty much all the companion stories? Anyway, subjective and all- people will respond differently to different characters- but I don't think that can honestly be called a bland story, just from the aspect of it being so unusual.

Uh... what? Her character was anything but shallow. Her story was also central to one of the game's main plots because It personalizes the Hollowborn crisis, but in a way that is more involved than just having a literal grieving mother. I can't think of any Deadfire companion that had a story as compelling.

My character is from White That Wends so I named her new ship Taiga Wind.

I think you should get points depending on how you react in the first conversation after re-meeting them, and also if you do their quest. The disposition system, I'm not a fan.

I bought a Junk, but by the time I got it outfitted there were no more enemy ships. Until I figured out how to rename it, it was amusing to see it referred to as Junk in the texts.

What's wrong with Aloth's romance? I did think godlike got short shrift, especially female characters.

What I did want was a chance to berate your crew for playing a "knife the orlan" game with a line about her specifically. You got to tell them to quit being lazy oafs, but it's not quite the same.

No, just some simple and realistic things, like have her address you as father/mother/daddy/mommy/... and other things like a 5 year old would say. She speaks like a crew member, not your adoptive daughter. Let her ask to come along in a adventure, why she can't be on deck during ship battles and talk about your pets I repeat the bolded again. I thought her grown-up dialogue was fun. Not that I would be against more interaction, maybe even a scene where you do ask her to call you mom/dad.

Change her dialogue how? To talk about how her adoptive family tried to murder her and you had to kill her brother who attacked you for trying to save her? I much prefer the ale jokes. She's adorable, and minimal dialogue lets people roleplay her presence however you want. On that note, I would support an option to have her not appear if you want to play it that she died at Caed Nua or was given away for adoption.