Yria

Ummm... Yes, we of course are only looking at this game because this is a PoE II section of the Obsidian games forum, and it's this particular game's companions the OP has a problem with? Why would we even bring other subsets into this.

*sigh* Nobody says those 5% are THE majority. They are still a minority overall. What people are saying is it isn't very believable that all of these 5% would suddenly end up in your group (unless you were picking them by that specific criteria). It isn't totally impossible, sure. Just quite improbable. Let's leave gay out of it for a second. Say, there is some minor number of coastal aumaua in the Dyrwood in the first game, ~1% of the population. What are the chances your Watcher randomly ends up in a group where 5/7 characters are coastal aumaua? Will you find it believable?

No, they are not dismissing all the other people in the game. What they find difficult to believe is that you could randomly end up in a group where 5 out of 7 people would be bisexual. That just seems extremely unlikely is all (though I guess it's still better than 5 playersexual characters, which they are not).

Stoic - Passionate and Clever - Rational would be a better fit I think. But I agree with the genral idea.

At this point I just hope it was Eothas being dumb, and not the devs, because the more I think about it the crazier his plan seems. As somebody already pointed out, animals have souls too. So if they stop being reborn... bye bye Eora's eco system. And since animals' lifespans are generally shorter than those of kith, the effects will be here for the current generation to witness very soon.

Funny thing is, while Aloth and Eder are programmed to like different things they get along just fine in my game (both have +1 rep with each other). Eder jokes all the time and somehow that's OK, but if it's me, Serafen or Tekehu Aloth just can't take it. So right now the only ones who dislike me on the faction wheel are Aloth and those criminal scums in Delver's Row. I hope he is feeling cozy in their company.

I've just managed to finally move Aloth from zero... to -1. Yay I guess. At least now I know he is not bugged for me. But honestly, why does he hate everything and everyone this time around?

Xoti is starting to slowly grow on me, with the whole nightmares thing, and even though I wanted to punch her during her fight with Pallegina I still found her reactions somewhat amusing (also, hat's off to Laura Bailey, glad to see that my worries about her acting were baseless. She really sold me on Xoti's childish anger in that scene).

Is it possible to just reverse pickpocket them with a bomb or poison to avoid the fight? Or will that trigger a fight anyway?

This might be true for some of the factions, but it won't work on the Huana route because it's not Maia who wants to leave, it's the queen who tells you to kick Maia out (along with Pallegina, but Pallegina you can just leave on the ship, and she will talk to you just fine iirc).

Same as when you side with the Huana then. And it probably isn't any better when you side with the trade company. I guess this is what I will always get from her since I don't see myself ever siding with RDC. It doesn't always work. If they hate whom you chose too much they'll still leave and send you a farewell message. Tbh I'd rather they leave outright than just stand there telling me they don't want to talk anyway.

Pretty much. A lot of my conversations with Aloth in the group went as Watcher: *makes a harmless joke* Maia: lol approve. Xoti: haha nice. Tekehu: good one approve. Aloth: I HATE YOU STUPID WATCHER STOP BEING IRRESPONSIBLE (also I hate you too Tekehu just because). At some point I just gave up and stopped taking him along. He seems to be bugged since he wouldn't lose or gain affection with me, but seing him massage his temples all the time started to get on my nerves. And this is my mostly rational, diplomatic Watcher who was suppoused to get along with Aloth pretty well. I dread the day when I start the game with my truly irresponsible sassy Watcher. Aloth will probably throw himself overboard and swim back to Aedyr.

Every ending except "**** this I'm out" and "side with the Huana" will make you lose a minimum of one companion. I thoight siding with the Huana makes you lose Maia? I guess you can leave her on the ship when you talk to the queen so she doesn't get the boot for being a spy. But then she will just stop talking to you which is kinda meh. But what about the rest? Who always leaves if you side with what faction? I'm especially curious about the Vailians.

Can anyone clarify how are the things with faction aligned companions? Do some of them leave you no matter what when you side with a faction that is not their own, or is there a way to avoid it? Perhaps they tolerate some enemy factions better than the rest (like, Maia would never side with the huana but would be ok with the pirates, or something like that)? I think I saw someone mention that Maia and Pallegina get kicked out by the queen in the huana storyline, but leaving them on the ship during the quest where it's suppoused to happen allowed them to stay with the player.

On the other hand, Iovara's resistance to the idea of going back to the Wheel now sort of makes sence lol. Within the new lore that would indeed make her a cog in the gods' system. Still, I hate such retcons.

This all just confirms that the Wheel was there before Engwithans. Yes. Also, now that I think about it didn't the pale elves in Twin Elms claim that they were reborn into the same tribe ever since they settled in the White that Wends? But pale elves came to that region 12 thousand years ago, long before the creation of the gods and (according to the second game) of the reincarnation system itself. But I might be misremembering that conersation with their leader. Though I must say I always found the Wheel system a bit weird even in the first game. If there is a finite number of soul essence in the world, and all the souls just keep splitting upon rebirth until they are no more, that, too, means that some day in the distant future the world will die out, no?

Thaos does say something about how depressing it was to know that there was no meaning, no gods, just the Wheel slowly grinding our souls into dust. I didn't remember it until lordgizka brought it up, but yeah, it's there. Iovara's words about the Engwythans discovering the Wheel are easier to write off since she could be wrong in her assumptions. But if even Thaos himself confirms it, it is indeed a retcon.

Funny, this is exactly how I feel about Eder.

Yes, he does. It's pretty short though. Most of them are just a line or two, and relatively vague and open ended. Xoti's are the most detailed. I like vague and open-ended better than super detailed anyways. Gives you more room to imagine what happens. I just hope there's a version of the ending that allows him and the watcher to stick together after the story. There is, I saw someone post his other ending on a different forum. But now I'm also wondering about the other companions.

Whaaaaat. Okay, I'm perfectly fine with Eder not being an option for the Watcher, but THIS (if true) really does seem like trolling on the devs' part. What the heck. It's in the game data! I dunno the rules on image linking on this forum, but I can screenshot all the Eder/Iselmyr stuff and chuck it in an Imgur gallery or give you the directions to the data file itself for you to read if you need the proof. What I meant was "If this actually triggers in the game and isn't just sitting there in the files for no real reason", not that you lied, sorry for not being clear.

I'm in the same boat. I pick a lot of honest options, and quite a few benevolent ones, too, but I haven't seen a single line of approval from him so far. Well, I did - for Xoti. He approves Xoti, sighs at Serafen and Tekehu every time they open their mouths, and that's it. I'm seriously considering giving him the boot because at this rate he will probably end up hating half of my party, and since I'm not progressing with him, why bother settling his differences with everyone else. But I keep hoping this is some sort of bug.

Whaaaaat. Okay, I'm perfectly fine with Eder not being an option for the Watcher, but THIS (if true) really does seem like trolling on the devs' part. What the heck.

What is it determined by then? I got the same import bug as everyone, my mayor Eder transformed into Night Market Eder, but in his dialogue about Xoti he was still anti Eothas (or at least anti omg-Gaun-is-so-cool-gotta-collect-souls-for-him Xoti version of Eothas). Can't really comment on Maia, but Tekehi didn't seem forced to me because hitting on everything that moves seems to be part of his character. You don't need to be through anything with him for him to begin getting ideas (hence his story about the avian godlike).

It's great right up until the ending slide, at which point Aloth goes one way, the Watcher goes another, and it's not clear if they'll ever see each other again, which I found anticlimactic and disappointing. Well, that's a bummer. Thank you for clarifying. Is he, though? Do they actually end up together, or is it just speculation of the outraged fans? So far I only saw Xoti awkwardly hit on him, and he was kinda meh on the idea.

The best part about Tekehu's romance so far is how pissed off Ondra is. The whole "I want someone better for my son, you stupid Watcher you!" thing was so awkward it cracked me up. I think this is the first time I see a romantic interest come in package with a horrible mother-in-law. Don't know about nuanced, but it's definetely realistic lol. It's a rather short, low key romance, but I think it fits him perfectly. The only thing I really didn't like was the ending. Can you give us any details? What's bad about the ending?