Really curious who will win the polls now that Durance isn't around to absorb all the hate.
 

My 2 cents:

 

Aloth: I love the guy, but did we really need him in Deadfire? Not really.

Eder: Still essential as an early tank. Still an all around nice guy. But like Aloth, did we really need him in Deadfire?
Maia Rua: The sniper theme was awesome and she's a lot less annoying than her brother. Talking to her bird was also a fun experience.

Pallegina: Unlike Aloth and Eder, at least she represented one of the factions, so bringing her back made sense. I think I appreciated her cynical attitude a lot more this time with Xoti as a contrast.
Serafen: Fun dialogue, but for such a bad-ass pirate, he sure likes talkin' about slavery and his father figure. I dunno, I guess I was hoping for a pirate a bit more like Mirke.

Tekehu: His shark transformation looks like the hengeyokai from Vampire the Masquerade  Also enjoyed his narcissism and fish puns. The most interesting new companion IMHO.
Xoti: I think she was well written, but somehow she got mildly annoying by the end of the game. Maybe because she's so obviously Team Eothas.

 

All the sidekicks were a wasted opportunity IMHO. I would have genuinely liked to get to know Rekke and Konstanten better. Ydwin, for all the pre-launch hype, didn't really blow me away in the single conversation you have with her. Instead of "Gothic vampire chick," she more came across as "harassed librarian."

Edited May 29, 20187 yr by Heijoushin

I like how I immediately knew who "Two Whoops and a Holler" is.

EDIT: Oh, and also:
 

I would have genuinely liked to get to know Rekke and Konstanten better.

 

You and me both. I may be a mindless dwarf fanboy, but Konstanten really seemed like a barrel of fun waiting to be unleashed... but nope, sidekick.

Edited May 29, 20187 yr by Skazz

Gina will always be my fave and I couldn’t stand ‘sharkboy without lavagirl’ and his unironic narcissism.

My favourites are still POE1 companions, even though their presence in POE2 is questionable.

New companions are kinda meh. Serafen is such a cookie-cutter pirate that he's boring, Xoti is a crazy yandere in disguise, Maia is less interesting than her bird, and fish boy is annoyingly pompous and self-centered most of the time.

All sidekicks seem pretty useless, but Ydwin's backstory is intriguing.

Well, this interesting. I'm reviewing the results, when suddenly...

 

WHO DISLIKED EDER?!

Since this is the no spoilers forum, I can't really talk about why, but Xoti, Eder, and Rekke are top for me. Konstantin, Aloth and Maia bottom. I don't think Maia was badly written, but I am genuinely uncertain as to why Aloth was there. He had nothing to do the whole game.

 

I think Rekke and Ydwin are both asking for companionification.

 

 

Well, this interesting. I'm reviewing the results, when suddenly...

 

WHO DISLIKED EDER?!

 

I think this is asking for an old-style Dyrwood'n lynching.

Edited May 29, 20187 yr by CottonWolf

Wait i am supposed to pick only 1 favorite, but must to choose one least favorite? That cannot be.

 

I picked Teheku as fav, since he is funny, provides lore about Deadfire, have some interactions, also two unique subclasses who work well together.

 

Sidekicks are suffering unjustice, since they have no screen time to shine and woo us. Pale librarian looks promising, since she provide some lore and gore.

 

Cant pick annyone as less favorite.

Yeah regarding Aloth, I like him a lot, but he felt underused and unnecessary in this game. Not as bad as Pallegina who has nothing to say. Edér is the best of the returning companions. Xoti is my favorite overall. They really should have had only 1 returning companion from POE1. I would have liked to seen 2 new companions.

 

Surprised Takehu is getting so many votes for hated. I like him. Not in that way.   He's kind of like a kid who doesn't want to grow up.

 

I voted for Maia for most hated, not that I hate her. Her quest is somewhat interesting. But other than that she has no real personality. She's kind of bland.

 

For the record I did not factor in sidekicks in my voting since I never used them.

 

Well, this interesting. I'm reviewing the results, when suddenly...

 

WHO DISLIKED EDER?!

 

I think this is asking for an old-style Dyrwood'n lynching.

 

Here, I'll dislike Edér so y'all can have a convenient scapegoat... oops, no, I already picked Serafen. Imagine Edér gets my second place vote

 

There should be seperate polls for sidekicks and companions. I like Tek best of the companions, but Rekke overall, however, that could well just be due to him not saying much since I'm generally not fond of religious characters (ik Tek is religious, but it's not his defining feature). Similarly it's hard to dislike sidekicks, as they have nothing to say.

all in all:
Xoti: okay but annoying, not keen on overly religious characters (I loved Durance though)
Aloth: my all time no. 1 after Zahua, but he's too judgemental/passive aggressive/uptight in deadfire and impossible to get approval from even with benevolent characters
Tek: love him. Don't take his self love seriously as it comes across to me as more of a facade. My fav new companion by miles.
Sera: Like him, not passionate
Maia: can't stand her
Pallegina: like her but her nationalism / anti godlike are meh to me

Sidekicks: no opinion besides Rekke

Edited May 29, 20187 yr by Slotharingia

I voted for Aeldys.

My favorite companions are Maia and Xoti , and Aloth . 

 

As for sidekick..I'm afraid , I don't use them . The only sidekick I met was that animancer lady who did something to herself . And that is quite original . 

 

So can't say much about sidekick . 

 

I don't dislike Éder per se , the voice actor is really good . But farm boys aren't interesting to me . 

 

Tekehu has a really cool animation , but the Mama boy act is boring as well . But his voice is good too!

 

And Seraf.....I love Orlan . Just wished we had a female one this time around  But yeah...not interesting to me .

Really curious who will win the polls now that Durance isn't around to absorb all the hate.

 

I never got all the Durance hate in PoE1. He always had the best banter in conversations (e.g. "Perhaps she misinterpreted what you meant by 'Frost-Hewn Breach.'") and the best reaction on hitting a crit in combat ("heh heh heh..."). 

I personally enjoyed having the returning companions. Except for the fact that there are 3 of them, and only 5 party slots now. It made it really painful to choose who to take with me.

Maia is an interesting character, but because I HATE the RDC I am seriously considering just not recruiting her next time.

(Does that mean her friends' assassination missions fail?)

Xoti is obnoxious but Priests are just too useful and she is the only character in the game with that class option. Next time I might tell her to keep the souls and let her go crazy so I can get that sweet, sweet Threshing lantern aura.

Tekēhu is nice if only for all that ~PLOT RELEVANCE~ and being the only party member who can pull off the cool Huana clothing.

Serafen is interesting in concept but his cipher subclass is VERY risky to use. He looks good in one of the cool Principi clothings though.

Rekke, Ydwin, and to a lesser extent Mirke were more interesting than I thought they would be, and I hope they are expanded in DLC or in the next game.

Konstanten and Fassina... not so much. Their motivations for joining the party were really weak. Fassina at least was fun to kit out as a weapon-summoning, touch-spell-using Conjurer, but Konstanten was boring.

Edited June 2, 20187 yr by CENIC

I personally enjoyed having the returning companions. Except for the fact that there are 3 of them, and only 5 party slots now. It made it really painful to choose who to take with me.

 

Maia is an interesting character, but because I HATE the RDC I am seriously considering just not recruiting her next time. (Does that mean her friends' assassination missions fail?)

Yes, if you don't bother with her, the people in question do not die.

 

Aloth: A character I really liked in PoE1, and therefore has a head start. His ties to Leaden Key should make him a fun companion, but he just... doesn’t do or say anything. As he is silent by nature, his silence didn’t bother me as much. His quest is interesting but it is so incredibly short, with so little development.

 

Eder: i can never make a PoE1 run without Eder. I completely don’t care about Eder in Deadfire. He appears on the ship without much explanation... and that’s it. He is still Eder, he just doesn’t have much to do and reason to be there. I found his sidequest to be rather unengaging.

 

Maia Rua: companion with the most surface appeal. Disciplined, yet laid back, with some clever quips. She is also very very boring. I see nothing in her, beside mandatory faction representative.

 

Pallegina: another faction representative. Bringing her back from exile is shaky, I am looking forward to replaying with her still working for Valians - I imagine it will work better. I like Pal. Her quest was meh. Didn’t really bring anything new, except and opportunity to learn a lot about godlike, but never giving me opportunity to do so (can’t I question to animancer guy? So many questions).

 

Serafen: I... really liked him. Funny how the least appealing characters on surface end up being my favourite. He is well introduced, and I found his quest to have the most meat to it. His “visions” allow for some decent insight into his character, making me care for him the most.

 

Tekehu: his interest in sexual relationship with my orlan PC 3 minutes into adventuring-resulted in him spending most of the adventure on boat. What I did see of him though, I liked. His personal conflict seems the most “Pillars” to me. But of philosophy and cultural insight.

 

Xoti: I found her to be the most memorable of the characters. She acted too erratically, but once the relationship system is fixed she might end up fine.

 

I didn’t use sidekicks after recruiting them.

Edited May 29, 20187 yr by Wormerine

Tekehu: his interest in sexual relationship with my orlan PC 3 minutes into adventuring-resulted in him spending most of the adventure on boat. What I did see of him though, I liked. His personal conflict seems the most “Pillars” to me. But of philosophy and cultural insight.

If you turn him down, he never brings it up again. At least that was how it was for me. So just say no and then take him with you if you find him interesting but don't want his romance.

Well, this interesting. I'm reviewing the results, when suddenly...

 

WHO DISLIKED EDER?!

 

It's me.

 

Well, this interesting. I'm reviewing the results, when suddenly...

 

WHO DISLIKED EDER?!

 

It's me.

 

 

What life choices have led you to this, I wonder?

Edited May 29, 20187 yr by Skazz

Serafen is head and shoulders above the rest for me, pretty much, though in my time playing the game I've slowly warmed up a bit more to the rest. Aloth I feel is also probably the most rewarding/satisfying of the three returning companions. Edér's fine but... So far at least he doesn't seem like there's much meat to his story, and I don't find his interjections as effective as they were in the first game. Pallegina... I feel I've seen too little of her this time around but she also feels like a very different character - upon first meeting her in Queen's Berth I felt that the game had imported the wrong state for her, and some of the things she says and does seem similarly jarring even as Josh says it's all working as intended. I feel like I haven't spent enough time with her this game though.

 

For my least favorite I went with Ydwin. I don't necessarily dislike her but I feel that while her initial premise is interesting, there's just nothing to her following it. For all the hubbub about her during development, making her Ashley Johnson's main role and whatnot, it's disappointing to see nothing to her but a slight tease of what could have been an interesting quest or discussion. BIG HANDS is the other one who feels very barebones but his introduction seems of an adequate size for what his "hook" (such as there is one) is, so ultimately I feel more irked by the opportunity that feels wasted by the former. Given the state of these two sidekicks I'm thankful we at least got to see a bit more of Fassina and Mirke before they became glorified hirelings, and as for Rekke I haven't yet met him, so no opinion on him just yet.

Edited May 29, 20187 yr by algroth

I don't like forced romance. It is a nonsense to have 3 bi in a team. It is displeasant and kill personnality of each.

 

I prefer One true gay or bi, and others straight than this.

Edited May 29, 20187 yr by theBalthazar

Tekehu is definitely my favorite. 

 

Least favorite would have to be Maia, and even then I sort of like her. It's just her loyalty to Rauatai that doesn't sit well with me. I get that that's a big part of her character, but even so, I really can't abide by it. Nothing wrong with loyalty, it's just that I think she's fighting for the wrong cause.

I honestly liked just about all of the characters.

 

Aloth wins out as a favorite, but I already loved him in PoE1. Tekehu is my favorite of the new characters, his character development over the story was one of my favorite things about Deadfire.

 

Rekke gets an honorable mention for the sidekick department.

 

 

I'm not sure if I really have a least favorite. Some of the weaker sidekicks are easy to put forward, like the masseur, but that feels like cheating. If I had to pick one I'd probably say Maia. I like Maia, but she is the most difficult companion to work with due to her impact on the story. But its more of an affectionate fist-shaking than an outright dislike.

I'm kind of surprised that Maia seems to be so disliked. Out of the new (non-sidekick) companions, she was probably my favorite.

 

Seeing Tekehu get more humble with time also warmed him up in my eyes a lot. Do people just dump him after the initial conversation or something? Because I can agree that it's where he's at his worst.

 

Ekera.

Edited May 29, 20187 yr by Skazz

I'm kind of surprised that Maia seems to be so disliked. Out of the new (non-sidekick) companions, she was probably my favorite.

 

Seeing Tekehu get more humble with time also warmed him up in my eyes a lot, too. Do people just dump him after the initial conversation or something? Because I can agree that it's where he's at his worst.

 

Ekera.

on my 1st playtrough..

 

I went directly to the..that place underground . And I totally missed picking him up . Had to read peoples talking about him for me to go and pick him up