Favorite and least favorite companions + sidekicks

[Gritino]

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.

I don't dislike Maia. And Tekehu's high opinion of himself wasn't annoying to me. Hell, a lot of it was played for laughs and I could get behind that.

[handsomenat]

For my favorite companion I voted Tekehu. It surprised me how much I ended up liking him. Before playing the game I was afraid I won't like him and when I first met him in game I sure didn't. I found him really conceited and just... he was such a show-off, full of himself, whining about how his special status burdens him sooo much, boo hoo. But then I saw his anxiety. He might be full of himself but he is still quite vulnerable. And he doesn't even know if he would be anything if not for him being a godlike. His personal arc was compelling to me; his worries about his identity and what should he do with his life. And also just seeing him cry made me like him even more. I also liked how involved he is in the Huana questline. In the end he really grew on me and now he is my fave.

For my least favorite I voted Eder, perhaps unfairly but... I quite liked him in the first game, i really did. He always had a place in my party. But in this game he felt... different. He comes of as a mindlessly cruel to Aloth (and so does Iselmyr), he's more explicitly racist to Orlans. And I really didn't wanted to learn about his love life. And I suppose he doesn't do what endeared me to him so much in the first game which was how he cared for Watcher? He had such a laid-back personality and absolutely dark humor. This time he feels more like just a... dumb guy. I'm sorry. Putting that aside, all of which is just a personal feeling, his involvement in the plot isn't really... strong? It's not even explained how he got on the ship in the first place. On the other hand, he is an Eothasian so he does fits in thematically. I don't know, I suppose I'm just rather disappointed in how he turned out.

Pallegina felt... more extreme than she did in the first game. I liked her personal quest and learning about Giaccolo, it humanized her. I also like that in the end she reconciled with Tekehu (he meant well but was ignorant of her painful personal issues and she's quick to snap). I only wished there was more content that would show Pallegina a little more like a person than just a staunch Republics-lover. There were little things in the first game that showed more of her, like her singing a song to Kana and asking if he recognizes it, or her relationship with Maneha (also shot down in that game). Thinking about her makes me kinda sad.

Xoti... on one hand I liked her personal views on Gaun/Eothas dichotomy, how she viewed death and life. On the other hand she was seriously immature and closed-minded. An interesting character and I can't say that I didn't like her but she was sure... something.

Serafen. Oh man I was so hyped for him. I like orlans. I don't think he lived up to the hype though. He seems less and less involved the further the plot goes.

Maia. I was... afraid that I won't like her too because Rauatai and their imperialism sounded troubling. I think her arc and her wrestling with the idea of morality of killing civilians vs killing on the battlefield was interesting. She's rather callous when dealing with people and sometimes it did kinda annoyed me, especially when I liked the characters she was mean to, hah.

Aloth. Well, he changed somewhat. He was more assertive, I liked that. Lots of times he comes of as petty and I still don't know why he gets angry when my Watcher flirts with people. His involvement was so tangential. He was my favorite in the first game so I was happy to see him in Deadfire but... i don't know. Maybe there should have been a conversation when the Watcher has an opportunity to react to the ways Aloth changed?

As for the sidekicks, to keep it really short: Ydwin and Rekke have nice concepts which I personally found interesting, Konstanten was fun and Fassina was sort of... boring. I hadn't played with Mirke much... I don't think I like funny alcoholic trope that much but eh.

Because this game feels so short when you look at the main questline alone it doesn't give enough room for companions and relationships to develop. So in the end I can't say I cared for anyone except for Tekehu really.

[Whitewolfsp]

Aloth really disappoint me , i really like him in POE 1 , but in Deadfire all he does is Roll his eyes at everything , is impossible to please the guy ....

[fortuntek]

I thought Two Whoops and a Holler was Konstanten at first based on his obnoxiously loud battlecry then I saw Masseur and realized le olde southern belle Xoti was the whoop and holler heh

 

I mean if it wasn't for that one annoying laughing battlecry I would actually like Konstanten

[Slotharingia]

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.

People seem to take Tekehu too seriously. I'd find his self love obnoxious if it wasn't expressed with humour and/or if he was actually arrogant towards other people/if it wasn't obvious he feels insecure/overwhlemed by what's expected of him. OTOH I find people annoying who others don't, so maybe he's just not their cup of tea. Maia, for instance I legit cannot get behind, so much so I didn't recruit her at all my last pt.

[Gritino]

 

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.

People seem to take Tekehu too seriously. I'd find his self love obnoxious if it wasn't expressed with humour and/or if he was actually arrogant towards other people/if it wasn't obvious he feels insecure/overwhlemed by what's expected of him. OTOH I find people annoying who others don't, so maybe he's just not their cup of tea. Maia, for instance I legit cannot get behind, so much so I didn't recruit her at all my last pt.

 

On the other hand, I'm surprised that a whiney person like Alistair from Dragon Age could be so beloved by his respective fanbase. For Tekehu, it seems that the things that are funny about him get him disliked. But hey, I don't know the entire PoE fanbase. I only just got here.

[mazeltov]

Of the four I brought along, Xoti was my fav (she's the new Eder). Lots of setting and story interaction, interesting tormented personal storyline, funny battle barks. And I like her cute southern accent.

 

I felt Eder wasn't very effective this time around. He kept emphasizing his old shtick, but it's kind of played out now and Shorty covers a lot of the same ground. Plus Eder's more jaded and that makes his aw shucks persona a bit less genuine.

 

The others companions I used, Tekehu and Maia, mostly for the purposes of setting interaction, were serviceable 7/10 characters who each had their unique upsides, performed well in their roles, and responded predictably and sensibly to the situations we ran across in the Deadfire. Would definitely recommend them for anyone who wants a dedicated factional representative of Huana/RDC in their party.

[marimo]

Love: Eder, Aloth, Tekehu, Serafen, Rekke

 

Eder and Aloth were favorites in the first game and I still feel pretty much the same about them although both were bugged for me. Tekehu and Serafen are very amusing and have some interesting stuff going on underneath their facades that keeps them from being one-note, and I loved their voices. Rekke...I was really not expecting to love any sidekick character, but here we are. There's still not a lot of content to him, but it's more than the others and what is there is fascinating. He also seems very charming and his voice and portrait are fantastic. 

 

Like: Pallegina, Maia, Xoti, Mirke, Ydwin

 

Pallegina I picked up pretty late in the game and Maia's classes overlapped with my Watcher's so I never got their rep above 0 and hardly used them. I might feel differently about them in another playthrough. I liked Xoti more than I thought I would, but she wasn't one of my favorites. Mirke's amusing and Ydwin's situation is interesting and I like both of their portraits a lot aesthetically. 

 

Neutral: Konstanten

 

Couldn't stop thinking of him as like having Stanley from The Office in the party, which is kind of amusing but I still didn't feel much about him one way or the other.

 

Dislike: Fassina

 

There just wasn't much to her other than seeming like she hates everything. 

Edited May 29, 2018 by marimo

[bugarup]

Have to say, I love your naming scheme. Anyway, I did not dislike any companions, and sidekicks are non-entities that draw no emotions at all from me (shame about Constanten, though. Loved the intro and the voice. "Ablutions, geddit? Ha!") , so just downvoted Ydwin because I hate vampires.

[M4xw0lf]

Can't pick single characters on both ends of the scale. I guess out of the new characters I like Maia the most, but that's mostly because she's useful as the rogue/mechanics guy in my party, and her stats and abilities are rather good. On the dislike end there are all the sidekicks (I have no need of companions who won't do companiony stuff like banter and react to plot events). But also here, at least Ydwin and Rekke have an interesting background... and Mirke comes with excellent taste in underwear.

Edited May 29, 2018 by M4xw0lf

[Skazz]

I take solace in knowledge that Konstanten is only the second most hated character in the party.

[aksrasjel]

Might as well give my opinion, as much as I will regret it later...

 

To be honest, most of the companions in the game were somewhat on the underwhelming side for me. In whole honesty - and I'm not trying to be mean or edgy or anything like that - I found it hard to find this mainstay character in my group that I love, this one charismatic character I want to hang out with till the end of time, like Alistair/Sten from DA:O or Viconia from BG2, or HK47 from KotOR. I liked most of them just fine, but I won't especially miss them.

 

Eder: He's still an everyman, but in Deadfire his "laid-back snarker" shtick is starting to get slighty old. He lost some of his charm for me. Still like him, but won't notice when his gone.

Aloth: He was kinda... there. Still socially awkward and grumpy as always, but he lacked presence for me. And by god, I did not care about his Leaden Key business.

Pallegina: Kill it with fire. I can't stand the hen. We immediately started off on the wrong foot on our first meeting, when she blamed me for every bad thing that happened in her life since her exile from Republics and I was unable to remind her that I only told her to do what she thinks is best for her. I guess she was always a bit of a b*tch back in PoE 1, but here her unlikeable traits go into overdrive. She's one of those edgy atheist people, that simply cannot stand any mention of faith or relligion. I guess she was supposed to be sympathetic, with her godlike heritage and all, but something went wrong with her writing and she comes of as whiny and self-absorbed for me. And that's a no-no for me.

Xoti: She's... random. I'm sorry to say this, but I cannot take this character seriously to save my life. I honestly don't know is she supposed to be cute and endearing or emotionally unstable. Or both. And yes, I know that is deliberate. Still, I literally felt that I'm talking to a child and not a mature woman she apparently was. I guess they were trying to go for Leliana 2.0 route - wide-eyed idealist with strong faith - but forgot what made Leliana click. Behind her bubbly demenour Leliana was a very clever young woman who's seen a lot of misery and decided enough is enough. Xoti is a big womanchild, so that every time she opened her mouth I wanted to dopeslap her across the head and tell her to shut up, beacuse adults are talking.

Maia: Big, tough, stoic, no-nonsense female soldier, loyal to RDC. Has a bird. Likes to sleep with random strangers she just met. That's all there is to her. She's non-intrusive and alright in my book, but by God, I've seen this female archetype a million times already. It's starting to get old.

Serafen: To my surprise, he's quite cool. I legitimately liked the bugger. It can be Liam O'Brien's delivery, but this guy is really suave and likeable daddy figure. Reminded me kinda of more laid back pirate Keldorn. I honestly can't tell you why.

Tekehu: Wasn't in my party long enough to form an opinion on him. Seemingly an archetypical "sheltered special snowflake prince" - trope that I don't care for - and his over-the-top libido is already becoming memetic, but again I won't judge him just yet. He was in my party for maybe 2-3 hours tops and was scrubbing decks for majority of the game, so there might be more to him that I missed.

Ydwin: Can't help it. I really liked everything about her. She's likeable, interesting - with some legitimately unique an fun backstory and has a certain 'snarky nerd' charm to her. And that was just one 5 minute conversation. There is clearly huge story potential to her, with some nice character development to boot - those high-up who decided for her to be a mere sidekick should be shot. Expanded in DLC or bust.

Rekke: Another guy I really liked. And another interesting addition. Seriously, why are all cool party members sidekicks? Compared to Ydwin, he's interesting less as a *character* per se for me, but his entire unique culture is ripe for exploring. Not to mention it has some big implications for future installments. Wouldn't mind seeing more of him - or his people in the sequel.

Konstanten: A dwarf. Masseur. Bored with his life. Has pleasant "soul brotha" voice. Have I missed anything?

Fassina: Honestly, didn't like her. She's this smug, know-it-all scholar -  poor man's Ydwin, minus her quirky charm. If you're desperate for a Wizard, maybe?

Mirke: Haven't got her, unable to download the DLC for some reason. Thanks GOG.

[Skazz]

Konstanten: A dwarf. Masseur. Bored with his life. Has pleasant "soul brotha" voice. Have I missed anything?

 

Big hands.

[Shadenuat]

They're all really bad and worse than in previous game. Except Aloth maybe, he's same level of bland and uninteresting as always was.

 

I think my personal favorite is raging atheist paladin who gives you approvement points for destroying temples and razing to the ground local cultural and religious shrines. Sure, her quest about trams and fat people is awful (especially after playing Prey, btw), but she would be a great pirate as long as burglarizing holy temples is the thing!

[Peter Bazooka]

I didn't care for any of the companions and it's a shame because I did like Eder and Aloth in the first game, they just didn't click for me in Deadfire and I feel Eder got a bit flanderized into just being a big goon who loves animals. Aside from Fassina I liked the sidekicks and hope they get expanded on in the future.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Peter Bazooka

[Celan]

Favorites are the PoE1 companions. Unlike others who've commented, I like seeing them again because you can see a progression, and there are at least a few people my Watcher knows and trusts around.

 

Xoti is my least favorite. She started out okay, but at the Eothas stuff I wanted to drop kick her.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Celan

[Opheleus]

Mellow Mercer: Still my favorite companion. He's PoE's Alistair, and I always had Alistair in my party.

British Mercer: He's a'ight. Don't have strong feelings for him one way or the other.

Martial Marisha: Interesting, neat concept, not as cool as her brother - sleepy Seitz.

Obscene O'Brien: Eh, the pirate-talk got kind of old after a while. When it comes to insults, I prefer more "You'll choke to death on three pounds of steel" and "Oh, you witch-****er!" less

"Well, glaze me ****in' balls with Nutella, Cap'n, and call me a righ' ol' soddin' saddlebag."

Tenacious Travis: Really cool design-wise, but didn't really hook me - but he tried.

Loony Laura: While she felt pretty vital to the main plot, she is everything that Durance is not. And for that reason, I'm out.

I'm-the-only-non-CR-VA-in-the-entire-companion-cast: I dig her anti-god(like) attitude and her loyalty, but other than that I'm pretty neutral on her.

 

Sidekicks

All: Better luck next time, scrubs.

 

All-in-all, an okay roster. Definitely nowhere near the quality of the first game. Eder, Zahua, Durance, and Legion are still miles above the rest.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Opheleus

[akiasura]

I'll echo a few of the other posters in that I found the cast much weaker in that one.  But I'd like to clarify.  I would say that on average, the cast in this game is equal to the first one.  The problem lies in that some of the cast in the last game were quite...eh (The Barb, the Druid), some of the characters were amazing (Durance, Eder, Aloth).  In this one, none of the characters felt amazing, everyone just felt "ok" to me.

That being said, Maia was fun in a no nonsense way and I really enjoyed her faction.  Pelle was amazing, I think Eder was bugged for me and Aloth was good too.  I don't think I'll play with anyone else again besides these 4.  I found the others to be extremely annoying and had to switch them out.  These 4 are also quite powerful and varied (oddly enough Eder is the weakest imo) so I don't really need the others.  They felt a bit too tumblr for me.  

On a side note, was anyone else perturbed by the winking?  I got winked at constantly.  I never see winks that often in literature and found this to be really jarring once I noticed it.

[jaganntha]

Best maia and Izhiza, the only one that I really dont like is shark boy

[Karkarov]

Okay either fix the "least favorite" poll options to be their names, or get this moved to the spoiler forum.

Either way I voted for Eder as favorite, because he still is, and Tekehu as least.  Tekehu just didn't do anything personally for me, and the fact that he was the last companion I recruited probably didn't help either.

Serafen was a solid runner up for favorite.  All the companions this time were a lot stronger in general than Eternity 1 though.  Worst thing this game did was give me a companion that was "meh", the first game gave me some I did not actually like.  Apparently I am the only one who feels this way too, oh well.  I guess people like Durance being a d bag for no actual good reason, Sagani's blandness, Hiravias being.... Hiravias, and Zahua's I am a monk who uses drugs and sucks at life bit.

Also you should probably do sidekicks separately considering.

Edited May 30, 2018 by Karkarov

[Selky]

Unironically Ydwin. Making someone that interesting a sidekick should be a criminal offense.

[jf8350143]

I'm not sure about this but I feel like Pallegina's personality drastically changes between the first game and the second. She becomes way more aggressive when it comes to faith and gods, and support everything Vaillian related to a level of blindness.

 

In the first game she questions the Duke's order, and can disobey the order even when watcher just told her "do what she want". I feel like in PoE 1, Pallegina's attitude towrads the Vaillian was more like Maia," I support my home country, I'll do what it takes to benefit it but that doesn't mean I like everything they did, and I should try to change the country to be better."

 

Also I was hoping to see a Kind Wayfarer Pallegina and I was very disappointed.

Edited May 30, 2018 by jf8350143

[CENIC]

I'm not sure about this but I feel like Pallegina's personality drastically changes between the first game and the second. She becomes way more aggressive when it comes to faith and gods, and support everything Vaillian related to a level of blindness.

 

In the first game she questions the Duke's order, and can disobey the order even when watcher just told her "do what she want". I was hoping to see a Kind Wayfarer Pallegina and I was very disappointed.

 

In my game I told her to follow her heart, so she disobeyed her orders, but since I sided with Galawain she was pardoned.

Because she spent some time in exile for doing the right thing, her being more cynical in Deadfire made sense to me.

[AlphaShard]

I think I've been needing this thread. 

 

Love: 

 

Eder: He's this games version of Minsc, only with a on going story, I love how his side story is tied into the main quest of hunting Eothas.

Aloth: He is my favorite wizard character, plus I enjoying hunting the Leaden key quest. 

Serafan: I like this crazy pirate Orlan, he's right decent for pirate types. 

Pallengina: I enjoyed meeting her again and having my previous games choices affect her story in this game. 

 

Mixed feelings: 

 

Xoti: She started out fine but as the story progresses her fanaticism seems just as bad as Durance. Plus she seems to really get off on people dying not just taking care of the already dead. I don't know if that was the developers intention but she has several happy reactions to innocent people being killed that unnerved me. 

Maia: She also started out great but her own dedication to her faction and things she is willing to do and overlook makes me not like her so much. 

 

Dislike:

 

Teheku: The preening prat reminds me of that bard Her'dalis, so full of himself he'd use the moon as his personal plaything if he could. Then someone had to mention "Sharkboy and Lavagirl" and I hate him more now. 

 

I haven't gotten all the sidekicks but from what has been said they are mostly silent after recruiting them? 

[Karkarov]

I haven't gotten all the sidekicks but from what has been said they are mostly silent after recruiting them?

After recruiting them, yes.  One of them has a real quest/interaction with you before recruitment, the other three are basically just.... "HEY WANNA COME ALONG LOL!"  (okay technically two of them have real interactions pre recruitment now...)

 

One of them does have some post recruiting dialog though, and interesting insights into some of your traveling buddies.  So that redeems them at least.

 

Personally (dwarf companion front please don't put a contract on me) I think Ydwin, Rekke, and Fessina seriously deserved to be real companions.  All three of them are very interesting in one way or another, and seem like they could have been great adds to the game.  In MANY ways I wish Pallegina had been left out as a companion and just been an NPC and Ydwin had been the VTC companion instead.  It would have worked fine.

 

Rekke and Fesssina would both be great neutral companions without any particular stake in the game.

 

Also Mirke really would make an awesome back up Principi companion, just saying.  She was a seriously missed opportunity.

 

Konstanten though.... uh.... .... .... .... sorry Dwarf lovers, he could be completely dropped from the game and I wouldn't even notice.

Edited May 30, 2018 by Karkarov