Favorite and least favorite companions + sidekicks

[Slotharingia]

Just like Anders in Dragon Age 2!

 

Haha, just kidding. Anders was terrible.

I love both of them

[CAlmond]

I like Tekehu, his initial first impression is bad, but he grows. Although cheeky, he is probably the kindest companion personality wise. His arrogance/pride comes from naivety and ignorance.

 

Serafen is ok for me. Didn't particularly like him, didn't particularly hate him.

 

Maia is very useful for me in terms of abilities. Personality wise, I think the interactions I've had with Maia has been mostly bugged, so can't judge yet.

 

Xoti, I like her generally speaking, but I don't really use priests much. She seems quite intense, but that may also be because of bugs causing her interactions to happen way too quickly.

 

Fassina has a great voice and accent, would like to hear more.

 

Konstanten has a great laugh, but haven't used him much. He is very useful when boarding enemy ships though. I specced him out for full offense and gave him a morningstar.

 

Mirke is interesting enough as a comic type character. Useful when boarding, but I haven't used her much in my party because I don't really use monks.

 

Ydwin is interesting being basically an immortal vampire, but we've seen similar in PoE1 and PoE2 from other intelligent/sentient fampyrs. So not particularly new to the world itself.

 

Rekke seems to say that his name is actually 'Rekka' not sure if deliberate inconsistency or not. Like his actual name is Rekka, but the Watcher and the rest thought it's Rekke. There's quite a lot of interesting stuff about Rekke:

• He is a red-haired dude with freckles but an asian looking face.
• I believe red hair and freckles is more common in Scotland/Ireland than other parts of the world.
• Rekka is a japanese name.
• Historically in the USA (and possibly other parts of the world?) Irish and Chinese immigrants used to pair up a lot because they were all treated as outsiders.
• Rekke's origin nation seems to be all about horses, which reminds me of Mongols

His existence opens things up for potential DLC/Sequels. I'm imagining a bunch of riverdancing, red haired horse warriors living in chinese style cities, wearing japanese clothing.

 

I do think that three returning companions is both a good thing and a bad thing. They are more familiar, which is nice, but that means the newer ones gets less of a chance to shine. Pallegina I can understand due to her relationship to the VTC. Eder I feel only makes sense if you become good friends with him in PoE, otherwise I can't really see why he would want to stick around you even if you did adventure together for a while. Aloth is just there by coincidence. Given that I quite like Eder and Aloth, it's fine with me that they returned, but I think story wise, could probably do without them.

[Yenkaz]

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.

For Teheku the problem was that I was already a CC/Nuke wizard, I had Pallegina as a herald for passive buffs and I had Xoti as a healer/buffer.

 

He made a bad first impression and I just had no room for his roles anyway.

[Aramintai]

 

Xoti -.....- I was very surprised by knowing she's 27 - I'd give her 16 at best.

 

Wait, Xoti's 27?! I can see her being similar to a starry-eyed college freshmen, but wouldn't ever put her at 20 or older.

 

Me neither. Where is that age info from? 

[handsomenat]

She refers to her age in one of her dialogue lines. I saw it in a video uploaded by DanaDuchy @yt, but can't really remember which one. Maybe Eder & Xoti relationship. Link. Really surprising... she comes of as immature as hell.

[Aramintai]

She refers to her age in one of her dialogue lines. I saw it in a video uploaded by DanaDuchy @yt, but can't really remember which one. Maybe Eder & Xoti relationship. Link. Really surprising... she comes of as immature as hell.

Found it:

https://youtu.be/-emnJldqI9s?t=44

 

Huh, Xoti, huh   You're one weird woman.

[Gregorovitch]

Xoti. I confess when Xoto first joined I was very unsure about her and only took her on really 'cos beggars can't be choosers. But lately I've seen another side ofd her. Especially when she spots some enemies and starts talking about seeing souls "ripe for the reapin'" I am often moved to whisper "Right on, girl! Go get 'em!" and give Pallegina a sharp look if she starts rolling her eyes. I'm hoping Eder might have what it takes to inject a slightly wider persepctive on life into her too.

[Kirk]

 

 

Xoti -.....- I was very surprised by knowing she's 27 - I'd give her 16 at best.

 

Wait, Xoti's 27?! I can see her being similar to a starry-eyed college freshmen, but wouldn't ever put her at 20 or older.

 

Me neither. Where is that age info from? 

 

I read it on forums lately, but in the game she says that she's twenty something.

[Blovski]

I did feel the characters were a bit of a backwards step so far.

Pallegina's anti-religious streak is more interesting than her pro-Vailian streak. The question mark about her character is how you can have a rigid idealist fanatically devoted to a venal scattered culture with no particular moral compass and I just think the game didn't even try to answer that. I never saw more than passing comments that suggested that she thought anything Vailia did was good. I also kind of feel that Vailia is the faction with the fewest real rational arguments for it in the game and really needed the support. Didn't like her much.

Eder is a bit of an exception for me; I think he basically continued to work as in the first game and I really enjoyed his storyline.

 

Aloth I didn't hugely like in the first game and I didn't really take him anywhere because of that so not sure how much value he adds. That said, I did like his quest a lot.

Xoti... just... what? Just an incredibly silly character in some ways (like, seriously, devotee of the harvest god holding a sickle...). I mean, I think there was something to say for her in places but overall I think the arc was just not substantial enough and with the bug on triggering companion conflicts super quickly her extreme sulking at Pallegina seemed a little overboard. Seemed a bit overdone without the serious lore value that Durance had in the first game. Also the fact she declared her love for me almost randomly was bizarre.

Maia - I really liked Maia tbh. Ishi was fun, I felt the romance was reasonable and bittersweet. I think as with Pallegina I wanted a little more justification of why she backs Rauatai but it wasn't nearly as incongruous.

Serafen - was fine. I kinda think mind-reading furry pirate is enough of a USP but I also didn't really think his quest told us much. Not sure how much more you get out of him if you go full pirate.

Tekehu - nice mixture of spoiled kid and good guy. Fun to take around and I felt that his immaturity lent him a lot of depth in his discussions.

Sidekicks - only found two and found it pretty hard to care about either of them.

[Taevyr]

 

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.

For Teheku the problem was that I was already a CC/Nuke wizard, I had Pallegina as a herald for passive buffs and I had Xoti as a healer/buffer.

 

He made a bad first impression and I just had no room for his roles anyway.

 

For Maia, she seems to be disliked for two things: her racism, and her loyalty to the RDC.

 

The racism irked me as well, but was somewhat understandable considering the time period and her background. Loyalty/sense of duty are positive traits in my book, but are problematic here due to both traits being directed at the RDC: To me, it seems like she simply wants to do right by the country that took in her emigrating family and allowed them to reach an honored position in it. I imagine it's similar to how Pallegina got benched by many due to her incessant hatred of everything religious and blind loyalty to the republics.

 

Tekehu has a bad first impression if you take him at face value, which means that many write him off without delving deeper into his character. I still got somewhat annoyed at his "narcissism" later in my playthrough, but he seems to be the most genuinely good person in your party, trying to respect/befriend everyone in his own awkward way while thinking how he could improve his society. It's too bad i had Aloth for casting and myself for chants, or I'd given him a spot in my party.

 

Gotta give credit to Kirsch for his writing here: You can generally say a companion's written well when they stir strong, but strongly differing opinions in most players.

[Taevyr]

 

 

As an aside, it's kind of odd how different the writing and general reaction to Maia and Tekehu is, as they were supposedly written by the same guy.

 

Wait, were they? Because if they were it's no surprise both of them ended up being my favorites. 

 

 

Yup, Paul Kirsch.

 

Looked him up and found this list

 

I'm officially impressed. Tekehu is probably the only character in there who isn't either a psycho, a fascist, a racist, or some combination of those, and they're all believably written to boot.

[Skazz]

Well, damn. I loved Tunon and Barik. I had no idea it was the same guy writing them all along.

 

I think I like Paul Kirsch now.

[daven]

I'm actually quite liking Maua just because she's level headed and get's on with business, not cracking jokes constantly.

 

Although she did want to get in my pantaloons after 5 minutes... but I think that is bugged so I don't know what to believe.

[Taevyr]

Well, damn. I loved Tunon and Barik. I had no idea it was the same guy writing them all along.

 

I think I like Paul Kirsch now.

I have a soft spot for Verse myself, though she also made me sleep with at least three knives hidden within arm distance. Hard to resist a witty woman.

[Parasol_Syndicate]

I'm actually quite liking Maua just because she's level headed and get's on with business,

Although she did want to get in my pantaloons after 5 minutes

 

 

I see no contradiction here. 

[Mikeymoonshine]

Tekehu is the only faction companion who isn't some blind cheerleader for his faction. Well ok Serefan isn't a blind cheerleader but he's kinda in denial about a lot of the bad things the principi do. Tekehu is just ignorant about it but when confronted with it he criticises it he doesn't just deny and defend.

[Yria]

Tekehu is the only faction companion who isn't some blind cheerleader for his faction. Well ok Serefan isn't a blind cheerleader but he's kinda in denial about a lot of the bad things the principi do. Tekehu is just ignorant about it but when confronted with it he criticises it he doesn't just deny and defend.

 

I thought his reaction if you side with a faction that isn't his own (and not RDC ofc) was also rather mature. Just "Not going to try to convince you, if the Huana haven't earned your trust by now, then so be it" or something like that. Compare it with Maia's nigh hysterical "You can't be seriously thinking that you are doing the right thing here, siding with someone who is not us!". 

[CENIC]

 

Maia's nigh hysterical "You can't be seriously thinking that you are doing the right thing here, siding with someone who is not us!". 

 

Ugh, the worst part about Maia is how throughout her companion quest if you question her she tells you to trust that she's doing the right thing. But she won't do the same for you.

Edited June 3, 2018 by CENIC

[Parasol_Syndicate]

Sure she will. But it's conditional. 

W:"But Maia, think of the brighter future!"

M: "Nothings brighter than an artillery bombardment. I'm out, dweebs."

 

W: "But Maia, Pirates! hundreds of scurvy buccaneers laying waste to the chosen city!"

M: "Ok, fine. You make a good point. I'll stay to watch the pirates."

[Dialekktik]

Deadfire would be like at least 50% better if they just made all sidekicks companions and all companions sidekicks.

[Heijoushin]

You guys are being too hard on Maia. She's a soldier, on loan to you from the RDC, not an old buddy like Eder. She makes that clear from the beginning.

Also, 

"You can't be seriously thinking that you are doing the right thing here, siding with someone who is not us!"

 

= Most human reaction ever. 

 

Really, it's the watcher's fault for accepting so many people with divided loyalties.

I did appreciate Tekehu's more level headed comment, though. Thought I was also going to lose him for a second there.

Edited June 3, 2018 by Heijoushin

[CAlmond]

She refers to her age in one of her dialogue lines. I saw it in a video uploaded by DanaDuchy @yt, but can't really remember which one. Maybe Eder & Xoti relationship. Link. Really surprising... she comes of as immature as hell.

 

to be fair, I know real life people older than Xoti, who is significantly more immature. Physical age is not really an indication of maturity.

[Yria]

You guys are being too hard on Maia. She's a soldier, on loan to you from the RDC, not an old buddy like Eder. She makes that clear from the beginning.

 

Nah, I like Maia as a character, and her reaction is indeed very human. But just because someone's personality is believable doesn't mean it's also likeable. And as it's already been pointed out above, she drags us into doing some really nasty stuff for her faction saying that we should trust her, and it backfires terribly. Yet it still comes to her as a surprise that we might not want to support them after that? 

[CENIC]

You guys are being too hard on Maia. She's a soldier, on loan to you from the RDC, not an old buddy like Eder. She makes that clear from the beginning.

 

Also,

"You can't be seriously thinking that you are doing the right thing here, siding with someone who is not us!"

= Most human reaction ever.

 

Really, it's the watcher's fault for accepting so many people with divided loyalties.

Her hypocrisy around "trust me that this is for the best" might be very human, but I'll still hold it against her.

 

That being said, in future playthroughs I will probably decline her company so that my party is less divided.

[CAlmond]

 

You guys are being too hard on Maia. She's a soldier, on loan to you from the RDC, not an old buddy like Eder. She makes that clear from the beginning.

 

Nah, I like Maia as a character, and her reaction is indeed very human. But just because someone's personality is believable doesn't mean it's also likeable. And as it's already been pointed out above, she drags us into doing some really nasty stuff for her faction saying that we should trust her, and it backfires terribly. Yet it still comes to her as a surprise that we might not want to support them after that? 

 

 

I agree, a good character is not necessarily a likable character. For example I think Cersei Lannister from GoT is an absolutely horrible person, but she is a good character.