Are the Companions Really THAT Bland?

[Tick]

That's amazing hahaha. What a trolly thing to say.

 

Could someone translate what that says? I never saw this before.

[Tarlonniel]

"Vu maddicche postenago! Buffan vi! Cues es malgro me fulpa med tuor! Peri chue na cracuna ve engeri! Vu tros men merla!"

 

[You damned idiot! **** yourself! This is all your fault anyway! I hope a kraken swallows you! You piece of ****!]

 

From the wiki.

Edited June 19, 2018 by Tarlonniel

[Wormerine]

I like the approval from Xoti and Serafen.

[InsaneCommander]

I like the approval from Xoti and Serafen.

 

Well, considering how the conversation started (see below), I think Xoti really approved that.

 

 

 

 

 

[AeonsLegend]

I liked Mirke, I didn't really have a connection with any specific companion.

 

Eder: well I sacrificed Eder in PoE I, which made the start of the game kind of hard. Second playthrough. He's alright, but kind of boring on his own.

Xoti: was an idiot living in her own bubble of nonsense. Ugh.

Aloth: I don't know. I don't like him. He doesn't like me. He's a sissy and I have no clue to why he's doing all this bad ass stuff with me. His character is such that he would stay home 24/7 afraid to go out for groceries. I kept him because Wizards are kind of strong. Otherwise I'd throw him overboard and laugh while he drowns.

Pallegina: She's nothing like her old character and she's even more full of herself now. Annoying.

Maia: I liked her, probably one of the few actually likable characters

Serafen: Incredibly one dimensional. Unfunny. A goody two shoe pirate. Makes no frikking sense to me. He should hang out with Aloth and write pirate stories that no one wants to read.

Tekēhu: yeah stock character. Irresponsible lover boy. Also one dimensional. I exchanged him as soon as I got Fassina. She's 100x better than him.

 

I really wanted the side kicks to be companions. They seemed so much more interesting. I ended the game with only Aloth in the party and the others were all sidekicks. Kind of made the ending kind of dumb.

Edited June 19, 2018 by AeonsLegend

[Slotharingia]

I liked Mirke, I didn't really have a connection with any specific companion.

 

Eder: well I sacrificed Eder in PoE I, which made the start of the game kind of hard. Second playthrough. He's alright, but kind of boring on his own.

Xoti: was an idiot living in her own bubble of nonsense. Ugh.

Aloth: I don't know. I don't like him. He doesn't like me. He's a sissy and I have no clue to why he's doing all this bad ass stuff with me. His character is such that he would stay home 24/7 afraid to go out for groceries. I kept him because Wizards are kind of strong. Otherwise I'd throw him overboard and laugh while he drowns.

Pallegina: She's nothing like her old character and she's even more full of herself now. Annoying.

Maia: I liked her, probably one of the few actually likable characters

Serafen: Incredibly one dimensional. Unfunny. A goody two shoe pirate. Makes no frikking sense to me. He should hang out with Aloth and write pirate stories that no one wants to read.

Tekēhu: yeah stock character. Irresponsible lover boy. Also one dimensional. I exchanged him as soon as I got Fassina. She's 100x better than him.

 

I really wanted the side kicks to be companions. They seemed so much more interesting. I ended the game with only Aloth in the party and the others were all sidekicks. Kind of made the ending kind of dumb.

 

I don't agree with some of your opinions (I love Tekehu and hate Maia), but your take on Aloth is spot on. He's accompanied the Watcher in both 1 and 2 in the most sordid scenes of violence and squalor, he's traveled to many places, suffered physical and psychological abuse, faced the reality of having been involved in something destructive, lost control of his own body on many occasions, lived a lie more than once, experienced many things and read more, and yet he's a whiny, shallow wussy bitching about other companions' proximity in quarters. Even if someone was like that initially, the many baptisms of dirt and horror would eventually change them. There are other aspects of his personality that also ring hollow to me, even if according to some that means I "don't understand him". For instance, his fawning over people who follow orders irrespective of their nature, his disapproval of the Watcher role-playing in certain situations as he thinks it's "Irresponsible" (while blowing one's cover and risking everyone's life apparently isn't), his disdain of others unless they pass certain superficial "duty" triggers, his complete lack of interest in matters of moral import (slavery, racism, abuse of power) juxtaposed with his obsession over crap that's irrelevant (sum1 joked n it woznt funneh), and so on. All in all he came across to me as a character that had regressed rather than progressed, as someone who's incapable of differentating between what matters and what doesn't, but at least the has the odd scene where intelligence rather than the permanently disgusted dork shine through. I still like Aloth for old time's sake, but if Deadfire was my first POE game, he'd stay in the ship or with the animancers. I'm sure there are those who will argue that this is how he "copes", but it just doesn't work for me and I experience him as a caricature at best and at worst as a concept that could have worked but doesn't unless you fill in 90% with head canon.

[AeonsLegend]

 

I liked Mirke, I didn't really have a connection with any specific companion.

 

Eder: well I sacrificed Eder in PoE I, which made the start of the game kind of hard. Second playthrough. He's alright, but kind of boring on his own.

Xoti: was an idiot living in her own bubble of nonsense. Ugh.

Aloth: I don't know. I don't like him. He doesn't like me. He's a sissy and I have no clue to why he's doing all this bad ass stuff with me. His character is such that he would stay home 24/7 afraid to go out for groceries. I kept him because Wizards are kind of strong. Otherwise I'd throw him overboard and laugh while he drowns.

Pallegina: She's nothing like her old character and she's even more full of herself now. Annoying.

Maia: I liked her, probably one of the few actually likable characters

Serafen: Incredibly one dimensional. Unfunny. A goody two shoe pirate. Makes no frikking sense to me. He should hang out with Aloth and write pirate stories that no one wants to read.

Tekēhu: yeah stock character. Irresponsible lover boy. Also one dimensional. I exchanged him as soon as I got Fassina. She's 100x better than him.

 

I really wanted the side kicks to be companions. They seemed so much more interesting. I ended the game with only Aloth in the party and the others were all sidekicks. Kind of made the ending kind of dumb.

 

I don't agree with some of your opinions (I love Tekehu and hate Maia), but your take on Aloth is spot on. He's accompanied the Watcher in both 1 and 2 in the most sordid scenes of violence and squalor, he's traveled to many places, suffered physical and psychological abuse, faced the reality of having been involved in something destructive, lost control of his own body on many occasions, lived a lie more than once, experienced many things and read more, and yet he's a whiny, shallow wussy bitching about other companions' proximity in quarters. Even if someone was like that initially, the many baptisms of dirt and horror would eventually change them. There are other aspects of his personality that also ring hollow to me, even if according to some that means I "don't understand him". For instance, his fawning over people who follow orders irrespective of their nature, his disapproval of the Watcher role-playing in certain situations as he thinks it's "Irresponsible" (while blowing one's cover and risking everyone's life apparently isn't), his disdain of others unless they pass certain superficial "duty" triggers, his complete lack of interest in matters of moral import (slavery, racism, abuse of power) juxtaposed with his obsession over crap that's irrelevant (sum1 joked n it woznt funneh), and so on. All in all he came across to me as a character that had regressed rather than progressed, as someone who's incapable of differentating between what matters and what doesn't, but at least the has the odd scene where intelligence rather than the permanently disgusted dork shine through. I still like Aloth for old time's sake, but if Deadfire was my first POE game, he'd stay in the ship or with the animancers. I'm sure there are those who will argue that this is how he "copes", but it just doesn't work for me and I experience him as a caricature at best and at worst as a concept that could have worked but doesn't unless you fill in 90% with head canon.

 

Yea I can understand that Maia is not for everyone. And it's not that I didn't like Tekehu as a character. I thought he had some charm and was funny. I just didn't like how they developed him. Just didn't do anything for me.

[aktivb]

I felt cheated with Xoti. I tried so hard to break her. I kept telling her to embrace her duty and go with the darkness without offering any respite. At one point you can tell her something like 'maybe it will help if you kill someone close to us'. Nothing came of it. I would gladly have fed her bird-face just to see what would happen. I postponed letting her empty her lantern until it was the last thing I could do before Ukaizo, until I was sure nothing would ever happen. I wanted that silly puppy to turn into something feral.

 

I mean, I got an end of game card that said there was corpses popping up where she traveled, but that's a cop out. She could have had a proper branching character quest. Don't address it and she withers and collapses. Help her come to terms with her role as a shepherd, and she stays the naive apple-pie baking girl next door with a quirky hobby. Egg her on to feed the reaper, and she snaps and becomes someone else, something else, ruthless and uncontrollable.

 

The whole companion interaction system feels a bit underutilized in that they all align too well. When I first came across Rust, the assassin in Delvers' Row, I was sure he was going to be a companion. 'Oh boy Eder isn't going to like this guy' I thought. We have all these factions vying for influence and power, undermining and exploiting each other in this resource-rich but underdeveloped region, but in this world there is not a single companion that actually revels in the game of it all, it should attract people like that like flies to ****. Every companion is duty and honor-bound, some 'I'm trying to do good but its hard cause the world is just so complex' variation, can I have just one jaded conniving scumbag please. It could have been Serafen, but he's a house cat, all redeeming qualities and no sign of the life he has supposedly lived. Captain Roughhouse over here is feeling a little lonely with his merry band of gullible stooges.

[AeonsLegend]

I felt cheated with Xoti. I tried so hard to break her. I kept telling her to embrace her duty and go with the darkness without offering any respite. At one point you can tell her something like 'maybe it will help if you kill someone close to us'. Nothing came of it. I would gladly have fed her bird-face just to see what would happen. I postponed letting her empty her lantern until it was the last thing I could do before Ukaizo, until I was sure nothing would ever happen. I wanted that silly puppy to turn into something feral.

 

I mean, I got an end of game card that said there was corpses popping up where she traveled, but that's a cop out. She could have had a proper branching character quest. Don't address it and she withers and collapses. Help her come to terms with her role as a shepherd, and she stays the naive apple-pie baking girl next door with a quirky hobby. Egg her on to feed the reaper, and she snaps and becomes someone else, something else, ruthless and uncontrollable.

 

The whole companion interaction system feels a bit underutilized in that they all align too well. When I first came across Rust, the assassin in Delvers' Row, I was sure he was going to be a companion. 'Oh boy Eder isn't going to like this guy' I thought. We have all these factions vying for influence and power, undermining and exploiting each other in this resource-rich but underdeveloped region, but in this world there is not a single companion that actually revels in the game of it all, it should attract people like that like flies to ****. Every companion is duty and honor-bound, some 'I'm trying to do good but its hard cause the world is just so complex' variation, can I have just one jaded conniving scumbag please. It could have been Serafen, but he's a house cat, all redeeming qualities and no sign of the life he has supposedly lived. Captain Roughhouse over here is feeling a little lonely with his merry band of gullible stooges.

She's like a 13 year old and Eothas is her boyband. What were you expecting?

[Tarlonniel]

Every companion is duty and honor-bound, some 'I'm trying to do good but its hard cause the world is just so complex' variation, can I have just one jaded conniving scumbag please.

Sorry, but creating a morally gray world means you get rid of pure white and pure black. But it's so much more fun. Apparently.

[AeonsLegend]

 

Every companion is duty and honor-bound, some 'I'm trying to do good but its hard cause the world is just so complex' variation, can I have just one jaded conniving scumbag please.

Sorry, but creating a morally gray world means you get rid of pure white and pure black. But it's so much more fun. Apparently.

 

PoE doesn't have a scumbag. Even Durance was just an ass, but he was a goody two shoe in the end as well. Man I miss the Montaron and Xzar of old.

[Faerunner]

 

I liked Mirke, I didn't really have a connection with any specific companion.

 

Eder: well I sacrificed Eder in PoE I, which made the start of the game kind of hard. Second playthrough. He's alright, but kind of boring on his own.

Xoti: was an idiot living in her own bubble of nonsense. Ugh.

Aloth: I don't know. I don't like him. He doesn't like me. He's a sissy and I have no clue to why he's doing all this bad ass stuff with me. His character is such that he would stay home 24/7 afraid to go out for groceries. I kept him because Wizards are kind of strong. Otherwise I'd throw him overboard and laugh while he drowns.

Pallegina: She's nothing like her old character and she's even more full of herself now. Annoying.

Maia: I liked her, probably one of the few actually likable characters

Serafen: Incredibly one dimensional. Unfunny. A goody two shoe pirate. Makes no frikking sense to me. He should hang out with Aloth and write pirate stories that no one wants to read.

Tekēhu: yeah stock character. Irresponsible lover boy. Also one dimensional. I exchanged him as soon as I got Fassina. She's 100x better than him.

 

I really wanted the side kicks to be companions. They seemed so much more interesting. I ended the game with only Aloth in the party and the others were all sidekicks. Kind of made the ending kind of dumb.

 

I don't agree with some of your opinions (I love Tekehu and hate Maia), but your take on Aloth is spot on. He's accompanied the Watcher in both 1 and 2 in the most sordid scenes of violence and squalor, he's traveled to many places, suffered physical and psychological abuse, faced the reality of having been involved in something destructive, lost control of his own body on many occasions, lived a lie more than once, experienced many things and read more, and yet he's a whiny, shallow wussy bitching about other companions' proximity in quarters. Even if someone was like that initially, the many baptisms of dirt and horror would eventually change them.

 

 

I'm probably going to regret this, but here goes:

 

My dad was a drunken abuser who screamed and beat at me a lot when I was a little kid, much like Aloth. I was also neuro-atypical (Aspergers) attending nice WASP schools, and was pushed to hide it and "pass" as "normal" by my overbearing but distant mom and sister, much like how Aloth has an atypical soul and was pushed to hide it to pass as normal so he'd have a good future. (Though his case was obviously more extreme than mine.) I was also rebuked a lot over every little mistake, was bullied mercilessly for years, I'm also just naturally a quiet, solitary introvert.

 

And I can say from experience that childhood traumas don't just go away after a while.

 

And studies have confirmed that it's common for adults who were abused as kids to become conflict-averse when they're older. It's common for kids who felt they had little control growing up (like abusive or troubled homes) try to gain control in some aspect of their lives when they're older. My high school teachers confirmed when I had to leave crying from a rowdy, chaotic classroom that it's common for kids from abusive or unstable households to feel anxious or fearful in chaotic environments when they're older.

 

PoE1 implies, and the Aloth short story confirms, that Aloth often felt like he had little to no control over his life growing up. Obviously when he was a kid he felt helpless and powerless before his father's explosive temper and savage beatings. And having his thoughts invaded and his body usurped by Iselmyr all the time made him feel like he wasn't even in control of his own body. So he tried to make up for this by exerting as much control as he could over himself, his conduct, his dress, and his immediate environment.

 

(As an aside, tbh it always pisses me off how Iselmyr and Eder mock Aloth for being a "fussy" neat freak because it's obviously a coping mechanism from his horrific childhood abuse. If his dad beat him half to death over something as minor as less than perfect grades, you could bet your buttons he probably also knocked him sideways for things like tracking mud in the house, or leaving his shirt lying on the floor. No wonder he tries to stay quiet and out of the way.) 

 

And you can argue that Aloth should "logically" understand that since he's been through Hell and back and lived to tell about it, obviously he should realize how strong he is and get over his childhood abuse, right? Hollywood Psychology has taught us that if you've been in a bad situation before, you should just confront that situation and symbolically defeat it. You were bullied? Just fight the bully in that Third Act fight and everything's better! You had an abusive parent or guardian? Just stand up to your abuser and tell them "I'm not afraid of you anymore" and boom! Trauma cured! Sexual trauma? Just find The Right Man  and have mind-blowing sex, and all that sexual trauma will be gone. Got beaten black and blue growing up? Just become a strong wizard and defeat dragons, monsters, and undead, and you'll feel confident and in control of your life!

 

But it rarely, if ever, works that way. Most childhood scars and traumas stay with you no matter how much time has passed, or no matter how much you know "logically" that that same situation doesn't apply anymore.

 

People who've experienced what it's like to be truly hungry and live to tell about it often end up being even more food-obsessed or food-hoarding when they're older than people who've never been hungry a day in their lives. 

 

People who were told they're ugly and worthless when they were young can still think they're ugly when they're older, even if they become world-famous models with their faces in several high fashion magazines.

 

People who were told they're stupid and worthless when they were young can still think of themselves as unintelligent even if they get a PhD, become respected voices at academic or scientific fields, and/or teach at top universities.

 

And likewise, a child beaten senseless during their early years can still feel nervous entering a fight, or hesitant to pick a fight with people who can hit hard; no matter how powerful a wizard or spellblade they becomes. Part of Aloth will always be that scared little boy cowering before his father's savage blows.

 

To be honest, I think it's a miracle he's as brave and functional as he is after all he's been through. I don't begrudge him for being nervous getting into unnecessary fights or being a neat freak. It's just... kind of like Eder's love of animals getting way more attention in Deadfire than it did in PoE1, it's too bad Aloth's fussiness and conflict-aversion got way more attention here.

 

 

 

There are other aspects of his personality that also ring hollow to me, even if according to some that means I "don't understand him". For instance, his fawning over people who follow orders irrespective of their nature, his disapproval of the Watcher role-playing in certain situations as he thinks it's "Irresponsible" (while blowing one's cover and risking everyone's life apparently isn't), his disdain of others unless they pass certain superficial "duty" triggers, his complete lack of interest in matters of moral import (slavery, racism, abuse of power) juxtaposed with his obsession over crap that's irrelevant (sum1 joked n it woznt funneh), and so on. All in all he came across to me as a character that had regressed rather than progressed, as someone who's incapable of differentating between what matters and what doesn't, but at least the has the odd scene where intelligence rather than the permanently disgusted dork shine through. I still like Aloth for old time's sake, but if Deadfire was my first POE game, he'd stay in the ship or with the animancers. I'm sure there are those who will argue that this is how he "copes", but it just doesn't work for me and I experience him as a caricature at best and at worst as a concept that could have worked but doesn't unless you fill in 90% with head canon.

 

I agree that Aloth's approval system was implemented very poorly. One thing I loved about Aloth in the first game and short story is that, for how fussy and formal he could be, he still had a good heart under it all. Even if he was preoccupied with details, he could still see the bigger picture. Even if he didn't agree with your views on animancy, for example, he could still see the wisdom and logic in your decision to support it (provided you don't just cow him into submission). Even if he did crinkle his nose at uncouth jokes, if you were overall benevolent or aiding Dyrwood (or stopping Thaos/the Hollowborn Crisis, if nothing else), he could see that was more important than his own delicate sensibilities. 

 

In this game... He really doesn't come off well with the "death by a thousand paper cuts" approval system. I like that being overall benevolent raises his approval this game since it follows the Aloth I know who cared about people even if he acted aloof and detached. In his short story he felt so guilt-ridden possibly causing his bully to go into a drooling vegetable that he alone (among a group of students who tried to sweep it under the rug and pretend it never happened) turned himself in even knowing it could mean losing everything; and was so horrified by what he discovered the Leaden Key was capable of that he confessed his involvement and pledged himself to help you stop them even though he still wasn't sure about animancy, and even though it risked you rejecting him.

 

So it's really too bad that in the devs' desire to implement the "good in theory" aspects of "Aloth values these individual traits (duty, autonomy, whatever), so if you display them he likes you a little more and if you don't he likes you a little less," which adds up over time, can make you lose so much approval so quickly for displaying... ultimately frivolous traits in harmless settings.

 

I'd like to think that while Aloth might feel annoyed and roll his eyes at the Watcher trading colorful jokes with Tekehu, he'd never be so petty or short-sighted as to let that affect his overall opinion of the Watcher. That he can still recognize, you know... "This is my friend who's been kind, loyal, and supportive to me for ages; who stood by mehelped me find direction five years ago when I was scared and alone... who helps the helpless everywhere s/he goes, who CAN be rational and diplomatic when it matters (even if s/he doesn't always, or doesn't feel like it now), who does [whatever], even if I wish s/he didn't encourage Tekehu."

 

But, you know... shallow video game approval system.

[wRAR]

She could have had a proper branching character quest. 

Which was against the character quest design in this game.

[Tick]

(cutting to avoid a long quote for a short post)

 

Thank you so much for posting that. That's 100% spot on and shows some needed empathy. It's so frustrating seeing people belittle someone's quirks or emotional/personal issues like that.

 

I also know that sometimes stating personal information or experience like that to explain a perspective can backfire with the wrong people, so I appreciate you taking the risk.

 

And yes! I completely agree about the approval system. I don't think having a dynamic system where people react to what you think or do is inherently bad, but the way it is implemented now is very black and white, yes-man-y. Not sure how you'd fix it either.

 

Even in PoE II's actual conversations, Aloth tends to be more like how you'd expect him to be. He doesn't mind or even likes your silly or obnoxious jokes. But if it was outside of the conversation, the dynamic companion system would probably make his rep with you take a hit.

[Yria]

PoE doesn't have a scumbag. Even Durance was just an ass, but he was a goody two shoe in the end as well. Man I miss the Montaron and Xzar of old.

 

Durance participated in religious purges and openly brags about killing lots of innocent people, how is it any better than what Montaron was (I'm leaving Xzar out of it because he is a clearly a psycho)?

 

As for Aloth, I wonder if his weird reactions (or lack thereof) are caused by the badly designed approval system alone. I have a sinking feeling that maybe, just maybe he was actually meant to be written this way. He is way harsher in conversations with other companions than he was in PoE, and those happen outside of the approval system. We also didn't have this system back then and have no idea how he would react to things if he was able to sigh through his nose and roll his eyes at the time.

But then again, all the companions tend to ignore your good deeds unless it alignes with their specific dispositions, it's not just Aloth. So maybe he just got hit the hardest by this superficial system.  

[Tick]

I think conversations between companions is influenced by their reps with each other, though. Which sucks even more, because it makes it hard to have a good npc to npc character arc when one of the NPCs triggers the others negatives all the time.

 

I mean some people just don't get along, but I think that some of the characters could get past issues otherwise.

 

Aloth *is* supposed to be more outspoken, so the fact that he more openly disagrees is normal. I don't think it was intended that he'd be harsh with everyone though. Him and Pallegina had nice, friendly conversations and disagreements that I really enjoyed listening to.

[Yria]

From what I've seen so far, companion banter isn't influenced by their rep with each other (aside from those conflicts that may or may not trigger). But who knows how much of it is currently bugged.

 

Aloth *is* supposed to be more outspoken, so the fact that he more openly disagrees is normal.

 

It's not just him disagreeing with people though. Disagreeing is perfectly fine, but I'm mostly talking about stuff like "Serafen, you only ever talk about unimportant things!" or "Tekehu, stop tugging on your hair!" (srsly Aloth?). In the first game, it was Pallegina who would start conversations like that with other companions, and she came off as a rather harsh, standoffish person sometimes. Aloth mostly minded his own business and only snapped back if someone (*cough* Durance *cough*) was rude to him.

Edited June 21, 2018 by Yria

[Slotharingia]

I'm probably going to regret this, but here goes:

[...]

I wasn't suggesting his or anyone else's traumas would go away. I was talking about experience and context altering priorities. About him trudging into sordid battles in swamps and fetid caverns infested with maggots and corpses, being regularly covered with stenching entrails and gore, sleeping rough with smelly people all the time (and no doubt being smelly himself) and yet making comments like he doesn't want Serafen sleeping near him. I don't think a companion's BO or whatever he's referring to would be his top priority. He can be mistrustful and fuss over his own hygiene etc, but those types of comments make him come across as shallow to me. I'm sorry if this opinion offends anyone.

 

Also, as an aside, no one knows what people in forums have or have not experinced IRL and someone's opinion on how x character is portrayed in a fantasy setting in no way suggests anything about their life.

[Tick]

From what I've seen so far, companion banter isn't influenced by their rep with each other (aside from those conflicts that may or may not trigger). But who knows how much of it is currently bugged.

 

Aloth *is* supposed to be more outspoken, so the fact that he more openly disagrees is normal.

It's not just him disagreeing with people though. Disagreeing is perfectly fine, but I'm mostly talking about stuff like "Serafen, you only ever talk about unimportant things!" or "Tekehu, stop tugging on your hair!" (srsly Aloth?). In the first game, it was Pallegina who would start conversations like that with other companions, and she came off as a rather harsh, standoffish person sometimes. Aloth mostly minded his own business and only snapped back if someone (*cough* Durance *cough*) was rude to him.

Yeah I do agree with that. I assumed he was complaining /arguing with them because he already had issue with them, which I assumed was related to the companion rep because (with serafen) it was much worse later. But I don't know.

 

I think it's supposed to be more that he has issue with someone and so the tension sparks off, but the conversations can happen semi randomly and without context. And without context, it comes off bad /weird.

Edited June 21, 2018 by Tick

[aktivb]

She's like a 13 year old and Eothas is her boyband. What were you expecting?

 

Well, I wasn't expecting some bopper way out of her depth, with nightmares and hallucinations, with no support from the people surrounding her, to just go 'just gotta look at the bright side I guess' and then skip along like nothing.

 

 

Sorry, but creating a morally gray world means you get rid of pure white and pure black. But it's so much more fun. Apparently.

 

I mean that's fine, I wouldn't want cartoon evil, they're all just a very similar shade of light grey.

[AeonsLegend]

 

She's like a 13 year old and Eothas is her boyband. What were you expecting?

 

Well, I wasn't expecting some bopper way out of her depth, with nightmares and hallucinations, with no support from the people surrounding her, to just go 'just gotta look at the bright side I guess' and then skip along like nothing.

 

You do realise she's not sane right? I thought that was obvious.

 

 

 

PoE doesn't have a scumbag. Even Durance was just an ass, but he was a goody two shoe in the end as well. Man I miss the Montaron and Xzar of old.

 

Durance participated in religious purges and openly brags about killing lots of innocent people, how is it any better than what Montaron was (I'm leaving Xzar out of it because he is a clearly a psycho)?

 

As for Aloth, I wonder if his weird reactions (or lack thereof) are caused by the badly designed approval system alone. I have a sinking feeling that maybe, just maybe he was actually meant to be written this way. He is way harsher in conversations with other companions than he was in PoE, and those happen outside of the approval system. We also didn't have this system back then and have no idea how he would react to things if he was able to sigh through his nose and roll his eyes at the time.

But then again, all the companions tend to ignore your good deeds unless it alignes with their specific dispositions, it's not just Aloth. So maybe he just got hit the hardest by this superficial system.

 

I wouldn't know how the approval system works with Aloth, because after three playthroughs an multiple approaches I never reached more or less than +50/-50 approval and that never resulted into a 1 or 2 in bad or good. He just complains because nobody understands him. And I don't care, because I don't want to.

 

As for Durance, I must have snored through those. It must have been one of his utterly boring monologues about how he alone understands the universe while actually being one of the most retarded and confused individuals on the team. At first I brought him along and just disliked him. On subsequent playthroughs I ignored him and never picked him up. The last few rounds I went on PoE whenever I was in Magrans fork I just killed him and moved on. God was he a selfrighteous prick with no substance.

Edited June 21, 2018 by AeonsLegend

[AFA]

Outside of GM, Zhoua, and Durance, the characters in PoE were bland. Eder was a bro, so that worked fine, but the rest were meh at best. Was disappointed we got the milquetoast Aloth and Palagena as returning characters. The current crop seems to be better.

 

There are no evil characters, which kind of sucks. Bishop and my evil tiefling sorcerer in NWN2 being evil homeboys was cool. In DAO, you could have a balanced evil squad with Morrigan, Zeveran, and Shale/Sten. BG2 was the king of cool evil parties

 

Not much chance for evil (so far, haven't been through that much of the game). PoE was loaded with even minor evil choices. I think kicking a beggar is the only "cruel" choice that has even occurred. Considering how evil my Watcher was in PoE, it is kind of strange to see him doing good in Deadfire.

[AeonsLegend]

Hm, I think Grieving Mother was the most powerful character (not prowess, but character) in the entire game. The only downside was her limited involvement with the party and the story.

[AFA]

Hm, I think Grieving Mother was the most powerful character (not prowess, but character) in the entire game. The only downside was her limited involvement with the party and the story.

Both her story and that of Durance got wrapped up nicely in PoE, so it is cool that they don't appear as party members. Pallegenia being there is kind of confusing, because I don't think she was that popular. I guess she gives an insight into the Valians, but an original character could do that.

[Selky]

Yes, they are that bland. You know it's bad when Ydwin, a SIDEKICK, is more interesting than all of the companions combined.