Are the Companions Really THAT Bland?

[AFA]

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

 

There aren't standouts like GM or Durance, but there aren't clunkers like Sagani or Kana. It is a better average IMO.

[Yria]

Tastes differ.

GM was the only companion in the two games I disliked so much that I don't even pick her anymore. Her backstory was interesting to get through on the first run, but after that she has absolutely nothing to offer: no real personality beyond "My precious babies!", no interactions with other companions, nothing. Even the moral dilemma about controling others that she presents is buried beneath so many layers of purple prose that I can't be bothered to dig for it after my first run. I can't thank Deadfire's writers enough for not giving us another Grieving Mother type of character.

Edited June 22, 2018 by Yria

[bugarup]

How comes people find Ydwin interesting? She's just as uninteresting as Konstanten. Rekke at least has stuff to say and Fassina + Mirke have tied quests so we  get to know them better. It's just because she's a vampire, innit.

 

Grieving Mother IMO was a wasted potential just as Waidwen's Legacy that she was set to represent.  A society that basically lost its future is such an interesting thing to explore; alas, it did not expand much farther than Gilded Vale, and by the time we meet GM in Dyrford there's disconnection already.

[Crucis]

Tastes differ.

GM was the only companion in the two games I disliked so much that I don't even pick her anymore. Her backstory was interesting to get through on the first run, but after that she has absolutely nothing to offer: no real personality beyond "My precious babies!", no interactions with other companions, nothing. Even the moral dilemma about controling others that she presents is buried beneath so many layers of purple prose that I can't be bothered to dig for it after my first run. I can't thank Deadfire's writers enough for not giving us another Grieving Mother type of character.

 

I agree that GM was boring as heck, but that didn't stop me from having her in my parties often, just because I liked having a cipher along, even if I didn't play one as my main character.

[Crucis]

How comes people find Ydwin interesting? She's just as uninteresting as Konstanten. Rekke at least has stuff to say and Fassina + Mirke have tied quests so we  get to know them better. It's just because she's a vampire, innit.

 

I don't know why people call her a vampire.  I had her in my extended party with my first party (i.e. "extended party" = my reserve), though I did use her a little from time to time.

 

I have a split opinion on her.  I like her look, i.e. a bookish adventurer, but am not fond of her being a Pale Elf.  I guess that I like characters sticking to paradigms.  And for some reason, I have a hard time seeing pale elves as being bookish or so urbane.  Maybe part of the problem there is that there's so little on the Pale Elves that I'm seeing them as more barbaric than their Wood Elf cousins.  And just have this feeling that they should be more like pale elf versions of Sagani and her Boreal Dwarf kin from Naasitaq.  Hunters, rangers, barbarians, druids, mystics, and so forth.

[Yria]

How comes people find Ydwin interesting? She's just as uninteresting as Konstanten. Rekke at least has stuff to say and Fassina + Mirke have tied quests so we  get to know them better. It's just because she's a vampire, innit. 

 

I wouldn't call her interesting, but I like the tiny bits of personality that she shows in her recruitment conversation, like her taste for Vailian fashion and the fact that she sews her own clothing. 

 

I don't know why people call her a vampire.  

 

Because she is one (though technically the proper word would be fampyr here). Her soul is disconnected from her body, same as Icantha or Aldhelm from the first game. If she doesn't consume enough soul essence she will turn savage. But you have to pass a ~10 metaphysics check to get this information if I remember correctly. 

[AFA]

How comes people find Ydwin interesting? She's just as uninteresting as Konstanten. Rekke at least has stuff to say and Fassina + Mirke have tied quests so we  get to know them better. It's just because she's a vampire, innit.

 

 

Also because she is voiced by Ellie from the Last of Us. But, mostly vampire.

[Crucis]

 

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

 

There aren't standouts like GM or Durance, but there aren't clunkers like Sagani or Kana. It is a better average IMO.

 

 

Tastes differ. 

 

In my opinion, Sagani would have been vastly better if her character had an accent that sounded foreign relative to the traditional Dyrwoodan accent.  One of the things that really made Pallegina stand apart from the rest of the companions, in both POE1 and 2, was her accent.  You instantly KNOW that she's not "from around here".  And that made her more interesting to me.  Sagani, OTOH, could have just been from, say, the White March or the Dyrwood, or Readceras.  She sounded too local, too bland.  (I think that would have been nice is if they'd used a voice actress with a native eastern european accent.  That could have added a nice touch of "not from around here" to Sagani.)

 

And Kana.  While he had no particular accent, per se, his loud manner and generally jovial attitude gave him a lot of character, IMO.  And even Durance, in spite of his surly nature, had a voice that brought a lot of character to him.

 

I've usually found Aloth to be rather boring, myself.  In large part, it's because he seems almost cliched.  He's an urbane elven wizard.  I kinda of wish that we could have an elven (possibly a pale elf) ranger who was fairly surly, though not really evil.  Not at all like Legolas, who is an urbane wood elf.  Maybe a ghost heart pale elf ranger who is surly and detached, in large part due to the loss of his or her animal companion.

 

Anyways, companion voices matter a lot to me.  They're what make or break a companion to me, in terms of how much I like that character.  Not whether I'll play them, but how much I really enjoy them.  The ones with the more unique voices, or at least voices that match how I perceive their personality and where they supposedly come from.  For example, I love Xoti's voice.  She's a farmer's daughter, and she sounds every bit the part.

[Yria]

At first I thought Aloth was too cliched as well, but his backstory sort of makes up for it. "Well, another snotty tidy elven wizard, long time no see, Sand", I thought upon meeting him in Guilded Vale. Then boom, he has multiple personality disorder. "Shame he talks so little, he has so very few topics to discuss, I'm losing my interest again", I thought near the end of act two. Boom, turns out he was a Leaden Key member. 

The archetype itself may be boring as it has been used so many times, but they did put a few neat twists on it. 

[AeonsLegend]

At first I thought Aloth was too cliched as well, but his backstory sort of makes up for it. "Well, another snotty tidy elven wizard, long time no see, Sand", I thought upon meeting him in Guilded Vale. Then boom, he has multiple personality disorder. "Shame he talks so little, he has so very few topics to discuss, I'm losing my interest again", I thought near the end of act two. Boom, turns out he was a Leaden Key member. 

The archetype itself may be boring as it has been used so many times, but they did put a few neat twists on it.

Yeah but Sand really made that I'm better-than-you Wizard thing work really well. Aloth is nothing like him. Sand isn't a wimp, Sand is actually intelligent and he doesn't doubt himself at all. In fact he knows how strong and intelligent he is and he uses it to his advantage.

[bugarup]

Ah, Sand, you holier-than-thou shifty little arrogant slippery weasel, one of the key reasons I would always side with Qara no matter what (other being my preferring Sorcerers to Wizards, but 'tis less important).

 

Ahem. Back from the Memory Lane -- it appears that I learned to be quite satisfied with stuffy, judgemental, disapproving Aloth. His schtick works. Granted, sometimes it feels like you are traveling with a petulant teen who you dragged away from his Xbox and who never, ever passes up a chance to remind you how utterly miserable he is in your presence, but all it does is make it even funnier. Like, when the Watcher is down, Aloth's comment is "And stay that way!"

[AeonsLegend]

Ah, Sand, you holier-than-thou shifty little arrogant slippery weasel, one of the key reasons I would always side with Qara no matter what (other being my preferring Sorcerers to Wizards, but 'tis less important).

 

Ahem. Back from the Memory Lane -- it appears that I learned to be quite satisfied with stuffy, judgemental, disapproving Aloth. His schtick works. Granted, sometimes it feels like you are traveling with a petulant teen who you dragged away from his Xbox and who never, ever passes up a chance to remind you how utterly miserable he is in your presence, but all it does is make it even funnier. Like, when the Watcher is down, Aloth's comment is "And stay that way!"

Yea I did like Qara, but two things here are important. Clearly Qara wasn't very smart and she was even more full of herself than Sand. So if your beef with Sand is in that regard there is no reason to like Qara. That and Sand is far stronger than Qara because pure Wizard > Pure Sorcerer any day of the week.

[Yria]

 Yeah but Sand really made that I'm better-than-you Wizard thing work really well. Aloth is nothing like him. Sand isn't a wimp, Sand is actually intelligent and he doesn't doubt himself at all. In fact he knows how strong and intelligent he is and he uses it to his advantage.

 

That's the thing though, Aloth is nothing like Sand even if one's first reaction upon meeting him is "Well, yet another elven wizard, been there, done that". 

 

 Like, when the Watcher is down, Aloth's comment is "And stay that way!"

 

What. This is priceless. Do you need to be at -2 to hear it? 

[AeonsLegend]

Like, when the Watcher is down, Aloth's comment is "And stay that way!"

If Aloth said that to me he shouldn't be expecting to live through the day. I don't take **** like that from people that are supposed to have my back. I'd definitely kill him right there on the spot.

[Crucis]

 

Like, when the Watcher is down, Aloth's comment is "And stay that way!"

If Aloth said that to me he shouldn't be expecting to live through the day. I don't take **** like that from people that are supposed to have my back. I'd definitely kill him right there on the spot.

 

 

Or you can get really devious and turn him into the next contestant for a sacrifice to the gods.  But you really should get two for the price of one, since Aloth has a split personality.

[Tarlonniel]

Like, when the Watcher is down, Aloth's comment is "And stay that way!"

 

Oh, man. Aloth gets better every day!

Edited June 23, 2018 by Tarlonniel

[Noctoi]

How comes people find Ydwin interesting? She's just as uninteresting as Konstanten. Rekke at least has stuff to say and Fassina + Mirke have tied quests so we  get to know them better. It's just because she's a vampire, innit.

 

Grieving Mother IMO was a wasted potential just as Waidwen's Legacy that she was set to represent.  A society that basically lost its future is such an interesting thing to explore; alas, it did not expand much farther than Gilded Vale, and by the time we meet GM in Dyrford there's disconnection already.

I have to agree about the Grieving Mother. I think she waffled on repeating her own stoner diatribe over and over and ended up coming across as a relatively shallow "woowoo" hippy rather than the incredibly nuanced character she could have been.

 

I wish I could get to know Rekke a bit more, but I can never seem to find him! I've scoured the area he's supposed to be in, but I have never managed to find him. At this point I'm guessing it's a bug, but 3 different runs have ended up the same way. I really want to meet him! I hear he has a use for these bags of crap I'm lugging around!!  

[Tarlonniel]

Apparently, if you don't have a deckhand in the crow's nest slot, Rekke's flotsam doesn't show up. Don't ask me which slot that is, though. Just fill 'em all up I guess.

[bugarup]

 Like, when the Watcher is down, Aloth's comment is "And stay that way!"

 

What. This is priceless. Do you need to be at -2 to hear it? 

 

 

it was on a -2 character, but his barks doesn't change from -1 to -2, just his text reaction, so maybe being in negatives is enough?

[Vitalis]

 

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)?

Durance provided the insight of a typical Dyrwoodan in the first game. Extremely judgemental, poorly educated, biased against everything they did not understand, and believing that the best solution to every problem is to kill the problem. Eder is an atypical example of a Dyrwoodan, which was just another nail in his coffin in Gilded Vale.

 

In 2, the companion that represents the native population in the party is Teheku, and he doesn't even give a proper view of it.

[Celan]

I have to agree about the Grieving Mother. I think she waffled on repeating her own stoner diatribe over and over and ended up coming across as a relatively shallow "woowoo" hippy rather than the incredibly nuanced character she could have been.

Uh... what? Her character was anything but shallow.

The idea of a cipher midwife using their abilities to direct soul essence in order to give mothers a stronger bond to their children, and how she then thought the Hollowborn crisis was her own doing and her attempts to fix it that literally robbed her of her sanity, likely because she had given out so much of her own soul essence... This is the opposite of a "shallow story."

Her story was also central to one of the game's main plots because It personalizes the Hollowborn crisis, but in a way that is more involved than just having a literal grieving mother.

 

I can't think of any Deadfire companion that had a story as compelling.

[Crucis]

 

I have to agree about the Grieving Mother. I think she waffled on repeating her own stoner diatribe over and over and ended up coming across as a relatively shallow "woowoo" hippy rather than the incredibly nuanced character she could have been.

Uh... what? Her character was anything but shallow.

The idea of a cipher midwife using their abilities to direct soul essence in order to give mothers a stronger bond to their children, and how she then thought the Hollowborn crisis was her own doing and her attempts to fix it that literally robbed her of her sanity, likely because she had given out so much of her own soul essence... This is the opposite of a "shallow story."

Her story was also central to one of the game's main plots because It personalizes the Hollowborn crisis, but in a way that is more involved than just having a literal grieving mother.

 

I can't think of any Deadfire companion that had a story as compelling.

 

 

I honestly found her story boring.  I don't play this sort of game to play psychotherapist to a companion. 

[Celan]

 

I honestly found her story boring.  I don't play this sort of game to play psychotherapist to a companion. 

 

That's pretty much all the companion stories?

 

Anyway, subjective and all- people will respond differently to different characters- but I don't think that can honestly be called a bland story, just from the aspect of it being so unusual.

[AeonsLegend]

 

I honestly found her story boring.  I don't play this sort of game to play psychotherapist to a companion.

That's pretty much all the companion stories?

 

Anyway, subjective and all- people will respond differently to different characters- but I don't think that can honestly be called a bland story, just from the aspect of it being so unusual.

 

Yea somehow all companions have some sort of issue you need to comfort them on. There's no one that doesn't look for praise, pat on the back or encouragement. They're all some sort of melodramatic cry-me-a-river goofball. Some less sane than others.

[Yria]

Uh... what? Her character was anything but shallow. 

 

Her story is interesting and unusual, but her personality? Not so much because she barely has any. I like my companions to be people, not just walking storytelling devices.