Commentary on Companion Quests

[GhostofAnakin]

Not sure if this is spoiler territory or not, as I'm not going to go into detail.  However, I'll list the companions in the post to give my opinion on each corresponding sidequest.

1-Parvati - Only been able to play half of hers because of that bug that has her quest fail because she died for no apparent reason, even though I'm able to talk to her and bring her on missions.

2-Ellie - Underwhelming.  I thought she was going to have a long sidequest that really delves into her past, but instead it was a brief exchange with her parents followed by a money scheme that left me thinking "That's it?" when it was done.  Really was hoping her sidequest would be about her life as a pirate doctor and some old acquaintances from that life.  Only touched on that briefly when you first meet her.

3-Nyoka - Probably the most fulfilling companion quest, largely because you get the backstory that I didn't think we got from the Ellie quest.  Also involved multiple steps.

4-Felix - The actual "plot" of the quest was interesting and had potential to be more than it was, but it felt rushed.  As though there was a lot more that could have gone into it, but instead it was so quick and felt almost tacked on.  Still better than Ellie's quest, IMO.

5-Max - Closer to Nyoka's quest in that you get to learn more about Max.  Although, I don't think they touched enough on his prison time.  At least it felt like a fleshing out of the character.

6-SAM - uh, did I miss something?  Other than getting the acid, there was no quest, right?

All in all, I thought Nyoka and Max were the only ones that were good to great.  Parvati's is incomplete due to the bug, Felix's had a good concept but was incredibly short, and Ellie's was flat out disappointing.

[DekarServerbot]

IMO, Parvati quest was like that one in legend of zelda games that ends with you getting the infinity+1 item. But here you don't get the infinity+1 item.

Sam has no quest, this is how Obsidian writes robots, they are just that, robots. The only time they did change their POV in robots was with Old World Blues.

I forgot about Max, I tossed him because he was camping in the sink of the bathroom and never shut up, brought him because of parvati but SAM gives the same bonuses and does not preach abrahamic version of atheism each time he can.

I wanted to romance Nyoka

[alanschu]

I ran into the Parvati bug as well, though I was still able to continue with her quest. I found hers super adorable and in general she was a delightful character.

I agree about Ellie's. Nyoka and Max's were quality.

[uuuhhii]

encounter parvati quest bug once after loading a save

get rid of it by reload again

[Kaelef]

Parvati was cute, but I found her too much of a one-note character.

Nyoka seemed much more full developed than the other characters, with the possible exception of Max.  She was easily my favorite.

Felix and Ellie were pretty disposable, with Felix being the worst offender.  Was there anything to Felix's quest other than his mentor ends up being a traitor?  Even the dialog options you get when going through his quest are unsatisfying ("Well, that'll teach you to have faith in people...")

SAM presented the perfect opportunity to inject some more humor into the game.  (IMO it could've used a bit more.)  But they didn't do anything with that.

Edited November 3, 2019 by Kaelef

[SzabiK]

In TOW you will get the quest regardless of your actions.  You can finish them with more or less the same outcomes with some varied dialog choices.  And your companions are never going to be  mad at you, doesn't matter what you did. Maybe a disapproving one liner.... maybe... Getting them to leave is your choice, and not they own decision reflecting your characters and the companion personality. 

I was expecting similar companion system (quests, dialogues and affinities) like it was in Kotor 2. It had much more depth. That game worth to reply several times just see your buddies reactions in different situations and the changes in their affinity towards you and alignment on the light or dark-side. You could turn them evil or good.  In TOW they are good to get some XP with their stories, but I don`t think they will bring to much of a replay value like those in Kotor 2.  In previous Obsidian games you had to think about how to behave to get the companions approval. It could produce some tension... getting into arguments with them... or make them leave you...

It looks like an industry trend to me. The companion quest in the current games feels much more flat compared to some of the really complex ones 10-15 year. Recent games does not want to lock you out from content based on the choices you make, only 1 or 2 in the Main quest level at the end of the game. So naturally side quest and companion quest are paying the price with being more flat and accessible (you will get them regardless of your actions triggered by locations or time with slight outcome variations and no long lasting consequences)

[GhostofAnakin]

Playing through a second time, it drives home just how short Ellie's personal quest is.  I'm done hers already not too long after reaching Monarch.  I've still got more than half the game to go and she's basically just baggage on my ship at this point.

I'm a little surprised at that because I thought she'd be a bigger part of the game.  Instead, she's one step above SAM in terms of content devoted to her.